(M)any Questions? A Comparison of the Use of Questions in Wittgenstein’s first 37 paragraphs of Philosophical Investigations with Austin’s essay “The Meaning of a Word”

Author(s): Blahoslav Fajmon / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2014

Wittgenstein’s approach to philosophy is closely related not only to the content but also to the form of his investigations. The following paper presents the uniqueness of Wittgenstein’s writing style, namely his use of questions, by comparing part of his work with Austin’s essay. For this purpose a typology of questions with regard to their function in the text is established and applied. The difference between Wittgenstein’s and Austin’s writing style is then documented by the frequency of certain types of questions, and omission of others, and related to some of Wittgenstein’s remarks about his approach to philosophical inquiry. The difference is then summarized tentatively as one between “pedagogical” and “academic” writing style, which poses questions concerning the translation of Wittgenstein’s investigations into academic prose.

(rec.) Michał Piekarski, Logika-Gramatyka-Pragmatyka. Ewolucja wittgensteinowskiej koncepcji związku języka ze światem, Wydawnictwo UKSW, Warszawa 2015

Author(s): Marek Porwolik / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 1/2015

A Different Take on Humanities

Author(s): Wlodzimierz Bolecki / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

The foreword to this issue focuses on the core functional differences between the humanities and hard sciences (i.e. different approaches to such phenomena as language, translation, teamwork, writing, discipline.s history, publishing, tradition, innovation). Yet, this dichotomy is questioned in the conlusion. The author argues that whenever human artifacts are at stake, both the humanites and experimental sciences are equally hard, because they inquire the same matter, ie. how the products of human cognitive activities were created and what are their social functions. Therefore, the author calls for a new model for interdisciplinary studies.

A Half-Formed Thing, a Fully Formed Style. Repetition in Eimear McBride’s A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing

Author(s): Katarzyna Bazarnik / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2018

The article begins with addressing alleged similarities between Eimear McBride’s debut novel A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing and James Joyce’s works to suggest that they cannot be systematically sustained. Her much praised, experimental style relies on the opposite of Joycean richness. Limited vocabulary, jumbled word order, and lexical and phrasal repetitions are one of the most salient features of her style. McBride applies rhetorical variants of conduplicatio to create an emotionally powerful idiom to narrate an anti-Bildungsroman about a loving sister and her dying brother, her sexual abuse by an uncle and final suicide. So despite some thematic parallels, and linguistic experimentation, A Girl bears only superficial resemblance to the modernist master, which is additionally evidenced by stylometric findings.

A ještě jedna nepřesnost

Author(s): Marie Duží / Language(s): Czech / Issue: 1/2003

Souhlasím s kritikou Bělohradovy argumentace, kterou provedl výše Pavel Materna a chtěla bych doplnit, že ve zmíněném (jinak velice kvalitním příspěvku) je ještě jedna nepřesnost.

A less simplistic metaphysics: Peirce’s layered theory of meaning as a layered theory of being

Author(s): Marc Champagne / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2015

This article builds on C. S. Peirce’s suggestive blueprint for an inclusive outlook that grants reality to his three categories. Moving away from the usual focus on (contentious) cosmological forces, I use a modal principle to partition various ontological layers: regular sign-action (like coded language) subsumes actual signaction (like here-and-now events) which in turn subsumes possible sign-action (like qualities related to whatever would be similar to them). Once we realize that the triadic sign’s components are each answerable to this asymmetric subsumption, we obtain the means to track at which level of complexity semiosis finds itself, in a given case. Since the bulk of such a “trinitarian” metaphysics would be devoted to countenancing uninterpreted phenomena, I argue that current misgivings about sign-based ontologies are largely misplaced.

A philosophical investigation in machine understanding. The case of implicit meaning

Author(s): Maria Wilkowska / Language(s): English / Issue: 12/2013

The question of machine thinking and understanding, once initiated by Alan Turing, has puzzled scholars from various disciplines. This paper aims at investigating some of the facets involved in the topic of machine language understanding with particular interest devoted to indirect meaning comprehension (more specifically, the implicature). So far as the subject under examination – the chatbot – manages to understand directly conveyed information, still much is to be done with respect to implicit data in which everyday messages (formulated in ordinary language) abound. This situation generates a number of not only hard-science questions but also, more importantly, given the viewpoint of this paper, it gives rise to a considerable amount of philosophically- oriented and frequently neglected issues and dilemmas too. This study is a brief investigation of exactly those phenomena.

A priori komunikácie a základy humanitných disciplín

Author(s): Karl-Otto Apel / Language(s): Slovak / Issue: 4/2003

Aký typ vzťahov by sa mal postulovať medzi prírodnými vedami [science] a humanitnými disciplínami [humanities] v kontexte súčasnej spoločnosti?

A. Platonov’un “Çukur” Eserinde Umudun Kayiplari

Author(s): Reyhan Çelik / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 76/2013

With the revolution of October 1917 a new political process has begun in Russia. This process has not only changed the daily life of the Russian people, but also has exterminated the humanistic emotions of them. This subject has been the main question of the works of A.Platonov, who observed the sechanges on the people since the begining of the revolution. Although aforementioned difficulties expressed by some writers of that period, due to the tough stance in the works Platonov is considered to be against the regime. However, despite all the pressures he continues to express thoughts clearly. He is one of the most important writers of the twentieth century Russian literature with language, philosophy, as well as the revolution approaches; in his time he reflects the suffering of the people and challenges in society. He attracts attention both the stylistic features of literary art and thoughts of anti-regime. Some of the author’s works have been translated into Turkish. These works are “Dzhan”, “The Foundation Pit”, “Chevengur”. “The foundation Pit” which he has written up in 1930, however, published in 1987 in Russia. In his work “The foundation Pit”, he has drawn the profile of ‘new human’ which has occuerd to get her with the the socialist system. In this work are transferred painful losses, which given to achieve overall collectivization. Voşçev removed from his job because of the thoughtfulness, for the search to truth, will join the ranks of people working for the sake of this hope and in work is expressed what happened in this process. At the same time in work, against the Soviet regime’s utopian thought has created an anti-utopia. In this work the life philosophy of the villagers that live in the Soviet system and their journey to hope has been examined relative to the life philosophy of the period.

ABOUT PRACTICAL PROBLEM SOLVING

Author(s): Arto Mutanen / Language(s): English / Issue: 89/2016

Knowledge is, by definition, reliable and, hence, it can be applied to a variety of different problems. Nevertheless, in practical problem solving, we do not rely on mere truthful knowledge, but also on information which frames the practical acceptability. We are not looking for truthful solution but an optimal solution. Optimal solution is found out by optimizing some given (practical) parameters. The optimization is both theory based and practice based process. That is, practical problem solving is a human deliberation that interconnects theoretical and practical knowledge. So, the philosophical foundation of practical problem solving interconnects theoretical and practical philosophy. Especially ethical deliberation plays – or should play – central role in practical problem solving. The complexity of the advanced scientific knowledge needed in solving present day practical problems separates the people who know, from the people who do (decide). The situation makes immediate that we need some deeper pedagogical conviction: we need ecological education.

Acquaintance and Naming: A Russellian Theme in Epistemology

Author(s): Augustín Riška / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2005

Russell's distinction between knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description has been recently re-examined in frequently controversial epistemological contributions. The present essay reflects upon the pertinent papers by D. F. Pears. J. Hintikka. R. Chisholm, W. Sellars. A. J. Ayer, and others, but is primarily founded on Russell's significant formulations from his writings published between 1910 and 1918. By employing an auxiliary device of a late-Wittgensteinian language game, I explore at first the situation in which human subject is "experiencing" and naming particular objects (Russell's sense-data and sensibilia) and later the subject's acquaintance with universals. The reconstruction of such situations shows that, contrary to Russell's assumptions, even the "purest" acquaintance cannot function without knowledge by description, i.e. without stating propositions about the object of acquaintance (whatever its nature). Then the only "descriptionless" alternative would be a kind of intuitive knowledge ot such objects which is difficult to reconcile with the position held by Russell in the 1910s. Whatever the consequences, this topic retains its fundamental epistemological significance.

Against the Frame

Author(s): Wojciech Kalaga / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2016

The paper explores theoretical foundations of the frame from two semiotic perspectives: that of the Saussurean dyadic sign dominant in the European tradition and that of the triadic sign of the Peircean/American descent. If – within the post- Saussurean agenda – meaning can be fairly easily “framed” and closed in the field of the signified, Peirce’s concepts of interpretant and infinite semiosis implement a mechanism which inherently obliterates the frame. Given this duality of approaches, the contention “No meaning without a frame” is thus true and paradoxical at the same time, and that paradox goes far beyond the Derridean concept of the parergon, which only belongs to both the inside and the outside. The frame, as construed in this paper, is not merely a material or imaginary, inactive partition, but is itself an operational agent which isolates and delineates a text ontologically as the other of the context, and simultaneously subverts that otherness by necessitating further semiosis and its own partial self-erasure. Regarding the interrelations amongst texts and between text and context, the frame is thus envisaged, and investigated in the paper, not so much as a factor of resistance or separation, but as an osmotic boundary facilitating rather than preventing a bi-directional flow of meanings. Putting this in epistemological terms, one may say that interpretation – paradoxically again –requires an enframing of its object, but at the same time it dissolves the stipulated frame and reaches beyond it.

Ako nakladať s referenčným systémom úplne odlišnej kultúrnej tradície?

Author(s): Marína Carnogurská / Language(s): Slovak / Issue: 3/1999

Až teraz vlastne chápem, prečo som na medzinárodnej transdisciplinárnej konferencii s názvom Diskurz - Intelektuáli - Sociálna komunikácia, zorganizovanej Kabinetom výskumu sociálnej a biologickej komunikácie SAV v roku 1996 v Bratislave, upútala pozornosť prof. Flewa, rovnako ako naopak on, spomedzi všetkých ostatných zahraničných .účastníkov, najväčšmi upútal moju pozornosť i môj filozofický záujem oňho.

All the Superhero’s Names

Author(s): Olga Poller / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2016

In this paper I concern myself with The Superman Puzzle (the phenomenon of the substitution failure of co-referential proper names in simple sentences). I argue that the descriptive content associated with proper names, besides determining the proper name’s reference, function as truth-conditionally relevant adjuncts which can be used to express a manner, reason, goal, time or purpose of action. In that way a sentence with a proper name “NN is doing something” could be understood as “NN is doing something as NN” (which means “as-soand-so”). I argue that the substitution of names can fail on modified readings because the different descriptive content of proper names modifies the main predicate differently. Here I present a formal representation of modified predicates which allows one to model intuitively the different truth-conditions of sentences from The Puzzle.

Anafora z pohľadu TIL-ky

Author(s): František Gahér / Language(s): Slovak / Issue: 2/2005

Keď som svojho času napísal článok o anafore a pojmových postojoch, uviedol som v ňom a j motiváciu a ciele. Motiváciou bol fakt. že hoci j a v anafory (odkazovania v texte) sa na jednej strane z hľadiska porozumenia textu bežným užívateľom považuje za niečo triválne, predsa päť známych druhov vysvetlenia j a v u anafory, ktoré pojem významu na rozdiel od pojmu vyplývania považovali za základný sémantický pojem, zlyhávalo v prípade propozičných (vo všeobecnosti pojmových) postojov.

Analiza tekstu jako zdarzenia komunikacyjnego

Author(s): Edyta Paluszynska / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 17/2010

Celem artykułu jest próba opisania następstw, jakie wynikają z podejścia do tekstu jako zdarzenia komunikacyjnego. Zostaną one omówione na płaszczyźnie ontologicznej, typologicznej, semantycznej. Rozpatrywanie tekstu w kategoriach komunikacji hierarchizuje te dwa pojęcia operacyjne. Kierunek podporządkowania jest taki, że tekst jako pojęcie podrzędne dziedziczy cechy jednostki wyższego rzędu, czyli komunikacji. Najważniejszą z nich jest cecha ontologiczna, podstawowa: komunikacja jest procesem, rodzajem działalności ludzkiej . Zatem postrzeganie tekstu jako zdarzenia komunikacyjnego zmienia jego dotychczasowy status z substancjalnego (tekst jako produkt, efekt działań) na procesualny2 . Ze zmianą cechy ontologicznej wiąże się zweryfikowanie uprzednio przyjmowanych przeświadczeń i otwarcie nowych perspektyw badawczych.

Analogia w służbie realizmu metafizyki i antropologii

Author(s): Jerzy Krzanowski / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2013

1. In this article we presented a metaphysical analysis of the analogy, presenting it as an essential condition for ontological and cognitive realism. 2. We use analogy every day, both in philosophy and in ordinary life, expressing ourselves, description of reality, etc. 3. The analogy is briefly saying “similarity of dissimilar”. 4. The analogy occurs in the ontological, cognitive and language aspect (predication), providing them with realism. The main aspect is the aspect of the ontic. 5. Apart from realistic analogy, there is also the analogy in poetry and language of mysticism, called a metaphor or parable. However, it is connected with subjective and experiential human world. 6. The analogy exists primarily as a way of cognition, which reveals ontological pluralism of the world. This cognition is a reflection of analogical being in terms of its constituent compositions and both intra-being (integrating parts, essence and existence, substance and accidents, matter and form, act and potency, etc.) and inter- beings relations. 7. The analogy of cognition is realized as: metaphorical analogy, analogy of attribution and the analogy of general and transcendental proportionality. 8. In the predication we have to deal with analogy of predicates and the analogy of the predicate rule. 9. The analogical inference is an extension of analogy of predication.

Analysing Dangerous Emotions: Pragmatics of Jealousy in Othello’s Speech

Author(s): Alina Ielisieieva / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2017

To achieve its cathartic effect tragedy must communicate and elicit emotions. Any dramatic utterance, treated as an act of communication within the represented world, rests on the interaction of two inseparable, accordant, and interrelated systems – language and emotions. Language can name and verbalize emotions in order to construct them in the dramatic world, but to create a linguistic image of a believable emotional utterance the language a character speaks must appear to be infl uenced and shaped by emotions. Further, that mimetic representation of emotion through language must be understood by the audience. To achieve this, dramatic language must either rely on conventional linguistic means used to express emotions or create its own code that will be decoded by the audience. The audience will vicariously experience the characters’ emotions by recognizing them in their language and actions. The emotionally dynamic image of Othello, one of the most passionate men of Elizabethan drama, is created primarily by the language he uses. To follow the changes in the syntax and the semantics of his language as the action of the play develops is to observe the transformation of the character from a loving and caring husband into a jealous beast that knows no mercy. The article will offer an analysis of the pragmalinguistic representation of jealousy in Othello’s language and show how his discourse changes in the text. The analysis will rely on basic pragmatic categories and consider Othello’s use of directives, assertives, expressives, etc. The emotional change in Othello will also be illustrated by a brief study of the change in his syntax and his vocabulary: from balanced rhetorics and sophisticated words to erratic speech and expletive swearwords.

Analyzing Migration across Literature: Russian Émigré Literature in the Texts of A. Averchenko and Z. Shakhovskaya

Author(s): Erdem Erinç / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2017

This paper uses historical resources, extensively, from the texts of Russian émigré authors A. Averchenko and Z. Shakhovskaya who both wrote on two of the main refugee migrant evacuations out of Russia to Istanbul. The aim was to reveal the role of literary texts in forming a better understanding of the dynamics of such evacuations. The main reason for choosing the above authors’ texts (Notes of a Fool by A. Averchenko and Life Style from the book “Takov moi vek” by Z. Shakhovskaya) was that they were written about two very different evacuations, although both took place during the same first wave of Russian migration. The first is known as General Denikin’s and the second as General Wrangel’s evacuation. The authors were also chosen because of their different age and gender. Analyzing author’s literary texts about differing types, refugee migrant evacuations provides an opportunity to evaluate the dynamics of such evacuations, as well providing an opportunity to read history from another perspective, utilizing various factors and variables such as time, generation and gender.

Antikos Kinikų Iššūkis Šiuolaikiniam Pasauliui: Vaistai Chroniškai Civilizacijos Ligai Gydyti

Author(s): Vytis Valatka / Language(s): Lithuanian / Issue: 66/2011

This article analyses one of the most important and interesting aspects of ancient Greek cynicism. Namely, the diagnosis of the main disease of ancient Greek civilization – the chase of surplus of pleasures – is investigated. The author of the article also explores radical temperance as the only remedy prescribed for that malignant malady together with askesis – the recipe for production of that remedy. The relevance of such a remedy to the modern form of above mentioned malady is as well analyzed. The article comes to conclusion that radical temperance once proposed by cynics is simply an overbitter and overtough tablet for unduly squeamish stomach of contemporary man. Meanwhile, the milder and softer variant of that tablet could contribute to mitigation of eternal malaise of civilization. That is, not radical but considerably milder form of temperance, which could be entitled the sense of proportion in everything; not ultimate constraint on human needs but just a reduction of consummation, could become contemporary means of prophylaxis. Similarly, askesis of ancient Greek cynics deprived of its radical dimension could become one of possible ways to achieve above mentioned sense of proportion.