DOCSLIB.ORG

3. from the Ontology of Interaction to the Semiotics of Education

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
3. from the Ontology of Interaction to the Semiotics of Education EETU PIKKARAINEN 3. FROM THE ONTOLOGY OF INTERACTION TO THE SEMIOTICS OF EDUCATION INTRODUCTION In the philosophy of education, there seems to be a shift towards an ontological turn. The purpose of this chapter is to contribute to the ongoing discussion by framing what the ontology for a philosophy of education could be and what it could offer. Some of the current literature in this movement will be reviewed briefly and critiqued for a too narrow and too shallow understanding of ontology and a lack of ontological seriousness. The task of ontology will then be concretized as the solving of fundamental problems in the philosophy of education. A solution to these problems will be sketched by introducing an alternative ontological theory originally developed by C. B. Martin. This solution is closely connected to the theme of this book because Martin’s theory is essentially the ontology of interaction. Finally, it will be argued that one cannot draw practical conclusions directly from ontological theory: at the very least, a semiotic analysis of human interaction is needed. WHAT THE ONTOLOGY FOR A PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION COULD BE Ontology is a core area of theoretical philosophy. A common and useful delineation is to say that theoretical philosophy is divided into epistemology, the study of knowledge, and metaphysics, the study of reality as such. Furthermore, ontology is the most general area of metaphysics; it is the study of “being as being” – the most basic structure of reality (Loux 1998, 15). The concept of category is used frequently here; it usually refers to the most general classifications into which beings can be divided. Such classifications are typically objects or substances, properties, kinds or species, relations, events or processes, and the like. Ontological theories usually try to determine what categories there are and the formal relations between categories; for example, is one category dependent on another? (e.g., Loux 1998; Lowe 2001; Keinänen 2008). After the empiricist critiques (especially Hume’s), Kant’s Copernican Revolution, and the rise of analytic philosophy, metaphysics lost its reputation for a time. In his Critique of Pure Reason, Kant tried to show that, although our knowledge of reality is structured categorically, those categories must reside only in the transcendental structure of our cognitive apparatus; we have neither right nor reason to claim anything about the structure of reality as such, even though that reality is the source K. Tirri and E. Kuusisto (Eds.), Interaction in Educational Domains, 51–61. © 2013 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved. E. PIKKARAINEN of our knowledge (see Kant 1982/1787, the preface to the second edition). In the last century, metaphysics and ontology again became respectable areas of research, but, at least to begin with, only in a Kantian (or neo-Kantian) mode as a means of analyzing human ontological commitments. A leading figure here was P. F. Strawson (1959), who called his approach descriptive metaphysics (a description of the common and necessary way to think about reality) as different from revisionary approaches, which can only be either minuscule corrections to the descriptive theory or then perhaps beautiful, but unbelievable constructions, such as the pre-Kantian rational ontologies of Descartes, Leibniz, or Berkeley. At the end of the twentieth century and continuing into the twenty-first, a renaissance of serious, revisionary ontology as the study of reality occurred, independent of the structure of our cognitive apparatus (e.g., Armstrong 1980). It became usual to redefine descriptive vs. revisionary differentiation so that both are situated as serious metaphysics of a mind-independent reality. However, descriptive now began to be devalued and restricted, while revisionary – generally taking off from the problems found in descriptive studies – endeavored to formulate new and better hypotheses about the basic structure of reality (Keinänen 2008). Of course, we have no way of evaluating these hypotheses empirically as is done with scientific hypotheses, but rather we must assess these instead using formal criteria (comprehensiveness, methodicalness, conceptual economy, and elegance) and perhaps indirectly by considering their helpfulness in solving theoretical problems unsolvable in other ways (Martin & Heil 1999, 49). Thus, there are four possible approaches of ontology as the cross tabulation of two dimensions. First, there is the dimension of seriousness (reality as such) vs. non-seriousness (thoughts and commitments) and second, there is the dimension of descriptiveness (interpretive) vs. revisionism (inventive). The serious descriptive and revisionary alternatives have been briefly described above. The non-serious descriptive area could perhaps be thought of as a phenomenological analysis of ontological commitments. The last area of non-seriousness and revisionism is especially interesting and important for ontology in a philosophy of education. I would tentatively call it practical ontology, because it has a close connection to the questions of practical philosophy and is perhaps even thought to be based on values. (See Table 1.) The borderlines between these areas should probably not be stressed, but rather their interdependence and fruitful interaction should be emphasized. So what can these areas or approaches offer the philosophy of education? If we accept that a philosophy of education is an essential part of the theory of education, a theory that should help us understand what education is – that is, what are we doing Table 1. Different Approaches of Ontology Object Aim Thoughts about being Being as such Description Phenomenological commitment analysis Descriptive metaphysics/ontology Invention “Practical ontology” Revisionary metaphysics/ontology 52.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Philosophy As a Path to Happiness
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto Philosophy as a Path to Happiness Attainment of Happiness in Arabic Peripatetic and Ismaili Philosophy Janne Mattila ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki in auditorium XII, University main building, on the 13th of June, 2011 at 12 o’clock. ISBN 978-952-92-9077-2 (paperback) ISBN 978-952-10-7001-3 (PDF) http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/ Helsinki University Print Helsinki 2011 2 Abstract The aim of this study is to explore the idea of philosophy as a path to happiness in medieval Arabic philosophy. The starting point is in comparison of two distinct currents within Arabic philosophy between the 10th and early 11th centuries, Peripatetic philosophy, represented by al-Fārābī and Ibn Sīnā, and Ismaili philosophy represented by al-Kirmānī and the Brethren of Purity. These two distinct groups of sources initially offer two contrasting views about philosophy. The attitude of the Peripatetic philosophers is rationalistic and secular in spirit, whereas for the Ismailis philosophy represents the esoteric truth behind revelation. Still, the two currents of thought converge in their view that the ultimate purpose of philosophy lies in its ability to lead man towards happiness. Moreover, they share a common concept of happiness as a contemplative ideal of human perfection, merged together with the Neoplatonic goal of the soul’s reascent to the spiritual world. Finally, for both happiness refers primarily to an otherworldly state thereby becoming a philosophical interpretation of the Quranic accounts of the afterlife.
    [Show full text]
  • Hume's Chief Argument
    Chapter 6 Hume’s Chief Argument Peter Millican I Skepticism, Empiricism, Naturalism, and Irreligion David Hume’s philosophy is complex and multifaceted, generating considerable debate over which themes within it should be seen as dominant. Historically, most of his crit- ics have viewed him as a negative skeptic who either deliberately sets out to show the weaknesses and contradictions in human reason,1 or else is driven to do so by follow- ing through the logical implications of his philosophical premises.2 Prominent among these premises is the concept-empiricist assumption inherited from Locke, which Hume expresses as his Copy Principle, that all ideas are derived from impressions (T 1.1.1.7/4; EU 2.5/19). But this is not in itself a skeptical principle, and some interpret- ers have seen it as providing the keystone of a more constructive philosophy.3 Another very prominent theme in Hume’s work is his “Attempt to introduce the experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects.” In accordance with this ambitious subtitle, the Treatise aspires to lay the groundwork of a science of human nature that can explain cognitive operations (such as factual belief and the apprehension of external objects) in terms of the association of ideas, enabling Hume to be seen as an associationist or early cognitive scientist.4 Although the associationism fades in his later works,5 Hume’s epis- temic-empiricist commitment to the “experimental” science of man remains a pervasive theme in virtually all of his philosophy, including the two Enquiries and Dissertation on the Passions, the essays on politics, economics, and aesthetics, and his various contribu- tions to the philosophy of religion.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Kant on Theoretical, Practical and Practico-Theoretical Metaphysics
    Metaphysics about Metaphysics. Artigos / Articles “METAPHYSICS ABOUT METAPHYSICS.”1 KANT ON THEORETICAL, PRACTICAL AND PRACTICO-THEORETICAL METAPHYSICS Günter ZÖLLER 2 “[...] since my subject proper is metaphysics in the widest meaning.“3 The essay investigates the relation between metaphysics and practical philosophy in Kant by reconstructing Kant‘s systematic typology of metaphysics as developed in his critical writings. Section 1 deals with Kant’s rigorous reduction of philosophy to metaphysics. The focus here is on the epistemological turn effectuated by Kant with regard to metaphysics (theoretical metaphysics). Section 2 is concerned with Kant’s reconceptualization of (pure) practical philosophy as a metaphysics sui generis. At the center stands here Kant’s supplementation of the metaphysics of nature through a metaphysics of morals based on moral freedom (practical metaphysics). Section 3 addresses the merging of theoretical and practical metaphysics in Kant. The focus here lies on Kant’s introduction of a novel, practically validated form of (quasi-) theoretical metaphysics (practico-theoretical metaphysics). Throughout the essay combines an analytic interest in the forms and functions of metaphysics in Kant with a systematic interest in the practical and practico-theoretical transformation of previously theoretical metaphysics in Kant, which morphs from a doctrine of the objects of nature through a doctrine of the laws of freedom to a doctrine of wisdom regarding the supersensible.4 https://doi.org/10.36311/2318-0501.2021.v9n1.p163 Estudos Kantianos, Marília, v. 9, n. 1, p. 163-184, Jan./Jun., 2021 163 ZÖLLER, G. 1. THEORETICAL METAPHYSICS From early on and until the end, metaphysics stands at the center of Kant’s philosophical thinking.
    [Show full text]
  • The Philosopher-Prophet in Avicenna's Political Philosophy
    The philosopher-prophet in Avicenna's political philosophy Author: James Winston Morris Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/4029 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Published in Political aspects of Islamic philosophy, pp. 152-198 Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons "Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States" (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/) The P~~losopher-Prophet in. AVic~nna's Political Philosophy. Chapter 4 of The PolItICal Aspects of IslamIc PhIlosophy, ed. C. Butterworth, Cambridge Harvard University Press, 1992, pp. 142-188. ' -FOUR- The Philosopher-Prophet in Avicenna~s Political Philosophy James W. Morris With time, human beings tend to take miracles for granted. Perhaps the most lasting and public of all miracles, those to which Islamic philosophers devoted so much of their reflections, were the political achievements of the prophets: how otherwise obscure figures like Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad came to shape the thoughts and actions of so much of civilized humanity. Within the high culture of Islamic civilization, the thought and writings of an itinerant Persian doctor and court administrator we know as Avicenna (370/980~28/1037) came to play a similarly central role: for almost a millenium, each of the tra­ ditions of Islamic thought claiming a wider, universal human validity has appealed either directly to his works or to logical and metaphysical disciplines whose Islamic forms were directly grounded in them. This study considers some of the central philosophic under­ pinnings of that achievement.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Kant's Theoretical Philosophy: the 'Analytic' Tradition James R. O'shea
    Kant’s Theoretical Philosophy: The ‘Analytic’ Tradition James R. O’Shea, University College Dublin (To appear in: Sorin Baiasu and Mark Timmons, eds., The Kantian Mind, London and New York: Routledge, during 2020-21. ISBN-10: 1138827487, ISBN-13: 978-1138827486). This is a draft, not for circulation.) ABSTRACT: In a previous article (O’Shea 2006) I provided a concise overview of the reception of Kant’s philosophy among analytic philosophers during the periods from the ‘early analytic’ reactions to Kant in Frege, Russell, Carnap and others, to the systematic Kant-inspired works in epistemology and metaphysics of C. I. Lewis and P. F. Strawson, in particular. In this chapter I use the recently reinvigorated work of Wilfrid Sellars (1912–1989) in the second half of the twentieth century as the basis for presenting some of the most familiar ‘analytic Kantian’ themes that continue to animate current debates. I also argue that the complex relationships between Sellars’ philosophy and Kant’s thought are often misunderstood. Overall the chapter examines Sellars’ analytic appropriations of Kant in three topic-areas of significant current philosophical debate: (1) conceptual analysis and the structure of human knowledge; (2) laws of nature, the causal modalities, and the pragmatic or relative a priori; and (3) the disputes concerning Kant and nonconceptual content. * * * Kant’s complex relationship to what came to be known as the twentieth century ‘analytic’ tradition in philosophy might usefully be divided into three phases. (1) First, spanning roughly the first two-thirds of the twentieth century, there was predominantly, though not entirely, a rejection of Kant’s theoretical philosophy, beginning with the Cambridge analysts Russell and Moore, followed also by the logical positivists, and then by the so-called ‘ordinary language’ philosophers at mid-century.
    [Show full text]
  • Kelvin Knight Aristotelianism Versus Communitarianism
    Analyse & Kritik 27/2005 ( c Lucius & Lucius, Stuttgart) p. 259{273 Kelvin Knight Aristotelianism versus Communitarianism Abstract: Alasdair MacIntyre is an Aristotelian critic of communitarianism, which he understands to be committed to the politics of the capitalist and bureaucratic nation- state. The politics he proposes instead is based in the resistance to managerial insti- tutions of what he calls `practices', because these are schools of virtue. This shares little with the communitarianism of a Taylor or the Aristotelianism of a Gadamer. Although practices require formal institutions. MacIntyre opposes such conservative politics. Conventional accounts of a `liberal-communitarian debate' in political phi- losophy face the dilemma that Alasdair MacIntyre, often identified as a paradigmatic communitarian, has consistently and emphatically repudiated this characterization. Although neo-Aristotelianism is sometimes seen as a philosophical warrant for commu- nitarian politics, MacIntyre's Aristotelianism is opposed to communitarianism. This paper explores the rationale of that opposition. 1. Communitarianisms The term \communitarianism" was used by imaginative polemicists in the 1980s, and has been used by unimaginative textbook writers since then, to signify the criticism by a variety of Anglophone political philosophers of John Rawls' A Theory of Justice for resting upon overly individualist premisses. Despite the synthesizing efforts of Amitai Etzioni, it does not represent a coherent philo- sophical position. Nor can it do so unless some one theorist is chosen as its representative. Perhaps the best Anglophone candidate for such a position is Charles Taylor, yet Taylor considers the liberal-communitarian debate to have been conducted at `cross-purposes', with regard both to `ontological' issues of social theory and to moral or `advocacy' issues (Taylor 1989).
    [Show full text]
  • Reconciling Islam and Philosophy in the Virtuous City: Rereading Al-Farabi's Al-Madinah Al-Fadilah Within 10Th-Century Islamic
    RECONCILING ISLAM AND PHILOSOPHY IN THE VIRTUOUS CITY: REREADING AL-FARABI’S AL-MADINAH AL-FADILAH WITHIN 10TH-CENTURY ISLAMIC THOUGHT A Thesis Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS by Justin M. Nigro May 2017 Examining Committee Members: Dr. Khalid Y. Blankinship, Advisory Chair, Department of Religion Dr. Vasiliki M. Limberis, Advisory Committee, Department of Religion © Copyright 2017 by Justin M. Nigro All Rights Reserved ii ABSTRACT In his tenth-century work, al-Madīnah al-Fāḍilah, the Muslim philosopher Abū Naṣr al- Fārābī posits a solution to the internecine hostilities between Muslim intellectual communities which occurred as a result of conflicting positions on the relationship between revelation and reason, religion and philosophy. In this work al-Fārābī demonstrates that both religion and philosophy are derived from, and dependent upon, divine revelation from Allah to the Prophet. Modern scholars of al-Fārābī interpret his work differently, reading him as an enemy of religion who subordinates Islam to philosophy. In this thesis, after establishing al-Fārābī within the historical and ideological context of tenth-century Islamic thought I analyze al-Madīnah al- Fāḍilah in light of a commentary on the text by Richard Walzer, who is among those scholars who read al-Fārābī as an enemy of Islam who merely reproduces Greek philosophy in Arabic. Contrasting the original Arabic text with Walzer’s English translation and commentary I apply readings of several of al-Fārābī’s other works as an interpretive lens, through which the correct reading of al-Madīnah al-Fāḍilah is made clear.
    [Show full text]
  • Kant's Philosophy of the Unconscious
    Kant’s Philosophy of the Unconscious Kant’s Philosophy of the Unconscious Edited by Piero Giordanetti · Riccardo Pozzo · Marco Sgarbi De Gruyter An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libra- ries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open Access. More information about the initiative can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libra- ries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open Access. More information about the initiative can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org ISBN 978-3-11-021808-4 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-021809-1 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-021806-2 ISSN 0179-0986 e-ISSN 0179-3256 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License, as of February 23, 2017. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliogra- fie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.dnb.de abrufbar. ©ISBN 2016 978-3-11-021808-4 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Drucke-ISBN und (PDF) Bindung: 978-3-11-021809-1 Duck & Co., Ortsname ♾e-ISBN Gedruckt (EPUB) auf 978-3-11-021806-2 säurefreiem Papier PrintedISSN 0179-0986 in Germany e-ISSN 0179-3256 ISBN 978-3-11-020403-2 www.degruyter.com e-ISBN 978-3-11-026540-8 This work is licensedLibrary under the of CongressCreative Commons Cataloging-in-Publication Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Data 3.0 License, asA of CIP February catalog 23, record2017.
    [Show full text]
  • A Lecture on Islamic Philosophy
    A LECTURE ON ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY I. Arabic Translations of Greek Works. As is well known, the Islamic state, which the prophet Muh. ammad had founded in Mad¯ınah in the 7th century A.D., expanded very rapidly in the following years, so that by the middle of the 8th century we find Muslims in control of the lands stretching all the way from Spain in the West to the borders of India in the East. Less well known perhaps is that the Christian scholars of those conquered areas, particularly in Syria and Iraq, had for some time been students of Greek philoso- phy and science and had translated many Greek works into Syriac, which was the language they were using at the time of the Muslim conquests. Later during the ninth century, at the command of the Muslim caliphs, they translated these Greek works from Syriac into Arabic and often directly from Greek into Arabic. Among the Greek works which they translated during this period were all the works of Aristotle with the exception of his Politics, Plato’s Timaeus, Republic, and Laws, and various works of such Neoplatonists as Proclus, Porphyry, Plotinus, and oth- ers. It is through these translations from Greek into Arabic that Muslims became acquainted with Greek philosophical thought.1 II. Some Famous Muslim Philosophers. What we call Islamic or Arabic philosophy is then a continuation and revival of the late Greek philosophical tradition undertaken by people who considered them- selves Muslims and who wrote in Arabic instead of Greek and Syriac. Let me mention a few of the most famous of these Muslim philosophers.
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophy: Theory and Practice
    Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Philosophy Philosophy: Theory and Practice Moscow 2013 УДК 100 ББК 87 Р 57 Editors V. Sharova, E. Trufanova, A. Yakovleva Р 57 Philosophy: Theory and Practice / Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Philosophy; Ed.: V. Sharova, E. Trufanova, A. Yakovleva. – М. : ИФ РАН, 2013. – 268 p. ; 20 см. – 500 экз. – ISBN 978-5-9540-0258-4. This book is a collection of papers presented at the XXIII World Congress of Philosophy (4–10 August, 2013, Athens, Greece) by research fellows and affiliated students and postgraduates of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The pa- pers represent a broad variety of philosophical subjects lying within such disciplines as epistemology, history of philosophy, philosophy of science, ethics, social and political philosophy, logic etc. ISBN 978-5-9540-0258-4 © Athors, 2013 © Institute of Philosophy RAS, 2013 CONTENTS Guseynov A. Philosophy as an Ethical Project .............................................................. 5 I. Epistemology and Logic Lektorskiy V. Rationality in Contemporary Culture .................................................... 22 Avtonomova N. Roman Jakobson’s Life in Language and the Epistemological Potential of His Idea of Structure ........................................ 28 Beskova I. Human Embodiment as a Complex Phenomenon ..................................... 32 Kanaev I. Awareness of the Body as a Form of Self-Consciousness .......................... 37 Kasavin I. Underdetermination of Knowledge by Context: A
    [Show full text]
  • The Relationship Between Moral Justice and Practical Wisdom from the View of Aristotle
    Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi Fen Fakültesi Cumhuriyet University Faculty of Science Fen Bilimleri Dergisi (CFD), Cilt:36, No: 6 Ozel Sayı (2015) Science Journal (CSJ), Vol. 36, No: 6 Special Issue (2015) ISSN: 1300-1949 ISSN: 1300-1949 The Relationship between Moral Justice and Practical Wisdom from the View of Aristotle Maria Seyed GHOREISHI1, Ghodratullah REZAI2,* 1Assistant Professor of Tehran University 2PHD student in Education Teaching of Tehran University Received: 01.02.2015; Accepted: 06.06.2015 ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract. The theory of justice of Aristotle is one of the most important principles of Aristotelian ethics affected on many moral philosophers. But there is an argument. Is the justice the whole virtue or it is the part of the virtues? Is there any other virtue over all virtues comprehensively? Aristotle has differentiated between the concept of “justice as a comprehensive virtue” and the concept of “justice as the part of virtues” relates to the difference between “real mediocrity” and “intermediate of actions” in his opinion. In order to achieve the relationship between the justice and the practical wisdom and the recognition of the theory of Aristotelian virtue and mediocrity, first of all we refer to the position of the practical wisdom in this theory and then separate the concept of justice as “the comprehensive and full virtue” and the concept of justice as “the social action” from the view of Aristotle and finally we pay attention to the true justice and the practical wisdom as the real mediocrity. Since the concept of happiness is directly related to the explanation of the theory, first of all this concept of Aristotle’s view is examined.
    [Show full text]
  • Adam Smith in Immanuel Kant's Moral Philosophy
    Adam Smith in Immanuel Kant’s Moral Philosophy Guy Richardson Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Politics and International Studies The University of Adelaide August 2017 Contents Contents ................................................................................................................... ii Abstract .................................................................................................................... v Declaration .............................................................................................................. vi Note on Sources ..................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. x Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 PART 1 – BACKGROUND TO THE KANT-SMITH RELATIONSHIP ....... 7 Chapter 1: The Apparently Strange Relationship between Immanuel Kant and Adam Smith ............................................................................................................. 8 Kant’s References to The Wealth of Nations ........................................................ 13 Kant’s References to The Theory of Moral Sentiments ........................................ 19 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 24 Chapter 2: Smith’s
    [Show full text]