ORIGINS of the PRIVATE Language ARGUMENT 59
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Dialectical Materialism and Science
MARXISM TODAY SERIES EDITED BY PROFESSOR BENJAMIN FARRINGTON, M.A. 7 DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM AND SCIENCE MAURICE CORNFORTH LAWRENCE & WISHART LTD LONDON 1949 NOTE This booklet is based on a report given to a conference of British Marxist scientists in London in June 1949. The original report has been amplified and corrected in the light of the discussion which there took place, and additional material has been added. What follows is to a great extent a collective effort. I am alone responsible for the form in which it here appears; and, in particular, for any mistakes that may be found in it; but it could not possibly have been written without the help of a number of comrades and it represents the summary of many discussions. Maurice Cornforth London, August 1949 CONTENTS Page I. THE CRISIS OF BOURGEOIS SCIENCE 5 Basic Conceptions 5 Successive Development of the Sciences 6 Achievements of Analysis 7 Two Kinds of Analysis 8 The Tendency of Analysis to Become Metaphysical 9 Evolution 11 Dialectical Materialism, a Scientific Generalisation 13 The Revolutionary Character of Dialectical Materialism 13 Frustration of Science 16 Crisis of Ideas 17 Two Trends in Science 20 II. MATERIALISM VERSUS IDEALISM 21 Against Idealism and Mechanism 21 Mechanical Materialism in the Fight Against Idealism 23 Three Types of Idealism 26 The Doctrine of Limitation 28 Positivism 29 The Materialist Theory of Knowledge 30 III. DIALECTICS VERSUS METAPHYSICS 34 Mechanism as a Form of Metaphysics 35 Deterministic and Statistical Regularities 36 Criticism of Mechanism -
Ethics, Information, and Our “It-From-Bit” Universe Terrell Ward Bynum Southern Connecticut State University
1 Terrell Ward Bynum February 25, 2018 Ethics, Information, and Our “It-from-Bit” Universe Terrell Ward Bynum Southern Connecticut State University The essence of the Computer Revolution is found in the It from bit . every particle, every field of force, even the spacetime nature of a computer itself. What is revolutionary about continuum itself . derives its function, its meaning, its very existence computers is logical malleability. James H. Moor 1985 from [bits]. John Archibald Wheeler 1990 Abstract: Using information technology, humans have brought about the “Information Revolution,” which is changing the world faster and more profoundly than ever before, and generating an enormous number of ethical “policy vacuums”. How is this possible? An answer is suggested by ideas from James Moor regarding “logical malleability,” in his classic paper “What is Computer Ethics?” (1985) The present essay combines Moor’s ideas with the hypothesis that all physical entities — including spacetime and the universe as a whole — are dynamic data structures. To show the usefulness of taking such an approach, in both physics and in computer ethics, a suggested “it-from-bit” model of the universe is briefly sketched, and relevant predictions are offered about the future of computer and information ethics. 1. Introduction One of the most fruitful and insightful claims about the nature of the universe was made by philosopher/scientist Norbert Wiener in an address to the New York Academy of Sciences in autumn of 1946. Apparently, Wiener was the first to recognize the physical nature of “environmental information,” as it is often called today. It suddenly became clear to him — while advising Claude Shannon on how to determine the amount of information being carried in a telephone wire (Conway and Siegelman, 2005, 164, 186) — that environmental information is physical and is fundamentally related to the second law of thermodynamics. -
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Maurice Cornforth MARXISM AND THE LINGI-JISTIC PHILOSOPHY This is a book about the problems of contemporary British philosophy. It con- tains a searching examination of the whole train of thought that has led from the be- ginnings of British Empiricism, through the development of mathematical Iogic and analytic philosophy, to the present pre- occupation of British philosophers with questions about language. Mr Cornforth has sought to begin a dialogue between Marxism and the Linguistic Philosophy. He makes a positive assessment of the contribution of such thinkers as Wittgenstein, Austin, Ryle and Hare, agreeing u'ith them that investi- gation of the uses of words is of fundamental importance for right thinking. At the same time he makes an energetic criticism both of their underlying assumptions and of many points of their analysis of "the logic oF language". Several chapters are devoted to questions of Logic and questions of Ethics, as raised in contemporary philosophy, and an alternative approach to these questions is attempted. The last part of the book con- tains a restatement, in the light of the pre- ceding discussion, of the Marxist point of view on questions of dialectics and the laws of thought, the laws of development of society, and human purposes and values. Mr Cornforth writes with clarity and humour, and with an easy mastery of technicalities. This book will be of value both to those specially interested in trends of academic philosophy, and to those con- cerned with wider questions of contempor- ary life and thought. 55s. net MARXISM AND THE LINGUISTIC PHILOSOPHY •W MARXISM AND THE LINGUISTIC PHILOSOPHY by MAURICE CORNFORTH 1967 LAWRENCE & WISHART LONDON Copyright © Maurice Cornforth, 196J First Edition 1965 Second Edition 1967 FftlNTBD AND BOUND IN BNO&AND BT HAZBLt. -
Computer Ethics: Basic Concepts and Historical Overview
Computer Ethics: Basic Concepts and Historical Overview http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2001/entries/ethics-computer/ This is a file in the archives of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy . Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z Computer Ethics: Basic Concepts and Historical Overview Computer ethics is a new branch of ethics that is growing and changing rapidly as computer technology also grows and develops. The term "computer ethics" is open to interpretations both broad and narrow. On the one hand, for example, computer ethics might be understood very narrowly as the efforts of professional philosophers to apply traditional ethical theories like utilitarianism, Kantianism, or virtue ethics to issues regarding the use of computer technology. On the other hand, it is possible to construe computer ethics in a very broad way to include, as well, standards of professional practice, codes of conduct, aspects of computer law, public policy, corporate ethics--even certain topics in the sociology and psychology of computing. In the industrialized nations of the world, the "information revolution" already has significantly altered many aspects of life -- in banking and commerce, work and employment, medical care, national defense, transportation and entertainment. Consequently, information technology has begun to affect (in both good and bad ways) community life, family life, human relationships, education, freedom, democracy, and so on (to name a few examples). Computer ethics in the broadest sense can be understood as that branch of applied ethics which studies and analyzes such social and ethical impacts of information technology. -
[, Maurice Cornforth] E a Crítica Marxista Ao Pragmatismo 67 Panhamento No Título (Que Nada Mais Terá De Misterioso)
V M-V [, M C] P Paulo Antunes1 (Universidade de Lisboa) É no processo da atividade prática, sobre as bases das necessidades materiais da vida da sociedade (não na prática con- cebida de um modo limitado, reduzida à experiência e ao experi- mento, não na prática concebida no espírito do subjetivismo dos pragmatistas e instrumentalistas) que não só se têm aperfeiçoado historicamente os próprios órgãos dos sentidos humanos e se os tem prolongado pela técnica, como se desenvolve o pensamento abstrato com base na linguagem e que, instância decisória, se verifi ca em que dose e até que ponto é ou pode ele ser, dentro de quadros sociais históricos determinados, fi dedigno e verdadeiro. Vasco de Magalhães-Vilhena, 1964. § 1. Notas preambulares: em memória de Vasco de Magalhães-Vilhena Antes de começar, gostava de cumprimentar todos os presentes di- zendo que é com enorme satisfação que me encontro aqui a prestar home- nagem a Vasco de Magalhães-Vilhena (1916-1993) que já só me chegou através dos seus escritos, o que porventura muito honrará a quem fez do 1 [email protected] Philosophica, 49, Lisboa, 2017, pp. 65-78. 66 Paulo Antunes pensamento e da escrita parte essencial da sua vida2. Avancemos que o tempo é escasso para delongas. A comunicação que vos apresento, mais do que tomar como objeto a bibliografi a e/ou biografi a do homenageado ou apresentar sucintamente um tema ou temas que o cativaram, pretende, antes, servir-se de uma ou outra referência episódica dos seus textos. Para o caso, a comunicação pre- tende servir-se das referências que remetem, como o título anuncia, para a crítica marxista ao Pragmatismo. -
Stylesheet IJIE
IRIE International Review of Information Ethics Vol.7 (09/2007) Charles Ess Cybernetic Pluralism in an Emerging Global Information and Computing Ethics1 Abstract: I trace the development of an emerging global Information and Computing Ethics (ICE), arguing that ethical pluralism – as found in both Western and Asian traditions – is crucial to such an ICE. In particular, ethical pluralism – as affiliated with notions of judgment (phronesis in Aristotle and the cybernetes in Plato), reson- ance, and harmony – holds together shared ethical norms (as required for a shared global ethic) alongside the irreducible differences that define individual and cultural identities. I demonstrate how such pluralism is already at work in both contemporary theory and praxis, including in development projects in diverse cul- tures. I conclude with a number of resonances between this global pluralism and African thought and tradi- tions that thus suggest that such a pluralism may also succeed in the African context, as diverse African cultures and countries seek to benefit from ICTs while maintaining their cultural identities. Agenda Agenda .................................................................................................................................................. 96 I. What is ICE? ...................................................................................................................................... 97 A. Initial canonical definitions ..................................................................................................... -
MAURICE CORNFORTH Greg Mclennan Writes: Maurice Cornforth, the British Communist Philosopher, Died on the Last Day of 1980 After
Marxism Today February 1981 31 MAURICE CORNFORTH say apologetic, for the theories and politics Greg McLennan writes: Maurice Cornforth, associated with Stalin's brand of Soviet Com- the British Communist philosopher, died on munism. Here, the ability to popularise the last day of 1980 after a long illness. He was cannot be praised independently of what it is 71. As a Communist intellectual, Cornforth that is being transmitted, and in this sense throughout his life and work strove to Dialectical Materialism has been a mixed combine very different qualities: those of the achievement. theorist, but also those of the political Whilst the faults of Dialectical Materialism activist. At Cambridge, Cornforth attended are very much bound up with the beliefs and to Wittgenstein, Moore, and Braithwaite, experience of a whole generation of Com- but also formed a Communist Party group, munists, rather than being simply the addressed meetings of workers, and helped oversights of an individual, Cornforth conduct the fight against unemployment in became increasingly aware of the difficulties the town. As a full-time party secretary in in being a 'party philosopher'. As an East Anglia in the 1930s, then as director of individual, one of his distinctive character- Lawrence and Wishart, he still managed to istics was the willingness and ability to wrestle with and criticise the dominant non- reappraise his own work and beliefs in the Marxist philosophical traditions. search for a consistent and honest One measure of Cornforth's success as philosophical position. Cornforth was, in both specialist and populariser is that his fact, a ceaseless 'revisionist'. -
Information Technology and Moral Philosophy
P1: fJZP 9780521855495pre CUFX180/VanDen 978 0 521 85549 5 January 19, 2008 16:57 This page intentionally left blank ii P1: fJZP 9780521855495pre CUFX180/VanDen 978 0 521 85549 5 January 19, 2008 16:57 Information Technology and Moral Philosophy Information technology is an integral part of the practices and insti- tutions of postindustrial society. It is also a source of hard moral ques- tions and thus is both a probing and a relevant area for moral theory. In this volume, an international team of philosophers sheds light on many of the ethical issues arising from information technology, including informational privacy, the digital divide and equal access, e-trust, and teledemocracy. Collectively, these essays demonstrate how accounts of equality and justice and property and privacy benefit from taking into account how information technology has shaped our social and epistemic practices and our moral experiences. Infor- mation technology changes the way we look at the world and deal with one another. It calls, therefore, for a re-examination of notions such as friendship, care, commitment, and trust. Jeroen van den Hoven is professor of moral philosophy at Delft Uni- versity of Technology. He is editor-in-chief of Ethics and Information Technology,amember of the IST Advisory Group of the European Community in Brussels, scientific director of the 3TU Centre for Ethics and Technology in The Netherlands, and coauthor, with Dean Cocking, of Evil Online. John Weckert is a Professorial Fellow at the Centre for Applied Philos- ophy and Public Ethics at Charles Sturt University in Australia. He is editor-in-chief of NanoEthics: Ethics for Technologies That Converge at the Nanoscale and has published widely in the field of computer ethics. -
Materialism and the Dialectical Method
Materialism and the Dialectical Method By MAURICE CORNFORTH Author of Science and Idealism, In Defense of Philosophy In Memory of David Guest Who Died in Spain in the Struggle Against Fascism First printed in the U.S.A. in 1953 Reprinted in 2015 Contents PART ONE: MATERIALISM 1. Party Philosophy 5 2. Materialism and Idealism 15 3. Mechanistic Materialism 28 4. From Mechanistic to Dialectical Materialism 38 5. The Dialectical Conception of Development 46 PART TWO: DIALECTICS 6. Dialectics and Metaphysics 54 7. Change and Interconnection 67 8. The Laws of Development 77 9. The New and the Old 86 10. The Negation of Negation 93 11. Criticism and Self-Criticism 100 12. Dialectical Materialism and Science 107 Conclusions 118 Bibliography 121 Foreword The present volume deals with the basic ideas of Marxist mate- rialism and the dialectical method. A second volume will deal with the further development of these ideas in their application to society and the growth of human consciousness—historical materialism and the theory of knowledge. I have tried to confine myself to a straightforward exposition of the leading ideas of dialectical materialism, so far as I myself have succeeded in understanding them, without burdening the exposition with digressions into more technical questions of philosophy, or with discussions about and polemics against any of the more ab- struse philosophical theories, past and present, or with much of the argumentation about particular points which might be necessary to defend them against philosophical opponents. I have done my best to limit the use of technical terms to the minimum, and to give an explanation of the meaning of all such terms as and when they occur. -
Approved by the Aoir Membership - 11/27/02 Ethical Decision-Making and Internet Research Recommendations from the Aoir Ethics Working Committee1
Approved by the AoIR membership - 11/27/02 Ethical decision-making and Internet research Recommendations from the aoir ethics working committee1 Copyright © 2002 by Charles Ess and the Association of Internet Researchers PLEASE NOTE: we intend for this document to be publicly accessible, precisely so that it may contribute to reflection, debate, and education regarding Internet research ethics. At the same time, it is copyrighted and thus entails the usual requirements for "fair use" of copyrighted materials. In particular, any DUPLICATION, CITATION AND/OR ATTRIBUTION must include the following information: Title: Ethical decision-making and Internet research: Recommendations from the aoir ethics working committee Authors: Charles Ess and the AoIR ethics working committee Approved by AoIR, November 27, 2002 Available online: <www.aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdf> The ethics committee would also appreciate notification of the use of this document. Please write to: Steve Jones <[email protected]> and/or Charles Ess <[email protected]>. Contents: I. Audience, Purpose, Rationale and Approach. 2 - 4 II. Questions to ask when undertaking Internet research A. Venue/environment - expectations -authors/subjects - informed consent . .4 - 6 Where does the inter/action, communication, etc. under study take place? What ethical expectations are established by the venue? Who are the subjects posters / authors / creators of the material and/or inter/actions under study? Informed consent: specific considerations B. Initial ethical and legal considerations . .6 -9 How far do extant legal requirements and ethical guidelines in your discipline “cover” the research? How far do extant legal requirements and ethical guidelines in the countries implicated in the research apply? What are the initial ethical expectations/assumptions of the authors/subjects being studied? What ethically significant risks does the research entail for the subject(s)? What benefits might be gained from the research? What are the ethical traditions of researchers and subjects’ culture and country? III. -
Basil Blackwell
Oxford University Press Kant and the Transcendental Object A Hermeneutic Study J. N. Findlay Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mind/issue/XCI/361 by guest on 29 September 2021 This book attempts to analyse and interpret Kant's metaphysics of transcendental idealism, with its distinction between those aspects of objects which have a meaning for knowledge, and involve empirical criteria, and those other aspects of knowledge which can only be referred to in an 'empty' formal manner, without empirical content. £17.50 Divine and Contingent Order Thomas F. Torrance This book examines the implications for our understanding of the universe of the Judaeo-Christian claim that it Is contingent: freely created by God out of nothing, having an existence, freedom, and rational order of its own while still dependent on him. £9.50 The Expanding Circle Ethics and Sociobiology Peter Singer 'An excellent exposition of a most complex problem. Peter Singer has without question clarified the many subtleties and singularities involved in the relation between ethics and sociobiology.' Nature. £6.95 Hume and the Problem of Causation Tom L. Beauchamp and Alexander Rosenberg This book is an interpretation and defence of Hume's theory of causation. An outstanding feature is that it succeeds in making the theory relevant to current debates on causality. It is more philosophical than historical or exegetical, and deploys a careful technical exposition of Hume's ideas from a modern logical point of view. £15 For more information about Oxford books on philosophy, write to John Midgley, Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford. BASIL BLACKWELL The Collected Philosophical Papers of G. -
Science $3.00
No.4 SCIENCE $3.00 The journal of NATURE Marxist philosophy tor natural scientists Feedback ln Defense of Dialectical Logic Letters to the Editor Theory ot Essay Feview bv DIETER WITTICH (GDR) Knowledge Ludwik Fleck: Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact Concerning CLAU D lA ZASLAVSKY on Mathematics Education the Future The Fraud of "Back to Basics" and the Socialist Counterexample 15 Philosophy J.D. BERNALb C/assic Statement Tulorial Dialectical Materialism 28 The Nature ELIZABETH FEE in a Plea for Dialog of Science ls There a Feminist Science? 46 Data The Scientif ic Community on War yersus Peace Points AGAINST MILITARIZED SCIENCE 58 Dynamics' ISADORE NABI, lntrepid lnstigator Downlall On the Tendencies of Motion 62 Discussion HYMAN R. COHEN;LESIEF TALKINGTON The Essence of Causality: Is lt Statistical or Dynamical? 67 Fills Gap in Reviewed by BEATRICE LUMPKIN Math History Hubert C. Kennedy: PEANQ Life and Works of Giuseppe Peano 72 Marxist On Reductionism, the Prism of History, etc. Comment Bibliographic Briefs 77 Editor's On the Role of ldeology Sign Oll in the Natural Sciences 84 The masthead emblem represents the dialectical interpenetation of science and nature, suggesting the manilold interconnections LETTERS TO TIIE EDTTOR between scientilic knowledge, ideal in lorm, and material nature, reflected in this knowledge. ln Defense of Dialectical Logic science and Nature is devoted to the philosophical, historical and socio- I enjoyed Irving Adler's presentation, "Basic Concepts of Dialecti- cal Materialism" (Science on{J l\{oture No. 3). However, the presenta- tion is defective because it omits the heart and soul of dialectical mate- of the Marxist world view in practice the of science, and help f urther the devel- rialism-the unity and struggle of opposites.