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Stalnaker on Sleeping Beauty Brian Weatherson
Stalnaker on Sleeping Beauty Brian Weatherson The Sleeping Beauty puzzle provides a nice illustration of the approach to self-lo- cating belief defended by Robert Stalnaker in Our Knowledge of the Internal World (Stalnaker, 2008), as well as a test of the utility of that method. The setup of the Sleeping Beauty puzzle is by now fairly familiar. On Sunday Sleeping Beauty is told the rules of the game, and a (known to be) fair coin is flipped. On Monday, Sleeping Beauty is woken, and then put back to sleep. If, and only if, the coin landed tails, she is woken again on Tuesday after having her memory of the Monday awakening erased.1 On Wednesday she is woken again and the game ends. There are a few ques- tions we can ask about Beauty’s attitudes as the game progresses. We’d like to know what her credence that the coin landed heads should be (a) Before she goes to sleep Sunday; (b) When she wakes on Monday; (c) When she wakes on Tuesday; and (d) When she wakes on Wednesday? Standard treatments of the Sleeping Beauty puzzle ignore (d), run together (b) and (c) into one (somewhat ill-formed) question, and then divide theorists into ‘halfers’ or ‘thirders’ depending on how they answer it. Following Stalnaker, I’m going to focus on (b) here, though I’ll have a little to say about (c) and (d) as well. I’ll be following 1 orthodoxy in taking 2 to be the clear answer to (a), and in taking the correct answers to (b) and (c) to be independent of how the coin lands, though I’ll briefly question that assumption at the end. -
Semantical Paradox* Tyler Burge
4 Semantical Paradox* Tyler Burge Frege remarked that the goal of all sciences is truth, but that it falls to logic to discern the laws of truth. Perceiving that the task of determining these laws went beyond Frege’s conception of it, Tarski enlarged the jurisdiction of logic, establishing semantics as truth’s lawyer.1 At the core of Tarski’s theory of truth and validity was a diagnosis of the Liar paradox according to which natural language was hopelessly infected with contradiction. Tarski construed himself as treating the disease by replacing ordinary discourse with a sanitized, artificial construction. But those interested in natural language have been dissatisfied with this medication. The best ground for dis satisfaction is that the notion of a natural language’s harboring contradictions is based on an illegitimate assimilation of natural language to a semantical system. According to that assimilation, part of the nature of a “language” is a set of postulates that purport to be true by virtue of their meaning or are at least partially constitutive of that “language”. Tarski thought that he had identified just such postulates in natural language as spawning inconsistency. But postulates are contained in theories that are promoted by people. Natural languages per se do not postulate or Tyler Burge, “Semantical Paradox", reprinted from The Journal of Philosophy 76 (1979), 169-98. Copyright © 1979 The Journal of Philosophy. Reprinted by permission of the Editor of The Journal of Philosophy and the author. * I am grateful to Robert L. Martin for several helpful discussions; to Herbert Enderton for proving the consistency (relative to that of arithmetic) of an extension of Construction C3; to Charles Parsons for stimulating exchanges back in 1973 and 1974; and to the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation for its support. -
Two Views of the De Re E) Scope Paradoxes: (5) John Thinks at Least Two Men in the Room Are Spies
two views of the de re e) scope paradoxes: (5) John thinks at least two men in the room are spies. (John is not thinking of them as the men in the room) PLUK, Leeds, 2014 Daniel Rothschild ([email protected]) 2 neo-Fregean orthodoxy 1 de re in attitudes Kaplan [1986], building on Quine [1956] sets the standard for accounts of the de re. Basic assumption: semantic values in attitude reports present certain problems not present for other intensional contexts (such as metaphysi- cal modals). (6) (x believes α is a drunk and α denotes y) iff (9 guise g (satisfying some conditions that could make reference to x), the g = y and x A reasonable subset of the data to be captured, for the use of a term α in believes the g is drunk.) an attitude context. Covers a), b) be modified to handle c), d) and e) a) attitude about α does not require the attitude holder to think of α under the predicative content expressed by α. So substitution of co- a) we do not require that x think about y as α. extensive terms: b) we can make the with two different guises x can think y is drunk and is not drunk. (1) John thinks the mayor/the man in the corner is tall. Kaplan puts no contextual restrictions on what guises (his `names') can be, he just quantifies over them and requires them to be vivid, be an b) double vision. at least across different conversation contexts, but per- acquaintance relation for the attitude holder of the referent. -
Mind and Social Reality
Masaryk University Faculty of Economics and Administration Study program: Economics METHODOLOGICAL INDIVIDUALISM: MIND AND SOCIAL REALITY Metodologický Individualizmus: Myseľ a Spoločenská Realita Bachelor´s Thesis Advisor: Author: Mgr. Josef Menšík Ph.D. Ján KRCHŇAVÝ Brno 2020 Name and last name of the author: Ján Krchňavý Title of master thesis: Methodological Individualism: Mind and Social Reality Department: Department of Economics Supervisor of bachelor thesis: Mgr. Josef Menšík, Ph.D. Year of defence: 2020 Abstract The submitted bachelor thesis is concerned with the relation between mind and social reality and the role of the mind in the creation of social reality. This relation is examined from the perspective of the social ontology of John Searle, an American philosopher who is considered to be the proponent of methodological individualism. This thesis aims to reconsider the standard, mentalistic interpretation of Searle’s social ontology, one that is centred around the primary role of the mind in the construction of social reality, to examine criticisms of such approach which highlight the professed neglect of the role that social practices have for social reality, and to provide an alternative, practice-based reading of Searle’s social ontology. The thesis thus proceeds first by outlining the standard interpretation of Searle’s theory as put forward mainly in his two monographs on social reality. Subsequently, the objections against such an approach from an alternative, practice-based approach, which highlights the role of social practices for the constitution of society, are raised. Following these objections, the Searle’s social ontology is looked at again in an effort to find an alternative interpretation that would bring it closer to the ideas and principles of the practice-based approach, and thereby provide a response to some objections against the missing role of the social practices in his theory as well as open the way for the novel interpretation of his social ontology. -
Mind and Language Seminar: Theories of Content
Mind and Language Seminar: Theories of Content Ned Block and David Chalmers Meetings • Main meeting: Tuesdays 4-7pm over Zoom [4-6pm in weeks without a visitor] • Student meeting: Mondays 5-6pm hybrid • Starting Feb 22 [only weeks with a visitor] • Enrolled students and NYU philosophy graduate students only. • Feb 2: Background: Theories of Content • Feb 9: Background: Causal/Teleological Theories • Feb 16: Background: Interpretivism • Feb 23: Nick Shea • March 2: Robbie Williams • March 9: Frances Egan • March 16: Adam Pautz • March 23: Veronica Gómez Sánchez • March 30: Background: Phenomenal Intentionality • April 6: Imogen Dickie • April 13: Angela Mendelovici • April 20: Background: Conceptual-Role Semantics • April 27: Christopher Peacocke • May 4: David Chalmers Assessment • Draft paper due April 19 • Term paper due May 17 Attendance Policy • Monday meetings: Enrolled students and NYU philosophy graduate students only. • Tuesday meetings: NYU and NYC Consortium students and faculty only • Very limited exceptions • Email us to sign up on email list if you haven’t already. Introductions Short History of the 20th Century • 1900-1970: Reduce philosophical questions to issues about language and meaning. • 1970s: Theories of meaning (philosophy of language as first philosophy) • 1980s: Theories of mental content (philosophy of mind as first philosophy). • 1990s: Brick wall. Theories of Content • What is content? • What is a theory of content? Content • Content (in the broadest sense?) is intentionality or aboutness • Something has content when it is about something. Contents • Content = truth-conditions • Content = satisfaction-conditions • Content = propositions • Content = objects of intentional states • Content = … What Has Content? • What sort of thing has content? What Has Content? • What sort of thing has content? • language (esp. -
The Will As Practical Reason and the Problem of Akrasia Daniel Guevara
THE WILL AS PRACTICAL REASON AND THE PROBLEM OF AKRASIA DANIEL GUEVARA THERE IS A PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITION, still strong, of identifying the will and practical reason, or of requiring a close and intelligible motivational connection between them,' Weakness of will, or akrasia,2 has been widely discussed because of the difficulties it evidently presents for such a view. Certain cases of akrasia seem so aggressively contrary to reason that it is hard to see how they could have any motivational connection to it at all. Yet they also seem to be Correspondence to: 1156 High Street, Cowell College Faculty, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064. 'At Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals § 446, Kant explicitly identifies the will with practical reason. This is one source of the tradition. See Christine Korsgaard, "Self-Constitution in the Ethics of Plato and Kant," The Journal of Ethics 3 (1999): 1-29. As Korsgaard's piece indicates, the rationalist tendency is reflected in ancient views of the will too. About a generation ago it was controversial to think that the ancients had a concept of the will, and talk of the "will" was itself suspect. My use of "will" (and likewise "reason") is pretty innocent, as should emerge. And, although issues around an Aristotelian conception of the will remain in fact complicated, many authorities read Aristotle as having a notion of the will (and a fairly rationalistic one). See Anthony Kenny, Aristotle's Theory of the Will (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979), and Terence Irwin, "Who Discovered the Will?," PhilosophicalPerspectives 6 (1992): 453-73. -
How Three Triads Illumine the Authority of the Preached Word
THE WORDS OF THE SPEAKER: HOW THREE TRIADS ILLUMINE THE AUTHORITY OF THE PREACHED WORD By J. D. HERR B.S., Philadelphia Biblical University, 2008 A THESIS Submitted to the faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Theological Studies at Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte, North Carolina February 2019 Accepted: _______________________________________________________ First Reader, Dr. James Anderson _______________________________________________________ Second Reader !ii ABSTRACT According to J. L. Austin’s important work, How to Do Things With Words, the philosophic and linguistic assumption for centuries has been that saying something “is always and simply to state something.”1 For many people today, speech is simply the description of a place or event. It is either true or false, because it either describes an item or event well, or it does not. It either re-states propositional truth or it does not. Austin’s program was to regain an understanding and awareness of the force of speech—what is done in saying something—and came to be known as speech act theory. Similarly, in the discipline of theology, and in the life of the Church, many people tend to think of preaching as the passing of some “truth” from the divine mind to the human mind, or from the preacher’s mind to the hearer’s mind. While it is that, in a very real and meaningful way, in this paper I seek to explore whether there is more. As incarnate creatures, God has made humans to consist of spiritual and physical aspects. If we focus wholly on the “mental truth transfer” aspect of speech, especially in the case of preaching, how does this leave the Church equipped to bridge the divide between the mental information and what they are to do in their bodies? By interacting with and interfacing the triadic framework of speech act theory with the triadic frameworks of Dorothy Sayers and John Frame, I seek to understand preaching in 1 J. -
No One Errs Willingly: the Meaning of Socratic Intellectualism
Created on 21 September 2000 at 13.38 hours page 1 NO ONE ERRS WILLINGLY: THE MEANING OF SOCRATIC INTELLECTUALISM HEDA SEGVIC κν κν µαρτον, ο κ ρνσοµαι. (Willingly, willingly I erred;I won’t deny it.) [Aeschylus], Prometheus Bound, 266 Video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor. (I see what is better and approve of it, but pursue what is worse.) Ovid, Metamorphoses,7.20 Concepts, just like individuals, have their history and are no more able than they to resist the dominion of time, but in and through it all they nevertheless harbour a kind of homesickness for the place of their birth. Sren Kierkegaard, The Concept of Irony, 13. 106 I The Western philosophical tradition is deeply indebted to the fig- ure of Socrates. The question ‘How should one live?’ has rightly been called ‘the Socratic question’. Socrates’ method of cross- examining his interlocutors has often been seen as a paradigmatic form of philosophical enquiry,and his own life as an epitome of the philosophical life. What philosophers and non-philosophers alike have often found disappointing in Socrates is his intellectualism. A prominent complaint about Socratic intellectualism has been mem- orably recorded by Alexander Nehamas: ‘And George Grote both expressed the consensus of the ages and set the stage for modern ã Heda Segvic 2000 I am grateful to Myles Burnyeat, David Furley, John McDowell, and Julius Morav- csik for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper. I also wish to thank the editor of Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy for his generous criticisms and corrections. Created on 21 September 2000 at 13.38 hours page 2 2 Heda Segvic attitudes toward Socrates when he attributed to him “the error . -
Anthropological Theory
Anthropological Theory http://ant.sagepub.com John Searle on a witch hunt: A commentary on John R. Searle's essay ‘Social ontology: Some basic principles’ Richard A. Shweder Anthropological Theory 2006; 6; 89 DOI: 10.1177/1463499606061739 The online version of this article can be found at: http://ant.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/6/1/89 Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com Additional services and information for Anthropological Theory can be found at: Email Alerts: http://ant.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://ant.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Downloaded from http://ant.sagepub.com at UNIV OF CHICAGO LIBRARY on November 5, 2007 © 2006 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. Anthropological Theory Copyright © 2006 SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi) http://ant.sagepub.com Vol 6(1): 89–111 10.1177/1463499606061739 John Searle on a witch hunt A commentary on John R. Searle’s essay ‘Social ontology: Some basic principles’ Richard A. Shweder University of Chicago, USA Abstract In this commentary I respond to John Searle’s conceptual framework for the interpretation of ‘social facts’ as a provocation to spell out some of the philosophical foundations of the romantic pluralist tradition in cultural anthropology. Romantic pluralists in anthropology seek to affirm (to the extent such affirmation is reasonably possible) what the philosopher John Gray describes as ‘the reality, validity and human intelligibility of values and forms of life very different from our own’. With special attention to two examples of contemporary social facts (a witchcraft tribunal in Africa and death pollution practices in a Hindu temple town), the commentary raises questions about John Searle’s approach to the mind-body problem and his account of epistemic objectivity and ontological subjectivity with regard to social facts. -
The Routledge Handbook of the Stoic Tradition Stoicism in Early Christianity
This article was downloaded by: 10.3.98.104 On: 28 Sep 2021 Access details: subscription number Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG, UK The Routledge Handbook of the Stoic Tradition John Sellars Stoicism in early Christianity Publication details https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315771588.ch2 Troels Engberg-Pedersen Published online on: 23 Feb 2016 How to cite :- Troels Engberg-Pedersen. 23 Feb 2016, Stoicism in early Christianity from: The Routledge Handbook of the Stoic Tradition Routledge Accessed on: 28 Sep 2021 https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315771588.ch2 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR DOCUMENT Full terms and conditions of use: https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/legal-notices/terms This Document PDF may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproductions, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The publisher shall not be liable for an loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. 2 STOICISM IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY The Apostle Paul and the Evangelist John as Stoics Troels Engberg-Pedersen The question of the relationship between Stoicism and early Christianity is one of those that will not go away. -
Weakness of Will, Addiction and Self- Control: Using Relapse Prevention Methods in Philosophical Counselling
Weakness of Will, Addiction and Self- control: using Relapse Prevention Methods in Philosophical Counselling Antonia Macaro Introduction results from ignorance of the good and that it is impossible to know the good and at the same time The possibility of weakness of will has posed thorny pursue evil things. This is grounded in the doctrine that philosophical problems through the ages, and is still all deliberate action aims at the good, and that a hotly debated today. It can, however, represent an judgement about what is best is a judgement about how equally difficult challenge for the philosophical to achieve the good. If people pursued the wrong counsellor. It is a fairly common scenario for people to course of action it would show that they didn’t really give serious consideration to an issue in their life, come know the good in the first place. The problem is that to the conclusion that decision x is, all things considered, this does not seem to fit the fact that human beings best for them, and yet find themselves, when the time sometimes (or even often) do wrong while declaring comes, doing y instead. This could of course be due to a that they know what the right thing to do is. Plato is faulty decision-making process, and to overlooking held to have accepted Socrates’ position early on, and some factors that should in fact have been given more later have come to allow that knowledge of the good importance. Equally, however, it may be that the may be made ineffective by the workings of passion. -
1 the Problem of Intentionality: a Cardinal Difficulty for Physicalism Or What Happens to the World When a Mind Shows Up? Joel S
The Problem of Intentionality: A Cardinal Difficulty for Physicalism Or What Happens to the World When a Mind Shows Up? Joel Steinmetz I. What is the Socratic Club? • Content: Issues related to the truth or falsity of the Christian faith • Method: In the Socratic spirit to follow the argument wherever it leads • Motivation: “In any fairly large and talkative community such as a university there is always the danger that those who think alike should gravitate together into coteries where they will henceforth encounter opposition only in the emasculated form of rumour that the outsiders say thus and thus. The absent are easily refuted, complacent dogmatism thrives, and differences of opinion are embittered by group hostility. Each group hears not the best, but the worst, that the other group can say. In the Socratic all this was changed. Here a man could get the case for Christianity without all the paraphernalia of pietism and the case against it without the irrelevant sansculottisme of our common anti-God weeklies. At the very least we helped civilize one another…. Everyone found how little he had known about everyone else.”1 II. What is the problem of intentionality (a brief historical intro)? • The way in which intentionality is understood, or the aspect of intentionality that is emphasized, focuses the way in which intentionality is problematic. Analytic vs. Continental divide: • Phenomenology: explain the essential structures of intentionality; how does objectivity arise from subjectivity? • Analytic: intentionality is mark of mental; how can we explain, or incorporate, intentional mental states into a physicalist account of the world? • Why a physicalist account of the world? “These days we’re all materialists for much the reason that Churchill gave for being a democrat: the alternatives seem even worse.