DOCSLIB.ORG

Rules and Rule-Following

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Rules and Rule-Following K. Cahill, A. Pichler: Introduction to Wittgenstein 8th lecture 12.10.2020: Grammar; Rules; Rule-following [Some slides make re-use of slides by S. Säätelä] 1 AloisPichler Grammar 2 AloisPichler Übersichtliche Darstellung of / Focus on grammar and language rather than “phenomena” PI §90: We feel as if we had to see right into phenomena: our investigation, however, is directed not towards phenomena, but, as one might say, towards the 'possibilities' of phenomena. What that means is that we call to mind the kinds of statement that we make about phenomena. […] Our inquiry is therefore a grammatical one. PI §116: When philosophers use a word —"knowledge", "being", "object", "I", "proposition", "name" — and try to grasp the essence of the thing, one must always ask oneself: is the word ever actually used in this way in the language in which it is at home? — What we do is to bring words back from their metaphysical to their everyday use. PI §371: Essence is expressed in grammar. PI §373: Grammar tells us what kind of object anything is. (Theology as grammar.) PI §383: We do not analyse a phenomenon (for example, thinking) but a concept (for example, that of thinking), and hence the application of a word. 3 AloisPichler Rules Grammar has to do with rules 4 AloisPichler “What is a rule?” 5 AloisPichler What is a rule? ➢ … – asks the philosopher☺. Remember1, LW says: If you in philosophy have a question such as «What is …?», then … ➢ Language game method! ➢ Remember2: Introduction to the PI (§§1-88) under 7 headings ➢ Mistakes of the «Augustinian picture» ➢ Acting ➢ Language game ➢ There is no philosophical language game («einfach», «Bedeutung», «Satz» …) ➢ Form of life ➢ Family resemblances ➢ Übersichtliche Darstellung 6 AloisPichler «What is a rule?» Hence, in treating this question we should try to 1) avoid the mistakes of the «Augustinian picture» 2) keep in mind the importance of a focus on human acting 3) treat the question in terms of «language game» 4) avoid introducing language and concepts that transcend ordinary language 5) imagine the form(s) of life (the «phenomena») that belong with the notions of rule that we develop 6) be prepared that «rule» is a «family resemblance concept» 7) aspire at an übersichtliche Darstellung of the uses of the words «rule» and «rule following» (rather than of the «phenomena» of «rule» and «rule following») 7 AloisPichler There are very different kinds of rules! (“Do all rules have something characteristic in common which makes them rules?”) See, in addition to Wittgenstein, also F. Waismann: The Principles of Linguistic Philosophy (1965) and Logik, Sprache, Philosophie (1976). 8 AloisPichler Regularity? “Rules describe regularities.” ➢Also the movements of planets can be described as being regular – but do planets follow rules? 9 AloisPichler Regularity of human acting? “Rules describe regularities in human acting (acting!); rules of language, for example, describe regularities in words use.” • Sometimes we say that some particular phrase is not correct language (e.g., in Norwegian, “Ikke glem og lukke vinduet”). We say so not on the basis of regularities in linguistic practice (most Norwegians talk in this way!), but on the basis of norms of language. Those rules that we invoke in order to correct actual usage are normative, not descriptive. • Rules don’t need to agree with regularities existing in actual usage. I can introduce new rules precisely in order to change the actual usage, thus, in order to be normative. • Rules are not like factual statements about regularities: The latter can be true or false, while rules are normative and tell us whether human behavior is correct or incorrect. ➢ Thus, regularity cannot be the characteristic of rules? 10 AloisPichler Rules are normative: Used as justification? “A great many things in human life are normative; what makes rules special is that I can refer to them as justification for my acting, e.g. for saying ‘Hunden er snill’ rather than ‘Hundet er snill’ (grammatical rule).” ➢Also orders are used as justification! 11 AloisPichler Rules are normative: Like orders? “What makes rules specific, is that they are orders or function like orders.” ➢Orders have people who give the order – who are the “ordereres” of rules, their “rulers”? 12 AloisPichler Rules are normative: Like ideals? “What makes rules specific, is that they are ideals or function like ideals.” ➢ If someone makes an illegal move in Chess and I say to him: “Chess is played by such and such rules”, I do not mean: “OK, you play chess, but not how it ideally should be played”. – If I say to someone “Cod is cooked in such and such a way” I can mean “OK, you cook cod, but not how it ideally should be done”. (Constitutive vs. Regulative rules) 13 AloisPichler The cause for doing something? “What makes my behavior into following a rule, is that I am caused to act in this way by a rule.” ➢A rule is not a cause, but a reason for acting – intentionality is involved. 14 AloisPichler The reason for doing something? “What makes my behavior into following a rule, is that I do it for a particular reason.” ➢Most of rule-following is “blind”. 15 AloisPichler Rules are normative: Like conventions? “Rules are introduced by convention; they are conventional (“willkürlich”)? • The rules of everyday language are not generally arbitrary in the sense that they would result from explicit convention – rather, they are “überliefert”, passed on, part of a “tradition” (see Gadamer). Sure, some of the rules of grammar or games are open to being arbitrarily changed and can thus become the subject of convention! 16 AloisPichler Normative only? What should “normative” mean? “Rules in language tell us how words are to be used, they are normative.” • Some linguistic rules simply describe how words actually are used (“bruksmåtebeskrivende” vs. “regelgivende definisjoner”); they are descriptive. • Btw.: What does “are to be used” mean? There are many different uses of “ought” (“sollen”). – One ought to say “Thank you” when one receives a present. Is this a rule in language? Are we here still speaking about grammar? 17 AloisPichler Rule vs. Application? “Rules are what is fixed before the application (of the rule).” ➢ There is no sharp dividing line between what is fixed / defined / introduced / agreed upon before the application, and the actual application of the rule. – See for example the case of learning language, both first and second language: Where do you draw the dividing line between learning the rule and learning its application? – In cases of learning by doing we might say that we first learn the application, and only afterwards the rule. 18 AloisPichler Eternal fixation? “Rules are what is a sort of fixed once for all – while the application of the rule varies case for case.” ➢Rules are not fixed forever, but can be changed. 19 AloisPichler Learned explicitly? “Rules are an essential, explicit ingredient in learning a game.” • Often the rules of games are not explicitly learned, but read off from the actual game practice. • “Red and green exclude each other”, “The external world exists” are rules of (depth) grammar, but not learned explicitly. 20 AloisPichler Rules: «I’ll teach you differences» • “Constitutive” vs. “Regulative” rules • Instructions that together make up an exact and coherent calculus (expert system) vs. Rules in an open ended / vague / evolving / multiperspectival / sometimes even incoherent and inconsistent domain • «Knowing that»-rules, conscious, explicable and verbalizable by rule follower vs. «Knowing that»-rules, hidden, but explicable and verbalizable by expert vs. «Tacit» rules, «knowing how», maybe not verbalizable and with «imponderable evidence» • Descriptive rules vs. Normative rules and rules for ethical behaviour 21 AloisPichler Rules: «I’ll teach you differences» (cont.) • Rules that involve the living body (incl. emotion and expression) vs. Rules that involve language, logic and physics only • Rules that can / should be followed by humans only vs. Rules that can also be followed by machines • Rules that one can learn on one’s own (by observation …) vs. Rules that one can learn only through instruction by others • Rules that are learned in practice vs. Rules that are learned by explicit instruction • Rules inherited by tradition («Vorwissen») vs. Rules in a human life’s time or a short period only 22 AloisPichler “… sure, rules can be changed!” 23 AloisPichler How easy is it to change … • Basic laws in logic • Basic laws in mathematics • Laws of nature • Regularities in nature and anthropological constants (human biology, birth, death …) • Patterns and regularities in human behaviour (expression of sadness, joy …) • “Hinge” certainties • Depth grammar («I understand» is partly similar to «I can continue»; «I have pain» is dissimilar to «I have a car» …) • Mere conventions: traffic rules, orthography, contracts in politics and economy, games like chess, sign posts, work routines … • … 24 AloisPichler Reflection • Have we in this session throughout paid sufficient attention to our «seven guides» …? • Were we in this session focused on analysing the use of «rule» only, thus sticking to grammar – or were we also looking to the phenomena of rule and rule-following? – Cf. PI §383: We do not analyse a phenomenon (for example, thinking) but a concept (for example, that of thinking), and hence the application of a word. 25 AloisPichler Rule following 26 AloisPichler A rule stands there like a sign-post. —Does the sign-post leave no doubt about the way I have to go? … [W]here is it said which way I am to follow it … (PI §85) • A rule stands there like a sign-post. — Does the sign-post leave no doubt about the way I have to go? … [W]here is it said which way I am to follow it … (PI §85) • Reflection: “A rule stands there like a sign- post …”: What sort of rule are we talking about here? 28 AloisPichler How does the rule guide me? «How do we get from the rule to rule- following? How do I make the transition from the rule to its application? Which is the mediating step between the two? What is to count as following the rule correctly?» 29 AloisPichler Proposed answers ⚫ Determinism ⚫ Platonism ⚫ Interpretationalism ⚫ Decisionism ⚫ Skepticism See H.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • David Suchoff Family Resemblances: Ludwig Wittgenstein As a Jewish Philosopher the Admonition to Silence with Which Wittgenstein
    David Suchoff Family Resemblances: Ludwig Wittgenstein as a Jewish Philosopher The admonition to silence with which Wittgenstein ended the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922) also marks the starting point for the emer- gence of his Jewish philosophical voice. Karl Kraus provides an instructive contrast: as a writer well known to Wittgenstein, Kraus’s outspoken and aggressive ridicule of “jüdeln” or “mauscheln” –the actual or alleged pronunciation of German with a Jewish or Yiddish accent – defined a “self-fashioning” of Jewish identity – from German and Hebrew in this case – that modeled false alternatives in philosophic terms.1 Kraus pre- sented Wittgenstein with an either-or choice between German and Jewish identity, while engaging in a witty but also unwitting illumination of the interplay between apparently exclusive alternatives that were linguistically influenced by the other’s voice. As Kraus became a touchstone for Ger- man Jewish writers from Franz Kafka to Walter Benjamin and Gershom Scholem, he also shed light on the situation that allowed Wittgenstein to develop his own non-essentialist notion of identity, as the term “family resemblance” emerged from his revaluation of the discourse around Judaism. This transition from The False Prison, as David Pears calls Wittgenstein’s move from the Tractatus to the Philosophical Investiga- tions, was also a transformation of the opposition between German and Jewish “identities,” and a recovery of the multiple differences from which such apparently stable entities continually draw in their interconnected forms of life.2 “I’ll teach you differences,” the line from King Lear that Wittgenstein mentioned to M. O’C. Drury as “not bad” as a “motto” for the Philo- sophical Investigations, in this way represents Wittgenstein’s assertion of a German Jewish philosophic position.
    [Show full text]
  • Can Family Resemblance Determine a Concept?
    Sonia Micu Can Family Resemblance Determine a Concept? What is known as the history of concepts is really a history either of our knowledge of concepts or of the meanings of words. Often it is only after immense intellectual effort, which may have continued over centuries, that humanity at last succeeds in achieving knowledge of a concept in its pure form, in stripping off the irrelevant accretions which veil it from the eyes of the mind1. – Gottlob Frege Abstract This short essay analyses the notion of ‘family resemblance’ and investigates its ability to determine a concept. I explore the topic starting from Frege’s definition of a concept and I imagine possible criticism of the shortcomings brought by the lack of boundaries of this notion. I argue against such an objection and I try to show how a concept can be determined through family resemblance. Introduction In his exploration of the essence of language, Wittgenstein introduced the idea of a web of resemblances that would explain how certain objects are connected through overlapping similarities, rather than through one common feature. The notion of ‘family resemblance’ has created controversy ever since it was introduction in Philosophical Investigations (1953). The main criticism brought to the idea has been its lack of boundaries and the way it prevents this notion from determining a concept. In what follows, I will try to show that failing to determine a sharply defined concept does not make family resemblance incapable of determining a concept altogether. I will start by describing the notion of ‘family resemblance’ and the context which led to its introduction.
    [Show full text]
  • The Anti-Essentialism Paper
    The New Pragmatism, Anti-essentialism, and What is Universal: It’s The Situation All The Way Down C. F. Abel Stephen F. Austin State University [email protected] The New Pragmatism, Anti-essentialism, and What is Universal: It’s The Situation All The Way Down C. F. Abel Stephen F. Austin State University [email protected] A well-known scientist once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the Earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?" "You're very clever, young man," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down!" Introduction “New Pragmatism” attacks the very foundation of pragmatic thought by denying that we may ever have any definitive experience. As what we are experiencing is up for grabs, we can never know any situation that we may encounter, and we are left to ground both our knowledge and our values in our language games alone. This paper argues that this set of claims is founded on two errors, one regarding the nature of language games and the other regarding the nature of deconstruction. The “Old Pragmatism,” by way of contrast, is non-essentialist but not anti- essentialist, and it resolves the problem of how we might know “the situation,” given the subjectivity of our observations and the contingencies of our language games, by suggesting that our experiences can be understood as existing in, and constituted by, the totality of their particular instances or modes at the time of inquiry.
    [Show full text]
  • Dialogical Grammar: Varieties of Dialogue in Wittgenstein's
    ISSN: 2325-3290 (online) Dialogical Grammar: Varieties of Dialogue in Wittgenstein’s Methodology Dorit Lemberger Bar-Ilan university Abstract The dialogical character of Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations has received scant attention in the literature, given the work’s status in his total oeuvre, and is dismissed as a marginal as compared to the other differences between the Tractatus and the Investigations. The main lines of interpretation that have been proposed see dialogue as a rhetorical technique intended to present erroneous positions and then refute them, as an exemplification of what can be expressed in language (McGinn 1997; Rhees 1998), or as a reflection of Wittgenstein’s informal teaching method (Malcolm 2001; Savickey et al. 1990). The present article adopts the perspective that Wittgenstein’s use of dialogue makes it possible to track the various modes of language-acts, consonant with his directions to examine the daily use of language (Wittgenstein 2009, §116 and esp. §132), “when language is, as it were, idling.” In his later inquiries, Wittgenstein frequently considers the nature of mental states, accompanied by an attempt to characterize the differences between them while at the same time dealing with the cases in which it is difficult to distinguish them. In this process he made a variety of uses of dialogue, each of which embodies a different aspect of language action. Subsequently I will demonstrate that these different uses are not haphazard. A scrutiny of the nature of the dialogue can help us understand the nature of the activity carried out of the state of consciousness. Finally, I propose a distinction among three main types of dialogue: technical, conversational, and reflexive.
    [Show full text]
  • Family Resemblances and the Structure of Spatial Relationships
    Corela Cognition, représentation, langage 3-2 | 2005 Vol. 3, n° 2 Family resemblances and the structure of spatial relationships Claude Vandeloise Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/corela/514 DOI: 10.4000/corela.514 ISSN: 1638-573X Publisher Cercle linguistique du Centre et de l'Ouest - CerLICO Electronic reference Claude Vandeloise, « Family resemblances and the structure of spatial relationships », Corela [Online], 3-2 | 2005, Online since 27 December 2005, connection on 19 April 2019. URL : http:// journals.openedition.org/corela/514 ; DOI : 10.4000/corela.514 This text was automatically generated on 19 April 2019. Corela – cognition, représentation, langage est mis à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Attribution - Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale - Partage dans les Mêmes Conditions 4.0 International. Family resemblances and the structure of spatial relationships 1 Family resemblances and the structure of spatial relationships Claude Vandeloise 1 The notion of family resemblance features or traits was first introduced by Wittgenstein (1953) with the category game. According to the more extreme interpretation of family resemblances, no member in a family possesses all the traits shared by the members of the family and no trait of the family is shared by all the members. As a consequence, two members in a family resemblance category do not have to share a single trait in order to be in the same category. This structure is represented in figure 1, in which the circles represent the extensions of the members of a family resemblance category satisfying a trait (a), a trait (b) and a trait (c) respectively: Figure 1 Figure 2 Corela, 3-2 | 2005 Family resemblances and the structure of spatial relationships 2 2 This extremely loose structure would fit perfectly Wittgenstein's intention since the philosopher wanted to demonstrate that a word is not explained by a further mysterious entity called meaning but is directly justified by its use in language-games.
    [Show full text]
  • Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations a Critical Guide
    CRITICAL NOTICE Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations A Critical Guide Edited by Arif Ahmed, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2010, pp. 280, £ 50.00 ISBN: 978-0-521-88613-0 (hardback) Reviewed by Derek A. McDougall Collections of essays on the Philosophical Investigations have regularly appeared since the 1960’s. The early classic volume with George Pitcher as editor, his Collection of Critical Essays from Doubleday Anchor, New York in 1966, contains, amongst other good things, original reviews of the Investigations by Malcolm and Strawson, the famous debate between Ayer and Rhees - all from the 1950’s - and some prevalent interpretations of the argument concerning a ‘Private Language’. Later on, Irving Block edited Perspectives on the Philosophy of Wittgenstein from Blackwell in 1981. More wide-ranging in its content, this grew out of the Wittgenstein Colloquium held in London Ontario in 1976, and is marked by its inclusion, in its UK edition, of Saul Kripke’s paper ‘Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language’, which at that time appeared without its later Postscript ‘Wittgenstein on Other Minds’. Ian McFetridge, in a review (of seven Wittgenstein volumes), showed particular foresight when he had occasion to comment: The important thing to say here is that Kripke’s article is by far the most impressive piece of work in the books under discussion. Its exemplary clarity evinces an intellectual passion which repeatedly drove this reader, with an anticipation of pleasure, back to Wittgenstein’s text (as relevant a test, surely, of the philosophical expositor as it ought to be of the literary critic). An assessment of Kripke’s claims is out of place here: they should and will be given extended discussion.
    [Show full text]
  • Latin American Structuralism
    175 CEPAL REVIEW 98 • AUGUST 2009 KEYWORDS Economic policy Economic systems Structural adjustment Value Latin American structuralism Markets Prices and economic theory Inflation Political aspects Economic aspects Economic dependence Armando Di Filippo Neoliberalism Economic development Latin America T his essay suggests that there is a body of Latin American structuralist economic theory which possesses distinctive characteristics while having a family resemblance to other institutionalist schools of thought, and which is based on an original approach to economic value. The founders of structuralism conceived a systemic, multidimensional and dynamic approach. They applied it to the study of improvements in, and the social distribution of, labour productivity generated in the central economies and the effects of these on the societies of the periphery. This outlook challenges the notion of markets as self-regulating systems that return to stable equilibrium positions, presenting them rather as a quantitative expression of the national or international power status of contracting parties. Different development styles and processes progressively alter the Armando Di Filippo Argentinean economist power structure of social systems and these changes are reflected in the Professor at the Institute of dynamic of relative market prices. International Studies, University of Chile, and at the Universidad Alberto Hurtado Adviser to the Executive Secretariat of ECLAC ✒ [email protected] 176 CEPAL REVIEW 98 • AUGUST 2009 I Latin American structuralism: economic theory and political economy At the heart of any economic theory about the support the legislator and statesman (Smith, 2007, p. capitalist system is the study of economic values, the 275), while economic theory includes, first, a value- market and prices.
    [Show full text]
  • Unit 8: Wittgenstein's Language Games
    Unit 8 Wittgenstein’s Language Games UNIT 8: WITTGENSTEIN’S LANGUAGE GAMES UNIT STRUCTURE 8.1 Learning Objectives 8.2 Introduction 8.3 The Universal form of language 8.3.1: The Essence of language 8.3.2: Absolute simples 8.4 Language-Games 8.4.1 Family resemblance 8.4.2 Meaning as use 8.4.3 Private language 8.5 Criticism 8.6 Let us sum up 8.7 Further readings 8.8 Answers to check your progress 8.9 Model questions 8.1 LEARNING OBJETIVES After going through this unit you will be able to: l discuss the universal form of language l explain the essence of language l describe the absolute simples l analyse the concept of language games l interpret the concept of family resemblance l evaluate meaning as use l illustrate the concept of private language 8.2 INTRODUCTION This unit will introduce you to the concept of language games. It is undoubtedly a radical concept of philosophy of language and brings out the diverse functions of language by repudiating the picture theory of 118 Contemporary Western Philosophy (Block 1) Wittgenstein’s Language Games Unit 8 language in Wittgenstein’s later philosophy. The other important concepts like family resemblance, meaning as use, private language etc. follows from the integral concept of language games. 8.3 THE UNIVERSAL FORM OF LANGUAGE Wittgenstein in the Tractatus holds that any proposition presupposes the universal form of language. An elementary proposition is a combination of names. And in order to understand the proposition one must ‘know’ the objects in some sense for which the names stand.
    [Show full text]
  • Defining Religion in a Multi-Cultural World
    The Pragmatics of Defining Religion in a Multi-cultural World Dr. Victoria Harrison University of Glasgow This is an archived version of ‘The Pragmatics of Defining Religion in a Multi-cultural World’, published in The International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 59 (2006): 133–152. The original article is available at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/4025242541886547/ Dr. V. Harrison Department of Philosophy University of Glasgow Glasgow G12 8QQ Scotland UK E-mail: [email protected] The Pragmatics of Defining Religion in a Multi-cultural World Abstract Few seem to have difficulty in distinguishing between religious and secular institutions, yet there is widespread disagreement regarding what “religion” actually means. Indeed, some go so far as to question whether there is anything at all distinctive about religions. Hence, formulating a definition of “religion” that can command wide assent has proven to be an extremely difficult task. In this article I consider the most prominent of the many rival definitions that have been proposed, the majority falling within three basic types: intellectual, affective and functional definitions. I conclude that there are pragmatic reasons for favouring the formerly popular view that essentialist definitions of “religions” are inadequate, and that religions should be construed, instead, as possessing a number of “family resemblances”. In so arguing, I provide a response to the view that there is nothing distinctive about religions, as well as to the recent claim that religions do not exist. Our world contains a striking diversity of religious traditions. Given that most of us probably have no trouble recognizing such traditions as religious, it is perhaps surprising that there is little agreement about what religion is or, indeed, if “it” is anything distinctive at all.
    [Show full text]
  • 2.2 Glock Et Al
    Journal for the History of Book Symposium: Analytical Philosophy Hans-Johann Glock, What is Analytic Philosophy? Volume 2, Number 2 Introduction Hans-Johann Glock..................... 1 Editor in Chief Mark Textor, King’s College London Commentaries Guest Editor Leila Haaparanta......................... 2 Mirja Hartimo, University of Helsinki Christopher Pincock....................6 Editorial Board Panu Raatikainen........................11 Juliet Floyd, Boston University Graham Stevens.......................... 28 Greg Frost-Arnold, Hobart and William Smith Colleges Ryan Hickerson, University of Western Oregon Replies Henry Jackman, York University Hans-Johann Glock..................... 36 Sandra Lapointe, McMaster University Chris Pincock, Ohio State University Richard Zach, University of Calgary Production Editor Ryan Hickerson Editorial Assistant Daniel Harris, CUNY Graduate Center Design Douglas Patterson and Daniel Harris ©2013 The Authors What is Analytic Philosophy? shall not be able to respond to all of the noteworthy criticisms and questions of my commentators. I have divided my responses ac- Hans-Johann Glock cording to commentator rather than topic, while also indicating some connections between their ideas where appropriate. Let me start by thanking the Journal for the History of Analytical Phi- losophy for offering me this opportunity to discuss my book What is Analytical Philosophy? (Cambridge, 2008). I am also very grateful Hans-Johann Glock for the valuable feedback from the contributors. And I thank both University of Zurich the journal and the contributors for their patience in waiting for [email protected] my replies. I was pleased to discover that all of my commentators express a certain sympathy with the central contention of my book, namely that analytic philosophy is an intellectual movement of the twentieth-century (with roots in the nineteenth and offshoots in the twenty-first), held together by family-resemblances on the one hand, ties of historical influence on the other.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Download
    Journal of World Philosophies Survey Article/142 Unity Through Diversity: Inter-world, Family Resemblance, Intertextuality ______________________________________________________________________________ JAY GOULDING Department of Social Science, York University, Canada ([email protected]) Kwok-Ying Lau, Phenomenology and Intercultural Understanding: Toward a New Cultural Flesh, Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2016, pp. 256 + xi; Lin Ma and Jaap van Brakel, Fundamentals of Comparative and Intercultural Philosophy, Albany: SUNY Press, 2016, pp. 420 + x; Eric S. Nelson, Chinese and Buddhist Philosophy in Early Twentieth-Century German Thought, London: Bloomsbury, 2017, pp. 344 + x. This is a composite review of three intriguing and provocative books that address the interconnections between East Asian and Western philosophy. Firstly, in Phenomenology and Intercultural Understanding: Toward a New Cultural Flesh, Kwok-Ying Lau thinks that phenomenology can help construct a “cultural flesh” between civilizations that encourages East-West philosophical dialogues, and that China needs to adopt Western terminology to facilitate an intercultural engagement. Merleau-Ponty’s “inter-world” can help this bridge. Secondly, in Fundamentals of Comparative and Intercultural Philosophy, Lin Ma and Jaap van Brakel argue that Chinese thinkers of the modern world invent “Chinese philosophy” in order to engage with Western thought. In a distinct fashion, they incorporate a Wittgenstein-inspired scenario whereby the necessary precondition for
    [Show full text]
  • Dewey and Bourdieu on Habituation, Agency, and Transformation
    Contemporary Pragmatism Editions Rodopi Vol. 1, No. 2 (December 2004), 65–93 © 2004 Doing — and Undoing — the Done Thing: Dewey and Bourdieu on Habituation, Agency, and Transformation Vincent Colapietro Both Dewey and Bourdieu emphasize the extent to which human practices are inherited practices, and the extent to which inheritance is a function of imitation. Affinities between Dewey’s concept of habit and Bourdieu’s notion of habitus are explored. This essay focuses on four variations on the theme of doing the done thing: philosophers doing philosophy in a recognizable form (conversant with the done thing of traditional philosophy), nations perpetuating war as the unwitting enactment of a repetition compulsion, cultures fostering such democratic practices as communal deliberation, and simply the done thing as an integral part of human practices. 1. Introduction The difference between reconstruction and deconstruction is hardly a difference that makes a difference, a broad and deep human difference, to anyone other than academics.1 The theme of reconstruction and deconstruction, nonetheless, provides an occasion and perhaps even a motive for identifying humanly significant differences, for example, different ways of taking up the task of philosophy and also diverse approaches to working through the conflicts definitive of our cultures. Moreover, the strategies and aims of both deconstructive and reconstructive authors offer resources for how to address the dualisms and hierarchies so intricately and tightly interwoven into the very meshes of our language and, thus, our minds.2 I am inclined to presuppose a family resemblance between Deweyan pragmatism and Derridean deconstruction — indeed, to insist upon this resemblance — and, given this, to move on to a potentially more rewarding site, that of a suspected affinity between John Dewey and Pierre Bourdieu.3 But let me tarry here for a moment.
    [Show full text]