DOCSLIB.ORG

Dificultades De Lectura De Textos Académicos Polifónicos En Inglés

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Dificultades De Lectura De Textos Académicos Polifónicos En Inglés Dificultades de lectura de textos académicos polifónicos en inglés como lengua extranjera para alumnos universitarios con un nivel básico de conocimientos de la lengua meta González, María Susana 2006 Tesis presentada con el fin de cumplimentar con los requisitos finales para la obtención del título Magister de la Universidad de Buenos Aires en Análisis del Discurso 1 T UULT,: -SiS ce FftC;; 2ODIC 2006 AgrjJ. Maestría en Análisis del Discurso Tesis de Maestría: Dificultades de lectura de textos académicos polifónicos en inglés como lengua extranjera para alumnos universitarios con un nivel básico de cónocimientos de la lengua meta Tesista: María Susana González Teléfono: 4943 5055 E- mail: sgonzalez(wamanLapcorg .UN1EsJ9;D 1)F. BUEN S MRES ACULTAI) hE FIIX)SO FíA Y LETRAS Direcciói, de Mibiiió:tetas Capítulo 1: Planteo del problema 1- Introducción al problema a. La relevancia del presente estudio deriva del hecho de que no ha habido trabajos de investigación de este tipo en los que los sujetos sean estudiantes con un nivel básico de conocimientos de inglés como lengua extranjera ya que los estudios generalmente se centran en los problemas de procesamiento que tienen los estudiantes extranjeros que poseen un nivel avanzado de conocimientos de la lengua meta y que cursan en universidades estadounidenses o inglesas. Partiendo de los estudios relacionados con la reconstrucción de los textos académicos en lengua materna, se avanzará sobre las dificultades de procesamiento de un texto en lengua extranjera. Las dificultades del procesamiento de textos académicos en lengua materna por parte de un rnmero importante de alumnos universitarios son conocidas y existen algunos trabajos sobre los problemas de reformulación de este tipo textual. El trabajo pionero de Azcoaga y Hirschmann (1986) tiene como objetivo detectar las dificultades relacionadas con la adquisición, identificación y comprensión de conceptos desarrollados en textos científicos. Arnoux, Nogueira y Silvestre (1992-1994) estudiaron la reformulación de textos polifónicos realizada por ingresantes a la universidad con diferente entrenamiento escolar previo. En el trabajo de Ferrari y Giammatteo (1996) se postula que un texto fuertemente marcado axiológicamente condiciona su reformulación tanto en el nivel de la enunciación como en los planos sintáctico y léxico. Las problemáticas mencionadas también han sido observadas por los docentes en los cursos de lectocomprensión de textos académicos en inglés corno lengua extranjera dictados para alumnos universitarios con poca experiencia lectora en este tipo textual y conocimientos básicos de la lengua meta. Bajo la designación de textos académicos, agrupamos a las publicaciones de revistas universitarias en lengua inglesa y a capítulos de libros utilizados como bibliografia por alumnos de grado o egresados universitarios. En este tipo textual, al igual que en el texto científico de divulgación (Rey, 1998: 114), se produce una puesta en. escena del trabajo de investigación del autor quien busca el reconocimiento del lector peró que también debe ser cauteloso en la presentación de su propuesta especialmente si cuestiona, se opone o refuta paradigmas hegemónicos. 1 72;5 1.2 Estado de la cuestión: 1.21 La problemática de la lectura La idea corriente de lectura ha variado desde considerar a este proceso como una decodificación del mensaje de un texto hasta definirlo como un proceso complejo en el que el lector reconstruye el mensaje trabajando con información de diversas fuentes y con distintos propósitos de lectura. En la actualidad consideramos a la comprensión lectora como un proceso interactivo en el que participan tres polos: el lector, la situación de lectura y el texto (Silvestre, 2004: 32). 1.21.1 Variables que afectan el proceso de lectura Las variables que afectan el proceso de lectura están relacionadas con los tres polos mencionados anteriormente. Si nos centramos en el lector, podemos distinguir características físicas y personales, conocimientos previos y razones para leer un texto (Alderson: 2000: 32-60). Alderson subdivide a las características físicas en características estables como el sexo, la edad y la nacionalidad mientras que considera como características inestables al movimiento de los ojos y a la velocidad y precisión del procesamiento. A las características personales las relaciona con actitudes individuales hacia la lectura tales como la inseguridad, el interés, etc. Con respecto a los conocimientos previos que posee el lector, distingue: conocimientos de mundo, del tema que aborda el texto, de la cultura en la que se produce el texto, conocimientos de la lengua en la que está escrito y conocimientos de habilidades metacognitivas que le permiten al lector pensar sobre el proceso de lectura, planificarlo, monitorearlo y poder realizar una autoevaluación de la actividad. Si pensamos en las variables relacionadas con el texto podemos considerar: el tipo de contenido presentado por el texto (concreto, abstracto), la cantidad de información nueva y la densidad léxica y / o complejidad sintáctica, el tipo de texto, las características tipográficas y el medio en el que se lo presenta. Todos estos factores interactúan y, en muchos casos, alguno actúa como mecanismo compensatorio. Por ejemplo, cuando el lector procesa un texto integra la nueva información que le provee el texto con sus esquemas pre-existentes y, en muchas ocasiones, los conocimientos previos pueden compensar la falta de conocimientos de la lengua. El conocimiento del tema del texto facilita el procesamiento especialmente si el 2 conocimiento lingüístico es escaso, sin embargo un mayor conocimiento lingüístico puede compensar la falta de conocimiento del tema. A este complejo panorama debemos agregar los propósitos que tiene el lector para leer un texto. De las decisiones que se tomen en ese momento, dependerá la forma en que se aborde el texto, la selección de estrategias y la comprensión y recuperación del texto leído. Podemos leer para buscar información simple, en este caso se realiza un paneo sobre el texto con el objetivo de localizar información específica, una palabra, fecha o dato. También podemos buscar en qué lugar se encuentra la información más importante para lograr construir una idea general del texto leído. Podemos leer para aprender, esta postura se adopta típicamente en contextos académicos y profesionales en los cuales el lector necesita aprender información a partir de la lectura. Podemos leer para integrar información, escribir y criticar textos, este tipo de lectura requiere la formulación de una evaluación crítica de la información leída de modo tal que el lector pueda decidir qué información integrar a sus conocimientos previos y de qué modo hacerlo. Finalmeñte podemos leer para lograr una comprensión general (Grabe & Stoller; 2002: 13 - 17). 1.2.1.2 La lectura eii lengua extranjera Siguiendo a Elizabeth Bernhardt, quien realizó una minuciosa recopilación de las investigaciones sobre la lectocomprensión en lengua extranjera desde la década del 70, afirmamos que muchas de las investigaciones sobre la lectura en lenguas extranjeras o segundas durante las décadas del 70 y del 80 fueron una réplica de los trabajos realizados para investigar el proceso de lectura en lengua materna. Según esta autora, la tendencia imitativa de los estudios llevados a cabo se evidenció en el uso excesivo de la teoría de los esquemas y no se exploraron las diferencias entre los dos procesos. Los resultados de estas investigaciones plantearon una pregunta que se discutió durante mucho tiempo: ¿la lectura en lengua extranjera es un problema de conocimientos de la lengua extranjera o de conocimientos previos (esquemas)?. En la década del 90, las investigaciones se comenzaron a plantear un examen holístico del proceso de lectura en lengua extranjera con el objetivo de estudiar la interacción de variables. Sin embargo, a comienzos de la década del 90, no se incluyó como variable la experiencia lectora en lengua materna aunque se habían realizado estudios sobre la interferencia o transferencia de una lengua a otra. Recién a fines de la 3- década del 90 se comenzó a focalizar el interés de las investigaciones en el impacto de la alfabetización en primera lengua sobre el aprendizaje y uso de la segunda. La cuestión que se planteó fue en qué medida la alfabetización en la primera lengua explica el proceso en la segunda (Bernhardt, 2005: 133-138). 1.21.3 Modelos de lectura en Li Las investigaciones más recientes en el área de comprensión del discurso escrito y oral han generado el diseño de una amplia gama de modelos de procesamiento de lectura desde distintas posturas teóricas. Los modelos de comprensión existentes para inglés como lengua materna incluyen: a) modelos cognitivos, b) modelos de procesamiento interactivo y c) modelos constructivistas. Los modelos cognitivos conexionistas sostienen que la información se distribuye a lo largo de una red neural que fluctúa dinámicamente al ser activada por un concepto, schema o proposición hasta lograr un patrón estable de activación. Un ejemplo de esta postura es el modelo de construcción e integración de Kintsch (1988- 1998) que combina una fase de construcción con otra de integración. En un proceso continuo el texto base se construye a partir de la información lingüística que provee el texto y los conocimientos previos del lector. En la fase de integración una nueva red es desarrollada en cada ciclo incluyendo lo más relevante del ciclo anterior. Entre los modelos de procesamiento interactivo se encuentra el
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Metaphysics Today and Tomorrow*
    1 Metaphysics Today and Tomorrow* Raphaël Millière École normale supérieure, Paris – October 2011 Translated by Mark Ohm with the assistance of Leah Orth, Jon Cogburn, and Emily Beck Cogburn “By metaphysics, I do not mean those abstract considerations of certain imaginary properties, the principal use of which is to furnish the wherewithal for endless dispute to those who want to dispute. By this science I mean the general truths which can serve as principles for the particular sciences.” Malebranche Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion 1. The interminable agony of metaphysics Throughout the twentieth century, numerous philosophers sounded the death knell of metaphysics. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Rudolf Carnap, Martin Heidegger, Gilbert Ryle, J. L. Austin, Jacques Derrida, Jürgen Habermas, Richard Rorty, and, henceforth, Hilary Putnam: a great many tutelary figures have extolled the rejection, the exceeding, the elimination, or the deconstruction of first philosophy. All these necrological chronicles do not have the same radiance, the same seriousness, nor the same motivations, but they all agree to dismiss the discipline, which in the past was considered “the queen of the sciences”, with a violence at times comparable to the prestige it commanded at the time of its impunity. Even today, certain philosophers hastily spread the tragic news with contempt for philosophical inquiry, as if its grave solemnity bestowed upon it some obviousness. Thus, Franco Volpi writes: ‘Grand metaphysics is dead!’ is the slogan which applies to the majority of contemporary philosophers, whether continentals or of analytic profession. They all treat metaphysics as a dead dog.1 In this way, the “path of modern thought” would declare itself vociferously “anti- metaphysical and finally post-metaphysical”.
    [Show full text]
  • Feng Youlan's Interpretation of Western Philosophy
    ASIANetwork Exchange | Fall 2014 | volume 22 | 1 Feng Youlan’s Interpretation of Western Philosophy: A Critical Examination from the Perspective of Metaphysical Methodology Derong Chen Abstract: This paper concentrates on Feng’s interpretation of Western philosophy from the perspective of metaphysical methodology and aims to display a limited observation of Feng’s interpretation of Western philosophy through the window of metaphysical methodology. Based on a brief review of the recent studies of Feng Youlan and Western philoso- phy, this paper analyzes the progress and insufficient aspects in current studies on this issue and particularly clarifies what are the metaphysics and metaphysical methods in the context of Feng Youlan’s philosophy. In clarifying Feng’s interpreta- tion of Western philosophy from the perspective of methodology, this paper further critically analyzes Feng’s positive metaphysical methods and negative metaphysical methods, and assumes that Feng’s negative metaphysical methods essentially is a kind of attitude towards metaphysics but neither a kind of metaphysics nor a kind of metaphysical methods. Instead of characterizing metaphysical methods as positive and negative as Feng did, this paper suggests an alternative division of metaphysical methods: direct and indirect methods of dealing with metaphysical issues. Keywords Feng Youlan; metaphysics; metaphysical methods; Western philosophy; negative metaphysics In the twentieth century, Feng Youlan was one of the Chinese intellectuals most deeply Derong Chen is a Sessional involved in the dialogue and interaction between Chinese and Western philosophies. In Lecturer II at the University of addition to studying Western philosophy at Columbia University, he systematically con- Toronto Mississauga. ducted research on Western philosophy, specifically the philosophy of life.
    [Show full text]
  • The Philosophy of the Imagination in Vico and Malebranche
    STRUMENTI PER LA DIDATTICA E LA RICERCA – 86 – Paolo Fabiani The Philosophy of the Imagination in Vico and Malebranche Translated and Edited by Giorgio Pinton Firenze University Press 2009 the philosophy of the imagination in Vico and male- branche / paolo Fabiani. – Firenze : Firenze university press, 2009. (strumenti per la didattica e la ricerca ; 86) http://digital.casalini.it/97864530680 isBn 978-88-6453-066-6 (print) isBn 978-88-6453-068-0 (online) immagine di copertina: © elenaray | dreamstime.com progetto grafico di alberto pizarro Fernández © 2009 Firenze university press università degli studi di Firenze Firenze university press Borgo albizi, 28, 50122 Firenze, italy http://www.fupress.com/ Printed in Italy “In memory of my mother ... to honor the courage of my father” Paolo Fabiani “This is more than my book, it also represents Giorgio Pinton’s interpretation of the imagi- nation in early modern philosophy. In several places of my work he felt obliged to simplify the arguments to easy the reading; he did it in agreement with me. In a few others, he substituted, with intelligence and without forcing, the structure of the original academic version in a differ- ent narrative organization of the contents. He has done a great job. It is an honor for me that the most important translator of Vico’s Latin Works into Eng- lish translated and edited my first philosophical essay. I heartly thank Giorgio Pinton, a true master of philosophy; Alexander Bertland, a very good scholar in Vico studies; and the editorial staff of FUP, expecially
    [Show full text]
  • Hume and the Metaphysics of Agency
    +XPHDQGWKH0HWDSK\VLFVRI$JHQF\ Joshua M. Wood Journal of the History of Philosophy, Volume 52, Number 1, January 2014, pp. 87-112 (Article) 3XEOLVKHGE\7KH-RKQV+RSNLQV8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV DOI: 10.1353/hph.2014.0013 For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/hph/summary/v052/52.1.wood.html Access provided by Wellesley College Library (24 Mar 2015 17:53 GMT) Hume and the Metaphysics of Agency JOSHUA M. WOOD* Was it not Matter of every Day’s Experience, the moving of the Hand by a meer Volition, would be as strange a Thing as an Apparition. —Robert Bragge (1725)1 1 . introduction my topic is hume’s construal of the metaphysics of human agency. I take this to be distinct from, and ultimately to underlie, his discussions of free will and moral psychology. Therefore my concern in this paper, as I shall more often refer to it, is Hume’s “construal of the basic structure of human agency.” This construal includes two claims. The first holds that volition occurs independently of action. The second holds that, no matter how we look at it, the causal mechanism presumed to be operative in voluntary action remains incomprehensible. These two claims play a crucial role in a separate feature of Hume’s treatment of human agency. This is his “analysis of human agency,” or his assessment of what the basic structure of human agency means for our understanding of causation generally. Of particular interest is his argument that, given the truth of the above two claims, we cannot draw the concept of causal power from a consideration of voluntary action.
    [Show full text]
  • Divine Omnipotence in Descartes' Philosophy
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 6-2014 Divine Omnipotence In Descartes' Philosophy Alfredo Rodriguez Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/274 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE IN DESCARTES’ PHILOSOPHY BY ALFREDO RODRIGUEZ A master's thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Liberal Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, The City University of New York 2014 © 2014 Alfredo Rodriguez All Rights Reserved ii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Liberal Studies in satisfaction of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts. Professor Douglas Lackey Date Thesis Adviser Professor Matthew K. Gold Date Executive Officer THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract Divine Omnipotence in Descartes’ Philosophy by Alfredo Rodriguez Adviser: Professor Douglas Lackey The present thesis explores various aspects of Rene Descartes’ doctrine of divine omnipotence within the context of his overall philosophy and with reference to his medieval heritage. This thesis shows that, contrary to his multiple and explicit statements that God’s power cannot be limited in any way, Descartes took a more nuanced position on divine omnipotence that incorporated aspects of the widely accepted medieval position that God’s goodness is a constraint on his power.
    [Show full text]
  • Leibniz and the Foundations of Physics: the Later Years
    Leibniz and the Foundations of Physics: The Later Years The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation McDonough, Jeffrey K. 2016. Leibniz and the Foundations of Physics: The Later Years. Philosophical Review 125, no. 1: 1–34. doi:10.1215/00318108-3321711. Published Version doi:10.1215/00318108-3321711 Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:30780190 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Open Access Policy Articles, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#OAP Leibniz and the Foundations of Physics: The Later Years Jeffrey K. McDonough 0. Introduction In the opening paragraphs of his now classic paper “Leibniz and the Foundations of Physics: The Middle Years,” Daniel Garber suggests that Leibniz must seem something of a paradox to contemporary readers (1985, 27). On the one hand, Leibniz is commonly held to have advanced a broadly idealist metaphysics according to which the world is ultimately grounded in mind-like monads whose properties are exhausted by their perceptions and appetites. On such a picture, physical bodies would seem to be nothing more than the perceptions or thoughts (or contents thereof) enjoyed by immaterial substances.1 On the other hand, it is generally recognized (if perhaps less clearly) that Leibniz was also a prominent physicist in his own day and that he saw his work in physics as supporting, and being supported by, his metaphysics.2 But how, in light of his idealism, could that be? How could Leibniz think that his pioneering work in physics might lend support to his idealist metaphysics, and conversely that his Earlier versions of this essay were presented to audiences at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Yale University, Brown University, and Dartmouth College.
    [Show full text]
  • Nietzsche: Metaphysician
    Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons Philosophy Faculty Publications Philosophy & Religious Studies 2021 Nietzsche: Metaphysician Justin Remhof Old Dominion University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/philosophy_fac_pubs Part of the Continental Philosophy Commons, and the Metaphysics Commons Original Publication Citation Remhof, J. (2021). Nietzsche: Metaphysician. Journal of the American Philosophical Association, 7(1), 117-132. https://doi.org/10.1017/apa.2019.42 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Philosophy & Religious Studies at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Nietzsche: Metaphysician Justin Remhof Old Dominion University [email protected] Journal of the American Philosophical Association, forthcoming Abstract: Perhaps the most fundamental disagreement concerning Nietzsche’s view of metaphysics is that some commentators believe Nietzsche has a positive, systematic metaphysical project, and others deny this. Those who deny it hold that Nietzsche believes metaphysics has a special problem, that is, a distinctively problematic feature which distinguishes metaphysics from other areas of philosophy. In this paper, I investigate important features of Nietzsche’s metametaphysics in order to argue that Nietzsche does not, in fact, think metaphysics has a special problem. The result is that, against a longstanding view held in the literature, we should be reading Nietzsche as a metaphysician. Keywords: History of philosophy, Nietzsche, metaphysics, metametaphysics, methodology Interpreters have long disagreed about how to approach Nietzsche’s view of metaphysics. Perhaps the most fundamental disagreement is this: some commentators believe Nietzsche has a positive, systematic metaphysical project, and others deny this.
    [Show full text]
  • RENÉ DESCARTES (1596-1650) Author: (W.W.; X.) = William Wallace (1844-1897) Encyclopedia Britannica (New York 1911) Vol
    RENÉ DESCARTES (1596-1650) Author: (W.W.; X.) = William Wallace (1844-1897) Encyclopedia Britannica (New York 1911) vol. 8: 79-90. Electronic Text edited, modernized & paginated by Dr Robert A. Hatch© DESCARTES, RENÉ (1596-1650), French philosopher, was born at La Haye, in Touraine, midway between Tours and Poitiers, on the 31st of March 1596, and died at Stockholm on the 11th of February 1650. The house where he was born is still shown, and a métairie about 3 miles off retains the name of Les Cartes. His family on both sides was of Poitevin descent. Joachim Descartes, his father, having purchased a commission as counsellor in the parlement of Rennes, introduced the family into that demi-noblesse of the robe which, between the bourgeoisie and the high nobility, maintained a lofty rank in French society. He had three children, a son who afterwards succeeded to his father in the parlement, a daughter who married a M. du Crevis, and René, after whose birth the mother died. Descartes, known as Du Perron, from a small estate destined for his inheritance, soon showed an inquisitive mind. From 1604 to 1612 he studied at the school of La Flèche, which Henry IV. had lately founded and endowed for the Jesuits. He enjoyed exceptional privileges; his feeble health excused him from the morning duties, and thus early he acquired the habit of reflection in bed, which clung to him throughout life. Even then he had begun to distrust the authority of tradition and his teachers. Two years before he left school he was selected as one of the twenty-four who went forth to receive the heart of Henry IV.
    [Show full text]
  • Truth and Truthmaking in 17Th-Century Scholasticism
    Truth and Truthmaking in 17th-Century Scholasticism by Brian Embry A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy University of Toronto © Copyright by Brian Embry 2015 Truth and Truthmaking in 17th-Century Scholasticism Brian Embry Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy University of Toronto 2015 Abstract Some propositions are true and others are false. What explains this difference? Some philosophers have recently defended the view that a proposition is true because there is an entity, its truthmaker, that makes it true. Call this the ‘truthmaker principle’. The truthmaker principle is controversial, occasioning the rise of a large contemporary debate about the nature of truthmaking and truthmakers. What has gone largely unnoticed is that scholastics of the early modern period also had the notion of a truthmaker [verificativum], and this notion is at the center of early modern scholastic disputes about the ontological status of negative entities, the past and future, and uninstantiated essences. My project is to explain how early modern scholastics conceive of truthmaking and to show how they use the notion of a truthmaker to regiment ontological enquiry. I argue that the notion of a truthmaker is born of a certain conception of truth according to which truth is a mereological sum of a true mental sentence and its intentional object. This view entails the truthmaker principle and is responsible for some surprising metaphysical views. For example, it leads many early modern scholastics to posit irreducible negative entities as truthmakers for negative truths, giving rise to an extensive literature on the nature of negative entities.
    [Show full text]
  • Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 D
    J Jesuit Philosophy words. But Voltaire, just as Descartes more than a century earlier, had been himself a student of the Jean-Pascal Anfray1 and Jacob Schmutz2 Jesuits, and there are strong reasons to believe that 1Département de philosophie, centre Mathesis, both were much more indebted to Jesuit science Ecole Normale Supérieure PSL, Paris, France than their negative comments might betray. Over 2Institut Supérieur de Philosophie, UCLouvain, the last decades, the historiographical perception Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium of the philosophical legacy of the Jesuits has dramatically changed. The Jesuit philosophical Related Topics heritage is now largely considered not so much as anti-modern but on the contrary as the labora- Religious orders · Aristotelianism · tory where decisive innovations of early modern Novatores · Logic · Natural Philosophy · philosophy were prepared. Jesuits are now com- Physics · Psychology · Metaphysics monly credited as the true inventors of so many elements usually typically associated with early Introduction modern philosophy, such as the rise of facultative logic, the destruction of substantial forms in metaphysics, the invention of consciousness as The Society of Jesus, founded by Ignatius of self-awareness (▶ “Consciousness”), or the vindi- Loyola and established by a papal bull in 1540, cation of natural rights defined as the subjective plays an enormous role in our philosophical his- faculty or capacity of individuals (see Schmutz torical consciousness: they have regularly been 2018, for a historiographical synthesis). portrayed as the key educators of early modern Early-modern Jesuits were indeed omnipres- Europe, but also as the culprits of all forms of ent, if only geographically: the Society had man- “popish” misguidance and ignorance, submitting aged to construct an efficient network of human thought to the dictates of the Catholic colleges – from its first foundation in Messina Church.
    [Show full text]
  • Leibniz on Privations, Limitations, and the Metaphysics of Evil
    Leibniz on Privations, Limitations, and the Metaphysics of Evil SAMUEL NEWLANDS* 1 . introduction there was a consensus in late Scholasticism that evils are privations, the lacks of appropriate perfections. For something to be evil is for it to lack an excellence that, by its nature, it ought to have. This widely accepted ontology of evil was used, in part, to help explain the source of evil in a world created and sustained by a perfect being. During the second half of the seventeenth century, progressive early moderns began to criticize the traditional privative account of evil on a variety of philosophical and theological grounds. Embedded in Scholastic Aristotelianism and applied to problems of evil, privation theory seemed to some like yet another instance of pre-modern pseudo-explanation.1 Against this growing rejection of privation theory in the late seventeenth cen- tury, Leibniz stands out as an enigmatic exception. In his early writings, Leibniz too sharply rejects the standard use of privation theory. He describes it as “a mani- fest illusion,” a “joke,” a “leftover from the visionary philosophy of the past; it is a subterfuge with which a reasonable person will never be satisfied” CP( 111).2 But within fifteen years, Leibniz changes his mind, or at least his tune. Around 1685, he admits that although privation theory “seems illusory,” it is actually “more solid than it first seems” A( k 6.4.1605). This more positive evaluation continues throughout the rest of Leibniz’s life. In his late writings on the problem of evil, 1For more on the general reception of privation theory in the seventeenth century, see Newlands, “Evils, Privations, and the Early Moderns.” 2A ll translations from Leibniz are mine, except where I cite an English edition, though I have sometimes consulted existing English translations of other passages when available.
    [Show full text]
  • The Problem of Mind-Body Dichotomy: a Critique of the Cartesian Approach
    GNOSI: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Human Theory and Praxis, Vol. 1(2) (2018) (DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/10.5281/zenodo.3463785) O R I G I N A L A R T I C L E The Problem of Mind-Body Dichotomy: A Critique of the Cartesian Approach John Gabriel Mendie | Udofia, Stephen Nwanaokuo 1P.hD Candidate, Department of Philosophy, University of Calabar, Cross River State. 2 Department of Philosophy, University Of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. Abstract: The mind-body problem is a perennial philosophical problem that seeks to uncover the relationship or causal interaction that exists between the corporeal and incorporeal aspects of the human person. It thrives under the assumption that the human person is made up of two distinct entities, that is, mind and body, which explains their assumed causal relation. As attractive as this may seem, not all philosophers agree to this feigned idea of interaction and bifurcation of the human person. One philosopher of note, who sorts to address this problem in the 17th century, is René Descartes. For Descartes, minds and bodies are distinct kinds of substance, where bodies are spatially extended substances (a res extensa) and minds are unexpended substances characterised primarily by thought (a res cogitans). But, if minds and bodies are radically dissimilar, how could they causally interact? This paper therefore attempts to examine the philosophical foundations of Cartesian dualism. It also articulates the major arguments adopted by Descartes through his methodic doubts to address the mind- body problem. The paper concludes by highlighting some fundamental criticisms of Cartesian Interactionism in the light of recent trends in parapsychology and neuro-scientific research.
    [Show full text]