VOLUME 7 • 2008
REALISM WITHOUT EMPIRICISM: WITTGENSTEIN AND WHITEHEAD
ABSTRACT. Whereas Ludwig Wittgenstein is known among many metaphysicians for his fervent rejection of metaphysics as a legitimate philosophical enterprise, A.N. Whitehead is often described as the chief exemplification of the systematic and explanatory metaphysician. This fact might explain why litt..
THE DYNAMIC NATURE OF MEANING
ABSTRACT. This paper wants to be a contribution, mainly of philosophical character, to a new current of thought and research in semantics that have been defined the "dynamic turn" in the study of meaning (cf. Peregrin, 2003). The central point of this approach to meaning is that there is not such a ..
WITTGENSTEIN AND COMMUNICATING WITH AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE
ABSTRACT. The question I address in this paper is, "According to the later-Wittgenstein, are human beings able to communicate with an extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI)?" In addressing this question, I defend a Strong Biological Interpretation of the term "form of life" (Lebensform) as this term is..
HOW THE MEDIA CONSTRUCTS REALITY
ABSTRACT. Barnhurst states that the instantaneous distribution of newspaper stories on-line renews the possibility for newspapers to return to the doctrine of the scoop. Gilboa remarks that images of what is happening in the world are given greater significance than what really happens. Reynolds and..
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSITIONAL POLITICS IN ROMANIA
ABSTRACT. Hockenos notes that after a short period of domestic liberalization in the 1960s, Ceausescu initiated a ruthless antiminority campaign under the heading of "homogenization" (an euphemism for assimilation). Dragoman argues that, for Romanians, the Western nation-state has been for a long ti..
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MATHEMATICS EDUCATION AND THE CONJECTURAL NATURE OF EXPERIMENTAL MATHEMATICS
ABSTRACT. Leron and Hazzan show how some recent developments in cognitive psychology can help interpret empirical results from mathematics education. English states that students need to learn mathematics with understanding by actively building new knowledge from existing knowledge and experience. B..
THE MODEL OF MEANING IN TERMS OF TRUTH-CONDITIONS
ABSTRACT. Dummett argues that the model of meaning in terms of truth-conditions can be vindicated only by reference to the whole language. According to Dummett, even if the two-valued semantics, the realist model of meaning in terms of truth-conditions, is required for the extended language, it was ..
SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND NETWORKED MULTIMEDIA ENVIRONMENTS
ABSTRACT. Rappoport and Sheinman claim that SL learners possess a mature conceptual system and are capable of explicit symbolic reasoning and abstraction. Schmidt claims that it is important to operationalize concepts such as intention, noticing, and awareness in both experimental and pedagogical se..
WHY SHOULD A TRUTH-CONDITIONAL THEORY OF MEANING TAKE THE FORM OF A PROPERLY SEMANTIC THEORY?
ABSTRACT. Dummett argues that no part of an expression’s meaning can contain anything which is not manifest in the use made of it, laying solely in the mind of the individual who apprehends that meaning. Dummett points out that a theory of understanding should proceed by characterizing that knowledg..
DIFFICULTIES OF THE CAUSAL MODEL IN SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION
ABSTRACT. A functional analysis depends on causal explanations and stimulates causal explanations. The anti-positivist naturalism questions the empiricist concept of causality. The covering law theory of causality has no been successful when it comes to causal explanations of social actions. Manipul..
NEWS AS A SOCIAL ARTIFACT
ABSTRACT. Rosen claims that newspapers have to investigate the main issues of the community and give a chance to groups that have different opinions to discuss them. Entman holds that media may be systematically assisting certain entities to induce their preferred behavior in others. Ward provides t..
DEMOCRATIZATION AND THE ROMANIAN POST-COMMUNIST TRANSITION
ABSTRACT. Firebaugh and Sandu argue that the post-1989 change in former Communist societies in East and Central Europe is viewed as a double transition involving both marketization and democratization: Romanians distinguish two reform dimensions as opposed to a single "pro-Westernization" dimension...