VOLUME 10 • 2011
SEMANTICS OF IMAGINABILITY – VORSTELLUNGSSEMANTIK: 13 THESES
ABSTRACT. Taking its starting point from a comment by Ludwig Wittgenstein in the Philosophical Investigations, the paper presents a skeleton view of a semantics of imaginability in point form, sketching the minimal foundations of natural language in opposition to standard accounts in linguistics and..
HUNCHED OVER THEIR LAPTOPS: PHENOMENOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CITIZEN JOURNALISM
ABSTRACT. Donald Matheson (2003) writes of war correspondents ‘scowling at their notebooks’, and this is not meant as caricature but the corporeal expression of an epistemological orientation to the world in which facts have to be wrestled into submission. This article takes a phenomenological appro..
SEARLE’S “DUALISM REVISITED”
ABSTRACT. A recent article in which John Searle claims to refute dualism is examined from a scientific perspective. pp. 141–149 Keywords: Searle, consciousness, dualism, reality, brain, quantum mechanics {downloads} {slider Author's contact:} HENRY P. STAPPhpstapp@lbl.govUniversity of Ca..
NONSENSE AND ABSURDITY: CARNAP’S USE OF HUSSERL’S THEORY OF MEANING
ABSTRACT. In his Logical Investigations (Husserl 2001), Edmund Husserl introduced an innovative view of the theory of meaning, which subsequently influenced the development of Logical Positivism. According to Husserl, non-meaningful expressions may fall under one of two types: they are either absurd..
IS AGENT CAUSALITY SPOOKY?
ABSTRACT. Fatalism is the idea that something’s going to happen no matter what you do. Determinism is the idea that what you do depends. What happens depends on what you do, what you do depends on what you know, what you know depends on what you’re caused to know, and so forth – but still, what you ..
WHY MUST THERE BE SOMETHING (OR ANYTHING) AT ALL? WITTGENSTEIN, PHILOSOPHY, AND RELIGIOUS BELIEF
ABSTRACT. Given the context of the above quotation and his overall writings, it is clear that Wittgenstein was genuinely puzzled over religious beliefs. He neither claimed to be a religious believer nor an opponent. He was uncertain what to make of either position. What would it mean to say that one..
IS THERE LIFE AFTER FACEBOOK? THE CYBER GULAG REVISITED & DEBATE RELOADED • (OF THE ARAB ‘SPRING’ AND LONDON ‘SUMMER’ – AN INSTRUCTIVE LESSON FOR ASIA/SEA)
ABSTRACT. Misled by a quick triumphalism of the social-media, the international news agencies have confused the two: revolt and revolution. The Arab unrests started as a social, not political public revolt. Through the pain of sobriety, the Egyptian and Tunisian protesters are learning that neither ..
THOMAS S. KUHN’S INSTITUTIONAL THEORY OF STABILITY AND CHANGE
ABSTRACT. With his philosophy of science, Thomas S. Kuhn has provided a theory of stability and change that complies with sociological institutionalism in many respects. Emanating from social phenomenology, institutional theory has become one of the major theories in contemporary sociology and beyon..
INFORMATION HAZARDS: A TYPOLOGY OF POTENTIAL HARMS FROM KNOWLEDGE
ABSTRACT. Information hazards are risks that arise from the dissemination or the potential dissemination of true information that may cause harm or enable some agent to cause harm. Such hazards are often subtler than direct physical threats, and, as a consequence, are easily overlooked. They can, ho..
‘FINDING FOUCAULT’ – FRAGMENTS FROM A BIOGRAPHY: A POSTSTRUCTURALIST STANCE ON CULTURES OF THE SELF
ABSTRACT. The idea of ‘finding’ Michel Foucault holds philosophical, professional and personal aspects for many writers, and in this paper, in effect a narrative that is part of ‘reading’ and ‘writing the self’, I begin by outlining something of my engagement with Foucault over many years. The paper..
OPEN LEARNING SYSTEMS: THE NEXT EVOLUTION OF EDUCATION
ABSTRACT. This paper provides a vision, an argument, and an explanation of “Open Learning Systems” (OLS) based on a blended conception of open epistemology, constructivism and connectionism that resonates with a form of social criticism in post- modern perspective harnessed by new technological affo..