VOLUME 17 • 2018
THE SOCRATIC PROCESS OF LEARNING: BEING-EDUCATED AS A PHILOSOPHICAL WAY OF THE ETHICAL LIFE
ABSTRACT. This article reviews Magrini (2017) and supplements it with theoretically-based empirical research. Magrini rigorously proves that Socratic learning is substantiated in the routine of care for the soul, which is the advancement or alteration of the character via educational procedures. The..
REALITY-CONSTRUCTION PROCESSES IN INFORMATION SOCIETIES: ALGORITHMIC REGULATION, AUTOMATED DECISION-MAKING, AND NETWORKED GOVERNANCE
ABSTRACT. Empirical research (e.g. Danaher et al., 2018; Just and Latzer, 2017; Kitchin, 2017) shows that algorithmic selection plays a part in reality construction. Using data from BI Intelligence, Forbes, HfS Research, Ipsos, Medium, Statista, etc., I performed analyses and made estimates regardin..
THE ETHICS OF ALGORITHMIC SOCIALITY, BIG DATA ANALYTICS, AND DATA-DRIVEN RESEARCH PATTERNS
ABSTRACT. I follow recent research (e.g. Flyverbom, Deibert, and Matten, 2018; Herschel and Miori, 2017; Markham, Tiidenberg, and Herman, 2018; Pink and Lanzeni, 2018) showing that the most ordinary aspects of individuals’ lives are surely datafied and predictive data analytics are progressively emp..
CULTURAL DECLINE, CAPITALIST DETERRITORIALIZATION, AND SOCIAL DEGENERATION IN HOUELLEBECQ’S FICTION
ABSTRACT. I draw on a substantial body of theoretical research (e.g. Abecassis, 2000; Ahearne, 2017; Attridge, 2017; Holzer, 2003; McCann, 2010; Morrey, 2014; Schoolcraft III and Golsan, 2007) on Houellebecq’s image of capitalist globalization, the depressive narrative voice of his novels, and the p..
THE SELF-SUBLATION OF EMPIRICAL CONSCIOUSNESS: DEVELOPING MCDOWELL’S HETERODOX INTERPRETATION OF HEGEL’S LORD/BONDSMAN DIALECTIC
ABSTRACT. The orthodox interpretation of the famous “Lordship and Bondage” dialectic (LBD) of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit (PhG) maintains that the LBD consists in a struggle for recognition between two distinct individuals. John McDowell has provided a heterodox interpretation according to which..
IN A WORLD CHARACTERIZED BY MORAL PLURALISM, IS DIALOGIC CONSENSUS A WAY TO ESTABLISH MORAL TRUTH?
ABSTRACT. A system of morals aims at providing guidance in the resolution of moral conflict. Our era is characterized by widely disparate personal and cultural values and, hence, significant moral pluralism. Thus, different social and historical cultures regard different actions as permissible or im..
FROM DNA TO ECONOMICS: ANALOGY IN ECONOBIOLOGY
ABSTRACT. The last economic crisis generated a lot of debates and questions about the ability of economists to deal with economic complexity. Though complexity is difficult to model and measure, several frameworks (biology, statistical physics etc.) recently emerged to deal with this kind of environ..
TRUTH AND TRUTH-TELLING IN THE AGE OF TRUMP
ABSTRACT. This is a slightly extended and annotated version of a talk given at TEDXRuakura event at the University of Waikato on the 20th August 2017. It is a talk that discusses the social and cultural notion of truth and truth-telling before turning to Trump and the politics of post-truth. Keywor..
THE GRAND PESSIMISTIC INDUCTION
ABSTRACT. After decades of intense debate over the old pessimistic induction (Laudan, 1977; Putnam, 1978), it has now become clear that it has at least the following four problems. First, it overlooks the fact that present theories are more successful than past theories. Second, it commits the falla..