Central Claim Research Articles

European Portuguese lá: Use-Conditional Meaning and Pragmaticalization

This study focusses on non-adverbial uses of lá in European Portuguese, whose exact meaning contribution still remains an open research question. Applying a multidimensional semantics framework, the central claim is that non-adverbial uses of lá represent use-conditional items. Passing the standard tests suggested in the literature, they thus do not contribute to the truth conditions of an utterance but specify particular use conditions. It is argued that they are felicitously used if a speaker wants to convey illocutionary modification, which pragmatically leads to mitigation or reinforcement effects. Diachronically, substantiated by historical data from the Corpus do Português, use-conditional lá is argued to be a product of a pragmaticalization process that led to so-called pragmatic fission at some point, i.e., to the polysemy of two synchronically available configurations of a truth-conditional and a use-conditional lá.

Democratization and inclusion: what women’s enfranchisement tells us about the second wave of democracy

ABSTRACT Most Latin American countries enfranchised women during the second wave of democracy. But how did this expansion of participation relate to other dimensions of democracy? In this essay, I use Robert Dahl’s two dimensions of democracy and evaluate what women’s inclusion tells us about democratization during this period. Using 14 countries as base for this analysis, I make three central claims: First, I present data on moments of expansion of inclusion and increased competitiveness and whether they coincided, confirming the late 1940s as the most significant period of democratization as both dimensions often advanced together. Second, I identify sequences of democratization based on whether contestation came before, at the same time, or after the expansion of participation to women and the characteristics of each of these sequences. Based on these sequences, I identify a revolutionary path, a democratic path, and an authoritarian path to women’s suffrage. Finally, using methodological notions of the trivialness and importance of necessary conditions, I conceptualize the dimensions of democratization and argue that the relative importance of inclusiveness has varied over time.

The Burden for High-Quality Online Data Collection Lies With Researchers, Not Recruitment Platforms

A recent article in Perspectives on Psychological Science (Webb & Tangney, 2022) reported a study in which just 2.6% of participants recruited on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) were deemed “valid.” The authors highlighted some well-established limitations of MTurk, but their central claims—that MTurk is “too good to be true” and that it captured “only 14 human beings . [out of] N = 529”—are radically misleading, yet have been repeated widely. This commentary aims to (a) correct the record (i.e., by showing that Webb and Tangney’s approach to data collection led to unusually low data quality) and (b) offer a shift in perspective for running high-quality studies online. Negative attitudes toward MTurk sometimes reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of what the platform offers and how it should be used in research. Beyond pointing to research that details strategies for effective design and recruitment on MTurk, we stress that MTurk is not suitable for every study. Effective use requires specific expertise and design considerations. Like all tools used in research—from advanced hardware to specialist software—the tool itself places constraints on what one should use it for. Ultimately, high-quality data is the responsibility of the researcher, not the crowdsourcing platform.

Well-Being, Harmony, and Deference: Toward a Confucian Case for Empowered Mini-Publics

Nearly all debates within contemporary Confucian political theory regarding the full or partial adoption of democracy have understood democracy as electoral representative democracy. Almost no attention has then been paid to how Confucian democracy or Confucian meritocracy would relate to randomly selected deliberative bodies increasingly considered by democratic theorists amid an ongoing reconceptualization of democracy. In this article, I explore such a relationship by presenting a Confucian case for empowered mini-publics. My central claim is that the adoption of this institution can be interpreted in Confucian terms and embraced by Confucian democrats as well as Confucian meritocrats, on the basis of several key Confucian values which they have already employed in defending their respective political proposals. By making this claim, I also demonstrate that one of central institutional innovations originally proposed to alleviate ills facing Western liberal democracies has a broader application and appeal than it has been assumed.

Infrastructural Closure, Rupture, and Insurgency in Lidia Yuknavitch’s The Book of Joan

ABSTRACT This essay addresses the problem of how to formally differentiate between oppressive and emancipatory infrastructures. In doing so, it develops an analysis of speculative science-fiction novel The Book of Joan (2017) to explore how infrastructure is characterized in its vertical-fascist, insurgent, and horizontal-egalitarian modes. I will make and explore three central claims. Firstly, the material infrastructure of patriarchal white supremacy is intimately bound up with semiotic infrastructure in ways that are extremely difficult to untangle. Secondly, vertical-fascist infrastructure functions as a means of capturing, appropriating, and homogenizing human and nonhuman life, while insurgent infrastructures that give rise to horizontal formations are characterized by a reversal of this process insofar as they seek to maximize living diversity and bodily autonomy. Finally, and relatedly, the difference between vertical-fascist and horizontal-egalitarian synthetic infrastructures must be understood in relation to the nonhuman-natural infrastructures into which they intervene, and which they can either synthesize with or overwrite.

Blackness at the End of the World

This paper argues that there exists no ontotheological grounds for black life. As such, blackreligion and, by extension, black theology should consider the ways in which black life is life thatis lived ungrounded. The central claim of this paper notes that categories such as the good life,the human, freedom, and citizenship are inadequate to account for the reality of black life amidthe totalizing effects of antiblackness. As such, black theology should position itself to imagineblack theology beyond the confines of the science of faith and other colonial markers of life andhumanity. In essence, this paper seeks to make two theological claims/interventions; first, itquestions the use of the category of the human as a liberatory figure through which the blackcan attain freedom. Second, it throws into crisis the notion of eschatological time and salvationand the inability or difficulty to account for the black who has been rendered simultaneously inand out of time. Ultimately, this paper wants to think with black feminist futurity and Afrofuturistdiscourse as generative tools to imagine black life beyond the confines of antiblackness, if at allpossible.

Confucian Liberalism With/out Mou Zongsan: On Roy Tseng’s Confucian Liberalism

Abstract In his recent book, Roy Tseng provides one of the most systematic accounts of modern Confucianism that is liberal and moderately perfectionist. Tseng also offers a comprehensive analysis of Mou Zongsan’s political philosophy with special attention to its Hegelian-liberal dimension. This paper critically examines whether Tseng’s constructive and interpretive goals are integrated seamlessly. Its central claim is that while Tseng has succeeded in developing a morally attractive vision of Confucian liberalism through the creative reinterpretation of Confucianism in communication with Hegelian idealism, it is dubious that his extensive investigation of Mou’s political philosophy was necessary for achieving this goal. More specifically, it challenges Tseng’s claim that the idea of Confucian democratic civility is the central component of Mou’s vision of Confucian liberalism by showing that Mou never committed himself to the distinction between moral virtue and civic virtue, the baseline assumption for the possibility of Confucian democratic civility.

Determinants of Net Transactions in TARGET2 of European Banks Based on Micro-data

AbstractThis paper examines German and foreign bank factors that can explain net flows of cross-border central bank liquidity between Germany and the rest of the euro area. Using data from the German component of Eurosystem’s real-time gross settlement system TARGET2 and BankFocus for the period between 2009 and 2021, we provide empirical evidence that only few balance sheet items and profit and loss accounts affect net flows with Germany. We control for bilateral bank-specific relationships and time-varying macroeconomic country effects in our regressions. In general, German bank factors seem to be more important than characteristics of foreign banks. A German bank that exhibits relatively high claims against central banks seems to attract less additional central bank liquidity from abroad than a German bank with fewer existing central bank claims. Net claims against central banks, which also control for liabilities, have no effect on net transactions in TARGET2. However, higher overall liquidity of a German credit institution corresponds to additional net inflows. Foreign bank factors only matter for central bank payments and intragroup payments. We also document heterogeneities across different types of transactions which influence the German TARGET2 balance. While customer payments, interbank payments and central bank payments have increased net flows to Germany in sum, intragroup payments and ancillary systems’ transactions have led to net outflows.

Beyond Truth-Telling: Embodying and Dwelling in Truth and Hope

This paper seeks to argue that truth is not something that relates to telling/speaking only. Its main aim is to show that in their quest for communion with God, other human beings – and one should add – the entire creation, humans need to go beyond truth-telling toward the ways of embodying and dwelling in truth and hope. To introduce its argument, the paper proceeds in the following steps. First, it expounds a Christian perspective on truth, employing notions such as sacrament, desire, and relationality. Through the image of communion with God, a link between truth-telling and hope is outlined. Second, it tries to show that truth-telling is not only an affective but also an existential category. As such, it involves the whole of human being. Therefore, it makes sense to turn to the concept of body and embodiment when reflecting on the human pursuits of truth. The paper then, third, examines various constellations of this central claim by exploring a specific case from popular culture, namely, ‘Crocodile’, an episode from the Netflix series, Black Mirror. In particular, a proposal is made for the significance of embodying and dwelling in truth for Christian theology and practice. Finally, in the last step, this embodying and dwelling is given more concrete contours with respect to hope by probing into the images of home and feast.

There is no right to a competent electorate

ABSTRACT This paper addresses the debate surrounding epistocracy. While many discussions of epistocracy focus on its instrumental defenses, this paper aims to critically examine the non-instrumental jury argument offered by Jason Brennan. Brennan’s argument equates the rights of individuals in political decisions to their rights in jury decisions, asserting that just as individuals have a right to a competent jury, they likewise have a right to a competent electorate. We disagree. By juxtaposing the costs of enforcing such rights and the severity of the harm prevented by their enforcement, this paper argues in favor of maintaining the right to a competent jury while denying the existence of a right to a competent electorate. The central claim is that while securing a competent jury is feasible and vital, attempting to secure a competent electorate poses significant challenges and may prevent less significant harm than perceived.

Re-Collections: Images beyond the Archive

In visual terms the ongoing war in Syria has been one of the most well-documented that the world has ever witnessed. Accordingly Syria has for long been established as a topos for global reflection and concern. Despite an excess of visual documentation of this war, the actual processes through which some images have come to capture, embody and produce what Syria was, is, and is to become still need further thought and engagement. The central claim of this Introduction is that Syria offers an exemplary case to reflect on the power of images and on how processes of archiving enable a grip, not merely on the past but also on the present and the future. At the same time we offer a reflection on various facets of Syrian engagement with collections and re-collections of images, and how these speak to a concerted attempt to keep the narrative of what has taken place in Syria open for posterity.

The Impact of the Dispute over the Rule of Law in Poland on the Status of Normative Power Europe

The central claim of the paper is that the European Union, understood through the concept of Normative Power Europe, is a sui generis global actor that will not be successful in achieving its international goals unless it upholds its foundational values at home. Internal disputes among Member States over fundamental and core values weaken the organisation’s international standing, which may lead to the risk of the European Union losing its comparative strength that differentiates it from other global powers and that gives it a unique place in international politics. This is particularly important in the times of constant change in global politics and new security, political and economic challenges, such as the role of China, democratic backsliding in the Global South countries and the Russian aggression against Ukraine. All these call for a strong and effective European Union, which, we argue, will not be possible, unless the organisation is able to keep internal disputes at check by ensuring compliance with the values it is based on. Based the case study of Poland, the paper demonstrates that it may be difficult, if not impossible, for the European Union to effectively uphold the respect for its fundamental norms, principles and standards among its members. This in turn will impede the Normative Power Europe status.

Do We Need an Alternative to the Disenchantment Narrative? Assessing Joas' Criticism of Weber against the Enduring Merit of the Concept and Theory of Disenchantment

Abstract: One of the central claims of Hans Joas' The Power of the Sacred is that Weber's narrative of the disenchantment of the world is in dire need of replacement by a more viable alternative. In his view, the disenchantment narrative not only fails to function as a correct explanation for the genesis and identity of Western modernity, but has a misleading effect on theoretical developments concerning the future of religion as well. Accordingly, Joas aims to liberate academic research from the lasting and disruptive influence of Weber's views of disenchantment. Not only does he reject Weber's term 'disenchantment' as a useful and unambiguous concept , he also discards it as a correct conceptualization of a long and linear historical process . This article expresses appreciation for Joas' challenging endeavor and its deeper intentions, yet ultimately finds his interpretation of Weber untenable on both counts. It critically assesses Joas' position by examining key components of the book where his twofold argumentation is constructed and by developing an alternative interpretation. The upshot of the analysis is to argue that nuance and redefinition are far more fruitful than elimination, and that both the concept and the theory of disenchantment remain meaningful tools for academic research. In one word, while endorsing Joas' invitation for a more in-depth examination of the concept and history of disenchantment, the article defends the enduring theoretical merit of Weber's disenchantment narrative.

Reconsidering linguistic nativism from an interdisciplinary, emergentist perspective

Abstract For decades, interdisciplinary research efforts have accumulated insights that diminish the significance of the classic nature versus nurture dichotomy, instead calling for a nuanced, multifactorial approach to ontogeny. Similarly, the role of genes in both phylogeny and ontogeny, once seen as rather deterministic, is now conceptualized as highly dependent on environmental factors, including behavior. Linguistic theories have, in principle, made an effort to incorporate these changing views. However, the central claim of the given paper is that this apparent compliance with biological insights remains superficial. As such, considerable disconnects between linguistic theory and what is known about the biological underpinnings of complex traits persist, negatively impacting pertinent views on language acquisition, language universals and the evolution of language. Given the breadth of these fields of study, the aim of this paper is to tackle the root of the problem: It begins by sketching out linguistic nativism as conceptualized within generativism, pointing to aspects within this position that stand in conflict with the interdisciplinary literature. It will then review select areas of research in a succinct manner in order to substantiate the criticism and characterize the counterposition as found within the biological sciences. The paper will culminate in addressing these disconnects on conceptual grounds, i.e. invoking the term emergence as employed in neuroscience as a possible means to reconcile those biological insights with linguistic nativism.

Dreaming in the Digital Age

This article explores one way of understanding how digital media are affecting our ability to distinguish reality from fantasy, by reading Bernard Stiegler’s diagnosis of our current cultural crisis, alongside Wilfred Bion’s dream theory. The central claim of the paper is that we can understand the technological pharmakon¬, its both poisonous and therapeutic nature, (specifically of digitized audiovisual communication) in terms of Bion’s definition of dreaming, as the commerce between consciousness and the unconscious (responsible for spontaneity, invention, and the constitution of meaning) negotiated by the “alpha function”. Understanding how the digital impacts our capacity to dream provides us with a tool to counteract its toxicity and to combat the thanatic impulse triggered by technological power. From a binocular point of view – both from Stiegler’s perspective of our technical or “organological” evolution and from Bion’s perspective on the constitution of reality in dreaming – we can begin to see more clearly how to modulate our technological drive, in order to prevent the pharmakon from short-circuiting the very psychic function necessary to distinguish between reality and illusion. The paper ends with a discussion of the algorithmic effects on the living imagination in support of this contention.

Grounded collaborative learning: on the misperceived relevance of philosophy in Africa

ABSTRACT Given a peculiar sociocultural pressure for knowledge to reap immediate socioeconomic benefits in Africa, philosophy courses have gained a very low valuation by African students. They misperceive the courses not to be relevant to their future careers, leading to a lack of engagement with the courses. Focusing on South Africa, this paper proffers one way to bridge this relevance gap. The central claim is that this perceived irrelevance is fuelled by the construction of philosophy course syllabi solely from the instructor’s perspective, such that the relevance gap is bridged by including African students’ perspectives.

A social ecological model of education: Economic problems, citizenship solutions

This article develops a model of education from Murray Bookchin’s social ecology by demonstrating how “the economy,” specifically growth and employment, intervenes between the environment and education, impeding the goal of environmental education. By reformulating Bookchin’s central claim in terms of power, rather than domination, the argument for limits to growth is strengthened and gives rise to a necessary feature of ecological sustainability; namely, the collective imposition of limits on throughput, the technical term for resource use. To make such collective action effective, the model proposes that active citizenship become a more common aim of education, especially in relation to the increasingly narrow goal of education for employment.

Colloquium 5 Commentary on Katz

Abstract In this response to Emily Katz’s “Aristotle’s Rejection of Mathematized Metaphysics,” I raise questions about her central interpretive claim that mathematical forms cannot, for Aristotle, appear among first principles of nature. Topics addressed include the notion of priority, especially in the sciences; the relationship between natural change and material realization; and the general nature and scope of mathematical explanations for physical phenomena.

The Dating Dupe―The Limits of Biosocially Unfriendly Sociology

Curington, Lundquist, and Lin’s book, The Dating Divide: Race and Desire in the Era of Online Romance, demonstrates the limits of a moralizing sociological approach to courting behavior shorn of biosocial insight. In this essay, I summarize the book’s central findings and claims regarding the roots of systematic, racially exclusionary patterns in online dating. I question the adequacy of their social constructionist, power analytic explanation of such patterns; and I suggest additional interpretations from a multidimensional, biosocial perspective. I argue that reducing dating discrimination to “racism,” based on a totally constructed view of romantic desire, is both scientifically and politically shortsighted in today’s polarized ideological environment.

Moral Twin Earth Strikes Back: Against a Neo-Aristotelian Hope

Abstract A key objection to naturalistic versions of moral realism is that the (meta)semantics to which they are committed yields incorrect semantic verdicts about so-called Moral Twin Earth cases. Recently, it has been proposed that the Moral Twin Earth challenge can be answered by adopting a neo-Aristotelian semantics for moral expressions. In this paper, I argue that this proposal fails. First, however attractive the central claims of neo-Aristotelianism are, they do not for us have the status of analytic constraints on the use of ethical expressions, as they must if they are to block Moral Twin Earth counterexamples. Second, even when the neo-Aristotelian’s claims are taken as non-negotiable analytic constraints, the semantics faces a dilemma: if characteristic human functioning is understood in an ethically neutral way, the semantics yields an incorrect intension for ‘good human.’ If human functioning is understood in an ethically partisan way, the semantics fails to avoid problematic Moral Twin Earth counterexamples.