Philosophical Notions Research Articles

The Interplay of Dominant Empiricism and Residual Cartesianism in Ann Radcliffe’s A Sicilian Romance

ABSTRACT In response to the supernatural occurrences in the Marquis’s castle, several characters of Ann Radcliffe’s A Sicilian Romance adhere to the tenets of Lockean empiricism to interpret their sensory perception. Conversely, a few characters adopt Cartesian scepticism to dismiss the validity of sensory experience. To date, no exhaustive study of Ann Radcliffe’s fiction has inspected the incorporation of Lockean empiricism and the Cartesian method of René Descartes into her novels. By conducting a historical analysis of the philosophical scene of the Enlightenment era, this paper aims to substantiate that not only does A Sicilian Romance encompass seminal philosophical notions of the age of Enlightenment, but it also points to the shifting philosophical scene within this period, characterised by the dominance of empiricism and the residuality of Cartesianism. By examining the reflection of these philosophies in Radcliffe’s novel, this article challenges the supposition that the Gothic novel necessarily contains anti-Enlightenment impulses.

Transformative Philosophy

The contemporary relevance of unraveling the transformative power of philosophy lies in helping to secure its place in the academe and in enabling personal change for the benefit of the individual and the society in which we live. Yet formulating the transformative power of various philosophies, of different philosophic notions, and of philosophy itself as a rational discipline which addresses the mind leads to laying the ground for a new field. This is what I attempt to do on my own, yet briefly, in this article, and at length, with the help of others, in the Handbook for Transformative Philosophy. In the current article, I explain why only Eastern philosophies are usually considered transformative, I argue that Western philosophy is deeply transformative and I formulate that which performs in it the required transformation of the self. I further identify religious readings of philosophy as one impediment to experiencing philosophy’s transformative power, and I point to the ideal of personal philosophic redemption as a promising avenue for modern transformative philosophies.

The Social Hierarchy of India through the Lens of Capitalism from Aravind Adiga's "The White Tiger"

This research article will focus on the socioeconomic and political conditions of present India through the lens of Capitalism from the work of Aravind Adiga’s “The White Tiger”. The main character in this book comes from a lower social level and works intelligently to become well-known in society. With the help of the figure Balram Halwai, the postcolonial period of India’s class inequalities was depicted. The current approach of introducing equality in the social structure is required to address the capitalism issue in contemporary India. The social hierarchy needs to be eliminated from society. By elaborating on Indian philosophical notions of living, Aravind Adiga also included philosophical elements in this work. He also discussed the state of Indian education, which forced many low-income students to drop out in the middle of their studies to care for their families. Children who receive an Indian education also acquire incomplete knowledge. The social hierarchy and structure of postcolonial India are discussed in this article.

When is Disbelief Epistemic Injustice? Criminal Procedure, Recovered Memories, and Deformations of the Epistemic Subject

People can be treated unjustly with respect to the level of credibility others accord to their testimony. This is the core idea of the philosophical idea of epistemic justice. It should be of utmost interest to criminal law which extensively deals with normative issues of evidence and testimony. It may reconstruct some of the long-standing criticisms of criminal law regarding credibility assessments and the treatment of witnesses, especially in sexual assault cases. However, philosophical discussions often overlook the intricate complexities of real procedural law and its underlying considerations. In its present form, the philosophical notion of epistemic injustice provides limited insights into legal discourse; it necessitates translation and adaptation. This study contributes to this endeavor by examining the contentious issue of testimony from witnesses who have undergone trauma-focused psychotherapy. Since the 1980s, courts worldwide were troubled with cases of false accusations based on false memories generated by suggestive therapeutic interventions. As a result, such post-therapy testimonies are discounted in one way or another in many jurisdictions. However, courts are still confronted with such testimonies, and the modi vivendi legal systems have established to deal with them continue to give rise to concerns about unjust treatment of witnesses. The question is thus whether legal rules or established practices of evaluating testimony based on memories which resurfaced after psychotherapy are epistemically and legally just. The paper presents seven ways in which courts may assess such testimonies and examines them in light of epistemic and procedural justice. Some of them prima facie constitute a form of epistemic injustice because they discount testimonies to an unwarranted degree. But these injustices might be justified by overriding principles favoring defendants. Nonetheless, the idea of epistemic justice, more broadly understood, inspires two principles that may serve as a foundation for a future conception of epistemic justice adapted to the law.

THE CORRELATION BETWEEN ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS’ AMBIGUITY TOLERANCE AND THEIR CREATIVITY: NEGATIVE CAPABILITY INSIDE THE DESIGN STUDIO

This research aims at shedding light on one of the needed skills inside the architectural design studio; that is, tolerance of ambiguity. Since design problems are characterized by complexity, unfamiliarity, and ambiguity; design process is described as a process where ambiguity is progressively resolved. Design process engenders negative feelings especially during experiencing states of not knowing and being stuck. However, most of architecture students, who are new to design process, find states of uncertainty and confusion threatening, annoying, and unnerving. Hence, the ability to navigate these negative feelings and work efficiently is important in creative design thinking. This skill is linked to a philosophical notion called negative capability; which means to have the ability to work amidst uncertainty despite the negative associations. Therefore, the researcher attempts to demonstrate the significance of negative capability, i.e. ambiguity tolerance, to students’ design performance via revealing its influence on their creativity and design behavior. The researcher aims at exploring the relation between architecture students’ attitudes towards ambiguity and their creativity via qualitative study. By recruiting 237 architecture students and assessing their ambiguity tolerance and creative thinking, the analysis revealed a significant correlation between the two variables.

Концепция различия Божественной сущности и действий в древнерусской переводной книжности

The author examines the Old Russian reception of the Byzantine translated works that contain the famous doctrine of the essence-energy distinction in God including some aspects of participation to God. I divide works considered in the study into two main groups according to the chronology of translations (pre-Palamite translations (X–XIII centuries) and translations of the Palamite era (XIV century)). The selected and examined texts include the Catechetical Lectures of Cyril of Jerusalem, «Theology» and «Dialectic» of John of Damascus, «On the Free Will» of Methodius of Olympus, the sholia of Nicetas of Heraclea on Gregory Nanzianzus’s 45 Oration, Corpus Areopagiticum with sholia, «On how not to fall into the Heresy of Barlaam and Akindynos» of David Dishypatos. The author shows that the Old Russian readers could be acquainted with the almost complete doctrine of essence-energy distinction in God in such aspects as Divine unity and distinction, the participated and unparticipated sides of God, the creating the Divine names through the contemplating of His energies, the hierarchy of being and its participation in Good, and etc. Damascene’s «Dialectic» introduced the reader to the technical philosophical notion and definitions of action/energy as the one of the nine accidents of essence, following Aristotle and his commentators. The author notices that the most of examined works in this paper were clearly influenced by Pseudo-Dionysius. This fact together with the substantial influence of the Slavonic translation of Dionysius allows me to conclude on the prevalence of Dionysius’s neoplatonic version of essence-energy dsictinction in the Medieval Russia. The Palamite version of considered teaching (except for the writings of David Dishypatos) was very little known in Medieval Russia and could not be fully understood.

Концепция различия Божественной сущности и действий в древнерусской переводной книжности

The author examines the Old Russian reception of the Byzantine translated works that contain the famous doctrine of the essence-energy distinction in God including some aspects of participation to God. I divide works considered in the study into two main groups according to the chronology of translations (pre-Palamite translations (X–XIII centuries) and translations of the Palamite era (XIV century)). The selected and examined texts include the Catechetical Lectures of Cyril of Jerusalem, «Theology» and «Dialectic» of John of Damascus, «On the Free Will» of Methodius of Olympus, the sholia of Nicetas of Heraclea on Gregory Nanzianzus’s 45 Oration, Corpus Areopagiticum with sholia, «On how not to fall into the Heresy of Barlaam and Akindynos» of David Dishypatos. The author shows that the Old Russian readers could be acquainted with the almost complete doctrine of essence-energy distinction in God in such aspects as Divine unity and distinction, the participated and unparticipated sides of God, the creating the Divine names through the contemplating of His energies, the hierarchy of being and its participation in Good, and etc. Damascene’s «Dialectic» introduced the reader to the technical philosophical notion and definitions of action/energy as the one of the nine accidents of essence, following Aristotle and his commentators. The author notices that the most of examined works in this paper were clearly influenced by Pseudo-Dionysius. This fact together with the substantial influence of the Slavonic translation of Dionysius allows me to conclude on the prevalence of Dionysius’s neoplatonic version of essence-energy dsictinction in the Medieval Russia. The Palamite version of considered teaching (except for the writings of David Dishypatos) was very little known in Medieval Russia and could not be fully understood.

Aiming at the clarification of architectural presence: a theoretical framework

The present paper seeks to discuss the principles of a theoretical framework aiming at the clarification of architectural presence. Hence it briefly explains the philosophical notion of presence in art and architecture. The tendencies to define architecture through the notion of presence delineate that the history of architecture has been a significant source for the theoretical framework to clarify the presence. As prominent modern architects have presented clarity in their designs, this article explores the fundamentals of architecture for dealing with the clarification. The description of the principles shows that they are related to order, natural light, space, and form, as the primary concerns of design. These principles then present several features by the clarification of the presence. The paper finally explains the specific outcomes of the clarification.

Dialectical roots and routes from Hegel to Bloch

The "critical" element present in many critical information literacy (CIL) studies shows a commitment to the practical challenge of the power structures that shape current information regimes. In this article, we argue that it is necessary to analyse how such power structures, organised under a capitalist social order with neoliberal contours, benefit from disinformation, scientific denialism and class, race and gender oppression. In addition to discussing how philosophical notions of language and postmodern relativism appear in the present time, our main theoretical objective is to highlight some thoughts of Hegel, Marx and Bloch on the notions of dialectics, praxis and concrete utopia, aiming to contribute to strengthen the critical element that names and distinguishes CIL as a field of inquiry in library and information studies.

Nature and causes of questionable research practice and research misconduct from a philosophy of science perspective

ABSTRACT Misconduct in science is often viewed and analyzed through the lenses of normative ethics and moral philosophy. However, notions and methods in the philosophy of science could also provide rather penetrative explanatory insights into the nature and causes of scientific misconduct. A brief illustration in this regard, using as examples the widely popular Popperian falsification and the Kuhnian scientific paradigm, is provided. In multiple areas of scientific research, failure to seek falsification in a Popperian manner constitutes a questionable research practice and could lead to “falsification” in the context of research misconduct. On the other hand, scientific misconduct is often facilitated by its perpetrators using the familiarity, expectations and confines of a Kuhnian paradigm to blend in fabricated data/results. A rudimentary application of these philosophical notions could be useful in our understanding of the nature and cause of research misconduct, and facilitate mitigation of the latter through educational means.

LUCRETIUS’ RAZOR ON EPICURUS’ ATOMIC THEORY

AbstractThis article investigates why Lucretius does not dedicate any section of his poem to atomic size or provide a technical term to describe the concept. This absence is particularly significant because Epicurus’ Letter to Herodotus both uses the term μέγεθος to indicate atomic size and contains a passage reporting specifically on this property. First, the article argues that atomic size and shape are causally redundant in Epicurus’ ontology. Second, it demonstrates that the origin of both shape and size is found in the smallest magnitudes in Epicurean physics, the minima. Drawing on these findings, it concludes that, since atomic size violates the law of parsimony, it is a superfluous entity in the Epicurean system. After analysing passages from the De rerum natura, it suggests that the absence of atomic size in Lucretius may be deliberate. Lucretius’ microphysics works perfectly without introducing a philosophical notion of atomic size, and is more economical and efficient than that of Epicurus.

What is virtue? Using philosophy to refine psychological definition and operationalization

ABSTRACT We compare the definition of virtue in philosophy with the definition and operationalization of virtue in psychology. We articulate characteristics that virtue is presented as possessing in the perennial western philosophical tradition. Virtues are typically understood as (a) dispositional (b) deep-seated (c) habits (d) that contribute to flourishing and (e) that produce activities with the following three features: they are (f) done well, (g) not done poorly, and (h) in accordance with the right motivation and reason. We form a definition from these characteristics and defend our exclusion of some other characteristics from the definition. Using our definition as a rubric, we evaluate conceptions of virtue in psychology, showing how many fall short at operationalizing at least one component of the philosophical notion of virtue.

A Time for Joy: The Ancestry and Apologetic Force of C.S. Lewis' Sehnsucht

Excerpt: "In sum, it is clear that Lewis owes a great debt to Wordsworth’s idea of Joy, a debt he acknowledges explicitly through the title of his autobiography. Their views of the experience have much in common: for both it is an intense long- ing, for both it undergirds their sense of the reality of an eternal realm, as well as guiding them toward either virtue (in Wordsworth’s case) or a contemplation of and belief in the eternal (in Lewis’ case). Both of their experiences connect, ei- ther explicitly or implicitly, with the philosophical notion of the sublime. There are significant differences as well; most important is Wordsworth’s early sense that Joy is fully achievable on earth. But even this early assertion of the Roman- tic poet is complicated by his hesitant rhetoric and his later poetic markings of the experience. For both, Joy is fundamental: for Wordsworth, by all the evi- dence we have, the experience is both crucial and evanescent; he never explic- itly connects it to a longing for an orthodox Christian eternity. For Lewis, on the other hand, Joy becomes a crucial precursor of Christian commitment and a strong impetus to continuing faith."

John Henry Newman on the presence of God in the Eucharist; an inspiration for reflecting on the truth of dogma1

John Henry Newman is known for his consistent, coherent, and sincere thought on the questions of faith that were important to him and his communities. Newman shares philosophical and theological reflections in many works, such as, a complex analysis of philosophical and theological aspects of faith and a subtle articulation of infallibility. Yet, Newman provides relatively little on the Eucharist. As a Tractarian, Newman raises the philosophical issue of presence in the Eucharist, distinguishes between local and real presence, and articulates his faith in the latter. As an Oratorian, Newman does not write a treatise on the Eucharist. Instead, Newman's thoughts on the Eucharist are mostly contained within prayers, devotions, meditations, and some passing commentary on the liturgy, rites, and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Through a close reading of these texts, it is suggested that Newman provides a case study for the reflecting on the truth of dogma because of his incisive articulation of the sacramental presence of God in the Eucharist and his response to the use of the philosophical notion of transubstantiation.

The use of elements of Peirce's philosophy by four well-known psychoanalytic authors

ABSTRACT This article highlights elements of Peirce’s philosophy used by four well-known psychoanalytic authors, Ricardo Steiner, André Green, Bjorn Salomonsson and Dominique Scarfone, showing how contributions from Peirce’s ideas could clarify psychoanalytic matters. The subject of Steiner's paper is how Peirce’s semiotic could help to fulfill a conceptual gap mainly in Kleinian tradition in relation to phenomena that occur between what are called “symbolic equations” (representations lived as facts, by psychotic patients) and symbolization. Green's writings question Lacan’s conception that the unconscious is structured like a language, suggesting that Peirce’s signs, particularly the icons and indices, would be more appropriate to think about the unconscious than the linguistics used by Lacan. One of the Salomonsson's papers gives a good example of how Peirce’s philosophic notions can be enlightening in the clinical area, as they are used to answer the criticism that words could not be understood by a baby in a “mother-infant” treatment; the other uses Peirce's conceptions to give interesting suggestions about Bion's beta-elements. The last paper, from Scarfone, broadly address the constitution of significations in psychoanalysis, but we will limit ourselves to consider how Peirce's concepts are used in the model proposed by Scarfone.

Knowledge representation and acquisition for ethical AI: challenges and opportunities

Machine learning (ML) techniques have become pervasive across a range of different applications, and are now widely used in areas as disparate as recidivism prediction, consumer credit-risk analysis, and insurance pricing. Likewise, in the physical world, ML models are critical components in autonomous agents such as robotic surgeons and self-driving cars. Among the many ethical dimensions that arise in the use of ML technology in such applications, analyzing morally permissible actions is both immediate and profound. For example, there is the potential for learned algorithms to become biased against certain groups. More generally, in so much that the decisions of ML models impact society, both virtually (e.g., denying a loan) and physically (e.g., driving into a pedestrian), notions of accountability, blame and responsibility need to be carefully considered. In this article, we advocate for a two-pronged approach ethical decision-making enabled using rich models of autonomous agency: on the one hand, we need to draw on philosophical notions of such as beliefs, causes, effects and intentions, and look to formalise them, as attempted by the knowledge representation community, but on the other, from a computational perspective, such theories need to also address the problems of tractable reasoning and (probabilistic) knowledge acquisition. As a concrete instance of this tradeoff, we report on a few preliminary results that apply (propositional) tractable probabilistic models to problems in fair ML and automated reasoning of moral principles. Such models are compilation targets for certain types of knowledge representation languages, and can effectively reason in service some computational tasks. They can also be learned from data. Concretely, current evidence suggests that they are attractive structures for jointly addressing three fundamental challenges: reasoning about possible worlds + tractable computation + knowledge acquisition. Thus, these seems like a good starting point for modelling reasoning robots as part of the larger ecosystem where accountability and responsibility is understood more broadly.

The Interpretation of Organizational Ontologies

What does it mean for an organization “to exist”? Building upon the philosophical notion of ontologies as theories of existence, I outline a theory of organizational ontology supported by the premise that organizations contain implicit existential conventions that provide their members with an understanding of what their joint existence is. This study aims to answer two questions. First, what constitutes an organizational ontology? Second, how can this be accessed and represented? Using a methodology informed by cultural interpretation, I ground this study empirically in ethnographic fieldwork at a not-for-profit organization devoted to teaching math to “left behind” children.

A tale of two disciplines? Philosophy in/on translation

ABSTRACT We describe the genesis of this special issue on ‘philosophy in/on translation’: a symposium led to the formation of a successful research group. The interface between philosophy and translation studies has become a fruitful research field, as evidenced by the growing number of conferences and publications. Research into translation and philosophy addresses three topics, as identified by Anthony Pym: what philosophers have said about translation; how translation theorists turn to philosophy to support their ideas; and the translation of philosophical texts. We argue for a fourth link: that, following Derrida, the implications of (un)translatability shape the very notion of philosophy. Five future research directions are mapped in detail: the move beyond the western canon, as the academy engages with the process of decolonisation; epistemic justice, as researchers interrogate and reject Anglophone models; substantive theories of translation that will complement analytical enquiry; the use of translation as a philosophical tool; and the new interface between translator studies and philosophy. We describe in detail the contents of the ten chapters of this special issue and show how the authors both investigate phenomena and provide ways of moving research forward. An exciting time lies ahead for those who work in this interdisciplinary field.

Norms as “Intentional Systems”

The present paper investigates the nature of norms in correlation to the philosophical notions of intentionality and disposition. Following Amselek (2017; 2020), norms are here understood as tools giving the measure of what is possible to do. Intentionality, understood as “being-about”, in relation to norms allows us both to form a description of reality in the norm, and to correct our actions in order to correspond to the norm. Through the notion of disposition, i.e., on the one hand, the linguistic manifestation of the norm and, on the other hand, the physical presence of individual mental states or social states-of-affairs, the paper investigates the “force of norms” and the “mystery of effectiveness”. Elaborating on the notion of “nomotropism”, which highlights the different ways in which a norm may work or operate, and drawing inspiration from Dennett’s philosophy of mind, the paper suggests that legal norms, which allow for the expectation that social behaviors will be measured by specific standards or yardsticks, clearly offer an evolutionary advantage in the regulation of human relationships.

The Manifestations of Sound of Silence in R.N. Tagore’s Gitanjali and the Power of Soundless Words in Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri: A Comparative Study

This paper foregrounds the effective use of the theme of silence in the two Indian literary masterpieces viz. Tagore’s Gitanjali and Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri. Firstly, it makes a critical discussion on the philosophical notions of silence quoting Kierkegaard as he says it is essentially a spiritual state that helps establishing relationship between God and human being. Then, the Hindu philosophical views have been focused critically quoting lines from the Gita, the Upanishads, and the writings of both Adishankara and Raman Maharshi that advocate silence to be the state of trance providing eternal happiness obtained after profound introspection, meditation, ultimate realization and gaining spiritual attainment or enlightenment. Both Tagore and Aurobindo have vividly used the tenets of silence very much attributed to their characters as well as the narrative perspectives of their writings. Silence is apparent in them in terms of the value of both the ethereal as well as spiritual forms. It is noticed that they carry on the threads of their writings by making us realize the silence of five categories and concepts. They are the silence of the natural elements like the forest, sea, hills, valleys, etc.; five ethereal elements like earth, water, air, fire, and the sky; the silence of cosmic elements like darkness, light, the stars, the planets, and the space; the silence of personal elements like heart and mind, tolerance, efforts, thoughts, intuitions, and looks. What is more, they philosophize the silence of soul and the glorification of the supreme soul—the absolute and the relative; and the silence of the mystics and the mysteries that abounds the matrix of the communion between the Creator and the creation. Finally, lines from William Wordsworth’s “Address to Silence” have been quoted to examine the uniformity of thoughts and approaches towards the theme of silence.