Philosophical Origins Research Articles

The Great escape? A liberal perspective on assisted suicide for prisoners

Summary Do prisoners evade punishment should they voluntarily end their lives while serving a prison sentence? In order to provide a meaningful answer to this question, one must first carefully unpack what is meant by sentence evasion, why it is wrong, and what its philosophical underpinnings are. To this purpose, I draw insights from liberal political philosophy and turn to the ideas of John Stuart Mill and John Rawls. I argue that the philosophical origins of the contemporary argument that prisoners evade their sentences through suicide can be found in Mill's argument against the abolition of capital punishment. Mill's argument rests on the assumption that death is preferable to life-long incarceration. I argue that this assumption is incompatible with a political conception of justice because it cannot be held in accordance with the tenets of public reason, an idea put forward by Rawls but also tacitly endorsed by Mill. To do so, I argue that the argument of sentence evasion concerns what Rawls calls a constitutional essential; a fundamental element that orders political institutions and their subsequent distribution of rights and liberties. In virtue of their fundamental character, constitutional essentials are to be decided through the use of public reasons; reasons that lie outside of citizens’ particular comprehensive worldviews. I show that the assumption that death is preferable to incarceration cannot be sustained outside of a particularistic doctrine regarding the nature of death. The argument must therefore be rejected and cannot constitute a basis for denying suicide assistance to inmates.

A philosophy of cultural modernity: Márkus’s contribution to the philosophy of culture

As Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sydney for over 20 years (1978–2001), György Márkus exerted a profound influence on a generation of philosophers and students from many disciplinary backgrounds. His legendary lecture courses, spanning the history of modern philosophy from the Enlightenment through to the late 20th century, were memorable for their breadth, erudition, and philosophical drama. Always modest despite his mastery of the tradition, Márkus’s approach to this history of philosophy never failed to emphasize its continuing role in shaping our inherited understanding of philosophy as ‘its own time comprehended in thoughts’ (Hegel). This is especially true of his contribution to the philosophical discourse of modernity, which we could summarize as comprising an original philosophy of cultural modernity. In what follows, I briefly reconstruct Márkus’s account of the adventures of the concept of culture, focusing on his definitive essay ‘The Path of Culture: From the Refined to the High, From the Popular to Mass Culture’ (2013) but also referring to other relevant Márkus texts, offering some critical remarks on his account of culture and its relationship with modern aesthetics, both classical and contemporary.

Culture at work: European American and Taiwanese parental socialization of children’s learning

In this article, we highlight three assumptions about culture that guide our research: (1) culture is lived but often implicitly; (2) philosophical origins illuminate cultural core values in the here and now; and (3) cultures differ. We focus on learning both in European-heritage and in Confucian-heritage cultures. To address the central question “how does the cultural become the personal?” we take three steps. First, we explain the importance of each assumption and the relations between them. Next, we trace the philosophical origins of which establish the foundations of core cultural values for two sets of cultures, European-heritage and Confucian-heritage cultures. We then present empirical research that illustrate sociocultural learning models (SCLMs) in the two sets of cultures. Finally, we discuss the notions of joint intentionality and intersubjectivity as the process by which parents draw on a given SCLM to socialize their young, which is how the cultural becomes the personal. We use discourse analysis of two segments of mother-child conversations, (one European American and one Taiwanese), to demonstrate culture at work. Our detailed analysis reveals the cultural embeddedness of daily living that otherwise remains implicit. We conclude with applied implications of our theory and research for childrearing and human learning.

Problems with the implementation of Adat Basandi Syarak Syarak Basandi Kitabullah philosophy

This study discusses the problems of West Sumatra’s local governments in the practice and implementation of Adat Basandi Syarak Syarak Basandi Kitabullah (ABS-SBK) tradition philosophy in the West Sumatra regional medium-term development plan in 2016-2021. The purpose is to organize the program and activities developed in the regional budget. This study analyzes the ABS-SBK tradition philosophy practice in West Sumatra government administration. This study uses a descriptive qualitative method; moreover, the data collection in this study uses semi-structured interviews related to the practice of ABS-SBK tradition philosophy. This study interviewed 14 informants consisting of customary stakeholders, religious leaders, bureaucrats, academics, women (bundokanduang), and community leaders. In determining the informants, this study uses a purposive sampling method conducted in Agam Regency and Limapuluh Kota Regency in West Sumatra Province. This study found that four factors influence the implementation and practice of the ABS-SBK tradition philosophy in the government level: 1) the absence of apparent ABS-SBK tradition philosophy substance values, 2) the traditional transcendental and profane values of the traditional and sharia institution did not work very well in maintaining and preserving Minangkabau traditional values, 3) the absence of individual consensus and commitment toward ABS-SBK philosophy, and 4) the poor and minimum ABS-SBK tradition philosophy implementation at the government level. People interpret and translate this philosophy according to their understanding since no specific guidelines govern their interaction. This fact is understandable and reasonable since it is part of their life. The same goes for the government level, the absence of the guidelines causes a poor and minimum effort in their development program using ABS-SBK tradition philosophy as the basic. It also leads to a consensus between customary and religious institutions. The government finds it challenging to translate this philosophy into their programs and activities development so that they cannot directly refer their programs to this original philosophy from Minangkabau.

نظریـات فی علــم النفــس دراسة نقدیة فی ضوء العقیدة الإسلامیة

نظریـات فی علــم النفــس دراسة نقدیة فی ضوء العقیدة الإسلامیة

Experimental Phenomenology and the Need for Psychology to Reconnect with its Philosophical Origins

Experimental Phenomenology and the Need for Psychology to Reconnect with its Philosophical Origins

Platonic Quantum Set Theory Proposal and Fractal-Cantorian Heterotic Kaluza- Klein Spacetime

The four basic building blocks of the cosmos hypothesized by the Athenian philosopher Plato and his corresponding theory are replaced by the backbone golden mean based scaling pertinent to each of the four kinds of blocks. In the course of doing this we stretch and generalize Plato’s philosophical ideas to ultimately find out that it is essentially the deep philosophical origin of the golden mean number system of E-infinity Cantorian spacetime theory of high energy physics and quantum cosmology. Subsequently we use this new platonic form of E-infinity quantum set theory to uncover a remarkably rich Kaluza-Klein fractal version of Gross et al’s ingenious Heterotic superstring theory.

Architectural Technologies and the Origins of Greek Philosophy

In this essay on ancient architectural technologies, I propose to challenge the largely conventional idea of the transcendent origins of philosophy, that philosophy dawned only when the mind turned inside, away from the world grasped by the body and senses. By focusing on one premier episode in the history of western thinking – the emergence of Greek philosophical thought in the cosmic architecture of Anaximander of Miletus – I am arguing that the abstract, speculative, rationalising thinking characteristic of philosophy, is indeed rooted in practical activities, and emerges by means of them rather than in repudiation of them. The spirit of rational inquiry emerged from several factors but the contributing role of monumental architecture and building technologies has been vastly under-appreciated. In the process of figuring out how to build on an enormous scale that the eastern Greeks had never before tried, the architects discovered and revealed nature’s order in their thaumata, the very experience with which Aristotle claims that philosophy begins. Ancient architecture and building technologies were on display for decades with monumental temple building. In front of Anaximander and his community, a new vision of nature spawned that, surprisingly, humans could grasp and command. The building of these thaumata, these objects of wonder, offered proof of the human capacity to control nature, and opened a new vision of our human rational capacity to understand the world and our place in it.

Filozofia a nauka w kontekście laboratoryjnego stylu badań naukowych Roberta Boyle’a

This is a review of Radoslaw Kazibut’s book Filozofia przyrody i przyrodoznawstwa Roberta Boyle’a. Filozoficzna geneza nauki laboratoryjnej (Robert Boyle’s Philosophy of Nature and Natural Science: The Philosophical Origins of Laboratory Research), in which I highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed approach. On the one hand, I appreciate the author’s effort to examine the origin of the laboratory style of research, which is found in Boyle’s studies, as a basis for a novel approach to the problem of the relationship between philosophy and science. On the other hand, I am critical of the fact that the author has overlooked several issues relating to the subject matter which, in the context of the topics addressed in the book, should be recognized as relevant. The characterization of the laboratory sciences presented in the book is too selective as it ignores the problem of the undesirable products of the laboratory sciences as well as their increasingly practical character.

COPING WITH COVID-19: URGENT NEED FOR BUILDING RESILIENCE THROUGH COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR THERAPY

COPING WITH COVID-19: URGENT NEED FOR BUILDING RESILIENCE THROUGH COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR THERAPY

Filozofia a nauka w kontekście laboratoryjnego stylu badań naukowych Roberta Boyle’a

This is a review of Radosław Kazibut’s book Filozofia przyrody i przyrodoznawstwa Roberta Boyle’a. Filozoficzna geneza nauki laboratoryjnej (Robert Boyle’s Philosophy of Nature and Natural Science: The Philosophical Origins of Laboratory Research), in which I highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed approach. On the one hand, I appreciate the author’s effort to examine the origin of the laboratory style of research, which is found in Boyle’s studies, as a basis for a novel approach to the problem of the relationship between philosophy and science. On the other hand, I am critical of the fact that the author has overlooked several issues relating to the subject matter which, in the context of the topics addressed in the book, should be recognized as relevant. The characterization of the laboratory sciences presented in the book is too selective as it ignores the problem of the undesirable products of the laboratory sciences as well as their increasingly practical character.

Parkour

O Parkour é a arte do deslocamento que desde sua origem na França segue princípios associados a melhoria das valências físicas, cooperação, respeito, coragem e superação. Essa pesquisa objetiva identificar os elementos do Parkour que permitam reconhecer seu processo histórico no Brasil e que desvende seu modo de ser, para que se possa vislumbrar os rumos da atividade no futuro. Através da história oral de um praticante comparada com a pesquisa bibliográfica verificamos que há uma distância entre o Parkour e a Educação Física dissociando a aprendizagem de uma metodologia organizada e da prevenção de lesões. Além disso, a filosofia original está sendo contestada pelo princípio Olímpico da competição, ao qual o Parkour sempre se colocou contra.

En búsqueda de mandatos infinitos: La elección y la reelección de gobernadores en las provincias de Chaco, Formosa y Misiones (1983-2015)

Political reform in Argentina’s provinces, which began in 1987 with the modifications made to the provincial constitutions, incorporated the possibility of governors’ re-election. Such a phenomenon affected the main philosophy of Republican origin that upheld the benefits of rotations in power, generating differences between the different provincial political systems in the region. In such a framework, the work aims to compare the impact of the incorporation of the types of re-election for the posts of governor and vice-governor in the provincial political systems of Chaco, Formosa, and Misiones. The results reveal a series of findings to have prompted theoretical reflections. The main finding is that the effective number of people elected to the post of governor in the nine elections held in the three provinces rose to 16 in a period which would have had 27 without re-elections, and that the competition turned bipartisan in accessing the posts.

Культурфілософські витоки й настанови ранньої творчості П. Тичини: "Тайная вечеря, гільйотинні дні"

The article explores cultural and philosophical origins and attitudes of the early works of P. Tychyna, namely defining the ones events and phenomena of domestic and foreign ethnocultural and professional cultural life, cultural and philosophical ideas and teachings, as well as P. Tychyna's own cultural and philosophical views, revealed mainly in his poetry books of 1918 – 1924. One of the most important, but still little- known pages of the biography and ideological and artistic evolution of P. Tychyna is the formation during the first third of the twentieth century, fundamental for his entire life cultural and philosophical guidelines of early creativity. The study of this problem is closely connected with the long overdue need for unbiased systematic classification and consideration of the whole spectrum of cultural and philosophical sources and guidelines of ideological and artistic evolution of the poet of ideologically contradictory poems-myths of Ukrainian national renaissance and enslavement – "Golden Homin" as a sacred figure-symbol of modernism and, at the same time, social realism in Ukrainian literature, the most famous and, at the same time, the most criticized domestic artist-model of evaluative polarity of official and public myth-making in the USSR and, later, in Ukraine. In light of the assessment of the main achievements of tychynology, a cultural-philosophical-literary analysis of the three stages of the ideological and artistic evolution of P. Tychyna of this period was carried out. These stages are: 1. formation (Kyiv-Chernyhiv): 1906 – 1916; 2. creative rise and blossoming (Kyiv): 1917 – 1921; 3. decline and crisis (Kyiv-Kharkiv): 1922 – 1929. Two groups of origins of the poet's early works were examined. The first one is represented by domestic and foreign ethnocultures and consists of three subgroups of folklore: 1. Ukrainian; 2. foreign (of other Slavic peoples); 3. foreign, mainly of the peoples of the Near and Middle East (Armenian, Turkish and Indian). The second group is represented by domestic and foreign professional cultures, the last of which is divided into three subgroups: 1. Russian; 2. European and North American; 3. Eastern (the Near, Middle and Far East). P. Tychyna was a symbol and myth of modernism and Socialist realism in the literature and culture of the Ukrainian SSR, and the early stages of his cultural and philosophical credo's evolution from the neopagan-Christian Ukrainian national-patriotic myth to the national-communist pantheistic-materialistic cosmogony.

Idealno-realna lepota u teurgijskom stvaralaštvu - teme i pojmovi likovne estetike srebrnog veka Ruske kulture

The paper explores the Christian-intoned philosophical aesthetics of the figurative arts during the silver age of Russian culture. In this period, which covers the second half of the nineteenth and the first two decades of the twentieth century, Russia's speculative thought, based on the Orthodox patristic and philosophical idealism, promoted the original religious philosophy, which highly valorized the importance of comprehensive gnoseology and ontology of "total-unity", true knowledge sought only through the absolute - an ideal which in itself synthesizes a real beauty, truth and goodness. That is why the Christian fine arts and aesthetics of this period in Russia were built only as an organic segment of a holistically interpreted philosophy of life, recapitulated by its essential principle - Christ. In order to systematize various aspirations, ideas and concepts of this artistic aesthetics, the paper singles out and explains three major themes that are intertwined. These are: the beauty (integral with goodness and truth), Christlike according to Dostoevsky, ideal-real according to Soloviev; theurgical creation, viewed both as artistic (free and transformative) and as an ascetic likeness to God; and the icon, which - through a philosophical-theological interpretation of an apophatic-kataphatic antinomy, reverse perspective and symbolism - integrates the issue of beauty and creativity into a common discourse, entering the Orthodox apologetic front before western art and culture, from the renaissance to the modern digital age.

The Idea of the United Europe in the Context of the History of Philosophy

In his 1795 treatise Toward Perpetual Peace, Immanuel Kant formulated his vision for an international world order founded on a confederation designed to facilitate peaceful international relations. Kant's ideas influenced not only the institutional make-up of the United Nations but also of the Union. Along with Kant, such thinkers as Friedrich Nietzsche and Alexandre Kojeve considered what international structure is optimal for the future of Europe. This discussion focuses on the philosophical origin of the idea of a united Europe and explores the state of its current implementation in Europe. The chapter examines the concepts of Kant, Nietzsche, Kojeve, and other thinkers who grew critical of culture and asked how relations between nations may be best structured. The authors discuss the following questions: What are the philosophical origins of the Union? To what extent do the Union’s current practices reflect the ideas formulated by the above philosophers? How should the concept of “European citizenship” be understood? What is the relationship between the concepts of and European identity? Is it possible for the Union to function effectively while maintaining national identity in each of its member states?

Philosophical and Psychological Studies of Representatives of Kyiv Theological Academy (1819–1924) in the European Intellectual Context: Reception of Unconscious

Prior to the emergence of psychoanalysis, in Western philosophy, psychology, and culture there were various processes that could be considered as the elements of its prehistory. The author tries to show that some of these “proto-psychoanalytical” processes are reflected in the works of alumni and lecturers of the Kyiv Theological Academy. In particular, some interest to the concept of the unconscious can be traced in some works of Orest Novytskyi, Petro Linytskyi, Hryhorii Malevanskyi, Markellin Olesnytskyi, Fedir Ornatskyi, Oleksii Kyrylovych. It has been shown that such regard to unconscious was influenced by the ideas of such Western philosophers as Friedrich Schelling, Arthur Schopenhauer, Eduard von Hartmann, Immanuel Fichte, Paul Janet, and others. It is noted that the Kyiv Theological Academy alumnus and lecturer Matvii Troitskyi came as close as possible to the definition of such an important psychoanalytical phenomenon as transference. A great deal of attention in the article is focused on the works of the Kyiv Theological Academy alumnus Mykhailo Verzhbolovych. In his books and articles, we can find an examination of a whole series of concepts, ideas, considerations, attitudes, and practices that played an important role in shaping different versions of psychoanalysis. Verzhobolovich dealt with those issues, analyzing the views of the already mentioned and several other philosophers, as well as a number of leading European psychologists of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as Johann Herbart, Hermann Ulrici, Wilhelm Wundt, Theodore Flournoy, etc. In the series of Verzhbolovych’s works on various occult phenomena, the author unveils many parallels with the formation of Carl Jung’s analytical psychology. The above helps to avoid a narrow view on the development of science in the Kyiv Theological Academy. Although it was primarily a religious institution, specialists with a broad outlook studied and worked under its roof. They conducted up-to-date researches based on the knowledge of both philosophical origins and new trends within various disciplines, including psychology. Article received 15.01.2019

Immanence: A Working Plan

Immanence is a key concept in Gilles Deleuze's thought. It emerges in 1968, in the book Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza and it is a focus until his last text. Immanence is a concept steeped in theological resonances, which disturbs Western metaphysics and politics. But, according to Deleuze, immanence is not really a concept, rather it is a ‘plan’. ‘The plan of immanence’ is the ‘prephilosophical’ working plan of philosophy. The point is that, according to Deleuze, philosophy cannot be understood only conceptually, although it begins with the creation of concepts. Here, rather, what is at stake is a prephilosophical origin of philosophy itself. This relationship between the plane of immanence and philosophy is the most important aspect that some of best-known exponents of contemporary Italian philosophy have inherited from Deleuze. The focus of this essay is on three expressions of the plane of immanence in the sense of Deleuze that have been developed in contemporary Italian Thought: the ‘constituent power’ of politics in Antonio Negri; the ‘impersonal’ in Roberto Esposito; and the ‘potentiality’ in Giorgio Agamben.

Empiricism, epistemology and modern postmodernism: a critique

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is twofold: first, it seeks to trace the origins of the various strands of postmodernism within German philosophic idealism; traditions of thought which placed emphasis – like postmodernism – on a subjective understanding of evidence and a supposed capacity of human consciousness to continually move beyond the bounds imposed by social convention and being; second, this paper states that postmodernism, rooted as it is in philosophic idealism, is methodologically and conceptually constrained. Its emphasis on consciousness and will marginalize its capacity to make meaningful contributions in areas such as economics, and the wider trends in human history.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is theoretical. It seeks to locate conflicting methodologies – most particularly those relating to postmodernism, positivism and philosophical realism – within the traditions of thought that have emerged since the enlightenment.FindingsPostmodernism is rooted in philosophical idealism. As such, it places emphasis on consciousness, identity and being. The essential problem with postmodernism, this paper argues, is not this emphasis. These are legitimate areas of inquiry. Rather, the central problem with postmodernist-informed research is found in the limited range of methodological and conceptual tools in its kitbag.Originality/valueDespite the growing influence of postmodernism in its various shades within academia, few of its proponents and critics trace its philosophic origins. In doing so this paper highlights the strengths and limitations of not only postmodernism but also its polar opposite, positivism.

THE IDEA OF THE TUTORIAL SYSTEM OF TEACHING IN CLASSICAL UNIVERSITIES

The study as the original philosophy of education and the leading way of organizing the educational system originates in the medieval European universities of the XII–XIV centuries. The author of the article has done an analysis of origin and development of tutoring in British educational practice. In English language “tutor” means a teacher, usually instructing individual pupils and often engaged privately (at universities, colleges, etc); a member of staff responsible for the teaching and supervision of a certain number of students. Tutoring technology appeared in XII century and from then had a long road from medieval European universities of Oxford and Cambridge to implementation into educational practice in most countries. The article reviews basic principles of tutor work, historical and educational meaning of tutoring as a technique of help and support for learners. Ukrainian scientists have studied the problem of tutoring and extended the main functions of tutoring: 1) the organizational leadership of the educational and cognitive activities of the student; 2) determination of its capabilities and interests; 3) justification of the student rating; 4) assistance in correct and effective use of teaching and methodological support from a certain discipline; 5) personal formation, education, formation of a way of life, definition of prospects; 6) ensuring the exchange of additional information between the student and the teachers. Tutor technique is relevant at the present time and requires detailed studing and implementation in educational practice. Tutoring in the modern world is a pedagogical position, which is tied to a special rank of the organizational system.