Status Of Philosophy Research Articles

Cosmic Queries: StarTalk's Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We’re Going

Cosmic Queries: StarTalk's Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We’re Going

The transcendence of the face: A semiotic-linguistic path

This paper starts with an examination of the terms used to designate the face in different languages, in particular in Italian, comparing these with the definitions provided by some authoritative dictionaries as well as with their etymology. This exploration yields some remarkable results: firstly, it appears that the face is indeed a term that has a material meaning, but at the same time it is a social object; secondly, the importance of the communicative function emerges, which makes the face similar to the mask and in some ways to the arbitrariness of language. All this suggests that the philosophical status of the face is that of ‘transcendence’ which is a condition of that state of freedom that we attribute to ourselves and that can be defined as ‘human exception’.

Ivan Karamazov as a Philosophical Type—but which one?

The article analyses a set of philosophical statements made by and attributed to Ivan Karamazov in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, in order to answer the question as to what kind of philosophy Ivan may be said to express in the novel. My close reading reveals that there is a significant distinction between, on the one hand, Ivan's most radical statements, that is his rational egoism and the idea that "everything is permitted," which are always given in reported speech, and on the other the “Ivan of direct speech,” a character characterized by far more moral sensibility (e.g. in the Pro et contra part). On the basis of these findings the article seeks to bring together two traditions in the reception of Dostoevsky—the philosophical and the narratological. By letting these approaches inform one another I suggest ways in which the structural organization of the text is itself a bearer of philosophical meaning. Moreover, the article takes seriously Bakhtin's claim that Dostoevsky's heroes are not merely stable representations of ideas, but engage with them through dialogue and encounters with others, as exemplified by Ivan Karamazov himself as well as by other characters' responses to his articulations.

University Philosophy Course: Reboot is Required

The philosophical training of tertiary-level students is designed to perform a number of functions assigned to it by society and the state. However, in recent years, it is no longer in demand by the majority of the educational process participants, since the university philosophy does not respond well to modern challenges from education, primarily to the need of digitalization and competence approach implementation. To preserve the disciplinary status of philosophy, the lecturers have to modernize the content, methods and forms of implementation of the discipline in order to increase its attractiveness in students’ minds, as well as the demand by society and the state. One of the possible ways to update the training course of philosophy is seen in its reorientation towards the development of students’ universal competencies prescribed in the state educational standards. In this case, the philosophical content becomes a tool to achieve this goal, and the philosophical heritage is used as a theoretical basis for mastering the technologies of mental action. The article presents the experience of Kazan University, where the philosophy course has recently become a tool for “system and critical thinking” competence training. Although a digital format of philosophical training has a number of cognitive advantages, nevertheless it is fraught with the risk that the philosophical value potential will not be fully realized. This risk can be minimized through a mixed format of teaching philosophy. Тo increase the demand for philosophy in higher education, the author offers a number of ways to enhance the role and importance of philosophy in students’ minds.

Kartezjusz — Lyotard — Dukaj. „Perfekcyjna niedoskonałość” jako propozycja oświecenia po uznaniu końca paradygmatu wielkich narracji

The paper explores the philosophical statements emerging from the plot of Jacek Dukaj’s science-fiction novel Perfekcyjna niedoskonałość [The Perfect Imperfection]. The argument of the article states that the Polish novel proposes a complete philosophical model of possible ways of imagining the future which is unique, yet fully coherent with the Enlightenment paradigm.
 After recapitulating the most important arguments of the mid-century’s discussion about the end of the grand narratives and brief recall of most canonical texts of the period of the Enlightenment, the author analyses ontological presuppositions hidden after the structure of the fictional world created by Dukaj. The novel appears to fully acknowledge the Cartesian dualistic model of the human being (which strongly separates its biological and mental roots) and sets plots in times when all biological limitations have been transgressed. Despite that, both optimistic scenarios of eighteenth-century utopians and catastrophic visions of twentieth-century sci-fi authors have never been fulfilled and the fictional world of the twenty-ninth century appears to be just the same as ours in its core, despite being totally different in terms of its phenomenological appearance.

The Hermeneutical Task of Postcolonial African Philosophy: Construction and Deconstruction

Meta philosophical issues surround the topic of African philosophy. What should be counted as African philosophy, and what makes African philosophy so notable has long been a matter of reflection by African and African descended thinkers? One stance taken by African thinkers leans toward ascribing philosophical status to the collective worldviews of Africans embedded in their traditions, language, and culture. By criticizing ethnophilosophy as being unanimous and uncritical, professional philosophers epitomize a philosophy to be a universal, individualized, and reflective enterprise. This tendency of appropriating cultural traits as philosophical and thereby tending to emphasize particularity by ethnophilosophers on the one hand and the universalist claim by professional philosophers puts African philosophy in a dilemma and whereby makes it counterproductive to the neocolonial liberation struggle. The article's central argument is that African philosophical hermeneutics is a panacea for the 'double blockage' that the philosophers currently look into contemporary African philosophy. African hermeneutics is the extension of German and French hermeneutical tradition with the works of Heidegger, Gadamer, and Ricœur. Hermeneutics is a mediation between culture and philosophy and also universality and particularity.

Thomas Reid’s Conception of Practical Ethics

The article analyzes the concept of practical ethics in the moral philosophy of Thomas Reid (1710–1796). The significance of this study is determined by the fact that Reid, for the first time in the history of ethics, offers an internally differentiated conception of moral philosophy, which includes two parts: the theory of morality and practical ethics. The theory of morality studies the conditions for the possibility of morality (moral psychology and epistemology). Practical ethics is normative, deals directly with the content of morality (duties, rules, and first principles). Both parts of moral philosophy is cognitive in the nature. By distinguishing the theory of morality and practical ethics, Reid expresses a key idea for him: the distinction between good and evil and the fulfillment of duties is attainable to any reasonable person free from the influence of passions and prejudices. They do not need any special philosophical knowledge to fulfill their duty. Reid’s idea was perceived in contemporary ethics as a possible key for overcoming the difficulties that applied ethics faces today: (a) the problem of confirming its philosophical status; (b) the problem of the relevance of its guidelines, which are often perceived as abstract theorizing by specialists in specific fields. Reid showed that in morality, unlike other sciences such as anatomy, there can be no experts, and in order to be relevant, ethics must speak the same language with those to whom it addresses, and about those specific problems that are essential to them.

The philosophy of taste education: Reading Jacques Puisais as a contemporary humanist-gastronome

The objective of this article is to elucidate the philosophical foundation of Jacques Puisais' (1927–2020) taste education programme. I first discuss the transition of the philosophical status of taste and clarify that the theme of ‘taste as an issue of education’ was initially proposed after certain modern philosophical conditions had been satisfied (Enlightenment, French gastronomy and physiology of taste) and finally crystalised into Puisais' programme in the face of the increasing medicalisation of food in the 1970s. Secondly, I scrutinise recent sociological criticisms of taste education and conclude that it helps to highlight the socially-constructed nature of taste and the potential risks of inappropriate practices, such as the reproduction of social inequalities. However, a more proactive and constructive approach to Puisais' philosophy is demanded, because the contemporary challenges are obscuring its fundamental assumptions. Thus, utilising insights from the sociology of eaters, the relevant literature and interview with Puisais, three key elements – beauty, sociability and humanism – are scrutinised to concretise a ‘future gastronome’ as a subject to be pursued in taste education. This gastronome has been found to have two capabilities: 1) to appreciate aliment, the total (bio-psycho-socio-cultural) values of food, and 2) to play sociabilité/convivialité, the shared pleasure at the table. This articulation will be useful in reorientating the institutionalisation of taste education, both within and outside France.

Visual Mapping Sentence: A Methodological Approach to Multifaceted Research Design and Analyses

The declarative mapping sentence is both a research methodology within qualitative social science and humanities research, and a way of thinking about such scholarship. In essence, declarative mapping sentences are hypothesised statements of an area of enquiry that guide a researcher’s thoughts, plans and designs, investigations, analyses and interpretations. In this brief essay I consider the often neglected considerations of the philosophical status of the components of the declarative mapping sentence. I suggest that considering the relationship between the parts of a declarative mapping sentence may facilitate a greater understanding of the investigated phenomena.

Платон против ≪диамата≫: спор о предмете философской науки в свете диалектики тотального и фрагментарного

This article is an attempt to comprehend the dialogue «Charmides» from the heritage of early Plato. This reflection is made through the prism of «two acts» of polemics on the subject and status of philosophy, which took place in the Soviet philosophical debates of the 20s, and in the 50s, and are associated with the names of E. Ilyenkov, V. Korovikov, A. Deborin, etc. It is shown that the true Leninist solution to the question of the subject of philosophy, which Ilyenkov defended, has its roots in the ideas of early Plato, who, because of historical conditioning, does not give an explicit answer in «Charmides » and leaves the finale open. However, the contours of the solution outlined already by Plato himself definitely «cut off» most of the arguments expressed during the polemics by Ilyenkov’s opponents, thus leaving an «ideal image» of such a solution, proving its existence and unambiguity.

Mörk Materia / Dark Matter(s)

The practice-based research carried out throughout several projects and assembled in this exposition is structured around a rhizomatic nexus of still ongoing entries into plant-thinking and co-becoming with plants, partly based on photographic, photosynthetic and biosynthetic processes under the project framework Cogito ergo Pisum, partly based on archival findings, found footage, phenomena and related discourse. "Cogito, ergo sum" is a philosophical statement in Latin by René Descartes, usually translated into English as "I think, therefore I am". The phrase originally appeared in French as je pense, donc je suis in his Discourse on the Method, to reach a wider audience. Connecting and collapsing the notion of thinking with plants – or in this case gray peas of the species Pisum sativum var. arvense, transposed into "Cogito ergo Pisum" – is at the heart of this research. Within the project I am researching, developing and cross-breeding a flora of transdisciplinary experiments, new material studies and processes, that revolve around ways of rethinking, creating for and becoming with other life forms. Photographic, biosynthetic and agricultural methodologies are being used in Cogito ergo Pisum to both analyze and synthesize new ecologies. On the basis of horizontal (gene) transfer, hybridity and hospitality, a number of agents, patients and symbionts have been subject to material-semiotic and transgenic inquiries: Timo the artist and Timo the grey pea — bioart experiments involving horizontal transfer of my DNA to a grey pea cultivar (Pisum sativum var.arvense). Pisum Sativum used by Gregor Mendel in 1856 when unfolding many of the rules of heredity, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance, constitute a key plant in "Cogito ergo Pisum". Epidermodysplasia verruciformis, also known as Tree Man Syndrome, an extremely rare autosomal recessive genetic hereditary skin disorder, and Foliate heads, also known as Green men, constitute a highly symbolic reading of a hybrid plant-human being. Several works and results of the processes active in Cogito ergo Pisum have been installed in a number of exhibitions, many of which are ongoing or infinite by nature; presented in open archival or horizontal hybrid structures with documents, negative cyanotype photograms, wall drawings and lab notes on paper, mail correspondence, facsimile of illustrated manuscripts, and cultivations of growing grey pea seeds. Some of them, including literature, phenomena, found footage and historical events have later made it into the polyphonic performance reading "Mörk Materia / Dark Matter(s)", which has been adapted and reconfigured to the contexts it has been performed in. Using photographic and moving images, documents, objects, drawings and plant cultivations I am approaching, renegotiating and speculating about our common nature-culture, to both highlight and transform an increasingly dark matter: body, earth, space.

Response

Abstract I am truly grateful for these observations of and insights on The Sacrality of the Secular by such an insightful and accomplished set of readers. My response is organized around three issues: the status of philosophy of religion in religious studies, the veridical-descriptive question, and the role of philosophical wonder in an age of uncertainty.

Arrested Development: How This We Believe Utilizes Colorblind Narratives and Racialization to Socially Construct Early Adolescent Development

Early adolescents go through developmental changes which are also mediated through social and structural forces that reproduce stratifying hierarchies around race, class, gender, and sexuality. Despite the intersection of early adolescent development with social and institutional forces, critical concepts such as race are often omitted in general discourses of middle level education. It is important that the leading body for middle level education, the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) and their doctrinal text, This We Believe, explicitly address the nexus of race, early adolescent development, and schooling. In this article, we draw upon critical race theory as a conceptual framework and critical race discourse analysis as methodology to examine how This We Believe negotiates the social construction of early adolescent development as rooted in whiteness in addition to the racialized realities of middle level education for students of color. Findings indicate This We Believe utilizes colorblindness alongside racialization discourses to create majoritarian narratives of middle level education and early adolescent development. In conclusion, we offer three alternative philosophical statements to This We Believe critical educators can adopt that are attentive to the intersection of race, adolescent development, and middle level education.

Some methodological aspects of personality education

Theoretical and methodological problems of modern education and upbringing arouse deep interest and continue to remain highly relevant at the present time, when the issues of the content of education, the need to search for its qualitative originality and compliance with new learning technologies caused by the pandemic are of particular importance. This article identifies and expands the relationship between philosophical hermeneutics and education, emphasizes that philosophical hermeneutics has everything necessary to determine the goal of education and forms the basis for formulating the main tasks that need to be solved at present time, it is noted in the paper the lack of attention to the research of philosophy of education as a vital missing element in the study and practice of modern education today. The author seeks to represent the humanistic character and philosophical status of knowledge that underlie historical educational practice.

On the continuity of the doctrine of the basic norm in Kelsen's Pure Theory of Law

ABSTRACT The traditional and majoritarian view about Kelsen's doctrine of the basic norm has affirmed that Kelsen had drastically changed its philosophical status in the early 1960s, when he allegedly began to characterise it as a fiction in the sense of Vaihinger's philosophy of the as if. In the present paper, I challenge this view and defend the claim that from the beginning until the end of his professional career, Kelsen conceived the basic norm as a presupposition. In my view, Kelsen explored the connection between the basic norm as a presupposition and different philosophical orientations, including Vaihinger's philosophy, but the basic norm remained, in the course of the evolution of the Pure Theory of Law, essentially a presupposition or hypothesis.

Second Life: A Hope for Ideal, But Only in Its Imaginary

Second Life, one of the most popular of virtual world was invented by Linden Lab Corporation: its philosophical statement is that Second Life is 'a place where you can turn the pictures in your head into a kind of pixelated reality’ (Rymaszewski, 2007, p. iv). Second Life is, for many reasons to be considered in this essay, a representative example of the (offline/real) world. This paper will argue that virtual worlds such as Second Life are an extension of the real world. Two major questions were posed earlier in this essay: ‘Does the virtual world represent the real world?’ and ‘Is it a refuge for its participants from the real world’. We can answer these questions. First of all, the virtual world is an extension of the real world, because it is built from, and continues to make use of, ideas, meanings, identity categories, performances, narratives and values derived from the real world. Secondly, Second Life is clearly not, in the long term, a refuge for its participants from the real world. Second Life can be understood as a virtual place that allows people to have temporary fun; however, it is only for a moment or for a short period, because the relationship between the virtual and the real world is interpenetrated.

Simbolizācijas spējas nozīme reliģiskajā hermeneitikā

The aim of this study is to look at the role of moral behaviour in the process of awareness and self-awareness, reflecting on how each person’s virtuous action helps to develop his/her self-awareness and how we have possibility to transcend our everyday (pseudo)consciousness to a higher level of (real) consciousness, which gives us very special opportunities in hermeneutics, too. The study reflects on the peculiar and unique scientific status of philosophy in the field of science, and discussion about epistemological and hermeneutical stagnation in modern philosophy is provoked stating that philosophy uses a logical linear discourse borrowed from exact sciences. At the same time, in philosophy we shouldn’t be slaves to public opinion, but the discourse of transcending the everyday consciousness should be applied. The novelty of the study is the invitation to interpret some moral statements of Plato or Kant, and perhaps of other philosophers, in a radically different way. For example, from the point of view of most modern philosophy Plato’s expression “virtue is a gift of the Gods” (from “Meno”) and Kant’s “confusion and surprise about law of virtue in myself” looks like philosophy’s weakness, but from the point of view of this research, these quotes are indications of philosophy’s power, letting us really transcend our consciousness, wake up and come out from the cave!

Philosophy and Theological Rationalism

The paper aims to circumscribe, through a specific history of ideas approach, the relevance of Benedict Spinoza’s theological rationalism to the major debate which generated the Early Enlightenment, the radical conception on the new status of philosophy in relation to theology, on libertas philosophandi and rational philosophizing. The main lines of Spinoza’s theological rationalism are sustained as being inspired and encouraged by Hobbes’ “negative theology,” the only theology considered consonant with the “true philosophy.” The paper also indicates the originality of Spinoza’s theological criticism and the reasons under which Hobbes—despite the radicalism of his biblical interpretation and of his thesis of separating the philosophy (natural science) from theology—Hobbes enjoyed an attenuated critical reception compared to that one applied to Spinoza and the “acute” tone of which was set by Leibniz.

«Духовный кризис» начала ХХ в.: от философских к религиозным интерпретациям

The paper is an attempt to narrow down the notion of spiritual crisis which is now widely applied in research on history of culture of the 19th–20th centuries, with respect to history of German philosophy and observation of modern reli­giosity. The shift from the history of philosophy to the religious context is ful­filled through analysis of texts of two religious thinkers, A. Reinach and S. Frank, whose thought clearly demonstrates strong interconnection between the both fields. Analysis of contemporary studies on history of phenomenological philos­ophy (C. Möckel and W. Gleixner) lets firstly observe ways of application of Koselleck’s notion of crisis to investigations in the history of philosophy. Sec­ondly it discovers two possibilities of philosophical contextualization of the con­cept of spiritual crisis – on the one hand, as a constituent rhetorical element of the philosophical statement (Möckel), on the other hand, as a term which de­scribes the uniqueness of an intellectual situation of the beginning of the 20thcentury (Gleixner). Then these aspects of the rhetoric of crisis are applied to reli­gious philosophy of Reinach and Frank, what leads to interpretation of their works as a particular statement discovering the divine (or the holy) as a new cat­egory of religious consciousness.

“One or Many Ontologies? Badiou’s Arguments for His Thesis ‘Mathematics is Ontology’”

This article explores rival interpretations of Badiou’s strategy behind the claim ‘mathematics is ontology’, from his construction of an alternative history of being to that of Heidegger to his exposure of the radical contingency of the ‘decisions on being’ carried out by transformative practices in the four conditions of philosophy: art, politics, love and science. The goal of this exploration is to open up the possibility of another strategy that responds to Badiou’s initial intuition – that being is multiple – by embracing the writing of multiple ontologies in the sphere of action.