Status Of Philosophy Research Articles

What Good is Philosophy?

The renowned status of philosophy and its significant historical tradition indicate there is a great value in the field and that it should be studied. Nonetheless, philosophers often find themselves being asked about the value of philosophy. On most occasions, the value in question is an instrumental value, concerned with the requirement for the study merely to yield some practical results. Another way of approaching the problem is to ask about the value of philosophy in itself. We call this an intrinsic value of something or value that is not a means for acquiring something else. In this paper, we will argue that the worth of philosophy lies in its ability to teach the human mind how to think. Our argument will account for both instrumental and intrinsic values of the study. We will also show that the argument holds regardless of what account about the nature of philosophy we adopt.

Международный философский конгресс как «самосознание философии»

The author suggests rethinking the institutional status of philosophy in the con­text of the analysis of International philosophical congresses as collective forms of expression of thought. It is stated that communication platforms for philo­sophical debates such as seminars, conferences, congresses, etc. largely deter­mine the content of philosophical knowledge, therefore it is impossible to raise the question of “pure” philosophy, free from the sphere of conversation (Tatiana G. Shchedrina), in which philosophy is produced as an event. Science and phi­losophy as communicative phenomena require collective forms of work. Scien­tific communities are an indispensable attribute of the existence of science, just like philosophy is the presence of a philosophical school, college, lyceum, acad­emy. Even if science and philosophy are done “armchairly”, then the “armchair” format also presupposes a communication platform, a network of communica­tion between different authors. In this sense, any conferences, congresses, and round tables – with a successful coincidence of academic circumstances – be­come not just a continuation of philosophy but also a direct part. On them, not only and not so much the “philosophical result” is presented, but the process of philosophizing is going on. This indisputable significance of World congresses as collective forms of philosophy and as its self-consciousness was recorded by the famous Russian logician N.A. Vasiliev when he was thinking about the re­sults of the Third World Congress of Philosophy.

Anything goes a philosophia perennis. Funkcjonowanie zjawiska „ramy odniesienia” w refleksji filozoficznej

The text proposes an interpretation of the reference framework and the framing procedure in philosophy through the construction of the context of references. The essential question addresses the type of conditions associated with the practice of a given philosophy. The basic conditions connected with the tradition, the scope of reflection and the interpretative method used have been analyzed in the work. The examples of positive and negative framing have been presented in the first group of conditions. The possibility of a neutral framing has been discussed on the basis of the concept of no-assumption philosophy. In the second group, the attention has been paid to the cultural framework and the worldview / ideological framework related to the practice of philosophy. Finally, the analysis of the frameworks for the methods used in philosophy has been carried out on the example of such attitudes as anything goes and philosophia perennis. The legitimacy of in-depth reflection on framing also in the construction of a philosophical statement has been stated in the conclusions.

Когнітивно-лінгвістичні одиниці, що містяться у літературних рекомендаціях англомовним читачам-чоловікам

The article is devoted to reading and its influence on the worldview of a modern person and, specifically, on English-speaking men. The work traces the patterns of such genres of male literature as lad it (fiction about young men and their emotional and personal lives), fratire (a genre of writing aimed specifically at the 18-35 male demographic; often contains depictions of drunken escapades, hedonistic living, and irresponsible sexual adventures), their branches dicklit (self help books by male authors which are basically randomly dark philosophical statements stringed together) and menaissance (from „menaissance” − anti-female, „post-sensitive” male movement in America). The analytical basis of this study became articles 100 Books Every Man Should Read (artofmanliness.com), 50 Books Every Man Should Read Once in His Life (coolmaterial.com) и 30 Books Every Man Should Read By 30 (esquire.com). Based on the above-mentioned articles, cognitive-linguistic factors that draw the image of a modern English-speaking male reader are investigated: free, climbing to the top, wild and tame, struggling, confronting betrayal, inspired, taking a stand for his rights, grounded in reality, thinking, gentleman, sometimes misunderstood outsider and bullfighting, drinking, not knowing what the hell to do about women. It was found that the specific literature recommendations are outside the scope of the stereotypical gender marked reading and give an understanding of the most important characteristics of the target audience.

Positive Foundations of the Axiological Aspect of Historical-Philosophical Research

The paper examines the axiological aspect of historical-philosophical research. It is important to demonstrate that this issue was widely discussed at the turn of 19th and 20th centuries, and, therefore, a certain axiological aspect in historical-philosophical investigations was elaborated and interpreted. To solve this issue, we turn to the question of what are the scientific premises of historical-philosophical work and whether they form the necessary foundation to acknowledge the scientific status of the history of thought. In our opinion, it is history of philosophy that provides the scholars with factual set of notions, and so it forms this field of research as a definite (or strict) science. We consider fruitful to analyze historical responds to the challenge of scientific status of philosophy and its history as well as to compare the history of philosophy and anthropology. In our opinion, many peculiarities of anthropological investigations are also quite typical for the historical-philosophical work, and such comparison enlarges the scientific perspective of philosophy as a human cognitive practice. A historian of philosophy cannot ignore ontological foundations of different cultures in his research since it is the source of his ability to adequately interpret the subject-matter of his research. Like ethnographers, the historians of philosophy reveal the meanings and distinguish the attitudes that various thinkers, being the representatives of their own culture and epoch, had taken into consideration.

PHILOSOPHERS AND CITIZENS ON THE AREOPAGUS: LUCIAN'S PROSE TRILOGY

The lively discussion of the relationship between rhetoric and philosophy, the presentation of a theory of writing dialogues that combine elements from different genres and a dramatic frame that presents this theory in an Athenian setting as philosophical schools such as the Stoa and the Academy explain to the citizens their contributions to civic virtue make theTwice Accusednot only one of the most important dialogues for understanding Lucian's project but also one of the most important literary treatments of the reception of philosophy in Athens and the status of philosophy in the Imperial period. Because many of the philosophical elements Lucian uses to create his drama—common arguments, well-known attitudes and standard portraits—are conventional, the creativity and originality of the work consists in the combination of these elements and juxtaposition of different scenes and frames; understanding each scene and its significance depends on establishing its relationship to other scenes. This paper will examine the role theTwice Accusedplays as part of a trilogy of dialogues together with theSale of Livesand theFisherman; the trilogy presents a reflection on the introduction of philosophy and a progressive analysis of the attitudes between citizens and philosophers in the Athenian civic context. Considering the three as a trilogy not only reveals a central tragic intertext but also illuminates the way that the methodological statement at the end of theTwice Accusedcompletes the schema connecting attitudes towards the philosophical tradition to Athenian topography by moderating the extremes of the previous two dialogues and explaining the role of philosophical writing as a mediating force between the demands of philosophy and the needs of the larger civic community.

The Role and Status of Philosophy in Nursing Knowledge, Insight and Competence

: The objectives of patient care are based on the acquisition of knowledge, insight and skills. Philosophical attitudes enable the targeted acquisition of knowledge. In fact, philosophy provides nurses with the tools that guide the nursing practice through enhancing the awareness. The main and holistic attitude of nursing care regards human as an integral whole. Having a holistic attitude to nursing is mixed with philosophical thinking, as such a thinking process helps nurses comprehend patient comprehensiveness and provide holistic and professional nursing care. Professional nursing care can be provided based on establishing relationships among the patient, their family and members of the healthcare team, and using management and thinking skills such as creative and critical thinking. Critical thinking is a type of thinking which is turned into an epistemological issue if fostered. The present descriptive analytical study was conducted by searching international databases using relevant keywords and disregarding time limits. To explore the role of philosophy in nursing knowledge, insight, and competence, a descriptive analytical method was used to investigate 32 of 126 relevant studies as the articles more closely related to the present study approach.

Being like Gaia: Biomimicry and Ecological Ethics

This article analyses the philosophical status and ground of biomimicry's most distinctive principle: nature as measure. Starting with the argument that this principle is ethically normative, I go on to compare the ecological ethic it embodies with Aldo Leopold's land ethic. In so doing, I argue that the ultimate measure against which the ethical rightness of our actions should be judged is the way of being of Gaia, which is to let be her present inhabitants. I then explore the idea that taking as measure Gaia's way of being provides powerful responses to a number of longstanding problems in environmental ethics, including the question of its ‘centre’, duties to preserve and restore nature, and duties to present and future beings.

Domestic Philosophy of Law as an Ideological Prerequisite of a Philosophical Type of Understanding of Law

This scientific article is based on the analysis of some, from our point of view, basic provisions of the textbook for masters by the famous Russian scientist, professor Martysciin Orestes Vladimirovich "Philosophy of the law". The purpose of the article is to prove scientific character the Philosophy of the Law against the background of the contrary statements of philosophers and lawyers-theorists about its not scientific nature; to consider Philosophy of the Law as an ideological prerequisite of philosophical type of understanding of the right and to analyses the last. For the achievement of this purpose the following tasks were set: 1) to analyses various arguments of the scientists who are not recognizing the scientific nature of Philosophy of the Law, considering it as a method of the human relation to the world; 2) to consider views of the scientists giving to the Philosophies of the Law the status of science; 3) to show features of philosophical type to which it is not given in science of due attention; 4) to critically evaluate positions of those scientists who unreasonably identify moral (natural and legal) and philosophical types of understanding of the law; 5) to show distinction of moral (natural and legal) and philosophical types of understanding of the law. The result of the article's research are the provisions: 1) the legal philosophy is to be considered as the independent science having the subject, methodology, performing the specific functions, corresponding to other both legal, and social sciences; 2) the Philosophy of the Law is an ideological prerequisite of philosophical type of understanding of the law which defines the sphere or border of a measure of freedom of the person. In conclusion it is to emphasize that joint efforts of lawyers, philosophers, representatives of other social sciences concerning this subject area and a subject matter are necessary for overcoming the existing disagreements on the matters of principle concerning Philosophy of the Law, and for the decision, arising in the course of its development and improvement of problems.

UNIVERSES AND UNIVALENCE IN HOMOTOPY TYPE THEORY

AbstractThe Univalence axiom, due to Vladimir Voevodsky, is often taken to be one of the most important discoveries arising from the Homotopy Type Theory (HoTT) research programme. It is said by Steve Awodey that Univalence embodies mathematical structuralism, and that Univalence may be regarded as ‘expanding the notion of identity to that of equivalence’. This article explores the conceptual, foundational and philosophical status of Univalence in Homotopy Type Theory. It extends our Types-as-Concepts interpretation of HoTT to Universes, and offers an account of the Univalence axiom in such terms. We consider Awodey’s informal argument that Univalence is motivated by the principle that reasoning should be invariant under isomorphism, and we examine whether an autonomous and rigorous justification along these lines can be given. We consider two problems facing such a justification. First, there is a difference between equivalence and isomorphism and Univalence must be formulated in terms of the former. Second, the argument as presented cannot establish Univalence itself but only a weaker version of it, and must be supplemented by an additional principle. The article argues that the prospects for an autonomous justification of Univalence are promising.

Mysterious Cordelia: who was it that Ilya Oblomov saw in his dreams?

The article seeks to prove the hypothesis about intentional semantic references to Kierkegaard’s The Seducer’s Diary (part of his Either/Ortractate) in Ivan Goncharov’s Oblomov. In order to substantiate the suggestion, the author begins by analyzing the image of Cordelia, to whom Oblomov compares Olga, his own love interest. While not completely dismissing the traditional interpretation of this allusion (as Shakespeare’s Cordelia from King Lear), the author argues that the image might refer to the Cordelia from the Diary. Further comparing the two works, she discovers similarities in Goncharov’s and Kierkegaard’s philosophical agenda, which opens a new way for Oblomov’s interpretation. Just as Kierkegaard, the Russian novelist is exploring the relationship between the manipulative seducer (in a broad sense) and his prey. The seductive Stoltz is forcing his philosophy on Olga and Oblomov, claiming it to be the only truth. Finally, Olga gives in to it and ends up confused about her own feelings. Oblomov, by contrast, emerges as a victor rather than victim: he defies the alien influence and finds happiness, albeit too late in life. The covert allusions suggest the possibility for ambiguous interpretation of the novel: as a story of a man’s degradation and a philosophical statement about integrity and the right to choose one’s own destiny.

El valor filosófico de la anaideia en Diógenes de Sinope

Este artículo tiene como objetivo determinar cuál es el valor filosófico de la anaideia -ἀναίδεια- (desvergüenza) y su relación con la parresia -παρρησία- (franqueza, libertad de palabra) en Diógenes de Sinope. Se lleva a cabo una lectura, análisis e interpretación de fuentes clásicas sobre la escuela cínica, y particularmente del libro VI de Diógenes Laercio “Vidas y sentencias de los filósofos más ilustres”, texto clave en los estudios sobre el cinismo. El resultado de este análisis es que en esos textos, se representa a un Diógenes de Sinope asumiendo gestos y réplicas de palabra en las que el aidós y la moderación no resultan propios de su actitud filosófica, razón por lo cual la anaideia es considerada como una afirmación de la libertad frente a la crítica que establece el filósofo respecto a la vida civilizada y artificial. Se concluye que para valorar de manera positiva el cinismo de Diógenes y vincularlo a toda la tradición griega que privilegia la razón y la virtud, es necesario valorar el estatuto ético y filosófico de la parresía: libertad de palabra, franqueza

Complex demonstratives, hidden arguments, and presupposition

Standard semantic theories predict that non-deictic readings for complex demonstratives should be much more widely available than they in fact are. If such readings are the result of a lexical ambiguity, as Kaplan (in: Almog, Perry, Wettstein (eds) Themes from Kaplan, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1977) and others suggest, we should expect them to be available wherever a definite description can be used. The same prediction follows from ‘hidden argument’ theories like the ones described by King (Complex Demonstratives: a Quantificational Account, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2001) and Elbourne (Situations and Individuals, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2005). Wolter (That’s That; the Semantics and Pragmatics of Demonstrative Noun Phrases. Ph.D. thesis, University of California at Santa Cruz, 2006), however, has shown that complex demonstratives admit non-deictic interpretations only when a precise set of structural constrains are met. In this paper, I argue that Wolter’s results, properly understood, upend the philosophical status quo. They fatally undermine the ambiguity theory and demand a fundamental rethinking of the hidden argument approach.

Самотворчество как протестный потенциал духовной культуры

<p>В работе представлены контуры определения философского статуса понятия «самотворчество», понимаемого как особая разновидность творчества, относящегося к самому творцу, который пытается изменить себя в соответствии со своими представлениями об идеале.</p>

What Constitutes a Catholic School in 2019? A Legal Perspective

Feichín McDonagh What Constitutes a Catholic School in 2019? A Legal Perspective Feichín McDonagh What, in law, is a Catholic school? How do the Irish Constitution and the Education Act 1998 regard a ‘Catholic school’ or for that matter any school with a religious patron? Does current legislation protect a school’s entitlement to provide education with a faith-inspired ethos to members of the faith community the school may have been established to serve? Why has the Oireachtas decided, in 2018, to treat Catholics and non-Catholics differently in this regard and does such a difference in treatment offend the provisions of the Constitution? The Education (Admissions to Schools) Act 2018, is the most recent occasion upon which the Education Act has been amended by the Oireachtas and its terms may be a useful paradigm within which to consider the changing face of the legal regime in which Catholic schools are required to operate. Question of ethos and parental choice are of course not new. The late Fr Joe Veale SJ wrote an article in 1970 in this publication entitled ‘The Christian School’. Much of what he wrote has continuing relevance today. At one point he states: ‘It should hardly be necessary, at this time, to say again that there is no such thing as a “neutral” school. The absence of commitment, or a confusion of commitments, is itself an implicit philosophical statement … it would seem to be a necessary condition for the proper functioning of a committed school in a modern society that parents have a real choice of an alternative. Put bluntly: the present situation is an artificial one, where the nominal Christian or the frankly unbelieving one must willy-nilly send his child to the local confessional school. The fully-believing, committed Christian parent is another matter. I leave it to the constitutional lawyer to say whether such a parent has a right to have his child educated in the way he wants’.1 Fr Veale’s observations seem prescient indeed in light of the context in which Catholic schools now find themselves, and not just in Ireland. By way of example, the concept of a ‘neutral’ school, or at least the insistence by a Studies • volume 108 • number 429 8 What Constitutes a Catholic School in 2019? A Legal Perspective government that a private Jesuit school in Quebec teach about ethics and the Catholic faith from a strictly secular perspective was recently found by the Canadian Supreme Court to amount to a significant interference with the freedom of religion guaranteed to all Canadians.2 As regards diversity in provision, all would no doubt agree that there should be a greater choice available. The final ‘query’, however, posed by Fr Veale may not have seemed particularly urgent back then, but times change or, as might have been said back then, tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis. What might have been thought by many to have been an unnecessary and speculative proposition deserving only the attention of a constitutional lawyer must now be considered to be of some urgency in light of the terms of the Education (Admissions to Schools) Act 2018, and what some see as a radical re-balancing of rights as provided for in that act. Before considering aspects of that act, it is useful to have regard to where the respective partners in education stood prior to 2018. Managerial autonomy of schools prior to 2018 On 4October 2017, The Irish Times reported that the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had ruled out a referendum on ownership of the public water system saying: ‘Privatising our public water services is like suggesting that somebody might want to privatise our national schools. It is impossible and absurd’. Whereas one could not criticise the Taoiseach for a lack of awareness of the subtleties, intricacies and complexities affecting the management of our national school system, one cannot avoid expressing some surprise that the Taoiseach appears to have been unaware that the reason why our national school system cannot be privatised is that our national school system is and always has been a system of ‘private’ schools, albeit with significant funding from the exchequer. Wherever one looks, whether...

STEVE BIKO

The legacy of Steve Biko remains to this day a “contested” legacy, not only on account of his reputation as a political activist but also because of a profound scepticism regarding the philosophical status and integrity of his thought. This article seeks to engage with Steve Biko, the philosopher, not only to debunk the position that seeks to reduce his thinking to the level of mere political activism, given his identification with the Black Consciousness Movement and the radicalism of black student politics, but also – more importantly – to demonstrate that his appropriation of Black Consciousness philosophy is deeply rooted in an African humanist philosophy that provides the normative context for his interrogation of white supremacy in colonial-apartheid South Africa.

Problems of Metaphilosophy – a View from Aside

The paper discusses several problems of metaphilosophy that were explored in the philosophical literature in Russia. Metaphilosophy tries to understand what is philosophy, what problems philosophers are dealing with, which methods they employ in their investigations, the nature of philosophical statements and so on. Philosophers in Russia tended to think of philosophy as a special type of worldview that exists together with the ordinary worldview and religious worldview. The author defines worldview as a collection of basic beliefs about the surrounding world, society, human being, the relations existing between individuals and society, about values and ideals. It is underscored that a worldview is always somebody’s worldview (it belongs either to an individual or a social group). The worldview problems explored by philosophers remain the same throughout thousands of years; what changes is how they are stated in different times. Every human being faces these problems if she has realized herself as an autonomous being and the reality splits for her into the I and the non-I. All philosophical problems revolve around three basic questions: what is the non-I (i.e. nature and society)? - this is the ontological question; what is I? (the anthropological question); what relations exist between the I and the non-I (the epistemological, axiological, ethical and other questions). The author also explores several stages of a philosophical investigation: an internal dissatisfaction with existing solutions, a search for a new perspective (meaning, idea, interpretation), development of the found solution. The author points at a number of characteristics that make philosophy different from science: philosophical statements and conceptions cannot be verified or refuted by experience, they are not universal. It is argued that the notion of truth in its classical interpretation cannot be applied to philosophical statements because the latter cannot be true or false. The author concludes that philosophical statements or conceptions express the subjective opinion of a given philosopher about the world and the human being. An obvious evidence for this is the existing pluralism of philosophical systems, schools, and trends.

Por uma concepção filosófica da educação

Resumo O tema geral deste ensaio é a pergunta: o que é filosofia da educação? Seu propósito específico consiste em se contrapor ao que pode ser considerado uma concepção escolar de educação. Segundo tal concepção, a educação seria, basicamente, o exercício de uma profissão em que caberia ao professor ensinar alguma coisa ao(s) estudante(s). Ao concebê-la assim, restaria à filosofia da educação a tarefa de mediar um debate entre teorias pedagógicas cuja finalidade seria orientar a prática docente. Portanto, ela própria, a filosofia da educação, não se ocuparia diretamente da educação enquanto um problema filosófico. Este ensaio, por sua vez, se propõe a defender outra perspectiva. A filosofia da educação deve ser compreendida como filosofia, ao invés de ser reduzida à mediação de um debate entre outras teorias. Para tanto, é fundamental resgatar aquilo que caracteriza uma atividade filosófica para, somente então, definir o que deve caracterizar a filosofia da educação. Como consequência, ela pode reassumir sua posição para elaborar, enfim, uma concepção filosófica de educação e, finalmente, fazer jus à sua condição de filosofia. Por fim, este ensaio apresentará a educação como uma experiência universal em que o ser humano procura desenvolver as possibilidades de sua humanidade. E a característica fundamental dessa experiência é a transformação interminável do ser mesmo de quem a realiza, no intuito de afirmar a sua singularidade. A hermenêutica fenomenológica, compreendida, em particular, a partir da perspectiva de Heidegger e Gadamer, é o método pelo qual este ensaio realizará seu propósito.

Parasitic Jedi

The article clarifies the status of philosophy’s “dark turn.” The dark is positioned as a kind of principle of what is “non-” - as non-environmental (Timothy Morton), non-joyous (Andrew Culp), non-affirmative (Benjamin Noys) etc. - and is deprived of a dark model for its own production and regarded as a “distortion” of existing types of philosophical endeavor such as the production of concepts (Gilles Deleuze). The article develops a dark method for production of philosophy by focusing on techniques that permit switching between the light and the dark rather than invoking the conflict between them. Philosophy’s crossing over to the dark side indicates an economy of the meme incorporated into it, which leads to a reiteration in philosophy of the theme of confrontation between the dark and light sides. To deal with this, philosophy must attend to the meme itself and make a choice not between the light and dark side, but between various memes about the dark and the light. Diverse memes dedicated to the confrontation between the dark and the light refer to distinct ways of arranging the two sides. The demarcation is based on different attitudes toward thought and the external. The author argues that the main memological tension in philosophy is centered on a “Jedi” version of the confrontation, on the one hand, and a reflexive model of thought derived from it, on the other. The reflexive model is grounded in a harmonious (transcendental) relationship between Jedi and the Force that exists in the Star Wars universe. The author presents the possibility that the Jedi version of light may be superseded by a dark model for the meme about the two sides which makes reference to the “Night Watch” and “Day Watch” books and movies franchise, as well as to parasitic, more sub-reflexive than non-reflexive relations with the Twilight.

The Philosophical Status of “Metaphilosophy of Science”

Interdisciplinary studies of science form a “living” organism, in which every part performs its function and is connected with other parts. Philosophy of science plays a role of the “think-tank” of that organism. It is a generator of the sense that connects the functions of its separate parts into a systematic unity. It can be called the consciousness of science. Metaphilosophy of science is related to philosophy of science in the same way as philosophy of science itself is related to science. Within metaphilosophy of science the propensity of philosophy of science to self-reflection is implemented. Metaphilosophy of science makes relevant the issues that relate to the philosophical significance of the processes taking place in the so-called “trading zone” (in the sense of P. Galison). These trading zone is a place where scientists, science-of-science theorists and philosophers exchange their ideas. The interaction between philosophy and metaphilosophy of science takes place in the course of a competition among various philosophical interpretations of the results received within the studies of these “trading” processes. Institutional, methodological, historical and culturological studies get a philosophical interpretation and become the source of metaphilosophical ideas. Metaphorically, one may say, that metaphilosophy of science is the self-consciousness of philosophy of science. The very idea that metaphilosophy of science is a participant of the process occurring in the “trading zone” puts an end to a meaningless pile of “metalevels” that very often characterize philosophical discussions of science.