The essential indexical research program

Synthese ◽

10.1007/s11229-020-02925-4 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Daniel Morgan

Keyword(s):

Research Program ◽

Special Role ◽

Proper Name ◽

Ways Of Thinking ◽

Essential Indexical ◽

Orthodox View

Abstract The ways of thinking of things associated with a few indexical expressions—e.g. ‘I’, ‘now’, ‘that’—have a special role in the causation of action. They have a role not had by, for example, the guise associated with the ‘Superman’, or the guise associated with any other proper name. So, at least, an orthodox view about action—often associated with the phrase ‘essential indexical’—has it. Recently, this view has come under scrutiny. An increasing number of philosophers think it is a myth. In this paper, I do two things. First, I argue that the orthodox view really is an insight, not a myth. Second, I offer an explanation of why it is that the insight holds.

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Perception of Russia’s image in China in the context of “One Belt and One Road”

Neophilology ◽

10.20310/2587-6953-2021-7-25-180-185 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 180-185

Author(s):

Zhang Liwei

Keyword(s):

National Culture ◽

Modern China ◽

Subjective Perception ◽

Special Role ◽

Positive Perception ◽

Cultural Traditions ◽

Global Transport ◽

Cultural Properties ◽

Proper Name ◽

Pragmatic Feature

We prove that the positive perception of Russia’s image in China is strengthened in the context of the creation of global transport and investment infrastructure “One Belt and One Road”, which expands the China-Russian relations, strengthens a propitious atmosphere for the economic development of two countries. We propose an attempt to study the reasons for the spread and strengthening in modern China of a positive image of “Russia” with a rich educational image, nat-ural resources and cultural traditions, which for many years was perceived by the Chinese as a country of balalaikas, bears and vodka. We substantiate that the Russia’s image in China is built on the basis of acquaintance with the traditions of national culture and everyday culture. We note that a special role in understanding the image of the country is played by the cultural and linguistic stereotype, which is formed on the basis of the proper name, which contains an evaluative and associative component. We emphasize that the phenomenon of the anthroponym allows us to identify its pragmatic feature, which helps to clarify the subjective perception of a certain person by a native Chinese speaker, and the cultural properties of the proper name.

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The Irrelevance of Religion to Law

10.1093/oso/9780198794394.003.0004 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

George Letsas

Keyword(s):

Freedom Of Religion ◽

Special Role ◽

Human Right ◽

Liberal Democracies ◽

Liberal Politics ◽

Freedom Of Thought ◽

Orthodox View ◽

The Way ◽

Legal Right

Political theorists ask whether religion is in some relevant sense special within liberal democracies. Few, if any, treat this question as a purely factual one, to do with the way in which religion has historically played a special role in liberal politics. Yet many think that whether religion is special in law is a factual matter to be determined by consulting the text of treaties and constitutions or the intentions of those who enacted them. The orthodox view amongst many lawyers and political theorists is that religion is clearly special in law, with freedom of religion being a constitutional (or human) right. This chapter, however, argues that neither the text nor the drafters’ intentions suffice to establish that there is a legal right to freedom of religion, as separate from a general right to freedom of thought and belief.

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Tinkering with cognitive gadgets: Cultural evolutionary psychology meets active inference

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x19001018 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 42 ◽

Author(s):

Paul Benjamin Badcock ◽

Axel Constant ◽

Maxwell James Désormeau Ramstead

Keyword(s):

Evolutionary Psychology ◽

Research Program ◽

Active Inference ◽

Innovative Research ◽

Cognitive Faculties ◽

Cultural Evolutionary ◽

The Relationship

Abstract Cognitive Gadgets offers a new, convincing perspective on the origins of our distinctive cognitive faculties, coupled with a clear, innovative research program. Although we broadly endorse Heyes’ ideas, we raise some concerns about her characterisation of evolutionary psychology and the relationship between biology and culture, before discussing the potential fruits of examining cognitive gadgets through the lens of active inference.

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