scholarly journals Is Metaphysics Immune to Moral Refutation?

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 469-492
Author(s):  
Alex Barber
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Scientific Theory ◽  
Present Discussion ◽  
New Perspective

AbstractWhen a novel scientific theory conflicts with otherwise plausible moral assumptions, we do not treat that as evidence against the theory. We may scrutinize the empirical data more keenly and take extra care over its interpretation, but science is in some core sense immune to moral refutation. Can the same be said of philosophical theories (or the non-ethical, ‘metaphysical’ ones at least)? If a position in the philosophy of mind, for example, is discovered to have eye-widening moral import, does that count against it at all? Actual responses by philosophers to the question of whether unanticipated moral consequences of metaphysical theories have evidential force are scattered, implicit, divergent, under-argued, and sometimes even self-undermining. The present discussion is, most immediately, an attempt to sort out the confusion. Beyond that, it exploits the new perspective this question gives us on a familiar topic: the relation of philosophy to science.

scholarly journals Middle English Open Syllable Lengthening (MEOSL) or Middle English Compensatory Lengthening (MECL)?

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
DONKA MINKOVA ◽  
MICHAEL LEFKOWITZ
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Input Structure ◽  
Compensatory Process ◽  
Compensatory Lengthening ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Controversial Aspect ◽  
Vowel Quantity

This study addresses a controversial aspect of the change traditionally known as Middle English Open Syllable Lengthening (MEOSL): the variable results of lengthening in disyllabic (C)V.CVC stems, the heaven–haven conundrum. It presents a full philological survey of the recoverable monomorphemic input items and their reflexes in Present-day English (PDE). A re-examination of the empirical data reveals a previously unnoticed correlation between lengthening and the sonority of the medial consonant in forms such as paper, rocket, gannet and baron, as well as interplay between that consonant and the σ2 coda. The alignment of disyllabic stems with a medial alveolar stop and a sonorant weak syllable coda (Latin, better, otter) with (C)V.RVR stems (baron, felon, moral) opens up a new perspective on the reconstruction of tapping in English. The results of lengthening in disyllabic forms, including those previously thought of as ‘exceptions’ to the change, are modeled in Classical OT and Maxent OT, prompting an account which reframes MEOSL as a stem-level compensatory process (MECL) for all inputs. We show that OT grammars with conventional constraints can correctly predict variation in the (C)V.TəR stems and categorical lengthening or non-lengthening in other disyllabic stems. Broadening the phonological factors beyond the open-syllable condition for potential stressed σ1 inputs in (C)V.CV(C) stems allows us to apply the same constraints to stems whose input structure does not involve an open syllable and to propose a uniform account of stressed vowel quantity in all late Middle English mono- and di-syllabic stems.

scholarly journals Bonds and Brands: Foundations of Sovereign Debt Markets, 1820–1830

2009 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 646-684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Flandreau ◽  
Juan H. Flores
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Market Power ◽  
Market Share ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Information Asymmetries ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Finance Theory

How does sovereign debt emerge? In the early nineteenth century, intermediaries' market power and prestige served to overcome information asymmetries. Relying on insights from finance theory, we argue that capitalists turned to intermediaries' reputations to guide their investment strategies. Intermediaries could in turn commit or else they would lose market share. This sustained the development of sovereign debt. This new perspective is backed by archival evidence and empirical data, and it suggests why strong but undemocratic states could borrow.“A good name is worth more than a gem.”Yiddish proverb

The Affirmation of Self: A New Perspective on the Immune System

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Stewart ◽  
Antonio Coutinho
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Learning And Memory ◽  
Scientific Theory ◽  
Scientific Investigation ◽  
The Self ◽  
Therapeutic Procedures ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Novel Therapeutic

The fundamental concepts of autopoiesis, which emphasize the circular organization underlying both living organisms and cognition, have been criticized on the grounds that since they are conceived as a tight logical chain of definitions and implications, it is often not clear whether they are indeed a scientific theory or rather just a potential scientific vocabulary of doubtful utility to working scientists. This article presents the deployment of the concepts of autopoiesis in the field of immunology, a discipline where working biologists themselves spontaneously have long had recourse to “cognitive” metaphors: “recognition”; a “repertoire” of recognized molecular shapes; “learning” and “memory”; and, most striking of all, a “self versus non-self” distinction. It is shown that in immunology, the concepts of autopoiesis can be employed to generate clear novel hypotheses, models demonstrating these ideas, testable predictions, and novel therapeutic procedures. Epistemologically, it is shown that the self–non-self distinction, while quite real, is misleadingly named. When a real mechanism for generating this distinction is identified, it appears that the actual operational distinction is between (a) a sufficiently numerous set of initial antigens, present from the start of ontogeny, in conditions that allow for their participation in the construction of the system's organization and operation, and (b) single antigens that are first presented to the system after two successive phases of maturation. To call this a self–non-self distinction obscures the issue by presupposing what it ought to be the job of scientific investigation to explain.

scholarly journals [NO TITLE AVAILABLE]

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-128
Author(s):  
Gilbert Cardoso Bouyer
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Scientific Theory ◽  
Complex Structure ◽  
Life Time ◽  
Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Sciences ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Psychic Life ◽  
Work Area

The main purpose of this paper is to amplify the current theoretical scenario of "Mental Health and Work" area, according to the Henri Bergson's philosophy and his concepts of perception, cognition, duration, psychic life, time and subjectivity. This theoretical-philosophical article aims to shed new light on the relations between philosophy of mind and present-day efforts toward a scientific theory of cognition, with its complex structure of theories, hypotheses and disciplines. There is in this paper a new approach to understand the contemporary cognitive sciences in a kind of phenomenological investigation initiated by Husserl's phenomenology. The methods employed were the systematic review and adaptation of Bergson's concepts, and its naturalization in the actual context of epistemological and ontological principles of cognitive sciences, to phenomenological analysis of "work-mental health" links. The current contributions of the Husserl's Phenomenology were used to understand the relations between mental health and work. There are also references to philosophy applied in contemporary cognitive sciences based on Bergson's theoretic-philosophical proposal.

scholarly journals Tragedy as Contingency Acknowledgement: Towards a Practical Religious-Scientific Theory

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-250
Author(s):  
Egbert van Dalen ◽  
Michael Scherer-Rath ◽  
Hanneke van Laarhoven ◽  
Gerard Wiegers ◽  
Chris Hermans
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Theory ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Human Dimension ◽  
Visual Metaphors ◽  
The Social ◽  
Moral Arguments ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Dimension

Abstract According to philosopher of religion Kurt Wuchterl, contingency acknowledgement (German: Kontingenzanerkennung) means that rational thinking is inadequate for explaining contingency experiences. The authors argue that, in the tragic narrative of a contingency experience, subjects face limitations in three dimensions: in the individual, social and transcending dimensions. The individual dimension is expressed in powerful, visual metaphors for the confrontation with forces that do not take the human dimension into account in any way, even coercing the subjects to relinquish their existence. The social dimension concerns the tragic subject’s feeling of being avoided and excluded by some individuals in their environment. The transcending dimension emerges in the complaint “Why me?”, which religious persons address to a religious power, using moral arguments. Empirical research suggests that the acknowledgement of one’s own limitations resulting from a contingency experience can be seen as a sign of strength rather than weakness, for, by doing so, one shows the courage to let go of past interpretative frameworks and be vulnerable. This creates the possibility of an opening in the interpretation crisis, which can lead to an unexpected, new perspective.

scholarly journals János Kornai, and neoclassical versus institutional economics

2018 ◽  
Vol 68 (s1) ◽  
pp. 73-83
Author(s):  
József Móczár
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Theory ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
Equilibrium Theory ◽  
Walrasian Equilibrium ◽  
New Perspective

János Kornai rejected the relevance of Walrasian equilibrium and considered only disequilibrium states to be compatible with reality in his Anti-Equilibrium. His research was guided by the belief that reality and theory should form an integral unit. Neoclassical economists did not accept his anti-equilibrium theory, which motivated Kornai to relentlessly provide additional evidences. The article follows this exciting and noble struggle from a new perspective in the context of scientific theory.

scholarly journals The Naturalist Turn in Literary and Art Study: Two-Way Interdisciplinarity and the Sciences of Mind

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 277
Author(s):  
Patricia Kolaiti
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Scientific Theory ◽  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Cognitive Neuropsychology ◽  
Arts And Humanities ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Science Philosophy ◽  
Epistemological Framework

<p><em>In recent years, a bourgeoning area of paradigm-revising scholarly investigation involves what could be referred to as a “Naturalist” or “Cognitive” turn in literary and art study, exploring the interface between theory in the arts and humanities and scientific theory of the type produced in disciplines belonging to the empirical and cognitive paradigm such as linguistics, cognitive science, philosophy of mind and cognitive neuropsychology. In this paper, I will discuss a range of theoretical, epistemic and methodological issues raised by such an interdisciplinary enterprise including the possibility of a genuine methodological merger with the cognitive paradigm, the plea for psychological realism, the extent to which the scientific method is compatible with the nature of literature and art as an investigative object and the need for genuine, two-way interdisciplinary practices in literary and art study. I will also briefly consider the role Relevance Theory might have to play in this interdisciplinary venture as both a pragmatic and epistemological framework.</em></p>

scholarly journals Stativity in the Causative Alternation? New Questions and a New Variant

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 233-259
Author(s):  
Maria Eugenia Mangialavori Rasia
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Present Discussion ◽  
Verb Classes ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Causative Alternation ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
New Variant

AbstractThis paper discusses whether capacity to license an internal argument and eventivity are default properties of so-called change-of-state verbs.I draw attention to the claim that, in certain languages, the causative-inchoative alternation extends to a third, external-argument-only variant with stative behavior. Productivity and systematicity raise a host of problems for current generalizations on the Causative Alternation and change-of-state verbs for various reasons, starting from the long-held claim that unique arguments of change-of-state verbs are by default internal. Insofar as the causative component is independently realized in a noneventive, nonepisodic frame, this variant challenges (a) a widely agreed rule of event composition, whereby cause, if present, causally implicates process; (b) the claim that cause(r) interpretation of the external argument is a byproduct of transitivization. The present discussion: (a) brings out a crosslanguage contrast bearing on default (cause/undergoer) interpretation of unique arguments in equipollent alternations; (b) provides new empirical data supporting the stativity of the (causative) outer v head; (c) substantiates important predictions in the literature (e.g. that verbs of causation should have stative readings; that external-argument-only variants of Object-Experiencer verbs should be found); (d) captures further verb classes allowing the alternation; and (e) shows crucial contrasts with other transitive-(in/a)transitive alternations involving null/arb objects. Aspect and determination of different (a)atransitivity alternations are central throughout.

The space of the body schema: putting the schema in movement

2021 ◽  
pp. 18-32
Author(s):  
David Morris
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Body Schema ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
The Body ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
New Perspective

This chapter contributes to conceptual debates about the body schema and body image by studying the body schema’s role in shaping our sense of lived space. Contra ‘body-in-brain’ or representational views of the body schema as a centralized controller, the chapter supports ‘body-in-world’ views by showing how the body schema is itself of space, founded and actualized in schematizing movements of a body in the world. This suggests that capacities for, and divergences between, a body schema versus a body image emerge when body-schematizing activity runs into resistances or demands from environmental supports, including other perceiving bodies and the social sphere, over various timescales, e.g., of evolution, development, skill, and habit acquisition, as well as cultural formations. The chapter draws on phenomenological and psychological results concerning our sense of space in cases of directly touching and moving with things, but also in cases where movements coupled with surroundings through light (via our eyes or technological devices) yield a sense of distal things. These are complemented by conceptual insights from recent evolutionary-comparative approaches to the philosophy of mind and body, which give a new perspective on just where movement control arises in bodies.

SREM observation of the interaction between the in-situ deposited Pd small particles and MgO cleavage surface

1986 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 382-383
Author(s):  
H.-J. Ou
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Small Particle ◽  
Small Particles ◽  
Cleavage Surface ◽  
Metallic Particles ◽  
Microscopy Technique ◽  
Ceramic Surfaces ◽  
Reflection Electron Microscopy ◽  
New Perspective

The understanding of the interactions between the small metallic particles and ceramic surfaces has been studied by many catalyst scientists. We had developed Scanning Reflection Electron Microscopy technique to study surface structure of MgO hulk cleaved surface and the interaction with the small particle of metals. Resolutions of 10Å has shown the periodic array of surface atomic steps on MgO. The SREM observation of the interaction between the metallic particles and the surface may provide a new perspective on such processes.

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