Consciousness as Existence

1998 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 137-155
Author(s):  
Ted Honderich
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Other Minds ◽  
Other Minds Problem ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Way

The difference for present purposes between ourselves and stones, chairs and our computers is that we are conscious. The difference is fundamental. Being conscious is sufficient for having a mind in one sense of the word ‘mind’, and being conscious is necessary and fundamental to having a mind in any decent sense.Whatis this difference between ourselves and stones, chairs and our computers? The question is not meant to imply that there is a conceptual or a nomic barrier in the way of non-biological things being conscious. It may happen one decade that the other minds problem will shoot up the philosophical agenda and get a lot of attention as a result of a wonderful computer attached to perceptual and behavioural mechanisms, and that the thing will in the end be taken as conscious, rightly. Our question is not what things can be conscious, but what the Property or nature of consciousness is.

Wittgenstein on Other Minds

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-116
Author(s):  
Kailashkanta Naik ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Minds ◽  
Private Language ◽  
Private Language Argument ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Other Minds Problem ◽  
Problem Of Other Minds

When philosophy of mind goes into every detail in explaining about consciousness and its every aspect, the problem of other minds being its part is not spared. In such context going against the traditional way of giving justification Wittgenstein novel approach to other minds is remarkable and is close to the phenomenological understanding. The analysis of the sensation of pain as one of its important factors in solving the other minds problem is unique and it is this that proves how Wittgenstein dissolves the problem rather than giving a solution. This article focuses Wittgenstein’s two important factors: Private Language Argument and the concept of the sensation of pain in dissolving the issue. And in this I have made an attempt to show how his novelty in approaching this problem gains importance even today.

scholarly journals PRASANGKA: POTENSI PEMICU KONFLIK INTERNAL UMAT ISLAM

2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
Muhammad Alfandi
Keyword(s):  
Religious Conflict ◽  
The Other ◽  
Internal Conflict ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Internal Relations ◽  
Nahdlatul Ulama ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Way ◽  
Islamic Organizations

<p class="IIABSBARU">This study is about the potential prejudice sparked internal conflict of Muslims, especially between the group Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and the Council of Tafsir Al-Qur'an (MTA) in Surakarta. Lately there is a conflict between NU and the MTA congregation. MTA is questioned by NU in some areas because of the materials and methods of preaching/dakwah considered to be provocative and less likely to appreciate the difference fiqhiyah and abusive deeds done by NU. From the reason above, the conflict between these two Islamic organizations appeared. One of the triggers that caused the internal conflict among Muslims is the certain group of Muslims can not understand well the other religious groups, which have different ideological backgrounds; that it affects the way of thinking, behaving and acting that are different from themselves. As a result, the internal relations marred by religious conflict, caused by the internal religious prejudice. Similarly, the possibility that occurred among the group of NU and MTA.</p><p class="IKa-ABSTRAK">***</p>Penelitian ini adalah tentang potensi memicu prasangka konflik internal umat Islam, terutama antara kelompok Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) dan Majelis Tafsir Al-Qur'an (MTA) di Surakarta. Akhir-akhir ini ada konflik antara NU dan jemaat MTA. MTA dipertanyakan/diperdebatkan oleh NU di beberapa daerah karena bahan dan metode dakwah/dakwah dianggap/cenderung provokatif dan cenderung tidak menghargai perbedaan <em>fiqhiyah</em> dengan perbuatan kasar yang dilakukan oleh NU. Dari alasan di atas, konflik antara kedua organisasi Islam telah terjadi/ muncul. Salah satu pemicu yang menyebabkan konflik internal di kalangan umat Islam adalah kelompok tertentu umat Islam tidak bisa memahami dengan baik kelompok agama lain, yang memiliki latar belakang ideologi yang berbeda, se­hingga mempengaruhi cara berpikir, bersikap dan bertindak yang berbeda dari diri mereka sendiri. Akibatnya, hubungan internal yang dirusak oleh konflik agama, disebabkan oleh prasangka keagamaan internal. Demikian pula, ke­mungkin­an yang terjadi di antara kelompok NU dan MTA.

How to put yourself in someone else’s shoes: The role of point-of-view in the interpretation of mixed messages

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-238
Author(s):  
Nikos Vergis
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Affective Factors ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Mixed Messages ◽  
Communicative Role ◽  
The Way

AbstractDoes having a communicative role other than the speaker’s make a difference to the way pragmatic meaning is construed? Standard paradigms in interpersonal pragmatics have implicitly assumed a speaker-centric perspective over the years, however modern approaches have re-considered the role of listener evaluations. In the present study, I examine whether assuming different communicative roles (speaker, listener, observer) results in varying interpretations. A web-based experiment revealed that participants who took the perspective of different characters in short stories differed in the way they interpreted what the speaker meant. In most cases, participants in the role of the listener interpreted speaker meaning in more negative ways than participants in the other roles. The present study suggests that the directionality of the difference (negative inferences under the listener’s perspective) could be explained by taking into account affective factors.

scholarly journals Spiritual Ecology: On the Way to Ecological Existentialism

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 580
Author(s):  
Sam Mickey
Keyword(s):  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
The Other ◽  
Spiritual Ecology ◽  
Religion And Ecology ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Way

Spiritual ecology is closely related to inquiries into religion and ecology, religion and nature, and religious environmentalism. This article presents considerations of the unique possibilities afforded by the idea of spiritual ecology. On one hand, these possibilities include problematic tendencies in some strands of contemporary spirituality, including anti-intellectualism, a lack of sociopolitical engagement, and complicity in a sense of happiness that is captured by capitalist enclosures and consumerist desires. On the other hand, spiritual ecology promises to involve an existential commitment to solidarity with nonhumans, and it gestures toward ways of knowing and interacting that are more inclusive than what is typically conveyed by the term “religion.” Much work on spiritual ecology is broadly pluralistic, leaving open the question of how to discern the difference between better and worse forms of spiritual ecology. This article affirms that pluralism while also distinguishing between the anti-intellectual, individualistic, and capitalistic possibilities of spiritual ecology from varieties of spiritual ecology that are on the way to what can be described as ecological existentialism or coexistentialism.

scholarly journals Măştile Blagiene: O Perspectivă Asupra Mitului Dramatic – Contururi De Formă Şi Fond

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-87
Author(s):  
Alina Maria Dumitrescu
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Mircea Eliade ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

AbstractThe following article concentrates on the analysis between the elements that appear in Lucian Blaga’s theatre. In foreground, it is put the relationship between the playwright and the idea of „dramatic myth”. On the other hand, it is described the way in which the tragic dimension affects the characters of each play, their struggle with suffering and the way they look to religion. Also, it is talked about the difference between the terms „drama”and „theatre”and also, „tragedy”and „tragic”. There are brought different opinions of literary critics, such as Eugen Todoran or Constantin Cubleşan, alongside with other references from writers and filosofers – Mircea Eliade, I. Kant etc. At the end of the study, it is talked about the parallel between the ancient theatre of greeks and the modern theatre of nowadays – especially on the fact that Lucian Blaga’s theatre acts better in the contemporary epoch than in the traditional one.

Can Robots Be Conscious?

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Arthur S. Reber
Keyword(s):  
Thought Experiment ◽  
The Other ◽  
Philosophical Argument ◽  
Other Minds ◽  
Chinese Room ◽  
Other Minds Problem

The long-standing philosophical argument generally known as “hardware independent functionalism” is presented. This position maintains that consciousness is at its heart computational and any artifact that carried out all the causal functions of a mind would become conscious. This position is critiqued and shown to be hopelessly flawed. There is a long discussion on the “other minds” problem (i.e., “How do we know whether another entity, organism, person is in fact conscious?”). Included is an equally long review of Tom Nagel’s famous question (“What’s it like to be a bat?”) applied to robots and this is followed up with a review of John Searle’s “Chinese Room”—a thought experiment, now over 35 years old, which lays bare the futility of the functionalist’s position. It is acknowledged that there is a firm, almost compelling tendency to endow artifacts like human-appearing robots with sentience, and the reasons for this are discussed. The chapter ends with a summary.

scholarly journals The formulation of the idea of justice in the "poem on justice"

2020 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 727-741
Author(s):  
Željko Kaluđerović
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Human Action ◽  
The Other ◽  
Principle Of Justice ◽  
Philosophical Consideration ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Way

As one of the most important principles of forming of social relations, Hesiod emphasizes the principle of justice. He places the idea of justice into the very core of life, because it is in this idea that he finds the root out of which a different world and a better one is to be born. Hesiod's idea of justice is manifested as a need for strengthening the relation of equivalence when it is stable and adequate, and for its establishing in case it is disbalanced and inadequate. The presence of justice at all levels, from the highest metaphysical one, all the way to the relations within the practical sphere, shows that it can be considered as a mighty deity, as a cosmic principle, but also as a legitimate basis of comprehensive human action. In Hesiod's writings it is finally suggested that there is a difference between the order of causality of irrational nature and the order of duties of morality, actually between bia on one hand and nomos and dike on the other. Believing that living beings can not disturb the order of bia, while humans can disturb the order of dike, Hesiod postulates the difference which will be crucial for the later philosophical consideration of the field of praxis.

Media en Minderheden

1995 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 93-104
Author(s):  
Wasif Shadid
Keyword(s):  
Attitude Change ◽  
Mass Communication ◽  
Intervention Strategy ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
The Other ◽  
Effective Role ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One ◽  
The Way

Research in both Europe and America indicates that the way in which mass communication deals with ethnic minorities contributes directly and indirectly to the diffusion and the maintenance of prejudice against these groups. These are generally projected as problem categories in cultural and in socioeconomic sense. In this article we pay attention to the causes and functions of prejudice and especially to the role of mass communication media in this regard. Furthermore, attention is paid to the possibilities of and the extent to which the media can succeed in fighting against such negative attitudes towards the groups concerned. In this regard, a distinction is made between preventive and interven-tive strategies. Based on certain theories of social psychology on attitude forming and on the use and absorption of information it is concluded that though manipulation of attitude is not easily achieved, it is nevertheless possible. Various experi-ments in similar fields show that, under certain conditions, the supply of informa-tion through an adequate intervention strategy of the media can to some extent generate attitude change in the desired direction. However, such a positive result can only be achieved (1) if the basic thoughts underlying the prejudice concerned can be accurately identified; (2) if the difference between the information provided on the one hand and the existing information on the other is neither too weak nor too strong; (3) if the relevant information is provided by prominent persons and media in society; and (4) if the intended message emphasizes the positive rather than the negative similarities between minorities and the other groups. Because of the complexity of such an intervention process it is doubtfull whether the media can actually play an effective role in this context. Consequently, being attentive to the way in which the media provide information about the groups concerned is a more appropriate strategy in preventing the diffusion of prejudice. In this article, some relevant suggestions in this regard have been discussed.

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