5. How can we think more clearly?

Author(s):  
Michael Beaney

Analytic philosophy places great emphasis on clarity. But what does ‘clarity’ mean and how can we think more clearly? How does clarity connect with other virtues of analytic philosophy? ‘How can we think more clearly?’ introduces L. Susan Stebbing (1885–1943) who published the first textbook of analytic philosophy in 1930, doing more than anyone to promote the development of analytic philosophy in Britain. Stebbing’s work outlines different types of thinking—purposive, logical, and critical—discussing a range of ways we can be misled, from logical fallacies and potted thinking to analogies and ambiguity. In drawing our attention to them, Stebbing shows how we can think more clearly by avoiding them.

1983 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Montefiore

AbstractRorty makes a number of broadly convergent distinctions between different types of philosopher or philosophy. His own expressed view - or apparent view - that what he calls abnormal or edifying discourse is parasitically dependent on a prior acceptation of the norms of normality is fundamentally, even ‘foundationally’, correct. Any too reckless or too persistently sustained defiance of these norms or of this dependence is bound to involve a refusal of various orders of responsibility; including perhaps both moral and political responsibilities. There can, of course, be no straightforward proof that Rorty’s texts, stimulating and fruitful as they indisputably are, involve any of these irresponsibilities; indeed, he would no doubt accept the gist of much of the argument which seeks to make them explicit. It is nevertheless worrying to find him saying the things that he does say about the allegedly unbridgeable differences between ‘continental’ and ‘analytic’ philosophy; and·. though he might reply that one should not here take what he says as being the expression of a view on a matter of so-called fact, the factual inaccuracies of the views that he might ‘normally’ be taken to be expressing here are only too likely to be more misleading than fruitful, more harmful than harmless.


1978 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 529-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Réjean Landry ◽  
Vincent Lemieux

Cybernetic analysis is part of the systems approach and has been used by several authors to study governmental policies or public decisions. Nevertheless, the way in which it is used in this article is different from preceding attempts. Regulation by feedback is considered as being complex rather than simple; positive feedback seems neither exceptional nor pathological, and great emphasis is placed on power relations in the phenomena of regulation by feedback through which government policies are formed.The presentation of different sub-systems of the cybernetic model and of different types of regulation by feedback are illustrated by examples touching on the adjustment of electoral boundaries. In the last part of the article, the first results of research bearing on the sector of social affairs and on that of energy serve to underline three characteristics of the cybernetic analysis of government policies as proposed in this article: the key role that it gives regulation by feedback, its particular attention to the unexpected consequences of action, and its insistence on the phenomena of communication as essential to action.


SATS ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Hedberg

AbstractWhat is the meaning of “meaning”, hermeneutically seen? How does the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer relate to the different types of meaning that are at hand in other branches of philosophy, such as sentence meaning within analytic philosophy, uttered meaning within speech acts theory and the communicative/dialogical meaning of formal/transcendental pragmatics? The comprehensive framework of Gadamer’s hermeneutics forms the horizon of understanding of this paper, and of specific interest is how these different types of meaning relate to the hermeneutic framework. Can a hermeneutical sense of meaning be elaborated in contrast to these different senses of meaning? Or, can these different types of meaning, in a certain sense, also be seen as compatible with the wider hermeneutical framework of meaning?


Author(s):  
Michael Beaney

One claim often made about analytic philosophy is that it places great emphasis on clarity of thinking, precision of expression, and rigour of argumentation. But other intellectual virtues that might be considered are creativity, fruitfulness, and systematicity. The Introduction aims to give some sense of the conceptual creativity of analytic philosophy and the bigger picture in which its fruitfulness and systematic ambitions can be appreciated. Analytic philosophy is called ‘analytic’ because of the emphasis placed on analysis. But this just raises the question of what is meant by ‘analysis’, and what forms of analysis are employed in analytic philosophy. This is best answered by considering a range of philosophical questions.


rahatulquloob ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 161-176
Author(s):  
Prof. Dr. Abdul Ali Achakzai ◽  
Dr. Syed Bacha Agha

Since diseases have been a part of human life, Islam has also prescribed cures for various diseases, as stated by the Prophet: "Allah Almighty has not revealed any such disease, but He has also revealed its cure." In a healthy society and in order to perform one's duties effectively in the family affairs, it is very important for the women to be healthy. Therefore, the Shari'ah has laid great emphasis on the treatment and cure of women, because there are different types of diseases, but there are some diseases that are specific only to them, these diseases cause physical and psychological changes in women. The slightest omission and carelessness in the meanwhile gives rise to many dangerous diseases and not only that, but it also affects their worship. Some of these diseases are as: Menstruation, postpartum, istihaza, licorice, pregnancy diseases, infertility, contraception, abortion, etc. Apart from the specific diseases mentioned above, women may face many difficulties in the treatment of common ailments. In view of these difficulties, Islam has given clear injunctions. There are also clear guidelines for physicians treating women. The purpose of this article is to cover all of them.


Babel ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Nam Fung Chang

ABSTRACT On the premise that translating is communicating, E.A. Nida puts forward a theory of dynamic equivalence based on the principle of equivalent effect, which lays a great emphasis on the response of the receptor, but there are some fuzzy areas in his theory, such as whether cultural adaptations are legitimate. P. Newmark criticizes the theory for being too considerate to the readers at the expense of the author. Refusing to accept Nida's premise, he asserts that a more faithful approach should be adopted in translating "expressive texts" even if it results in incomprehension by the reader. Though an exponent of Nida's theory, D. Jin also criticizes him for not paying enough attention to the "actual facts" of the original. Commenting on the debate, this paper argues that dynamic equivalence does not necessarily mean making it easy for the reader, but it should not be the only proper method of translation, that the importance of "actual facts" is not always paramount, and that cultural adaptations are legitimate to a greater extent than Nida would allow. In an attempt to develop a more sophisticated, more open-minded and more descriptive general theory of equivalent effect, it is suggested that there should be different emphases for different types of texts, that the purposes of translation should be taken into account, and that the translator should have the freedom to choose a certain degree of dynamic equivalence, and to decide for himself on some important questions, such as whether to bring his personality traits into play and whether to improve upon the original. RÉSUMÉ Défendant le principe que traduire, c'est communiquer, E.A. Nida avance une théorie d'équivalence dynamique basée sur le principe de l'effet équivalent, qui met l'accent sur la réaction du lecteur. Il y a cependant, dans cette théorie, quelques points obscurs, comme par exemple, la question de savoir si les adaptations culturelles sont légitimes ou non. P. Newmark critique cette théorie dans la mesure où selon lui, elle fait preuve de trop d'égards pour le lecteur aux dépens de l'auteur. Il refuse d'accepter le principe de Nida et affirme que le traducteur qui traduit des "textes expressifs" doit adopter une approche plus fidèle, même si elle débouche sur une forme d'incompréhension chez le lecteur. Bien qu'adhérant à la théorie de Nida, D. Jin critique ce dernier qui n'accorderait pas suffisamment d'attention aux "faits réels" présents dans l'oeuvre originale. L'auteur de l'article défend l'idée que l'équivalence dynamique n'implique pas nécessairement qu'il faille faciliter la vie du lecteur, qu'elle n'est pas la seule méthode de traduction adéquate, que l'importance des "faits réels" n'est pas prioritaire, et que les adaptations culturelles sont plus légitimes que ne le reconnaît Nida. S'efforçant de mettre au point une théorie générale de l'effet d'équivalence qui soit à la fois plus sophistiquée, plus large d'esprit et davantage descriptive, l'auteur suggère que les différents types de textes soient abordés d'une manière différente, que les objectifs de la traduction soient respectés, que le traducteur puisse avoir le loisir d'opter pour un certain degré d'équivalence dynamique et de faire volontairement certains choix, comme, par exemple, celui de refléter sa personnalité dans la traduction et d'améliorer ou non l'oeuvre originale.


1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (04) ◽  
pp. 851-858 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Brockwell

The Laplace transform of the extinction time is determined for a general birth and death process with arbitrary catastrophe rate and catastrophe size distribution. It is assumed only that the birth rates satisfyλ0= 0,λj> 0 for eachj> 0, and. Necessary and sufficient conditions for certain extinction of the population are derived. The results are applied to the linear birth and death process (λj=jλ, µj=jμ) with catastrophes of several different types.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajen A. Anderson ◽  
Benjamin C. Ruisch ◽  
David A. Pizarro

Abstract We argue that Tomasello's account overlooks important psychological distinctions between how humans judge different types of moral obligations, such as prescriptive obligations (i.e., what one should do) and proscriptive obligations (i.e., what one should not do). Specifically, evaluating these different types of obligations rests on different psychological inputs and has distinct downstream consequences for judgments of moral character.


Author(s):  
P.L. Moore

Previous freeze fracture results on the intact giant, amoeba Chaos carolinensis indicated the presence of a fibrillar arrangement of filaments within the cytoplasm. A complete interpretation of the three dimensional ultrastructure of these structures, and their possible role in amoeboid movement was not possible, since comparable results could not be obtained with conventional fixation of intact amoebae. Progress in interpreting the freeze fracture images of amoebae required a more thorough understanding of the different types of filaments present in amoebae, and of the ways in which they could be organized while remaining functional.The recent development of a calcium sensitive, demembranated, amoeboid model of Chaos carolinensis has made it possible to achieve a better understanding of such functional arrangements of amoeboid filaments. In these models the motility of demembranated cytoplasm can be controlled in vitro, and the chemical conditions necessary for contractility, and cytoplasmic streaming can be investigated. It is clear from these studies that “fibrils” exist in amoeboid models, and that they are capable of contracting along their length under conditions similar to those which cause contraction in vertebrate muscles.


Author(s):  
U. Aebi ◽  
P. Rew ◽  
T.-T. Sun

Various types of intermediate-sized (10-nm) filaments have been found and described in many different cell types during the past few years. Despite the differences in the chemical composition among the different types of filaments, they all yield common structural features: they are usually up to several microns long and have a diameter of 7 to 10 nm; there is evidence that they are made of several 2 to 3.5 nm wide protofilaments which are helically wound around each other; the secondary structure of the polypeptides constituting the filaments is rich in ∞-helix. However a detailed description of their structural organization is lacking to date.


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