Appearance and Explanation

Author(s):  
Kevin McCain ◽  
Luca Moretti

McCain and Moretti develop a new appearance/seemings-based theory of epistemic justification. This theory, Phenomenal Explanationism, takes as a reasonable starting point the idea that how things appear provides evidence about how the world is. However, unlike other appearance-based theories, Phenomenal Explanationism does not rely on an overly simplistic account of evidential support where things appearing a particular way is sufficient for rationally believing they are that way. Instead, Phenomenal Explanationism takes the insight that appearances are evidence and imbeds it into a broader explanationist framework. In this broader framework the world appearing a particular way provides sufficient justification for believing the world is that way just in case the world being the way it appears best explains the total evidence. Although Phenomenal Explanationism draws inspiration from Phenomenal Conservatism and explanationist theories, it is superior to both in that it offers a satisfying, complete theory of epistemic justification.

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roseane Santos Mesquita ◽  
Késia Dos Anjos Rocha

The present text bets on the power of reflections on a pedagogy guided by cosmoperception. It is a collective call for the enchanted ways of perceiving and relating to the other. “Ọrọ, nwa, ẹkọ”, the talk, the look, the education, insurgent forces that grow in the cracks, just like moss, alive, reborn. That is the way we think about education, as a living practice, turned to freedom. Freedom understood as a force that enables us to question certain hegemonic truths entrenched in our ways of being, thinking and producing knowledge. In dialogue with the criticisms on the decolonial thought and by authors and authoresses who are putting themselves into thinking about an epistemology from a diasporic place, from the edges of the world, we will try to problematize the effects of the epistemic erasures promoted by the colonial processes and how that has affected our educative practices. The look at the educational experience that happens in the sacred territory of candomblé, will be our starting point to think about politically and poetically transformative educational practices.


Author(s):  
Peggy D. Bennett

On some days teachers need to just “get by.” It’s self- preservation. But when we let this minimalist effort become our habit, we are giving up on our dreams. We didn’t become teachers just to get a job. We became teachers to shape young minds, to make the world a better place, to offer support and guidance to young people, to share our passion for learning, to bring life to our classes and our stu­dents. We aspire to educate. A teacher who “aspires to excel is almost by default a visionary . . . a leader”. Schools can breed challenges and spirit- breaking experi­ences. Yet becoming dispirited about mandates, regulations, procedures, testing, and standards is no reason to give up on our dreams for students. If anything, those are the times to buckle down and work harder. Bolster determination. Ignite students’ interest. Ballast emo­tions with resolve to be our best and do our best. These are the aspirations that revitalize us. When we aspire to excel we can reconfigure our attitudes and behaviors. We can aim to bring out the best in ourselves and others. Nine Ways to Excel in Schools 1. Start the day with intention. Be clear and simple about your resolve. 2. Hold on to the best of you. Use that as a starting point to recover your aspirations. 3. Ignite your energy in the classroom. Stimulate engagement and interactions. 4. Subdue your energy in the classroom. Stimulate quietness. Let students take the lead. 5. Prompt learning. Use unique, clever, and challenging ways to hook students’ interest. 6. Show yourself. Let others see your interest and verve for learning. 7. Shift your classroom persona. Be the teacher you most admire. 8. Treat your students the way you would want your own chil­dren to be treated. Show respect, curiosity, compassion, and loving expectation. 9. Read, study, and query others. Find best practices to energize your classroom.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-131
Author(s):  
Keith Moser

AbstractThe purpose of this exploration is to probe the more sustainable type of thinking promoted by the oft-neglected French philosopher Michel Onfray in his latest work Cosmos. Attempting to resuscitate the long tradition of philosophical hedonism and materialism in Western civilization, Onfray proposes a different, sensual way of being in the world that he persuasively contends is paramount to the continued existence of the human race. As the philosopher himself candidly admits, Cosmos is a practical guide that could be used as a starting point for changing the way we think and live in the Anthropocene epoch.


2019 ◽  
pp. 157-158
Author(s):  
Valerio Scarani

We first stress that nonlocality forces changes on our view of the world. One can adopt the orthodox view that one should not even attempt to describe individual events; or one can opt for a properly-speaking nonlocal model, with very unpleasant features like influences propagating at infinite speed in our space-time; or one can go all the way to some form of determinism. Then, the hope is formulated that the field of nonlocality, having reached maturity, may serve as starting point for future discoveries.


2021 ◽  
pp. 3-29
Author(s):  
Kevin McCain ◽  
Luca Moretti

This chapter discusses Phenomenal Conservatism (PC) and its promises as a theory of epistemic justification. It also explores common objections raised against PC including that it is too liberal, it conflicts with Bayesianism, and it runs afoul of cognitive penetration. It is argued that these common objections fail to pose a genuine threat to PC. Additionally, it is argued that there are a number of benefits provided by the appearance-based approach to epistemic justification championed by PC. As a result, this chapter shows that PC is a good starting point for theorizing about the nature of epistemic justification even though it cannot make good on all of its promises.


Author(s):  
Declan Smithies

Chapter 12 concludes the book by contrasting phenomenal accessibilism with Michael Huemer’s phenomenal conservatism. Section 12.1 defines phenomenal conservatism as the global principle that you have epistemic justification to believe a proposition just when it seems strongly enough on balance to be true. Section 12.2 explains the concept of a seeming and outlines an argument that there are no nonperceptual seemings. Section 12.3 argues that phenomenal conservatism imposes implausible restrictions on evidence: all seemings are evidence, but not all evidence is seemings. Section 12.4 argues that phenomenal conservatism gives an overly simplistic account of the evidential support relation: it cannot explain why epistemic rationality requires not only perceptual coherence, but also introspective coherence, logical coherence, and metacoherence. Section 12.5 argues that phenomenal accessibilism is needed to explain these essential characteristics of epistemically rational thinkers. Section 12.6 concludes by summarizing why phenomenal accessibilism is superior to phenomenal conservatism.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 90
Author(s):  
Arben Gaba

In this paper we try to make a cognitive comparison between phraseological expressions originating from body-part terms in English and Albanian (taking English as our starting point). Although these languages are distant in space they do have similarities. This similarity / difference is seen better than nowhere else in the way how they conceive of the world (and the way this is expressed linguistically). They are at different stages of their linguistic cultivation where English is in a dominant position (remember here that every technological innovation has knock-on linguistic effects that affect every language including Albanian) and Albanian is in a defensive position since it has to cope with a host of concepts and realities that in one way or another have to be made tangible to Albanian speakers as well. Phraseological expressions are conceived as the tip of the iceberg of a process grounded upon transformational mechanisms (the best known of which are metaphors and metonymy) with emotional coloring adding to the mix. By way of illustration we give the following example: get blood from/out of a stone - nxjerr dhjamё nga pleshti, nxjerr ujё nga guri (extract fat out of a flea, extract water from the stone) Albanian literal translation in italics and brackets. From what we see, Albanians associate the equivalent of the English phraseological unit with water (since they are a Mediterranean country with dry summers), or with fat and flea (Albanians are known for their animal husbandry and meat-related terms).


2015 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 149-182
Author(s):  
Milan Brdar

What does Heidegger?s discussion of authenticity of Dasein, as presented in Sein und Zeit (1927), contribute to the completion of his program of fundamental ontology (aiming at the sense of being as such)? Aiming to answer to this question the author examines the way authenticity is constructed. The author specifically emphasizes the fact that the authenticity is completed within what is given in ?the One? (?das Man?), in the process by which Dasein realizes within its way of being his own specification or concretization. Furthermore Heidegger claims, on the one hand, that it is not possible to rank authenticity and inauthenticity as being something of ?higher? and ?lower? order, and, on the other hand, that the world has a transcendental status with primary role of the One (das Man). Therefore Dasein understands all from the world, builds its understanding by taking it from the world and constructing out of it its own specification. This has two important consequences: the first is the realization that authenticity has no significance for fundamental ontology, for the understanding of the Being that the Dasein has acquired is equally valuable whether it is authentic or not; and the second is that authenticity is of negligible significance, for the understanding that the Dasein has is obtained from the One, and because the world has a transcendental status, hence it is a priori as far as the understanding of all Being goes. Why then Heidegger deals with authenticity? Reason is to be found not in preparing work for fundamental onthology but in Heidegger?s anticartesianism. As he sketched the concept of Dasein in contrast to Descartes? subject, he created a problem for himself. Just as Descartes had a problem with finding the way to bring the subject to the world, Heidegger is facing a problem: How can the Dasein, as something integrated into the world as beingin- the-world and being-with-Others, come to itself? Finding the answer to this question does not engage fundamental ontology, for it must be obtained as a precondition for creating the starting point for it. Finally, the author discusses a problem that emerges from this perspective: What is the source of Heidegger?s turn (Kehre)? Emphasized as reasons are Heidegger?s anthropocentrism and remnants of the subject-object relation. Anthropocentrism, however, was already overcomed in SuZ with the thesis about the trancendentalty of the world and by de-centering the subject given the primacy of understanding as contained in the One. As for the subject-object relation, it was overcome through the very discussion of authenticity on the basis of the thesis that the Dasein and the world are in original unity. It follows, then, that Heidegger did not offer the real reasons for his turn, hence the question remains: Why Heidegger did not remain satisfied with those results? That remains to be uncovered by further analyses of his philosophy!


Author(s):  
Johannes Merz

The attitude and ability to think anthropologically is both the most basic and most sophisticated aspect of contemporary anthropology. Thinking anthropologically is putting humans at the center by asking what it is to be human in different places and relationships, and in how we engage with the world around us. Thinking anthropologically is keeping human commonality and cultural and social diversity in balance. Thinking anthropologically is learning to be reflexive by thinking about ourselves and others, as well as thinking about the way we think. Thinking anthropologically is a great asset whenever we are faced with other humans, and thus provides the starting point for those who are theologically and missiologically engaged by providing a basis for all anthropological, theological and missiological reflection and activity.


2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-28
Author(s):  
Enrique Gutiérrez Rubio

AbstractThe starting point for this study is that (the majority of) conventional figurative units (CFUs) are conceptual in nature and that they somehow record and preserve the knowledge and even worldview of diverse cultures. The aim of this paper is to take a first step towards answering the question whether it is true not only that phraseology preserves the way a given culture understands the world (or understood it in the past), but if it works the other way round, i.e. if people using/knowing CFUs involving stereotypes - in this case, Czech idioms and collocations regarding nations and ethnic groups - tend to extend these stereotypes and attitudes beyond the linguistic sphere. For this purpose a survey questionnaire was created, by means of which the stereotypes underlying a varied sample of 13 Czech CFUs were related to the prejudices of the respondents


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