Becoming-Woman: A Flight into Abstraction

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (Suppl) ◽  
pp. 83-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian Howie

In this paper I argue that the idea ‘becoming-woman’ is an attempt to transform embodied experience but, because it is unable to concern itself with mechanisms, structures and processes of sexual differentiation, fails in this task. In the first section I elaborate the relationship between becoming-woman and Deleuze's ‘superior’ or ‘transcendental’ empiricism and suggest that problems can be traced back to an underlying Humean empiricism. Along with Hume, Deleuze, it seems, presumes a bundle model of the object which dissolves things into episodic objects of perception and leaves the subject unable to distinguish between fanciful objects, erroneous perception and any other thing. The empiricist ontology thus has consequences for epistemology and leaves us unable to question the conservative tendencies of common sense. As an alternative to transcendental empiricism, the second section considers how transcendental realism, with its ontological commitment to the mind-independent character of things, may provide a more fruitful and productive line of enquiry. Given that there is such a choice, in the third section I speculate as to the specific desires that drive such philosophical abstraction; abstraction which culminates in the non sex-specific figure becoming-woman whilst disguising the mind-independent character of the mechanisms, structures and objects that affect the subject. So I conclude that, despite all appearances of radicalism, the philosophical model ‘becoming-woman’ – aligned as it is with schizo-processes and the philosophical loss of mind-independent things – is more of the same and sexual difference remains a hidden term. Due to this, I believe that feminists should view it with suspicion.

2007 ◽  
Vol 79 (9) ◽  
pp. 194-209
Author(s):  
Zoran Bašić

In this article, the motives and explanations for making The Code of Conduct for employees in the administration of Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and proposals for content of that code, in form of theses, are given in six parts. In the first part common considerations on the characteristics of ethical rules are layed out. In the second one, the basic reasons and purpose for codification and implementation of ethical rules for employees in provincial administration are given. The third one contains considerations on the subject the codification of ethical rules is aimed at and on the process of internalization of those rules. In the fourth one, the content of ethical rules is proposed, related to the regulation of behavior of civil servants and relationships in provincial administration regarding the development of human resources and insurance of the personal integrity of civil servants, as well as establishing rules relating to the relationship to the work in civil service and to the civil service, to mutual relationships between civil servants and their relationships to citizens and to the publicity. In the fifth part the content of ethical rules regarding the relationships of civil servants to corruption behaviour is proposed. The sixth part contains the reasons and basic guidelines for making and implementing The Code of conduct for employees in provincial administration.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 44-50
Author(s):  
Kunofiwa Tsaurai

The study investigates if there is a causality relationship between banking sector development and FDI inflows in Botswana. Though quite a number of authors have written on the subject, there appears to be no consensus on the directional causality between banking sector development and FDI inflows into the host country. At the moment, three dominant perspectives exist regarding the relationship between banking sector development and FDI inflows into the host country. The first perspective says that banking sector development attracts FDI inflows into the host country. The second perspective suggests that there is a positive feedback effect between banking sector development and FDI inflows whilst the third perspective maintains that there is no direct causality relationship between the two variables. The results from this study are consistent with the third perspective that says there is no direct causality relationship between banking sector development and FDI net inflows. This confirms that the long run relationship between banking sector development and FDI net inflows is an indirect one and the two set of variables affect each other indirectly through other factors in Botswana.


Author(s):  
В.Р. Аминева

На материале произведений современной татарской писательницы Р. Габдулхаковой выявляются конститутивные черты жанра парча в современной татарской литературе. Охарактеризованы жанровые разновидности парчи в творчестве Р. Габдулхаковой, которые соответствуют двум направлениям сюжетного движения: от внешнего к внутреннему или от единичного к универсальному и двум типам повествования - от 1-го или от 3-го лица. Художественное завершение в парчах первого типа определяется постижением некой нравственной истины, вытекающей из лично пережитой лирическим субъектом ситуации, в парчах второго типа оно создается переходом от отдельных явлений к их суммирующему итогу. Сделан вывод о том, что внутреннюю меру жанра определяет характер соотношения повествовательной фабулы и обобщающей ее «концовки». Описаны свойственные этому жанру пространственно-временные отношения и принципы организации субъектной сферы. Структурообразующая роль в парчах Р. Габдулхаковой отводится субъективно-лирическому началу в повествовании. В произведениях писательницы проявились как особенности ее творческой индивидуальности, так и типологические черты женской прозы в целом с ее повышенной эмоциональностью, автобиографичностью и проникновенностью. Большинство миниатюр Р. Габдулхаковой написаны от первого лица и представляют сознание женщины, сосредоточенной на переживании своего одиночества и «холода жизни», безответной любви и позднего раскаяния, боли утраты, преследующей каждого человека после ухода матери. Парчи, написанные от третьего лица, раскрывают сознание человека, знающего о существовании объективных закономерностей и пытающегося найти личный выход из безнадежных ситуаций. В творчестве Р. Габдулхаковой парча функционирует как синтетический жанр, вбирающий в себя элементы других жанровых форм. On the material of works of the modern Tatar writer R. Gabdulhakova the constitutive features of the genre of the parcha are revealed. Genre varieties of parcha in the work of R. Gabdulkhakova are characterized, which correspond to two directions of plot movement: from the external to the internal or from the individual to the universal, and two types of narrative-from 1 or 3 persons. Artistic completion in the parcha of the first type is determined by the realization of a certain moral truth arising from the situation personally experienced by the lyrical subject, in the parcha of the second type it is created by the transition from individual phenomena to their summing result. It is concluded that the internal measure of the genre determines the nature of the relationship between the narrative plot and its generalizing "ending". Space-time relations and principles of organization of the subject sphere peculiar to this genre are described. The structure-forming role in the parcha of R. Gabdulkhakova is assigned to the subjective-lyrical beginning in the narrative. The works of the writer manifested both the features of her creative individuality and the typological features of female prose in general with its increased emotionality, autobiography and penetration. Most of R. Gabdulhakova’s miniatures are written in the first person and represent the consciousness of a woman focused on experiencing her loneliness and “cold life”, unrequited love and late repentance, the pain of loss that haunts every person after leaving her mother. Рarcha written in the third person reveal the consciousness of a person who knows about the existence of objective laws and tries to find a personal way out of hopeless situations. Allegorical or symbolic imagery at the same time turns a personal scenario - into a typical, universal human one. In the work of R. Gabdulhakova parcha functions as a synthetic genre, incorporating elements of other genre forms.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
John Zerilli

The modularity of mind has been understood in various ways, amended as evidence from neuroscience has forced the theory to shed various structural assumptions. Neuroplasticity has, for better or worse, challenged many of the orthodox conceptions of the mind that originally led cognitive scientists to postulate mental modules. Similarly, rapidly accumulating neuroscientific evidence of the reuse or redeployment of neural circuits, revealing the integrated and interactive structure of brain regions, has upset basic assumptions about the relationship of function to structure upon which modularity—not to say neuroscience itself—originally depended. These movements, developments, and cross-currents are the subject of this book. This chapter outlines the basic argument of the book and its motivation.


Hypatia ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rita Alfonso ◽  
Jo Trigilio

As third wave feminist philosophers attending graduate schools in different parts of the country, we decided to use our e-mail discussion as the format for presenting our thinking on the subject of third wave feminism. Our analogue takes us through the subjects of postmodernism, the relationship between theory and practice, the generation gap, and the power relations associated with feminist philosophy as an established part of the academy.


Author(s):  
I.P. Brekotkina

The article discusses the main aspects of the paradigm of scientific thinking, which was created by Rene Descartes in the middle of the 17th century. The author focuses on the problem of metaphysical validity of the human mind, as well as the subject-object relations in the epistemological ideas of the French thinker. These questions are explored through the consideration of the “I”-God-nature triad, which is central to Descartes' philosophical concept. The idea of a created mind was for the philosopher the fundamental basis for obtaining reliable knowledge about the world and discoveries in the scientific field. Descartes defined the mind as an instrument of knowledge and paid great attention to the problem of controlling one's own thinking using the method he invented. The thought process becomes an object of observation and reflection on the part of the “I”. The article examines the relationship between freedom and necessity in Cartesian philosophy. One of the most important tasks set by Descartes is to free thinking from prejudice and build a new philosophy. The basic principle of the Cartesian philosophical system was total doubt. The act of doubt reveals the ability of thinking to manifest freedom. Free will is considered by Descartes as one of the registers of human thinking, through which the control of the thought process is carried out.


2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-38
Author(s):  
Muamer Halilovic

Mulla Sadra Shirazi (1571-1636) explains the process of knowledge in three different phases. Prior to this, he introduces the differences between the presential knowledge (al-?ilm al-huzuri) and acquired knowledge (al-?ilm al-husuli). The founder of the Islamic Transcendent Philosophy states that the first form of knowledge is direct, because no terms appear in it, whereas the second is realized by means of concepts. For this reason, epistemic error is not possible in the presential knowledge, because the subject of the knowledge is present in the knower. After this introduction, Mulla Sadra explains the process of certain knowledge. He claims that in the first phase man learns of his existence in a present and immediate way. In the second phase - which is also within the scope of the knowledge by presence - man considers the relationship between his existence and some aspects of his existence, and thus immediately draws conclusions and generalizes certain principles such as causality (al-?ilija) and causal relatedness (as-sinhija). Finally, in the third phase, he explains various divisions of acquired knowledge.


2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enda McCaffrey

This article examines the complexity of the relationship between ‘seeing’ and ‘non-seeing’ and its connection to a knowledge of the Self in Julian Schnabel’s film Le Scaphandre et le papillon. It is argued that ‘seeing’ is an impediment to an understanding of the visible world, while variations on ‘non-seeing’ enhance knowledge of visibility and Self. In the context of the filmic text, knowledge is associated specifically with the act of retrospectivity in writing and in the mind. This reading of the film as a retrospective and visually veiled event is reinforced and enhanced by reference to the work of two contemporary French writers. Visual impairment is the subject of Hélène Cixous’s autobiographical text Savoir. For Cixous, myopia and its ‘seeing’ are linked to a knowledge that is only attainable retrospectively through nostalgia. The work of Hervé Guibert draws on the philosophical and literary implications of half-sightedness and blindness as gateways to a different expression of knowledge and ‘sight’ that take their inspiration, by contrast, from a ‘continuum’ of invisibility in which ‘non-seeing’ is represented as a continuous seeing in thought.


Author(s):  
Liane Wobbe

In Hinduism, animals are generally given great importance, which extends to religious worship; humans and animals have a special relationship to one another according to Hindu ideas, which is the subject of this treatise. To explain these in more detail, the author first offers an exemplary look into the understanding of the essence of humans and animals by explaining some important theological-philosophical foundations and terms of the Hindu religion and describing how the eternal divine, called brahman, relates to the world of matter, to humans and to animals. According to the idea, the divine self is the epitome of all living beings, so that the animals also have a soul which, out of respect for the divine, is to be treated with respect and dignity like humans. With this, Hinduism formulates a special animal ethic which, as the second chapter illustrates, considers humans and animals together, since both are, as it were, integrated into the rebirth cycle and subject to the principle of karma. Another aspect of the relationship between humans and animals is shown in the religious cult of the Hindus, which is the subject of the third and final chapter. Here the author goes into the numerous mythological and iconographic depictions of animals that are worshiped as symbols of the divine and that can ultimately also be understood as signs of the substantial bond between humans and animals.


Author(s):  
Joao Teixeira

I examine some recent controversies involving the possibility of mechanical simulation of mathematical intuition. The first part is concerned with a presentation of the Lucas-Penrose position and recapitulates some basic logical conceptual machinery (Gödel's proof, Hilbert's Tenth Problem and Turing's Halting Problem). The second part is devoted to a presentation of the main outlines of Complexity Theory as well as to the introduction of Bremermann's notion of transcomputability and fundamental limit. The third part attempts to draw a connection/relationship between Complexity Theory and undecidability focusing on a new revised version of the Lucas-Penrose position in light of physical a priori limitations of computing machines. Finally, the last part derives some epistemological/philosophical implications of the relationship between Gödel's incompleteness theorem and Complexity Theory for the mind/brain problem in Artificial Intelligence and discusses the compatibility of functionalism with a materialist theory of the mind.


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