Practicing Philosophy, From Plato to Gadamer

2018 ◽  
pp. 91-100
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Practical Wisdom ◽  
Theoretical Knowledge ◽  
Professional Lives ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Theoretical Philosophy ◽  
The Way

This section explains what kind of philosophy we are referring to when we talk about the role of philosophy in the cross-disciplinary type of debates that interest us here. Namely, it is a practical – rather than theoretical – philosophy; indeed, a practice in itself, rather than an analytical pursuit, which is aimed at achieving practical wisdom, rather than theoretical insights. This entails different kinds of practices – from what we would nowadays call moral and political philosophy, in Plato and Aristotle, through a certain kind of interpretive practice, in Heidegger and Gadamer, to a series of neo-pragmatist ways of living, in Rorty and Shusterman. What these have in common is a philosophical focus on what we can do, in our personal, social, and professional lives, rather than what type of theoretical knowledge we can achieve – and how. The former is a kind of philosophy that is more likely to have an impact on the way we live, than on a particular theory or line of arguments.

Walter Lippmann: The Prophet of Liberalism and the Road not Taken

2019 ◽  
Vol 139 (2-4) ◽  
pp. 349-364
Author(s):  
Eric Schliesser
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Spiritual Transformation ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Historical Time ◽  
The Road ◽  
Walter Lippmann ◽  
The Way

This article shows how in The Good Society Walter Lippmann argues that the very idea of a liberalism worth having is a spiritual project: it involves a spiritual transformation over extended historical time even if the true destination is unknown or uncertain. Along the way, I argue that Lippmann is also acutely aware of the dangers of theorizing that merely affirms an imperfect (or worse) status quo. He is, thus, attractive for those who wish to revive liberalism. In addition, Lippmann’s sensitivity to the role of power and technological change generates a potentially important philosophy of law. This article sketches his understanding of a liberalism that embraces a “spirit of adaptation” without too much deference to a status quo. The second part shows that despite his sensitivity to the risks of demagogues in politics, Lippmann did not turn away from democratic politics. In particular, he has an attractive conception of the vital nature of a pluralist politics inherent to liberalism. Along the way the key limitation of Lippmann’s political philosophy is diagnosed: his depoliticized, juridical conception of political representation and legislation.

The torture convention, rendition and Kant's critique of ‘pseudo-politics’

2010 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-214
Author(s):  
HOWARD WILLIAMS
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Convention Against Torture ◽  
Kantian View ◽  
Ordinary Morality ◽  
The Way

AbstractBy what standards ought we to judge politicians? The article addresses the question in the light of the treatment of two controversial issues in contemporary world politics: the implementation of the 1984 UN Convention against Torture; and the post 9/11 rendition of terrorist suspects to US authorities by European governments. Their treatment brings out the way in which the role of political leaders is popularly conceived and understood. This conventional understanding is contrasted with the role recommended by Kant's political philosophy. An answer to the question depends on how we conceive politics in the first place. If politics is seen as a ‘free for all’ where all strategies can be canvassed then the response will be entirely different from a situation where we consider ourselves bound by rules of legitimacy and its attendant problems of morality and law. The article represents a rejection of certain received accounts of politics and approval of a Kantian view. The account of politics which in one respect or another tries to drive a wedge between politics and ordinary morality is seen as inferior to a Kantian concept of politics which is always conditioned by morality.

The Way of the Cross in the Ordinary: Ethnographic Attention to the Good as Invitational Ethics

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-72
Author(s):  
Sara A. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Practical Wisdom ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Praxis I ◽  
The Cross ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Way

Abstract This essay develops the idea of ‘invitational ethics,’ engagement with ethnographic description as normative praxis. I argue that by attending to ways in which people exercise practical wisdom in ordinary moments, the ethnographer and reader alike are invited to engage their own processes of ethical self-making. I draw on ethnographic fieldwork with the Way of the Cross for Justice, an annual Good Friday public liturgy in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a site for invitational ethics in the frame of what anthropologist Joel Robbins has called an ‘anthropology of the good.’ I conclude by reflecting on how this invited me to engage my own ethical self-making.

scholarly journals Getting the ball rolling: the cross-linguistic conceptualization of caused motion

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 446-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
GUILLERMO MONTERO-MELIS ◽  
EMANUEL BYLUND
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Ball Rolling ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Way

abstractDoes the way we talk about events correspond to how we conceptualize them? Three experiments (N= 135) examined how Spanish and Swedish native speakers judge event similarity in the domain of caused motion (‘He rolled the tyre into the barn’). Spanish and Swedish motion descriptions regularly encode path (‘into’), but differ in how systematically they include manner information (‘roll’). We designed a similarity arrangement task which allowed participants to give varying weights to different dimensions when gauging event similarity. The three experiments progressively reduced the likelihood that speakers were using language to solve the task. We found that, as long as the use of language was possible (Experiments 1 and 2), Swedish speakers were more likely than Spanish speakers to base their similarity arrangements on object manner (rolling/sliding). However, when recruitment of language was hindered through verbal interference, cross-linguistic differences disappeared (Experiment 3). A compound analysis of all experiments further showed that (i) cross-linguistic differences were played out against a backdrop of commonly represented event components, and (ii) describing vs. not describing the events did not augment cross-linguistic differences, but instead had similar effects across languages. We interpret these findings as suggesting a dynamic role of language in event conceptualization.

Discovering Subjectivity in the Technosystem

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bas de Boer ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Philosophy Of Technology ◽  
Critical Constructivism ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
The Way

Two of the main approaches of what is often referred to as the ‘empirical philosophy of technology’ are postphenomenology and critical constructivism. Critical constructivists charge postphenomenologists for paying too little attention to the fact that our society is co-constituted not only by technologies, but also by forms of rationality exercised on a political level. Postphenomenologists, then, charge critical constructivism for insufficiently recognizing that the way technologies are appropriated in the lifeworld often evades forms of institutionalized rationality. The goal of this paper is to show how these different approaches should not be juxtaposed, but can better be seen as complementary in the development of a political philosophy of technology. This will be made clear through a discussion of the role of STS in the work of Peter-Paul Verbeek, and in the work of Andrew Feenberg. I suggest that developing an ‘empirically informed’ political philosophy of technology requires to both recognize how technologies constitute particular forms of subjectivity and to understand the rational processes through which particular technologies are designed. When combining both of these insights, it becomes possible to articulate a normative position with regard to technological developments.

scholarly journals Salib Yesus – Penderitaan Maria Devosi Maria dalam Ibadat Jalan Salib Versi Solor-Lamaholot

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 161
Author(s):  
Paul Budi Kleden
Keyword(s):  
Human Experience ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Popular Religiosity ◽  
The Way ◽  
Local Cultures

Devotion to Mary is one of the most popular religious practices among Catholics, and can be considered one of the oldest forms of popular religiosity. Marian devotions emerged spontaneously as a mixture of elements from local cultures and the Christian faith. However, such practices can become problematic when they overstress certain aspects of human experience together with the role of Mary. This article discusses a text of "The Way of the Cross" which was composed in a dialect of the Lamaholot language as used on the isle of Solor, East Flores. Kata-kata kunci: devosi, jalan salib, penderitaan, ratapan, harapan

MANUSCRIPT EVIDENCE FOR ALPHABET-SWITCHING IN THE WORKS OF CICERO: COMMON NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES

2018 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 498-516
Author(s):  
Neil O'Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Consistent Pattern ◽  
Current Interest ◽  
Reliable Transmission ◽  
Accurate Record ◽  
The Way

Of the hundreds of Greek common nouns and adjectives preserved in our MSS of Cicero, about three dozen are found written in the Latin alphabet as well as in the Greek. So we find, alongside συμπάθεια, also sympathia, and ἱστορικός as well as historicus. This sort of variation has been termed alphabet-switching; it has received little attention in connection with Cicero, even though it is relevant to subjects of current interest such as his bilingualism and the role of code-switching and loanwords in his works. Rather than addressing these issues directly, this discussion sets out information about the way in which the words are written in our surviving MSS of Cicero and takes further some recent work on the presentation of Greek words in Latin texts. It argues that, for the most part, coherent patterns and explanations can be found in the alphabetic choices exhibited by them, or at least by the earliest of them when there is conflict in the paradosis, and that this coherence is evidence for a generally reliable transmission of Cicero's original choices. While a lack of coherence might indicate unreliable transmission, or even an indifference on Cicero's part, a consistent pattern can only really be explained as an accurate record of coherent alphabet choice made by Cicero when writing Greek words.

Maintaining harmony across the globe: The cross-cultural role of closeness in interpersonal forgiveness

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Karremans ◽  
Camillo Regalia ◽  
Giorgia Paleari ◽  
Frank Fincham ◽  
Ming Cui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Interpersonal Forgiveness ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Cultural Role

The adaptation of design thinking in auditing

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda MEIJER-WASSENAAR ◽  
Diny VAN EST
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
Design Framework ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Way

How can a supreme audit institution (SAI) use design thinking in auditing? SAIs audit the way taxpayers’ money is collected and spent. Adding design thinking to their activities is not to be taken lightly. SAIs independently check whether public organizations have done the right things in the right way, but the organizations might not be willing to act upon a SAI’s recommendations. Can you imagine the role of design in audits? In this paper we share our experiences of some design approaches in the work of one SAI: the Netherlands Court of Audit (NCA). Design thinking needs to be adapted (Dorst, 2015a) before it can be used by SAIs such as the NCA in order to reflect their independent, autonomous status. To dive deeper into design thinking, Buchanan’s design framework (2015) and different ways of reasoning (Dorst, 2015b) are used to explore how design thinking can be adapted for audits.

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