Understanding the Virtues of Enlightenment Epistemology

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-230
Author(s):  
Ana Bazac ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Categorical Imperative ◽  
Theory Of Knowledge ◽  
Constructivist Theory ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
Transcendental Method ◽  
Moral Construction ◽  
Radical Character

The paper tries to demonstrate the hypothesis that the Enlightenment epistemology is the unity of the constructivist theory of knowledge—that developed the transcendental conditions of knowing—and the ethical maximalism of the categorical imperative. Actually, the ethical maximalism was conceived of and is conceivable only in tandem with and as a result of the epistemological constructivism that alone enables the responsibility without which the ethical stakes remain an exterior normative speculation. The unity supported the development of the concept of critique as autonomous use of reason, of education of the critical spirit, and of public presence of critiques. Surveying Kant’s What is Enlightenment and Contest of Faculties, the concepts and the logic related to the critical spirit are described, as well as their interpretations mainly by Foucault. The radical character of Enlightenment is given not by its liberal political theories but just by the above mentioned unity. With Enlightenment, criticism became more than the critique of empirical facts and abstract theories: it became a transcendental method uniting the conditions of every type of criticism and advancing the logic of self-criticism and moral construction.

Kenneth Fisher’s heuristics

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-148
Author(s):  
Carlo Massironi ◽  
Giusy Chesini
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Investment Decision ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Theory Of Knowledge ◽  
Constructivist Theory ◽  
Individual Investors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Radical Constructivist

Purpose The authors are interested in building descriptive – real life – models of successful investors’ investment reasoning and decision-making. Models designed to be useful for trying to replicate and evolve their reasoning and decision-making. The purpose of this paper, a case study, is to take the substantial material – on innovating the investing tools – published in four books (2006/2012, 2010, 2011, 2015) by a US stock investor named Kenneth Fisher (CEO of Fisher Investments, Woodside, California) and sketch Fisher’s investment innovating reasoning model. Design/methodology/approach To sketch Fisher’s investment innovating reasoning model, the authors used the Radical constructivist theory of knowledge, a framework for analyzing human action and reasoning called Symbolic interactionism and a qualitative analytic technique called Conceptual analysis. The authors have done qualitative research applied to the study of investment decision-making of a single professional investor. Findings In the paper, the authors analyzed and described the heuristics used by Fisher to build subsequent generations of investing tools (called by Fisher “Capital Markets Technology”) to try to make better forecasts to beat the stock market. The authors were interested in studying the evolutive dimensions of the tools to make forecasts of a successful investor: the “how to build it” and “how to evolve it” dimension. Originality/value The paper offers an account of Kenneth Fisher’s framework to reason the innovation of investing tools. The authors believe that this paper could be of interest to professional money managers and to all those who are involved in the study and development of the tools of investing. This work is also an example of the use of the Radical constructivist theory of knowledge, the Symbolic interactionist framework and the Conceptual analysis to build descriptive models of investment reasoning of individual investors, models designed to enable the reproduction/approximation of the conceptual operations of the investor.

Can Belief in God be Basic?

Horizons ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 262-282
Author(s):  
Anthony M. Matteo
Keyword(s):  
Natural Theology ◽  
Theory Of Knowledge ◽  
Sufficient Evidence ◽  
Alvin Plantinga ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Existence Of God ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Belief In God ◽  
Natural Tendency ◽  
Marginal Status

AbstractAt least since the Enlightenment, religious thinkers in the West have sought to meet the “evidentialist” challenge, that is, to demonstrate that there is sufficient evidence to warrant a rational affirmation of the existence of God. Alvin Plantinga holds that this challenge is rooted in a foundationalist approach to epistemology which is now intellectually bankrupt. He argues that the current critique of foundationalism clears the way for a fruitful reappropriation of the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition's assertion of the “basic” nature of belief in God and its concomitant relegation of the arguments of natural theology to marginal status. After critically assessing Plantinga's proposal—especially its dependence on a nonfoundationalist theory of knowledge—this essay shifts to an analysis of the transcendental Thomist understanding of the rational underpinnings of the theist's affirmation of God's existence, with particular emphasis on the thought of Joseph Maréchal. It is argued that the latter position is better equipped to fend off possible nontheistic counterarguments—even in our current nonfoundationalist atmosphere—and, in fact, can serve as a necessary complement to Calvin's claim of a natural tendency in human beings to believe in God.

Reconstructing the Paradigm of Learning Disabilities: A Holistic/Constructivist Interpretation

1996 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 179-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Betsey Grobecker
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Zone Of Proximal Development ◽  
Knowledge Bases ◽  
Theory Of Knowledge ◽  
Constructivist Theory ◽  
Proximal Development ◽  
Relational Thinking ◽  
Learning Differences ◽  
Specific Skill ◽  
Mental Constructs

The paradigm for defining learning disabilities has evolved in relation to information-processing constructs of learning and intelligence. Assumptions regarding the nature of knowledge acquisition as well as assessment and remedial techniques that are derived from such a paradigm are currently being challenged. This article argues that learning differences can be best understood, and attended to, in relation to the holistic/constructivist theory of knowledge construction and the reciprocal evolution of cognitive structures. Knowledge is conceived of as being embedded in, and subordinated to, a spiral of mental structuring activity that guides relational thinking or logic. Symbols (i.e., language, numbers, and images) are tools that exercise mental structuring activity for the purpose of transforming and enriching individual learning spirals by coordinating and integrating its energy form. Reciprocally, greater depth and flexibility in knowledge bases evolve, which serve to transform persons and their cultures. It is in these spirals of mental structuring activity that learning differences are proposed to manifest themselves. Such a perspective shifts the focus of assessment and remediation away from specific skill development that attends to standard answers and ways of solving problems to an examination of the adaptive, transforming thinking activity (mental constructs) generated to solve for answers. By making contact with and guiding individually constructed realities through techniques such as graded learning loops in the zone of proximal development, learning behaviors become more adaptable and generalizable.

MORAL CONSTRUCTION AS A TASK: SOURCES AND LIMITS

2007 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 214-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas E. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Human Dignity ◽  
Categorical Imperative ◽  
Moral Objectivity ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
Moral Standards ◽  
Moral Perspective ◽  
Moral Theories ◽  
Moral Construction ◽  
Basic Standards ◽  
Law Making

This essay first distinguishes different questions regarding moral objectivity and relativism and then sketches a broadly Kantian position on two of these questions. First, how, if at all, can we derive, justify, or support specific moral principles and judgments from more basic moral standards and values? Second, how, if at all, can the basic standards such as my broadly Kantian perspective, be defended? Regarding the first question, the broadly Kantian position is that from ideas in Kant's later formulations of the Categorical Imperative, especially human dignity and rational autonomous law-making, we can develop an appropriate moral perspective for identifying and supporting more specific principles. Both the deliberative perspective and the derivative principles can be viewed as “constructed,” but in different senses. In response to the second question, the essay examines two of Kant's strategies for defending his basic perspective and the important background of his arguments against previous moral theories.

scholarly journals The Importance of Values in the Constructivist Theory of Knowledge

2015 ◽  
Vol 203 ◽  
pp. 210-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adéla Antlová ◽  
Štefan Chudý ◽  
Tereza Buchtová ◽  
Lucie Kučerová
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Knowledge ◽  
Constructivist Theory

scholarly journals The Facets of the Enlightenment Movement from a Libertarian Perspective:

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Reimers
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Individual Freedom ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
French Enlightenment ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
Main Period ◽  
Reign Of Terror ◽  
The French Revolution

This paper pretends to explain the origins of the French Revolution, in particular in regards to its connection with the main proponents of the French Enlightenment. It argues that the Enlightenment movement was rather heterogeneous, shaped by many different thinkers with often incompatible views. The merits of Jean Jacques Rousseau in regards to conservation and education are described, while equivalently criticizing his rather collectivist ideas and his disputable views on women. It is argued that even if during the main period of the Enlightenment movement, liberal thinkers such as Montesquieu, Turgot, Lafayette and Condorcet had defined political theories based on individual freedom and competition, they were possibly “too far ahead of times” to significantly shape the French Revolution. Independently from the positive aspects of the Enlightenment movement, the actual French Revolution was often collectivist and nationalist and led to a violent phase – the ‘Reign of Terror’. Thus, this analysis allows us to understand the complexity and diversity of the Enlightenment movement and its relation to the actual French Revolution. Consequently, the revolution’s collectivist, nationalist and violent phase must be seen critically, also showing us that the implementation of democratic processes can bear risks, as the ‘majority rule’ can differ quite significantly to the concept of the ‘Rule of Law’.

scholarly journals Marc-Antoine Laugier’s aesthetic postulates of architectural theory

Spatium ◽  
2010 ◽  
pp. 46-50
Author(s):  
Irena Kuletin-Culafic
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Aesthetic Theory ◽  
Architectural Theory ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Decorative Element ◽  
Integrative Process ◽  
Aesthetic Aspect ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Radical Character

Views on architecture that hold a significant position in architectural theory are the ones by Marc-Antoine Laugier, a French theoretician from the 18th century. The research on his architectural theory that have been carried out so far are quite stereotypical and concern Laugier?s concept of primitive hut as his only significant contribution to architectural theory. It is well-known that the concept of primitive hut plays an important role in Laugier?s theory and it is what actually maintained his reputation up to now. However, by singling out this concept as an independent one, one actually neglects all the other aspects of Laugier?s theory. The aim of this paper is to present multidimensionality of Laugier?s architectural aesthetics by crossing the borders of architecture and viewing Laugier?s ideas in cultural, philosophical, religious and historical context, as well as applying the integrative process and considering the spiritual paths of the enlightenment movement in the mid-18th century. A special attention is paid to considering the aesthetic aspect which represents the gist and an inevitable part of Laugier?s architectural theory. His aesthetic theory is important in forming the classicist style, and despite its radical character, it influenced many architects in France and the rest of Europe. We may see Laugier as one of the first modernists considering his structuralist logic of the constructive circuit of architecture and aesthetic modesty of decoration. Laugier?s functionalist attitude that the constructive circuit should at the same time represent a decorative element of architecture confirms the thesis that modernist approach has its roots in the 18th century.

Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel on the Status of Women in the State

2021 ◽  
pp. 157-176
Author(s):  
Charlotte Sabourin
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Immanuel Kant ◽  
Categorical Imperative ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The Status ◽  
Civil Status ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Status Of Women

Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel, mayor of Königsberg, was a friend and former student of Immanuel Kant. This chapter investigates Hippel’s plea for the improvement of the civil status of women in eighteenth-century Germany. Hippel argues that men and women are equal and that this equality should lead to similar civil status. On these grounds, he shows that the Enlightenment is bound to be self-defeating if women are excluded from the public sphere. In doing so, he proposes a feminist appropriation of some of Kant’s ideas—in particular by revisiting the categorical imperative. Hippel’s proposals thus provide support to the idea that the legal subordination of women is a problem for the enactment of the Enlightenment broadly construed, and even more so in a Kantian perspective.

Wars of the Roses

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lincoln Taiz ◽  
Lee Taiz
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Mary Wollstonecraft ◽  
The Political ◽  
Floral Ecology ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Linnaean System ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
Wars Of The Roses ◽  
Marquis De Condorcet ◽  
Sexual Theory

During the latter half of the eighteenth century, opposition to the sexual theory intensified among social and religiously conservative asexualists who felt threatened by the political theories of the Enlightenment. For some, the Linnaean system was a stalking horse for libertinism, radical Jacobinism, feminism and anarchy. They maintained their ideological purity citing philosophical, religious and pedagogical reasons for rejection. Among the opponents were the Marquis de Condorcet, Hans Möller and William Smellie. Lazzaro Spallanzi and Charles Alston tried, but failed, to repeat Camerarius’s experiments. Flowers were so feminized symbolically the idea that most flowers were hermaphroditic seemed perverse, but Mary Wollstonecraft attacked hyper-feminine poetic metaphors for women as inimical to the struggle for equality. Meanwhile, hybridization experiments by Joseph Gottlieb Koelreuter eliminated the last rational objection to the sexual theory and demolished the preformationist theory, in both ovist and spermist versions. Christian Konrad Sprengel laid the foundation for floral ecology.

Critical International Theory in Historical Mode

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Devetak
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Historical Materialism ◽  
German Idealism ◽  
Giambattista Vico ◽  
Renaissance Humanism ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
International Theory ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
European Thought ◽  
Humanist Pedagogy

This chapter recovers a neglected, namely, historical mode of theorizing in an effort to reorient critical international theory. As critical international theories have become more meta-theoretical and abstract, they have lost touch with history. The chapter reconsiders R. W. Cox’s writings—in particular his abiding engagement with historicism and realism—as a means of retrieving critical intellectual resources outside of German idealism and historical materialism. The chapter then uses revisionist histories of the Enlightenment to help reorient critical international theory around historically grounded rather than philosophically grounded forms of criticism. Intellectual resources for this end are recovered from early modern European thought—particularly the historicizing and secularizing political theories of Renaissance humanism and Absolutist historiography. The final section explores the thought of Giambattista Vico, one of Cox’s professed influences, for its ‘Enlightened’ emphasis on humanist pedagogy and its historicist attention to changing forms of civil institutions.

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