Some Difficult Problems

1930 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 474-476
Author(s):  
Karl A. Zeller
Keyword(s):  
Number System ◽  
General Idea ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Know How ◽  
Good Citizen ◽  
Guiding Principle ◽  
The World ◽  
Teaching Of Mathematics ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Insight Into

If, As The writers of our year book would have us believe, it is certain that the schools of our day do not know how to teach arithmetic successfully; if our present day civilization is one which depends on the universal recognition of the importance of the idea of precision, since precision is the soul of science and commerce; if number is an ever guiding principle of life; if the number system has changed the life of men and is a mode of thinking that cultivates a general idea of regularity, arrangement and order in all thinking; if the number system, formulas of Algebra and Geometry have helped the race to organize and arrange the world in which we live; if mathematics is linked up with a large number of the branches of human knowledge; if every educated man or woman should know what mathematics means, what its greatest uses are, and something of its soul; if it enters into the making of a good citizen because of its value as a mental discipline; if the contact with absolute truth, the style of reasoning, the habit of rigorous thinking, the love for beauty develops transferable power for independent investigation and gives a keener insight into life; if these should emerge in the mind of the student, the conception of an ordered, lawful universe, a universe in which the reign of law is absolute; then these facts make the teaching of mathematics a problem that challenges our skill and study, and makes our work top the pinnacle of life service.

Thought Experiments

Philosophy ◽  
2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Robert Brown ◽  
Michael T. Stuart
Keyword(s):  
Thought Experiment ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Thought Experiments ◽  
Widespread Agreement ◽  
The World ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Insight Into

Thought experiments are performed in the imagination. We set up some situation, we observe what happens, then we try to draw appropriate conclusions. In this way, thought experiments resemble real experiments, except that they are experiments in the mind. The terms “thought experiment,” “imaginary experiment,” and “Gedankenexperiment” are used interchangeably. There is no consensus on a definition, but there is widespread agreement on which are standard examples. It is also widely agreed that they play a central role in a number of fields, especially physics and philosophy. There are several important questions about thought experiments that naturally arise, including what kinds of thought experiments there are, what roles they play, and how, if at all, they work. This last question has been the focus of much of the literature: How can we learn something new about the world just by thinking? Answers range from “We don’t really learn anything new” to “We have some sort of a priori insight into how nature works.” In between there are a great variety of rival alternative accounts. There is still no consensus; debate is wide open on almost every question pertaining to thought experiments.

scholarly journals PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS WITH ZOONYM COMPONENT IN DIALECT WORLD VIEW OF KUBAN REGION INHABITANTS: COGNITION MECHANISMS

2021 ◽  
pp. 35-51
Author(s):  
OLGA G. BORISOVA ◽  
◽  
LYUDMILA YU. KOSTINA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
World View ◽  
Cognitive Structure ◽  
Significant Part ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
The World ◽  
Unique Nature ◽  
Well Data ◽  
Insight Into

The article examines cognitive mechanisms of Kuban region set expressions origin, which include animalistic vocabulary and which represent a significant part of dialect picture of the world. The material for the research was taken from regional printed and handwritten lexicographical sources on a subject of Kuban sub-dialects, as well data was collected during long-term dialect expeditions. The results demonstrate the variety of these mechanisms, which are based on actual observations by the sub-dialect speakers on behavior, peculiar appearance, voice, smell of animals and human actions in regard thereto. The amount and variety of selected tokens prove the significance of zoomorphic code in the Kuban region inhabitants’ world view. Ethnocultural conjoinings of set expressions were found, which provide insight into the unique nature of the villager’s world view. The analysis of discursive sources of origin of phraseological units with a zoonym component enabled to trace the birth of a new cognitive structure as a result of conceptualisation of human knowledge. It was demonstrated, that meanings of Kuban phraseological units, being the product of cognitive and discursive activity of sub-dialect speakers, unite the results of sensuous impressions and pragmatist perception of the world around us.

scholarly journals Gregory Bateson’s Ecology of Mind and the Understanding of Human Knowledge

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Elzbieta Magdalena Wasik
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Communication Studies ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Gregory Bateson ◽  
Ecology Of Mind ◽  
The World ◽  
Living Species ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Theoretical Foundations

<p>Departing from the biological notion of ecology that pertains to mutual relationships between organisms and their environments, this paper discusses theoretical foundations of research on the nature of human mind in relation to knowledge, cognition and communication conducted in a broader context of social sciences. It exposes the view, explicitly formulated by Gregory Bateson, that the mind is the way in which ideas are created, or just the systemic device for transmitting information in the world of all living species. In consequence, some crucial points of Bateson’s reasoning are accentuated, such as the recognition of the biological unity of organism and environment, the conviction of the necessity to study the ecology in terms of the economics of energy and material and/or the economy of information, the belief that consciousness distorts information coming to the organism from the inside and outside, which is the cause of its functional disadaptation, and the like. The conception of the ecology of an overall mind, as the sets of ideas, notions or thoughts in the whole world, is presented against the background of theoretical and empirical achievements of botany and zoology, anthropology, ethology and psychiatry, sociology and communication studies in connection with the development of cybernetics, systems theory and information theory.</p>

scholarly journals Verifiability and Falsifiability as Parameters for Scientific Methodology

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 130
Author(s):  
Sandhya Shankar
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Method ◽  
Scientific Methodology ◽  
Karl Popper ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Sense Experience ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
The World ◽  
The Mind

The question of „how do we come to know‟ has been the search of mankind since time immemorial. Neither has there been a consensus for that question nor there will be. Many a great minds have looked into this, coming up with various perspectives. Two such varying perspectives in this field are empiricism and rationalism. While the former emphasizes that experience (through senses) is the only source of knowledge the latter upholds that there is something beyond the sense experience, the mind that is the source of knowledge. The shift towards a scientific phase from that of the earlier theological and metaphysical phase gained popularity with positivism, where progress of human knowledge was considered in identifying truths through scientific methods. In this scientific journey towards knowing the world emphasis was on empirically observable things. It was believed that there are no ideas which come into our head without being dependent on our perceptions, thereby on our experience. The basis of classical science was considered getting empirical observations. It had to be a systematic way of studying what is out there. Purpose of science was considered to be limited to things which can be observed, thus being connected to a means of being verified. This paper thus looks into the notion of verifiability as an important parameter of scientific methodology and its importance as asserted by logical positivists. But this criteria of scientific method was challenged by another criteria, that of falsifiability. The next section will look into falsifiability as another parameter of scientific methodology. Since these parameters have been discussed widely among philosophers, this paper shall be focusing on the views of A. J. Ayer and Sir Karl Popper regarding the same. Furthermore, its application and relevance to the field of linguistics will also be discussed.

Hegels Philosophie des Geistes

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-86
Author(s):  
Pirmin Stekeler-Weithofer
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Empirical Observation ◽  
The World ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Philosophie Des Geistes ◽  
Object Level ◽  
Forms Of Knowledge

In order to understand Hegel’s form of philosophical reflection in general, we must read his ‘speculative’ sentences about spirit and nature, rationality and reason, the mind and its embodiment as general remarks about conceptual topics in topographical overviews about our ways of talking about ourselves in the world. The resulting attitude to traditional metaphysics gets ambivalent in view of the insight that Aristotle’s prima philosophia is knowledge of human knowledge, developed in meta-scientific reflections on notions like ‘nature’ and ‘essence’, ‘reality’ (or ‘being’) and ‘truth’, about ‘powers’ and ‘faculties’ – and does not lead by itself to an object-level theory about spiritual things like the soul. We therefore cannot just replace critical metaphysics of the human mind by empirical investigation of human behaviour as empiricist approaches to human cognition in naturalized epistemologies do and neuro-physiological explanations propose. Making transcendental forms and material presuppositions of conceptually informed perception and experience explicit needs some understanding of figurative forms of speech in our logical reflections and leads to other forms of knowledge than empirical observation and theory formation.

Substance, mode, and accident in modern philosophy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Silverman
Keyword(s):  
Modern Philosophy ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
The World ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Aristotelian Tradition

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries inherited, and were witness to, the decline of the metaphysics of substance, mode, and accident of the Aristotelian tradition. The causes of this decline can be gleaned from an investigation of various puzzles which arose during the period, and of the ways in which different philosophers reacted to these puzzles. One such puzzle concerns independence. A substance is meant to be something that exists independently – but what meets this standard, other than God? Another puzzle concerns identity. A substance is meant to be something which in some sense supports (etymologically, stands under) its modes or accidents – but how can we penetrate to the nature, or identity, of the substance itself? A third puzzle concerns unity. A substance is meant to be unified in a way that a heap of stones is not – but what qualifies as a genuine unity? The puzzles were initially raised by those, such as Descartes and Locke, who did not intend for them to radically modify our understanding of substance, mode, and accident. But radical changes followed shortly thereafter nonetheless. Spinoza maintained that God or Nature is the only substance, all other things being mere modes of God. Conway, Leibniz, and Berkeley argued that the world is fundamentally spiritual or mind-like. And eventually, Hume and Kant questioned whether the notions of substance, mode, and accident were, in some sense, unavoidably problematic. As an investigation of this debate reveals, theories of substance, mode, and accident were intertwined with many other enduring philosophical themes, including the nature of reality, the mind–body relation, and the limits of human knowledge.

Bonaventure (c.1217–74)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonnie Kent
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Sense Experience ◽  
The World ◽  
Union With God ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Higher Purpose

Bonaventure (John of Fidanza) developed a synthesis of philosophy and theology in which Neoplatonic doctrines are transformed by a Christian framework. Though often remembered for his denunciations of Aristotle, Bonaventure’s thought includes some Aristotelian elements. His criticisms of Aristotle were motivated chiefly by his concern that various colleagues, more impressed by Aristotle’s work than they had reason to be, were philosophizing with the blindness of pagans instead of the wisdom of Christians. To Bonaventure, the ultimate goal of human life is happiness, and happiness comes from union with God in the afterlife. If one forgets this goal when philosophizing, the higher purpose of the discipline is frustrated. Philosophical studies can indeed help in attaining happiness, but only if pursued with humility and as part of a morally upright life. In the grander scheme of things, the ascent of the heart is more important than the ascent of the mind. Bonaventure’s later works consistently emphasize that all creation emanates from, reflects and returns to its source. Because the meaning of human life can be understood only from this wider perspective, the general aim is to show an integrated whole hierarchically ordered to God. The structure and symbolism favoured by Bonaventure reflect mystical elements as well. The world, no less than a book, reveals its creator: all visible things represent a higher reality. The theologian must use symbols to reveal this deeper meaning. He must teach especially of Christ, through whom God creates everything that exists and who is the sole medium by which we can return to our creator. Bonaventure’s theory of illumination aims to account for the certitude of human knowledge. He argues that there can be no certain knowledge unless the knower is infallible and what is known cannot change. Because the human mind cannot be entirely infallible through its own power, it needs the cooperation of God, even as it needs God as the source of immutable truths. Sense experience does not suffice, for it cannot reveal that what is true could not possibly be otherwise; so, in Bonaventure’s view, the human mind attains certainty about the world only when it understands it in light of the ‘eternal reasons’ or divine ideas. This illumination from God, while necessary for certainty, ordinarily proceeds without a person’s being conscious of it.

Wise authors?

2020 ◽  
pp. 182-198
Author(s):  
Gregory Currie
Keyword(s):  
Moral Psychology ◽  
General Idea ◽  
Artistic Creativity ◽  
The World ◽  
The Mind

This chapter continues the theme of reliability. To the extent that we rely on the deliverances of science, that is not because we have a personal faith in the integrity of the scientists responsible for the results in question but because we have confidence in the practices and institutions of science itself. I suggest that, in this respect, we find a contrast between science and the world of fiction-makers and their audiences. I then raise some questions about the psychology of artistic creativity and its relation to that great theme of literature and quality fictions of all kinds: the mind. Finally, I take a look at the general idea of expertise, asking where we can expect to find it and where an illusion of expertise is more likely. I suggest that the idea of the ‘wise author’, able to see further into the depths of moral psychology than the rest of us, is something we have reason to be suspicious of.

scholarly journals Review Article on A Fragmented Feminism: The Life and Letters of Anandibai Joshee By Meera Kosambi, Ram Ramaswamy, Madhavi Kolhatkar & Aban Mukherji

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Niranjana G ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
The Body ◽  
Indian Women ◽  
Know How ◽  
Woman Doctor ◽  
Psychosocial Impacts ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Do So

A Fragmented Feminism: The Life and Letters of Anandibai Joshee is the seminal work on social history about the first woman doctor of India, Anandibai Gopal Joshee written by the sociologist Meera Kosambi and Edited by Ram Ramaswamy, Madhavi Kolhatkar and Aban Mukherji. It provides insight into the psychosocial impacts of culture on Indian women through the life of Dr. Anandibai Gopal Joshee, India’s first women doctor. The author collected the letters written by Anandibai, newspaper reports on her, her poems in Marathi and rare photographs of her to craft the biography of her life. This book resembles an epistolary style in its narrative quality accompanied by annotations and explanations by the author and Editors. Anandibai, who was graduated in western medicine at America, lived during the nineteenth century pre-independence India where access to basic education was a distant dream. This book stands as a witness to practices of child marriage, physical and emotional abusement on women. (Kosambi, 19) ‘In childhood the mind is immature and the body undeveloped. And you know how I acted on these occasions. If I had left, you at that immature age, as you kept on suggesting, what would have happened? (And any number of girls have left their homes because of harassment from mothers-in-law and husbands). I did not do so because I was afraid that my ill-considered behaviour would tarnish my father’s honour… And I requested you not to spare me, but to kill me. In out society, for centuries there has been no legal barrier between husband and wives; and if it exists, it works against women! Such being the vase, I had no recourse but to allow you to hit me with chairs and bear it with equanimity. A Hindu woman has not right to utter a word or to advise her husband. On the contrary she has right to allow her husband to do what he wishes and to keep quiet.’

scholarly journals The Continuing Story of the Yiddish Language: The Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts

Text Matters ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 28-40
Author(s):  
Brygida Gasztold
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Interesting Insight ◽  
Modern Idea ◽  
Storage House ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The World ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Post Online

The focus of my article is a unique place, the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts, which connects Yiddish culture with the American one, the experience of the Holocaust with the descendants of the survivors, and a modern idea of Jewishness with the context of American postmodernity. Created in the 1980s, in the mind of a young and enthusiastic student Aaron Lansky, the Yiddish Book Center throughout the years has become a unique place on the American cultural map. Traversing the continents and crossing borders, Lansky and his co-workers for over thirty years have been saving Yiddish language books from extinction. The Center, however, has long stopped to be merely a storage house for the collection, but instead has grown into a vibrant hub of Yiddishkeit in the United States. Its employees do not only collect, distribute, digitalize and post online the forgotten volumes, but also engage in diverse activities, scholarly and cultural, that promote the survival of the tradition connected with Yiddish culture. They educate, offering internships and fellowships to students interested in learning Yiddish from across the world, translate, publish, and exhibit Yiddish language materials, in this way finding new users for the language whose speakers were virtually annihilated by the Holocaust. To honour their legacy, a separate project is aimed at conducting video interviews that record life testimonies of the speakers of Yiddish. Aaron Lansky’s 2004 memoir, Outwitting History, provides an interesting insight into the complexities of his arduous life mission. Today, the Center lives its own unique life, serving the world of academia and Yiddishkeit enthusiasts alike.

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