Formal Semantics and the Structure of Meaning

The article discusses the reasons why modern formal semantics of natural language is an integral part of a larger philosophical research program for the study of the nature of intentionality. The purpose of this article is to show how research in the field of formal semantics of natural language became the implementation of a large philosophical research program that is focused on the nature of intentional objects, which since the time of F. Brentano have been considered an integral part of mental phenomena. Mental phenomena are opposed to physical phenomena due to their inherent intentionality (being focused on an object). In modern philosophy, it is commonly considered that the comprehension of the nature of intentionality is the key to understanding the nature of consciousness, and, consequently, the nature of man. The article shows that formal semantics represents the structure of the meaning of linguistic expressions, with the help of which human thought is formed, which is one of the main objects of intentional consciousness. In formal semantics, this representation is carried out in a rigorous, systematic, and empirically verifiable way on the basis of natural languages, that is, on those symbolic systems that real people use in real practice to shape their thoughts. The research is based on the works of G. Frege, who laid the foundation for the formal-semantic methodology. Thus, the answer is given to the question of why modern formal linguistics, which originates in the analytical philosophy of the 20th century, is a philosophically significant discipline. This response is a reaction to the objections of skeptics who believe that modern analytic philosophy cannot be considered a direction that has any serious philosophical significance.

Can Husserl’s phenomenology provide the intellectual framework of soft systems? (Part one)

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between Husserl’s phenomenology and soft systems. An important idea arising from the action research programme at the University of Lancaster is the notion of soft systems. The concept of soft systems, that distinguished it from other systems (holistic) thinking of the time, was the conscious link between soft systems thinking and phenomenology. Phenomenology is that the realm of intentional consciousness that enables the phenomenologist to develop a radically unprejudiced justification of his (or her) basic views of the world and of himself and explore their rational interconnections. Similarly, in soft systems, it is acknowledged that reality is formed by sensation and fashioned by experience. It is not exclusively a process of thought (although this may shape how we process our experience), for us the world exists as the result of a subjective appreciation of it. In Part 1, the author explores how phenomenology informs soft systems theory and practice through the work of Husserl and some of those that influenced him and were influenced by him. In Part 2, the author explores a possible relationship between Husserl and Gadamer as a possible intellectual grounding for organisational inquiry. Design/methodology/approach The research was conducted by examining published material relating to the development of soft systems ideas and Husserl's phenomenology. Findings An analysis of the ideas within the material suggests that phenomenology can be considered as a underpinning the notion of soft systems Research limitations/implications There is difficulty tracking down important papers that recorded the development of soft systems (i.e. 1970–1990) as Lancaster University had disposed of all issues. However, the author tracked down a source and was able to use this material as part of the research. In addition to helping research the origins of the idea, it also provides a paper trail for other researchers interested in these ideas. Practical implications Tracing the published material relating to soft systems necessitated visits to several universities as many of the important papers where no longer held by the University of Lancaster library. Social implications It seems apposite that the ideas behind soft systems are resurrected as they offer an alternative way of thinking about complexity – which the modern world seems increasingly creating Originality/value There is a lack of research into soft systems as the publications describing the Lancaster research programme have centred around soft systems methodology (SSM). Checkland remarked a decade or so ago that said SSM should be taken as given and other ideas explored. There is little evidence that the soft ideas have been explored outside variations of SSM, this paper is intended to encourage more research into ‘soft’ systems.

Use and misuse of neuroscience in the philosophy of religion

The article elucidates in what way neuroscience and in particular neuroimaging can contribute to the clarification and empirical underpinning of theories in the philosophy of mind and the anthropology of religion. Its initial hypothesis is that there are two principal ways in which neuroscientific data are relevant to philosophy, exhibiting the unconscious processes in the generation of phenomenal and intentional consciousness, and complementing semantic and phenomenological approaches in the analysis of complex mental phenomena. Whereas the first kind of relevance is widely recognised, contributions of neuroscientific data to the analysis of complex mental phenomena are often rejected as involving a kind of "category mistake." The article argues that imaging studies can in fact contribute to a better understanding of the nature of certain complex mental states and processes and exemplifies this by recent brain imaging studies on religious experience. Finally, theories like those of Andrew Newberg are taken to task for misrepresenting "neurotheology" as a new form of theology.

Patočka's Critique of Husserl: The Possibility of A-Subjective Phenomenology

Edmund Husserl created phenomenology with the attempt of founding a new philosophical departure detached from past mistakes, specifically, the rigid split between things as they appear to us and the thing-in-itself. As such, it rejects both realism and idealism. With this in mind, Husserl posits that we ought to describe things only as they appear, without posing any predetermined thesis regarding the nature of the world. This gesture came to be known as epoché, which led to the development of the phenomenological reduction to intentional consciousness. And yet, in this latter gesture, Jan Patočka seem to have found a psychologistic and subjectivistic degradation of phenomenology, where the appearance of things happens only inside and within a consciousness. Under this approach, he critiques Husserl’s phenomenology of perception, correcting it, and proposing instead a phenomenology equally committed to the epoché but void of reduction, so that things have an autonomous appearance indicative of a horizon of world instead of an act of subject.

The Life-World of Persons with Drug Addictions

Drug addiction undermines intentional consciousness. Whereas in normal conditions we have a fluid intentionality and our common sense is the obviously pre-reflective result of this situation, under the influence of a drug intoxication we lose this intentional stability and, as a consequence, suffer from a kind of intentional instability, which we can refer to with the term floating world. This floating world is characterized by splitting, vibration, and a multiplication of images which can be both sequential or overlapping. On the other hand, following chronic drug tolerance, we have a sort of an intentional dramatic capture or seizure of the world, which we can call frozen world. Lived time, space, the body, and other existential parameters differ enormously in these two contrasting ways of being. The crisis of the temporal-spatial vortex inevitably leads to the blow of the vacuum (le coup de vide): the experience of unreality or no self-experience. The total collapse of the world is the common final result of the breaking down of the temporal and spatial structure of “being-there” (“Dasein”).

CONTRIBUIÇÕES DA EDUCAÇÃO ASSISTIDA POR ANIMAIS - EAA PARA A PSICOLOGIA DA EDUCAÇÃO: uma análise fenomenológica

CONTRIBUTIONS OF ANIMAL-ASSISTED EDUCATION – EAA FOR THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EDUCATION: a phenomenological analysisCONTRIBUCIONES DE LA EDUCACIÓN ASISTIDA POR ANIMALES – EAA LA PSICOLOGÍA DE LA EDUCACIÓN: un análisis fenomenológicoA Educação Assistida por Animais (EAA) é um tipo de Intervenção Assistida por Animais – IAA’s utilizada no contexto escolar educacional com crianças e adolescentes inseridos no sistema educacional público ou privado de classes regulares ou especiais e têm seus resultados disseminados na literatura científica. O artigo tem como objetivo sistematizar e apresentar estudos e pesquisas que apontem as contribuições da Educação Assistida por Animais – EAA para a Psicologia da Educação. A pesquisa foi realizada utilizando a atitude e o método fenomenológico que orientaram a investigação para suspensão de hipóteses científicas e foco na atenção e na totalidade do que se apresentou à consciência intencional do pesquisador ao privilegiar o que aparece e como aparece. O universo da pesquisa constou da leitura selecionada de livros, artigos, periódicos, trabalhos de conclusão de curso, dissertações e tese de doutoramento. Após essa etapa foram descritas as contribuições dos autores acerca do uso de animais em atividades educacionais. Foram realizadas a localização, a leitura e a seleção de estudos e pesquisas que apresentaram contribuições, riscos e benefícios da EAA para problemas que emergem no contexto educativo. Os estudos foram sistematizados e indicaram que a EAA apresenta contribuições significativas não apenas à Psicologia da Educação, mas também para a Psicologia do Desenvolvimento, Educação Inclusiva, Psicomotricidade e Ética. Os resultados do presente artigo evidenciam os benefícios da relação humana e animal, tanto para os humanos quanto para os animais no contexto escolar dentro ou fora da sala de aula.Palavras-chave: Intervenção Assistida por Animais – IAA; Psicologia; Educação; Animais; Humanos.ABSTRACTAssisted Education for Animals (EAA) is a type of Assisted Intervention for Animals (IAA) used in the educational context with school children and adolescents on public or private educational system of regular or special classes and have their results disseminated in scientific literature. The article aims to systematize and present studies and researches that show the contributions of Assisted Education for Animals – EAA Educational Psychology. The survey was conducted using the attitude and the phenomenological method guided the investigation for suspension of scientific hypotheses and focus on attention and all of what is presented to the intentional consciousness of the researcher focusing on what appears and as it appears. The research universe consisted of a set of books, articles, journals, term papers, dissertations and doctoral thesis were read selected. After this stage we described the contributions of the authors on the use of animals in educational activities. Location were carried out, as well as reading and selection of studies and surveys that submitted contributions, benefits and risks of EAA to problems that emerge in the educational context. The studies were systematized and indicated that the EAA has significant contributions not only to the Psychology of Education, but also for the Psychology of Development, Inclusive Education, Psychomotricity and Ethics. The results of this article show the benefits of human and animal relationship, both for humans and for animals in the school context within or outside the classroom.Keywords: Assisted Intervention for Animals – AIA; Psychology; Education; Animals; Humans.RESUMENEducación Asistida por Animales – EAA es un tipo de Intervención Asistida para Animales – IAA’s que se utilizan en el contexto educativo con niños y adolescentes escolares en el sistema educativo público o privado de las clases regulares o especiales, y sus resultados diseminados en la literatura científica. El artículo tiene como objetivo sistematizar y presentar estudios e investigaciones actuales que muestran las contribuciones de Educación Asistida por Animales – Psicología Educacional EAA. La encuesta se llevó a cabo utilizando la actitud y el método fenomenológico que orientaron la investigación para la suspensión de las hipótesis científicas y foco en la atención y todo lo que se presenta a la conciencia intencional del investigador se centrando en lo que parece y como aparece. El universo de la investigación consistió en una serie de libros, artículos, revistas, trabajos académicos, disertaciones y tesis doctoral se leyeron, fueron seleccionados. Después de esta etapa describimos las contribuciones de los autores en el uso de animales en las actividades educativas. Se llevaron a cabo la ubicación, la lectura y la selección de los estudios y encuestas que presentaron contribuciones, beneficios y riesgos de EAA a los problemas que surgen en el contexto educativo. Los estudios fueron sistematizados e indicaron que la EAA tiene importantes contribuciones no sólo a la Psicología de la Educación, sino también para la Psicología del Desarrollo, Educación Inclusiva, Psicomotricidad y Ética. Los resultados de este artículo muestran los beneficios de la relación humana y animal, tanto para humanos como para animales en el contexto de la escuela dentro o fuera de la clase.Palabras clave: Intervención Asistida por Animales – IAA; Psicología; La Educación; Animales; Humano.

Fenomenologia hermenêutica: da filosofia à pesquisa qualitativa no ensino – educadores dialógicos e perspectivas de mundo (p. 139-152)

A fenomenologia, para educadores dialógicos, apresenta-se como instrumento essencial na avaliação crítica e na construção das diferentes visões de mundo, as quais conduzem ao ensino. Também possibilita a verificação, o estudo e o esclarecimento dos fenômenos em sala de aula – e para além dela –, bem como os relacionados às perspectivas e orientações do pesquisador no ensino e na educação. Para sua articulação, é aplicável a hermenêutica, como compreensão da realidade, na observação reflexiva/refletiva e descritiva dos fenômenos, com consciência intencional e objeto intencionado. A hermenêutica nasce na fenomenologia, da necessidade do aprender junto, de compreender a realidade, de captar as intenções na sua essência mais pura no contexto dos acontecimentos. A fenomenologia hermenêutica permite a compreensão e a interpretação provindas da imersão do observador no mundo do observado, a aproximação com o fenômeno e a reestruturação da própria visão de mundo. A proposição de uma pesquisa qualitativa para o ensino e a educação, com essas concepções, permite ir ao significante, cuja emersão se dá na aproximação com o fenômeno em si e, fundamentado na compreensão e na interpretação, busca o significado a partir do contexto em que o significante se mostra, com a inserção das visões de mundo do próprio pesquisador como sujeito ativo de sua pesquisa.Palavras-chave: Educação dialógica. Fenomenologia reflexiva. Interpretação dos fenômenos.AbstractThe phenomenology, for dialogic educators, presents itself as an essential tool in the critical evaluation and in the construction of different world views for the teaching. It allows the verification, study and explanation of phenomena in the classroom as well as those related to the prospects and directions of research in education. For its articulation, hermeneutics, as an understanding of reality, is applicable in the reflective/reflected and descriptive observation of phenomena with intentional consciousness and intended object. The hermeneutics was born in phenomenology, by the need to learn together, to understand the reality, to grasp the intentions in its purest essence in the context of events. The hermeneutic phenomenology, allows the understanding and interpretation from the observer’s immersion in the world of the observed, the approximation with the phenomenon and the restructuring of own worldview. The proposition of a qualitative research for teaching, with these conceptions, allows to go to the signifier, emerging in the approximation in the phenomenon itself that, based on understanding and in the interpretation, search the meaning from the context in which the signifier is shown, with the inclusion of worldviews by the own researcher as an active subject of his/her research.Keywords: Dialogic education. Reflective phenomenology. Interpretation of phenomena.ResumenLa fenomenología de educadores dialógicas, se presenta como una herramienta esencial en la evaluación crítica y la construcción de diferentes visiones del mundo, que conducen a la enseñanza. Permite la verificación, el estudio y la explicación de los fenómenos en el aula, y más allá, así como los relacionados con las perspectivas y líneas de investigación en la enseñanza y la educación. Para su articulación, se aplica la hermenéutica, como la comprensión de la realidad, la observación reflexiva/reflectiva y descriptiva de los fenómenos con la conciencia intencional y el objeto pretendido. La hermenéutica nace en la fenomenología, la necesidad de aprender juntos, para comprender la realidad, para capturar las intenciones en su esencia más pura en el contexto de los acontecimientos. La fenomenología hermenéutica permite la comprensión e interpretación del observador derivaron inmersión en el mundo de la observada, la aproximación al fenómeno y la reestructuración de la propia visión del mundo. La propuesta de una investigación cualitativa para la enseñanza y la educación, con estas ideas, permite ir al significativo, emergente de aproximación al fenómeno en sí que, con base en la comprensión e interpretación, buscar el significado por el contexto en el que el significante se muestra, con la inserción de las visiones del mundo del investigador, como sujeto activo de su investigación.Palabras clave: Educación dialógica. Fenomenología reflexiva. Interpretación de los fenómenos.

Qualia of God: Phenomenological Materiality in Introspection, with a Reference to Advaita Vedanta

Applying Michel Henry’s philosophical framework to the phenomenological analysis of religious experience, the author introduces a concept of material introspection and a new theory of the constitution of religious experience in phenomenologically material interiority. As opposed to ordinary mental self-scrutiny, material introspection happens when the usual outgoing attention is reverted onto embodied self-awareness in search of mystical self-knowledge or union with God. Such reversal posits the internal field of consciousness with the self-disclosure of phenomenological materiality. As shown by the example of Vedantic self-inquiry, material introspection is conditioned on the attitude ‘I “see” myself’ and employs reductions which relieve phenomenological materiality from the structuring influence of intentionality; the telos of material introspection is expressed by the inward self-transcendence of intentional consciousness into purified phenomenological materiality. Experience in material introspection is constituted by the self-affection and self-luminosity of phenomenological materiality; experience is recognized as religious due to such essential properties as the capacity of being self-fulfilled, and specific qualitative “what it’s like”(s). Drawing on more than 5000 live accounts of internal religious experience, it is shown that introspective attention can have different trajectories, producing, within a temporal extension of material introspection, different spatial modifications of embodied self-awareness and a variety of corresponding religious experiences.