On Dependency between Wishes and Perception

Introduction. Empirical studies of recent years convincingly show that the character of sensory perception can be influenced by non-cognitive mental states of the agent, such as her desires. The aim of the paper is to analyze how this causal connection between agent's wishes and her sensations can affect the epistemological status of dependent sensations.Methodology and sources. The author examines S. Siegel's argument on this issue. S. Siegel argues that the empirically proven dependence of sensations on desires (wishful seeing) should lead to a decrease of the epistemological status of sensations to the same extent as the dependence of beliefs on desires (wishful thinking) leads to a decrease of the epistemological status of these beliefs. Thus Siegel's argument concludes that the phenomenon of wishful seeing deprives us of any reason to accept sensations as credible evidence of the states of the world. So, this is an argument in favor of skepticism.Results and discussion. The article discusses two main strategies for rejecting Siegel's argument. According to the first strategy proposed by R. Long, sensations are not so similar to beliefs that one can conclude that their epistemological status should be decreased on the basis of their dependence on desires. According to another strategy for refuting Siegel's argument, proposed by A. Raftopoulos, the influence of desires on perception does not extend to early vision. Early vision is free from the influence of higher order conscious mental states. The dependence of the results of sensory perception on other mental states is reduced to the influence of these states on the agent's attention. At the same time, attention can be volitionally controlled and can be trained. Therefore dependent perception under certain conditions can be rationally accepted.Conclusion. Thus, the article shows that, even though perception is dependent on other non-cognitive mental states, such as desires, this dependence does not necessarily lead to a decrease in the epistemological status of sensations, so sensations can be rationally accepted under certain conditions. This means that Siegel's argument for skepticism is not compelling.

Epistemological status of the narrative in scientific cognition

BACKGROUND: The article analyzes the role of narrative in scientific cognition. AIM: The aim of the article is to investigate the epistemological status of the narrative in the process of knowledge production and legitimization. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The methodology of the study is based on the semiotic concept of culture in the context of the pragmatic practice of justifying the results of scientific research. Narrative is viewed as a specific way of making sense of the world and a form of human existence in the process of knowledge generation through storytelling. The functions of narrative in the process of cognition are analyzed: generation and comprehension of knowledge, structural organization of cognitive experience, translation of individual cognitive experience into the cultural code of society. The thesis that scientific representations of the object of cognition are secondary to narrative models of understanding in the context of communicative practice of science is discussed. CONCLUSIONS: Conclusions are made about the necessity of explication in epistemology of value-semantic foundations of pragmatics of scientific knowledge, taking into account which the narrative nature of scientific knowledge should be explicitly presented in the methodological reflection of scientific research.

The Epicurean Notion of epibolê

The surviving writings of Epicurus and his followers contain several references to epibolê – a puzzling notion that does not receive discussion in the extant Epicurean texts. There is no consensus about what epibolê is, what it is of, and what it operates on and, moreover, its epistemological status is controversial. This article aims to address these issues in both Epicurus and later Epicurean authors. Part One focuses mainly on Epicurus’ Letter to Herodotus, highlights a crucial distinction hitherto unnoticed in the literature between two different types of epibolê, and brings out he necessary connection between epibolê and the application of the criteria of truth. Part Two considers the philosophical merits of the traditional interpretation of epibolê as projection and/or attention. Part Three examines the two aforementioned types of epibolê in Lucretius and Philodemus and shows that these authors accord epibolê paramount epistemological and ethical importance.

Media and History: Discourse of Historical Responsibility in a Changing World

В статье проанализированы особенности трансформации аксиологических функций медиа в отношении общественных представлений о прошлом в контексте антагонистического, космополитического и агонического проектов коллективной памяти. Обосновывается мысль, что переход от антагонистического к космополитическому типу коллективных воспоминаний в прошлом столетии и обозначившийся в начале XXI в. поворот к элементам агонического типа способствуют трансформации функций медиа и повышению их аксиологического статуса как среды развертывания дискурса исторической ответственности. Это связано с усилением роли и значения медиа в качестве инструмента конструирования самого дискурса исторической ответственности, а также инструмента демаркации различных ценностных сред обращения к прошлому и их носителей – сообществ памяти. The article deals with actual problems of the transformation of the axiological functions of media in relation to public representations of the past in the context of antagonistic, cosmopolitan and agonistic projects of collective memory. The transition from the antagonistic to the cosmopolitan type of collective memories in the last century and the turn towards elements of the agonistic type that has emerged today contribute to the transformation of media functions. This transformation is associated with the strengthening not so much of their epistemological status as their axiological status in relation to the past. The axiological status of media is associated with understanding it as a significant environment for the deployment of the discourse of historical responsibility. Modern media act as a tool for constructing the very discourse of historical responsibility, as well as a tool for demarcating various value environments of referring to the past and their carriers - communities of memory.

Artistic Research: A Cuckoo’s Egg in Other Bird’s Nest or an Epistemologically Justified Strategy of Research?

In the broader context of other types of research, the authors of this article seek to analyse the epistemological status of artistic research. Because of its transdisciplinary character, artistic research is interpreted ambiguously: on the one hand, it might be treated as an unjustified and illicit intervention into the scientific field, on the other hand, despite its peculiarities artistic research still might be capable of creating knowledge commensurable with the knowledge produced in other (scientific) disciplines. The major question the article seeks to answer is the following: is it possible to justify artistic research applying ready-made arguments in the philosophy of science?

SOCIOLOGICAL METHOD AT VILFREDO PARETO: BETWEEN EPISTEMOLOGICAL PRESSURE AND ANALYTICAL-CONCEPTUAL SCHEMATIZATION

In the constellation that is the three great social thinkers from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, Vilfredo Pareto’s stance regarding the reports between sociology, as a science, and philosophy is a specific one, generating consequences, the most significant in the scheme of an idealistic portrait of the consequences of the positivist method in sociology. Because the Italian sociologist seems to prolong the classic aversion overseeing positivism in philosophy until it became a usual attitude of work and, in the same time, reaching the extreme lengths at which philosophy negates it, on the basis of positive prerogatives of knowledge, overseeing any epistemological status.

Similia Similibus Curentur: Theory, History, and Status of the Constitutive Principle of Homeopathy

A clear definition of its subject and correct application of its tenets are the basis of any science. Conversely, the want of a unanimous understanding of its constituting principles by the homeopathic community is undermining its scientific practice, research and discussion. To facilitate these, first and foremost the Principle of Similars, similia similibus curentur, has to be clarified and assessed in terms of its theoretical meaning, historical development, and epistemological status. Hahnemann's conceptions, explanations, and appraisals were not static but evolved and hardened over the years, especially from 1796 to 1810. While initially he related similia similibus to an imitation of similar cures by nature and proposed it as an opposition to contraria contrariis, he later generalised it to the treatment of any disease. Whilst originally he considered it to be a hermeneutical principle, or a hint towards a curative remedy, Hahnemann later dogmatised it as the only truth. Considering advances in epistemology and theory of medicine, however, the Principle of Similars may not be assessed as a final truth or natural law to be empirically verified or falsified for good, but rather as a practical maxim, guiding the artist of healing in his/her curing of diseases rationally and individually.

A Etnografia da Infraestrutura

Este artigo mobiliza algumas ferramentas e perspectivas da etnografia para tencionar questões metodológicas no estudo das infraestruturas. Sendo ao mesmo tempo relacionais e ecológicas, as infraestruturas tem significados diferentes para os diferentes grupos. Além disso, elas funcionam equalizando ações, ferramentas e ambiente construído, todos aspectos inseparáveis para sua compreensão. As infraestruturas são também ordinárias ao ponto de serem entediantes, envolvendo objetos como tomadas, normas e formulários burocráticos. Partindo das etnografias tradicionais, algumas das dificuldades de se estudar as infraestruturas envolvem o redimensionamento do campo de pesquisa, a gestão de grandes quantidades de dados, tais como aqueles produzidos pelos registros das transações, e a compreensão da interação entre os comportamentos online e off-line. Ao nos depararmos com esses desafios, alguns truques envolvidos são: o estudo da modelagem da infraestrutura, a compreensão dos paradoxos da infraestrutura enquanto simultaneamente transparente e opaca (incluindo as funcionalidades invisíveis na análise ecológica) e o detalhamento do estatuto epistemológico dos indicadores.The Ethnography of Infrastructure Abstract: This article asks methodological questions about studying infrastructure with some of the tools and perspectives of ethnography. Infrastructure is both relational and ecological—it means different things to different groups and it is part of the balance of action, tools, and the built environment, inseparable from them. It also is frequently mundane to the point of boredom, involving things such as plugs, standards, and bureaucratic forms. Some of the difficulties of studying infrastructure are how to scale up from traditional ethnographic sites, how to manage large quantities of data such as those produced by transaction logs, and how to understand the interplay of online and offline behavior. Some of the tricks of the trade involved in meeting these challenges include studying the design of infrastructure, understanding the paradoxes of infrastructure as both transparent and opaque, including invisible work in the ecological analysis, and pinpointing the epistemological status of indictors.Keywords: Infrastructure, Ethnography, Information Technology, Networks.