Moore against the sceptics

Moore’s “Proof of an external world” and his “Four forms of scepticism” have long puzzled commentators. How are these adequate responses to sceptics? How, for that matter, is the so-called proof of an external world even pertinent to the challenge of scepticism? The notion of relativized burdens of proof is introduced: this is a burden of proof vis-à-vis one’s opponent that one takes on when trying to convince that someone of something. The relativized burden of proof is a making explicit (in the topic of rational discourse) the truism that if you argue with someone with the intent of trying to convince that someone of something, and if you fail to, you have not met your own conversational goal. Assuming Moore is implicitly relying on the notion of relativized burdens of proof illuminates his approach in these papers.

The Dialogue Between Believers and Atheists: the Platonic Model in the Laws

This paper examines the question concerning the right model of epistemically rational dialogue. First of all, the main, though not undisputed, principles of rational dialogue are defined according to the contemporary field of the epistemology of disagreement. It then explains why even these principles are not sufficient for making the disagreement between believers and atheists not only a rational discourse but also a fruitful dialogue. This paper defends a thesis that the latter aim can be achieved with a proper model of dialogue, which is found in Plato’s Laws – one of the first discussions between the believers and the atheists in the Western intellectual tradition. This model not only includes the contemporary principles of rational argument but also provides some new guidelines for the solution of problems that lead the believers and the atheists to the communicational dead end.

The Philosophical Analysis of the Concepts of Postmodern Reality

The purpose of the article is to conceptualize the philosophy of postmodernism that evolves, on one hand, as a search for new forms of creative self-expression, and, on the other hand, is presented as a crisis of philosophical cognition. The leading method for the study of postmodernism concepts is the systemic method allowing to determine their integrity and to explicate associative connections between them as interactions and interconnections brought into the system of the concept. Summarizing the discourse, we note that the main goal of postmodernism is to eliminate rational discourse and proclaim the end of the general metadiscourse of rationalism. Postmodernity should be seen as the transplantation of aesthetic matrices into surrogate, illusory, eclectic ones, which veiled the real essence of phenomena and processes.

Legal Argumentation as Rational Discourse

The discourse model of legal argumentation is presented in this chapter as a reaction to the weaknesses or deficiencies of alternative models. The most important alternative models are the model of deduction, the model of decision, the hermeneutic model, and the model of coherence. The discourse model connects the institutional or real dimension of legal argumentation with its non-institutional or ideal dimension. The result is the special case thesis. It combines institutional arguments, based on the authority of positive law, with substantive arguments, based on practical reason. This connection of the real dimension of legal argumentation with its ideal dimension is a central element of the institutionalization of practical reason.

Knowledge and Education in Digital Era

The article describes the crisis experienced by the education system during the development of the digital economy. The main presupposition of the crisis rests upon the following paradox: although the modern economy is based on the accumulation, processing and dissemination of knowledge, a fragmented perception of knowledge as such is being formed nowadays in the whole of society. The urgency of this crisis is especially noticeable against the background of the unfolding pandemic, which exacerbated many serious problems in the academic structures both in Russia and in foreign countries. This crisis of education is supplemented (and enhanced by) the crisis of science as a source of authority in postmodern era. In particular, expansion of social networks within the digital economy leads to the crisis of rational discourse in the society, because of the tendency of individuals to form closed interest communities, based not only on free discussion, but also rather on common misunderstandings, conspiracy theories and esoteric, contra-scientific forms of knowledge. The purpose of the article is to highlight the most important features of this crisis, as well as to outline its specificity within the Russian context. The main conclusion of the article is, although the education crisis in Russia is in many ways more severe than in developed countries, there are still opportunities to overcome it, not only within the framework of an academic system as a whole, but also through a wide range of grassroots initiatives related to with the promotion of scientific knowledge to a mass audience, covering wide sectors of society.

Politik Demokrasi: Membangun Solidaritas dan Sinergi Di Tengah Pendemi Covid-19

My focus in this paper is on the politics of democracy and how to build solidarity and synergy in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Because it is a political task to handle any difficult situation, including this pandemic. The methodology of this paper begins with a little understanding of the outbreak of a virus which is the great enemy of mankind with its deadly historicity in the history of human civilization. In the next part, the author enters the realm of our politics during this pandemic. Politics that emphasizes the people, of course, begins with a rational discourse and is able to understand the social context. This difficult situation also invites people to have the same feeling, namely the sense of crisis. This feeling invites people to build and encourage each other. From this methodology, I propose two important ideas, namely first to always pay attention to civil society to its fullest and second, our government must build synergy and internal government coordination that runs well.

The Politics of Carnap’s Non-Cognitivism and the Scientific World-Conception of Left-Wing Logical Empiricism

Based on a reconstruction of the development of Rudolf Carnap’s views from the Aufbau until the 1960s, this paper provides an account of the philosopher’s understanding of non-cognitivism, which is here seen as in line with the so-called scientific world-conception of left-wing logical empiricism. The starting point of Carnap’s conception is the claim that every human decision depends on certain attitudes that cannot be justified at a cognitive level, that are neither based on empirical facts nor logical reasoning. The key features of Carnap’s non-cognitivism, however, go beyond this general basis and involve several fundamentally moral commitments, such as a commitment toward science, and the embracing of moral attitudes as the result of a long-term process of rational discourse. I argue that these commitments contained in Carnap’s non-cognitivism/scientific world-conception establish a genuinely political worldview that is characteristic of left-wing logical empiricism and converges with socialism and democracy.

Participatory Feeling: Re-Visioning Transformative Learning Theory Through Heron’s Whole Person Perspective

John Heron’s whole person theory can expand transformative learning theory by elaborating a more nuanced understanding of affect. In contrast to the vague conceptualization of affect’s role and the interchangeable treatment of emotion and feeling in most adult learning scholarship, Heron’s holistic theory grounds all experience in affective knowing and asserts significant differences between feeling and emotion. These distinctions challenge transformative learning theory by revealing critical subjectivity, emerging from affective, embodied experience, as prerequisite to critical reflection and presenting unitive discourse, over rational discourse, as a more viable, generative path to transformations of being. Throughout, I consider how the urgent need to develop deeper understanding around participatory feeling, in particular, relates to complex global issues like the ongoing struggle against racism and for environmental and human rights.

Understanding Moral Disagreement: A Christian Perspectivalist Approach

Deep moral disagreements exist between Christians and non-Christians. I argue that Christians should resist the temptation to pin all such disagreements on the irrationality of their disputants. To this end, I develop an epistemological framework on which both parties can be rational—the key being that their beliefs are formed from different perspectives and, hence, on the basis of different sets of evidence. I then alleviate concerns that such moral perspectivalism leads to relativism or skepticism, or that it prohibits rational discourse. I end by exploring new avenues for resolving deep moral disagreements opened up by the perspectivalist approach.

A Problem for Environmental Pragmatism: Value Pluralism and the Sustainability Principle

In this article, I suggest that the recently emerged perspective of environmental pragmatism encompasses self-contradicting principles. For many years, it was deemed impossible for environmental ethics to formulate justified environmental policy. Environmental pragmatism, and its primary scholar Bryan G. Norton, has promoted a new outlook in that debate by proposing an ideal methodology based upon classic American pragmatism. In this methodology, a community can determine what is morally righteous by (i) conducting open-ended inquiry and (ii) considering all relevant stakeholders in a rational discourse. Environmental pragmatism must therefore accommodate reasonable value pluralism. Moreover, Norton claims that these criteria should be complemented with what I call the ‘sustainability criterion’. However, this principle of righteous decision- making appears inconsistent with the two aforementioned commitments. This article considers why this is the case.