On Knowing and Seeing: Groundwork for a New Empiricism

This is a discussion note on Michael Ayers’ Knowing and Seeing. Groundwork for a New Empiricism.

English-medium instruction in Siberia:

In this Discussion Note we elaborate on some of the English-medium instruction (EMI) related challenges at the School of Advanced Studies (SAS) in Russia. To do this, we will examine three viewpoints: the one of students, who are some of the first ones embarking on an EMI BA programme in Siberia; the one of faculty, who come from all around the world from a variety of educational, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds; and the one of staff (administration), who are constantly balancing between different expectations of students, faculty members and the university. We also provide suggestions on how the future at SAS might look like, hoping to offer valuable insight into other peripheral EMI contexts.

TINDAK TUTUR DIREKTIF BAHASA MELAYU PONTIANAK DALAM SITUASI KOMEDI “KELUARGA 69”

Pontianak Malay is one of the languages in West Kalimantan. Study of language should be done from various linguistic approaches. One of them is pragmatics. Family 69 is a Pontianak Malay language sitcoms program. This program is broadcast by PONTV. The Malay language used in this event is a portrait of the condition of the Pontianak Malay language used in the speaker community. The problem discussed is the type and form of Pontianak Malay language directive speech in a family situation comedy 69. The approach used in this study is the pragmatic approach. The research method used is descriptive qualitative. The theory used is imperative theory and speech act. The source of the data in this study is directive speech acts in the Family 69 sitcoms broadcast by PONTV. The results of the discussion note that there are six types of directives in the Pontianak Malay language directive in the Family Situation 69 comedy, namely commands, orders, invitations, prohibitions, omissions, and suggestions. The manifestation of the Pontianak Malay language directive speech in the Family Situation 69 comedy is twofold, namely direct and indirect directive speech.

Dominant Currencies and External Adjustment

The extensive use of the US dollar when firms set prices for international trade (dubbed dominant currency pricing) and in their funding (dominant currency financing) has come to the forefront of policy debate, raising questions about how exchange rates work and the benefits of exchange rate flexibility. This Staff Discussion Note documents these features of international trade and finance and explores their implications for how exchange rates can help external rebalancing and buffer macroeconomic shocks.

Revisiting speech acts from the perspective of ritual: A discussion note

The aim of the present academic discussion note is to generate feedback on a recent project that revisits the nature of speech acts as analytic constructs for politeness theory. While speech act has been largely discredited in the field, we believe that they need to be kept in the core of politeness inquiries, in particular if we approach them in combination with other units of analysis. In addition, there are instances in which speech act unavoidably becomes the focal point of research. To discuss this latter notion, we introduce the concept of ritual frame and argue that speech act must be put in the core of an analysis if there is a tension between a ritual frame – an interactional scene in which rights and obligation prevail and the interactants are highly aware of who and where they are – and a particular speech act. As a case study, we examine reflections on an alleged apology in a recent Mixed Martial Arts match.

On the Persistence of Social Groups

In this short discussion note, I cast doubt upon the common view that social groups persist throughout changes in their membership, by virtue of the maintenance of their structure and/or function. I offer two counterexamples, and consider two possible responses to a natural objection to them, neither of which support the view that it is a metaphysical truth that social groups persist through changes in their membership, or persist by virtue of the maintenance of their structure and/or function.

"Fake News" and Conceptual Ethics

In a recent contribution to conceptual ethics, Joshua Habgood-Coote argues that philosophers should refrain from using the term “fake news,” which is commonly employed in public discussions focusing on the epistemic health of democracies. In this short discussion note, I take issue with this claim, discussing each of the three arguments advanced by Coote to support the conclusion that we should abandon this concept. First, I contend that although “fake news” is a contested concept, there is significant agreement among contemporary philosophers about its key feature. Second, I argue against the claim that “fake news” is an unnecessary concept by underlying that it is not reducible to other terms we customarily use to describe the epistemic dysfunctions of democracies. Lastly, I suggest that using the term “fake news” need not serve propagandistic aims, and that philosophers can use this concept without engaging in epistemic policing, that is, commanding their interlocutors not to believe specific news stories or sources.

The Cluelessness Objection Revisited

Lenman (2000)'s cluelessness objection against consequentialism states that we are almost entirely clueless to the actual consequences of our action. In ‘Cluelessness,’ Hilary Greaves (2016) distinguishes between ‘simple’ and ‘complex’ cases of cluelessness and argues that the principle of indifference applies to ‘simple’ cases, thereby rescuing the ‘simple’ cases from the cluelessness objection. In this discussion note, I argue that Greaves's distinction between ‘simple’ and ‘complex’ cases fails and cluelessness is more problematic than Greaves believes.