Jean Grondin’s starting point in his impressive book is what Hans-Georg Gadamer refers to as the universal claim of hermeneutics. Gadamer is better known for the limits his hermeneutics seems to place on universal claims. Against the reliance the Enlightenment placed on the insights of a reason common to humanity, Gadamer stresses the prejudiced and partial character of attempts to understand meaning. And against more contemporary attempts to ground Enlightenment conceptions in universal human competencies, he stresses the historicity and finitude (...) of human knowledge. Our attempts to understand the meaning of texts, conversations, historical events, and social actions and practices are conditioned by the horizon of our language, our own historical experiences, and our assumptions and expectations. Still, Gadamer ends his Truth and Method by stressing not only the linguistic character of understanding but the infinite capacity of all languages to find and express new dimensions of meaning. “Language,” he writes, “forestalls any objection to its jurisdiction. Its universality keeps pace with the universality of reason.”. (shrink)

In this engaging, highly detailed and meticulously researched account of late twentieth century technological dreaming and development, W. Patrick McCray traces the links between United States advocates of space colonies in the 1970s, and promoters of nanotechnology in the 1980s and 1990s. McCray does a compelling job of elucidating the personal, scientific and ideological ties between the groups, the substantive roles played by many individuals and institutions in both movements, and the enduring importance of past space glory in the American (...) imaginary.To write this “contemporary history”, McCray has brought together an impressive collection of archival material, including many documents from what were previously disparate personal collections and records. He has conducted interviews with many of the key actors and drawn on contemporary media reports and popular publications, the academic and grey literature.McCray’s focus is on a select group of people he dubs “visioneers”—a neo .. (shrink)

This book offers a fresh analysis of the account of Peripatetic ethics in Cicero's On Ends 5, which goes back to the first-century BCE philosopher Antiochus of Ascalon. Georgia Tsouni challenges previous characterisations of Antiochus' philosophical project as 'eclectic' and shows how his reconstruction of the ethics of the 'Old Academy' demonstrates a careful attempt to update the ancient heritage, and predominantly the views of Aristotle and the Peripatos, in the light of contemporary Stoic-led debates. This results in both a (...) hermeneutically complex and a philosophically exciting reading of the old tradition. A case in point is the way Antiochus grounds the 'Old Academic' conception of the happy life in natural appropriation, thus offering a naturalistic version of Aristotelian ethics. (shrink)

Hans-Georg Gadamer is one of the leading philosophers in the world today. His philosophical hermeneutics has had a major impact in a wide range of disciplines, including the social sciences, literary criticism, theology and jurisprudence. Truth and Method, his major work, is widely recognised to be one of the great classics of twentieth-century thought. In this book Georgia Warnke provides a clear and systematic exposition of Gadamer's work, as well as a balanced and thoughtful assessment of his views. Warnke gives (...) particular attention to the ways in which Gadamer's work has been taken up and criticised by literary critics, social theorists and philosophers, such as Hirsch, Habermas and Rorty. She thus provides an introduction to Gadamer which demonstrates the relevance of his work to current debates in a variety of disciplines. This book will be invaluable to students and specialists throughout the humanities and social sciences, as well as to anyone who is interested in the most important developments in contemporary thought. (shrink)

In assessing the ethics of fetal therapy trials, we agree with Hendriks et al. that we should not just consider biomedical benefits, but also psychosocial benefits. Specifically, we argue th...

_Legitimate Differences_ challenges the usual portrayal of current debates over thorny social issues including abortion, pornography, affirmative action, and surrogate mothering as _moral_ debates. How can it be said that our debates oppose principles of life to those of liberty, principles of liberty to those of equality, principles of equality to those of fairness, and principles of fairness to those of integrity, when we as Americans share all these principles? Debates over such issues are not, Georgia Warnke argues, moral debates (...) over which principles we should adopt. Rather, they are interpretive debates over the meanings of principles we already possess. Warnke traces the structure of these debates with reference to the work of Jane Austen, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Jürgen Habermas, and Bernard Williams. In separate chapters on surrogate mothering, affirmative action, abortion, and pornography she articulates new understandings of the meanings of some of our principles and shows the equal legitimacy of some different interpretations of the meanings of others. Finally, she suggests that the orientation of American public policy ought to be directed less at finding single canonical interpretations of our principles than at accommodating different legitimate understandings of them. The perspective offered by _Legitimate Differences_ should have a significantly beneficial effect on public discussions. (shrink)

Linguistic predictions may be generated from and evaluated against a representation of events and referents described in the discourse. Compatible with this idea, recent work shows that predictions about novel noun phrases include their definiteness. In the current follow-up study, we ask whether people engage similar prediction-related processes for definite and indefinite referents. This question is relevant for linguistic theories that imply a processing difference between definite and indefinite noun phrases, typically because definiteness is thought to require a uniquely identifiable (...) referent in the discourse. We addressed this question in an event-related potential (ERP) study (N = 48) with preregistration of data acquisition, preprocessing, and Bayesian analysis. Participants read Dutch mini-stories with a definite or indefinite novel noun phrase (e.g., “het/een huis,” the/a house), wherein (in)definiteness of the article was either expected or unexpected and the noun was always strongly expected. Unexpected articles elicited enhanced N400s, but unexpectedly indefinite articles also elicited a positive ERP effect at frontal channels compared to expectedly indefinite articles. We tentatively link this effect to an antiuniqueness violation, which may force people to introduce a new referent over and above the already anticipated one. Interestingly, expectedly definite nouns elicited larger N400s than unexpectedly definite nouns (replicating a previous surprising finding) and indefinite nouns. Although the exact nature of these noun effects remains unknown, expectedly definite nouns may have triggered the strongest semantic activation because they alone refer to specific and concrete referents. In sum, results from both the articles and nouns clearly demonstrate that definiteness marking has a rapid effect on processing, counter to recent claims regarding definiteness processing. (shrink)

The presumption behind this book is that recent developments in political philosophy can be productively assessed under the idea of a hermeneutic or ...

RESUMO A série Black Mirror, transmitida entre 2011 e 2023 pela Netflix, tornou-se um fenômeno de mídia e seus episódios mostraram formas de interação homem-máquina (terminologia também referida como humano-computador). O nome da série se refere ao fato de que, quando uma tela é desligada, ela se torna um espelho negro que reflete a imagem do usuário. Este artigo1 tem como objetivo analisar os efeitos da interação homem-máquina nas organizações produtivas apresentadas em Black Mirror. Esta pesquisa utilizou a análise do (...) discurso, principalmente a partir das contribuições de Mikhail Bakhtin. O método consistiu em três etapas que contaram com a colaboração de estudantes de graduação e pós-graduação em Engenharia de Produção, integrando ensino e pesquisa e desenvolvendo o senso crítico dos pesquisadores-iniciantes. Os resultados indicam que, nas organizações apresentadas na série Black Mirror, há uma transição do conceito de fatores humanos para fatores ciborgues, bem como o uso da interação homem-máquina para promover o controle social. (shrink)

It is expected that industrial heritage actually tells the story of the emerging capitalism highlighting the dynamic social relationship between the “workers” and the owners of the “production means”. In current times of economic crisis, it may even involve a painful past with lost social, civil, gender and/or class struggles, a depressing present with abandoned, fragmented, degraded landscapes and ravaged factories, and a hopeless future for the former workers of the local (not only) society; or just a conquerable ground for (...) controversial investments. This is certainly an emotionally charged subject matter, with multiple readings and interpretations. However, this view is only partial when facing landscape during its historical evolution process. A diachronic study, thus, embraces all resources that probably gave rise to a variety of human activities; all of them embody heritage values -“subjectively” or “objectively” perceived- their evaluation, though, is a matter of an on-going process of the civil society. Greece's landscape accommodates a diversity of diachronic productive practices that may overlap historical periods, technological evolutions and social transformations. Pre-, early and industrial exploitation of resources does not remain firm but vary according to time and the needs of each society. The comparative scale of certain resource exploitation is highlighted as the key for the assessment methodology in close relation to the specific frame of a local landscape and a historical period. Even though archaeological evidence may possibly reveal and document continuity in a range of sustainable productive processes without conflicts, great controversies emerge when new investments are “offered” as an antidote to economic crisis -not harmonized to the local scale, traumatizing thus the “spirit” of the landscape. Suggestions for incompatible productive use and investment planning imply irreversible and irreparable effects on the environment, society and economy of a region and are only faced through social awareness. Case studies of passive and/or active involvement of local communities, in synthesizing and enhance landscape’s “spirit”, its diachronic industrial heritage and the embedded tangible and intangible values, will support a pragmatic -not a suspended- step towards a sustainable future. Quoting Neil Cossons (TICCIH Congress 2012) “Industrial imperialism ensures its position and protects its future not by the conquest of distant lands as by the securing of its sources of raw materials ... The modern world is as much under the control of the major industrial powers as it ever was during the colonial era”; if such a case can the industrial heritage sector remain apolitical? (shrink)

At the start of his account of hermeneutic experience, Gadamer quotes Heidegger: “Our first, last and constant task is never to allow our fore-having, fore-sight and fore-conception to be presented to us by fancies and popular conceptions, but rather to make the scientific theme secure by working out these fore-structures in terms of the things themselves.” Heidegger’s “fore-structures” reflect our practical pre-understanding and ongoing engagement with our world or “the things themselves.” Yet, if so, how can we work these fore-structures (...) out in terms of them? Gadamer claims to take his answer to this question from Heidegger and to appeal, like him, to the hermeneutic circle. However, I argue that Gadamer takes the question more seriously than Heidegger does by supplementing recourse to the hermeneutic circle with an appeal to dialogue. I also explore concerns about this supplement. Gadamer conceives of understanding as a dialogue in which we test our fore-meanings against those of others and come to a consensus with others about a subject matter (Sache). Yet, dialogue can just as easily reinforce or even exaggerate our fore-meanings as test them For its part, consensus is as easily to be feared as sought. (shrink)

Der Begriff der Mischung ist von zentraler Bedeutung in der spateren platonischen Philosophie. Um das Wesen der Mischung offenzulegen, fokussiert Georgia Mouroutsou auf den Sophistes und den Philebos. Im ersten Kapitel ordnet sie die 'Mischung' in die ganzheitliche Ubertragung der beruhmten und beruchtigten Teilhabe ein: von der Teilhabe des Wahrnehmbaren an der Idee zu der innerideellen Teilhabe und von da zu der Teilhabe der zwei platonischen Prinzipien. Dabei erhellt die Autorin das Wesen der Mischung als Metapher: als Transformation eines sinnlichen (...) Bildes in ein philosophisches Bild. Als 'Mischung' wird einerseits die Beziehung der grossten Gattungen untereinander, andererseits diejenige zwischen Grenze und Unbegrenztheit bezeichnet. Im zweiten Kapitel wird die Konzeption der Mischung im Sophistes behandelt. Zur Leitfrage wird: Warum ist die Metapher der Mischung im Fall der Verbindung der Idee des Seienden mit der des Anderen gelungener als diejenige der Teilhabe? Mouroutsou bietet eine Analyse von Soph. 246a-259b und eine grundliche Diskussion der entsprechenden Sekundarliteratur. Von einer allgemeinen Ontologie des Seienden als 'Kraft des Tuns und des Leidens' gelangt der Gast aus Elea zu einer speziellen Ontologie des ausgezeichneten ideellen Seienden: Der Dialog kulminiert in der unhintergehbaren Mischung der Ideen des Seienden und des Anderen, die sich als gleichursprunglich erweisen. Die Mischung der grossten Gattungen ereignet sich in 254b-259b nicht auf der Basis vorhandener Elemente, die nachtraglich in Verbindung zueinander gesetzt werden; vielmehr kommen erst in der Dynamik des Vollzugs der Mischung ihre Momente als eigenstandige Elemente zur Erscheinung. Erst das Gefuge der Mischung wird so verantwortlich fur die Entmischung seiner Elemente. Im dritten Kapitel rekonstruiert die Autorin die einheitliche Bewegung von Philebos 15-27. Sie vermeidet Diskrepanzen oder Zusammenhangslosigkeit und verfolgt statt dessen Schritt fur Schritt die Ubertragung der Teilhabe in der dialogischen Bewegung. Der Dialektiker verlasst zunachst das Wahrnehmbare, um den holistischen Anspruchen der Ideendialektik nachzugehen, kehrt dann jedoch zu ihm zuruck. In der vierfachen Einteilung des Ganzen, in der Mouroutsou die Mischung als Ort der Genese der schonen Erscheinungen deutet, zeigt sich Platon als Retter der Phanomene. Nach dem Aufstieg zum Verwachsensein der zwei platonischen Prinzipien degradiert der Philosoph sie nicht langer als 'zwischen Sein und Nicht-Sein herumschweifend', sondern wurdigt sie als 'Zeugung'. Schonheit und Ordnung entstehen durch eine Bezahmung und Bandigung des nie vollig Bezahmbaren, dem sie agonal abgerungen werden: Es geht um die Pragung des Seins auf das von sich aus widerstrebende Werden. Die Momente der Mischung des Sophistes und des Philebos sind verschieden und jeweils anders bedingt. Die vorliegende Deutung versucht nicht, das eine Konzept durch das andere zu erklaren; stattdessen integriert sie beide Momente in eine umfassendere dialektische Bewegung. Der Bezug auf Aristoteles erweist sich bei der Platon-Interpretation erneut als unumganglich, obgleich sich unser Platonsbild seinetwegen oft nur muhevoll rekonstruieren lasst. (shrink)

Commentators have compared Hans-Georg Gadamer’s focus on tradition in Truth and Method to his focus on solidarity in his later work in order to suggest that the latter signals a move away from ontological toward ethical and political concerns. This paper, however, is guided by Gadamer’s own view that his work, both early, late, and in Truth and Method, was always concerned with ethical and political issues. I therefore want to challenge the idea that his so-called politics of solidarity marks (...) a new direction in his work. His politics of solidarity does mark a new direction in discussions of solidarity insofar as he disconnects it from any necessary grounding in preexisting affinities such as religion and nationality. Gadamer’s later work may also be more explicitly concerned with the question of differences and the other than is Truth and Method. Nevertheless, I want to argue that rather than signaling a new direction for Gadamer, both his politics of solidarity and his concern with otherness highlight important features already present in his earlier account of tradition. Indeed, I think attention to this earlier account discloses a political dimension to Gadamer’s thought that is more sophisticated than his remarks on solidarity. Attention to this dimension of his earlier account allows us to challenge the now standard objection that it undermines possibilities for critical reflection. (shrink)

Abstract:In this article, I argue that by integrating aesthetic education into history instruction, teachers can create a "historically relevant pedagogy." This approach paints a more complete picture of history and reflects students' varied learning styles and their sociocultural needs, interests, and experiences. Historically relevant pedagogy integrates the frameworks of aesthetic, historical, and culturally relevant educational approaches. Through this pedagogical combination, students can develop historical literacy, experience academic excellence, and become socioculturally aware of their role in society. The conclusions of this (...) study suggest a need to redesign high school history courses to include more aesthetics-based instruction. (shrink)

In this book, one of Italy's most important and original contemporary philosophers considers the status of art in the modern era. He takes seriously Hegel's claim that art has exhausted its spiritual vocation, that it is no longer through art that Spirit principally comes to knowledge of itself. He argues, however, that Hegel by no means proclaimed the "death of art" but proclaimed rather the indefinite continuation of art in what Hegel called a "self-annulling" mode. With astonishing breadth and originality, (...) the author probes the meaning, aesthetics, and historical consequences of that self-annulment. In essence, he argues that the birth of modern aesthetics is the result of a series of schisms—between artist and spectator, genius and taste, and form and matter, for example—that are manifestations of the deeper, self-negating yet self-perpetuating movement of irony. Through this concept of self-annulment, the author offers an imaginative reinterpretation of the history of aesthetic theory from Kant to Heidegger, and he opens up original perspectives on such phenomena as the rise of the modern museum, the link between art and terror, the natural affinity between "good taste" and its perversion, and kitsch as the inevitable destiny of art in the modern era. The final chapter offers a dazzling interpretation of Dürer's _Melancholia_ in the terms that the book has articulated as its own. _The Man Without Content_ will naturally interest those who already prize Agamben's work, but it will also make his name relevant to a whole new audience—those involved with art, art history, the history of aesthetics, and popular culture. (shrink)

Die Autorin zeigt, wie Klemens von Alexandria durch die heilsgeschichtliche Interpretation des Zeitbegriffs die antike Dialektik rezipiert, und wie er zur Konkretisierung einer ontotheologischen Dialektik im Sinne seiner christlichen Philosophie gelangt.

This book explores the thought of - and is dedicated to - David Frisby, as one of the leading sociologists of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Presenting original examinations of his unique social theory and underlining his interdisciplinary approach to the critical interpretation of modern metropolitan society and culture, it emphasises Frisby's legacy in highlighting the role of the social researcher as a collector, reader, observer, detective and archivist of the phenomena and ideas that exemplify the modern metropolis (...) as society. With contributions from sociologists, historians of the city, urban geographers, cultural theorists, architectural historians, architectural theorists and urban designers, The Detective of Modernity constitutes a wide-ranging engagement with Frisby's profound legacy in social and cultural theory. (shrink)

rgen Habermas's response to struggles for recognition on the part of women and minority groups. Although this response expands the focus of liberal political theory from the achievement and constitutional protection of individual rights to the public deliberations and discussions of democratic citizens, the article argues that Habermas pays insufficient attention to the interpretive aspects of democratic deliberation. For Habermas the role of interpretation in feminist struggles for recognition is restricted to the clarification and self-clarification of needs. Where different groups (...) of women understand their needs differently, these differences must be procedurally resolved. In contrast, the article argues that conflicting interpretations are the source of reciprocal processes of education necessary to legitimate policy conclusions. Moreover, it argues that social identities are in general products of interpretation and that conceiving of them in this way allows for fluidity and flexibility in who we take ourselves to be. Key Words: deliberation • democratic discourse • feminism • Habermas • interpretation • Rhode. (shrink)

Hans-Georg Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics - one of the seminal philosophies of the 20th century - has had a profound influence on a wide array of fields, including classical philology, theology, the philosophy of the social sciences, literary theory, philosophy of law, critical social theory and the philosophy of art. This collection expands on some of these areas and takes his hermeneutics into yet new fields including narrative medicine, biotechnology, the politics of memory, the philosophy of place and the non-verbal language (...) of the body. And, building on Gadamer's well-known discussions with Heidegger, Habermas and Derrida, Inheriting Gadamer sets him in dialogue with Mahatma Gandhi, Christine Korsgaard, Charles Mills and others. In these ways, the volume holds fast to a Gadamerian virtue: cultivating our important philosophical traditions while embracing the constant need to re-think their meaning in new circumstances and in relation to new knowledge. (shrink)

Social and political theorists have traced in detail how individuals come to possess gender, sex and racial identities. This book examines the nature of these identities. Georgia Warnke argues that identities, in general, are interpretations and, as such, have more in common with textual understanding than we commonly acknowledge. A racial, sexed or gendered understanding of who we and others are is neither exhaustive of the 'meanings' we can be said to have nor uniquely correct. We are neither always, or (...) only, black or white, men or women or males or females. Rather, all identities have a restricted scope and can lead to injustices and contradictions when they are employed beyond that scope. In concluding her argument, Warnke considers the legal and policy implications that follow for affirmative action, childbearing leave, the position of gays in the military and marriage between same-sex partners. (shrink)

Over the past decades, science education researchers have suggested Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE) teaching interventions for science classes. In this article, we argue that IBSE’s basic principles can be traced back to Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s work Emile or On Education (1762). First, we will look at IBSE’s rationale. Then we will turn to Emile and outline Rousseau’s educational ideas concerning science education. We will show that Rousseau’s suggested practices for science education are very similar to those of IBSE. Yet despite their (...) vivid similarities, Rousseau seems to pursue epistemic virtues, whilst IBSE aims at epistemic skills. However, nurturing epistemic skills might be seen as the first step for cultivating an epistemically virtuous character. So, embracing Rousseau’s ideal for full character development could further inspire IBSE’s proposals. (shrink)

The paper starts by setting the stage for two perennial pairs of problems about the receptacle: “metaphysics / physics” and “matter / space”. Then it provides a close reading of 49a6-50a4 that reinforces the reconstructionist interpretation, but also deviates from Cherniss in some respect. When applying the proposals Plato makes in 49a6-50a4, it reveals a Plato in search of a feature-placing language or language without particulars : though not formulating it himself, Plato provides all necessary material for doing so. Having (...) argued ex negativo and against the exclusivity-thesis regarding the first debate about the receptacle, the paper offers a new piece of evidence for the space interpretation of the receptacle—though not breaking new ground—because my LWOP thesis presupposes the interpretation of the receptacle as space and argues against the material-substrate reading. Throughout the paper, I have consciously operated with a less Aristotle-centered framework than those most often applied, a procedure that does justice to Plato’s different ontology and semantics of the sensible phenomena. My Plato does not pave the way to Aristotle in this passage because he does not wish to do so. (shrink)

This article explores how the practice of BDSM sex parties within the queer community can inspire social structure alternatives conducive to sustainability. Drawing from the notion that the dominan...

Προσόψεις θεάτρων και Νυμφαία θεατρικής πρόσοψης. Η σχέση μεταξύ τους Το άρθρο αυτο μελετά τις ομοιότητες ανάμεσα στις προσόψεις των θεάτρων και των μνημειακών νυμφαίων. Η συζήτηση αφορά κυρίως στα λεγόμενα νυμφαία με ευθύγραμμη πρόσοψη, τα οποία συγκρίνονται άμεσα με τη scaenae frons ενός ρωμαϊκού θεάτρου. Η έρευνα βασίζεται σε τέσσερις παραμέτρους : α. τη μορφολογία, όπως φαίνεται μέσα από τις ομοιότητες των δύο μνημείων, λ. χ. τη χρήση συγκεκριμένων αρχιτεκτονικών στοιχείων, β. τη λειτουργία και τη χρήση αυτών των δημοσίων (...) μνημείων εντός του αστικού τοπίου – σε σχέση με την κοινωνική, πολιτική και πολιτισμική ζωή των πολιτών, γ. την εικονογραφία, δηλαδή τη μελέτη του γλυπτού διακόσμου, ο οποίος αναπτύσσεται στις μνημειακές προσόψεις και των θεάτρων και των νυμφαίων · και τα δύο αυτά μνημεία φιλοξενούν παρόμοια εικονογραφικά προγράμματα, τα οποία ακολουθούν συγκεκριμένους κανόνες, αποβλέποντας ταυτόχρονα στην προβολή συγκεκριμένων μηνημάτων, δ. τη σχέση με το ιερό στοιχείο, το οποίο ενέχεται τόσο στα θέατρα όσο και στα νυμφαία · ένα μεγάλο μέρος των θεάτρων και των νυμφαίων έχουν κατασκευαστεί εντός ή πλησίον ιερών, ενώ πολλά θέατρα φιλοξενούν νυμφαία στους χώρους τους. (shrink)

DNA methylation is a repressive epigenetic modification that is essential for development and its disruption is widely implicated in disease. Yet, remarkably, ablation of DNA methylation in transgenic mouse models has limited impact on transcriptional states. Across multiple tissues and developmental contexts, the predominant transcriptional signature upon loss of DNA methylation is the de‐repression of a subset of germline genes, normally expressed in gametogenesis. We recently reported loss of de novo DNA methyltransferase DNMT3B resulted in up‐regulation of germline genes and (...) impaired syncytiotrophoblast formation in the murine placenta. This defect led to embryonic lethality. We hypothesize that de‐repression of germline genes in the Dnmt3b knockout underpins aspects of the placental phenotype by interfering with normal developmental processes. Specifically, we discuss molecular mechanisms by which aberrant expression of the piRNA pathway, meiotic proteins or germline transcriptional regulators may disrupt syncytiotrophoblast development. (shrink)