A survey of the literature of philosophy reveals that the distinction between the conceivable and the inconceivable is the ground of many of the more characteristic and interesting theses of philosophy. To cite a few famous cases, it is used variously: by Immanuel Kant, as a basis for determining the limits of human knowledge; by George Berkeley, as a ground for arguing for the nonexistence of material substance; and by René Descartes as a proof for his own existence. This paper (...) is written on the assumption that a distinction which has been so fruitful and useful in the history of philosophy is worthy of examination for its own sake, and in the hope that such an examination might prepare a way through the present relative impasse in substantive metaphysics and philosophical cosmology. What is being attempted is a propaedeutic to future metaphysics, but one which will be justified only if future metaphysics is forthcoming. This paper is an attempt to survey the resources which the human mind possesses within itself for achieving a unified view of reality. As a means I make use of insights from many areas of philosophy, both traditional and analytic. But the end is frankly speculative. (shrink)

Employs philosophy to help illuminate the nature of nursing and provide a holistic view of both nursing and persons.

Paul Edwards' October 1989 essay, ‘Heidegger's Quest for Being’ illustrates the wisdom of the dictum that the only legitimate criticism of a philosopher's position is a constructive criticism. His negative critique amounts to no more than expressions of distaste, dislike, and displeasure, and nothing of philosophical interest follows from his assertions, as the discourse is primarily an argument ad hominem . He grossly misinterprets Heidegger on some elemental and fundamental matters as well. In particular, he sorely misinterprets what he refers (...) to as the ‘Quest for Being’, which only further contributes to the objectionable character of the essay. (shrink)

Albert Einstein insists that his epistemology made his discovery of relativity possible. He believed it was his understanding of the relationship of experience and reason that allowed him to reconsider certain “truths” of physics. Specifically, he believed that reality and thought were independent but related, and that conceptual systems are independent of but conditioned by experience. Failure to understand the relation between experience and reason had, Einstein believed, limited progress in science. His understanding of the relation, on the other (...) hand, enabled him to formulate relativity theory and therefore provides one example of the relevance of philosophy to scientific inquiry. When Albert Einstein discussed his discoveries in physics, particularly the theory of relativity, he often began with an explanation of his epistemology and referred to thinkers like Hume and Kant. Einstein may have been a physicist, but he had definite ideas about how we know and regarded epistemological theories as crucial to science, especially to physics. Indeed, he placed such importance on the question of how we know that the discussion of his work in his “Autobiographical Notes” begins with the question, “What, precisely, is ‘thinking?'” (1951, 7). The correct answer to this philosophical question, he believed, makes progress in science possible. The present article focuses on the relationship of the two elements, experience and reason, in Einstein's epistemology. Einstein himself frequently concentrates on what he characterizes as “the eternal antithesis between the two inseparable components of our knowledge, the empirical and the rational” (1934b, 271) in his papers and lectures on physics, for he regards them as independent in origin but related in scientific truth. His insistence that experience and reason do not determine one another yet must be related proved, for him, to be a necessary but not sufficient condition for the formulation of relativity theory and for scientific progress in general. The discussion of the relationship has four parts. First, experience and reason are explained; included in this explanation are Einstein's reasons for maintaining that the two are independent. The second section discusses the connection between the two that produces truth and knowledge. The third section follows with discussion of the way that Einstein believes reason can be both conditioned by and independent of experience. Finally, the significance of this understanding of the relation for relativity theory is examined. (shrink)

Book reviewed in this article: Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 3rd ed. By Tom Beauchamp and James Childress Moral Theory and Moral Judgments in Medical Ethics, Baruch Brody. Theory and Practice in Medical Ethics. By Glenn C. Graber and David C. Thomasma.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Journal of Speculative Philosophy 14.1 (2000) 79-81 [Access article in PDF] Books Received July 1999 through December 1999Asmuth, Christoph. 1999. Das Begriefen des Unbegreiflich. Abt. II, Band 41 of Spekulation and Erfahrung. Stuttgart: Frommann-holzboog. 411 pp.Badiou, Alain. 1999. Manifesto for Philosophy. Trans. and ed. Norman Madarasz. Albany: SUNY Press. 181 pp. h.c. 0-7914-4219-5, $14.95 pbk. 0-7914-4220-9.Barwise, Jon, and John Perry. 1999. Situations and Attitudes. New York: Cambridge UP. (...) lxxxviii + 352 pp. $22.95 pbk. 1-57586-193-3.Benson, Bruce L. 1998. To Serve and Protect: Privatization and Community in Criminal Justice. New York: New York UP. xxviii + 372 pp. $37.50 h.c. 1-8147-1327-0.Bonsdorff, Pauline von, and Arto Haapala, eds. 1999. Aesthetics in the Human Environment. Lahti, Finland: International Institute of Applied Aesthetics. 204 pp. h.c. 952-5069-07-09.Bratman, Michael E. 1999. Intention, Plans, and Practical Reason. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications. vi + 200 pp. $22.95 pbk. 1-57586-192-5.Brencick, Janice M., and Glenn A. Webster. 2000. Philosophy of Nursing: A New Vision for Health Care. Albany: SUNY Press. ix + 247 pp. h.c. 0-7914-4379-5, $19.95 pbk. 0-7914-4380-9.Clendenning, John. 1999. The Life and Thought of Josiah Royce. 2d ed. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt UP. xvii + 446 pp. $49.95 h.c. 0-8265-1312-3, $24.95 pbk. 0-8265-1322-0.Curtis, Kimberley. 1999. Our Sense of the Real: Aesthetic Experience and Arendtian Politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP. xv + 197 pp. $39.95 h.c. 0-8014-3577-3, $16.95 pbk. 0-8014-8640-8.Frederick, Robert E., ed. 1999. A Companion to Business Ethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell. xvi + 464 pp. $99.95 h.c. 0-631-20130-0.Gallois, André. 1996. The World Without, the Mind Within: An Essay on First-Person Authority. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP. xii + 213 pp. h.c. 0-521-56093-4.Gracia, Jorge J. E. 1999. Metaphysics and its Task: The Search for the Categorial Foundation of Knowledge. Albany: SUNY Press. xix + 247 pp. h.c. 0-7914-4213-6, $17.95 pbk. 0-7914-4214-4.Grosz, Elizabeth, ed. 1999. Becomings: Explorations in Time, Memory, and Futures. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP. vi + 250 pp. $45.00 h.c. 0-8014-3632-X, $18.95 pbk. 0-8014-8590-8.Heidegger, Martin. 1999. Ontology--The Hermeneutics of Facticity. Trans. John van Buren. Bloomington: Indiana UP. xii + 138 pp. $24.95 h.c. 0-253-33507-8.Heyde, Ludwig. 1999. The Weight of Finitude: On the Philosophical Question of God. Trans. Alexander Harmsen and William Desmond. Albany: SUNY Press. xviii + 177 pp. h.c. 0-7914-4265-9, $17.95 pbk. 0-7914-4266-7.Lang, Berel. 1999. The Future of the Holocaust: Between History and Memory. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP. xiv + 198 pp. $45.00 h.c. 0-8014-3588-9, $17.95 pbk. 0-8014-8569-X.Levinas, Emmanuel. 1999. Alterity and Transcendence. Trans. Michael B. Smith. New York: Columbia UP. xxiv + 195 pp. $29.50 h.c. 0-231-11650-0.Lorraine, Tamsin. 1999. Irigaray and Deleuze: Experiments in Visceral Philosophy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP. xiv + 272 pp. h.c. 0-8014-3623-0, $19.95 pbk. 0-8014-8586-X.Margolis, Eric, and Stephen Laurence, eds. 1999. Concepts: Core Readings. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. x + 652 pp. h.c. 0-262-13353-9, $37.50 pbk. 0-262-63193-8.McCumber, John. 1999. Metaphysics and Oppression: Heidegger's Challenge to Western Philosophy. Bloomington: Indiana UP. xiv + 338 pp. $49.95 h.c. 0-253-33473-X, $24.95 pbk. 0-253-21316-9.McWhorter, Ladelle. 1999. Bodies and Pleasures: Foucault and the Politics of Sexual Normalization. Bloomington: Indiana UP. xx + 260 pp. $39.95 h.c. 0-253-33558-2, $18.95 pbk. 0-253-21325-8.Raposa, Michael L. 1999. Boredom and the Religious Imagination. Charlottesville, VA: UP of Virginia. xiii + 199 pp. $40.00 h.c. 0-8139-1898-7, $13.95 pbk. 0-8139-1925-8.Redding, Paul. 1999. The Logic of Affect. Ithaca, NY: Cornell... (shrink)

The past twenty-five years have seen a major renewal of interest in the topic of a priori knowledge. In the sixteen essays collected here, which span this entire period, philosopher Albert Casullo documents the complex set of issues motivating the renewed interest, identifies the central epistemological questions, and provides the leading ideas of a unified response to them.

In this paper we study the combined structure of the relations of theory-extension and interpretability between theories for the case of finitely axiomatised theories. We focus on two main questions. The first is definability of salient notions in terms of the structure. We show, for example, that local tolerance, locally faithful interpretability and the finite model property are definable over the structure. The second question is how to think about ‘good’ properties of theories that are independent of implementation details and (...) of ‘bad’ properties that do depend on implementation details. Our degree structure is suitable to study this contrast, since one of our basic relations, to wit theory-extension, is dependent on implementation details and the other relation, interpretability, is not. Nevertheless, we can define new good properties using bad ones. We introduce a new notion of sameness of theories i-bisimilarity that is second-order definable over our structure. We define a notion of goodness in terms of this relation. We call this notion being capital. We illustrate that some intuitively good properties, like being a complete theory, are not capital. (shrink)

The development of ancient civilizations and their achievements in sciences such as mathematics and astronomy are well researched for script-using civilizations. On the basis of oral tradition and mnemonic artifacts illiterate ancient civilizations were able to attain an adequate level of knowledge. The Neolithic and Bronze Age earthworks and circles are such mnemonic artifacts. Explanatory models are given for the shape of the stone formations and the ditch of Stonehenge reflecting the circular and specific non-circular shapes of these structures. The (...) basic mathematical concepts are Pythagorean triangles, thus adopting the construction procedures of the Neolithic circular ditches of Central Europe in the fifth Millennium bc and later earthworks and stone circles in Britain and Brittany. This knowledge was extended with new elliptical concepts. Approximations for the values of π and the square root of 2 are encoded in the henge. All constructions were performed using a standardized “Babylonian” metrology that shows a remarkable consistency and comprehensible development over some 14 centuries. (shrink)

Engineering the Climate: The Ethics of Solar Radiation Management is a wide-ranging and expert analysis of the ethics of the intentional management of solar radiation. This book will be a useful tool for policy-makers, a provocation for ethicists, and an eye-opening analysis for both the scientist and the general reader with interest in climate change.

The narrow-the-scope proposal for defining racism posits that a narrow definition is preferable to a wide definition because the former better facilitates interracial dialogue. Important critiques of the narrow-the-scope proposal have so far focused on the content of narrow definitions. This paper argues that it is important to critique the use of narrow definitions, as well. An examination of white uses of the term “racism” reveals that narrow definitions tend to be interchangeable with individualist definitions, as individualism is an effective (...) framework for white co-optation in the service of white interests. Consequently, philosophers interested in theorizing racism for racial justice purposes ought to reject the narrow-the-scope proposal. Individualist forms of racism should be accommodated within a wide conception of racism that centers the phenomenon of white racism. (shrink)

In pursuit of the question of European identity, this paper applies Ramón Menéndez Pidal's idea of the two Spains to the whole of Europe, setting up the contrast between traditional and modernist Europe. Though the most traditionalist societies have usually engaged in various forms of ?updating,? and most modernists wish some connection with the past, the dividing line between the Two Europes was the Enlightenment and French Revolution. On the one side we have the ?pious,? those who want to retain (...) much of the past and walk in their fathers? footsteps. Commonly these either are religious or tolerant of religion. On the other side we have those trying to create a new cultural space separated from some ancien régime. Often these are hostile to religion. Though probably Southern Europe is more traditionalist than Northern, the two Europes are found across Europe intermingled. The goal of this essay is to delineate the nature of each of the two Europes. (shrink)

Radical empiricism is the view that experience is the only source of knowledge. Hence, radical empiricism denies the existence of a priori knowledge. Its most famous proponents are John Stuart Mill and W. V. Quine. Although both reject a priori knowledge, they offer different empiricist accounts of the knowledge alleged by their opponents to be a priori. My primary concern in this paper is not with the cogency of their positive accounts. My focus is their arguments against a priori knowledge. (...) My goal is to establish that although they offer very different arguments against the existence of a priori knowledge, each of their arguments suffers from a common defect. They both fail to appreciate the phenomenon of epistemic overdetermination and its role in the theory of knowledge. (shrink)

Die MISCELLANEA MEDIAEVALIA präsentieren seit ihrer Gründung durch Paul Wilpert im Jahre 1962 Arbeiten des Thomas-Instituts der Universität zu Köln. Das Kernstück der Publikationsreihe bilden die Akten der im zweijährigen Rhythmus stattfindenden Kölner Mediaevistentagungen, die vor über 50 Jahren von Josef Koch, dem Gründungsdirektor des Instituts, ins Leben gerufen wurden. Der interdisziplinäre Charakter dieser Kongresse prägt auch die Tagungsakten: Die MISCELLANEA MEDIAEVALIA versammeln Beiträge aus allen mediävistischen Disziplinen - die mittelalterliche Geschichte, die Philosophie, die Theologie sowie die Kunst- und Literaturwissenschaften (...) sind Teile einer Gesamtbetrachtung des Mittelalters. (shrink)

Dans ce livre, Albert Piette considère l’ontologie comme une direction théorique et empirique de l’anthropologie, consistant à observer, décrire et comparer des êtres, des présences, des individus, des existences. Les êtres, ce sont les individus qui sont « là » dans une situation, ils viennent d’ailleurs et vont continuer à se déplacer. Ils sont contingents, particuliers, singuliers, déployant des modalités diverses, à chaque moment, à chaque situation, être présents. Jamais autant qu’aujourd’hui, depuis l’entrée de l’ontologie et de son champ (...) lexical, être, existant, mode d’existence, l’anthropologie n’a atteint une unité et une spécificité qui la distingue de ses deux consoeurs, la sociologie comme étude des faits sociaux et l’ethnologie comme analyse des diversités culturelles. Ainsi, selon Albert Piette, l’anthropologie constitue une étude comparée des êtres, une science des êtres. C’est ce qu’il tente de montrer, en dialogue constant avec la philosophie, en construisant une anthropologie de la présence et en se décalant ainsi de l’ancrage ensembliste et relationniste des sciences sociales. (shrink)

This paper aims at developing an understanding of conspirational thinking as a means for dealing with epistemic and practical insecurity. This strategy of coping with insecurity results in the construction of a metaphysical system, which is centered around the idea of a nearly omnipotent conspirator. The paper argues that there is a relatedness between the Cartesian cogito and conspirational thinking. The latter can be conceived of as an aberration from the philosophical search for a fundamentum inconcussum. After the relevance of (...) the thought of Descartes for the current theorizing on conspirational thinking is explained with reference to its historical context in the first part of the paper, the second part shows that the motive for conspirational thinking lies in the repudiation of responsibility in the face of an often overwhelming perception of insecurity. The third part of the paper reflects on possibilities for the weakening of this ethical motive for conspirational thinking building on the Cartesian concept of generosity. (shrink)

Dans un climat où l'indifférence massive à l'égard de la religion suscite l'exaltation identitaire, Albert Rouet propose une voie singulière : vivre la foi chrétienne comme l'expérience d'un Dieu incarné dans des gestes quotidiens, désirable, c'est-à-dire bon pour vivre. Que signifie croire dans un monde qui n'est plus séparé en deux, d'un côté le profane et ses contingences matérielles et de l'autre le sacré et ses préoccupations spirituelles? De quoi peut témoigner la foi chrétienne dans une société où "la (...) Bourse est devenue un temple et le foot une grande messe"? C'est à cette question essentielle que se confronte Albert Rouet. Au lieu de gémir sur l'état de la société actuelle en déplorant son indifférence massive à l'égard de la pratique religieuse, l'ancien archevêque de Poitiers propose un christianisme qui se déprend d'un sacré aliénant pour s'engager "dans les domaines où l'humanité joue les conditions de son existence : la justice et la paix, la dignité et le respect". En se démarquant de la volonté de constituer des citadelles chrétiennes pour faire face à l'indifférence, cet essai dessine les traits d'une foi chrétienne qui accepte de se laisser questionner par le désir. Aux antipodes de la figure d'un Dieu qui juge "d'en haut" les conduites des femmes et des hommes, Albert Rouet trace, en s'appuyant sur la tradition biblique, notamment les récits évangéliques, une voie autre : faire du dialogue avec Dieu, le lieu où l'existence se creuse, une expérience où l'insatisfaction du désir n'est pas comblée par la possession et la consommation toujours plus grandes d'objets. Loin de se limiter un nouveau discours, cet essai très argumenté invite à vivre le christianisme comme une expérience qui libère le désir car "quand des hommes disent ne plus croire à rien, il leur reste encore à mieux devenir humains... Ouvrir sa porte débouche sur l'inconnu de tous les possibles". En se mettant à l'écoute des récits que font les hommes de leur vie, la foi chrétienne peut se vivre au quotidien : elle devient alors cette "sortie de soi vers le bien de l'autre qui caractérise le lieu où Dieu peut être cité". (shrink)

Abstract This paper reviews the connection claimed to exist between magic, witchcraft, and parapsychology. Special attention is given to issues raised by the late Prof. Peter Bodunrin of Nigeria, including the demand that knowledge gained by psychic means be grounded in beliefs justified by good reasons and convincing experimental evidence. In contrast, I argue for a more inclusive view of both knowledge and the scientific enterprise that recognizes the importance of non-experimental evidence and the influence of social trends on the (...) choice of research orientations. (shrink)

Several differences between these two texts are evident even from such brief excerpts. Gardner’s story is told in the first person; the eighth-century tale is narrated in the third person. English itself has changed so much in the past twelve centuries that few readers can understand the original, so it must be translated into modern idiom. John Gardner, who died recently in a motorcycle accident, lived in a society that has little in common with that of the unknown author of (...) Beowulf. Not only is the atomic age filled with terrors undreamed by the Medieval mind, the Weltanschauung of each work is different. Although both draw upon Biblical texts to shape the background, Gardner’s existentialism contrasts sharply with the Christianity implicit in Beowulf. The very idea of presenting the story from the perspective of Grendel shows how fundamentally the two pieces diverge. (shrink)

The Stance of Plato addresses Plato's particular fusion of literature and philosophy. Albert Cook examines a number of Plato's major dialogues to ascertain further the bearing of "rhetoric" and the dramatized dialogue on the relationship between literature and philosophy. Using an engaging and occasionally poetic style, Cook studies the implications of Plato's literary form and the historical context of his ideas. The Stance of Plato helps bridge the gap between scholars interested in Plato's arguments and logic and those interested (...) in their literary aspects, suggesting that literature and philosophy may not be separable domains. The book will be an important work for classicists, philosophers, and scholars of literature. (shrink)