Phenomenological analyses of ageing and old age have examined themes such as alterity, finitude, and time, not seldom from the perspective of “healthy” aging. Phenomenologists have also offered detailed analyses of lived experiences of illness including lived experiences of dementia. This article offers a phenomenological account of what we label as entering the grey zone of aging between “healthy” aging and aging with a disease. This account is developed through a qualitative phenomenological philosophy analysis of elderly persons’ lived experiences of (...) being tested for dementia through primary care in Sweden, i.e., within a cultural context where dementia commonly is understood as a frightening a loss of self even though this understanding also is questioned. To enter this grey zone of aging, we argue, does not dissolve dynamic self-becoming but can involve an experience of oneself as being old. Further, in the grey zone, the self experiences itself as neither fully healthy nor as having a disease, and as needing to negotiate and live this ambiguity. To enter this grey zone is to enter an affectively charged, sociocultural and medicalized zone, and while the self can still act in different ways within it, staying in the grey zone can result in a re-orientation in the self’s mode of being, in ways that are thoroughly beyond its control. To stay in the grey zone can have detrimental effects on the self, even though the self does not have a disease: the self can become “stuck” in a reflective mode of attending to embodiment, aging, health, and disease. (shrink)

In this paper Popper formulates and discusses a new aspect of the theory of mind. This theory is partly based on his earlier developed interactionistic theory. It takes as its point of departure the observation that mind and physical forces have several properties in common, at least the following six: both are located, unextended, incorporeal, capable of acting on bodies, dependent upon body, capable of being influenced by bodies. Other properties such as intensity and extension in time may be added. (...) It is argued that a fuller understanding of the nature of forces is essential for the analysis of the mind-brain problem. The relative autonomy and indeterministic nature of mind is stressed. Indeterminism is treated in relation to a theorem of Hadamard. The computer theory of mind and the Turing test are criticized. Finally the evolution of mind is discussed. (shrink)

Modal ontolojik argüman, Tanrı’nın varlığını sadece bilfiil gerçek olan bu dünyada değil, bütün mümkün dünyalarda göstermeye yönelik bir argümandır. Anselm’in (1033-1109) Proslogion adlı eserinin 3. bölümünde “kendisinden daha büyüğü düşünülemeyen” şeklinde tanımlanan; Tanrı’nın var olmamasının da düşünülemeyeceğini, bu yüzden de varolmamasının imkansızlığı üzerinde kurulu yeni bir argüman bulunduğunu öne süren bazı araştırmacılar, bu argümanı mümkün dünyalar semantiği yardımıyla formüle edip, “modal ontolojik argüman” şeklinde adlandırmışlardır. Çok farklı şekillerde formüle edilmiş bu argüman kabaca Tanrı’nın mümkünse zorunlu olması, dolayısıyla bilfiil gerçek olan (...) bu dünyada da var olması gerektiğini savunur. (shrink)

Aydınlanma çoğu düşünürün eşitlik, özgürlük ve keyfi gücün kontrolü gibi ideallerle ilgilendikleri bir dönemdir. Bu düşünürler akıl sahibi ve ekonomik açıdan özgür “evrensel” bir insan öznesi yaratmaya çalıştılar. Bu çalışma günümüzde hâkim olan toplumsal cinsiyet rollerinin ve kalıp yargıların köklerini tanımak adına, önemli bir geçiş dönemi olan Aydınlanma’nın cinsiyet anlayışının bir araştırmasını yapmayı amaçlamakta, bu ideallere ulaşıp ulaşamadığını sorgulamaktadır. Evrensel bir insan öznesinin kadınları kapsayıp kapsamadığını irdelemektedir. Çalışmada öncelikle Aydınlanmanın temel kavramsal çerçevesine yer verilmiş, daha sonra dönemin cinsiyetler arasındaki farklılıkları (...) tanımlama çabaları ortaya konulmuştur. Bu çabaların evrensel insanlık doğasını vurgulayan fikirlere uymadığına dikkat çekilmiştir. “Doğa”, “akıl” ve “erdem” gibi kavramlarla ilişkilendirilen dönemin cinsiyet tartışmaları; kadını doğasının zayıflığı, akli melekelerinin noksanlığı ve erdemin taşıyıcısı olarak ele almış ve bu iddialarını bilimsel açıklamalarla meşrulaştırma çabaları etrafında şekillenmiştir. Bu da Aydınlanma’nın kadınların konumu konusunda başarısız olmasına ve tartışmaların kısır bir döngüde kalmasına sebep olmuştur. Ancak çalışmada yine aynı Aydınlanma’nın kadınları cinsiyetin kısıtlayıcı tanımından kurtarmak için nasıl bir pratik sergilediği ve gücün yeniden şekillendirilmesinde hangi katkıları sunduğu da ortaya konulmuştur. Aydınlanma’nın çelişkilerini fark eden Mary Wollstonecraft aydınlanma ideallerinin kadınları kapsayıp kapsamadığı sorgulamaları ile aydınlanmanın fikirsel olarak feminizme zemin hazırlayan yönünü temsil etmektedir. Özetle Aydınlanma’nın kendisini insanlığın ilerlemesinde bir aşama olarak tasavvur etme ve meşrulaştırma yolundaki derin kararsızlıklarına işaret eden çalışma, onun hak iddialarını uygulanabilir evrensel norm ve ilkelere dayandırıp dayandıramadığını sorgulamakta ve bu noktada başarısız olduğunu iddia etmektedir. Ancak aynı zamanda Aydınlanma’nın kadının uyanış sürecindeki ateşleyici rolüne ve günümüz feminizminin bu sürecin tarihsel tezahürü olduğuna işaret edilmektedir. (shrink)

Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions has been attacked for many reasons. Key analytic terms, most importantly “paradigm,” were widely regarded as poorly defined. To many readers Structure seemed to suggest that the process of theory change is irrational, or at least non-rational. And even his characterization of normal science seemed to some readers to paint a very unflattering picture of scientists as excessively dogmatic and uncritical. More recently, Lorraine Daston has argued that the notion of “structure” that figures in the (...) title of the book, as well as in the analysis of the history of science discussed throughout the book, is “dusty and dated”. Historians of science tend to focus on the particular, in recognition that the sorts of events they study are unique. My aim in this paper is to defend Kuhn’s appeal to the notion of structure. First, I argue that Structure of Scientific Revolutions is not primarily a contribution to the history of science, despite the fact that it cites many historical sources and articles in the history of science. Consequently, it is a mistake to regard Kuhn’s appeal to the notion of structure as a case of badly written history of science. Second, I argue that insofar as the book is a contribution to philosophy, the sort of thing Kuhn means by “structure” is perfectly respectable, and is often presupposed in many philosophical studies, especially in general philosophy of science. Third, I defend Kuhn’s analysis of science, especially the enterprise of identifying the structure of scientific revolutions. (shrink)

The aim of this study is to examine the distribution of news related to nanoscience and nanotechnology published in Turkish newspapers between 2011 and 2018. Nine Turkish newspapers selected using criterion sampling were investigated and the document analysis method was used to analyze them. The electronic archives of the newspapers were used to collect data and the word “nano” was used as a keyword. The obtained data were analyzed with the content analysis technique. While analyzing the news stories, categorization was (...) performed according to four main variables: distribution by years, the newspaper section, the approach in the content of the news stories, and the content of the news stories. As a result, it was seen that there has been an increase in the number of nano-news stories in Turkish newspapers over the years, the news stories are mostly included in the “local” section of the newspapers, and the general approach is positive. In the categories formed according to the content of the news stories, the number of news stories related to the production and commercial applications of nanotechnology was higher compared to the others. In an international comparison, it should also be mentioned that the topic of risk plays a subordinate role in the newspapers examined. (shrink)

Haspelmath argues that linguists who conduct comparative research and try to explain patterns that are general across languages can only consider two sources of these patterns: convergent cultural evolution of languages, which provides functional explanations of these phenomena, or innate building blocks for syntactic structure, specified in the human cognitive system. This paper claims that convergent cultural evolution and functional-adaptive explanations are not sufficient to explain the existence of certain crosslinguistic phenomena. The argument is based on comparative evidence of generalizations (...) based on Rizzi and Cinque's theories of cartographic syntax, which imply the existence of finely ordered and complex innate categories. I argue that these patterns cannot be explained in functional-adaptive terms alone. (shrink)