Social or relational egalitarians try to defend democracy non-instrumentally as a constitutive element of a society where no one stands as inferior or superior to anyone else. However, they face an instrumentalist challenge from within: Why not uphold a non-democratic regime if it outperforms democracy in protecting or promoting egalitarian social relations, for example, by stably producing substantive political decisions that guard against social hierarchies? This article explores the best response to this challenge from the social egalitarian non-instrumentalist standpoint. It (...) argues that the instrumentalist challenge can be accommodated without abandoning the essential non-instrumentalist commitment to democracy; while a nondemocratic regime may be justified under less-than-ideal circumstances as a contingently effective means to realize more social equality, democracy can nevertheless be viewed as a necessary condition for the realization of full social equality. (shrink)

Este ensayo está dedicado a la serie grey paintings del artista norteamericano Cy Twombly. A partir de un análisis de Panorama y Cold Stream, planteo que la serie se vincula a formas de inscripción asociadas, simultáneamente, a lo verbal y lo pictórico. Si bien no es posible identificar letras ni palabras, estas obras manifiestan un estrecho vínculo con una dimensión gestual y corporal de la escritura. En mi análisis establezco relaciones con inscripciones arcaicas, con la criptografía, y con procesos de (...) alfabetización escolar. (shrink)

These essays are concerned with developing a dialogue between humanism and historical materialism in human geography, and to demonstrate the creative tension which emerges through the mediation of their different frames of reference.

Continuing Pfeiffer 1972, Pfeiffer 2018 examines inherited Dravidian etyma of Kurux, one of the most northerly Dravidian languages. After an overview of the book, we discuss problems involved in Pfeiffer’s arguments, methods, and materials. Then we try to narrow down the conditions of some of the sound changes Pfeiffer proposes, in conformity with the Neogrammarian hypothesis of regularity. We also point out that closer study of word-final phonology would answer some of the pending questions of Kurux-Malto morphology. Finally, we argue (...) that phonological and morphological reconstruction can unveil more features to help revise the subgrouping of Kurux-Malto in the Dravidian family. (shrink)

The propositional fragment L 1 of Leniewski's ontology is the smallest class (of formulas) containing besides all the instances of tautology the formulas of the forms: (a, b) (a, a), (a, b) (b,). (a, c) and (a, b) (b, c). (b, a) being closed under detachment. The purpose of this paper is to furnish another more constructive proof than that given earlier by one of us for: Theorem A is provable in L 1 iff TA is a thesis of first-order (...) predicate logic with equality, where T is a translation of the formulas of L 1 into those of first-order predicate logic with equality such that T(a, b) = FblxFax (Russeltian-type definite description), TA B = TA TB, T A = TA, etc. (shrink)

It has been suggested that preparing to teach and teaching are conditionally effective in enhancing one’s own learning. This paper focuses on interactivity—the level of teacher-student interaction in expected or actual teaching—as the potential key to understanding and controlling the variability in the effectiveness of learning by preparing to teach and teaching. By summarizing and reanalyzing the results of previous studies, I suggest that the learning benefits of studying with the expectation of direct teaching (i.e., teaching a student face-to-face) are (...) greater than those of studying with the expectation of indirect teaching (i.e., teaching a student indirectly by creating a lecture video, providing written explanations, or using other means) and that learning by direct teaching surpasses learning by explaining to oneself or indirect teaching at least after preparing to do so. Next, three candidate explanations for the impact of interactivity are discussed: the advantages of asking and answering questions, obtaining additional information about and from one’s student, and enhancing one’s motivation to process learning material deeply while preparing to teach and teaching. Finally, I conclude with the remaining questions and directions for future research. (shrink)

西田幾多郎の中心概念「永遠の今」を外部の多様な言説に向けて開放することで、西田哲学の新たな可能性を切り開く。プラトン、アウグスティヌス、ハイデッガー、九鬼周造、デリダ、アガンベン、木村敏といった西洋哲 学、宗教学、現代思想、精神病理学の代表者たちの議論と西田の言説を突き合わせ、その緻密な解釈と検証を通して、これまで時間論で見逃されてきたカイロスの系譜とその意義を照らし出す。既成の西田研究に問題を投げ かける著者十年の集大成。岩波現代文庫オリジナル版。.

This paper examines assumptions concerning the relationship between citizenship, justice, and well-being, based on representative political philosophies, including egoism, utilitarianism, libertarianism, liberalism, and communitarianism. A previous paper raised the possibility of an inter-disciplinary framework for collaboration between psychology and political philosophy. This study picks up that thread and attempts to actualize a collaborative research effort based on a framework grounded in positive political psychology. The first part of this study reflects on the methodology situated between empirical psychology and philosophy in (...) reference to the debates caused by psychological and philosophical situationism. In response to its criticism against virtue ethics, the possibility of reconstructing it on empirical psychology has paradoxically emerged. Similarly, this study validates assumptions on political philosophies employing the psychological method concerning well-being. Accordingly, the central part examines the plausibility of the assumptions by empirical evidence obtained from two internet surveys in Japan. The relationships between citizenship, justice, and well-being are the most substantial in the communitarian assumption. The exploratory factor analysis of the two surveys illuminates that the correlations between citizenship, justice, and well-being are substantial. This relationship denies the egoism assumption. Moreover, almost all correlations between the three are higher based on virtue-related indicators than hedonic ones. These findings are not in tune with the utilitarian assumption and are most congruent to the communitarian assumption. In addition, citizenship and justice correlate more with political well-being than overall well-being. As these are more directly associated with political well-being in the communitarian assumption, this result aligns with the assumption. Furthermore, the positive relationship between disparity elimination and well-being fits the liberal rather than the libertarian assumption. Nevertheless, the substantial correlation between ethical justice and well-being is higher by virtue-related indicators than hedonic indicators, suggesting distributive justice is associated with the ethical dimension. Again, this fits the communitarian assumption rather than the liberal assumption. Thus, philosophical psychology empirically verifies the interdependence of the three conceptions and the relative plausibility of the communitarian assumption. Moreover, as the relationship between the three is essential for political philosophies, the result increases the reliability of communitarianism. (shrink)

Cet article examine le rapport entre l’Idée platonicienne du Bien et l’au-delà de l’essence de Levinas.

We build a multiple hierarchical model of a representative democracy in which citizens elect ward representatives, ward representatives elect county representatives, county representatives elect state representatives, and state representatives elect a prime minister. We use our model to show that the policy determined by the final representative can become more extreme as the number of hierarchical levels increases as a result of increased opportunities for gerrymandering. Thus, a sufficiently large number of voters provide a district maker an advantage, enabling her (...) to implement her favorite policy. (shrink)

西田幾多郎(一八七〇‐一九四五)の人生。それは一人の人間の個別的な営みを超え、明治から昭和に至る奔流のただなかに姿を見せ始めた「日本」を集約し、体現するものだった。同時代の多彩な資料に基づく実証的手法 によって克明に描き出される哲学者の苦悩と格闘の人生に、近代日本の成立過程に現出した幾多の問題系を照射する斬新な評伝的批評。.