This interview with Olli Pyyhtinen explores his recent work on the writings of Georg Simmel. It focuses in particular upon his new book, The Simmelian Legacy. Taking that book as its focal point, the interview examines the influence of Simmel’s work, the key concepts and ideas it provides and how we might use it today.

Sean McGrath has produced an interesting interpretation of Renaissance Hermeticism in the context of environmental philosophy. By recovering this esoteric current he combines deep ecological criticism of anthropocentrism with humanistic critique of one-sidedly ecocentric views. After summarizing McGrath’s position and arguing for its profound potential, I will point out a problem in McGrath’s use of one of his key conceptions: disenchantment. Countering McGrath, I argue that the conception of disenchantment is not suitable for distinguishing overly ideological or superficial forms of (...) esotericism from those with actual philosophical and political potential. (shrink)

Bureaucratic selectivity mechanisms are the true colours of welfare states, stigmatising benefit recipients while hampering their trust in institutions and society at large. Universal policies such as the Universal Basic Income could protect recipients’ trust by circumventing selectivity paraphernalia. By analysing regressions on the Finnish UBI experiment’s survey data, we assess the links from policy selectivity to trust in the benefit-providing institution and generalised trust through the pathway of reduced bureaucratic experience. More specifically, we analyse whether receipt of UBI leads (...) to greater trust directly or while accompanied by an actual or perceived reduction in bureaucracy. According to our results, UBI is accompanied by greater trust, while selectivity does not necessarily lead to less trust or perception of less bureaucracy. However, in our analysis, policy selectivity did not directly correlate to recipients’ reported bureaucratic experiences, and their relationship with trust proved tricky: selectivity did not risk recipients’ trust in the policy-implementing institution, but generalised trust in other people was lowered. Thus, selective benefit recipients might be prone to self-inflicted stigma, hampering their trust in other people, regardless of actual bureaucratic experiences or trust in the welfare system. (shrink)

Hrvatski odgojno-obrazovni sustav se, kao i sustavi u drugim zemljama, u današnjem vremenu suočava s različitim izazovima – od porasta rizika u mentalnom zdravlju i vršnjačkog nasilja do nezadovoljstva učenika školom. U odgovaranju na te izazove potrebno je krenuti od kontekstualnih faktora, poput odnosa učenika i nastavnika. Budući da je brižan odnos nastavnika i učenika ključan preduvjet za cjeloviti razvoj učenika te njihov školski uspjeh, nužno je utvrditi prepreke koje mogu ugroziti razvoj takvog odnosa. U dosadašnjim istraživanjima uočeno je kako (...) učenici i nastavnici u određenim uvjetima različito percipiraju i doživljavaju brižnost nastavnika, što može onemogućiti razvoj njihove bliskosti i povezanosti. Stoga, cilj ovoga rada je prikazati, analizirati i interpretirati razlike u viđenjima brižnog ponašanja nastavnika iz perspektive učenika i nastavnika. Dok nastavnici svoju brižnost najčešće shvaćaju u kontekstu podrške koju pružaju učenicima u procesu učenja, učenici ju pak shvaćaju u osobnijem kontekstu i osjećaju bliskosti s nastavnikom. The Croatian educational system, like the systems in other countries, nowadays faces various challenges, from the increase of mental health risks and peer violence to students’ dissatisfaction with school. In responding to these challenges, it is necessary to start from the contextual factors, such as the teacher–student relationship. Since a caring teacher–student relationship is a necessary prerequisite for the holistic development of students and their school success, it is important to identify obstacles that may jeopardize the development of such a relationship. Previous researches show that students and teachers in certain conditions perceive and experience caring differently, which may prevent the development of their closeness and connectedness. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to present, analyse and interpret differences in perceptions of the caring behavior of teachers from the perspective of students and teachers. While teachers most often perceive their care in the professional context, students understand it in a more personal way. (shrink)

This article tells the story of Christian natural theology from the late 18th century to our own time by locating the key moments and thinkers, who have shaped how natural theology has been practiced in the past and how it is now being re-assessed and developed. I will summarize certain key elements that unite all forms of natural theology and assess briefly two basic criticisms of natural theology.

Bringing social theory and philosophy to bear on popular movies, novels, myths, and fairy tales, The Gift and its Paradoxes explores the ambiguity of the gift: it is at once both a relation and a thing, alienable and inalienable, present and poison. Challenging the nature of giving as reciprocal, the book engages critically with the work of Mauss and develops a new theory of the gift according to which the gift cannot be reduced to a model of exchange, but must (...) instead entail a loss or sacrifice. Ultimately, the gift is examined in the book as the impossible occurrence of gratuitous giving. (shrink)

The essay discusses the philosopher and sociologist Georg Simmel’s theorizing about the individual. Whereas it is typically within the context of the modern metropolis and the mature money economy that Simmel’s ideas have been discussed in the secondary literature, I render those ideas in another light by addressing the ontological and existential issues crucial to his conception of the individual. In Simmel, the individual is divided between the “what” and the “who,” between the qualities which make one something individual and (...) one’s non-repeatable and finite existence which makes one someone singular. I argue that whereas the first dimension can be understood sociologically, in terms of social relations, the latter is not accessible to sociology as such, but must be treated philosophically. Therefore, if we wish to address this duality that lies at the heart of individuality, a “philosophical turn” for sociology is called for. (shrink)

In this article, we expand on the models available for defining various different business logics relevant to video game development, especially those concerning free-to-play games. We use the models to analyse those business logics from an Aristotelian virtue ethics perspective. We argue that if an individual wishes to follow the Aristotelian virtue ethics code in order to develop the virtues inherent in his or her own character, how he or she chooses to try and generate revenue from the fruits of (...) his or her labour is not irrelevant. Moreover, we argue that some of these methods are in fact vices, which are damaging to the character of the developer, and should therefore be avoided. (shrink)

Dorothea, an idealistic young lady, is the central figure of George Eliot's Middlemarch . She longs to devote her life to something valuable, looking up to people like St Teresa as her ideal. Contrary to all expectations, she decides to marry Casaubon, an elderly clergyman. For years, Casaubon has been preparing his magnum opus called ‘Key to All Religions’. In the milieu where Dorothea is living—a quiet English parish in the 1830s—Casaubon's scholarly project appears to her as the right object (...) of her devotion. She would lighten the burden of his solitary labour; share his life of wisdom and pursuit of truth. (shrink)

F.W.J. Schelling argues in his middle period work Philosophical Inquiries into the Nature of Human Freedom that will should be understood as the most fundamental constitutive element of reality. Though it is often downplayed in recent scholarship, Schelling derived his most central ideas for this work more or less directly from the theosophy of Jacob Boehme. I will argue that far from peripheral and antiquated curiosity, Schelling´s esoteric influences constitute the very foundation of his middle period thought. Schelling´s affinity to (...) esotericism enabled him to develop a form of pantheism, which is not tied to the familiar problematic aspects of traditional Christian and post-Christian narratives. In mainstream Christianity, the meaning of life is dependent on the almighty God´s will, for which nature is inherently meaningless material. For Schelling, by contrast, nature itself is constitutively willing and meaningful. Consequently, owing to his esoteric influences, Schelling provides an account of the meaning of life which diverges from the dominant idea of Western philosophical and theological tradition that the meaning of life consists in a ”true world” or ”destination” beyond immanent reality. (shrink)

Any religious worldview, understood in the sense that ‘life has a purpose’, has to face the problem of evil. The problem of evil has been particularly intensively discussed in the Aristotelian–Scholastic–Christian tradition. The most popular solution has been to deny that anything truly evil actually exists. It is hard to conceive why an omnipotent and perfectly good God would allow evil to appear. Yet, Western culture has been and still is full of imagery of absolute demonic evil. I suggest that (...) this strained dialectic could be best approached by radically rethinking the nature of evil and the theological context in which it has traditionally been thought. In his middle period works, Friedrich Schelling offers a pantheistic framework which gives extensive resources for thinking about evil. Schelling’s account is well balanced and innovative at least in two respects. It does not explain away the inscrutable presence of evil, but it neither completely renounces theoretical speculation of the origin of evil. Second, Schelling’s metaphysics anticipate Nietzsche’s fundamental critique of the ‘life-denying’ character of Western metaphysics and ethics. However, while sharing much of the critical aspects of Nietzsche’s thought, unlike Nietzsche, Schelling does not end up in atheism and moral relativism. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie Jahrgang: 57 Heft: 1 Seiten: 87-109.

: This paper has three aims. First, it provides the historical background necessary to understand the nature of academic systematic theology as it is currently being pursued in Nordic countries. Second, it questions whether the current methods of analytic theology are able to fulfill the desiderata of Nordic academic systematic theology. To this end, I suggest a specific methodological solution. Lastly, I assess if analytic theology can remain theological when using this methodology.

There is a pervasive trend in Western theology to identify imago Dei with human intellectual and cognitive capacities. However, several contemporary theologians have criticized this view because, according to the critics, it leads to a truncated view of humanity. In this article, I shall concentrate on the question of rationality, first, through theologies of Thomas Aquinas and contemporary Lutheran Robert Jenson, and second, in some branches of recent cognitive psychology. I will argue that there is a significant overlap between contemporary (...) scientific interpretations of rationality and both a traditional Thomistic view and a contemporary ecumenical interpretation of imago Dei. Consequently, it is possible to give an account of imago Dei which takes structural features as central and which is in accord with contemporary science, without falling prey to the dangers that the critics of structuralism point out. (shrink)

In adult education there is always a problem of prefabricated and in many respect fixed opinions and views of the world. In this sense, I will argue, that the starting point of radical education should be in the destruction of these walls of belief that people build around themselves in order to feel safe. In this connection I will talk about ‘gentle shattering of identities’ as a problem and a method of radical education. When we as adult educators are trying (...) to gently shatter these solidified identities and pre‐packed ways of being and acting in the world, we are moving in the field of questions that Sigmund Freud tackled with the concepts of ‘de‐personalization’ and ‘de‐realization’. These concepts raise the question about the possibility of at the same time believing that something is and at the same time having a fundamentally sceptical attitude towards this given. In my article I will ask, can we integrate the idea of learning in general with the idea of strangeness to oneself as a legitimate and sensible experiential point of departure for radical learning? (shrink)

According to Spinoza mental events and physical events are identical. What makes Spinoza's identity theory tempting is that it solves the problem of mind body interaction rather elegantly: mental events and physical events can be causally related to each other because mental events are physical events. However, Spinoza seems to deny that there is any causal interaction between mental and physical events. My aim is to show that Spinoza's apparent denial of mind body interaction can be reconciled with the identity (...) theory. I argue that Spinoza had both an extensional and an intensional concept of cause and when Spinoza seems to deny mind body interaction he is having in mind the intensional concept of cause. This intensional concept of cause corresponds to that of causal explanation. I will argue that Spinoza anticipated Donald Davidson's view that even though mental events cannot be explained by referring to physical events and vice versa, mental and physical events are causally related to each other. (shrink)

This article has a twofold aim. First it is shown, based on Joseph Christopher Greer’s earlier analysis, that there is a close historical, and to some extent substantial, affinity between deep ecology and esotericism. Greer’s findings will be corroborated by applying three different definitions of esotericism to the question at hand. Second, based on Sean McGrath’s ecophilosophy, it will be argued that utilizing esoteric influences systematically in deep ecological context can help deep ecology to avoid some problematic aspects it is (...) often accused of. Especially the esoteric conception of living nature can help deep ecology to bridge the gulf between nature and the human being, and thereby to avoid both theoretical and practical anti-humanism. (shrink)

This article argues that major cases of electoral reform across democracies in Asia in recent years can be explained as institutional measures aimed at curbing corruption and . More specifically, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand rid themselves of their extreme candidate-centered electoral systems as a means to encourage politicians to invest in collective party labels, while Indonesia discarded its extremely party-centered electoral system to increase the accountability of individual politicians. The article thus disagrees with scholars who argue that recent electoral reform (...) should be understood as part of a wider project by Asian governments to engineer a majoritarian form of democracy. Instead, the comparative analysis shows that democracies across Asia, in line with global trends in institutional design, have been their electoral systems, moving them closer towards the ideal of electoral. (shrink)

Review of Chantal Bax. Subjectivity after Wittgenstein. The Post-Cartesian Subject and the ‘Death of Man’. London: Bloomsbury 2011, 2012.

Re-Reading: G.E.M Anscombe, 'Modern Moral Philosophy', Philosophy, Vol 33, No. 124 (1958) 1 -33.

In the article, we set out to develop the contours of a general containerology, interrogating containment as a technology and an ontological condition that shapes human and more-than-human relations. While exploring containment technologies as spatio-temporal devices of ordering vis-à-vis leakage, we nevertheless stress how containment inevitably remains contextual, provisional, and leaky at best. Addressing the selective permeability of containers, we also discuss the relation between contained interiorities and exteriorities as processes of articulations between milieus. We problematise the opposition and incommensurability (...) between containment and leakage, and instead insist on conceiving them as co-constitutive. Ultimately, we outline an affirmative, positive take on containment beyond exclusionary inclusion, in contrast to prevailing negative conceptions and practices. (shrink)

By supplementing the work of Schutz, the article critically contests the methodological requirement, widely accepted within phenomenological sociology, that social scientific constructs be consistent with the constructs of common-sense experience of social reality. First, the article proposes that insofar as our everyday ways of speaking and thinking perceive the world as consisting of static and self-consistent entities, adhering to the methodological requirement makes research vulnerable to substantialist assumptions. To be able to account for how things change and involve other entities (...) in their make-up therefore ultimately requires going against common sense along the lines of processual-relational thinking. Second, the article suggests that adhering too strictly to the methodological requirement easily renders social scientific concepts reactive and representational, trapped within the present and the actual. Against this, the article argues for a view of concepts as active and creative, stressing their utopian aspects. Social scientific thinking that gravitates towards creation emphasises potentiality and the future instead of perpetuating the actual and the present: it engages with present practices, institutions, and structures for the benefit of the future. Instead of merely describing or representing the social world as it is, its concepts present a challenge to what is, and thereby open up new ways of thinking, acting, and being and potentially “give a new event to things”. (shrink)

Since the 1960s, the virtues have been making a comeback in various fields of study. This book offers an overview of the history of virtues from Plato to Nietzsche, discusses the philosophy and psychology of virtues, and analyzes different applications of virtue in epistemology, positive psychology, ethics, and politics.

Kant saw in an old argument a threat to his criticism of traditional rational psychology. He called this argument the Achilles of all dialectical inferences. What the Achilles purports to prove is that the unity of consciousness requires the simplicity of the soul. The argument proceeds from, a distinction between two types ofactions that are ascribable to a subject. For example, when we say that a school of fish moves, this movement can be explained by referring to the movements of (...) the fish constituting that whole. Thus, “moving” is an action type that can be attributed to an aggregate. The second premise says that the action of the thinking I cannot be regarded as the concurrence of several things acting. Thus, any thinking self has to be a simple subject because the action of the thinking self cannot be an aggregate of several actions of different subjects constituting that self. In this paper, Kant’s criticism of the Achilles argument is investigated. (shrink)

This book offers a novel interpretation of Spinoza's basic metaphysics of God, body, and mind. It considers the fundamental question of how finite things, especially human minds, are in God. Moreover, because for Spinoza God is identical with the universe, the question becomes how finite things are in the universe. The book shows that for Spinoza finite things are closer to God than what is thought in most contemporary Spinoza studies. It claims that the essences of finite things are degrees (...) or, in a very specific sense of the term "part," parts of the infinite essence of God. The book also shows how Spinoza's basic metaphysics attempts to give us the possibility to unite with God so that we can share some of God's perspective with [TO?] the world. This new knowledge, Spinoza claims, provides the mind with eternity and a kind of individual salvation that is deeply meaningful. The book is not only a study of Spinoza's basic concepts, but it also takes seriously what kind of epistemic attitude is required for experiencing the world truly. It is difficult to see and experience oneself in Spinoza's monistic system where God is the only existing substance. This book offers a novel and engaging interpretation of the Ethics that takes seriously the ontological experience of Spinoza's philosophy. Spinoza, Metaphysics, and the Possibility of Salvation is an essential resource for scholars and graduate students working on Spinoza, early modern philosophy, and metaphysics. (shrink)

This article highlights the personal and intellectual relationship between Bronisław Malinowski and Edvard Westermarck. In the interwar period, social anthropology went through a paradigm shift from evolutionism to functionalism. Malinowski put himself forward as a reformer, in contrast with Westermarck's more conservative and conciliatory approach. On the other hand, Malinowski always deferred to Westermarck and described himself as his disciple. Westermarck was Malinowski's teacher, his friend, and later his colleague at the London School of Economics. Our study of their personal (...) and intellectual exchanges questions the traditional perception of a sudden intellectual revolution in social anthropology. The paradigm shift was essentially a change of perspective: a refocusing away from cross-cultural comparisons and towards intensive local studies. Westermarck, as a pioneer of fieldwork, contributed substantially to that development. His notion of social origins was close to Malinowski's notion of function. Thanks to their friendship and constant exchange of ideas, Westermarck became the bridge that connected evolutionism to Malinowski's brand of functionalism. Our chief primary source is their correspondence, with additional material by Westermarck's Finnish contacts. (shrink)