How Knowledge Works

The doctrine that knowledge is a species of belief has encouraged philosophers to confuse the question of what knowledge is and the question of how it can be acquired. But we can form a conception of knowledge by asking how knowledge gets expressed in our mental lives and in our conduct, instead of asking where it comes from. Accordingly, knowledge can be defined as the ability to do things, or refrain from doing things, or believe, or want, or doubt things, for reasons that are facts. I examine the nature of reasons, and the relationship between reasons, facts and beliefs; I consider the question of whether animals without language are capable of knowledge; and I briefly criticize Wittgenstein's doctrine that I cannot be said to know that I am in pain.     

Works, works better

A theory of Goodman and Elgin concerning the individuation of literary works is examined and criticized. An alternative account is offered to meet various of the difficulties in their proposal. In addition, it is suggested that there may not be asingle account of the notion of a literary work that can best do all the jobs we expect of it.     

Infants Understand How Testimony Works

Children learn about the world from the testimony of other people, often coming to accept what they are told about a variety of unobservable and indeed counter-intuitive phenomena. However, research on children’s learning from testimony has paid limited attention to the foundations of that capacity. We ask whether those foundations can be observed in infancy. We review evidence from two areas of research: infants’ sensitivity to the emotional expressions of other people; and their capacity to understand the exchange of information through non-verbal gestures and vocalization. We conclude that a grasp of the bi-directional exchange of information is present early in the second year. We discuss the implications for future research, especially across different cultural settings.     

Performing Works of Music Authentically

This paper argues that, within the Western ‘classical’ tradition of performing works of music, there exists a performance value of authenticity that is distinct from that of complying with the instructions encoded in the work's score. This kind of authenticity—interpretive authenticity—is a matter of a performance's displaying an understanding of the performed work. In the course of explaining the nature of this norm, two further claims are defended: that the respective values of interpretive authenticity and score compliance can come into conflict; and that when this happens, compromising ideal score compliance for the sake of making the performance more interpretively authentic can make for a better performance.     

The Property Theory of Musical Works

The property theory of musical works says that each musical work is a property that is instantiated by its occurrences, that is, the work's performances and playings. The property theory provides ontological explanations very similar to those given by its popular cousin, the type/token theory of musical works, but it is both simpler and stronger. However, type/token theorists often dismiss the property theory. In this essay, I formulate a version of the property theory that identifies each type (thus, each musical work) with a unique property. I then scrutinize the arguments offered for thinking that types, including musical works, are distinct from properties. I respond that no such argument is forceful and conclude that the property theory of musical works is superior to the type/token theory.     

狄德罗的《哲学思想录》及其他——经典选读（之四）

写在前面：科学的无神论者与人创造出来的、反过来控制人的虚幻观念作对，但他从不敌视人，恰恰相反，正因为他热爱人，才敢于用行动坚定地反对反对人的观念。千百年来，人们被自己制造的虚幻枷锁禁锢得太厉害了，有时甚至不忍目睹。人的思维需要更为清新的风；人的行动需要打破枷锁的自由、广阔与光明。事实上，这股“清新的风”已经吹了数千年，但很多人似乎一直视而不见，或者见而不思，或者思而无果。我们愿与正直的人们一起为减少人的迷信与怯弱，增加人的自信、力量与荣光尽绵薄之力。在这个栏目中，我们选编了无神论或（宗教）哲学相关的经典之作，虽然它们有着无法避免的时代特征，但穿越百年、千年的时空，今天仍旧能够感受到它巨大的思想魅力给心灵带来的震撼，给思维带来的新鲜活力和深沉力量。     

Works By and About Gabriel Marcel

The bibliography of any contemporary philosopher is destined to be incomplete before it is ever published and the following is no exception. One guiding principle has been used throughout in the preparation of this bibliography: to provide readers with a guide which, though not exhaustive, does provide a good starting point for the serious study of the philosophy of Gabriel Marcel. Those works which contain comprehensive bibliographies to a certain date are listed as such. Roger Troisfontaines' De l'existence à l'être, for example, contains an exhaustive bibliography of Marcel's works to the date of its publication and this fact is noted in the entry below. It is always best to read a philosopher in his original language. For the convenience of the English-speaking reader however, the more important works of Gabriel Marcel are listed in the translation whenever possible. The books and articles written about Gabriel Marcel must obviously be listed in the language in which they appear in print.     

子思书再探讨--兼论《大学》作于子思

子思原书各篇可分为三类,一是子思所记孔子言论,二是子思本人著作,三是弟子所记子思言论。除了原本《中庸》、《表记》、《坊记》、《缁衣》外,郭店简《穷达以时》亦属第一类;属于第二类的除了见于今本《中庸》的《天命》和并见于郭店简、马王堆帛书的《五行》外,还有今本《大学》,而《淮南子·缪称训》主体部分正是子思书佚篇《累德》,亦属此类。属于第三类的有郭店简《鲁穆公问子思》以及典籍中的若干佚文。早期文献中对子思书的不同称谓,意味着不同的文献来源,称《子思》者引自《汉志》所著录的二十三篇本,称《子思子》者引自《隋志》和《唐志》所著录的七卷本。七卷本具有很高的价值,非后来子思书辑本所能相比。     

杜光庭著述考辨

杜光庭是道教史上的重要人物,一生著述甚丰,但囿于各种原因,这些著述真伪并存,舛误良多,对此,前人已有考辨.本文在已有研究成果的基础上,辑录了杜光庭的所有著述,并考辨其真伪、成书年代、版本著录及卷次分合等主要问题,以期为杜光庭研究提供较为全面而可靠的文本.     

Are Some Perfumes Works of Art?

What more do we need to fully appreciate perfumes, beyond considering them objects for aesthetic appreciation? My contention is that our appreciation of some perfumes would be largely incomplete, unless we acknowledged them as works of art. I defend the claim that some perfumes are works of art from the point of view of different definitions. Nick Zangwill's aesthetic definition makes it easy to defend the proposed claim, but is not very informative for the purposes of fully appreciating some perfumes. On the other hand, Jerrold Levinson's intentional-historical definition and Dominic Lopes's approach to defining art make it more challenging to defend the proposed claim. I show that, even so, the challenge may be met. Moreover, the challenge is well worth engaging with, since tackling it uncovers features of some perfumes that are essential to their full appreciation.     

How Sin Works: A Review Essay

Levinas's ethics of other-centered service has been criticized at the theoretical level for failing to offer a conception of moral agency adequate to ground its imperative and at the practical level for encouraging self- hatred. Levinas's explicit resistance to the incorporation of the phrase "as yourself" in the Judaeo-Christian love command might seem to validate the critics' complaints. The author argues, on the contrary, that Levinas does offer a strong and compelling conception of moral agency and that his ethics, properly understood, does not entail self-abnegation. Levinas's attempt to counter excessive and manipulative self-concern and self-inflation by insisting on the dependent and situational position of the self has been wrongly overinterpreted as an abandonment of the self and its just claims. The author seeks to establish a more balanced understanding by focusing attention on the "ethics of welcome", on Levinas's distinctive conception of passivity, and on the role of the "third" in all human relations.