The Other as Another Other

De Beauvoir and Irigaray are archetypes of two opposed feminisms: egalitarian feminism and radical feminism of difference. Yet a filiation exists between de Beauvoir's claim, that women is Other, and Irigaray's Speculum of the Other Woman. This paper explores the relationship between de Beauvoir's and Irigaray's notion of otherness. It argues that Irigaray deforms de Beauvoir's categories, and that de Beauvoir provides a more coherent prospect for the development of an authentic feminine subjectivity.     

Response times seen as decompression times in Boolean concept use

This paper reports a study of a multi-agent model of working memory (WM) in the context of Boolean concept learning. The model aims to assess the compressibility of information processed in WM. Concept complexity is described as a function of communication resources (i.e., the number of agents and the structure of communication between agents) required in WM to learn a target concept. This model has been successfully applied in measuring learning times for three-dimensional (3D) concepts (Mathy and Bradmetz in Curr Psychol Cognit 22(1):41-82, 2004). In this previous study, learning time was found to be a function of compression time. To assess the effect of decompression time, this paper presents an extended intra-conceptual study of response times for two- and 3D concepts. Response times are measured in recognition phases. The model explains why the time required to compress a sample of examples into a rule is directly linked to the time to decompress this rule when categorizing examples. Three experiments were conducted with 65, 49, and 84 undergraduate students who were given Boolean concept learning tasks in two and three dimensions (also called rule-based classification tasks). The results corroborate the metric of decompression given by the multi-agent model, especially when the model is parameterized following static serial processing of information. Also, this static serial model better fits the patterns of response times than an exemplar-based model.     

Worlds and times

In the fourteenth century, Duns Scotus suggested that the proper analysis of modality required not just moments of time but also ??moments of nature??. In making this suggestion, he broke with an influential view first presented by Diodorus in the early Hellenistic period, and might even be said to have been the inventor of ??possible worlds??. In this essay we take Scotus?? suggestion seriously devising first a double-index logic and then introducing the temporal order. Finally, using the temporal order, we define a modal order. This allows us to present modal logic without the usual interpretive questions arising concerning the relation called variously ??accessibility??, ??alternativeness??, and, ??relative possibility.?? The system in which this analysis is done is one of those which have come to be called a hybrid logic.     

Other minds embodied

I distinguish three kinds of other minds problems—conceptual, epistemological and empirical. I argue that while Merleau-Ponty believes embodiment helps with tackling the conceptual and epistemological problems, he suggests that it is of no clear use in solving (an important variant of) the empirical problem. I sketch some considerations that could lend support to Merleau-Ponty’s claims about the conceptual and epistemological problems, without claiming that these are conclusive. I then proceed to argue that Merleau-Ponty’s take on the empirical problem is essentially correct.     

Technological Other/Quasi Other: Reflection on Lived Experience

This reflection focuses on lived experience with the Technological Other (Quasi-Other) while pursuing creative video and film activities. In the last decade work in the video and film industries has been transformed through digital manipulation and enhancement brought about by increasingly sophisticated computer technologies. The rules of the craft have not changed but the relationship the artist/editor experiences with these new digital tools has brought about increasingly interesting existential experiences in the creative process. How might this new way of being with technology change the craft and the crafter? Through a phenomenological understanding of Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Don Ihde, and their contributions to the human-technology conversation, this essay moves to reveal the lived experiences of artists/editors who use computers to create by means of film and digital video formats. Exploring notions of lived space, lived body, lived time, and lived relation through the computer interface allows for digging deeper into inhabiting technology and experiencing the Technological Other.     

他者的境域——"普世伦理"的另一种可能

"普世伦理"概念自提出以来,便一直成为伦理学界探讨的理论热点和亮点。学者们从各自的理论视角,就"普世伦理"的"可能性"问题做出了不同甚至相互对立的回答。实际上,存在这种"争论"的根由在于他们并没有跳出"自我"或"同一"的囹圄,而自我视阈下的"普世伦理"正是"现代性"所造成的幻象。要摆脱这种幻象,唯有进入"他者"的境域,列维纳斯的"他者"概念或将开启"普世伦理"的新前景。     

The Postcolonial Other

Abstract

I locate the starting point for this essay on the common ground between the traditionally conceived attribute of divine love and the moral theory known as divine command ethics. The latter assumes that something is good because God commands it; with the former, the gift of divine love requires love in return. In this light, God's command to love is recognized as goodness itself by those ‘he’ loves. In other words, those persons loved by God are morally motivated to love. However, this theistic account of divine command theory simply assumes that love is knowable, do-able and so required. The obstacles to knowing love and loving are rarely made explicit. To tackle some of these, this essay is loosely structured around a dialogue with Kantian morality. Analysis of the gendered nature of love will take place indirectly in the course of my account of duty, pure goodness and moral motivation.