Defining ‘Dead’ in Terms of ‘Lives’ and ‘Dies’

What is it for a thing to be dead? Fred Feldman holds, correctly in my view, that a definition of ‘dead’ should leave open both (1) the possibility of things that go directly from being dead to being alive, and (2) the possibility of things that go directly from being alive to being neither alive nor dead, but merely in suspended animation. But if this is right, then surely such a definition should also leave open the possibility of things that go directly from being dead to being neither alive nor dead, but merely in suspended animation. I show that Feldman’s own definition of ‘dead’ (in terms of ‘lives’ and ‘dies’) does not leave this possibility open. I propose a new definition that does.     

‘Nature’ and ‘Elementary Nature’ in Phenomenology and Sāṅkhya

Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research - This is a comparative study. It is in two parts: ‘nature’ and ‘elementary nature’. ‘Nature (of things)’ as...     

‘Aloneness’ and the problem of realism in classical Sākhya and yoga

The concept of kaivalya (literally, ‘aloneness’) is of crucial importance to the systems of classical Indian philosophy known as Sākhya and Yoga. Indeed, kaivalya is the supreme soteriological goal to which these systems are directed. Various statements concerning this final goal appear in the classical texts—namely, the Sākhyakārikā and Yogasūtra—and yet there is no consensus within modern scholarship about how the concept is to be interpreted. More specifically, there appears to be a great deal of confusion over the implications of kaivalya for the existence of the empirical world. In this article I discuss the principal difficulties encountered by existing interpretations of kaivalya, and propose that these difficulties result from an unwarranted assumption that Sākhya and Yoga take a realist view with regard to the empirical world. I further propose that these difficulties can, in large part, be overcome when the assumption of realism is set aside.     

On Behalf of J. S. Mill's ‘Assumption of Infallibility’ Argument

According to the Cambridge Platonist Henry More, individual ‘spirits’ – the souls of humans and non-human animals – are extended but cannot be physically divided. His contemporaries and recent commentators have charged that More has never given an explication of the grounds on which the indivisibility of spirits is based. In this article, I suggest that exploring the usage that More makes of the analogy between spirits and light could go some way towards providing such an explication. More compares the relation between spirit and matter to the relation that, according to Aristotelian theories of light, holds between ‘intentional species’ and matter. I will argue that the purpose of his comparison is to highlight that both intentional species and spirits are existentially independent from matter. The existential independence of intentional species from matter expresses itself in the fact that light is not moved through the motion of the illuminated body. The existential independence of spirits from matter expresses itself in the fact that when a body that is coextensive with a spirit is divided, the spirit is not thereby divided but rather contracts into the remaining living organism.     

Religion and politics in post-1991 Ethiopia: making sense of Bryan S. Turner’s ‘Managing Religions’

Bryan S. Turner’s concept of managing religion postulates that it is the modern state’s prerogative to exert some degree of control over religions. For Turner, this is important because of increasing religious revival and the challenges it poses to public order and security. Turner describes two main approaches to managing religion, namely upgrading and enclavement. The former refers to modernising or ‘partial secularisation’ of a given religious institution or group while the latter is a tactic of isolating a certain community of believers. Turner’s two approaches are developed to analyse contexts affected by recent migration. While concurring with the efficacy of upgrading and enclavement, in this article, I argue that states adapt different mechanisms depending on the context that necessitates their intervention. Based on ethnographic research conducted in Ethiopia, I introduce cooptation and repression as two additional approaches used by authoritarian states in countries that are less affected by migration.     

Comment on ‘counselling in dyslexia’ by T. R. Miles

Using as examples, the problems encountered when counselling dyslexics and their families, Professor Miles has drawn attention to a number of interesting issues which are relevant not only in counselling dyslexics, but also in counselling in general and, indeed in all forms of intervention and the giving of advice. I propose to deal with just three of those, namely the relationship between the counsellor and clients, diagnostic labels and ‘brussel-sprout therapies’.     

The ‘Enforcer’ in Elite-Level Sport: A Conceptual Critique

The role of the ‘enforcer’ in elite-level sports contests is a familiar one. Simply, the role involves establishing or restoring a ‘moral balance’ to the sporting encounter when it is absent – usually when match officials are thought to be failing to apply the laws/rules of the game. How the enforcer secures this outcome is more morally contentious as it may involve deliberate violations of the laws/rules of the sport. In this paper we consider the role of the enforcer in rugby union. First we interrogate some of the extant sports ethics literature and explore the notion of ‘fairness’ in the well-played game, including the role of the enforcer. Second, we illustrate conceptually how the ethos of elite sport as a moral discourse creates a theoretical platform from which to assess the intervention of an enforcer. Third, we address the role of match officials as members of the practice community from an institutional sense (what the international governing body for rugby union makes explicit) and from an empirical sense (what actually occurs or might occur) in the circumstances that precipitate the intervention of ‘enforcers’. We conclude that the conceptual tension between the laws and the spirit (ethos) of the game is reflected in the choices facing players when playing the game.     

The Symbolical and Mystical Meanings in ‘cAbdullah of the Sea and cAbdullah of the Land’ (The Arabian Nights)

This article argues that the tale (#163, Nights 940–46)) from The Arabian Nights, entitled ‘^cAbdullah of the Sea and ^cAbdullah of the Land’ encapsulates highly spiritual and symbolical meanings that appear different on land and on sea. It is divided in three parts. The first tackles the view of a simple and clear Islam represented by a fisherman named ^cAbdullah. Part two deals with a more hermetic Islam embodied by a merman who bears the same name. Part three analyses the complex symbols encoded in the three even numbers, namely, two, four, and 40. The tale as a whole illustrates the difference between exoteric Islam (the Land), characterized by simplicity and clarity, and Sufi Islam, distinctive for its depth and its mystery (the Sea).     

Population norms of top sensory magnitudes and S. S. Stevens’ exponents

If S. S. Stevens’ exponents indicate the rates at which sensations grow with increases in sensory intensity, they ought to correlate with the population norms of top sensory magnitudes. Using a comprehensive sample of eight sensory dimensions, the tau coefficient of rank correlation between Stevens’ exponents and the medians of the top sensory magnitudes reported by 305 observers was found to be only +.15 (p>05). With the geometric means tau fell to ?.04. A split-half consistency check on the medians of the population norms suggested that they were not to blame for the low correlation. Direct comparisons of pairs of sensory dimensions on 146 additional observers produced results which confirmed the population norms. Since there is no way of comparing most of the top physical stimuli experienced in everyday life, it is not possible to make a joint prediction from exponents and top stimuli. S. S. Stevens’ exponents thus appear to have little predictive value outside the experimental conditions under which they were measured.     

‘Now’ and ‘Then’ in Tense Logic

According to Hans Kamp and Frank Vlach, the two-dimensional tense operators “now” and “then” are ineliminable in quantified tense logic. This is often adduced as an argument against tense logic, and in favor of an extensional account that makes use of explicit quantification over times. The aim of this paper is to defend tense logic against this attack. It shows that “now” and “then” are eliminable in quantified tense logic, provided we endow it with enough quantificational structure. The operators might not be redundant in some other systems of tense logic, but this merely indicates a lack of quantificational resources and does not show any deep-seated inability of tense logic to express claims about time. The paper closes with a brief discussion of the modal analogue of this issue, which concerns the role of the actuality operator in quantified modal logic.     

‘Priestesses’, Playboy,and the Prehistory of Feminist Scholarship in Christianity and Crisis Magazine, 1945–1965

This is a case study of how feminist discourse emerged in a key part of the U.S. Protestant academy. It analyzes how Christianity and Crisis, a leading Protestant journal of opinion, addressed gender and sexuality from the 1940s to the mid-1960s. It relates this discussion to C&C's larger transformation from a voice of Cold War liberalism in the 1940s to a forum for feminism and various liberation theologies beginning in the 1960s. Before 1965 the main ways that C&C's all-male leadership addressed gender were masculinist rhetoric, mild support for women's ordination; defense of the bourgeois family against perceived challenges, and controversies about sexual representation in the media. Although C&C's overt attention to gender and its sympathy with feminism were limited, its self-image was based on supporting underdogs against unjust forms of power. As C&Cembraced ‘contextual’ approaches in the 1960s and debated sexual ethics, it began to conceptualize ‘contexts’ partly in terms of gender systems. All this was pre-feminist, but was in the background when feminism began to force itself on C&C during the late 1960s from inside and outside its core constituencies. It meant that C&C was relatively well prepared (compared with most journals of its kind) to incorporate female personnel, define ‘contexts’ from the standpoint of previously neglected female underdogs, and begin rethinking gender and sexuality.     

‘Othering’ and ‘selving’ in therapeutic dialogue

In this article we consider therapeutic conversations about suffering and sexual identity through an ethical and practical lens we refer to as ‘othering’ and ‘selving’. The ethical lens is shaped by recent developments in discursive theory and approaches to therapy. Our practical lens draws from research by discourse analysts showing how conversational practices feature in consequential ways in delicate discussions such as those about suffering and sexual identity. After helping readers understand these lenses we then use them in examining actual discussions about identity and suffering. We conclude with some general ideas and reflective questions for therapists wishing to extend these kinds of sensitivities and conversational practices in their work with clients.     

Affective economies of Beyoglu in Istanbul: The construction of ‘Disgust’ and ‘Fear’ in neoliberalization of nightlife

This study contributes to understanding neoliberalism in Beyoglu, by examining how neoliberal discourses create and circulate normative meanings in nightlife. I suggest that neoliberal discourses and practices inform a value structure in everyday life which identifies subject positions in terms of affiliation and marginalization in Beyoglu's nightlife scene, based on the affective economies of Beyoglu. Affiliation/marginalization distil through moments of contact, imbued with various affective dispositions. I argue that spaces of affiliation shape and are shaped by the affective dispositions of (middle-)classed night-time euphoria. Conforming to norms of desirability, attractiveness and safety, they present a cultural and economic model attuned to neoliberal rationalities. Two dominant stereotypes of ‘undesirability’ emerge in affective terms: (i) those of ‘ineligible’ dispositions which produce emotions of ‘disgust’, and (ii) those of ‘fearful’ bodies constantly moving across the night-time leisure places of Beyoglu. By examining the relationship between neoliberalism and affective economies in Beyoglu's nightlife, this study contributes to research on night-time leisure places, providing insight into linkages between emotional subjectivities and rational thinking.     

Behaviour of ‘impulsive’ and ‘non-impulsive’ humans in a temporal differentiation schedule of reinforcement

The operant behaviour of psychometrically defined ‘impulsive’ and ‘non-impulsive’ subjects, under a temporal differentiation schedule of reinforcement, was examined. Four impulsive and four non-impulsive females were selected on the basis of their scores on the Matching Familiar Figures Test. The subjects participated in fifteen 45-min sessions in which they were exposed to an inter-response-time-greater-than-10-sec schedule of monetary reinforcement. During Phase I (sessions 1–5) no information was provided about the reinforcement contingency. During Phase II (sessions 6–10) a light on the response panel was illuminated whenever a reinforcer became available. At the start of Phase III (session 11) the subjects were given explicit information about the reinforcement contingency. At the start of Phase IV (sessions 12–15) the subjects were told that the light would no longer be operative although the contingency would remain unaltered. During Phase I the impulsive subjects earned fewer reinforcers, and emitted a greater proportion of non-reinforced responses (inter-response times less than 10 sec) than the non-impulsive subjects. During Phase II both groups increased their earnings, although the performance of the non-impulsive group remained superior to that of the impulsive group. In Phase III both groups performed equally well. In Phase IV the performance of both groups deteriorated, the impulsive group performing more poorly than the non-impulsive group. The results demonstrate the sensitivity of operant performance maintained under temporal differentiation schedules to personality dimensions such as ‘impulsiveness/non-impulsiveness’.     

In Defence of the Real: The ‘Pathology’ of Violence in Buddhist Folk Rituals and Statecraft of Sri Lanka: A Psychoanalytic Review

According to Slavoj Zizek, ‘Real’ is the world before it is carved up by the Symbolic. The Symbolic is the big Other that distorts/represses the Real. Fantasy is the mask that covers up this distortion and makes people of necessity live with repressed or sublimated forms of pleasure in different versions of the Symbolic. The discontent that issues from this inhibition constitutes psychic trauma and manifests in clash of denominational and racist fantasies. In this article, I attempt a Lacanaian-Zizekian analysis of the traumatic that inflects the subject positions in violent Buddhist state politics of Sri Lanka and seek to trace its continuity in the (anti)-ethics of Sinhala Buddhist folk rituals practised in the southern (low) part of the country. The psychodynamics of violence that engender the political engagement of the state, the JVP and the LTTE in the 1980s are not dissimilar from that of the sacrificial violence of Buddhist exorcism rituals in vogue in parts of Sri Lanka today. This is a fresh attempt to understand why violence becomes ‘unavoidable’ even in denominational identities that otherwise preach ahimsa (non-violence), and in statecraft that professes to be governed by such principles.     

‘Necessity’ and ‘provability’ in the later wittgenstein

I present a new interpretation of Wittgenstein's later philosophy of logic and mathematics. This interpretation, like others, emphasizes Wittgenstein's attempt to reconcile platonistic and constructivistic approaches. But, unlike other interpretations, mine explains that attempt in terms of Wittgenstein's position about the relations between our concepts of necessity and provability. If what I say here is correct, then we can rescue Wittgenstein from the charge of naive relativism. For his relativism extends only to provability, and not to necessity.