From Metaphysical to Substantive Naturalism: A Case Study

This paper addresses two related questions. First, what is involved in giving a distinctively realist and naturalist construal of an area of discourse, that is, in so much as stating a distinctively realist and naturalist position about, for example, content or value? I defend a condition that guarantees the realism and naturalism of any position satisfying it, at least in the case of positions on content, but perhaps in other cases as well. Second, what sorts of considerations render a distinctively realist and naturalist position more plausible than its irrealist and non-naturalist rivals? The answer here focuses again on theories of content and is wholly negative. I argue that the standard array of arguments offered in support of realist and naturalist theories in fact provide equal support for a host of irrealist and non-naturalist ones. Taken together, these considerations reveal an important gap in the recent philosophical literature on content. The challenge to proponents of putatively realist and naturalist theories is to insure that those theories so much as state distinctively realist and naturalist positions and then to identify arguments that support what is distinctively realist and naturalist about them.

... the deepest motivation for intentional irrealism derives ... from a certain ontological intuition: that there is no place for intentional categories in a physicalistic view of the world; that the intentional can't be naturalized.'' Fodor (1987, p. 97).

``Realists about representational states ... must ... have some view about what it is for a state to be representational ....

Well, what would it be like to have a serious theory of representation? Here there is some consensus to work from. The worry about representation is above all that the semantic (and/or intentional) will prove permanently recalcitrant to integration in the natural order ... ''Fodor (1990, p. 32).

     

Book notes

There is a standard objection against purported explanations of how a language L can express the notion of being a true sentence of L. According to this objection, such explanations avoid one paradox (the Liar) only to succumb to another of the same kind. Even if L can contain its own truth predicate, we can identify another notion it cannot express, on pain of contradiction via Liar-like reasoning. This paper seeks to undermine such ‘revenge’ by arguing that it presupposes a dubious assumption about the linguistic expression of concepts. Successful revenge would require that there be a notion other than truth that plays the same role with respect to concept-expression that truth is naturally thought to play before we are confronted with the Liar paradox.

La vendetta, oh, la vendetta?Revenge, oh revenge

è un piacer serbato ai saggi.?is a pleasure reserved for the wise.

[…] il fatto è serio …?[…] the case is serious …

ma credete si farà.?but trust me, I'll take care of it.

Se tutto il codice dovessi volgere,?If I have to turn over the whole law-book,

se tutto l'indice dovessi leggere,?if I have to read through the whole index,

con un equivoco, con un sinonimo?with an equivocation, with a synonym

qualche garbuglio si troverà.?I'll find some way to tangle things up.

[…] il birbo Figaro vinto sarà.?[…] that rascal Figaro will be defeated.

Dr Bartolo, from da Ponte's libretto to Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro     

Representation and the active consumer

One of the central tasks for naturalistic theories of representation is to say what it takes for something to be a representation, and some leading theories have been criticised for being too liberal. Prominent discussions of this problem have proposed a producer-oriented solution; it is argued that representations must be produced by systems employing perceptual constancy mechanisms. However, representations may be produced by simple transducers if they are consumed in the right way. It is characteristic of representations to be consumed by systems which are capable of independent action. This paper defends this claim; discusses more precise, naturalistic formulations; and shows how it can illuminate the explanatory payoffs which science achieves by appealing to representation.

     

The role of philosophy and ethics at the edges of medicine

Background

The purpose of this study is to make a philosophical argument against the phenomenological critique of standardization in clinical ethics. We used the context of clinical ethics in Saudi Arabia to demonstrate the importance of credentialing clinical ethicists.

Methods

Philosophical methods of argumentation and conceptual analysis were used.

Results

We found the phenomenological critique of standardization to be flawed because it relies on a series of false dichotomies.

Conclusions

We concluded that the phenomenological framing of the credentialing debate relies upon two extreme views to be navigated between, not chosen among, in the credentialing of clinical ethicists.

     

Is Synthesis of World Religions Possible?

Introduction

All major religions appear to follow a pattern of social contract with an additional feature of ‘termination of the contract’ and its ‘aftermath’, for the soul. This way, religion is known as ‘dissolution mechanism’ (DM). It contains both social and metaphysical terms, where the former is subsidiary to the latter. The metaphysical term is represented by the mokṣa. A given DM not only explicates the state of soul after the termination of contract, but also it endeavours to point out the nature of the ultimate reality it conceives.

Method

DM provides a geometrical/mathematical picture of the universe to locate the ultimate reality and the individual souls in it; three views of the universe—destruction, creation and sustenance—are obtained for three basic religions or thoughts. Buddhist ‘Nothingness’ forms the psychological background for these views of universe. Architectural designs of worship places, yantras or manḍalas, etc., show both the nature of universe and the location of the ultimate in it. Understanding these figures is the key method to be employed for arriving at synthesis.

Conclusion

Synthesis consists in noting the identical common metaphysical generic essence as running through all the religions, and identifying the unique specific root-essence on such a generic essence. Specific root-essence of a given DM consists in the way the unification of cognitions of the universe is carried out. When the unification of all the specific root-essences on the generic essence is carried out with a further psychological background of Buddhism, we get a specimen of metaphysical synthesis of world religions. Thus, synthesis is a distinct and sure possibility.

     

Dynamic perceptual completion and the dynamic snapshot view to help solve the ‘two times’ problem

Perceptual completion fills the gap for discrete perception to become continuous. Similarly, dynamic perceptual completion (DPC) provides an experience of dynamic continuity. Our recent discovery of the ‘happening’ (H) element of DPC completes the total experience for dynamism in the flow of time (FOT). However, a phenomenological explanation for these experiences is essential. The Snapshot Hypotheses especially the Dynamic Snapshot View provides the most comprehensive explanation. From that understanding the ‘two times’ problem (TTP) can be addressed. The static time of spacetime cosmologies has been irreconcilable with the dynamic FOT. Dismissing the FOT as an illusion is unsatisfactory. Therefore, we provide four hypotheses for the TTP.

1) Since cosmological static time demands that all events (cerebral included) are discrete, DPC elements for dynamism should likewise be expected to be discrete and accounted for by a snapshot phenomenology such as the DSV. 2) If temporality can be demonstrated to be similar to apparent motion by being a snapshot phenomenon and not demanding temporal extension it would confirm the DSV and permit reconciliation with static time. 3) If the ‘present moment’ (of the FOT) is subjective as static time theories suggest, it should be possible experimentally for an observer to choose his own ‘present’ by moving (perceptually) to various points in the past with the aid of virtual reality. 4) If dynamism e.g. motion can be precluded without significant information loss or violating physics principles it is a cognitive add-on, thereby contradicting non-static time theories which suggest that time is ‘real.’ We confirm those hypotheses.

     

Secular Buddhism and Justice

Abstract

Starting point: The core idea of secular Buddhism is to grasp the spirit of early Buddhism and transpose it into the present. The best known approach to implement this idea is Stephen Batchelor’s Buddhism Without Beliefs, an approach which advocates an agnostic stance with regard to the doctrine of rebirth and denies its relevance for daily practice.

Type of problem:

? Is there a way to revise the doctrine of rebirth, instead of completely dropping it?

? What is the impact on the notion of justice?

Result: The doctrine of rebirth cannot be revised in a strict sense, but there are some striking similarities between the ancient and modern (biological) view on the topic. Since the stream of genetic and epigenetic information has the power to create consciousness and reflects experiences of past lives, it can be associated with the stream of consciousness (cittasantāna) in the Mahayana model of rebirth. Parents not only determine the genetic constitution of their children, they also transfer character traits by means of epigenetic heredity. If genetic inheritance is associated with karma, then genes become an element of synchronic and diachronic connectedness (pratītya-samutpāda). Instead of an individual learning process across successive lives, there is a collective learning process across successive generations.

Given the biological model of rebirth, the belief in cosmic justice turns into a quest for mundane justice. There is a thought experiment for constructing such a concept, which complies well with the secular Buddhist spirit. John Rawls assumes that the legislative deliberation is taking place ‘behind a veil of ignorance’, so that the participants of the deliberation do not know their future genetic constitution and their future position within the society. If the participants imagine that their future self is contingent and impermanent – in accordance with the Buddhist doctrine of anātman and anitya – then the resulting principles of justice will be impartial.     

Syntax in A Dynamic Brain

Proponents of the language of thought (LOT) thesis are realists when it comes to syntactically structured representations, and must defend their view against instrumentalists, who would claim that syntactic structures may be useful in describing cognition, but have no more causal powers in governing cognition than do the equations of physics in guiding the planets. This paper explores what it will take to provide an argument for LOT that can defend its conclusion from instrumentalism. I illustrate a difficulty in this project by discussing arguments for LOT put forward by Horgan and Tienson. When their evidence is viewed in the light of results in connectionist research, it is hard to see how a realist conception of syntax can be formulated and defended.

     

Fluids,Molecules and Paradoxes of Infinity

Several paradoxes of infinity have recently featured in this journal involving gases distributed in a denumerable infinite series of compartments. I shall demonstrate in this paper that:

a) None of these new paradoxes applies where the gases comply with both Boyle’s law and Avogadro’s law. As several of these new paradoxes expressly require compliance with Boyle’s law, it is unclear, in principle, as to whether there is a plausible model of gas that is able to uphold them all.

b) Notwithstanding a), any of the above paradoxes (and their variations) can be reinstated by acknowledging (contrary to what is widely assumed in the literature) that there are two distinct, non-equivalent concepts of ideal gas. Indeed, the various infinity puzzles actually enable a distinction to be made between the two concepts (which is a particularly elegant way of doing so).

     

ON PARADIGM SHIFT IN READING/LITERACY RESEARCH

Abstract

Research is just a set of conventions‐‐the most rigorous way to ask a question and look for answers...research is people-run. And it can be as flexible as the people who run it (Hatch & Farhady, 1982, p. xv).     

“Beyond Frontiers of Traditional Project Management”: The Concept of “Project Management Second Order (PM-2)” as an Approach of Evolutionary Management

Fundamental changes in sciences offer new perspectives for the management of complexity. Increased complexity in society, economics, and technology requires a new and suitable organization and management. What are the consequences and results for project management? That is the theme of this article. First of all it will given a short introduction to project management, which will be later called “traditional project management” or “project management 1st order (PM-1).” Then, the challenges by the fundamental changes in sciences and the increased complexity in society, economics, and technology will be discussed. It will state that traditional project management cannot solve these challenges. The widespread working-themes and results of the research program “Beyond Frontiers of Traditional Project Management” as an answer to these challenges will be presented at a glance. Subsequently, it will discuss some selected results of the research program:

• The principle-definition and foundation of “Evolution of 1st and 2nd Order.”

• The Evolution of 1st Order and the impact on Project Management methods and processes.

• Evolution of 2nd Order and the Grand Evolutionary Systems Theory (GEST) of E. Laszlo as also the impact on Project Management methods and processes.

• Management of crisis: turn a change to advantage or risk-assurance?

Thereafter, the concept of “Project Management Second Order (PM-2)” is presented as a highlighted result of the research program, as a new paradigm in project management, and as an answer to the challenges, described earlier will be explained in detail. Finally, a real example of transfer evolutionary and self-organizational management principles in a real project life will be demonstrated.     

Voice in the Head: The Road Ahead

Purpose

The paper seeks to explore the interrelation among the phenomena of wandering mind, free-floating self and intuitive dualism. Further, the paper aims at looking at the possibility of revising the self-conception by changing the wandering nature of mind.

Method

The paper proceeds by demonstrating the existence of the wandering mind and the presence of a particular kind of reflexive self-conception and then contends that reflexive self-conception, characterised in terms of free-floating nature of the self, can be understood to be the result of intuitive dualism along with the wandering mind.

Result and Discussion

The relationship between wandering mind and reflexive self-conception brings out the possibility of revising the reflexive self-conception through practices such as mindfulness because it opens ways to reflexively realise embodiment and reduces the wandering nature of mind. This can possibly give rise to a different kind of self-conception that is more holistic in outlook and is less separative or free-floating.

     

Lunacy and Scepticism: Notes on the Logic of Doubt Concerning the Existence of an External World

This article develops a logical (or semantic) response to scepticism about the existence of an external world. Specifically, it is argued that any doubt about the existence of an external world can be proved to be false, but whatever appears to be doubt about the existence of an external world that cannot be proved to be false is nonsense, insofar as it must rely on the assertion of something that is logically impossible. The article further suggests that both G. E. Moore and Ludwig Wittgenstein worked towards the same solution but left their work unfinished.

     

How is justice understood in classic Confucianism?

ABSTRACT

In Sinicized Asia, justice, conceptualized and institutionalized in its current form on a Western mold is part of a singular and ancient Confucian legal tradition.

In this paper, it will be argued that Confucians initially articulated the concept of justice in relation to their own explanation of the world and their ideal, which distinguishes and rewards men’s actions according to their merits and social condition.

It will be shown that Confucius’s thinking is primarily political and suggests ways of harmoniously organizing and reforming society in which justice is conceived both as a principle of government, a principle of social conduct and one of the essential virtues, or a ‘moral sense’ that everyone must possess, while, in practice, Confucian justice will put forward the imperatives of retributive justice. This, despite its philosophical aversion for sanctions and for what upsets harmony.     

Truthmaking and fundamentality

Consider the idea that some entities are more fundamental than others, some entities ‘ground’ other, less fundamental, entities. What is it for something to be more fundamental than another, or for something to ‘ground’ something else? This paper urges the rejection of conceptions of grounding and fundamentality according to which reality has a hierarchical structure in which higher-level entities are taken to be distinct from but metaphysically dependent on more fundamental lower-level entities. Truthmaking is offered as an apt replacement for at least some of the many applications of grounding.

     

The Internal Problem of Dreaming: Detection and Epistemic Risk

Abstract

There are two epistemological problems connected with dreaming, which are of different kinds and require different treatment. The internal problem is best seen as a problem of rational consistency, of how we can maintain all of:

1. Dreams are experiences we have during sleep.

2. Dream‐experiences are sufficiently similar to waking experiences for the subject to be able to mistake them for waking experiences.

3. We can tell that we are awake.

(1)–(3) threaten to violate a requirement on discrimination: that we can only tell Xs from Ys if there is some detectable difference between Xs and Ys. Attempts to solve the problem by Descartes and Williams are considered. It is suggested that if we take account of levels of epistemic risk, we can use Descartes’s criterion of lack of coherence, at least with hindsight – which is the time when we need to use it.     

On the ethical analysis of value issues in public decision-making

Abstract

The nature, methodology, importance and implications of an ethical analysis of value issues pertaining to public decision-making is not evident. In this paper I would like to address these issues by posing the following questions:

• Why is it important to focus on values in any process of public decision-making?

• What is the nature of an ethical analysis of the value issues involved?

• What is the basis, if any, for ethical analysis that moves beyond relativism and subjectivity?

• What difference can such an ethical analysis make to public decision-making?

During the course of discussing these issues, the question “What is ethics?” will be addressed in passing, as well as the usual objections against ethics and the consideration of value issues in public decision-making, namely that

• values cannot be analysed and discussed objectively

• values and ethics are relative to people and cultures

• value and ethical questions cannot be settled in a rational manner

• ethics cannot provide answers

• arguments about value and ethical issues move in circles, taking us nowhere

• values and ethics are so intertwined with emotions and biases that one cannot take them seriously in any process of public decision-making.

     

Therapeutic and counter-therapeutic factors in acute ward settings

Summary

Recent reports suggest that many patients view their admission to a psychiatric acute unit as an unrewarding, distressing or undermining experience. Whilst it could become genuinely therapeutic, in the sense that it could be an opportunity for self-reflection, personal exploration or change, it is often endured as a traumatic event in one's life that should best be forgotten.

This paper explores a psychodynamic understanding of this multi-personal environment in which transference phenomena develop and are usually ‘acted out’. The admission process is examined, as well as the importance of understanding the support and attachment to fellow patients, staff-patient tensions, and relationships between staff and management. Issues about violence and fear, locked wards, and reflective interventions on a unit are discussed, focusing on how to maximise therapeutic opportunities. The multi-disciplinary ward-review is also scrutinised in this light.     

AGAINST RECORDING SESSIONS FOR SUPERVISION

The American Psychological Association’s (APA) 2014 injunction that supervisors must listen to recorded sessions of their supervisees’ work is based on a rich and thorough body of research, and yet it entails a narrative of psychotherapy as a discipline of Science. If psychotherapy is understood as an endeavor also of the Humanities, recording sessions may be anathematic to supervision and training. Developing ideas from Greenberg’s (2015) theory of “controlling fiction,” the writer presents a narrative of psychotherapy in which it is not wise to review recorded sessions in supervision.

     

A Review of: “The Use of Dreams in Couple Counseling”

Avalanche: Heretical Reflections on the Dark and the Light. By W. Brugh Joy, M. D. New York: Ballantine, 1990.

Carnal Acts. By Nancy Mairs. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1990.

Anne Heath is a free-lance writer and artist with a background in journalism, poetry, and radio drama. She is currently working on a book about travel as a rite-of-passage for women in mid-life.

The Untouched Key. By Alice Miller. New York: Doubleday, 1990.

“To blame is to hold on to anger as though it could compensate for what we lost. Nothing can. Only griming can heal us…”

Crisis Intervention Verbatim. By Nira Kfir. (1989). New York: Hemisphere Publishing.

The Japanese Psyche. By Hayao Kawai. Dallas, Texas: Spring Publications, 1988.

The Psychology of C. G. Jung: Vol. 111. Consciousness. By C. A. Meier. Boston: Sigo Press, 1989.

Progress without Loss of Soul: TO-ward a Wholistic Approach Modernization Planning. B y Theodor Abt. Wilmette, Illinois: Chiron Publications, 1989.

Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. By Stephen LaBerge and Howard Reingold. New York: Valentine books, 1990.

“The rapid acceptance of lucid dreaming suggests that it will have a significant impact on the way that dreams are perceived for both the general public and the scientific community.”

Body and Soul: The Other Side of Illness. By Albert Kreinheder. Toronto: Inner Cities. 1991.

Wisdom of the Heart: Working With Women's Dreams. By Karen A. Signell. New York: Bantam Books, 1990.