A Contextual Reconstruction of Monadic Reflection

With the help of an idea of contextual modal logic, we define a logical system lambda^{refl} that incorporates monadic reflection, and then investigate delimited continuations through the lens of monadic reflection. Technically, we firstly prove a certain universality of continuation monad, making the character of monadic reflection a little more clear. Next, moving focus to delimited continuations, we present a macro definition of shift/reset by monadic reflection. We then prove that lambda^{refl}_{2cont}, a restriction of lambda^{refl}, has exactly the same provability as lambda^{s/r}_{pure}, a system that incorporates shift/reset. Our reconstruction of monadic reflection opens up a path for investigation of delimited continuations with familiar monadic language

Conceptual Engineering, Topics, Metasemantics, and Lack of Control

Conceptual engineering is now a central topic in contemporary philosophy. Just 4-5 years ago it wasn’t. People were then engaged in the engineering of various philosophical concepts (in various sub-disciplines), but typically not self-consciously so. Qua philosophical method, conceptual engineering was under-explored, often ignored, and poorly understood. In my lifetime, I have never seen interest in a philosophical topic grow with such explosive intensity. The sociology behind this is fascinating and no doubt immensely complex (and an excellent case study for those interested in the dynamics of academic disciplines). That topic, however, will have to wait for another occasion. Suffice it to say that if Fixing Language (FL) contributed even a little bit to this change of focus in philosophical methodology, it would have achieved one of its central goals. In that connection, it is encouraging that the papers in this symposium are in fundamental agreement about the significance and centrality of conceptual engineering to philosophy. That said, the goal of FL was not only to advocate for a topic, but also to defend a particular approach to it: The Austerity Framework. These replies have helped me see clearer the limitations of that view and points where my presentation was suboptimal. The responses below are in part a reconstruction of what I had in mind while writing the book and in part an effort to ameliorate. I’m grateful to the symposiasts for helping me get a better grip on these very hard issue

For Adults Only: Queer Theory Meets the Self and Identity in Adult Education

This article brings the perspective of Queer theory to the field of Adult Education as a way of examining critically the notions of self, identity, and sexuality as they have been taken for granted within the field. Adult Education, like most fields of practice and research, assumes the Western ideals of the monadic self, clear and undisputed identities, and heterosexuality. However, the intersection of a strong postmodern voice in both academia and the popular culture, the increasing exploration of other-than-hetero-sexualities in the media, and the foregrounding of sexuality in the work of adult education researchers (Brooks & Edwards,1997; Edwards, 1997; Hill,1995; Edwards, Grace, Henson, B., Henson, W., Hill, & Taylor, 1998; Tisdell & Taylor, 1995) forces the question of what relevance Queer theory has for adult educators

Perceptual Constancy

We perceive objects and events in a way that makes it possible to act, react, think, believe, etc. in reliable and predictable ways. To explain this perceptual stability, as well as its behavioral consequences, theorists invoke a set of capacities known as perceptual constancies. Thanks to constancies, perceivers latch onto what’s unchanging in the world even though sensory stimulation is in continuous flux. In this dissertation, I present and defend a new view of both perceptual constancy and perceptual objectivity, i.e. the capacity of perception to present the world as mind-independent. According to the traditional view, perceptual constancy is the capacity of perceptual systems to recover perceiver-independent properties of distal objects from a largely ambiguous proximal stimulus, ‘discounting’ contextual, perceiver-dependent information. I argue that the traditional view should be rejected because it is, on the one hand, too ‘visuo-centric’, and, on the other hand, unable to fully explain the roles that constancy plays in our lives. These roles include guiding action and enabling the stable conscious experiences that ground our perceptual judgments. The view I favor, which I call “Relational Invariance view”, holds that constancy is the capacity to track invariant relations within the perceptual scene or between some element in the scene and the perceiver. These invariant relations are specified by patterns of variation in the proximal stimulus over time, and perceivers can sometime directly control this variation through movement. This view explains the role that, intuitively, perceptual constancy plays in guiding motor action and in a wide variety of perceptual recognition tasks, where recovering perceiver-independent properties seems unnecessary. The Relational Invariance view is then tied to a new view of perceptual objectivity, whose core insight is that the ‘job’ of perception in enabling the experience of a mind-independent world is not to ‘abstract away’ from any sort of perspectival or contextual influence, but rather to ‘embrace’ these influences as intrinsic to the very idea of what it means to perceive the world for creatures like us

Talking with Vultures

A Critical Study of Relativism and Monadic Truth, by Herman Cappelen and John Hawthorne. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2009. Pp. vii + 170.Argues that the contextualist account of the content of statements of personal taste offered by Cappelen and Hawthorne is not motivated by the shortcomings of the relativism to which they regard it as the only plausible alternative

Graves, Gifts, and the Bereaved Consumer: A Restorative Perspective of Gift Exchange

When a gifting relationship is disrupted by death, why might a living consumer continue to invest in it? Consumer spending on deceased loved ones does not end with the funeral. Given the embodying power of a physical gravesite, this article examines the practice of gift giving to the deceased in the context of American cemeteries. We employ a longitudinal approach, in which 180 cemetery gravesites were photographed. The photographic data are coupled with a netnography of grief and bereavement communities. Findings support a restorative perspective of gift exchange. Bereaved consumers utilize restorative giving as a mechanism to cope with loss and maintain relationships with deceased loved ones. We outline five categories of gifts given to the deceased and present a framework of restorative giving practices. Implications are discussed in terms of identity development, symbolic communication, and reciprocity in gift giving, as deceased consumers continue to be recipients of tangible goods

Peircean Interpretation of Postmodern Architecture

The influence of philosophy on architectural theory contributes to the formulation of architectural theory in the history of architecture. This relationship created the oscillation of architectural theory between rationalism and romanticism reflecting the woven tendency of philosophy such as enlightenment and counter- enlightenment movement. This dissertation research focuses on architectural language theory which maintains a tight relationship with the philosophy of language. Postmodern architecture during the period of the 1970s through 1980s is examined to determine meanings of architecture, and the language theory of architecture. It followed the philosophy of language originated from Ferdinand de Saussure who influenced theorists, and explicitly sign theorists influenced by Charles Sanders Peirce. This theoretical underpinning of language theory is questionable because of an inappropriate application of the sign theory of Charles Sanders Peirce in terms of principal interpretation of language structure, dyadic and triadic type of language. This research re-interprets the meaning of architecture during postmodern period along with Peirce's semeiotic theory, and American Pragmatism that Peirce originally invented. The collection of evidence from architectural history and the influence from philosophy provides a conceptual sketch that the oscillation of theoretical tendency is the source of architectural creation. This creative process is analyzable based on Peirce's sign theory and his logic. The research applies current Peircean scholars' development including 'Peircean Algebraic Logic' by Robert W. Burch to develop a conceptual model to frame Peircean interpretation. The multiple-case study (four architects with eight architectures) demonstrates the effectiveness of the conceptual model to facilitate a Peircean interpretation of postmodern scenographic architecture and contextual postmodern architecture. The results of this interpretation draws the limitation of some type of scenographic architecture that uses a proxy referential method, while Pragmatism provides the contents to Postmodernism's needs that is parallel to architectural theory