The Epistemology of “Epistemology Naturalized”

Quine's “Epistemology Naturalized” has become part of the canon in epistemology and excited a widespread revival of interest in naturalism. Yet the status accorded the essay is ironic, since both friends and foes of philosophical naturalism deny that Quine makes a plausible case that the methods of naturalism can accommodate the problems of epistemology

The Embedded Epistemologist: Dispatches from the Legal Front

In ordinary circumstances, we can assess the worth of evidence well enough without benefit of any theory; but when evidence is especially complex, ambiguous, or emotionally disturbing-as it often is in legal contexts-epistemological theory may be helpful. A legal fact-finder is asked to determine whether the proposition that the defendant is guilty, or is liable, is established to the required degree of proof by the [admissible] evidence presented; i.e., to make an epistemological appraisal. The foundherentist theory developed in Evidence and Inquiry can help us understand what this means; and reveals that degrees of proof cannot be construed as mathematical probabilities: a point illustrated by comparing the advantages of a foundherentist analysis with the disadvantages of probabilistic analyses of the evidence in the Sacco and Vanzetti case (1921), and of the role of the statistical evidence in Collins (1968)

The Image of Fashion: Some Eighteenth Century Perspectives on Pictures, Texts and Textiles

The eighteenth century saw an unprecedented rise in all things printed, and more specifically, the emergence of two new genres: the novel and 'modern moral subjects', ie realistic satirical print-engravings. Both new genres, for reasons I cannot elaborate on here, appear to be obsessed with fashion. The central aim of this paper is to analyse the difference(s) between looking at pictorial depictions of dressed individuals and reading verbal descriptions of these. How does a reader / beholder engage with (fictional) descriptions and depictions of dress? How do the representations present dress? While I will follow a phenomenological method, this phenomenological account is embedded in and determined by a specific, culturally and historically situated context. The thesis of this paper is that the double representation of fashion in mass-mediated, imaginative pictures and texts contributed decisively to the construction of fashion as a phenomenon that is - as Georg Simmel defined - simultaneously individualising and uniforming

The journey of a trainee therapist : from an intrapsychic to an ecosystemic description

This is a postmodernist dissertation contextualised within the new epistemology. The dissertation's descriptive methodology mirrors a personal journey from intrapsychic to ecosystemic psychology which operates within the domain of language and narrative discourse. As such it is founded on the principles of ecosystemic rather than Newtonian thinking. A conversation between various participants constructs the dissertatioi1 through polyphony and academic dialogue. This is then deconstructed through the use of metalogue thereby allowing the dissertation to operate simultaneously on a number of different levels. As it is a postmodernist text, the structure is in a sense an 'anti-structure' in that it is indirect while it is still acknowledged as a construction. In this way it is constructed and deconstructed in terms of its own premises. Expectations in terms of conventional dissertation formulae are challenged without negating academic requirements.PsychologyM.A. (Clinical Psychology

Religion, Models Of, And Reality: Are We Through With Geertz?

Clifford Geertz's influential definition of religions as providing their members with both an ethos and a worldview—in his terms, both a "model for" and "model of" reality—has of late become a neuralgic point of contention in religious studies. In particular some critics have seen his ideas of religious models of reality as biased, out-moded, or in other ways confused about the way that language refers (or does not refer) to the world. In this article, I consider two criticisms of Geertz's project and seek to show that, despite the partial value of the criticisms, the idea of religious models of reality continues to be a legitimate and fruitful approach to what religious communities are typically up to

Narrative, Truth, and Trial

This Article critically evaluates the relationship between constructing narratives and achieving factual accuracy at trials. The story model of adjudication— according to which jurors process testimony by organizing it into competing narratives—has gained wide acceptance in the descriptive work of social scientists and currency in the courtroom, but it has received little close attention from legal theorists. The Article begins with a discussion of the meaning of narrative and its function at trial. It argues that the story model is incomplete, and that “legal truth” emerges from a hybrid of narrative and other means of inquiry. As a result, trials contain opportunities to promote more systematic consideration of evidence. Second, the Article asserts that, to the extent the story model is descriptively correct with respect to the structure of juror decision making, it also gives rise to normative concerns about the tension between characteristic features of narrative and the truth-seeking aspirations of trial. Viewing trials through the lens of narrative theory brings sources of bias and error into focus and suggests reasons to increase the influence of analytic processes. The Article then appraises improvements in trial mechanics—from prosecutorial discovery obligations through appellate review of evidentiary errors—that might account for the influence of stories. For example, a fuller understanding of narrative exposes the false assumption within limiting instructions that any piece of evidence exists in isolation. And to better inform how adjudicators respond to stories in the courtroom, the Article argues for modifying instructions in terms of their candor, explanatory content, and timing

Ready made, made ready: everyday objects for everyday emergency

What does it mean to adapt to a changing world? Climate change is altering the world as we know it. We live in a chronic state of emergency. It’s easy to slip into a downward spiral of despair or ignore what we know to be true in order to carry on with our day-to-day responsibilities. By facilitating a complete recognition and heightened awareness of the common threats brought on by the climate crisis, we can begin to make the mental shift toward living in a new normal. Ready Made, Made Ready rejects a dissociative attitude and seeks to shift exceptionalist feelings of entitlement to a focus on building resilience for the future. By merging mundane objects with emergency capabilities in a lifestyle collection entitled ICOE (In Case of Emergency), this work questions how to integrate elements of preparedness into our everyday lives and how to increase a sense of agency in a world where we lack control

Play Among Books

How does coding change the way we think about architecture? Miro Roman and his AI Alice_ch3n81 develop a playful scenario in which they propose coding as the new literacy of information. They convey knowledge in the form of a project model that links the fields of architecture and information through two interwoven narrative strands in an “infinite flow” of real books

Cognitive Architectures: Structures of Passion in Joanna Baillie\u27s Dramas

The burgeoning Industrial Revolution, coupled with the scent of a far different revolution briskly blowing across the English Channel, nourished a significant amount of aristocratic anxiety throughout late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Britain. The stratifying effects of inherited wealth were dissolving and an ascending middle class was making its way into traditionally upper class social circles, political discussions, and capitalistic ventures. In a letter, written to Sir Walter Scott in the late spring of 1812, Joanna Baillie, the Scottish playwright best known for her Plays on the Passions, 1798 and her theoretical notion of sympathetic curiosity, references the Luddite riots, citing the continued tensions between the bourgeoisie and the upper class, before offering a simple, mediating, request: I hope people will associate and strengthen themselves against this disorder every where, and let the good sense and courage of, I trust, a very large majority of the people support and make amends for a feeble government, without giving up any of their views of moderate, wholesome reform. While critics have understood Baillie\u27s dramas as challenging traditional gender constructs or demonstrating rising class conflicts, few have recognized her Introductory Discourse and her method of sympathetic curiosity as a form of literary mediation. Her materialist demonstrations of the passions are derived out of a sincere attempt at mediating late eighteenth and early nineteenth century relations between the middle and upper classes. Using a combination of various tools within cognitive theory, including Scarry\u27s image construction, Zunshine\u27s essentialist representations, and Turner\u27s concept of metaphor, I trace Baillie\u27s method of sympathetic curiosity through a variety of her dramas including Orra, De Monfort, The Election, The Dream, and Count Basil. Similar to her comments to Scott regarding the contemporary state of affairs within Britain, I contend that through her dramas Joanna Baillie requests amends for a feeble aristocracy from the middle class, while simultaneously challenging the excessive aristocracy to show more sympathy in its casting of judgment upon others, including the lower classes. For Baillie, it is literary mediation, a means to wholesome reform, that will dispel the disorder and provide for more stable human relations