New Directions in Philosophy of Medicine

The purpose of this chapter is to describe what we see as several important new directions for philosophy of medicine. This recent work (i) takes existing discussions in important and promising new directions, (ii) identifies areas that have not received sufficient and deserved attention to date, and/or (iii) brings together philosophy of medicine with other areas of philosophy (including bioethics, philosophy of psychiatry, and social epistemology). To this end, the next part focuses on what we call the “epistemological turn” in recent work in the philosophy of medicine; the third part addresses new developments in medical research that raise interesting questions for philosophy of medicine; the fourth part is a discussion of philosophical issues within the practice of diagnosis; the fifth part focuses on the recent developments in psychiatric classification and scientific and ethical issues therein, and the final part focuses on the objectivity of medical research

Absence Perception and the Philosophy of Zero

Zero provides a challenge for philosophers of mathematics with realist inclinations. On the one hand it is a bona fide cardinal number, yet on the other it is linked to ideas of nothingness and non-being. This paper provides an analysis of the epistemology and metaphysics of zero. We develop several constraints and then argue that a satisfactory account of zero can be obtained by integrating (i) an account of numbers as properties of collections, (ii) work on the philosophy of absences, and (iii) recent work in numerical cognition and ontogenetic studies

The Content and Acquisition of Lexical Concepts

This thesis aims to develop a psychologically plausible account of concepts by integrating key insights from philosophy (on the metaphysical basis for concept possession) and psychology (on the mechanisms underlying concept acquisition). I adopt an approach known as informational atomism, developed by Jerry Fodor. Informational atomism is the conjunction of two theses: (i) informational semantics, according to which conceptual content is constituted exhaustively by nomological mind–world relations; and (ii) conceptual atomism, according to which (lexical) concepts have no internal structure. I argue that informational semantics needs to be supplemented by allowing content-constitutive rules of inference (“meaning postulates”). This is because the content of one important class of concepts, the logical terms, is not plausibly informational. And since, it is argued, no principled distinction can be drawn between logical concepts and the rest, the problem that this raises is a general one. An immediate difficulty is that Quine’s classic arguments against the analytic/synthetic distinction suggest that there can be no principled basis for distinguishing content-constitutive rules from the rest. I show that this concern can be overcome by taking a psychological approach: there is a fact of the matter as to whether or not a particular inference is governed by a mentally-represented inference rule, albeit one that analytic philosophy does not have the resources to determine. I then consider the implications of this approach for concept acquisition. One mechanism underlying concept acquisition is the development of perceptual detectors for the objects that we encounter. I investigate how this might work, by drawing on recent ideas in ethology on ‘learning instincts’, and recent insights into the neurological basis for perceptual learning. What emerges is a view of concept acquisition as involving a complex interplay between innate constraints and environmental input. This supports Fodor’s recent move away from radical concept nativism: concept acquisition requires innate mechanisms, but does not require that concepts themselves be innate

Pandemic Subversions: The Rise of the Cybermen

This article reflects on recent developments in the author's fine art research project, Monsters and Margins. The imposing of lockdown restrictions in 2020 initiated a shift in the artist’s practice, resulting in him spray painting and projecting Doctor Who villains onto the Brutalist architecture of the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. The author will demonstrate the influence of literature and philosophy on his artistic practice, drawing upon the work of Robert Smithson, J.G. Ballard, Iain Sinclair and, most pertinently, Mark Fisher, as he narrates the evolution of his understanding of hauntology and psycho-geography through progressing experiments. This leads to the unearthing of an anti-capitalist political stance in the work, enflamed by the pandemic’s highlighting of poor governance and society’s unsustainable consumerism and inequalities

An enlarged way of thinking: tragedy, philosophy and Kant’s Critique of judgment

This thesis examines the problematic of tragedy with the aim of identifying its significance in contemporary philosophy. Whilst there is a renewed interest in tragedy in contemporary philosophy, it has focused mostly on the ‘tragic idea’ or on the tragedies themselves, which not only relegates the contemporary discourse on tragedy to the history of ideas, but, more significantly, occludes the possibility of new forms of tragedy. In contrast, this thesis employs the paradigm of the ‘enlarged way of thinking’ (erweiterten Denkungsart) from Kant’s Critique of Judgment to consider tragedy as a major contribution to the goal of expanding the scope of philosophy. In Part I, this thesis argues that Kant’s call for an enlarged way of thinking represents a response to the failure of philosophy to reconcile nature and freedom, transforming the task of philosophy from outlining the conditions for objective knowledge to the task of mutual communicability. In Part II it examines the role of tragedy in the work of G. W. F. Hegel, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger and Cornelius Castoriadis. It is argued that, apart from Nietzsche’s bifurcation of philosophy and tragedy, the philosophical discourse on tragedy does not so much depart from Kant as build from his example of responding to the failure of philosophy. This approach gives us reason to consider the growing interest in tragedy in contemporary philosophy not simply as a new instalment in the history of ideas but as the expression of a present crisis. The recent turn to tragedy will be surveyed in the final chapter to conclude that Kant’s enlarged way of thinking provides an exemplary procedure for both exploring this crisis and navigating a way through it, redirecting the goal of philosophy away from an exclusive focus on knowledge towards mutual communicability

A Longitudinal Analysis of Changing Job Quality and Worker Satisfaction in Israel

Prior research has indicated that the nature of work has changed dramatically in recent years in response to economic shifts and an increasingly global economy. This study used non-panel longitudinal data from the International Social Survey Program (Work Orientations I and II: 1989 and 1997—survey questions on job characteristics and job quality) to examine the changing job quality and job satisfaction determinants in Israel, while exploring the country contextual and cultural shifts that impacted this change. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis show that there were many significant changes in the intrinsic and extrinsic job characteristics and perceived job satisfaction of Israeli workers from 1989 to 1997. The study found workers’ job satisfaction impacting firm performance and workers’ well-being. The results affirm the need for firms to be cognizant of differences and unique challenges facing Israeli workers and thus tailor their management philosophy and policies to create an organizational environment mutually beneficial to the firm and the employees. Key words: Job Satisfaction, Work Qualit

"Homo profanus": Giorgio Agamben's Profane Philosophy.

Giorgio Agamben's work first achieved international recognition—and notoriety—through his study of the sacred in Homo Sacer. This recognition and notoriety grew with the subsequent installments in this still ongoing series, Remnants of Auschwitz (Homo Sacer III), State of Exception (Homo Sacer II.1), and The Kingdom and the Glory (Homo Sacer II.2). Agamben's recent work, Profanations, is, however, not a part of that series. As its title indicates, it turns from the sacred to the profane, and in so doing reveals the most profound intentions of Agamben's philosophy. Agamben's naming the profane rather than the sacred in the title of this work does not, however, represent a turn to a new topic. Beginning with his first books in the 1970s, he has shown himself deeply interested in the idea of the profane, in significant part through terms and concepts employed by Walter Benjamin such as "profane illumination" and "the order of the profane." In his Homo Sacer project, this idea of the profane has followed Agamben's studies of the sacred like a shadow. With this new work, however, it has moved to the center of his reflections and in doing offers his reader a glimpse of hitherto unseen elements in his personal trajectory, his philosophical vocation, and his political project. The works in the Homo Sacer series have compellingly and persuasively argued that the creating of sacred and sovereign states of exception has often been responsible for the dire states of political affairs we find ourselves in. Profanations seeks to offer a solution.English and American Literature and Languag

Spinoza’s Authority Volume II: Resistance and Power in the Political Treatises

Spinoza's political thought has been subject to a significant revival of interest in recent years. As a response to difficult times, students and scholars have returned to this founding figure of modern philosophy as a means to help reinterpret and rethink the political present. Spinoza's Authority Volume II makes a significant contribution to this ongoing reception and utilization of Spinoza's 1670s Theologico-Political and Political treatises. By taking the concept of authority as an original framework, this books asks: How is authority related to law, memory, and conflict in Spinoza's political thought? What are the social, historical and representational processes that produce authority and resistance? And what are the conditions of effective resistance? Spinoza's Authority Volume II features a roster of internationally established theorists of Spinoza's work, and covers key elements of Spinoza's political philosophy

Brentano's Influence on Husserl's Early Notion of Intentionality

The influence of Brentano on the emergence of Husserl's notion of intentionality has been usually perceived as the key of understanding the history of intentionality, since Brentano was credited with the discovery of intentionality, and Husserl was his discipline. This much debated question is to be revisited in the present essay by incorporating recent advances in Brentano scholarship and by focusing on Husserl's very first work, his habilitation essay (Über den Begriff der Zahl), which followed immediately after his study years at Brentano, and also on manuscript notes from the same period. It is to be shown that (i) although Brentano failed to enact a direct influence on Husserl's notion of intentionality (much in line with K. Schuhmann's claim), (ii) yet the core of Brentano's notion remained operative in Husserl's theory of relations, which is seemingly influenced by John Stuart Mill and Hermann Lotze. This investigation is intended as a contribution towards the proper understanding of the complexities of Husserl's early philosophy

Understanding, normativity, and scientific practice

Understanding, Normativity, and Scientific Practice Harry Lewendon-Evans PhD Thesis Department of Philosophy Durham University 2018 Recent work in epistemology and philosophy of science has argued that understanding is an important cognitive achievement that philosophers should seek to address for its own sake. This thesis outlines and defends a new account of scientific understanding that analyses the concept of understanding in terms of the concept of normativity. The central claim is that to understand means to grasp something in the light of norms. The thesis is divided into two parts: Part I (chapters one to three) addresses the question of the agency of understanding and Part II (chapters four to five) focuses on the vehicles of scientific understanding. Chapter One begins with an account of understanding drawn from the work of Martin Heidegger, which presents understanding as a practical, normative capacity for making sense of entities. Chapter Two builds on Robert Brandom’s normative inferentialism to argue that conceptual understanding is grounded in inferential rules embedded within norm-governed, social practices. Chapter Three argues that normativity should be located in the intersubjective nature of social practices. The chapters in Part II draw on and extend the account of understanding developed in Part I by focusing on how models and explanations function within scientific practice to facilitate scientific understanding. Chapter Four investigates the nature of model-based understanding. It defends the claim that constructing and using models enables a form of conceptual articulation which facilitates scientific understanding by rendering scientific phenomena intelligible. Chapter Five considers the connection between understanding and explanation through the role of explanatory discourse in scientific practice. I argue that the function of explanations is to sculpt and make explicit the norms of intelligibility required for scientific understanding. This thesis concludes that scientific understanding is an inherently norm-governed phenomenon that is unintelligible without reference to the normative dimension of our social and scientific practices