Repliek op de kritiek van de Boer, Blomme, van den Berg en Spigt

In this article, I respond to critiques of my book Kant’s Radical Subjectivism: Perspectives on the Transcendental Deduction (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017). I address issues that are raised concerning objectivity, the nature of the object, the role of transcendental apperception and the imagination, and idealism. More in particular I respond to an objection against my reading of the necessary existence of things in themselves and their relation to appearances. I also briefly respond to a question that relates to the debate on Kantian nonconceptualism, more in particular, the question whether Kant allows animals objective intentionality. Lastly, I respond to one objection against my reading of Hegel’s critique of Kant. (The copy uploaded here is an English translation of the original Dutch version that is published in the journal.

Towards a shared ontology: a generic classification of cognitive processes in conceptual design

Towards addressing ontological issues in design cognition research, this paper presents the first generic classification of cognitive processes investigated in protocol studies on conceptual design cognition. The classification is based on a systematic review of 47 studies published over the past 30 years. Three viewpoints on the nature of design cognition are outlined (search, exploration and design activities), highlighting considerable differences in the concepts and terminology applied to describe cognition. To provide a more unified view of the cognitive processes fundamentally under study, we map specific descriptions of cognitive processes provided in protocol studies to more generic, established definitions in the cognitive psychology literature. This reveals a set of 6 categories of cognitive process that appear to be commonly studied and are therefore likely to be prevalent in conceptual design: (1) long-term memory; (2) semantic processing; (3) visual perception; (4) mental imagery processing; (5) creative output production and (6) executive functions. The categories and their constituent processes are formalised in the generic classification. The classification provides the basis for a generic, shared ontology of cognitive processes in design that is conceptually and terminologically consistent with the ontology of cognitive psychology and neuroscience. In addition, the work highlights 6 key avenues for future empirical research: (1) the role of episodic and semantic memory; (2) consistent definitions of semantic processes; (3) the role of sketching from alternative theoretical perspectives on perception and mental imagery; (4) the role of working memory; (5) the meaning and nature of synthesis and (6) unidentified cognitive processes implicated in conceptual design elsewhere in the literature

Imagining Modernity: Kant's Wager on Possibility

In the introduction to the Critique of Pure Reason (2nd edition), Kant claims that a transcendental cognition is a one ‘that is occupied not so much with objects but rather with our mode of cognition of objects insofar as is this ought to be possible a priori (a priori möglich sein soll)’. In this paper, I argue that Kant scholarship should take into account the specific signification of the term ‘sollen’, which might require us to reconsider the usual distinction between the system of freedom and the system of nature. Following a Fichtean perspective, I will try to show that, even if ‘sollen’ in this context does not refer to a duty in the strict sense, it does refer to the demand that transcendental philosophy itself be possible. I will argue that this demand is contingent at its very origin and, accordingly, expresses a particular kind of ‘freedom’. On this basis I will consider the tribunal of reason enacted in the Critique of Pure Reason as a tribunal that emerges from a free decision, in which the transcendental philosopher imagines its own possibility. Because it is a ‘free’ and ‘contingent’ tribunal, it cannot exceed the status of a problematic philosophical strategy

Parameter analysis of copper-nickel-tungsten prepared via powder metallurgy process for electrical discharge machining of polycrystalline diamond

Polycrystalline Diamond (PCD) tools have an outstanding wear resistance. The electric conductivity of PCD caused by the conductive binding material (Cobalt) makes it possible to machine PCD tools with EDM. Electrode used in EDM of PCD must have better porosity, electrical and thermal conductivity. Therefore, this research presents the works in production of Cu-Ni-W electrode by powder metallurgy route. Production of powder metallurgy parts involve mixing of the powder with additives or lubricants, compacting the mixture and heating the green compacts in an Argon gas furnace so the particle bond to each other. Two levels of full factorial with six centre points and two replication technique was used to study the influence of main and interaction effects of the powder metallurgy parameter. There were four factors involved in this experiment. Factor A which is Type of Cu-Ni; Type A and Type B was defined as categorical factor. Factor B in which Composition of W; 5 Wt.%, 15 Wt. % and 25 Wt.%, was defined as numerical factor. Factor C which is the Compaction load; 7, 8 and 9 tonne and Factor D which is Sintering temperature; 635 ℃, 685 ℃ and 735 ℃ were also defined as numerical factor. Optical Microscope, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) was used to analysed the microstructure and surface morphology of Cu-Ni-W electrode. The best parameter combination to produced better porosity, electrical and thermal conductivity for both Type A and Type B was 5 Wt.% of W, compaction load at 9 tonne and sintering temperature at 735℃. The best response for Type A is 12.65% of porosity, 14.40 IACS% of electrical conductivity and 413.26 W/m.℃ of thermal conductivity. While that, the best response for Type B were 9.36% of porosity, 16.66 IACS% of electrical conductivity and 345.21W/m.℃ of thermal conductivity. From the calculation of Maxwell’s Equation, Type A and Type B had the highest electrical conductivity of 58.48 IACS% and 77.35 IACS% respectively at W content of 5Wt.%. Type A and Type B also had the highest thermal conductivity of 369.86 W/m.℃ and 310.24 W/m.℃ respectively at W content of 5 Wt.%. Besides that, thermal conductivity also increased with the temperature increased until 450℃

Aesthetic Comprehension of Abstract and Emotion Concepts: Kant’s Aesthetics Renewed

In § 49 of the Critique of the Power of Judgment Kant puts forward a view that the feeling of pleasure in the experience of the beautiful can be stimulated not merely by perceptual properties, but by ideas and thoughts as well. The aim of this paper is to argue that aesthetic ideas fill in the emptiness that abstract and emotion concepts on their own would have without empirical intuitions. That is, aesthetic ideas make these concepts more accessible to us, by creating image schemas that allow us to think about these abstract concepts in a way linked to sensory experience, thereby imbuing them with a more substantive meaning and understanding