Meaning and (F)act: Ray Brassier’s Speculative Nihilism and its Implications for Dialectics

This paper seeks to frame the proper place for the empirical phenomenon of human meaning in the scientifically disenchanted world described by Ray Brassier. I embrace Brassier’s statement that “Nihilism is not an existential quandary but a speculative opportunity” but disagree with his injunction that human meaning is unimportant. Meaning should be an object of philosophy insofar as we are biologically bound to experiencing the world in a meaningful way. Brassier’s work is exciting for its application of rigorous analytic techniques to continental discourse, in a manner that makes contributions to both metaphysics and philosophy of science

Searching for Being

This paper is an attempt to discern the importance of the way in which philosophers read each other to the philosophical enterprise. To do this I compare Socrates’ treatment of Parmenides and Heraclitus in the Theaetetus to Heidegger’s treatment of Kant in Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics. Using Heidegger’s notion of ‘unthought thoughts’, I attempt to tease out ontological points that contradict the way in which most people think of the philosophers examined in this paper. In this way we see an upset in the traditional understanding of the theory of Forms and the Phenomena/ Noumena distinction

A History and Assessment of Jonathan Larson's Rent

Title from PDF of title page viewed May 21, 2020Thesis advisor: Felicia LondréVitaIncludes bibliographical references (pages 80-85)Thesis (M.A.)--UMKC Conservatory. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2020This project, a graduate research thesis, intends to provide information and analysis of Jonathan Larson’s 1996 musical Rent. It covers the life and works of Jonathan Larson, the production history of Rent, Rent’s 1896 operatic predecessor La Bohème, and the environmental context in which Rent was created. Additionally it analyzes the artistic merits of Larson’s Rent through the use of Aristotle’s Poetics. The purpose of this thesis is to provide contextual information for future productions of Rent, as well as an argument for Rent’s continued production and significance to theatrical history.Introduction -- Chapter 1: What is Rent? -- Chapter 2: The 1990s -- Chapter 3: Aristotle's poetics -- Conclusio

Meaning and (F)act: Ray Brassier’s Speculative Nihilism and its Implications for Dialectics

This paper seeks to frame the proper place for the empirical phenomenon of human meaning in the scientifically disenchanted world described by Ray Brassier. I embrace Brassier’s statement that “Nihilism is not an existential quandary but a speculative opportunity” but disagree with his injunction that human meaning is unimportant. Meaning should be an object of philosophy insofar as we are biologically bound to experiencing the world in a meaningful way. Brassier’s work is exciting for its application of rigorous analytic techniques to continental discourse, in a manner that makes contributions to both metaphysics and philosophy of science

Tko se (još) druži sa susjedima? Prilog analizi lokalnih društvenih odnosa

Disembedding of social relations from a local context has often been pointed out as one of the main characteristics of contemporary social changes. Taking that as a starting point, this paper explored the role of neighborhood social relations in contemporary Croatian society. The analysis presented in this paper had two aims. The first aim was to get insight into structure of local social relations in Croatia and the second one was to determine whether dynamics of local social relations are related to some demographic, socioeconomic or spatial characteristics. Data analyzed in this paper were collected through the survey entitled Pilar’s Barometer of Croatian Society. The survey was conducted in the spring of 2014 on the national representative sample of Croatian citizens aged 18 years and older (N=1000). Findings from the analysis indicate that neighboring is a usual form of social interaction for majority of the target population. Furthermore, analysis showed that the level of education and the size both of settlements and buildings where respondents live are the most important determinants of neighborhood social relations. In addition, the analysis revealed that years of residence at the present address are particularly important for density of neighborhood social relations.Izvlačenje društvenih odnosa iz lokalnog konteksta često se spominje kao jedno od bitnih obilježja suvremenih društvenih promjena. Upravo polazeći od toga ovim radom se propitivala uloga koju danas društveni odnosi u susjedstvu imaju u hrvatskom društvu. Dva su osnovna cilja ovoga rada: prvi cilj je dobiti uvid u obilježja strukture lokalnih društvenih odnosa u Hrvatskoj, a drugi cilj je utvrditi je li dinamika lokalnih društvenih odnosa povezana s nekim osnovnim sociodemografskim, socioekonomskim te prostornim čimbenicima. U analizi su korišteni podaci prikupljeni anketnim istraživanjem Pilarov barometar hrvatskog društva. Istraživanje je provedeno u proljeće 2014. godine na reprezentativnom uzorku građana Hrvatske starijih od 18 godina (N=1000). Dobiveni nalazi upućuju na to da je u hrvatskom društvu druženje sa susjedima još uvijek uobičajeni oblik socijalne interakcije za većinu stanovništva. Kao najznačajnije odrednice društvenih odnosa među susjedima pokazale su se stupanj obrazovanja te veličina naselja i zgrade u kojoj ispitanici žive. Osim toga, posebno važnim za gustoću društvenih odnosa u susjedstvu se pokazao broj godina provedeno na sadašnjoj adresi stanovanja

The Impact of Reason on Faith, Ethics and Belief

The following abstract references my book published May 2016: The Impact of Reason on Faith, Ethics and Belief. Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press, 2016. It is available at Vernon Press: http://vernonpress.com/title?id=92 and Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Impact-Reason-Ethics-Belief-Philosophy/dp/1622730577 ABSTRACT The purpose of this book is to examine the credibility of the theological claims of ethics, faith, and belief from a philosophical perspective. The Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants of the Old Testament, the Jesus of the synoptic gospels, and Paul’s writings serve as the frame of reference in examining a biblical expression of reason and structured logic. The clash of philosophy and theology is evident with theological presuppositions that are based on spiritual insight and divine revelation but which have no philosophical basis of proof. Uncovering the identity of YHWH in the manuscripts and religious practices of Canaanite culture clearly associated YHWH with the polytheism of the Ugarit texts. YHWH was one of the seventy sons of the Canaanite Most High God El and took on a unique identity that was rooted in El and the polytheistic nature of the pantheon of gods. Theological truths stand within the context of faith and reason stands apart from faith and infers only that which can be proven based on evidence. That which is knowable by faith cannot be known by reason since reason cannot validate that which is not proven to exist

A Review of Mouse-Tracking Applications in Economic Studies

Since mouse-tracking paradigm came under the spotlight two decades ago, by providing mouse cursor trajectories, it has been applied by behavioral scientists to a variety of topics to help understand real-time psychological state when people are faced with multiple choices. In this article, we provide a comprehensive, documentation of experimental economics studies with mouse-tracking paradigm. Among these studies, some focus on measuring choice uncertainty including subject uncertainty, temporal uncertainty, and probabilistic uncertainty; the rest are concerned with economic games including bargaining games and social dilemma games. Why and how these works employ mouse-tracking technique in their experiments is elaborated in detail. Finally, limitations of mouse-tracking paradigm are discussed, and research opportunities are proposed. Basic know-hows are appended as a general guide for interested readers