Freedom as the basis of truth and reality in Russell's positivism and Stace's mysticism

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston UniversityPurpose. The central purpose of the dissertation is to localize the ultimate grounds of philosophic (and particularly metaphysical) differences, with the goal of achieving an eventual synthesis. To do this, the dissertation (1) analyzes the nature of metaphysical systems in general, (2) seeks a perspective (termed a meta-metaphysics) from which any metaphysical system can be derived, and (3) proposes to combine phenomenological and non-phenomenological methodologies. Method. First, the dissertation reviews representative attempts of philosophic synthesis. Those dealing with the general problem of synthesis, without specifying any particular one, are by Schiller, Montague, and Pepper. One specific attempt discussed consists of several syntheses of the existentialist and linguistic-analytic methods. Second, the dissertation presents an extended analysis of two antithetical philosophies: Russell's positivism and Stace's mysticism. By discovering the fundamental assumptions in each of these two conceptions of truth and reality and the values embodied and preserved by them, a comparison can be made with the view to finding the precise area of differences and agreements. Results. Russell is shown to hold that an acceptable definition prescribes and describes. He rejects coherence and warranted assertibility theories of truth, and defines truth as "logical, not epistemological, correspondence." The fundamental assumption in Russell's correspondence definition of truth is the postulation of qualitative metaphysical dualism, while the values embodied in his conception of definition and of truth are those found in the belief in the existence of an external world, including, of course, the existence of other minds. Russell, at times, conceives of reality as a "construction" (a notion first developed in his logic) of sensory perspectives, and at times as an inference from data. Fourteen assumptions are involved in the conceptions of reality. Among them we find "the universe is knowable through reason," "the given is a clue to a reality beyond," "the transcendent (in Kant's sense) use of the laws of inference is valid," and "the simple is more likely to correspond with events beyond sensations than the complex." Stace's position on mysticism is first examined as an interpretation of the mystical experience, and then as a theory of reality. The mystical experience may be characterized as either an experience of value, truth, or reality In mysticism as a theory of reality, value, truth, and reality each has a special ontological status. To understand mysticism is to know the interrelations of these terms. Since "assumption" is a logical term and mysticism is alogical, the phenomenological analysis of the mystical experience involves "priorities" (genetic, logical, phenomenological, axiological) in addition to assumptions. Among the twelve assumptions we find "naturalism and mysticism are two orders of one reality," "the mystic can legitimately choose his own meaning criterion," "extra-logical cognition is possible," "reality itself is extra-logical," and "subject-object bifurcations are not necessary." Conclusions. The ultimate ground for accepting these assumptions, priorities, and values is the possibility of choosing them freely, spontaneously, and autonomously. Russell must justify the possibility of correspondence (truth) and his metaphysical dualism (reality) on the grounds that they embody values which he has, in fact, freely chosen to accept. Stace's assumptions and priorities are likewise true and real because the values they embody are freely chosen. The dissertation constructs a meta-metaphysics that discloses positivism and mysticism (and any other empirically coherent metaphysics) as equality adequate world-views, differing only in the free commitment (Urentschluss) to these grounding assumptions and values. The exposition of this meta-metaphysics is the detailed description of its fundamental categories (the given, freedom, value, the logical and empirical refractory, and organizations of this given). Each of the above assumptions, priorities, and values is then interpreted in terms of this meta-metaphysics

Greek love, orientalism and race : intersections in Classical reception

Classics has been characterised as both a radical and a conservative discipline. Classical reception studies has enjoyed exploring this paradox: antiquity has provided an erotic example for modern homosexual counter-culture as well as a model for running exploitative empires. This article brings these aspects of reception studies together, to examine how the Victorian homosexual reception of the ancient Greeks was framed and worked out in a particular imperial context at the end of the nineteenth century

'Against the World': Michael Field, female marriage and the aura of amateurism'

This article considers the case of Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper, an aunt and niece who lived and wrote together as ‘Michael Field’ in the fin-de-siècle Aesthetic movement. Bradley’s bold statement that she and Cooper were ‘closer married’ than the Brownings forms the basis for a discussion of their partnership in terms of a ‘female marriage’, a union that is reflected, as I will argue, in the pages of their writings. However, Michael Field’s exclusively collaborative output, though extensive, was no guarantee for success. On the contrary, their case illustrates the notion, valid for most products of co-authorship, that the jointly written work is always surrounded by an aura of amateurism. Since collaboration defied the ingrained notion of the author as the solitary producer of his or her work, critics and readers have time and again attempted to ‘parse’ the collaboration by dissecting the co-authored work into its constituent halves, a treatment that the Fields too failed to escape

Profaning the sacred in leadership studies: A reading of Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase

The leadership literature is full of stories of heroic self-sacrifice. Sacrificial leadership behaviour, some scholars conclude, is to be recommended. In this article we follow Keith Grint's conceptualization of leadership as necessarily pertaining to the sacred, but-drawing on Giorgio Agamben's notion of profanation-we highlight the need for organization scholars to profane the sacralizations embedded in leadership thinking. One example of this, which guides us throughout the article, is the novel A Wild Sheep Chase, by the Japanese author Haruki Murakami. By means of a thematic reading of the novel, we discuss how it contributes to profaning particular notions of sacrifice and the sacred in leadership thinking. In the novel, self-sacrifice does not function as a way of establishing a leadership position, but as a way to avoid the dangers associated with leadership, and possibly redeem humans from their current collective urge to become leaders. Inspired by Murakami's fictional example, we call organization scholars to engage in profanation of leadership studies and, in doing so, open new vistas for leadership theory and practice. © The Author(s) 2012

Late style and speaking out: J A Symonds's In the Key of Blue

This article examines In the Key of Blue (1893)—an essay collection by John Addington Symonds—as a case study in queer public utterance during the early 1890s. Viewed through the critical lens of late style, as theorised by Edward Said, the evolution of this project, from compilation through to reader reception, reveals Symonds's determination to “speak out” on the subject of homosexuality. Paradoxically, In the Key of Blue was thus a timely and untimely work: it belonged to a brief period of increased visibility and expressiveness when dealing with male same-sex desire, spearheaded by a younger generation of Decadent writers, but it also cut against the grain of nineteenth-century social taboo and legal repression. Symonds's essay collection brought together new and previously unpublished work with examples of his writing for the periodical press. These new combinations, appearing together for the first time, served to facilitate new readings and new inferences, bringing homosexual themes to the fore. This article traces the dialogic structure of In the Key of Blue , its strategies for articulating homosexual desire, and examines the response of reviewers, from the hostile to celebratory

Accountability in the East Asian economic miracle, crisis and recovery

Despite claims that accountability enables 'good governance' proper, its specific origins, character and limitations are not yet fully clear. In order to explicate the nature of accountability better this paper will, therefore, formulate and apply its own comparative framework to the case of the East Asian economic miracle, crisis and recovery in particular. In so doing it finds that, even when accountability emerged as a mid-crisis issue that was dramatically reconfigured for any due recovery later, it was not itself then sufficiently explicated for all the implications and consequences to be realized fully. Once it is explicated more fully, however, the further implications and consequences of changing accountability for economic governance question precisely what is to be expected from accountability per se

Technological elites, the meritocracy, and postracial myths in Silicon Valley

Entre as modernas elites tecnológicas digitais, os mitos da meritocracia e da façanha intelectual são usados como marcadores de raça e gênero por uma supremacia branca masculina que consolida recursos de forma desproporcional em relação a pessoas não brancas, principalmente negros, latinos e indígenas. Os investimentos em mitos meritocráticos suprimem os questionamentos de racismo e discriminação, mesmo quando os produtos das elites digitais são infundidos com marcadores de raça, classe e gênero. As lutas históricas por inclusão social, política e econômica de negros, mulheres e outras classes desprotegidas têm implicado no reconhecimento da exclusão sistêmica, do trabalho forçado e da privação de direitos estruturais, além de compromissos com políticas públicas dos EUA, como as ações afirmativas, que foram igualmente fundamentais para reformas políticas voltadas para participação e oportunidades econômicas. A ascensão da tecnocracia digital tem sido, em muitos aspectos, antitética a esses esforços no sentido de reconhecer raça e gênero como fatores cruciais para inclusão e oportunidades tecnocráticas. Este artigo explora algumas das formas pelas quais os discursos das elites tecnocráticas do Vale do Silício reforçam os investimentos no pós racialismo como um pretexto para a re-consolidação do capital em oposição às políticas públicas que prometem acabar com práticas discriminatórias no mundo do trabalho. Por meio de uma análise cuidadosa do surgimento de empresas de tecnologias digitais e de uma discussão sobre como as elites tecnológicas trabalham para mascarar tudo, como inscrições algorítmicas e genéticas de raça incorporadas em seus produtos, mostramos como as elites digitais omitem a sua responsabilidade por suas reinscrições pós raciais de (in)visibilidades raciais. A partir do uso de análise histórica e crítica do discurso, o artigo revela como os mitos de uma meritocracia digital baseados em um “daltonismo racial” tecnocrático emergem como chave para a manutenção de exclusões de gênero e raça.Palavras-chave: Tecnologia. Raça. Gênero.Among modern digital technology elites, myths of meritocracy and intellectual prowess are used as racial and gender markers of white male supremacy that disproportionately consolidate resources away from people of color, particularly African Americans, Latino/as and Native Americans. Investments in meritocratic myths suppress interrogations of racism and discrimination even as the products of digital elites are infused with racial, class, and gender markers. Longstanding struggles for social, political, and economic inclusion for African Americans, women, and other legally protected classes have been predicated upon the recognition of systemic exclusion, forced labor, and structural disenfranchisement, and commitments to US public policies like affirmative action have, likewise, been fundamental to political reforms geared to economic opportunity and participation. The rise of the digital technocracy has, in many ways, been antithetical to these sustained efforts to recognize race and gender as salient factors structuring technocratic opportunity and inclusion. This paper explores some of the ways in which discourses of Silicon Valley technocratic elites bolster investments in post-racialism as a pretext for re-consolidations of capital, in opposition to public policy commitments to end discriminatory labor practices. Through a careful analysis of the rise of digital technology companies, and a discussion of how technology elites work to mask everything from algorithmic to genetic inscriptions of race embedded in their products, we show how digital elites elide responsibility for their post-racial re-inscriptions of racial visibilities (and invisibilities). Using historical and critical discourse analysis, the paper reveals how myths of a digital meritocracy premised on a technocratic colorblindness emerge key to perpetuating gender and racial exclusions.Keywords: Technology. Race. Gender

Alien Registration Card- Koestenbaum, Richard (Skowhegan, Somerset County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_cards/1057/thumbnail.jp

Alien Registration Card- Koestenbaum, Elizabeth (Skowhegan, Somerset County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_cards/1056/thumbnail.jp