225 research outputs found
The Problem of Unwelcome Epistemic Company
Many of us are unmoved when it is objected that some morally or intellectually suspect source agrees with our belief. While we may tend to find this kind of guilt by epistemic association unproblematic, I argue that this tendency is a mistake. We sometimes face what I call the problem of unwelcome epistemic company. This is the problem of encountering agreement about the content your belief from a source whose faults give you reason to worry about the beliefâs truth, normative status, etiology, or implications. On the basis of an array of cases, I elaborate four distinct kinds of problems that unwelcome epistemic company poses. Two of these are distinctly epistemic, and two are moral. I canvass possible responses, ranging from stubbornness to an epistemic prudishness that avoids unwelcome company at all costs. Finally, I offer preliminary lessons of the problem and distinguish it from the problem of peer disagreement
Making Sense of What We Are: A Mythological Approach to Human Nature
publication-status: Publishedtypes: ArticleThe question what makes us human is often treated as a question of fact. However, the term 'human' is not primarily used to refer to a particular kind of entity, but is a 'nomen dignitatis' - a dignity-conferring name. It implies a particular moral status. That is what spawns endless debates about such issues as when human life begins and ends and Whether human-animal chimeras are "partly human". Definitions of the human are inevitably "persuasive". They tell us about what is important and how we should live our lives as humans, and thus help us to make sense of what we are
Aristotle's Peculiarly Human Psychology
For Aristotle, human cognition has a lot in common both with non-human
animal cognition and with divine cognition. With non-human animals, humans
share a non-rational part of the soul and non-rational cognitive faculties
(DA 427b6â14, NE 1102b29 and EE 1219b24â6). With gods, humans share
a rational part of the soul and rational cognitive faculties (NE 1177b17â
1178a8). The rational part and the non-rational part of the soul, however,
coexist and cooperate only in human souls (NE 1102b26â9, EE 1219b28â31).
In this chapter, I show that a study of this cooperation helps to uncover some
distinctive aspects of human cognition and desire
The last animal: cosmopolitanism in The Last Man
No description supplie
Imagining ânon-nationalityâ: Cosmopolitanism as a source of identity and belonging
Current literature tends to see cosmopolitan identity formation as an individual endeavour of developing a stance of openness, and transcending discourses of national and other cultural identities. This article challenges the essentialism inherent in this model by proposing a different framing of cosmopolitan identity formation that shifts the focus to how people collectively mobilize cosmopolitanism as a resource for cultural identity construction. The article is based on an anthropological study of transnational professionals who are part of a diverse expatriate community in Amsterdam. The analysis shows how these professionals draw on cosmopolitanism to define themselves as ânon-nationalsâ. This involves downplaying national affiliations and cultural differences while also marking national identity categories and âcultural featuresâ to maintain the difference they collectively embrace. This however does not imply openness to all otherness. Boundary drawing to demarcate the cosmopolitan âusâ in relation to national (mono)culture is equally important. The article argues that cosmopolitan identities are socially accomplished as particular modes of collective belonging that are part of â not beyond â a global discursive sphere of identity politics
Reading âFundamental British Valuesâ Through Childrenâs Gothic: Imperialism, History, Pedagogy
This paper reads the U.K. Governmentâs âfundamental British valuesâ project alongside two childrenâs Gothic novels, Coram Boy (2000) by Jamila Gavin and City of Ghosts (2009) by Bali Rai. In 2011 the U.K. Government outlined what it described as âfundamental British valuesâ (FBV), making it a requirement for U.K. schools to promote these values. Many critics have shown that the root of FBV lies in Islamophobia and imperialist nostalgia and suggested that the promotion of âBritishâ values in school will exclude minority groups already under siege from racist elements in contemporary Britain. Other critics argue that the promotion of FBV reduces opportunities to explore issues of belonging, belief, and nationhood in the classroom. This article argues that the Gothic fictions of Jamila Gavin and Bali Rai offer a space in which to critically examine British history (and so, its values) in a way that is acutely relevant to these education contexts. Coram Boy and City of Ghosts use the Gothic to interrogate aspects of British history elided by the FBV project. That is, they point to Britainâs imperial and colonial history and offer a rejoinder to the Governmentâs insistence that âBritish Valuesâ equate to democracy, respect for the rule of law and mutual respect and tolerance of those from different faiths and religions. Furthermore, Gavinâs and Raiâs use of the Gothic creates a space in which the ambiguities and contradictions inherent in FBV can be explored. However, their âgothicizedâ histories of Britain do not render the idea of shared values invalid. The diversity and interconnectedness of the characters offer an alternative version of identity to the patronising and arrogant FBV project, which is aimed at promoting a national identity based on sameness and assimilation. Rai and Gavin look to Britainâs past through the lens of the Gothic not only to refute nationalism and racism, but also to offer a productive alternative that gestures towards a more cosmopolitan vision of identity
âAgainst the Dog Only a Dogâ. Talking Canines Civilizing Cynicism in Cervantesâ âcoloquio de los perrosâ (With Tentative Remarks on the Discourse and Method of Animal Studies)
Deriving its designation from the Greek word for âdogâ, cynicism is likely the
only philosophical âinterest groupâ with a diachronically dependable affinity
for various animalsâparticularly those of the canine kind. While dogs have met
with differing value judgments, chiefly along a perceived humanâanimal divide,
it is specifically discourses with cynical affinities that render problematic
this transitional field. The Cervantine âcoloquio de los perrosâ has received
scholarly attention for its (caninely) picaresque themes, its âcynomorphicâ
(Ziolkowski) narratological technique, its socio-historically informative
accounts relating to Early Modern Europe and the Iberian peninsula, including
its âzoopoeticallyâ (Derrida) relevant portrayal of dogs (see e.g., Alves,
Beusterien, MartĂn); nor did the dialogâs mention of cynical snarling go
unnoticed. The essay at hand commences with a chapter on questions of method
pertaining to âanimal narrationâ: with recourse to Montaigne, Descartes, and
Derrida, this first part serves to situate the ensuing close readings with
respect to the field of Animal Studies. The analysis of the Cervantine texts
synergizes thematic and narratological aspects at the discourse historical
level; it commences with a brief synopsis of the respective novellas in part
2; Section 3, Section 4 and Section 5 supply a description of the rhetorical
modes of crafting plausibility in the framework narrative (âThe Deceitful
Marriageâ), of pertinent (Scriptural) intertexts for the âColloquyâ. Parts 6â7
demonstrate that the choice of canine interlocutors as narrating agenciesâand
specifically in their capacity as dogsâis discursively motivated: no other
animal than this animal, and precisely as animal, would here serve the
discursive purpose that is concurrently present with the literal plane; for
this dialogic novella partakes of a (predominantly Stoicizing) tradition
attempting to resocialize the Cynics, which commences already with the
appearance of the Ancient arch-Cynic âDiogenesâ on the scene. At the
discursive level, a diachronic contextualization evinces that the Cervantine
text takes up and outperforms those rhetorical techniques of reintegration by
melding Christian, Platonic, Stoicizing elements with such as are reminiscent
of Diogenical ones. Reallocating Blumenbergâs reading of a notorious Goethean
dictum, this essay submits the formula âagainst the Dog only a dogâ as a
concise précis of the Cervantine method at the discursive level, attained to
via a decidedly pluralized rhetorical sermocination featuring, at a literal
level, specifically canine narrators in a dialogic setting
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