George Cheney, Daniel J. Lair, Dean Ritz, and Brenden E. Kendall
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195182774
- eISBN:
- 9780199871001
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182774.003.0004
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Corporate Governance and Accountability
This chapter addresses work as an important domain of ethical talk, arguing that work and the talk about it are unavoidably ethical in nature. The chapter considers the multiple ways work is ...
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This chapter addresses work as an important domain of ethical talk, arguing that work and the talk about it are unavoidably ethical in nature. The chapter considers the multiple ways work is meaningful for people and the various roles it plays in their lives, examining historical and cross‐cultural variations. Especially important in this regard are the ways “work” and “life” are commonly separated‐‐but sometimes brought together‐‐in contemporary (post)industrial society. How work is bounded and framed in everyday thought and talk has enormous implications for the ethical possibilities that will be seen by any person or in any job. The chapter explains various ethical frames that apply to work, and their practical implications for making ethics more visible in everyday (work) life.Less
This chapter addresses work as an important domain of ethical talk, arguing that work and the talk about it are unavoidably ethical in nature. The chapter considers the multiple ways work is meaningful for people and the various roles it plays in their lives, examining historical and cross‐cultural variations. Especially important in this regard are the ways “work” and “life” are commonly separated‐‐but sometimes brought together‐‐in contemporary (post)industrial society. How work is bounded and framed in everyday thought and talk has enormous implications for the ethical possibilities that will be seen by any person or in any job. The chapter explains various ethical frames that apply to work, and their practical implications for making ethics more visible in everyday (work) life.
Ernest Lepore and Kirk Ludwig
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199290932
- eISBN:
- 9780191710445
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199290932.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
This Introduction discusses the background behind the conception of the book and the reasons the authors had for writing it. It mentions the 1967 paper by Donald Davidson ‘Truth and Meaning’ which ...
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This Introduction discusses the background behind the conception of the book and the reasons the authors had for writing it. It mentions the 1967 paper by Donald Davidson ‘Truth and Meaning’ which introduced foundations and applications of the program of truth-theoretic semantics for natural languages which heavily inspired the authors of this book.Less
This Introduction discusses the background behind the conception of the book and the reasons the authors had for writing it. It mentions the 1967 paper by Donald Davidson ‘Truth and Meaning’ which introduced foundations and applications of the program of truth-theoretic semantics for natural languages which heavily inspired the authors of this book.
Cyriel M. A. Pennartz
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262029315
- eISBN:
- 9780262330121
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262029315.003.0001
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience
This book explores the neural basis of consciousness and, more specifically, with the foundations of neural representations underlying consciousness. It adopts a neuroscientific angle on how neural ...
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This book explores the neural basis of consciousness and, more specifically, with the foundations of neural representations underlying consciousness. It adopts a neuroscientific angle on how neural systems generate representations and consciousness, but at the same time considers the “hard” problem of consciousness. In contrast to aspects that have proven accessible to experimental study, such as attention and memory, this hard aspect is considered to be the qualitative nature of conscious experience, and precisely because of this nature it has been vexingly difficult to come up with plausible neural explanations. In this chapter, we will first dig into definitional issues in studies of consciousness and representation, such as: what is consciousness, and how may the concept of “representation” be informative about it? How do we recognize a conscious state in ourselves or in other beings? Important distinctions between 'detection' and 'perception' are introduced as well as different uses of 'meaning'. Finally, a brief overview of this book's contents is given.Less
This book explores the neural basis of consciousness and, more specifically, with the foundations of neural representations underlying consciousness. It adopts a neuroscientific angle on how neural systems generate representations and consciousness, but at the same time considers the “hard” problem of consciousness. In contrast to aspects that have proven accessible to experimental study, such as attention and memory, this hard aspect is considered to be the qualitative nature of conscious experience, and precisely because of this nature it has been vexingly difficult to come up with plausible neural explanations. In this chapter, we will first dig into definitional issues in studies of consciousness and representation, such as: what is consciousness, and how may the concept of “representation” be informative about it? How do we recognize a conscious state in ourselves or in other beings? Important distinctions between 'detection' and 'perception' are introduced as well as different uses of 'meaning'. Finally, a brief overview of this book's contents is given.
Cyriel M. A. Pennartz
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262029315
- eISBN:
- 9780262330121
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262029315.003.0005
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience
A crucial deficiency of network models is their inability to modally identify or recognize the inputs they receive. To begin solving this problem, we ask to what extent current models resemble ...
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A crucial deficiency of network models is their inability to modally identify or recognize the inputs they receive. To begin solving this problem, we ask to what extent current models resemble non-living systems. If we find neural network models trustworthy at first glance, but recognize strong analogies with other complex systems found throughout nature, we must consider whether these models are underconstrained or simply inaccurate. If not, we may have to accept panpsychism, holding that mind-like properties are found to be widespread throughout nature. When network models are compared with a system that appears utterly nonconscious-a group of rocks bathing in sunlight-it does not appear to be trivial to pinpoint why this inanimate system should be denied any neural-network like (or cognitive) capacity. But should this lead us to defend panpsychism? Considering the limitations of network models, various other approaches are scrutinized, such as computational functionalism, global workspace theory and information-theoretical frameworks. These are found to face the same problem as encountered before: a failure to attribute meaning or content to the information they process. But rather than defending panpsychism, these considerations lead us to conclude that current theories are still underconstrained.Less
A crucial deficiency of network models is their inability to modally identify or recognize the inputs they receive. To begin solving this problem, we ask to what extent current models resemble non-living systems. If we find neural network models trustworthy at first glance, but recognize strong analogies with other complex systems found throughout nature, we must consider whether these models are underconstrained or simply inaccurate. If not, we may have to accept panpsychism, holding that mind-like properties are found to be widespread throughout nature. When network models are compared with a system that appears utterly nonconscious-a group of rocks bathing in sunlight-it does not appear to be trivial to pinpoint why this inanimate system should be denied any neural-network like (or cognitive) capacity. But should this lead us to defend panpsychism? Considering the limitations of network models, various other approaches are scrutinized, such as computational functionalism, global workspace theory and information-theoretical frameworks. These are found to face the same problem as encountered before: a failure to attribute meaning or content to the information they process. But rather than defending panpsychism, these considerations lead us to conclude that current theories are still underconstrained.
Roberto Verganti
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262035361
- eISBN:
- 9780262335829
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262035361.003.0002
- Subject:
- Art, Design
This Chapter shows why finding a new direction and innovating the meaning of things is central in the life of people. Why innovation of meaning is important for customers? Why they fall in love with ...
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This Chapter shows why finding a new direction and innovating the meaning of things is central in the life of people. Why innovation of meaning is important for customers? Why they fall in love with new meanings? The answer lies in two changes of the scenario. First, an overabundance of options, in a complicated world. People, today, are not lacking possible solutions. When one has to choose a product or a service, the possibilities are many; in this sea of opportunities, the challenge is to understand which option is meaningful for them as individuals. The focus of people’s attention has therefore moved from the “how” to the “why,” from “how can I solve this?” to “is this meaningful to me?,” from “I need this” to “do I need this?” In a context with low variety, the challenge is to build more solutions. In a context with more choice, the challenge is to find the right direction, the right “why.” Hence the relevance of meaning. Second, the speed of change: in the past meanings in society evolved slowly; an organization could simply wait and adapt. Nowadays the meaning of things changes at a dramatic pace.Less
This Chapter shows why finding a new direction and innovating the meaning of things is central in the life of people. Why innovation of meaning is important for customers? Why they fall in love with new meanings? The answer lies in two changes of the scenario. First, an overabundance of options, in a complicated world. People, today, are not lacking possible solutions. When one has to choose a product or a service, the possibilities are many; in this sea of opportunities, the challenge is to understand which option is meaningful for them as individuals. The focus of people’s attention has therefore moved from the “how” to the “why,” from “how can I solve this?” to “is this meaningful to me?,” from “I need this” to “do I need this?” In a context with low variety, the challenge is to build more solutions. In a context with more choice, the challenge is to find the right direction, the right “why.” Hence the relevance of meaning. Second, the speed of change: in the past meanings in society evolved slowly; an organization could simply wait and adapt. Nowadays the meaning of things changes at a dramatic pace.
Mathew A. Foust
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780823242696
- eISBN:
- 9780823242733
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823242696.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, American Philosophy
This conclusion to the book emphasizes that Royce's philosophy of loyalty does not necessitate becoming a moral hero, but simply necessitates that we be loyal, and insofar as it lies in our power, be ...
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This conclusion to the book emphasizes that Royce's philosophy of loyalty does not necessitate becoming a moral hero, but simply necessitates that we be loyal, and insofar as it lies in our power, be loyal to loyalty. It is urged that our lives have sense and meaning if we are loyal, and our lives are genuinely moral if and only if our loyalty is loyal to loyalty. Such loyal living is what recognizes and strives to fulfil the universal need to be helped, devoting our loyal service according to our unique capacities, aptitudes, relationships, interests, and talents. In our quest to live loyally, we will undoubtedly endure times of defeat, but if loyalty is what makes life meaningful, then a defeat of one's loyalty must never be taken as final.Less
This conclusion to the book emphasizes that Royce's philosophy of loyalty does not necessitate becoming a moral hero, but simply necessitates that we be loyal, and insofar as it lies in our power, be loyal to loyalty. It is urged that our lives have sense and meaning if we are loyal, and our lives are genuinely moral if and only if our loyalty is loyal to loyalty. Such loyal living is what recognizes and strives to fulfil the universal need to be helped, devoting our loyal service according to our unique capacities, aptitudes, relationships, interests, and talents. In our quest to live loyally, we will undoubtedly endure times of defeat, but if loyalty is what makes life meaningful, then a defeat of one's loyalty must never be taken as final.
William Lyons
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198752226
- eISBN:
- 9780191695087
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198752226.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Language
The first part of the chapter presents an outline of the functional role theory of intentionality using the works of Gilbert Harman, Thought, Meaning and Semantics and Language, Thought and ...
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The first part of the chapter presents an outline of the functional role theory of intentionality using the works of Gilbert Harman, Thought, Meaning and Semantics and Language, Thought and Communication. The second section looks into the ascription-interpretation distinction using Loar's view that the proper way to approach an account of beliefs is through distinction between epistemological considerations and metaphysical ones. The third section looks into the functional role, truth-functional role, physical state, logical relations, and truth-conditional relations. The fourth section examines the constraints on naturalizing intentionality: semantic constraint, and network constraint. The fifth section describes the functional role semantics of Loar's account. The final sections summarize the central topics of Loar's account of intentionality, its implications on naturalizing intentionality, and the problems faced by this account.Less
The first part of the chapter presents an outline of the functional role theory of intentionality using the works of Gilbert Harman, Thought, Meaning and Semantics and Language, Thought and Communication. The second section looks into the ascription-interpretation distinction using Loar's view that the proper way to approach an account of beliefs is through distinction between epistemological considerations and metaphysical ones. The third section looks into the functional role, truth-functional role, physical state, logical relations, and truth-conditional relations. The fourth section examines the constraints on naturalizing intentionality: semantic constraint, and network constraint. The fifth section describes the functional role semantics of Loar's account. The final sections summarize the central topics of Loar's account of intentionality, its implications on naturalizing intentionality, and the problems faced by this account.
Wolfram Hinzen and Michelle Sheehan
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199654833
- eISBN:
- 9780191747977
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654833.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Theoretical Linguistics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics
What is grammar? Why is it there? What difference, if any, does it make to the organization of meaning? This book seeks to give principled answers to these questions. Since grammar is universal in ...
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What is grammar? Why is it there? What difference, if any, does it make to the organization of meaning? This book seeks to give principled answers to these questions. Since grammar is universal in human populations, its topic is ‘universal’ grammar—or the grammatical as such. But while modern generative grammar stands in the tradition of ‘Cartesian linguistics’ as emerging in the seventeenth century, this book re-addresses the question of the grammatical in a broader historical frame, taking inspiration from Modistic and Ancient Indian philosopher-linguists to formulate a different and ‘Un-Cartesian’ programme in linguistic theory. The core claim of this programme is that the organization of the grammar is not distinct from the organization of human thought—a sapiens-specific mode of thought, that is. This mode is uniquely propositional: grammar, therefore, organizes propositional forms of reference and makes knowledge possible. An explanatory programme emerges from this, which regards the grammaticalization of the hominin brain as critical to the emergence of our mind and our speciation. A thoroughly interdisciplinary endeavour, the book seeks to systematically integrate the philosophy of language and linguistic theory. It casts a fresh look at core issues that any philosophy of (universal) grammar will need to address, such as the distinction between lexical and grammatical meaning, the significance of part of speech distinctions, the grammar of reference and deixis, the relation between language and reality, and the dimensions of cross-linguistic and biolinguistic variation.Less
What is grammar? Why is it there? What difference, if any, does it make to the organization of meaning? This book seeks to give principled answers to these questions. Since grammar is universal in human populations, its topic is ‘universal’ grammar—or the grammatical as such. But while modern generative grammar stands in the tradition of ‘Cartesian linguistics’ as emerging in the seventeenth century, this book re-addresses the question of the grammatical in a broader historical frame, taking inspiration from Modistic and Ancient Indian philosopher-linguists to formulate a different and ‘Un-Cartesian’ programme in linguistic theory. The core claim of this programme is that the organization of the grammar is not distinct from the organization of human thought—a sapiens-specific mode of thought, that is. This mode is uniquely propositional: grammar, therefore, organizes propositional forms of reference and makes knowledge possible. An explanatory programme emerges from this, which regards the grammaticalization of the hominin brain as critical to the emergence of our mind and our speciation. A thoroughly interdisciplinary endeavour, the book seeks to systematically integrate the philosophy of language and linguistic theory. It casts a fresh look at core issues that any philosophy of (universal) grammar will need to address, such as the distinction between lexical and grammatical meaning, the significance of part of speech distinctions, the grammar of reference and deixis, the relation between language and reality, and the dimensions of cross-linguistic and biolinguistic variation.
Lisa A. Lindsay
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781469631127
- eISBN:
- 9781469631141
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469631127.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
Through the contextualized biography of a previously unknown African American immigrant to Africa, this book illuminates slavery and freedom in multiple parts of the nineteenth century Atlantic ...
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Through the contextualized biography of a previously unknown African American immigrant to Africa, this book illuminates slavery and freedom in multiple parts of the nineteenth century Atlantic world. A decade before the American Civil War, James Churchwill Vaughan (1828-93) set out to fulfill his formerly enslaved father’s dying wish: that he should leave his home in South Carolina for a new life in Africa. Over the next forty years, Vaughan was taken captive, fought in African wars, built and rebuilt a livelihood, and led a revolt against white racism, finally becoming a successful merchant and founder of a wealthy, educated, and politically active family in Lagos, Nigeria. Tracing Vaughan’s journey from South Carolina to Liberia to several parts of Yorubaland (present-day southwestern Nigeria), the book documents this “free” man’s struggle to find economic and political autonomy in an era when freedom was not clear and unhindered anywhere for people of African descent. By following Vaughan’s transatlantic journeys and comparing his experiences to those of his parents, contemporaries, and descendants in Nigeria and South Carolina, the book reveals the expansive reach of slavery, the ambiguities of freedom, and the surprising ways that Africa, rather than America, offered new opportunities for people of the African diaspora.Less
Through the contextualized biography of a previously unknown African American immigrant to Africa, this book illuminates slavery and freedom in multiple parts of the nineteenth century Atlantic world. A decade before the American Civil War, James Churchwill Vaughan (1828-93) set out to fulfill his formerly enslaved father’s dying wish: that he should leave his home in South Carolina for a new life in Africa. Over the next forty years, Vaughan was taken captive, fought in African wars, built and rebuilt a livelihood, and led a revolt against white racism, finally becoming a successful merchant and founder of a wealthy, educated, and politically active family in Lagos, Nigeria. Tracing Vaughan’s journey from South Carolina to Liberia to several parts of Yorubaland (present-day southwestern Nigeria), the book documents this “free” man’s struggle to find economic and political autonomy in an era when freedom was not clear and unhindered anywhere for people of African descent. By following Vaughan’s transatlantic journeys and comparing his experiences to those of his parents, contemporaries, and descendants in Nigeria and South Carolina, the book reveals the expansive reach of slavery, the ambiguities of freedom, and the surprising ways that Africa, rather than America, offered new opportunities for people of the African diaspora.
James McElvenny
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474425032
- eISBN:
- 9781474444859
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474425032.003.0002
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics
This chapter outlines the semiotic theory presented in Ogden and Richards’ 1923 book The Meaning of Meaning and examines the historical context in which it was written. The motivating concern that ...
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This chapter outlines the semiotic theory presented in Ogden and Richards’ 1923 book The Meaning of Meaning and examines the historical context in which it was written. The motivating concern that runs through the entire book is the establishment of an adequate theory to fight the dangers of ‘word-magic’, the confusions engendered through ignorance of the workings of language. The chief influences on Ogden and Richards are shown to be the logical atomism of Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein and the significs of Victoria Lady Welby. The broader intellectual background of contemporary philosophy, psychology and linguistics against which these ideas were developed is also discussed, along with the influence of the social and political climate of the time. Less
This chapter outlines the semiotic theory presented in Ogden and Richards’ 1923 book The Meaning of Meaning and examines the historical context in which it was written. The motivating concern that runs through the entire book is the establishment of an adequate theory to fight the dangers of ‘word-magic’, the confusions engendered through ignorance of the workings of language. The chief influences on Ogden and Richards are shown to be the logical atomism of Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein and the significs of Victoria Lady Welby. The broader intellectual background of contemporary philosophy, psychology and linguistics against which these ideas were developed is also discussed, along with the influence of the social and political climate of the time.
Chris Hutton
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748633500
- eISBN:
- 9780748671489
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748633500.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Applied Linguistics and Pedagogy
This work offers a critical guide to debates concerning linguistic meaning and interpretation in relation to legal language. Law is an ideal domain for studying fundamental questions relating to how ...
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This work offers a critical guide to debates concerning linguistic meaning and interpretation in relation to legal language. Law is an ideal domain for studying fundamental questions relating to how we assign meanings to words, understand and comment on texts, and deal with socially and ideologically significant questions of interpretation. Theoretical issues of concern to linguists, philosophers, literary theorists, and others are made vivid by the demands of the legal context, since law is driven by the need for practical solutions and for determinate outcomes based on explicit reasoning. Topics covered include: the relationship between linguistics and legal theory, indeterminacy and statutory interpretation, the theory and practice of using dictionaries in law, defamation and language in the public sphere, and the distinction between perjury and deception. The book is designed as a self-contained, advanced introduction to a fascinating area of study, and the reader will gain an overall insight into issues and debates about meaning and interpretation as well as an understanding of how the legal context shapes these questions. The aim of the book is to equip the reader to go on to tackle the academic literature in relation to law and linguistics, legal interpretation and jurisprudence.Less
This work offers a critical guide to debates concerning linguistic meaning and interpretation in relation to legal language. Law is an ideal domain for studying fundamental questions relating to how we assign meanings to words, understand and comment on texts, and deal with socially and ideologically significant questions of interpretation. Theoretical issues of concern to linguists, philosophers, literary theorists, and others are made vivid by the demands of the legal context, since law is driven by the need for practical solutions and for determinate outcomes based on explicit reasoning. Topics covered include: the relationship between linguistics and legal theory, indeterminacy and statutory interpretation, the theory and practice of using dictionaries in law, defamation and language in the public sphere, and the distinction between perjury and deception. The book is designed as a self-contained, advanced introduction to a fascinating area of study, and the reader will gain an overall insight into issues and debates about meaning and interpretation as well as an understanding of how the legal context shapes these questions. The aim of the book is to equip the reader to go on to tackle the academic literature in relation to law and linguistics, legal interpretation and jurisprudence.
Roberto Verganti
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262035361
- eISBN:
- 9780262335829
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262035361.003.0001
- Subject:
- Art, Design
This chapter summarizes the content of the book “Overcrowded”: (1) In the current scenario, overcrowded by ideas, having additional ideas have marginal value, both for businesses and customers. ...
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This chapter summarizes the content of the book “Overcrowded”: (1) In the current scenario, overcrowded by ideas, having additional ideas have marginal value, both for businesses and customers. Indeed it destroys value by making things even fuzzier and difficult to discern. (2) In this wealth of opportunities, value comes from envisioning which direction makes more sense. It does not require more ideas, but one meaningful vision. Not to improve how things are, but why we need them. The winners are those who make existing problems old and redefine the scenario; those who make customers fall in love by offering not something better, but something more meaningful. (3) To create meaningful things we need a process whose principles are the opposite of the ideation and outside-in innovation that has populated the innovation discourse in the last years: we need criticism and to start from ourselves.Less
This chapter summarizes the content of the book “Overcrowded”: (1) In the current scenario, overcrowded by ideas, having additional ideas have marginal value, both for businesses and customers. Indeed it destroys value by making things even fuzzier and difficult to discern. (2) In this wealth of opportunities, value comes from envisioning which direction makes more sense. It does not require more ideas, but one meaningful vision. Not to improve how things are, but why we need them. The winners are those who make existing problems old and redefine the scenario; those who make customers fall in love by offering not something better, but something more meaningful. (3) To create meaningful things we need a process whose principles are the opposite of the ideation and outside-in innovation that has populated the innovation discourse in the last years: we need criticism and to start from ourselves.
Leigh Wilson
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780748627691
- eISBN:
- 9780748684441
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748627691.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
This chapter looks at the relationship between language and ghosts in a number of thinkers and writers in the early twentieth century. Beginning with Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus ...
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This chapter looks at the relationship between language and ghosts in a number of thinkers and writers in the early twentieth century. Beginning with Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, and moving to C.K. Ogden and I.A. Richards’ The Meaning of Meaning via Jeremy Bentham's theory of fictions, the chapter locates an anxiety about the inherent relation between words and magic. This anxiety is often expressed in a repeated return to the ghostly. The chapter goes on to show that literary modernism, from Imagism onwards, shares this sense of the relation between words and ghosts, but uses it to claim the transformative power of language. This is substantiated through readings of Proust, A la recherche du temps perdu, of Mann, The Magic Mountain, and finally of book 12 of Ulysses, ‘Cyclops’, where the parodic evocation of a séance is read not as a debunking of such practices but as a claim for the transforming nature of Joyce's writing.Less
This chapter looks at the relationship between language and ghosts in a number of thinkers and writers in the early twentieth century. Beginning with Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, and moving to C.K. Ogden and I.A. Richards’ The Meaning of Meaning via Jeremy Bentham's theory of fictions, the chapter locates an anxiety about the inherent relation between words and magic. This anxiety is often expressed in a repeated return to the ghostly. The chapter goes on to show that literary modernism, from Imagism onwards, shares this sense of the relation between words and ghosts, but uses it to claim the transformative power of language. This is substantiated through readings of Proust, A la recherche du temps perdu, of Mann, The Magic Mountain, and finally of book 12 of Ulysses, ‘Cyclops’, where the parodic evocation of a séance is read not as a debunking of such practices but as a claim for the transforming nature of Joyce's writing.
Christopher Watkin
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748637591
- eISBN:
- 9780748671847
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748637591.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This introductory chapter sets out the three related sets of questions that the book seeks to answer: (1) What is the relation between phenomenology and deconstruction? (2) How can contemporary ...
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This introductory chapter sets out the three related sets of questions that the book seeks to answer: (1) What is the relation between phenomenology and deconstruction? (2) How can contemporary French thought develop responses to the problems of alterity and coherence? (3) In the light of these concerns, what resources are there in the thought of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Paul Ricœur and Jean-Luc Nancy for thinking ontology ‘otherwise’? The starting hypothesis of the book is that, even after deconstruction, the phenomenological idea that meaning inheres (somehow) in the world is worth another look. The introduction closely examines each word in the short phrase ‘the relation of phenomenology and deconstruction’, notably circumscribing what can be meant by ‘phenomenology’ and ‘deconstruction’ and beginning to critique reductive characterisations of their relation as successive or mutually exclusive.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the three related sets of questions that the book seeks to answer: (1) What is the relation between phenomenology and deconstruction? (2) How can contemporary French thought develop responses to the problems of alterity and coherence? (3) In the light of these concerns, what resources are there in the thought of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Paul Ricœur and Jean-Luc Nancy for thinking ontology ‘otherwise’? The starting hypothesis of the book is that, even after deconstruction, the phenomenological idea that meaning inheres (somehow) in the world is worth another look. The introduction closely examines each word in the short phrase ‘the relation of phenomenology and deconstruction’, notably circumscribing what can be meant by ‘phenomenology’ and ‘deconstruction’ and beginning to critique reductive characterisations of their relation as successive or mutually exclusive.
Joseph Redfield Palmisano
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199925025
- eISBN:
- 9780199980451
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199925025.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The book begins by “situating” Heschel's The Prophets, as a response-cum-theodicy to the discontinuity of the Shoah. We bring David Tracy into dialogue with Heschel on what is constitutive of a ...
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The book begins by “situating” Heschel's The Prophets, as a response-cum-theodicy to the discontinuity of the Shoah. We bring David Tracy into dialogue with Heschel on what is constitutive of a “prophetic” interreligious witnessing. Considering Heschel with and through Tracy's hermeneutic on a “prophetico-mystical” approach provides us with a dialectically sensitive and interreligiously-attuned lens for considering both The Prophets, and Stein's later theory and praxis of empathy. In particular, the chapter examines how The Prophets' treatment of Second Isaiah and Jeremiah reveals the motif of a God who remembers. This motif is progressively widened through a consideration of how a literary descendant to The Prophets, Heschel's speech to the Quakers, Versuch einer Deutung/“A Search for a Meaning” (1938), challenges the inter-religious prophetic witness towards an ethical re-membering of oneself with the other.Less
The book begins by “situating” Heschel's The Prophets, as a response-cum-theodicy to the discontinuity of the Shoah. We bring David Tracy into dialogue with Heschel on what is constitutive of a “prophetic” interreligious witnessing. Considering Heschel with and through Tracy's hermeneutic on a “prophetico-mystical” approach provides us with a dialectically sensitive and interreligiously-attuned lens for considering both The Prophets, and Stein's later theory and praxis of empathy. In particular, the chapter examines how The Prophets' treatment of Second Isaiah and Jeremiah reveals the motif of a God who remembers. This motif is progressively widened through a consideration of how a literary descendant to The Prophets, Heschel's speech to the Quakers, Versuch einer Deutung/“A Search for a Meaning” (1938), challenges the inter-religious prophetic witness towards an ethical re-membering of oneself with the other.
Lisa Purse
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748638178
- eISBN:
- 9780748670857
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748638178.003.0003
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Illustrating the action film's persistent focus on the exerting body, this chapter asks how we can more precisely account for the viewer's experience of action cinema, and speci?cally his or her ...
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Illustrating the action film's persistent focus on the exerting body, this chapter asks how we can more precisely account for the viewer's experience of action cinema, and speci?cally his or her engagement with on-screen action bodies, and investigates how those on-screen bodies generate meaning. Using Casino Royale as an extended case study, the chapter shows how the action movie stages the body in ways which achieve a viscerally felt sense of physical effort, and draws on phenomenological film theory to account for the ways in which the spectator ‘fleshes out’ what he or she sees onscreen and the consequences of that fleshing out for meaning and interpretation.Less
Illustrating the action film's persistent focus on the exerting body, this chapter asks how we can more precisely account for the viewer's experience of action cinema, and speci?cally his or her engagement with on-screen action bodies, and investigates how those on-screen bodies generate meaning. Using Casino Royale as an extended case study, the chapter shows how the action movie stages the body in ways which achieve a viscerally felt sense of physical effort, and draws on phenomenological film theory to account for the ways in which the spectator ‘fleshes out’ what he or she sees onscreen and the consequences of that fleshing out for meaning and interpretation.
Charles Anderson
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780748694549
- eISBN:
- 9781474400787
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748694549.003.0008
- Subject:
- Education, Educational Policy and Politics
Charles Anderson considers the importance of sensitive tailoring of our approaches to communication for specific situations and audiences, and applies this particularly to the practices of feedback. ...
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Charles Anderson considers the importance of sensitive tailoring of our approaches to communication for specific situations and audiences, and applies this particularly to the practices of feedback. The theoretical basis for this chapter lies in the work of Norwegian psycholinguist Ragnar Rommetveit, whose work on inter-subjective communication has also influenced Dai Hounsell. Anderson addresses the significant lack of analysis of the nature of communication in the literature on assessment and feedback. Drawing on Rommetveit, Anderson places particular emphasis on context and perspective in terms of meaning making. This then has implications for how we give, and how students understand, feedback, particularly within different disciplinary and professional learning contextsLess
Charles Anderson considers the importance of sensitive tailoring of our approaches to communication for specific situations and audiences, and applies this particularly to the practices of feedback. The theoretical basis for this chapter lies in the work of Norwegian psycholinguist Ragnar Rommetveit, whose work on inter-subjective communication has also influenced Dai Hounsell. Anderson addresses the significant lack of analysis of the nature of communication in the literature on assessment and feedback. Drawing on Rommetveit, Anderson places particular emphasis on context and perspective in terms of meaning making. This then has implications for how we give, and how students understand, feedback, particularly within different disciplinary and professional learning contexts
Hanoch Gutfreund and Jürgen Renn
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691174631
- eISBN:
- 9781400888689
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691174631.003.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics
This introductory chapter provides a brief background into the development of Albert Einstein's special and general theories of relativity. As a characteristic stage in the development of the theory, ...
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This introductory chapter provides a brief background into the development of Albert Einstein's special and general theories of relativity. As a characteristic stage in the development of the theory, the chapter focuses on the formative years which have, remarkably, received less attention from historians than subsequent periods. It argues that a “renaissance” of general relativity had begun essentially as the result of a community-building effort turning the theory into a universally applicable framework. This revival was followed by what has been called the “golden age” of relativity, which witnessed new conceptual insights, such as those into the nature of spacetime singularities, and turned the theory into the foundation of modern astrophysics and observational cosmology.Less
This introductory chapter provides a brief background into the development of Albert Einstein's special and general theories of relativity. As a characteristic stage in the development of the theory, the chapter focuses on the formative years which have, remarkably, received less attention from historians than subsequent periods. It argues that a “renaissance” of general relativity had begun essentially as the result of a community-building effort turning the theory into a universally applicable framework. This revival was followed by what has been called the “golden age” of relativity, which witnessed new conceptual insights, such as those into the nature of spacetime singularities, and turned the theory into the foundation of modern astrophysics and observational cosmology.
Hanoch Gutfreund and Jürgen Renn
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691174631
- eISBN:
- 9781400888689
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691174631.003.0003
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics
This chapter discusses the structure and content of Einstein's text, The Meaning of Relativity. It shows the flow of ideas in the order of their presentation and emphasizes the new ways of their ...
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This chapter discusses the structure and content of Einstein's text, The Meaning of Relativity. It shows the flow of ideas in the order of their presentation and emphasizes the new ways of their formulation, as influenced by Einstein's interaction with his colleagues and by his own rethinking of some of the basic concepts. As in the case of his Relativity—The Special and the General Theory, where throughout the years Einstein added new appendixes to later editions of the book, he also used The Meaning of Relativity as a platform to publish over the course of time, up until the end of his life, his reflections on the major issues on the agenda of debates and efforts during the formative years of general relativity.Less
This chapter discusses the structure and content of Einstein's text, The Meaning of Relativity. It shows the flow of ideas in the order of their presentation and emphasizes the new ways of their formulation, as influenced by Einstein's interaction with his colleagues and by his own rethinking of some of the basic concepts. As in the case of his Relativity—The Special and the General Theory, where throughout the years Einstein added new appendixes to later editions of the book, he also used The Meaning of Relativity as a platform to publish over the course of time, up until the end of his life, his reflections on the major issues on the agenda of debates and efforts during the formative years of general relativity.
Ashli Que Sinberry Stokes and Wendy Atkins-Sayre
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496809186
- eISBN:
- 9781496809223
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496809186.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
This chapter details the concept of identity and places the book within the tradition of rhetorical scholarship. It argues that Southern food is a constitutive rhetoric, creating a people based on ...
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This chapter details the concept of identity and places the book within the tradition of rhetorical scholarship. It argues that Southern food is a constitutive rhetoric, creating a people based on the shared experiences through the food, as well as the narratives surrounding the food. Using food experiences, oral histories, and readings of various alternative texts, it highlights the need to continue to move beyond “texts” to explore the rhetorical implications of “identificatory” experiences, such as food culture. By showing how our identities can be shaped through sensory experiences (taste, touch, smell, sight, and sound) and memory during Southern food experiences, we continue to develop the line of constitutive scholarship that explicates how our identities constitute our practices. Southern food, then, influences how we view ourselves and can therefore influence our practices, which is to say how we perform our Southern influenced identities.Less
This chapter details the concept of identity and places the book within the tradition of rhetorical scholarship. It argues that Southern food is a constitutive rhetoric, creating a people based on the shared experiences through the food, as well as the narratives surrounding the food. Using food experiences, oral histories, and readings of various alternative texts, it highlights the need to continue to move beyond “texts” to explore the rhetorical implications of “identificatory” experiences, such as food culture. By showing how our identities can be shaped through sensory experiences (taste, touch, smell, sight, and sound) and memory during Southern food experiences, we continue to develop the line of constitutive scholarship that explicates how our identities constitute our practices. Southern food, then, influences how we view ourselves and can therefore influence our practices, which is to say how we perform our Southern influenced identities.
