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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
