John Foster
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199297139
- eISBN:
- 9780191711398
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199297139.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
The aim of the book is to refute physical realism and establish in its place a form of phenomenalistic idealism. Physical realism, in the relevant sense, takes the physical world to be something ...
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The aim of the book is to refute physical realism and establish in its place a form of phenomenalistic idealism. Physical realism, in the relevant sense, takes the physical world to be something whose existence is both logically independent of the human mind and philosophically fundamental. There are a number of problems for this realist view, but the main objection is that it does not accord the world the empirical immanence it needs if it is to qualify as our world, as a world for us. Phenomenalistic idealism rejects the realist view in both its aspects. It takes the world to be something whose existence is ultimately constituted by facts about human sensory experience, or by some richer complex of non-physical facts in which such experiential facts centrally feature. The book seeks to establish a specific version of this idealism, in which the experiential facts that centrally feature in the constitutive creation of the world concern the organization of human sensory experience. The basic idea of this version is that, in the context of certain other constitutively relevant factors, this sensory organization creates the physical world by disposing things to appear systematically worldwise at the human empirical viewpoint. Chief among the other relevant factors is the role of God as the one who is responsible for the sensory organization and ordains the system of appearance it yields. It is this that gives the idealistically created world its objectivity and allows it to qualify as a real world.Less
The aim of the book is to refute physical realism and establish in its place a form of phenomenalistic idealism. Physical realism, in the relevant sense, takes the physical world to be something whose existence is both logically independent of the human mind and philosophically fundamental. There are a number of problems for this realist view, but the main objection is that it does not accord the world the empirical immanence it needs if it is to qualify as our world, as a world for us. Phenomenalistic idealism rejects the realist view in both its aspects. It takes the world to be something whose existence is ultimately constituted by facts about human sensory experience, or by some richer complex of non-physical facts in which such experiential facts centrally feature. The book seeks to establish a specific version of this idealism, in which the experiential facts that centrally feature in the constitutive creation of the world concern the organization of human sensory experience. The basic idea of this version is that, in the context of certain other constitutively relevant factors, this sensory organization creates the physical world by disposing things to appear systematically worldwise at the human empirical viewpoint. Chief among the other relevant factors is the role of God as the one who is responsible for the sensory organization and ordains the system of appearance it yields. It is this that gives the idealistically created world its objectivity and allows it to qualify as a real world.
Bas C. van Fraassen
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199278220
- eISBN:
- 9780191707926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278220.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Science
The Bildtheorie — ‘picture theory of science’ — formed the frame for much discussion and controversy among physicists in the decades around the year 1900. It emphasizes one aspect believed to be ...
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The Bildtheorie — ‘picture theory of science’ — formed the frame for much discussion and controversy among physicists in the decades around the year 1900. It emphasizes one aspect believed to be central to the scientific enterprise: representation of the empirical phenomena, by means of artifacts, both physical and mathematical. The question to be addressed is whether such a ‘picture theory’ can be developed today compatibly with the insights claimed by empiricist and structuralist views of science.Less
The Bildtheorie — ‘picture theory of science’ — formed the frame for much discussion and controversy among physicists in the decades around the year 1900. It emphasizes one aspect believed to be central to the scientific enterprise: representation of the empirical phenomena, by means of artifacts, both physical and mathematical. The question to be addressed is whether such a ‘picture theory’ can be developed today compatibly with the insights claimed by empiricist and structuralist views of science.
Jean-Paul Brodeur
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199740598
- eISBN:
- 9780199866083
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199740598.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
This book seeks to give a comprehensive theory of policing. To set out the background for such a theory, the diverse types of agencies involved in policing, the history of policing, and the ...
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This book seeks to give a comprehensive theory of policing. To set out the background for such a theory, the diverse types of agencies involved in policing, the history of policing, and the representations of policing in the press and in police literature are examined. The police are then defined by their use of a wide array of means, including violence, which are prohibited as legal violations for all other citizens. This definition is tested in the subsequent chapters bearing on the main components of the police web. First, the public police working in uniform are described in respect of who they are, what part of their activities are devoted to crime control, and the ways in which they operate. Second, criminal investigators are put in focus and empirical findings on how they clear up cases are discussed. The security and intelligence services are the subject of the next chapter, which develops a model that contrasts “high policing” (intelligence services) with “low policing” (public constabularies). The following chapter addresses the crucial issues that relate to private security, stressing the uncertainty of our current knowledge, and proposes a fully developed model integrating public and private security. The last chapter is devoted to military policing in its democratic and undemocratic variants, and to the extra‐legal social control exercised by criminal organizations such as the Mafia. In conclusion, the book tries to link the theoretical issues raised throughout the book and make his position explicit with respect to all of them.Less
This book seeks to give a comprehensive theory of policing. To set out the background for such a theory, the diverse types of agencies involved in policing, the history of policing, and the representations of policing in the press and in police literature are examined. The police are then defined by their use of a wide array of means, including violence, which are prohibited as legal violations for all other citizens. This definition is tested in the subsequent chapters bearing on the main components of the police web. First, the public police working in uniform are described in respect of who they are, what part of their activities are devoted to crime control, and the ways in which they operate. Second, criminal investigators are put in focus and empirical findings on how they clear up cases are discussed. The security and intelligence services are the subject of the next chapter, which develops a model that contrasts “high policing” (intelligence services) with “low policing” (public constabularies). The following chapter addresses the crucial issues that relate to private security, stressing the uncertainty of our current knowledge, and proposes a fully developed model integrating public and private security. The last chapter is devoted to military policing in its democratic and undemocratic variants, and to the extra‐legal social control exercised by criminal organizations such as the Mafia. In conclusion, the book tries to link the theoretical issues raised throughout the book and make his position explicit with respect to all of them.
Casey Perin
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199557905
- eISBN:
- 9780191721366
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199557905.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
Sextus Empiricus' Outlines of Pyrrhonism is one of the most important and influential texts in the history of Greek philosophy. This book examines those aspects of Pyrrhonian Scepticism as Sextus ...
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Sextus Empiricus' Outlines of Pyrrhonism is one of the most important and influential texts in the history of Greek philosophy. This book examines those aspects of Pyrrhonian Scepticism as Sextus describes it in the Outlines—its commitment to the search for truth and to certain principles of rationality, its scope, and its consequences for action and agency—that are of special philosophical significance. It argues that the Sceptic is engaged in the search for truth and that since this is so, the Sceptic aims to satisfy certain basic rational requirements. This book explains how the fact that the Sceptic has this aim makes it necessary, as Sextus says it is, for the Sceptic to suspend judgement under certain conditions. It defends an interpretation of the scope of Scepticism according to which the Sceptic has no beliefs about how things are rather than merely appear to him to be. It then explores whether, and how, Sextus can respond to the objection that since the Sceptic lacks beliefs of this kind, he cannot act and Scepticism is not, as Sextus claims it is, a possible way of life.Less
Sextus Empiricus' Outlines of Pyrrhonism is one of the most important and influential texts in the history of Greek philosophy. This book examines those aspects of Pyrrhonian Scepticism as Sextus describes it in the Outlines—its commitment to the search for truth and to certain principles of rationality, its scope, and its consequences for action and agency—that are of special philosophical significance. It argues that the Sceptic is engaged in the search for truth and that since this is so, the Sceptic aims to satisfy certain basic rational requirements. This book explains how the fact that the Sceptic has this aim makes it necessary, as Sextus says it is, for the Sceptic to suspend judgement under certain conditions. It defends an interpretation of the scope of Scepticism according to which the Sceptic has no beliefs about how things are rather than merely appear to him to be. It then explores whether, and how, Sextus can respond to the objection that since the Sceptic lacks beliefs of this kind, he cannot act and Scepticism is not, as Sextus claims it is, a possible way of life.
Susan Schreiner
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195313420
- eISBN:
- 9780199897292
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195313420.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, Theology
In present-day America, the topic of certitude is much debated. On one side, commentators like Charles Krauthammer urge us to achieve “moral clarity”. On the other, those like George Will contend ...
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In present-day America, the topic of certitude is much debated. On one side, commentators like Charles Krauthammer urge us to achieve “moral clarity”. On the other, those like George Will contend that the greatest present threat to civilization is an excess of certitude. This book points out that Europe in the 16th century was preoccupied with similar concerns. Both the desire for certainty, especially religious certainty, and warnings against certainty permeated this earlier era. The book analyzes the pervading questions about certitude and doubt in the terms and contexts of a wide variety of thinkers during this time of competing truths. The Protestant Reformation was the wellspring of this debate, which expressed itself in terms of questions about salvation, authority, the rise of skepticism, the outbreak of religious violence, the discernment of spirits, and the ambiguous relationship between appearance and reality. Repeatedly, the book says, we find the recurring fear of deception. It examines the history of theological polemics and debates as well as other genres to shed light on the progress of this controversy. Among the texts the book draws on are Montaigne's Essays, the mystical writings of Teresa of Avila, the diary, letters, and treatises of St. Ignatius, and the dramas of Shakespeare. The result is not a book about theology, but rather a book about the way in which the concern with certitude determined the theology, polemics, and literature of the age.Less
In present-day America, the topic of certitude is much debated. On one side, commentators like Charles Krauthammer urge us to achieve “moral clarity”. On the other, those like George Will contend that the greatest present threat to civilization is an excess of certitude. This book points out that Europe in the 16th century was preoccupied with similar concerns. Both the desire for certainty, especially religious certainty, and warnings against certainty permeated this earlier era. The book analyzes the pervading questions about certitude and doubt in the terms and contexts of a wide variety of thinkers during this time of competing truths. The Protestant Reformation was the wellspring of this debate, which expressed itself in terms of questions about salvation, authority, the rise of skepticism, the outbreak of religious violence, the discernment of spirits, and the ambiguous relationship between appearance and reality. Repeatedly, the book says, we find the recurring fear of deception. It examines the history of theological polemics and debates as well as other genres to shed light on the progress of this controversy. Among the texts the book draws on are Montaigne's Essays, the mystical writings of Teresa of Avila, the diary, letters, and treatises of St. Ignatius, and the dramas of Shakespeare. The result is not a book about theology, but rather a book about the way in which the concern with certitude determined the theology, polemics, and literature of the age.
John Foster
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198237693
- eISBN:
- 9780191597442
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198237693.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
Strong direct realism (SDR) has the resources to meet the Causal Argument from hallucination, which I once thought decisive. But it fails for a different reason. When a physical item is Φ‐terminally ...
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Strong direct realism (SDR) has the resources to meet the Causal Argument from hallucination, which I once thought decisive. But it fails for a different reason. When a physical item is Φ‐terminally perceived, it sensibly appears to the subject in a certain way. Or put the other way round, the subject perceives the item in a certain phenomenal manner. I call this ‘phenomenal manner of perceiving phenomenal content’. Like any other theory of perception, SDR has to be able to give an adequate account of what phenomenal content is and how it relates to the securing of perceptual contact with the relevant physical item. There are three options here for SDR. The first is what I call ‘the presentational view’. This holds that the qualitative ingredients of phenomenal content are directly drawn from the physical items Φ‐terminally perceived, so that when a physical item sensibly appears to a subject to possess a certain quality Q, the featuring of Q in the phenomenal content of the perception is the featuring of the very instance of Q that occurs in the physical item itself. The second option is what I call ‘the internalist view’. This holds that, although the Φ‐terminal perceptual relationship with the physical item is something psychologically fundamental, and phenomenal content is the manner in which this relationship holds, the qualitative ingredients of such content are ontologically separate from their physical counterparts, so that the featuring of a quality in such content is not the featuring of some physical instance of it. The third option is what I call the ‘modified presentational view’, which holds that the featuring of a quality in phenomenal content is sometimes to be construed in a presentational way, and sometimes in an internalist way. The presentational view fails because it does not accommodate cases of non‐veridical perception, in which the sensible appearance of the perceived item is at variance with its actual character. The modified presentational view fails because of its hybrid character; for once the need for an internalist account is recognized for cases of non‐veridical perception, there is irresistible pressure to extend the same treatment to veridical perception too. And the internalist view fails because it does not permit a coherent account of how perceptual contact and phenomenal content fit together. Since all three options fail, and since there is no other remotely plausible account available to it, SDR must be rejected.Less
Strong direct realism (SDR) has the resources to meet the Causal Argument from hallucination, which I once thought decisive. But it fails for a different reason. When a physical item is Φ‐terminally perceived, it sensibly appears to the subject in a certain way. Or put the other way round, the subject perceives the item in a certain phenomenal manner. I call this ‘phenomenal manner of perceiving phenomenal content’. Like any other theory of perception, SDR has to be able to give an adequate account of what phenomenal content is and how it relates to the securing of perceptual contact with the relevant physical item. There are three options here for SDR. The first is what I call ‘the presentational view’. This holds that the qualitative ingredients of phenomenal content are directly drawn from the physical items Φ‐terminally perceived, so that when a physical item sensibly appears to a subject to possess a certain quality Q, the featuring of Q in the phenomenal content of the perception is the featuring of the very instance of Q that occurs in the physical item itself. The second option is what I call ‘the internalist view’. This holds that, although the Φ‐terminal perceptual relationship with the physical item is something psychologically fundamental, and phenomenal content is the manner in which this relationship holds, the qualitative ingredients of such content are ontologically separate from their physical counterparts, so that the featuring of a quality in such content is not the featuring of some physical instance of it. The third option is what I call the ‘modified presentational view’, which holds that the featuring of a quality in phenomenal content is sometimes to be construed in a presentational way, and sometimes in an internalist way. The presentational view fails because it does not accommodate cases of non‐veridical perception, in which the sensible appearance of the perceived item is at variance with its actual character. The modified presentational view fails because of its hybrid character; for once the need for an internalist account is recognized for cases of non‐veridical perception, there is irresistible pressure to extend the same treatment to veridical perception too. And the internalist view fails because it does not permit a coherent account of how perceptual contact and phenomenal content fit together. Since all three options fail, and since there is no other remotely plausible account available to it, SDR must be rejected.
David O. Brink
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199266401
- eISBN:
- 9780191600906
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199266409.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter begins with a brief discussion of Green's attack of empiricism and defence of idealism in Prolegomena. It then identifies Green's four main aims in the first book of Prolegomena. Firstly ...
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This chapter begins with a brief discussion of Green's attack of empiricism and defence of idealism in Prolegomena. It then identifies Green's four main aims in the first book of Prolegomena. Firstly he wants to reject the common-sense view, inherited from the empiricists, that knowledge can be analysed into two separable components — the deliverances of the senses and the operations of the understanding — in which what is given by nature is real and the contributions of the understanding are not. Secondly, the attack on empiricism and atomism is supposed to support the idealist claim that in some sense nature is the product of the understanding. Thirdly, in order for the idealist to distinguish between appearance and reality, it is necessary to posit an ‘eternal’ and ‘unalterable’ system of relations in a self-conscious corporate agent that includes the finite systems of relations contained in the self-conscious minds of individual agents. Finally, much of the first book of the Prolegomena is concerned with the role of self-consciousness in the possibility of apparently discrete episodes of experience, but Green is also concerned with the role of self-consciousness in knowledge.Less
This chapter begins with a brief discussion of Green's attack of empiricism and defence of idealism in Prolegomena. It then identifies Green's four main aims in the first book of Prolegomena. Firstly he wants to reject the common-sense view, inherited from the empiricists, that knowledge can be analysed into two separable components — the deliverances of the senses and the operations of the understanding — in which what is given by nature is real and the contributions of the understanding are not. Secondly, the attack on empiricism and atomism is supposed to support the idealist claim that in some sense nature is the product of the understanding. Thirdly, in order for the idealist to distinguish between appearance and reality, it is necessary to posit an ‘eternal’ and ‘unalterable’ system of relations in a self-conscious corporate agent that includes the finite systems of relations contained in the self-conscious minds of individual agents. Finally, much of the first book of the Prolegomena is concerned with the role of self-consciousness in the possibility of apparently discrete episodes of experience, but Green is also concerned with the role of self-consciousness in knowledge.
Mi-Kyoung Lee
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199262229
- eISBN:
- 9780191602924
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199262225.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
This book identifies and examines three seminal ideas about perception and knowledge that were raised during the classical period. The first is the thesis, articulated by Protagoras, that everyone is ...
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This book identifies and examines three seminal ideas about perception and knowledge that were raised during the classical period. The first is the thesis, articulated by Protagoras, that everyone is a ‘measure’ of the truth, that everyone already possesses the capacities necessary for discovering how things really are. The second is the argument from conflicting appearances, according to which the fact that things present us with conflicting appearances,which indicates something philosophically significant about the nature of properties like sweetness and our perception of such properties. The third is the thesis that things are red or sweet if and only if they seem so to someone; this leads to the idea that certain properties do not belong to objects in themselves but are merely affections of the senses. Protagoras, Democritus, Plato, and Aristotle made use of these ideas, or reacted to them, in various ways—setting the stage for developments in epistemology in the Hellenistic period.Less
This book identifies and examines three seminal ideas about perception and knowledge that were raised during the classical period. The first is the thesis, articulated by Protagoras, that everyone is a ‘measure’ of the truth, that everyone already possesses the capacities necessary for discovering how things really are. The second is the argument from conflicting appearances, according to which the fact that things present us with conflicting appearances,which indicates something philosophically significant about the nature of properties like sweetness and our perception of such properties. The third is the thesis that things are red or sweet if and only if they seem so to someone; this leads to the idea that certain properties do not belong to objects in themselves but are merely affections of the senses. Protagoras, Democritus, Plato, and Aristotle made use of these ideas, or reacted to them, in various ways—setting the stage for developments in epistemology in the Hellenistic period.
Ernest H. Williams
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195179293
- eISBN:
- 9780199790470
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179293.003.0004
- Subject:
- Biology, Natural History and Field Guides
To us, the most conspicuous feature of an animal is its appearance because, as visually oriented creatures, we perceive and respond quickly to varying colors and patterns. This chapter includes ...
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To us, the most conspicuous feature of an animal is its appearance because, as visually oriented creatures, we perceive and respond quickly to varying colors and patterns. This chapter includes descriptions of animal colors and patterns, including physiological explanations of what produces the colors we see and ideas about the evolution of these patterns. Some colors and patterns are not very common in nature (bioluminescence, false heads, and aggressive mimicry), but they are spectacular to see. Others (seasonal forms, countershading) are common but subtle, and those having to do with deception (eyespots, camouflage) can be remarkable. Taken together, these appearances suggest that people are not the only living creatures responding strongly to what can be seen; clearly, vision is very important to many animals.Less
To us, the most conspicuous feature of an animal is its appearance because, as visually oriented creatures, we perceive and respond quickly to varying colors and patterns. This chapter includes descriptions of animal colors and patterns, including physiological explanations of what produces the colors we see and ideas about the evolution of these patterns. Some colors and patterns are not very common in nature (bioluminescence, false heads, and aggressive mimicry), but they are spectacular to see. Others (seasonal forms, countershading) are common but subtle, and those having to do with deception (eyespots, camouflage) can be remarkable. Taken together, these appearances suggest that people are not the only living creatures responding strongly to what can be seen; clearly, vision is very important to many animals.
Kay Ferres
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263181
- eISBN:
- 9780191734595
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263181.003.0018
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter discusses some of the ways biography – including biographers, the reading and uses of biography, and the practices that represent gender – has treated the problem of women's appearances ...
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This chapter discusses some of the ways biography – including biographers, the reading and uses of biography, and the practices that represent gender – has treated the problem of women's appearances in public life. The author focuses the discussion on questions of reputation and influence.Less
This chapter discusses some of the ways biography – including biographers, the reading and uses of biography, and the practices that represent gender – has treated the problem of women's appearances in public life. The author focuses the discussion on questions of reputation and influence.
Bas C. van Fraassen
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199278220
- eISBN:
- 9780191707926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278220.003.00013
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Science
In a scientific model typically the phenomena is embedded in a larger nature or reality. Whether we take this at face value or bracket the question of reality, we need to investigate the relations of ...
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In a scientific model typically the phenomena is embedded in a larger nature or reality. Whether we take this at face value or bracket the question of reality, we need to investigate the relations of this theoretically postulated reality to the phenomena, and to the appearances of those phenomena in measurement. But philosophical views of science have largely remained captive to certain criteria of completeness, of which the main remaining contender is the Appearance from Reality Criterion. The greatly changed conception of physical theory at the end of the modern period will challenge this criterion as well.Less
In a scientific model typically the phenomena is embedded in a larger nature or reality. Whether we take this at face value or bracket the question of reality, we need to investigate the relations of this theoretically postulated reality to the phenomena, and to the appearances of those phenomena in measurement. But philosophical views of science have largely remained captive to certain criteria of completeness, of which the main remaining contender is the Appearance from Reality Criterion. The greatly changed conception of physical theory at the end of the modern period will challenge this criterion as well.
Yuriko Saito
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199278350
- eISBN:
- 9780191707001
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278350.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
Our aesthetic judgments in everyday life are often intertwined with moral judgments, such as personal appearance, condition of one's possessions, and environmental eyesores. We also make ...
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Our aesthetic judgments in everyday life are often intertwined with moral judgments, such as personal appearance, condition of one's possessions, and environmental eyesores. We also make moral-aesthetic judgments on artifacts by considering how user-friendly artifacts and environments respond to the specific needs of the intended users with care, respect, and consideration through their sensuous surface and design features. Less obvious are the designed objects and environments that enrich the content of the users' experiences through sensitivity to their bodily engagement and the temporal dimension of the experience, typically embodied in green buildings, as well as gardens, the tea ceremony, food serving, and packaging in the Japanese tradition. These aesthetic manifestations of moral values indicate the significance of the aesthetic in everyday life in promoting a good life, and how sensitively and caringly designed environments and artifacts must be an essential ingredient of a good society.Less
Our aesthetic judgments in everyday life are often intertwined with moral judgments, such as personal appearance, condition of one's possessions, and environmental eyesores. We also make moral-aesthetic judgments on artifacts by considering how user-friendly artifacts and environments respond to the specific needs of the intended users with care, respect, and consideration through their sensuous surface and design features. Less obvious are the designed objects and environments that enrich the content of the users' experiences through sensitivity to their bodily engagement and the temporal dimension of the experience, typically embodied in green buildings, as well as gardens, the tea ceremony, food serving, and packaging in the Japanese tradition. These aesthetic manifestations of moral values indicate the significance of the aesthetic in everyday life in promoting a good life, and how sensitively and caringly designed environments and artifacts must be an essential ingredient of a good society.
Yuriko Saito
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199278350
- eISBN:
- 9780191707001
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278350.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
Several issues emerge from exploring everyday aesthetics. First, its normative mission to illuminate the hidden aesthetic potential of the ordinary may conflict with its descriptive role in analyzing ...
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Several issues emerge from exploring everyday aesthetics. First, its normative mission to illuminate the hidden aesthetic potential of the ordinary may conflict with its descriptive role in analyzing our ordinary aesthetic reaction toward the ordinary. Second, while everyday aesthetics questions our tendency to judge some thing/body by the cover, it cannot dismiss this familiar phenomenon. Third, in fully acknowledging and appreciating the power of the aesthetic for guiding our attitudes and actions, we must be vigilant about utilizing this power toward a certain end, which can range from green aesthetics to the political nationalism promoted in modern Japan. Finally, some contemporary artists' attempt to overcome the gap between art and life by emulating or appropriating the everyday may be fraught with paradoxes created by the inescapable predicament of arthood that stands out from the everyday. These tensions reinforce the point that everyday aesthetics are quite complex, worthy of further exploration.Less
Several issues emerge from exploring everyday aesthetics. First, its normative mission to illuminate the hidden aesthetic potential of the ordinary may conflict with its descriptive role in analyzing our ordinary aesthetic reaction toward the ordinary. Second, while everyday aesthetics questions our tendency to judge some thing/body by the cover, it cannot dismiss this familiar phenomenon. Third, in fully acknowledging and appreciating the power of the aesthetic for guiding our attitudes and actions, we must be vigilant about utilizing this power toward a certain end, which can range from green aesthetics to the political nationalism promoted in modern Japan. Finally, some contemporary artists' attempt to overcome the gap between art and life by emulating or appropriating the everyday may be fraught with paradoxes created by the inescapable predicament of arthood that stands out from the everyday. These tensions reinforce the point that everyday aesthetics are quite complex, worthy of further exploration.
C. C. W. Taylor
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199226399
- eISBN:
- 9780191710209
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199226399.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
This chapter examines the Epicurean thesis that all perceptions are true, arguing that what it means is that every instance of sensory presentation (widely construed, to include dreams, ...
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This chapter examines the Epicurean thesis that all perceptions are true, arguing that what it means is that every instance of sensory presentation (widely construed, to include dreams, hallucinations, and imagination as well as perception proper) consists in the stimulation of a sense-organ by a real object, which is represented in that perception exactly as it is in reality. That thesis presupposes the truth of the physical theory as a whole. It is itself supported by the epistemological principle that it is possible to distinguish truth from falsity only if all perceptions are true. But since the latter thesis is unfalsifiable, it is empty, and cannot therefore refute scepticism.Less
This chapter examines the Epicurean thesis that all perceptions are true, arguing that what it means is that every instance of sensory presentation (widely construed, to include dreams, hallucinations, and imagination as well as perception proper) consists in the stimulation of a sense-organ by a real object, which is represented in that perception exactly as it is in reality. That thesis presupposes the truth of the physical theory as a whole. It is itself supported by the epistemological principle that it is possible to distinguish truth from falsity only if all perceptions are true. But since the latter thesis is unfalsifiable, it is empty, and cannot therefore refute scepticism.
Benjamin T. Backus
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195387247
- eISBN:
- 9780199918379
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195387247.003.0006
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter begins with a discussion of perception and appearance, to provide the background necessary for testing whether changes in appearance occur. Next, it addresses some of the problems that ...
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This chapter begins with a discussion of perception and appearance, to provide the background necessary for testing whether changes in appearance occur. Next, it addresses some of the problems that made cue recruitment difficult to study in the past, such as the problem of establishing that a change in behavior is caused by a change in how things look. The chapter then describes a theoretically sensible method to quantify cue recruitment, gives some examples, briefly relates cue recruitment to the animal and computer learning literatures, and finally discusses some of the interesting conceptual issues that arise during consideration of the topic.Less
This chapter begins with a discussion of perception and appearance, to provide the background necessary for testing whether changes in appearance occur. Next, it addresses some of the problems that made cue recruitment difficult to study in the past, such as the problem of establishing that a change in behavior is caused by a change in how things look. The chapter then describes a theoretically sensible method to quantify cue recruitment, gives some examples, briefly relates cue recruitment to the animal and computer learning literatures, and finally discusses some of the interesting conceptual issues that arise during consideration of the topic.
Adil E. Shamoo and David B. Resnik
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195368246
- eISBN:
- 9780199867615
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368246.003.0010
- Subject:
- Biology, Disease Ecology / Epidemiology, Biochemistry / Molecular Biology
Researchers and research institutions have a variety of financial, personal, and political interests that sometimes conflict with their professional, ethical, or legal obligations. These situations ...
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Researchers and research institutions have a variety of financial, personal, and political interests that sometimes conflict with their professional, ethical, or legal obligations. These situations can create conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts of interest. This chapter discusses how conflicts of interest affect research, how they are defined, and how they should be managed. It also describes how government agencies and research institutions have responded to conflicts of interest in research and describes some cases from science.Less
Researchers and research institutions have a variety of financial, personal, and political interests that sometimes conflict with their professional, ethical, or legal obligations. These situations can create conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts of interest. This chapter discusses how conflicts of interest affect research, how they are defined, and how they should be managed. It also describes how government agencies and research institutions have responded to conflicts of interest in research and describes some cases from science.
Bas C. van Fraassen
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199278220
- eISBN:
- 9780191707926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278220.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Science
Resemblance is certainly not the be all and end all of representation. Even when representation is not purely symbolic, distortion and unlikeness can play a crucial role in how the representing is ...
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Resemblance is certainly not the be all and end all of representation. Even when representation is not purely symbolic, distortion and unlikeness can play a crucial role in how the representing is achieved. When resemblance is in fact the vehicle of representation, the representation relation derives from selective resemblance and selective non-resemblance, and just what the relevant selections are must be highlighted in such a way as to convey their role. If the selection or the highlighting is indicated by signs placed in the artifact itself, these need to be meaningful in order to play their role, and so the task of identification is pushed back but reappears as essentially unchanged. Thus, what determines the representation relationship can at best be a relation of what is in the artifact to factors neither in the artifact itself nor in what is being represented.Less
Resemblance is certainly not the be all and end all of representation. Even when representation is not purely symbolic, distortion and unlikeness can play a crucial role in how the representing is achieved. When resemblance is in fact the vehicle of representation, the representation relation derives from selective resemblance and selective non-resemblance, and just what the relevant selections are must be highlighted in such a way as to convey their role. If the selection or the highlighting is indicated by signs placed in the artifact itself, these need to be meaningful in order to play their role, and so the task of identification is pushed back but reappears as essentially unchanged. Thus, what determines the representation relationship can at best be a relation of what is in the artifact to factors neither in the artifact itself nor in what is being represented.
Brian O'Shaughnessy
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199256723
- eISBN:
- 9780191598135
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199256721.003.0022
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
The concept of an appearance is bona fide and rule‐governed. It is such that appearances can be shared, which suggests that a visual appearance is a complex universal, compounded out of colour and ...
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The concept of an appearance is bona fide and rule‐governed. It is such that appearances can be shared, which suggests that a visual appearance is a complex universal, compounded out of colour and spatial appearance. The only appearance material objects have is their look, because uniquely in the case of sight when the Attention lands upon its colour it lands upon the object, and it lands upon the object through landing upon its secondary quality. We experience the visual appearance when we perceive the bearer to be endowed with those visible qualities that visually individuate it for us. Now the primary appearance in Physical Reality is the look of a material object, a ‘look in the round’, upon which aspect‐appearance is dependent. The relation between the two is charted, together with the vital role of the understanding in experiencing ‘looks in the round’, an experience that depends upon knowledge of the objective physical situation in which it occurs. Finally, the criteria of visibility are spelt out.Less
The concept of an appearance is bona fide and rule‐governed. It is such that appearances can be shared, which suggests that a visual appearance is a complex universal, compounded out of colour and spatial appearance. The only appearance material objects have is their look, because uniquely in the case of sight when the Attention lands upon its colour it lands upon the object, and it lands upon the object through landing upon its secondary quality. We experience the visual appearance when we perceive the bearer to be endowed with those visible qualities that visually individuate it for us. Now the primary appearance in Physical Reality is the look of a material object, a ‘look in the round’, upon which aspect‐appearance is dependent. The relation between the two is charted, together with the vital role of the understanding in experiencing ‘looks in the round’, an experience that depends upon knowledge of the objective physical situation in which it occurs. Finally, the criteria of visibility are spelt out.
Gerald O'Collins
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198269854
- eISBN:
- 9780191600517
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198269854.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
In his chapter Gerald O’Collins first summarizes current debates concerning the essential resurrection claim, the nature of the Easter appearances, the historicity of the empty tomb, and the ...
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In his chapter Gerald O’Collins first summarizes current debates concerning the essential resurrection claim, the nature of the Easter appearances, the historicity of the empty tomb, and the credibility of resurrection faith. He then proposes questions that invite fuller examination in the historical, systematic, ethical, spiritual, and liturgical areas.In his response to Gerald O’Collins’ paper, Peter Carnley focuses on his discussion of John Hick's suggestion that the Easter appearances may be explained as psychogenic projections, similar both to the experiences of those who have had near death ‘visions’ of light and of a person who is identified as ‘Jesus’ and the experiences of fleeting visions of a loved one by the recently bereaved. He concludes that at this distance and with the evidence at hand it is not possible with any confidence either to prove or disprove this hypothesis. Indeed, it is difficult even to establish criteria clearly to differentiate so‐called ‘objective’ visions from ‘subjective’ ones. The theology of the resurrection must concentrate less on a somewhat futile quest for the historical resurrected Jesus and more on an epistemology of faith capable of explaining how it is possible to identify the presence of the Spirit of Christ today as the presence of Jesus, the Crucified One.Less
In his chapter Gerald O’Collins first summarizes current debates concerning the essential resurrection claim, the nature of the Easter appearances, the historicity of the empty tomb, and the credibility of resurrection faith. He then proposes questions that invite fuller examination in the historical, systematic, ethical, spiritual, and liturgical areas.
In his response to Gerald O’Collins’ paper, Peter Carnley focuses on his discussion of John Hick's suggestion that the Easter appearances may be explained as psychogenic projections, similar both to the experiences of those who have had near death ‘visions’ of light and of a person who is identified as ‘Jesus’ and the experiences of fleeting visions of a loved one by the recently bereaved. He concludes that at this distance and with the evidence at hand it is not possible with any confidence either to prove or disprove this hypothesis. Indeed, it is difficult even to establish criteria clearly to differentiate so‐called ‘objective’ visions from ‘subjective’ ones. The theology of the resurrection must concentrate less on a somewhat futile quest for the historical resurrected Jesus and more on an epistemology of faith capable of explaining how it is possible to identify the presence of the Spirit of Christ today as the presence of Jesus, the Crucified One.
William P. Alston
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198269854
- eISBN:
- 9780191600517
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198269854.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This paper is a defence of the (by and large) historical accuracy of the resurrection appearance narratives in the Gospels. The defence is carried out not by giving positive argument that this or ...
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This paper is a defence of the (by and large) historical accuracy of the resurrection appearance narratives in the Gospels. The defence is carried out not by giving positive argument that this or that feature of the narratives is accurate, but rather by displaying the failure of attempts by NT scholars to show that a particular feature of the narratives (the appearance of the risen Jesus in embodied, perceptible form) is not of historical value. That argument takes the form of a detailed critique of the contentions of one scholar, Reginald Fuller. To the extent that Fuller's treatment can be taken as representative, this essay, if successful, will have removed a crucial obstacle to the rational acceptance of the appearance narratives as factually correct in the main. The essay ends by identifying certain disqualifying features of Fuller's treatment that, it is claimed, are pervasive in twentieth‐century gospel criticism.Alston presents, in Coakley's view, a convincing case against the dogmatic scepticism of Reginald Fuller's treatment of the bodily resurrection, though he overstates his case, she suggests, in denying significance to the redactional strands of the Gospel‐writers’ thinking. There is also a puzzling continued appeal to the objective historical ‘facts’ of the case granted that Alston explicitly disavows at the outset anything other than an intra‐Christian approach. His overriding concern to support a ‘literal’ bodily resurrection leads him, she believes, to understress some important dimensions of the resurrection accounts on which she urges him to further explication: the ‘atypical’ nature of the risen body, the consequent importance of metaphorical speech in discussing it, the epistemic transformation required in recognizing it, and the gender dimensions possibly implicit in such recognition.Less
This paper is a defence of the (by and large) historical accuracy of the resurrection appearance narratives in the Gospels. The defence is carried out not by giving positive argument that this or that feature of the narratives is accurate, but rather by displaying the failure of attempts by NT scholars to show that a particular feature of the narratives (the appearance of the risen Jesus in embodied, perceptible form) is not of historical value. That argument takes the form of a detailed critique of the contentions of one scholar, Reginald Fuller. To the extent that Fuller's treatment can be taken as representative, this essay, if successful, will have removed a crucial obstacle to the rational acceptance of the appearance narratives as factually correct in the main. The essay ends by identifying certain disqualifying features of Fuller's treatment that, it is claimed, are pervasive in twentieth‐century gospel criticism.
Alston presents, in Coakley's view, a convincing case against the dogmatic scepticism of Reginald Fuller's treatment of the bodily resurrection, though he overstates his case, she suggests, in denying significance to the redactional strands of the Gospel‐writers’ thinking. There is also a puzzling continued appeal to the objective historical ‘facts’ of the case granted that Alston explicitly disavows at the outset anything other than an intra‐Christian approach. His overriding concern to support a ‘literal’ bodily resurrection leads him, she believes, to understress some important dimensions of the resurrection accounts on which she urges him to further explication: the ‘atypical’ nature of the risen body, the consequent importance of metaphorical speech in discussing it, the epistemic transformation required in recognizing it, and the gender dimensions possibly implicit in such recognition.
