Rabindra Ray
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198077381
- eISBN:
- 9780199081011
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198077381.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
This chapter argues that the meaning the doctrine of the Naxalites appears to have for non-believers is different from what it had for the believers. This is patently indicated by the programme of ...
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This chapter argues that the meaning the doctrine of the Naxalites appears to have for non-believers is different from what it had for the believers. This is patently indicated by the programme of agrarian revolution linked to a policy of urban terror. Observers, sympathetic to the Naxalites, have upbraided them for their policy of ‘individual terror’, and have pointed out its incompatibility with the mass line entailed in the Marxist–Leninist theory of revolution to which the Naxalites vowed allegiance. The humanitarian appeal of the Naxalites is not only at odds with their inhuman methods, but with the experience of their own humanity. Their defence of communist dogma only develops as an attack on communist history and communist organizations. Their positive vision, that of Chairman’s China, is only fleshed out as the negativity of Revolution and the abyss of terror.Less
This chapter argues that the meaning the doctrine of the Naxalites appears to have for non-believers is different from what it had for the believers. This is patently indicated by the programme of agrarian revolution linked to a policy of urban terror. Observers, sympathetic to the Naxalites, have upbraided them for their policy of ‘individual terror’, and have pointed out its incompatibility with the mass line entailed in the Marxist–Leninist theory of revolution to which the Naxalites vowed allegiance. The humanitarian appeal of the Naxalites is not only at odds with their inhuman methods, but with the experience of their own humanity. Their defence of communist dogma only develops as an attack on communist history and communist organizations. Their positive vision, that of Chairman’s China, is only fleshed out as the negativity of Revolution and the abyss of terror.
Michael J. Almeida
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199640027
- eISBN:
- 9780191741937
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199640027.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysics/Epistemology
It is a principal aim of this book to show that several widely believed and largely undisputed principles in philosophical theology are in fact just philosophical dogmas. The well-entrenched ...
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It is a principal aim of this book to show that several widely believed and largely undisputed principles in philosophical theology are in fact just philosophical dogmas. The well-entrenched principles have served as basic assumptions in some of the most powerful apriori atheological arguments. But most theists also maintain that the principles express apriori necessary truths. The philosophical dogmas include principles that are presumed to follow from the nature of an essentially omnipotent, essentially omniscient, essentially perfectly good and necessarily existing being. Among the atheological arguments that deploy these philosophical dogmas are the Logical Problem of Evil, the Logical Problem of the Best Possible World, the Logical Problem of Good Enough Worlds, the Problem of Divine Freedom, the Problem of No Best World, and the Evidential Problem of Evil. Solutions to several less serious atheological problems are also forthcoming. It is among the principal conclusions of the book that these arguments present no important challenge to the existence of an Anselmian God.Less
It is a principal aim of this book to show that several widely believed and largely undisputed principles in philosophical theology are in fact just philosophical dogmas. The well-entrenched principles have served as basic assumptions in some of the most powerful apriori atheological arguments. But most theists also maintain that the principles express apriori necessary truths. The philosophical dogmas include principles that are presumed to follow from the nature of an essentially omnipotent, essentially omniscient, essentially perfectly good and necessarily existing being. Among the atheological arguments that deploy these philosophical dogmas are the Logical Problem of Evil, the Logical Problem of the Best Possible World, the Logical Problem of Good Enough Worlds, the Problem of Divine Freedom, the Problem of No Best World, and the Evidential Problem of Evil. Solutions to several less serious atheological problems are also forthcoming. It is among the principal conclusions of the book that these arguments present no important challenge to the existence of an Anselmian God.
Niels Christian Hvidt
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195314472
- eISBN:
- 9780199785346
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195314472.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Revelation is complete with Christ but does not come to a close with him. There is a deep unity between the Christ event and its unfolding through the action of the Holy Spirit in the life of the ...
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Revelation is complete with Christ but does not come to a close with him. There is a deep unity between the Christ event and its unfolding through the action of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church. In this sense, Christianity is not a final but a preliminary stage between Christ's first and his last coming. This recognition is important for the understanding of the concept of tradition. Tradition should not be seen in the sense of traditional, but signifies a living reality in which Christ continues to unfold and actualize his truth in every new generation. Prophecy is one of the realizations of this dynamic actualization process. In fact, most of the instances in which revelation is actualized through time (Scripture, Magisterium, theology, dogma, pious traditions, liturgy) have been inspired by prophecy.Less
Revelation is complete with Christ but does not come to a close with him. There is a deep unity between the Christ event and its unfolding through the action of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church. In this sense, Christianity is not a final but a preliminary stage between Christ's first and his last coming. This recognition is important for the understanding of the concept of tradition. Tradition should not be seen in the sense of traditional, but signifies a living reality in which Christ continues to unfold and actualize his truth in every new generation. Prophecy is one of the realizations of this dynamic actualization process. In fact, most of the instances in which revelation is actualized through time (Scripture, Magisterium, theology, dogma, pious traditions, liturgy) have been inspired by prophecy.
Ian Buchanan and Nicholas Thoburn
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748632879
- eISBN:
- 9780748652549
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748632879.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
Deleuze was intensely aware of the need for philosophy to take an active part in shaping and critiquing the world. Philosophy, as he saw it, engages in politics by inventing new concepts and using ...
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Deleuze was intensely aware of the need for philosophy to take an active part in shaping and critiquing the world. Philosophy, as he saw it, engages in politics by inventing new concepts and using them as weapons against opinion, the ultimate barrier to thought. Deleuze did not specify a particular political program, nor espouse a particular political dogma. For him, politics was always a matter of experimentation and invention in the search for the revolutionary path that would finally deliver us from the baleful enchantments of capitalism. This book brings together some of the most important Deleuze scholars in the field today to explore and explain Deleuze's political philosophy.Less
Deleuze was intensely aware of the need for philosophy to take an active part in shaping and critiquing the world. Philosophy, as he saw it, engages in politics by inventing new concepts and using them as weapons against opinion, the ultimate barrier to thought. Deleuze did not specify a particular political program, nor espouse a particular political dogma. For him, politics was always a matter of experimentation and invention in the search for the revolutionary path that would finally deliver us from the baleful enchantments of capitalism. This book brings together some of the most important Deleuze scholars in the field today to explore and explain Deleuze's political philosophy.
Nicholas Rombes (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748620340
- eISBN:
- 9780748671052
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748620340.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This book examines a new breed of film that is indebted to the punk spirit of experimentation, do-it-yourself ethos, and an uneasy, often defiant relationship with the mainstream. An array of ...
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This book examines a new breed of film that is indebted to the punk spirit of experimentation, do-it-yourself ethos, and an uneasy, often defiant relationship with the mainstream. An array of scholars trace and map the contours of new punk cinema, from its roots in neorealism and the French New Wave, to its flowering in the work of Lars von Trier and the Dogma 95 movement. Subsequent chapters explore the potentially democratic and even anarchic forces of digital filmmaking; the influences of hypertext and other new media; the increased role of the viewer in arranging and manipulating the chronology of a film; and the role of new punk cinema in plotting a course beyond the postmodern. The book examines a range of films, including The Blair Witch Project, Time Code, Run Lola Run, Memento, The Celebration, Gummo and Requiem for a Dream.Less
This book examines a new breed of film that is indebted to the punk spirit of experimentation, do-it-yourself ethos, and an uneasy, often defiant relationship with the mainstream. An array of scholars trace and map the contours of new punk cinema, from its roots in neorealism and the French New Wave, to its flowering in the work of Lars von Trier and the Dogma 95 movement. Subsequent chapters explore the potentially democratic and even anarchic forces of digital filmmaking; the influences of hypertext and other new media; the increased role of the viewer in arranging and manipulating the chronology of a film; and the role of new punk cinema in plotting a course beyond the postmodern. The book examines a range of films, including The Blair Witch Project, Time Code, Run Lola Run, Memento, The Celebration, Gummo and Requiem for a Dream.
Jeffrey Bub and Itamar Pitowsky
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199560561
- eISBN:
- 9780191721380
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199560561.003.0016
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Philosophy of Science
This chapter argues that the intractable part of the measurement problem — the ‘big’ measurement problem — is a pseudo-problem that depends for its legitimacy on the acceptance of two dogmas. The ...
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This chapter argues that the intractable part of the measurement problem — the ‘big’ measurement problem — is a pseudo-problem that depends for its legitimacy on the acceptance of two dogmas. The first dogma is John Bell's assertion that measurement should never be introduced as a primitive process in a fundamental mechanical theory like classical or quantum mechanics, but should always be open to a complete analysis, in principle, of how the individual outcomes come about dynamically. The second dogma is the view that the quantum state has an ontological significance analogous to the significance of the classical state as the ‘truthmaker’ for propositions about the occurrence and non-occurrence of events, i.e., that the quantum state is a representation of physical reality. The chapter shows how both dogmas can be rejected in a realist information-theoretic interpretation of quantum mechanics as an alternative to the Everett interpretation. The Everettian, too, regards the ‘big’ measurement problem as a pseudo-problem, because the Everettian rejects the assumption that measurements have definite outcomes, in the sense that one particular outcome, as opposed to other possible outcomes, actually occurs in a quantum measurement process. By contrast with the Everettians, the chapter accepts that measurements have definite outcomes. By contrast with the Bohmians and the GRW ‘collapse’ theorists who add structure to the theory and propose dynamical solutions to the ‘big’ measurement problem, we take the problem to arise from the failure to see the significance of Hilbert space as a new kinematic framework for the physics of an indeterministic universe, in the sense that Hilbert space imposes kinematic (i.e., pre-dynamic) objective probabilistic constraints on correlations between events.Less
This chapter argues that the intractable part of the measurement problem — the ‘big’ measurement problem — is a pseudo-problem that depends for its legitimacy on the acceptance of two dogmas. The first dogma is John Bell's assertion that measurement should never be introduced as a primitive process in a fundamental mechanical theory like classical or quantum mechanics, but should always be open to a complete analysis, in principle, of how the individual outcomes come about dynamically. The second dogma is the view that the quantum state has an ontological significance analogous to the significance of the classical state as the ‘truthmaker’ for propositions about the occurrence and non-occurrence of events, i.e., that the quantum state is a representation of physical reality. The chapter shows how both dogmas can be rejected in a realist information-theoretic interpretation of quantum mechanics as an alternative to the Everett interpretation. The Everettian, too, regards the ‘big’ measurement problem as a pseudo-problem, because the Everettian rejects the assumption that measurements have definite outcomes, in the sense that one particular outcome, as opposed to other possible outcomes, actually occurs in a quantum measurement process. By contrast with the Everettians, the chapter accepts that measurements have definite outcomes. By contrast with the Bohmians and the GRW ‘collapse’ theorists who add structure to the theory and propose dynamical solutions to the ‘big’ measurement problem, we take the problem to arise from the failure to see the significance of Hilbert space as a new kinematic framework for the physics of an indeterministic universe, in the sense that Hilbert space imposes kinematic (i.e., pre-dynamic) objective probabilistic constraints on correlations between events.
Casey Perin
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199557905
- eISBN:
- 9780191721366
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199557905.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
The Scope of Scepticism is the range of candidates for belief about which the Sceptic, in virtue of being a Sceptic, suspends judgement. This chapter argues that Sextus places a restriction on the ...
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The Scope of Scepticism is the range of candidates for belief about which the Sceptic, in virtue of being a Sceptic, suspends judgement. This chapter argues that Sextus places a restriction on the Sceptic's suspension of judgement, and so on the scope of Scepticism, insofar as he attributes, as he does at Outlines of Pyrrhonism 1.13, some beliefs to the Sceptic. As a result an adequate interpretation of the scope of Scepticism must draw a distinction between two kinds of belief. Dogmatic belief is belief of the kind the Sceptic, in virtue of his Scepticism, lacks; and non‐dogmatic belief is belief of the kind his Scepticism permits him to have. This chapter argues, against a line of interpretation advanced by Michael Frede, that for Sextus the distinction between dogmatic and non‐dogmatic belief is the distinction between belief about how things are and belief about how things merely appear to one to be.Less
The Scope of Scepticism is the range of candidates for belief about which the Sceptic, in virtue of being a Sceptic, suspends judgement. This chapter argues that Sextus places a restriction on the Sceptic's suspension of judgement, and so on the scope of Scepticism, insofar as he attributes, as he does at Outlines of Pyrrhonism 1.13, some beliefs to the Sceptic. As a result an adequate interpretation of the scope of Scepticism must draw a distinction between two kinds of belief. Dogmatic belief is belief of the kind the Sceptic, in virtue of his Scepticism, lacks; and non‐dogmatic belief is belief of the kind his Scepticism permits him to have. This chapter argues, against a line of interpretation advanced by Michael Frede, that for Sextus the distinction between dogmatic and non‐dogmatic belief is the distinction between belief about how things are and belief about how things merely appear to one to be.
Mike Ironside and Roger Seifert
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199240753
- eISBN:
- 9780191696862
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199240753.003.0003
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Business History
This chapter starts in early 1979 with the last few months of the Labour government. It includes an account of the strike by social workers during the ‘winter of discontent’, and of the crisis over ...
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This chapter starts in early 1979 with the last few months of the Labour government. It includes an account of the strike by social workers during the ‘winter of discontent’, and of the crisis over public-sector pay and incomes policies. Then, it covers the election of the Conservative Party under Mrs. Thatcher in May 1979, followed by the main developments during the early years of the Conservative government. It outlines the government’s drive to ‘squeeze inflation out of the system’ through a combination of cutting public expenditure, weakening union power, and increasing unemployment. It also discusses National and Local Government Officers Association’s (NALGO) responses to these policy initiatives by maintaining a ‘business-as-usual’ approach to industrial relations and collective bargaining in all sectors, illustrated by the 1980 local-government comparability pay dispute. Moreover, the linkage between government policy and monetarist dogma is examined. Furthermore, it describes the impact of these and other forces on the union itself. The emerging tensions: over representativeness; coping with an increasingly fragmented and diverse membership; and facing up to the nature of political opposition to government, are determined.Less
This chapter starts in early 1979 with the last few months of the Labour government. It includes an account of the strike by social workers during the ‘winter of discontent’, and of the crisis over public-sector pay and incomes policies. Then, it covers the election of the Conservative Party under Mrs. Thatcher in May 1979, followed by the main developments during the early years of the Conservative government. It outlines the government’s drive to ‘squeeze inflation out of the system’ through a combination of cutting public expenditure, weakening union power, and increasing unemployment. It also discusses National and Local Government Officers Association’s (NALGO) responses to these policy initiatives by maintaining a ‘business-as-usual’ approach to industrial relations and collective bargaining in all sectors, illustrated by the 1980 local-government comparability pay dispute. Moreover, the linkage between government policy and monetarist dogma is examined. Furthermore, it describes the impact of these and other forces on the union itself. The emerging tensions: over representativeness; coping with an increasingly fragmented and diverse membership; and facing up to the nature of political opposition to government, are determined.
Anthony Quinton
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199694556
- eISBN:
- 9780191731938
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199694556.003.0013
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Quine's ‘Two Dogmas of Empiricism’ and ‘The Problem of Meaning in Linguistics’ treated meaning in a sceptical, dismissive fashion, in very much the same way that analytic philosophers themselves had ...
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Quine's ‘Two Dogmas of Empiricism’ and ‘The Problem of Meaning in Linguistics’ treated meaning in a sceptical, dismissive fashion, in very much the same way that analytic philosophers themselves had relied on the notion of meaning to dispel the pretensions of metaphysics. In ‘Two Dogmas’ the topic of meaning is approached indirectly, by way of criticism of the analytic/synthetic distinction, in the first instance. Analytic truths are those that can be reduced with the aid of definitions to truths of logic. What, Quine enquired, are the criteria of synonymy implied by the claim of such definitions to correctness? In ‘Meaning in Linguistics’ the thesis of ‘Two Dogmas’ that ‘meanings themselves, as obscure intermediary entities, may well be abandoned’ is developed further. This chapter raises a number of questions about details in the complex fabric of Quine's arguments in order to draw attention to what seems to be unfinished business or holes that need to be stopped.Less
Quine's ‘Two Dogmas of Empiricism’ and ‘The Problem of Meaning in Linguistics’ treated meaning in a sceptical, dismissive fashion, in very much the same way that analytic philosophers themselves had relied on the notion of meaning to dispel the pretensions of metaphysics. In ‘Two Dogmas’ the topic of meaning is approached indirectly, by way of criticism of the analytic/synthetic distinction, in the first instance. Analytic truths are those that can be reduced with the aid of definitions to truths of logic. What, Quine enquired, are the criteria of synonymy implied by the claim of such definitions to correctness? In ‘Meaning in Linguistics’ the thesis of ‘Two Dogmas’ that ‘meanings themselves, as obscure intermediary entities, may well be abandoned’ is developed further. This chapter raises a number of questions about details in the complex fabric of Quine's arguments in order to draw attention to what seems to be unfinished business or holes that need to be stopped.
Ethan H. Shagan
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691174747
- eISBN:
- 9780691184944
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691174747.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter investigates how Descartes' decision to submit the Church's dogma to the judgment of his own mind was not contingent but absolutely central. His argument for God's existence was not ...
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This chapter investigates how Descartes' decision to submit the Church's dogma to the judgment of his own mind was not contingent but absolutely central. His argument for God's existence was not simply one example from a list of things he could prove rationally, but rather was the wellspring of all argument, the fundamental theorem that allowed him to establish secure knowledge in other fields. The whole ground of judgment, for Descartes, was the mind's capacity to discover a truth external to itself; only after independently proving that God exists could he believe anything else. Moreover, for Descartes, complex acts of ratiocination must necessarily precede belief, and the individual reasoning person must believe for themselves if belief is to have any meaning.Less
This chapter investigates how Descartes' decision to submit the Church's dogma to the judgment of his own mind was not contingent but absolutely central. His argument for God's existence was not simply one example from a list of things he could prove rationally, but rather was the wellspring of all argument, the fundamental theorem that allowed him to establish secure knowledge in other fields. The whole ground of judgment, for Descartes, was the mind's capacity to discover a truth external to itself; only after independently proving that God exists could he believe anything else. Moreover, for Descartes, complex acts of ratiocination must necessarily precede belief, and the individual reasoning person must believe for themselves if belief is to have any meaning.
Neil Tennant
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199251605
- eISBN:
- 9780191698057
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199251605.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Logic/Philosophy of Mathematics, Philosophy of Language
This chapter re-examines the much maligned notion of analyticity. It suggests that a major reason why various philosophers have had trouble applying the analytic-synthetic distinction is that they ...
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This chapter re-examines the much maligned notion of analyticity. It suggests that a major reason why various philosophers have had trouble applying the analytic-synthetic distinction is that they have been affected by an unarticulated dogma. It contends that once this dogma is challenged and its contradictory asserted, light can be shed once again and the equilibrium of analytic empiricism can be restored.Less
This chapter re-examines the much maligned notion of analyticity. It suggests that a major reason why various philosophers have had trouble applying the analytic-synthetic distinction is that they have been affected by an unarticulated dogma. It contends that once this dogma is challenged and its contradictory asserted, light can be shed once again and the equilibrium of analytic empiricism can be restored.
Menachem Kellner
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781904113218
- eISBN:
- 9781800340374
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781904113218.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This is a book on history of ideas which traces the development of creed formation in Judaism from its inception with Moses Maimonides (1138–1204) to the beginning of the sixteenth century when ...
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This is a book on history of ideas which traces the development of creed formation in Judaism from its inception with Moses Maimonides (1138–1204) to the beginning of the sixteenth century when systematic attention to the problem disappeared from the agenda of Jewish intellectuals. The dogmatic systems of Maimonides, Duran, Crescas, Albo, Bibago, Abravanel, and a dozen lesser-known figures are described, analysed, and compared. Relevant texts are presented in English translation. For the most part these are texts which have never been critically edited and translated before. Among the theses defended in the book are the following: that systematic attention to dogma qua dogma was a new feature in Jewish theology introduced by Maimonides (for reasons examined at length in the book); that the subject languished for the two centuries after Maimonides’ death until it was revived in fifteenth-century Spain in response to Christian attacks on Judaism; that the differing systems of dogma offered by medieval Jewish thinkers reflect not different conceptions of what Judaism is, but different conceptions of what a principle of Judaism is; and that the very project of creed formation reflects an essentially Greek as opposed to a biblical/rabbinic view of the nature of religious faith and that this accounts for much of the resistance which Maimonides’ innovation aroused.Less
This is a book on history of ideas which traces the development of creed formation in Judaism from its inception with Moses Maimonides (1138–1204) to the beginning of the sixteenth century when systematic attention to the problem disappeared from the agenda of Jewish intellectuals. The dogmatic systems of Maimonides, Duran, Crescas, Albo, Bibago, Abravanel, and a dozen lesser-known figures are described, analysed, and compared. Relevant texts are presented in English translation. For the most part these are texts which have never been critically edited and translated before. Among the theses defended in the book are the following: that systematic attention to dogma qua dogma was a new feature in Jewish theology introduced by Maimonides (for reasons examined at length in the book); that the subject languished for the two centuries after Maimonides’ death until it was revived in fifteenth-century Spain in response to Christian attacks on Judaism; that the differing systems of dogma offered by medieval Jewish thinkers reflect not different conceptions of what Judaism is, but different conceptions of what a principle of Judaism is; and that the very project of creed formation reflects an essentially Greek as opposed to a biblical/rabbinic view of the nature of religious faith and that this accounts for much of the resistance which Maimonides’ innovation aroused.
Gerd Gigerenzer
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195153729
- eISBN:
- 9780199849222
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195153729.003.0013
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
Statistical reasoning is an art and so demands both mathematical knowledge and informed judgment. When it is mechanized, as with the institutionalized hybrid logic, it becomes ritual, not reasoning. ...
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Statistical reasoning is an art and so demands both mathematical knowledge and informed judgment. When it is mechanized, as with the institutionalized hybrid logic, it becomes ritual, not reasoning. Many experts have argued that it is not going to be easy to get researchers in psychology and other sociobiomedical sciences to drop this comforting crutch unless one offers an easy-to-use substitute. This chapter argues that this should be avoided — the substitution of one mechanistic dogma for another. At the very least, this chapter can serve as a tool in arguments with people who think they have to defend a ritualistic dogma instead of good statistical reasoning. Making and winning such arguments is indispensable to good science.Less
Statistical reasoning is an art and so demands both mathematical knowledge and informed judgment. When it is mechanized, as with the institutionalized hybrid logic, it becomes ritual, not reasoning. Many experts have argued that it is not going to be easy to get researchers in psychology and other sociobiomedical sciences to drop this comforting crutch unless one offers an easy-to-use substitute. This chapter argues that this should be avoided — the substitution of one mechanistic dogma for another. At the very least, this chapter can serve as a tool in arguments with people who think they have to defend a ritualistic dogma instead of good statistical reasoning. Making and winning such arguments is indispensable to good science.
Chris Heffer
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- August 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190923280
- eISBN:
- 9780190923327
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190923280.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
In a post-factual world in which claims are often held to be true only to the extent that they partisanly confirm one’s preexisting beliefs, this book asks the following crucial questions: How can ...
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In a post-factual world in which claims are often held to be true only to the extent that they partisanly confirm one’s preexisting beliefs, this book asks the following crucial questions: How can one identify the many forms of untruthfulness in discourse? How can one know when their use is ethically wrong? How can one judge untruthfulness in the messiness of situated discourse? Drawing on pragmatics, philosophy, psychology, and law, All Bullshit and Lies? develops a comprehensive framework for analyzing untruthful discourse in situated context. The TRUST (Trust-Related Untruthfulness in Situated Text) framework sees untruthfulness as encompassing not just deliberate manipulations of what you believe to be the truth (the insincerity of withholding, misleading, and lying), but also the distortions that arise pathologically from an irresponsible attitude toward the truth (dogma, distortion, and bullshit). Truth is often not “in play” (as in jokes or fiction), or concealing it can achieve a greater good (as in saving another’s face). Untruthfulness becomes unethical in discourse, though, when it unjustifiably breaches the trust an interlocutor invests in the speaker. In such cases, the speaker becomes willfully insincere or epistemically negligent and thus culpable to a greater or lesser degree. In addition to the theoretical framework, the book provides a clear, practical heuristic for analyzing discursive untruthfulness and applies it to such cases of public discourse as the Brexit “battle bus,” Trump’s tweet about voter fraud, Blair’s and Bush’s claims about weapons of mass destruction, and the multiple forms of untruthfulness associated with the Skripal poisoning case.Less
In a post-factual world in which claims are often held to be true only to the extent that they partisanly confirm one’s preexisting beliefs, this book asks the following crucial questions: How can one identify the many forms of untruthfulness in discourse? How can one know when their use is ethically wrong? How can one judge untruthfulness in the messiness of situated discourse? Drawing on pragmatics, philosophy, psychology, and law, All Bullshit and Lies? develops a comprehensive framework for analyzing untruthful discourse in situated context. The TRUST (Trust-Related Untruthfulness in Situated Text) framework sees untruthfulness as encompassing not just deliberate manipulations of what you believe to be the truth (the insincerity of withholding, misleading, and lying), but also the distortions that arise pathologically from an irresponsible attitude toward the truth (dogma, distortion, and bullshit). Truth is often not “in play” (as in jokes or fiction), or concealing it can achieve a greater good (as in saving another’s face). Untruthfulness becomes unethical in discourse, though, when it unjustifiably breaches the trust an interlocutor invests in the speaker. In such cases, the speaker becomes willfully insincere or epistemically negligent and thus culpable to a greater or lesser degree. In addition to the theoretical framework, the book provides a clear, practical heuristic for analyzing discursive untruthfulness and applies it to such cases of public discourse as the Brexit “battle bus,” Trump’s tweet about voter fraud, Blair’s and Bush’s claims about weapons of mass destruction, and the multiple forms of untruthfulness associated with the Skripal poisoning case.
Jay David Atlas
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195133004
- eISBN:
- 9780199850181
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195133004.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Logic/Philosophy of Mathematics
Dogma refers to the notion of how language is divided into two categories: one that is figurative or literary and that is widely used metaphorically, and the other concerns standard or ordinary ...
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Dogma refers to the notion of how language is divided into two categories: one that is figurative or literary and that is widely used metaphorically, and the other concerns standard or ordinary language which is taken to refer to things literally. Dogma plays no small part in the study of literary style in the twentieth century and in studies of the philosophy of language. The fact that this notion is believed to have not been established with a reliable basis entails two effects — a revision of Fregean semantics that veers away from the idea that meaning determines reference and that literal meaning is definite, and the dissolution of the distinction between the linguistic life and linguistic art. This chapter focuses on the distinctions between the different functions of language and how these were systematically imposed during the period between the 1920s and the 1930s.Less
Dogma refers to the notion of how language is divided into two categories: one that is figurative or literary and that is widely used metaphorically, and the other concerns standard or ordinary language which is taken to refer to things literally. Dogma plays no small part in the study of literary style in the twentieth century and in studies of the philosophy of language. The fact that this notion is believed to have not been established with a reliable basis entails two effects — a revision of Fregean semantics that veers away from the idea that meaning determines reference and that literal meaning is definite, and the dissolution of the distinction between the linguistic life and linguistic art. This chapter focuses on the distinctions between the different functions of language and how these were systematically imposed during the period between the 1920s and the 1930s.
John A. Schuster
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195075519
- eISBN:
- 9780199853052
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195075519.003.0014
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter describes the discovery, perfection, and application of the scientific method as the Scientific Revolution happens. Bacon, Galileo, Harvey, Huygens, and Newton were singularly successful ...
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This chapter describes the discovery, perfection, and application of the scientific method as the Scientific Revolution happens. Bacon, Galileo, Harvey, Huygens, and Newton were singularly successful in persuading posterity that they contributed to the invention of a single, transferable, and efficacious scientific method. The treatment of Descartes' method by historians of science and historians of philosophy has been no exception to this pattern. The Discours de la methode has been seen as one of the most important methodological treatises in the Western intellectual tradition, and the Cartesian method has been viewed as doubly successful and significant within that tradition. First, Descartes' method has been taken to mark an early stage in that long maturation of the scientific method resulting from interaction between application of method in scientific work and critical reflection about method carried out by great methodologists, from Bacon and Descartes down to Popper and Lakatos. Second, Descartes' considerable achievements in the sciences and in mathematics during a crucial stage of the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century have been taken to have depended upon his method. This chapter discusses the tendency of historians and philosophers to create a cult of the thoughts of thinkers and revive the link between theorizing about the purported scientific method and requiring a method-centric history of science. It explains further that in all cults, there is a doctrine of truth and it informs us of what we already know and that there is an open ended set of rules.Less
This chapter describes the discovery, perfection, and application of the scientific method as the Scientific Revolution happens. Bacon, Galileo, Harvey, Huygens, and Newton were singularly successful in persuading posterity that they contributed to the invention of a single, transferable, and efficacious scientific method. The treatment of Descartes' method by historians of science and historians of philosophy has been no exception to this pattern. The Discours de la methode has been seen as one of the most important methodological treatises in the Western intellectual tradition, and the Cartesian method has been viewed as doubly successful and significant within that tradition. First, Descartes' method has been taken to mark an early stage in that long maturation of the scientific method resulting from interaction between application of method in scientific work and critical reflection about method carried out by great methodologists, from Bacon and Descartes down to Popper and Lakatos. Second, Descartes' considerable achievements in the sciences and in mathematics during a crucial stage of the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century have been taken to have depended upon his method. This chapter discusses the tendency of historians and philosophers to create a cult of the thoughts of thinkers and revive the link between theorizing about the purported scientific method and requiring a method-centric history of science. It explains further that in all cults, there is a doctrine of truth and it informs us of what we already know and that there is an open ended set of rules.
Nicholas Lossky
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198261858
- eISBN:
- 9780191682223
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198261858.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter focuses on the Christmas sermons of Lancelot Andrewes. Among his several sermons, seventeen were devoted to the Nativity and were preached on the 25th of December before James I and the ...
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This chapter focuses on the Christmas sermons of Lancelot Andrewes. Among his several sermons, seventeen were devoted to the Nativity and were preached on the 25th of December before James I and the Court between 1605 and 1624. His sermons display a sense of unity in their central theme and reveal a great diversity in the manner of treatment. His Nativity sermons display a vision of the dogma of Incarnation with all its doctrinal and spiritual implications and the chapter looks at how they discuss the central paradox of the two natures of Christ: the divine nature and the human nature.Less
This chapter focuses on the Christmas sermons of Lancelot Andrewes. Among his several sermons, seventeen were devoted to the Nativity and were preached on the 25th of December before James I and the Court between 1605 and 1624. His sermons display a sense of unity in their central theme and reveal a great diversity in the manner of treatment. His Nativity sermons display a vision of the dogma of Incarnation with all its doctrinal and spiritual implications and the chapter looks at how they discuss the central paradox of the two natures of Christ: the divine nature and the human nature.
Kenneth Einar Himma
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199237159
- eISBN:
- 9780191705427
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199237159.003.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
This chapter responds to the most important considerations adduced against traditional conceptual analysis (TCA): (1) the denial of the distinction between analytic and synthetic truths; (2) recent ...
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This chapter responds to the most important considerations adduced against traditional conceptual analysis (TCA): (1) the denial of the distinction between analytic and synthetic truths; (2) recent research on the fallibility of ordinary intuitions; (3) the idea that all claims are revisable in the face of recalcitrant experience; and (4) the claim that even putatively conceptual claims are contingent in character. It argues that the most influential arguments for abandoning metaphysics and conceptual analysis are unsuccessful. For instance, the Quinean circle-of-terms argument, does not even get off the ground because his claim we should give up the concept of meaning because of its obscurity cannot bear the weight Quine places on it. Likewise, sociological arguments about the unreliability of intuition fail because they neither distinguish various forms of intuition nor consider the possibility that some forms are more reliable than others.Less
This chapter responds to the most important considerations adduced against traditional conceptual analysis (TCA): (1) the denial of the distinction between analytic and synthetic truths; (2) recent research on the fallibility of ordinary intuitions; (3) the idea that all claims are revisable in the face of recalcitrant experience; and (4) the claim that even putatively conceptual claims are contingent in character. It argues that the most influential arguments for abandoning metaphysics and conceptual analysis are unsuccessful. For instance, the Quinean circle-of-terms argument, does not even get off the ground because his claim we should give up the concept of meaning because of its obscurity cannot bear the weight Quine places on it. Likewise, sociological arguments about the unreliability of intuition fail because they neither distinguish various forms of intuition nor consider the possibility that some forms are more reliable than others.
Wesley C. Salmon
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195108644
- eISBN:
- 9780199833627
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195108647.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
Challenges the widely held thesis that scientific explanations are arguments (the “third dogma”) by posing three questions that seem to raise difficulties for it: (1) Why are irrelevancies harmless ...
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Challenges the widely held thesis that scientific explanations are arguments (the “third dogma”) by posing three questions that seem to raise difficulties for it: (1) Why are irrelevancies harmless to arguments but fatal to explanations? (2) Can events whose probabilities are low be explained? Or, to reformulate essentially the same question, is genuine scientific explanation possible if indeterminism is true? (3) Why should requirements of temporal asymmetry be imposed upon explanations but not upon arguments?In addition to showing the untenability of the “third dogma,” this chapter signals the development of a causal theory of explanation that will supplement the simple statistical‐relevance (S‐R) model of explanation advocated in earlier works by the author.Less
Challenges the widely held thesis that scientific explanations are arguments (the “third dogma”) by posing three questions that seem to raise difficulties for it: (1) Why are irrelevancies harmless to arguments but fatal to explanations? (2) Can events whose probabilities are low be explained? Or, to reformulate essentially the same question, is genuine scientific explanation possible if indeterminism is true? (3) Why should requirements of temporal asymmetry be imposed upon explanations but not upon arguments?
In addition to showing the untenability of the “third dogma,” this chapter signals the development of a causal theory of explanation that will supplement the simple statistical‐relevance (S‐R) model of explanation advocated in earlier works by the author.
Tamara Levitz
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199730162
- eISBN:
- 9780199932467
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730162.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter interprets Stravinsky’s faith by analyzing how he composed the opening of Perséphone, and the central gesture of Demeter entrusting Persephone to the nymphs. The goal is to demonstrate ...
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This chapter interprets Stravinsky’s faith by analyzing how he composed the opening of Perséphone, and the central gesture of Demeter entrusting Persephone to the nymphs. The goal is to demonstrate how Stravinsky, in contrast to Gide, submitted his will to Christian dogma, rather than trusting in individual action. In dialogue with his Christian friends, Pyotr Suvchinsky, Charles-Albert Cingria, and Jacques Maritain (and to a lesser degree Domenico de Paoli and Ernst Ansermet), Stravinsky developed a Christian compositional approach that led to a sacred formalism based on revelation through artistic materials, mythical consciousness of music history, the promulgation of dogma through emblematic gesture, and sound as a divine force. This led him to side with Demeter as a representative of Church authority, rather than with Gide’s sensitive Persephone. Stravinsky’s approach put him diametrically at odds with André Gide.Less
This chapter interprets Stravinsky’s faith by analyzing how he composed the opening of Perséphone, and the central gesture of Demeter entrusting Persephone to the nymphs. The goal is to demonstrate how Stravinsky, in contrast to Gide, submitted his will to Christian dogma, rather than trusting in individual action. In dialogue with his Christian friends, Pyotr Suvchinsky, Charles-Albert Cingria, and Jacques Maritain (and to a lesser degree Domenico de Paoli and Ernst Ansermet), Stravinsky developed a Christian compositional approach that led to a sacred formalism based on revelation through artistic materials, mythical consciousness of music history, the promulgation of dogma through emblematic gesture, and sound as a divine force. This led him to side with Demeter as a representative of Church authority, rather than with Gide’s sensitive Persephone. Stravinsky’s approach put him diametrically at odds with André Gide.
