Daniel Stoljar
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195306583
- eISBN:
- 9780199786619
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195306589.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This book advances a novel way to resolve the central philosophical problem about the mind: how it is that consciousness or experience fits into a larger naturalistic picture of the world. The ...
More
This book advances a novel way to resolve the central philosophical problem about the mind: how it is that consciousness or experience fits into a larger naturalistic picture of the world. The correct response to the problem, it is argued, is not to posit a realm of experience distinct from the physical, nor to deny the reality of phenomenal experience, nor even to rethink our understanding of consciousness and the language we use to talk about it. Instead, we should view the problem itself as having its origin in our ignorance of the relevant physical facts. This change of orientation is shown to be well motivated historically, empirically, and philosophically, and to have none of the side effects it is sometimes thought to have. The result is a philosophical perspective on the mind that has a number of far-reaching consequences: for consciousness studies, for our place in nature, and for the way we think about the relationship between philosophy and science.Less
This book advances a novel way to resolve the central philosophical problem about the mind: how it is that consciousness or experience fits into a larger naturalistic picture of the world. The correct response to the problem, it is argued, is not to posit a realm of experience distinct from the physical, nor to deny the reality of phenomenal experience, nor even to rethink our understanding of consciousness and the language we use to talk about it. Instead, we should view the problem itself as having its origin in our ignorance of the relevant physical facts. This change of orientation is shown to be well motivated historically, empirically, and philosophically, and to have none of the side effects it is sometimes thought to have. The result is a philosophical perspective on the mind that has a number of far-reaching consequences: for consciousness studies, for our place in nature, and for the way we think about the relationship between philosophy and science.
Jennifer Glancy
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195328158
- eISBN:
- 9780199777143
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195328158.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History, Early Christian Studies
Drawing on representations of bodies in sources from Paul to Augustine, this book focuses on the question of what is known in the body and demonstrates why that question is significant for a cultural ...
More
Drawing on representations of bodies in sources from Paul to Augustine, this book focuses on the question of what is known in the body and demonstrates why that question is significant for a cultural history of Christian origins. The inevitable cultural habituation of bodies influenced Christians of the first centuries to replicate the habitus of the wider culture—that is, the hierarchical patterns of social relations familiar throughout the Roman Empire, despite the seeming incompatibility of those embodied patterns of relations with the good news of Christian preaching. A study of corporal epistemology, this volume builds on a sequence of in-depth analyses of texts, historical problems, and theological questions. How does Paul manage to position his whippable body as a source of knowledge and power? How did the corporal conditioning of the Roman slaveholding system infiltrate Christian moral imagination and sexual ethics? What do primitive images of Mary in childbirth suggest about ancient—and modern—understandings of maternal epistemology? The book is informed by the work of theorists of corporeality, including Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Pierre Bourdieu, and Linda Martín Alcoff. What is known in the body is informed by but ultimately exceeds the grid of social location. Framing questions about corporal knowledge offers new insights into bodies, identities, and early Christian understandings of what it means to be human.Less
Drawing on representations of bodies in sources from Paul to Augustine, this book focuses on the question of what is known in the body and demonstrates why that question is significant for a cultural history of Christian origins. The inevitable cultural habituation of bodies influenced Christians of the first centuries to replicate the habitus of the wider culture—that is, the hierarchical patterns of social relations familiar throughout the Roman Empire, despite the seeming incompatibility of those embodied patterns of relations with the good news of Christian preaching. A study of corporal epistemology, this volume builds on a sequence of in-depth analyses of texts, historical problems, and theological questions. How does Paul manage to position his whippable body as a source of knowledge and power? How did the corporal conditioning of the Roman slaveholding system infiltrate Christian moral imagination and sexual ethics? What do primitive images of Mary in childbirth suggest about ancient—and modern—understandings of maternal epistemology? The book is informed by the work of theorists of corporeality, including Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Pierre Bourdieu, and Linda Martín Alcoff. What is known in the body is informed by but ultimately exceeds the grid of social location. Framing questions about corporal knowledge offers new insights into bodies, identities, and early Christian understandings of what it means to be human.
Marcus Giaquinto
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199285945
- eISBN:
- 9780191713811
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199285945.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Logic/Philosophy of Mathematics
Visual thinking — visual imagination or perception of diagrams and symbol arrays, and mental operations on them — is omnipresent in mathematics. Is this visual thinking merely a psychological aid, ...
More
Visual thinking — visual imagination or perception of diagrams and symbol arrays, and mental operations on them — is omnipresent in mathematics. Is this visual thinking merely a psychological aid, facilitating grasp of what is gathered by other means? Or does it also have epistemological functions, as a means of discovery, understanding, and even proof? This book argues that visual thinking in mathematics is rarely just a superfluous aid; it usually has epistemological value, often as a means of discovery. The book explores a major source of our grasp of mathematics, using examples from basic geometry, arithmetic, algebra, and real analysis. It shows how we can discern abstract general truths by means of specific images, how synthetic a priori knowledge is possible, and how visual means can help us grasp abstract structures. This book reopens the investigation of earlier thinkers from Plato to Kant into the nature and epistemology of an individual's basic mathematical beliefs and abilities, in the new light shed by the maturing cognitive sciences.Less
Visual thinking — visual imagination or perception of diagrams and symbol arrays, and mental operations on them — is omnipresent in mathematics. Is this visual thinking merely a psychological aid, facilitating grasp of what is gathered by other means? Or does it also have epistemological functions, as a means of discovery, understanding, and even proof? This book argues that visual thinking in mathematics is rarely just a superfluous aid; it usually has epistemological value, often as a means of discovery. The book explores a major source of our grasp of mathematics, using examples from basic geometry, arithmetic, algebra, and real analysis. It shows how we can discern abstract general truths by means of specific images, how synthetic a priori knowledge is possible, and how visual means can help us grasp abstract structures. This book reopens the investigation of earlier thinkers from Plato to Kant into the nature and epistemology of an individual's basic mathematical beliefs and abilities, in the new light shed by the maturing cognitive sciences.
D. D. Raphael
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199213337
- eISBN:
- 9780191707544
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199213337.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This book is a critical discussion of Adam Smith's moral philosophy set out in The Theory of Moral Sentiments: critical in the sense of combining exposition with a critical evaluation of Smith's ...
More
This book is a critical discussion of Adam Smith's moral philosophy set out in The Theory of Moral Sentiments: critical in the sense of combining exposition with a critical evaluation of Smith's views and arguments. While falling short of the eminence of The Wealth of Nations in the history of economic theory, the Moral Sentiments is a worthy contribution to ethical theory, especially for its concept of the impartial spectator, interpreted here as a theory of conscience built up from moral judgements made by the spectator exercising sympathy and imagination. The book also has an historical interest, showing Smith's thought in the context of British moral philosophy of the 18th century. Scottish thinkers formed a notable section of that important segment of the history of philosophy. Beginning with criticism of Hobbes, they developed a distinctive line of theory (mostly empiricist), the chief figures being Francis Hutcheson, David Hume, Adam Smith, and Thomas Reid. Smith's theory may reasonably be judged the most stimulating and the most persuasive. Smith's thought on ethics developed as he grew older, and there is a substantial difference between the early editions of his book and the 6th edition, published a few months before his death. This study makes a special point of keeping an eye on this difference, thus bringing out the progression of Smith's thought.Less
This book is a critical discussion of Adam Smith's moral philosophy set out in The Theory of Moral Sentiments: critical in the sense of combining exposition with a critical evaluation of Smith's views and arguments. While falling short of the eminence of The Wealth of Nations in the history of economic theory, the Moral Sentiments is a worthy contribution to ethical theory, especially for its concept of the impartial spectator, interpreted here as a theory of conscience built up from moral judgements made by the spectator exercising sympathy and imagination. The book also has an historical interest, showing Smith's thought in the context of British moral philosophy of the 18th century. Scottish thinkers formed a notable section of that important segment of the history of philosophy. Beginning with criticism of Hobbes, they developed a distinctive line of theory (mostly empiricist), the chief figures being Francis Hutcheson, David Hume, Adam Smith, and Thomas Reid. Smith's theory may reasonably be judged the most stimulating and the most persuasive. Smith's thought on ethics developed as he grew older, and there is a substantial difference between the early editions of his book and the 6th edition, published a few months before his death. This study makes a special point of keeping an eye on this difference, thus bringing out the progression of Smith's thought.
Matt Rossano
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195385816
- eISBN:
- 9780199870080
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195385816.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Drawing together evidence from a wide range of scientific disciplines, this book presents an evolutionary history of religion. That history begins with the social lives and rituals of our primate ...
More
Drawing together evidence from a wide range of scientific disciplines, this book presents an evolutionary history of religion. That history begins with the social lives and rituals of our primate ancestors. As our ancestors’ social world grew increasingly complex, their mental powers grew in concert. Among these mental powers was an increasingly sophisticated imagination. A supernatural world filled with gods, spirits, and ancestors was an outgrowth of that imagination—especially children’s imagination. Belief in the supernatural provided important adaptive benefits. Religion’s initial adaptive benefit was its power to heal. Quickly, though, this benefit was augmented by religion’s power to create highly cooperative and cohesive groups. So significant were these benefits that eventually human groups bonded together by religion out-competed all other groups and literally conquered the world. The book argues that at its core, religion is relational—it represents a supernatural extension of the human social world. Far from just a frivolous adornment, this expanded social world holds the key to what made us human.Less
Drawing together evidence from a wide range of scientific disciplines, this book presents an evolutionary history of religion. That history begins with the social lives and rituals of our primate ancestors. As our ancestors’ social world grew increasingly complex, their mental powers grew in concert. Among these mental powers was an increasingly sophisticated imagination. A supernatural world filled with gods, spirits, and ancestors was an outgrowth of that imagination—especially children’s imagination. Belief in the supernatural provided important adaptive benefits. Religion’s initial adaptive benefit was its power to heal. Quickly, though, this benefit was augmented by religion’s power to create highly cooperative and cohesive groups. So significant were these benefits that eventually human groups bonded together by religion out-competed all other groups and literally conquered the world. The book argues that at its core, religion is relational—it represents a supernatural extension of the human social world. Far from just a frivolous adornment, this expanded social world holds the key to what made us human.
Ron Johnston (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264355
- eISBN:
- 9780191734052
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264355.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This volume of the Proceedings of the British Academy contains seventeen lectures delivered at the British Academy in 2007. Subject matter ranges from commemoration of the American Civil War, to an ...
More
This volume of the Proceedings of the British Academy contains seventeen lectures delivered at the British Academy in 2007. Subject matter ranges from commemoration of the American Civil War, to an examination of our capacity as human beings to live in the world of imagination, and the opportunities and challenges that face cultural institutions in Britain today.Less
This volume of the Proceedings of the British Academy contains seventeen lectures delivered at the British Academy in 2007. Subject matter ranges from commemoration of the American Civil War, to an examination of our capacity as human beings to live in the world of imagination, and the opportunities and challenges that face cultural institutions in Britain today.
Isobel Hurst
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199283514
- eISBN:
- 9780191712715
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199283514.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Virginia Woolf's ironic attitude to the classics in On Not Knowing Greek is examined not as the bitterness of a woman who has been excluded from patriarchal culture, but as a fascinating and ...
More
Virginia Woolf's ironic attitude to the classics in On Not Knowing Greek is examined not as the bitterness of a woman who has been excluded from patriarchal culture, but as a fascinating and idiosyncratic response to Greek, which owes much to her female predecessors. Not knowing the Greeks is not seen as a gendered deprivation, but a limitation which can only be overcome by using the imagination: finding pleasure in the strangeness of a new language and creating contemporary forms of literature in response to ancient myth are crucial to the development of the woman writer.Less
Virginia Woolf's ironic attitude to the classics in On Not Knowing Greek is examined not as the bitterness of a woman who has been excluded from patriarchal culture, but as a fascinating and idiosyncratic response to Greek, which owes much to her female predecessors. Not knowing the Greeks is not seen as a gendered deprivation, but a limitation which can only be overcome by using the imagination: finding pleasure in the strangeness of a new language and creating contemporary forms of literature in response to ancient myth are crucial to the development of the woman writer.
John Paul Lederach
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195174540
- eISBN:
- 9780199835409
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195174542.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book poses the question, “How do we transcend the cycles of violence that bewitch our human community while still living in them?” Peacebuilding, in the view of this book, is both a learned ...
More
This book poses the question, “How do we transcend the cycles of violence that bewitch our human community while still living in them?” Peacebuilding, in the view of this book, is both a learned skill and an art. Finding this art, this book says, requires a worldview shift. Conflict professionals must envision their work as a creative act — an exercise of what the book terms the “moral imagination.” This imagination must, however, emerge from and speak to the hard realities of human affairs. The peacebuilder must have one foot in what is and one foot beyond what exists. The book is organized around four guiding stories that point to the moral imagination but are incomplete. The book seeks to understand what happened in these individual cases and how they are relevant to large-scale change. The purpose is not to propose a grand new theory; instead it wishes to stay close to the “messiness” of real processes and change, and to recognize the serendipitous nature of the discoveries and insights that emerge along the way. Like most professional peacemakers, the author of this book sees his work as a religious vocation.Less
This book poses the question, “How do we transcend the cycles of violence that bewitch our human community while still living in them?” Peacebuilding, in the view of this book, is both a learned skill and an art. Finding this art, this book says, requires a worldview shift. Conflict professionals must envision their work as a creative act — an exercise of what the book terms the “moral imagination.” This imagination must, however, emerge from and speak to the hard realities of human affairs. The peacebuilder must have one foot in what is and one foot beyond what exists. The book is organized around four guiding stories that point to the moral imagination but are incomplete. The book seeks to understand what happened in these individual cases and how they are relevant to large-scale change. The purpose is not to propose a grand new theory; instead it wishes to stay close to the “messiness” of real processes and change, and to recognize the serendipitous nature of the discoveries and insights that emerge along the way. Like most professional peacemakers, the author of this book sees his work as a religious vocation.
John Paul Lederach
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195174540
- eISBN:
- 9780199835409
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195174542.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter begins with presenting some background on the painting September 11 used on the cover of this book, which is by Russian artist Akmal Mizshakarol. It then presents the question posed by ...
More
This chapter begins with presenting some background on the painting September 11 used on the cover of this book, which is by Russian artist Akmal Mizshakarol. It then presents the question posed by the book: how do we transcend the cycles of violence that bewitch our human community while still living in them? The chapter suggests that transcending violence is forged by the capacity to generate, mobilize, and build the moral imagination.Less
This chapter begins with presenting some background on the painting September 11 used on the cover of this book, which is by Russian artist Akmal Mizshakarol. It then presents the question posed by the book: how do we transcend the cycles of violence that bewitch our human community while still living in them? The chapter suggests that transcending violence is forged by the capacity to generate, mobilize, and build the moral imagination.
John Paul Lederach
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195174540
- eISBN:
- 9780199835409
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195174542.003.0016
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This epilogue presents some notable quotes regarding peacebuilding and moral imagination.
This epilogue presents some notable quotes regarding peacebuilding and moral imagination.
Charles Taliaferro and Jil Evans (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199563340
- eISBN:
- 9780191731303
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199563340.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion, Religious Studies
This book brings together chapters addressing the role of images and imagination recruited in the perennial debates surrounding nature, mind, and God. The debate between ‘new atheists’ and religious ...
More
This book brings together chapters addressing the role of images and imagination recruited in the perennial debates surrounding nature, mind, and God. The debate between ‘new atheists’ and religious apologists today is often hostile. This book sets a new tone by locating the debate between theism and naturalism (most ‘new atheists’ are self-described ‘naturalists’) in the broader context of reflection on imagination and aesthetics. The eleven chapters are about the power of imagination and the role of aesthetics in deciding between worldviews or philosophies of nature. This book represents a variety of points of view, including the philosophy of religion and of science, art history, and visual art.Less
This book brings together chapters addressing the role of images and imagination recruited in the perennial debates surrounding nature, mind, and God. The debate between ‘new atheists’ and religious apologists today is often hostile. This book sets a new tone by locating the debate between theism and naturalism (most ‘new atheists’ are self-described ‘naturalists’) in the broader context of reflection on imagination and aesthetics. The eleven chapters are about the power of imagination and the role of aesthetics in deciding between worldviews or philosophies of nature. This book represents a variety of points of view, including the philosophy of religion and of science, art history, and visual art.
Geetha B. Nambissan and Srinivasa Rao (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780198082866
- eISBN:
- 9780199082254
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198082866.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Education
This volume examines the history and research on the sociology of education (SoE) in India. It analyses the influence of culture, identities, structural inequalities, and poverty on education, and ...
More
This volume examines the history and research on the sociology of education (SoE) in India. It analyses the influence of culture, identities, structural inequalities, and poverty on education, and evaluates how sociological tools can be used to address the impending crisis in the educational system. The consistent study of SoE has been slow in India, as is evident in the only recent attempts to establish the structure of the discipline. This volume places the SoE as a sub-discipline of Indian sociology, with the first few studies on education being undertaken in the 1950s/1960s by Kothari Commission (1964-6). The book emphasizes the need to grow the sociological imagination as there is still a lack of understanding of education as a social institution and its interlinkages with poverty, cultural diversity, and the world of work. This book attempts to deal with how structural inequalities, cultural diversity, and identities of different social groups mediate institutional practices and influence learning. These are areas of research where sociologists of education in India have a critical role to play.Less
This volume examines the history and research on the sociology of education (SoE) in India. It analyses the influence of culture, identities, structural inequalities, and poverty on education, and evaluates how sociological tools can be used to address the impending crisis in the educational system. The consistent study of SoE has been slow in India, as is evident in the only recent attempts to establish the structure of the discipline. This volume places the SoE as a sub-discipline of Indian sociology, with the first few studies on education being undertaken in the 1950s/1960s by Kothari Commission (1964-6). The book emphasizes the need to grow the sociological imagination as there is still a lack of understanding of education as a social institution and its interlinkages with poverty, cultural diversity, and the world of work. This book attempts to deal with how structural inequalities, cultural diversity, and identities of different social groups mediate institutional practices and influence learning. These are areas of research where sociologists of education in India have a critical role to play.
David Wengrow
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691159041
- eISBN:
- 9781400848867
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691159041.001.0001
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
It has often been claimed that “monsters”—supernatural creatures with bodies composed from multiple species—play a significant part in the thought and imagery of all people from all times. This book ...
More
It has often been claimed that “monsters”—supernatural creatures with bodies composed from multiple species—play a significant part in the thought and imagery of all people from all times. This book advances an alternative view. Composite figurations are intriguingly rare and isolated in the art of the prehistoric era. Instead it was with the rise of cities, elites, and cosmopolitan trade networks that “monsters” became widespread features of visual production in the ancient world. Showing how these fantastic images originated and how they were transmitted, this book identifies patterns in the records of human image-making and embarks on a search for connections between mind and culture. It asks: Can cognitive science explain the potency of such images? Does evolutionary psychology hold a key to understanding the transmission of symbols? How is our making and perception of images influenced by institutions and technologies? The book considers the work of art in the first age of mechanical reproduction, which it locates in the Middle East, where urban life began. Comparing the development and spread of fantastic imagery across a range of prehistoric and ancient societies, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and China, the book explores how the visual imagination has been shaped by a complex mixture of historical and universal factors. Examining the reasons behind the dissemination of monstrous imagery in ancient states and empires, it sheds light on the relationship between culture and cognition.Less
It has often been claimed that “monsters”—supernatural creatures with bodies composed from multiple species—play a significant part in the thought and imagery of all people from all times. This book advances an alternative view. Composite figurations are intriguingly rare and isolated in the art of the prehistoric era. Instead it was with the rise of cities, elites, and cosmopolitan trade networks that “monsters” became widespread features of visual production in the ancient world. Showing how these fantastic images originated and how they were transmitted, this book identifies patterns in the records of human image-making and embarks on a search for connections between mind and culture. It asks: Can cognitive science explain the potency of such images? Does evolutionary psychology hold a key to understanding the transmission of symbols? How is our making and perception of images influenced by institutions and technologies? The book considers the work of art in the first age of mechanical reproduction, which it locates in the Middle East, where urban life began. Comparing the development and spread of fantastic imagery across a range of prehistoric and ancient societies, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and China, the book explores how the visual imagination has been shaped by a complex mixture of historical and universal factors. Examining the reasons behind the dissemination of monstrous imagery in ancient states and empires, it sheds light on the relationship between culture and cognition.
Michael Ostling
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199587902
- eISBN:
- 9780191731228
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199587902.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, Social History
This conclusion reviews the themes of the book, in particular its notion of ‘imagining witchcraft’. Drawing on the work of Jonathan Z. Smith, it claims that witchcraft, like religion, is a ...
More
This conclusion reviews the themes of the book, in particular its notion of ‘imagining witchcraft’. Drawing on the work of Jonathan Z. Smith, it claims that witchcraft, like religion, is a second-order category created by scholars for their own comparative purposes: accordingly scholars have the responsibility to use the category well. Drawing on the work of Clifford Geertz, the conclusion argues that we study not ‘The Other’ but others—real people and their own projects of self-imagination. Accused witches were caught in multiple layers of imaginative labeling—as criminals, Satanists, pagans, demoniacs. They also imagined themselves as Christians, wives, mothers. The task of this book has been to explore these multiple imaginations in an attempt to understand all the actors caught up in witch-trials: the accused, their accusers, magistrates, and alleged victims.Less
This conclusion reviews the themes of the book, in particular its notion of ‘imagining witchcraft’. Drawing on the work of Jonathan Z. Smith, it claims that witchcraft, like religion, is a second-order category created by scholars for their own comparative purposes: accordingly scholars have the responsibility to use the category well. Drawing on the work of Clifford Geertz, the conclusion argues that we study not ‘The Other’ but others—real people and their own projects of self-imagination. Accused witches were caught in multiple layers of imaginative labeling—as criminals, Satanists, pagans, demoniacs. They also imagined themselves as Christians, wives, mothers. The task of this book has been to explore these multiple imaginations in an attempt to understand all the actors caught up in witch-trials: the accused, their accusers, magistrates, and alleged victims.
Maria Antonaccio
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199855575
- eISBN:
- 9780199933198
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199855575.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Iris Murdoch’s philosophy has long attracted readers searching for a morally serious yet humane perspective on human life. Her eloquent call for “a theology which can continue without God” has been ...
More
Iris Murdoch’s philosophy has long attracted readers searching for a morally serious yet humane perspective on human life. Her eloquent call for “a theology which can continue without God” has been especially attractive to those who find that they can live neither with religion nor without it. By developing a form of thinking that is neither exclusively secular nor traditionally religious, Murdoch sought to recapture the existential or spiritual import of philosophy. Long before the current wave of interest in spiritual exercises, she approached philosophy not only as an academic discourse, but as a practice whose aim is the transformation of perception and consciousness. As she put it, a moral philosophy should be capable of being “inhabited”; that is, it should be “a philosophy one could live by.” In A Philosophy to Live By, Maria Antonaccio argues that Murdoch’s thought embodies an ascetic model of philosophy for contemporary life. Extending and complementing the argument of her earlier monograph, Picturing the Human: The Moral Thought of Iris Murdoch, this new work establishes Murdoch’s continuing relevance by engaging her thought with a variety of contemporary thinkers and debates in ethics, from a perspective informed by Murdoch’s philosophy as a whole. Among the prominent philosophers engaged here are Charles Taylor, Martha Nussbaum, Stephen Mulhall, John Rawls, Pierre Hadot, and Michel Foucault, and theologians such as Stanley Hauerwas, David Tracy, William Schweiker, and others. These engagements represent a sustained effort to think with Murdoch, yet also beyond her, by enlisting the resources of her thought to explore wider debates at the intersections of moral philosophy, religion, art, and politics, and in doing so, to illuminate the distinctive patterns and tropes of her philosophical style.Less
Iris Murdoch’s philosophy has long attracted readers searching for a morally serious yet humane perspective on human life. Her eloquent call for “a theology which can continue without God” has been especially attractive to those who find that they can live neither with religion nor without it. By developing a form of thinking that is neither exclusively secular nor traditionally religious, Murdoch sought to recapture the existential or spiritual import of philosophy. Long before the current wave of interest in spiritual exercises, she approached philosophy not only as an academic discourse, but as a practice whose aim is the transformation of perception and consciousness. As she put it, a moral philosophy should be capable of being “inhabited”; that is, it should be “a philosophy one could live by.” In A Philosophy to Live By, Maria Antonaccio argues that Murdoch’s thought embodies an ascetic model of philosophy for contemporary life. Extending and complementing the argument of her earlier monograph, Picturing the Human: The Moral Thought of Iris Murdoch, this new work establishes Murdoch’s continuing relevance by engaging her thought with a variety of contemporary thinkers and debates in ethics, from a perspective informed by Murdoch’s philosophy as a whole. Among the prominent philosophers engaged here are Charles Taylor, Martha Nussbaum, Stephen Mulhall, John Rawls, Pierre Hadot, and Michel Foucault, and theologians such as Stanley Hauerwas, David Tracy, William Schweiker, and others. These engagements represent a sustained effort to think with Murdoch, yet also beyond her, by enlisting the resources of her thought to explore wider debates at the intersections of moral philosophy, religion, art, and politics, and in doing so, to illuminate the distinctive patterns and tropes of her philosophical style.
Jerry A. Fodor
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199287338
- eISBN:
- 9780191700439
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199287338.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Language
This book looks to David Hume for help in advancing our understanding of the mind. The book claims his Treatise of Human Nature as the foundational document of cognitive science: it launched the ...
More
This book looks to David Hume for help in advancing our understanding of the mind. The book claims his Treatise of Human Nature as the foundational document of cognitive science: it launched the project of constructing an empirical psychology on the basis of a representational theory of mind. Going back to this work after more than 250 years we find that Hume is remarkably perceptive about the components and structure that a theory of mind requires. Careful study of the Treatise helps us to see what's amiss with much 20th-century philosophy of mind, and to get on the right track. Hume says in the Treatise that his main project is to construct a theory of human nature and, in particular, a theory of the mind. This book examines his account of cognition and how it is grounded in his ‘theory of ideas’. It discusses such key topics as the distinction between ‘simple’ and ‘complex’ ideas, the thesis that an idea is some kind of picture, and the roles that ‘association’ and ‘imagination’ play in cognitive processes. It argues that the theory of ideas, as Hume develops it, is both historically and ideologically continuous with the representational theory of mind as it is now widely endorsed by cognitive scientists. This view of Hume is explicitly opposed to recent discussions by critics who hold that the theory of ideas is the Achilles heel of his philosophy and that he would surely have abandoned it if only he had read Wittgenstein carefully.Less
This book looks to David Hume for help in advancing our understanding of the mind. The book claims his Treatise of Human Nature as the foundational document of cognitive science: it launched the project of constructing an empirical psychology on the basis of a representational theory of mind. Going back to this work after more than 250 years we find that Hume is remarkably perceptive about the components and structure that a theory of mind requires. Careful study of the Treatise helps us to see what's amiss with much 20th-century philosophy of mind, and to get on the right track. Hume says in the Treatise that his main project is to construct a theory of human nature and, in particular, a theory of the mind. This book examines his account of cognition and how it is grounded in his ‘theory of ideas’. It discusses such key topics as the distinction between ‘simple’ and ‘complex’ ideas, the thesis that an idea is some kind of picture, and the roles that ‘association’ and ‘imagination’ play in cognitive processes. It argues that the theory of ideas, as Hume develops it, is both historically and ideologically continuous with the representational theory of mind as it is now widely endorsed by cognitive scientists. This view of Hume is explicitly opposed to recent discussions by critics who hold that the theory of ideas is the Achilles heel of his philosophy and that he would surely have abandoned it if only he had read Wittgenstein carefully.
Wallace Matson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199812691
- eISBN:
- 9780199919420
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199812691.003.0015
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals, a patron of Greek culture, founded in Alexandria, capital of his Egyptian empire, the Library, the greatest depository of Greek literature, and the Museum, a ...
More
Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals, a patron of Greek culture, founded in Alexandria, capital of his Egyptian empire, the Library, the greatest depository of Greek literature, and the Museum, a research institute. Science made great advances in the Museum. The Library produced great scholars but little new literature. The principal philosophical innovation of the period was the rise of Skepticism, which utterly rejected high beliefs, whether tethered or not. Greek Skepticism is the ancestor of modern Positivism and Pragmatism, not of Cartesian skepticism. It was quite correct for its time, but it is a good thing that it did not prevail, for it would have eliminated the element of imagination that is essential to science.Less
Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals, a patron of Greek culture, founded in Alexandria, capital of his Egyptian empire, the Library, the greatest depository of Greek literature, and the Museum, a research institute. Science made great advances in the Museum. The Library produced great scholars but little new literature. The principal philosophical innovation of the period was the rise of Skepticism, which utterly rejected high beliefs, whether tethered or not. Greek Skepticism is the ancestor of modern Positivism and Pragmatism, not of Cartesian skepticism. It was quite correct for its time, but it is a good thing that it did not prevail, for it would have eliminated the element of imagination that is essential to science.
Vigen Guroian
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195152647
- eISBN:
- 9780199849192
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195152647.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
As the popularity of William Bennett's Book of Virtues attests, parents are turning more and more to children's literature to help instill values in their children. This book provides the perfect ...
More
As the popularity of William Bennett's Book of Virtues attests, parents are turning more and more to children's literature to help instill values in their children. This book provides the perfect complement to books such as Bennett's, offering parents and teachers a much-needed roadmap to some of our finest children's stories. The book illuminates the complex ways in which fairy tales and fantasies educate the moral imagination from earliest childhood. Examining a wide range of stories—from “Pinocchio” and “The Little Mermaid” to “Charlotte's Web”, “The Velveteen Rabbit”, “The Wind in the Willows” and the “Chronicles of Narnia”—this book argues that these tales capture the meaning of morality through vivid depictions of the struggle between good and evil, in which characters must make difficult choices between right and wrong, or heroes and villains contest the very fate of imaginary worlds. Character and the virtues are depicted compellingly in these stories; the virtues glimmer as if in a looking glass, and wickedness and deception are unmasked of their pretensions to goodness and truth. We are made to face the unvarnished truth about ourselves, and what kind of people we want to be. This book highlights the classical moral virtues such as courage, goodness, and honesty, especially as they are understood in traditional Christianity.Less
As the popularity of William Bennett's Book of Virtues attests, parents are turning more and more to children's literature to help instill values in their children. This book provides the perfect complement to books such as Bennett's, offering parents and teachers a much-needed roadmap to some of our finest children's stories. The book illuminates the complex ways in which fairy tales and fantasies educate the moral imagination from earliest childhood. Examining a wide range of stories—from “Pinocchio” and “The Little Mermaid” to “Charlotte's Web”, “The Velveteen Rabbit”, “The Wind in the Willows” and the “Chronicles of Narnia”—this book argues that these tales capture the meaning of morality through vivid depictions of the struggle between good and evil, in which characters must make difficult choices between right and wrong, or heroes and villains contest the very fate of imaginary worlds. Character and the virtues are depicted compellingly in these stories; the virtues glimmer as if in a looking glass, and wickedness and deception are unmasked of their pretensions to goodness and truth. We are made to face the unvarnished truth about ourselves, and what kind of people we want to be. This book highlights the classical moral virtues such as courage, goodness, and honesty, especially as they are understood in traditional Christianity.
Gregory Currie and Ian Ravenscroft
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198238089
- eISBN:
- 9780191679568
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198238089.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Aesthetics
This book develops a philosophical theory of imagination that draws upon recent theories and results in psychology. Ideas about how we read the minds of others have put the concept of imagination ...
More
This book develops a philosophical theory of imagination that draws upon recent theories and results in psychology. Ideas about how we read the minds of others have put the concept of imagination firmly back on the agenda for philosophy and psychology. The authors present a theory of what they call imaginative projection; they show how it fits into a philosophically-motivated picture of the mind and of mental states, and how it illuminates and is illuminated by recent developments in cognitive psychology. They argue that we need to recognize a category of desire-in-imagination, and that supposition and fantasy should be classed as forms of imagination. They accommodate some of the peculiarities of perceptual forms of imagining such as visual and motor imagery, and suggest that they are important for mind-reading. They argue for a novel view about the relations between imagination and pretence, and suggest that imagining can be, but need not be, the cause of pretending. They show how the theory accommodates but goes beyond the idea of mental simulation, and argue that the contrast between simulation and theory is neither exclusive nor exhaustive. They argue that we can understand certain developmental and psychiatric disorders as arising from faulty imagination. Throughout, they link their discussion to the uses of imagination in our encounters with art, and they conclude with a chapter on responses to tragedy. The final chapter also offers a theory of emotions that suggests that these states have much in common with perceptual states.Less
This book develops a philosophical theory of imagination that draws upon recent theories and results in psychology. Ideas about how we read the minds of others have put the concept of imagination firmly back on the agenda for philosophy and psychology. The authors present a theory of what they call imaginative projection; they show how it fits into a philosophically-motivated picture of the mind and of mental states, and how it illuminates and is illuminated by recent developments in cognitive psychology. They argue that we need to recognize a category of desire-in-imagination, and that supposition and fantasy should be classed as forms of imagination. They accommodate some of the peculiarities of perceptual forms of imagining such as visual and motor imagery, and suggest that they are important for mind-reading. They argue for a novel view about the relations between imagination and pretence, and suggest that imagining can be, but need not be, the cause of pretending. They show how the theory accommodates but goes beyond the idea of mental simulation, and argue that the contrast between simulation and theory is neither exclusive nor exhaustive. They argue that we can understand certain developmental and psychiatric disorders as arising from faulty imagination. Throughout, they link their discussion to the uses of imagination in our encounters with art, and they conclude with a chapter on responses to tragedy. The final chapter also offers a theory of emotions that suggests that these states have much in common with perceptual states.
Alvin I. Goldman
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195138924
- eISBN:
- 9780199786480
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195138929.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
How people assign mental states to others and how they represent or conceptualize such states in the first place are topics of interest to philosophy of mind, developmental psychology, and cognitive ...
More
How people assign mental states to others and how they represent or conceptualize such states in the first place are topics of interest to philosophy of mind, developmental psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. Three competing answers to the question of how people impute mental states to others have been offered: by rationalizing, by theorizing, or by simulating. Simulation theory says that mindreaders produce mental states in their own minds that resemble, or aim to resemble, those of their targets; these states are then imputed to, or projected onto, the targets. In low-level mindreading, such as reading emotions from faces, simulation is mediated by automatic mirror systems. More controlled processes of simulation, here called “enactment imagination”, are used in high-level mindreading. Just as visual and motor imagery are attempts to replicate acts of seeing and doing, mindreading is characteristically an attempt to replicate the mental processes of a target, followed by projection of the imagination-generated state onto the target. Projection errors are symptomatic of simulation, because one’s own genuine states readily intrude into the simulational process. A nuanced form of introspection is introduced to explain self-attribution and also to address the question of how mental concepts are represented. A distinctive cognitive code involving introspective representations figures prominently in our concepts of mental states. The book concludes with an overview of the pervasive effects on social life of simulation, imitation, and empathy, and charts their possible roles in moral experience and the fictive arts.Less
How people assign mental states to others and how they represent or conceptualize such states in the first place are topics of interest to philosophy of mind, developmental psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. Three competing answers to the question of how people impute mental states to others have been offered: by rationalizing, by theorizing, or by simulating. Simulation theory says that mindreaders produce mental states in their own minds that resemble, or aim to resemble, those of their targets; these states are then imputed to, or projected onto, the targets. In low-level mindreading, such as reading emotions from faces, simulation is mediated by automatic mirror systems. More controlled processes of simulation, here called “enactment imagination”, are used in high-level mindreading. Just as visual and motor imagery are attempts to replicate acts of seeing and doing, mindreading is characteristically an attempt to replicate the mental processes of a target, followed by projection of the imagination-generated state onto the target. Projection errors are symptomatic of simulation, because one’s own genuine states readily intrude into the simulational process. A nuanced form of introspection is introduced to explain self-attribution and also to address the question of how mental concepts are represented. A distinctive cognitive code involving introspective representations figures prominently in our concepts of mental states. The book concludes with an overview of the pervasive effects on social life of simulation, imitation, and empathy, and charts their possible roles in moral experience and the fictive arts.
