Empiricism

"Critica dell'assunzione" e "Costruzione metodica". Prospettive sull'empirismo trascendentale di Deleuze

by Fabio Treppiedi

Saggio critico sulle eredità humeane e kantiane di Deleuze , in "Giornale di metafisica", 1/2011

Empirismo e a ontologia das ciências naturais; Empiricism and the ontology of natural sciences

by Sofia Stein

This paper examines the problem of the construction of objects in natural sciences through the analysis of texts... more
This paper examines the problem of the construction of objects in natural sciences through the analysis of texts by Hans Reichenbach and Willard Quine. Particularly, it intends to show that scientific objects are not the result of an accurate representation of reality, but of theoretical reasoning based on experience. Although 20th century empiricism does not concede to rationalism the existence of a priori structures of knowledge, it does admit, from an apparently conventionalist point of view, the empirical underdetermination of theories and the diversity of possible interpretations of experience. The analysis of Quine’s view of ontological commitments and of Reichenbach’s view of quantum mechanics leads to considerations about de problem of ontology in natural sciences. Finally, the paper discusses to what extent this ontology can be described from an empiricist point of view.

Key words: empiricism, ontology, Hans Reichenbach, Willard Quine, quantum mechanics.

On Erich Fromm: why he left the Frankfurt school

by Caroline Kamau

Kamau, C. (2012).

Chapter synopsis: 'On Erich Fromm: Why he left the Frankfurt School':

-Biography: Erich Fromm
-Erich... more Chapter synopsis: 'On Erich Fromm: Why he left the Frankfurt School':

-Biography: Erich Fromm
-Erich Fromm was very critical of Freudian psychoanalysis. The Frankfurt School disapproved of that.
-Tension arose between Fromm and Horkheimer/Adorno/Marcuse and other pro-Freudian contemporaries
-Erich Fromm had reservations about the Frankfurt School's desire to merge psychoanalysis with Marxist theory
-Controversy arose over the Frankfurt School's decision not to publish a manuscript that Fromm wrote, with Weiss. This was a report of their landmark authoritarian personality study of 1931. The topic and methodology shaped the Frankfurt School's later research into authoritarianism (e.g. Adorno et al.'s famous studies).

This chapter also discusses Erich Fromm's work post-Frankfurt School:
--Fromm on social neurosis
--Fromm on thoughts as a form of self-presentation or impression management
--Fromm's theoretical focus on self identity, rather than instincts
--Fromm's theory about personality traits
--Fromm on empiricism and psychology versus psychoanalysis

Locke'un Doğuştan İlkeler Eleştirisi ve Tabula Rasa Olarak Zihin

by Ilyas Altuner

Kutadgubilig Felsefe-Bilim Araştırmaları, 21, 2012

Kıta felsefesinin öne sürdüğü doğuştan ilkeler öğretisi ve buna bağlı olarak Tanrı idesinin ve ilgili diğer... more Kıta felsefesinin öne sürdüğü doğuştan ilkeler öğretisi ve buna bağlı olarak Tanrı idesinin ve ilgili diğer kavramların insan zihnine kazınmış olduğu düşüncesi, görgül felsefenin önemli eleştiri konularının başında gelir. Locke, insan zihninin tabula rasa olmasından dolayı, bilgilerin doğuştan zihne kazınmadığını, geleneksel kabûlün aksine bilgilerin deneyim yoluyla kazanıldığını savunur. Bu yazıda, Locke’un rasyonel felsefenin savunduğu doğuştan ilkeler kuramına getirdiği eleştiriler ve bilginin deneyim yoluyla zaman içinde elde edildiği savunusu ele alınacak ve filozofun konuya ilişkin getirdiği kanıtlar incelenecektir.

Musings on Hume's Treatise

by Kile Jones

Interessengeleitete Datenverarbeitung. Zur Empirie der Editionsphilologie

by Annika Rockenberger

Co-authored with Per Röcken, published in 'Empirie in der Literaturwissenschaft', ed. by Philip Ajouri et al. Paderborn 2012

Deleuze and Cultural Studies (one paradigm less)

by Greg Seigworth

Gender and critical realism: A critique of Sayer

by John Holmwood

In a recent article in this journal,Andrew Sayer has argued that much feminist research on the gendered nature of... more In a recent article in this journal,Andrew Sayer has argued that much feminist research on the gendered nature of organisations, such as bureaucracy and the market, confuses a contingent association of gender and organisational forms with a stronger claim that they are intrinsically gendered. Sayer accepts that this research has shown that the empirically found, concrete forms of organisations are gendered.However,deeper theoretical reflection, he suggests, reveals that, when considered as ‘abstract realist models’, bureaucracy and the market are, in fact, identity-blind.He makes two claims, one concerned with explanation, the other concerned with the political consequences of social inquiry.The first is that the construction of abstract models, rather than the ‘associational’ thinking concerned with the delineation of empirical regularities, is necessary to the
proper understanding of the operation of causal mechanisms and their mode of determination in social life. The second is that this will enable a more progressive and positive politics beyond a fatalism which he attributes to associational thinking.This paper
takes issue with both claims arguing that the abstract theory he defends has no positive role in social inquiry and that his political critique is misplaced.

Empiricism/rationalism

by Guy Longworth

"Francis Bacon'da Bilgi Anlayışı Üzerine"

by C. Cengiz Çevik

Kutadgubilig, S.15, Mart 2009, (sf.87-112)

Bacon was empiricist and concieved that true knowledge could be reached by sensations. He consistently criticized... more Bacon was empiricist and concieved that true knowledge could be reached by sensations. He consistently criticized standart of knowledge in his period, since erroneous and elusory ideas were reaching to everywhere, to every areas, in addition to science, philosophy etc. Besides Bacon rejected Aristotle’s logic, which is based on his metaphysical theory; so desired to constitute new method for scientific investigation and new logic. In this content, this work analyses concept of knowledge in Francis Bacon through its before, both of thinker who are premises for Bacon and who are criticized by himself.

http://jimithekewl.com/2009/04/16/kutadgubilig-15-mart-2009/

Archaeology and the Second Empiricism

by Christopher Witmore

Forthcoming In F. Herschend, C. Hillerdal and J. Siapkas (eds.) Archaeology into the 2010s.

A return to things themselves obliges one to return to matters fundamental to the nature of empiricism. In revisiting... more A return to things themselves obliges one to return to matters fundamental to the nature of empiricism. In revisiting aspects of the ordinary empiricism – where an ‘objective’ truth was seen to surpass the practices behind its formation – this paper sketches several propositions as to the shape and character of what might be called the ‘second empiricism’; an empiricism that does not discriminate against relations that do not involve human actors and which does not pretend to separate what we know from how we know.

'Epistemology, Semantics, Ontology, and David Hume' (2000)

by Galen Strawson

Esperienze, linguaggio, giustificazione. Su "A Manual of Experimental Philosophy" di David Berman

by Daniele Bertini

Giornale di Metafisica, 33(3), 2011.

David Berman's work on experimental philosophy is a defence of a traditional approach to empiricism against both... more David Berman's work on experimental philosophy is a defence of a traditional approach to empiricism against both contemporary rationalism and logico-analytic philosophy. While his approach focuses on empirical evidence in support of theoretical claims, Berman distinguishes his position from the kind of experimentalism recently risen from the analytic world. After having highlighted the merit of Berman's approach to philosophy, I comment on his main views, addressing particularly the relationship between language, intuitions and experience from the standpoint of the epistemological topic of belief justification.

Life Responsibility Versus Mechanical Reductionism

by Giorgio Baruchello

Co-authored with Dr R.T. Allen, published (& copyright by) UNESCO's Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS): http://www.eolss.net

All modern Western world-views incorporate the idea of the natural world, distinct from both the artificial world of... more All modern Western world-views incorporate the idea of the natural world, distinct from both the artificial world of human creation and the trans-natural creative activity of God. That view of the natural world comprises the presuppositions of modern natural science, distinct from ‘magical’, polytheistic and world-denying cosmologies. It is the idea of a contingent yet rationally ordered universe, which the human mind can understand by way of observation and experiment, and which is good for the human mind to know and understand. Its origins are twofold, both of which are breaks with the old inclusive and polytheistic cosmologies: the Biblical idea of creation, and Greek natural philosophy and science. They were brought together in the new Christian civilization of Europe. The scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries replaced the specifically Greek elements in the mediaeval picture of the world with a mechanistic picture of the world, largely adequate for physics and later chemistry, but lacking provision for living beings and biology. It gave rise to ‘reductionism’, the belief that the methods of physics and chemistry should be applied to all knowledge or that higher levels of existence are ‘nothing but’ lower ones. The world in this perspective was held to lack meaning and purpose, whilst its life-support systems were being either underplayed, silently presupposed, or obliterated from view. This modern mechanistic picture made it possible for novel forms of world- and life-negation to emerge. Its emphasis on the abstract, synchronic and immutable representation by means of physical-mathematical expressions led to ‘otherness’ from the represented living world, which is embodied, diachronic and mutable.  Revealingly, the idea of mastery over the natural world, to be aided by new technologies, replaced that of stewardship, a mastery often unconstrained by any law. Reductionism also provoked reactions such as Romanticism, pantheism, and rejections of science and technology. Today significant changes in natural science itself offer prospects for more adequate pictures of the natural world, while the rise of ‘environmental ethics’ manifests a new sense of human responsibility and a lessening of the idea of unconstrained mastery over nature, as the environmental damages caused by humankind’s life-blindness can no longer be ignored.

Why Hume Cannot Be a Realist

by Jani Hakkarainen

Revised version of the paper that I gave in Belief and Doubt in Hume conference in Prague, September 2011.

In this paper, I argue that there is a sceptical argument against the senses advanced by Hume that forms a decisive... more In this paper, I argue that there is a sceptical argument against the senses advanced by Hume that forms a decisive objection to the Metaphysically Realist interpretations of his philosophy – such as different naturalist and New Humean readings. Hume presents this argument, apparently starting with the primary/secondary qualities distinction, both in A Treatise of Human Nature, Book 1, Part 4, Section 4 (Of the modern philosophy) (1739) and An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, Section 12 (Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy), paragraphs 15 to 16 (1748). The argument concludes with the contradiction between consistent reasoning (causal, in particular) and believing in the existence of Real entities. The problem with the Realist readings of Hume is that they attribute both to Hume. So their Hume is a self-reflectively inconsistent philosopher. I show that the various Realist ways to avoid this problem do not work. So this paper suggests a non-Realist interpretation of Hume's philosophy: Hume the philosopher suspends his judgment on Metaphysical Realism. As such, his philosophical attitude is neutral on the divide between materialism and idealism.

Review of A. J. Ayer: A Life by Ben Rogers

by Kevin Magill

Review published in Radical Philosophy, 100, March/April 2000

The Indirect Perception of Distance: Interpretive Complexities in Berkeley's Theory of Vision

by Michael J. Braund

published in Kritike (1)2, 2007, pp. 49- 64

The problem of whether perception is direct or if it depends on additional, cognitive contributions made by the... more The problem of whether perception is direct or if it depends on additional, cognitive contributions made by the perceiving subject, is posed with particular force in an Essay towards a New Theory of Vision (NTV). It is evident from the recurrent treatment it receives therein that Berkeley considers it to be one of the central issues concerning perception. Fittingly, the NTV devotes the most attention to it. In this essay, I provide a critical defence of Berkeley’s treatment of the problem of indirect distance perception, in the light of opposing theories.

Empiricising sovereignty, revealing its normativity: the concept of sovereignty as an expression of our own aspirations

by Xavier Mathieu

Paper prepared for the Millennium Annual Conference 2011 'Out Of The Ivory Tower: Weaving the Theories and Practice of International Relations', London, October 2011.

In this article, I question the recent emphasis on the need for an ‘empirical’ conceptualisation of sovereignty... more In this article, I question the recent emphasis on the need for an ‘empirical’ conceptualisation of sovereignty expressed by IR scholars. By describing the evolution of the concept of sovereignty in IR theory during the last twenty years, and by underlying the link between sovereignty and the idea of good life, I intend to demonstrate that the attempt to ‘connect’ sovereignty to an empirical content is bound to fail. Indeed, IR scholars identify what they think a sovereign state should be, rather than what sovereign states really are. The paradoxical result of this emphasis on the empiricity of the concept is thus that sovereignty becomes conditional on a specific and Western form of the good life, namely good governance, which reveals the intrinsic normative and aspirational nature of the concept. Hence, and despite their ambition to re-establish a link between sovereignty and the world ‘out there’, empiricist scholars end up bringing the concept closer to their own intellectual conceptions of statehood.

Thomas Hobbes y la geometría del estado: anotaciones sobre el estado de naturaleza desde la historia de la ciencia

by Sergio Orozco

Auxiliary Assumptions, Unification, and Intelligent Design: A Defense of Contrastive Testability

by Sebastian Lutz

Draft

Boudry and Leuridan argue that in a number of cases—and specifically in the case of intelligent design—a theory can be... more Boudry and Leuridan argue that in a number of cases—and specifically in the case of intelligent design—a theory can be intuitively testable, but not contrastively testable according to Sober’s definition. I argue that their purported counterexamples rely on misunderstandings of the concept of contrastive testability and the version of intelligent design criticized by Sober. I also argue that the liberalization of contrastive testability suggested by Boudry and Leuridan is trivial.