Meaning

How Fundamental is the Fundamental Assumption?

by Nils Kürbis

published in Teorema XXXI/2 (2012), pp.5-19.

The fundamental assumption of Dummett’s and Prawitz’ proof-theoretic justification of deduction is that ‘if we have a... more The fundamental assumption of Dummett’s and Prawitz’ proof-theoretic justification of deduction is that ‘if we have a valid argument for a complex statement, we can construct a valid argument for it which finishes with an application of one of the introduction rules governing its principal operator’. I argue that the assumption is flawed in this general version, but should be restricted, not to apply to arguments in general, but only to proofs. I also argue that Dummett’s and Prawitz’ project of providing a logical basis for metaphysics only relies on the restricted assumption.

Developing a design approach, exploring resistance and ambiguity

by Ambra Trotto

Designers face the world’s complexity at an experiential level. We consider Making (synthesising and concretising) an... more Designers face the world’s complexity at an experiential level. We consider Making (synthesising and concretising) an essential activity of designers, prior to Thinking (analysing and abstracting), because only through experience – a result of acting in the world – we achieve meaning, funnelling human intentionality. Making enables designers to explore the unknown by trusting their senses and their kansei, exploring resistance and ambiguity and by tapping into their intuition (Sennett, 2008). Because “intuition begins with the sense that what is not yet could be” (Sennett, 2008, p. 201), it involves skills, as skills are our way to make sense of the world, transform it and to cater for ethics.
In this paper we describe a one-day workshop that has been held during the CHItaly conference 2011 in Alghero, Italy. During that day, we explored how the integration of points of view, using intuition through skills can communicate and create a richer meaning. The assignment was to design an empowering/enabling tool that allows a person to begin to experience another person’s skill. To be able to design such a tool, designers had to go through several steps of documenting and reflecting upon their own and each other's skills.
We reflect on the experience and explain how this approach can support the integration of points of view, which is considered to be formed by personal experience, by skills, and by kansei.

Do We Need Real-Time Hermeneutics? Structures of Meaning in Games

by Jonne Arjoranta

Think Design Play: The fifth international conference of the Digital Research Association (DIGRA). Hilversum, the Netherlands: DiGRA/Utrecht School of the Arts, September, 2011.

Games differ from most other forms of media by being procedural and interactive. These qualities change how games... more Games differ from most other forms of media by being procedural and interactive. These qualities change how games create and transmit meaning to their players. The concept of “real-time hermeneutics” (Aarseth 2003) is analysed in order to understand how temporality affects the understanding of games. Temporal frames (Zagal and Mateas 2010) are introduced as an alternative way of understanding time in games.

Two-Dimensional Semantics and Sameness of Meaning

by Laura Schroeter

In this survey article, I focus on whether 2D semantics can fully capture the epistemic and semantic phenomena that... more In this survey article, I focus on whether 2D semantics can fully capture the epistemic and semantic phenomena that seem central to individuating meanings. After outlining the motivations for 2D semantics as a response to externalist thought experiments, I argue that the approach faces an internal tension in fully vindicating the traditional role of meaning. I contrast the 2D theory's broadly descriptivist approach to meaning individuation with a relational approach.

Two-Dimensional Semantics and Sameness of Meaning

by Laura Schroeter

In this survey article, I focus on whether 2D semantics can fully capture the epistemic and semantic phenomena that... more In this survey article, I focus on whether 2D semantics can fully capture the epistemic and semantic phenomena that seem central to individuating meanings. After outlining the motivations for 2D semantics as a response to externalist thought experiments, I argue that the approach faces an internal tension in fully vindicating the traditional role of meaning. I contrast the 2D theory's broadly descriptivist approach to meaning individuation with a relational approach.

The Contextual Game Experience: On the Socio-Cultural Contexts for Meaning in Digital Play

by Frans Mäyrä

Published in DiGRA 2007.

The experiences game players and other people have around digital games are not limited to the intensive, immersive... more The experiences game players and other people have around digital games are not limited to the intensive, immersive ways of playing them. Therefore the earlier SCI model of gameplay experiences is not sufficient to cover the full range of game experiences. In this paper a more comprehensive model is presented by describing the multiple contextual layers that surround and underlie every encounter with digital play and games.

The Inner Representation of the Dead Child and the Worldviews of Bereaved Parents

by Dennis Klass

published in Omega, Journal of Death and Dying 26 (4), 1993.
Revised and published as:"The Deceased Child in the Psychic and Social Worlds of Bereaved Parents during the Resolution of Grief." In Dennis Klass, Phyllis Silverman, and Steven Nickman (Eds.), Continuing Bonds: New Understandings of Grief. Washington: Taylor & Francis, 1995.

Reducing Truth Through Meaning

by Robert Trueman

Forthcoming in 'Erkenntnis'

Horwich has attempted to combine an anti-reductionist deflationism about sentential truth with a reductionist theory... more Horwich has attempted to combine an anti-reductionist deflationism about sentential truth with a reductionist theory of meaning. Price has argued that this combination is inconsistent, but his argument is fallacious. In this paper I attempt to repair Price’s argument.

Il n’y a pas de rapport sexuel: The Irresolvability of the Gadamer-Habermas Debate

by William J. Urban

class paper written Good Friday, April 6, 2012

Body-Representation & the Construction of Visual Meanings: a few interpretations

by Anabela Pereira

Lady in the Radiator: Phenomenology, Embodiment, and the World of Eraserhead.

by Jonathan Weidenbaum

This is an essay I wrote about 11 years ago.

I originally delivered it at the fourth annual conference of The Society for Phenomenology and Media (SPM) in Puebla, Mexico.

A streamlined version of it is published in the 2002 volume of Glimpse, a publication of SPM.

Despite few minor misgivings here and there, one or two things I would have done differently (both in regards to style and content), this piece still captures an essential vision of mine. It contains a number of themes which I plan on developing in the future, albeit generalized far beyond Eraserhead. I look forward to any feedback!

It is interesting to note, finally, that some four and half years after I wrote this essay, David Lynch would pronounce Eraserhead as his "most religious film" (in his 2006 book, Catching the Big Fish).

Meaning and justification: The case of modus ponens

by David Enoch

Event perception: language from sensory to semantic

by charlotte danino

Working copy of a 2012 presentation at the University of Poitiers.
Key aspects pf my dissertation projects

Meaning-centered counseling

by Paul T. P. Wong

Implicit theories of meaningful life and the development of the personal meaning profile

by Paul T. P. Wong

Aging as an individual process: Toward a theory of personal meaning.

by Paul T. P. Wong

Meaning and purpose in life and well-being: A life-span perspective

by Paul T. P. Wong

Women living with HIV: The role of meaning and spirituality

by Paul T. P. Wong

Logical Form and Truth-Conditions

by Andrea Iacona

draft

Harmony, Normality and Stability

by Nils Kürbis

As the title says: my account of proof-theoretic harmony, normality and stability!

Gentzen mentions that it should be possible to specify a function that maps introduction rules onto elimination rules... more Gentzen mentions that it should be possible to specify a function that maps introduction rules onto elimination rules in systems of natural deduction. This paper specifies such a function. I specify two kinds of rules, one in which it is more natural to assume an introduction rule to be given and elimination rules are determined from it, and another kind in which it is an elimination rule which is given and the introduction rules are determined from it. The process also works the other way round, so that it doesn't really matter which rules are supposed to be given first. The process is very general and applies to a large class of logics. The paper begins with a discussion of the philosophical importance of this in connection with the notion of harmony. I discuss Dummett's ideas on harmony and stability, which is supposed to be stronger than harmony. Dummett suggests that normalisability is a formal criterion of harmony. However, he seems to aim at something else, and this criterion does not give an independent formally precise notion of stability. I propose formally precise definitions of harmony and stability, which are distinct from normalisability. My aim is not exegetical, and according to my definitions, classical as well as intuitionist logics count as governed by stable (and hence harmonious) rules of inference.