Representationalism and Antirepresentationalism - Kant, Davidson and Rorty :: Philosophy Philosophical Papers

Representationalism and Antirepresentationalism - Kant, Davidson and Rorty (1) ABSTRACT: The notions of representationalism and antirepresentationalism are introduced and used in contemporary philosophical discussions by Richard Rorty to describe his and the neopragmatists' attitude toward traditional problems of epistemology. Rorty means that the history of philosophy shows that there are no final answers to the traditional questions about knowledge, truth, and representation; consequently, they should be rejected. Rorty thinks such questions should be eliminated from philosophy since there is no possibility to get outside of our mind and language. We cannot say anything about a mind-transcendent or language-transcendent, nonlocal or eternal reality. Hilary Putnam agrees with Rorty on this, but not with the conclusion that we should reject traditional philosophical questions. For Putnam, the epistemological questions are worthwhile asking and, although we cannot find the final correct answers, we should continue our investigations as if there were final answer s. Our struggles with those problems can lead to refinements of the formulations and to cognitive developments. Putnam proposes a quasi-realism which is often called "internal realism." Rorty rejects every refinement of realism as still realism and believes that the questions of knowledge, truth, and representation lead to regresses ad infinitum or to circular reasoning. Probably few philosophers influenced so decisively the development of epistemology as Kant. Without him it is not possible to describe the last two hundred years of the history of philosophy as well as contemporary philosophy in general. On the other "end of the line" one of the most influential contemporary American philosophers Richard Rorty proposes that we should abandon epistemology and Kantian picture of representation. In this paper I pose the question, whether Rorty is thorougly succesful in his abandomnent. I try to investigate the differences and similarities of Kantian and Rortyan thinking with the help of the epistemological notion of representationalism and of the antiepistemological notion of antirepresentationalism. If it is possible to find crucial overlapping areas of both thinking, then there arises a dilemma: either Kant himself is a "Rortyan", postepistemological thinker, and this would be a surprizing new idea about Kantian philosophy or Rorty succeeds not comple tely to overcome the structures of Kantian-epistemological thinking. The notions representationalism and antirepresentationalism are introduced and used in contemporary philosophical discussions by Richard Rorty, to describe his and the neopragmatists attitude towards traditional problems of epistemology and "to make safe the world" for a "postepistemological" thinking. Rorty means, the history of philosophy showed, that there are no final answers to the traditional questions about "knowledge," "truth" and "representation"; (2) consequently they should be rejected.

J.B. and Job :: essays papers

J.B. and Job There are many similarities but also many differences between the story of Job in The Bible and Archibald MacLeish’s J.B. These similarities and differences falls along the categories of style, story line, and characterization. First, the style of both pieces of literature. J.B. is a play by Archibald MacLeish whereas the story of Job is a drama. In both of these pieces a prologue is present. However, the prologue differs greatly. In Job, the prologue merely states a vague background of the life of Job and his family. On the other hand, the prologue of J.B. gives detailed descriptions of J.B. and each and every one of his family members. In both cases, an antagonist is present. The antagonist is not necessarily evil or bad, but simply just one who disagrees. Second, the story line. Although Archibald MacLeish wrote the play based on the story of Job in The Bible, there are many differences in the story line. In The Bible, Job’s misfortune was spawned by Satan trying to show God that Job was not as holy as God had thought. God gave Satan the power to destroy everything Job had, including his health. Job’s children all died together when the roof of the house collapsed on them while they were all dining at the house of the oldest brother. His wife died also, and all of his possessions was taken from him. Furthermore, he contracted painful sores all over his body. As for J.B., his children died separately, one after the other. The oldest had died in the army. Two were involved in a car accident. One daughter was killed by an explosion that also took out J.B.’s millions. And the youngest was raped. However, J.B.’s wife, Sarah, was not killed, but instead she left him. In The Bible, Job is confronted by his thr ee friends. His friends encourages him to turn against God and to curse him, but he refused to do so. On the other hand, J.B. was confronted with four friends, the first three encouraging him to turn against God but the fourth telling him to pray to God and to praise Him. In the end, God gives back Job his original wife Sarah and his ten kids. He is rid of the painful sores and his possessions were doubled.

The Yanoman :: essays research papers

The Yanoman This ethnography is about the Yanomam. Most people will think of these people as 'primitive'. But we do not consider the fact that these people look at us and call us 'primitive' and 'subhuman'. This is why it is important to judge these people with an unbiased mind. The Yanomam are Indians that live widely scattered in southern Venezuela and northern Brazil. They usually live in villages of 75 to 80 people. But there are villages in which there are as little as 40 people or as many as 250 people in a single village. The Yanomam live by a combination of horticulture and foraging. Each household in the village clears their own land and cultivates it themselves. Chiefs, who have to produce more food to meet their obligation to provide hospitality, commonly receives help from others. A village can produce all of its needs from only three hours worth of work per person. One characteristic of the Yanomam is that they are accustomed to violence. Violence is a part of their lives because of their values and culture. Because of this, the Yanomam live in a constant state of warfare. Warfare appears as a main interest supported by a set of beliefs urging strong villages to take advantage of the weaker ones. A regular series of degrees of violence has been institutionalized. It ranges from chest pounding to side slapping. Both are likely to cause injury or death. The Yanomam do not utilize much technology except in their weapons. The main weapon produced by the Yanomam are arrows. They make arrows that are six feet long. These arrows are very accurate. Arrows not only serve as weapons but as valuable possessions that are commonly exchanged as gifts among the Yanomam.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Villages that are nearby may sometimes ally. One reason in which the ally is so that they can team up against another larger village. In order to demonstrate their friendship towards each other, the two villages trade and feast.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The men drug themselves on a daily basis with a substance called 'ebene'. It causes for the eyes to become watery. Another effect of this drug is and excessive production of mucous. The recipient allows for the mucous to drip freely from each nostril. It is believed among these people that the usage of this drug will have an effect in which bad spirits are relieved of.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The dead are highly respected in this culture. Once a person dies, it is forbidden to mention the name of the person ever again. It is considered an offense to mention the name of a family member that has passed away.

International Law and Individual Rights Essay

The international law has been undergoing some evolutions since early and mid 19th century. The original international law laid a lot of emphasis on just the state as the custodian of individual rights of its citizens. (L. Oppenheim, 1912. )However, the law deemed inadequate to address individual rights, thus, following some developments, the law has undergone some transformations, which are aimed at promoting individual rights, regardless of their country, state, race, gender or religion. The main developments which have triggered these evolutions of the international law include the Holocaust, the Second World War and the establishment of international criminal courts mainly to try the perpetrators of recent genocides like the former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda The Holocaust was a form of genocide, in which Germany, lead by Adolf Hitler, undertook the extermination of stateless Jews in Germany in which 6 million Jews were killed. Nazi Germany planned and implemented the Holocaust because of the domestic jurisdiction principle of the then international law, which prevented any other state from interfering when Hitler undertook the persecution of the Jews. This made the Geneva Convention which came into being between 1864 and 1949 as a result of efforts by Henry Dunant, realize that the law needed radical changes to enable the international community to intervene in domestic matters of a nation especially those linked to individual rights (Buergenthal, T. 978 and 1997) The need for further changes to the status of individuals under international law went a notch higher after the Second World War, in which many people lost their lives due to the state of anarchy which prevailed then. In 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt in his freedom speech called for a world order in which the world could be founded upon four freedoms namely freedom of speech and expression, International Law and Individual Rights 4 reedom of worship in any way, freedom from want and freedom from fear. This was followed by the formation of the United Nations in 1949, whose main concern, among others was to address the International law, so as to empower the international community to address large scale violations of individual rights. The international law was further to evolve with the establishment of international criminal courts mainly to try the perpetrators of recent genocides like the former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda which took place in mid 1990s. A treaty to create the new international criminal court was formed in 2002, while the international criminal court was formally constituted in 2003, about six decades after the Nuremberg trials (R. K. Woetzel 1962) and the Holocaust. The main objective of this court is to ensure that nations revise their human rights aspects in their constitutions and more importantly, prosecute the leaders who oversee the violation of human rights. It can be seen that international law has undergone all these evolutions, which are all inclined towards protecting the rights of the individual, not just the nation.

Martha J. Coston Essay

Martha Coston was born in Baltimore in the year of 1826. She was left with four children to take care of after the death of her husband. This happened when she was only 21. Even though her husband was now gone she was determined to make money so she could raise her precious children. She then came up with the idea to signal flare on her dead husband notebook. Although the plans didn’t work she was still determined to find a successful way to make signal flare work. After some attempts she finally discovered that she could use phyrotechnice to make it. The green, red, and white flares worked so well that the navy bought them from her for $20,000 they even awarded Martha the contract to make them with. After the run in with the money she had just received her flares served as the bass of a system of communication that helped save lives and win battles during the civil war. So even after the war, Martha continued to improve her invention that has helped continuesly through out wars and such. The flares she had created became so popular that they sold in very many places. Such as France, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands and Haiti. The system of bright, long-lasting signal flares revolutionized naval communication and continues to be in use. Coston’s invention saved many lives. The effectiveness of Pyrotechnic Night Signals attracted the U.S. Navy and till now these devices are still used. Later on her son Benjamin got a bad fever and died at age 26. Martha’s life was then full of tragedies, her infant son had died and her mother also died. Even after all these tragic moments, she got money for her flares and saved the lives of millions people.

Plato the Republic Essay

Art has always been controversial in a society because of the many different ways the artist tends to express themselves. Plato, who helped lay the foundation for western culture, saw the problems in art over 2,000 years ago. Plato’s The Republic is a series of books that discusses the republic that Plato is trying to create. In each book Plato touches on different topics dealing with the art, that he feels effect society then. Today, some of the points that Plato argue can still be argued. Plato looks only at the negative effects that art can have, rather than the positive effects. In Book II, Plato focuses on fictitious stories told to children while their growing up. Plato’s first plan is to â€Å"create a censorship of the writers of fiction† (Plato 13). The job of these people will be to pick which stories are â€Å"good â€Å"and which stories are â€Å"bad†. For some people, books like Harry Potter are good and for others it is bad. The point is that one person’s definition of one thing might be the antithesis of another person’s definition. The censorship of writers can be both useful and not useful. The censorship of writers can be useful, because it might keep certain arts out of the child’s hand. It could be not useful because, the parent will make the ultimate decision if the child will hear or read the story. The next point is what makes the people chosen qualified to select what the children should hear, or not. Once again, it brings up the point of people having their own definition of good and bad. In society today, there are ratings to television shows and movies. Some are not rated for children but in the end the parent makes the decision on what the child is allowed to watch. So instead of having a censorship committee, he should educate the parents more. Plato then goes to talk about the effects of letting children hear tales by saying â€Å"and shall we just carelessly allow children to hear any causal tales which may be devised by causal persons, and to receive into their minds ideas for the most part the very opposite of those which we should wish them to have when they grow up† (Plato 13). This shows how Plato only looks the negative effects of art. The positive about having villains in art is they give the children an example of what not to be. Also having villains in art it allows the children to be able to recognize what is bad, and who are bad people. For example, in Little Red Riding Hood, it teaches a child lessons such as do not talk to strangers, and listen to the parents. It also shows children the consequences for not listening to their parents. In Book III, Plato focuses on imitation. Plato goes on to talk about how after imitating for so long it becomes natural for the person â€Å" did you ever observe how imitations, beginning in early youth and continued far into life, at the length grow in habits and become a second nature affecting the body, voice, and mind† (Plato 15). It can be argued that just because you imitate something does not mean that is who the person is. For example, there are plenty of actors who have been acting their whole life, who do not take the roles portrayed the home. Meaning that the roles that the person play in films is not the role they play in their everyday life. Plato then goes to talk about the roles that a person should imitate â€Å"when he comes to a character which is unworthy of him,[then] he will not make a study of that† (Plato 16). Plato feels that a good person should imitate roles that are only good in nature. Once again Plato fails to realize how a person imitating something bad could have a positive effect on the people. Imitating can have positive effects on society by allowing them to see what is not good for a society. In some cases, the only way to show what something is to imitate it, because it is no longer around. For example, slavery is no longer around, so you most likely cannot find a slave, so you have to imitate it. The topic Plato touches on is having a person do only one job when he says, â€Å"we shall find a shoemaker to be a shoe maker and no a pilot also† (Plato 17). Plato fails to realize that the person may not be imitating but may in fact be able to do more than one things well. This goes back to â€Å"one man can only do on thing well and not many† (Plato 14). Throughout this book, Plato only looks at person doing more than one thing as imitating, and not as being who they really are. In Book IV, Plato focuses on how new music affects the state. Plato wants music to stay the way it has always has been, because Plato fears that when new music comes about the laws of the state changes with it â€Å"when the modes of music changes, the fundamental laws of the state always change with them† (Plato 8). What Plato means is that when new things come about people began to rebel against society, and do what they want. Society does change, but it does not become corrupt. Society changes because new things become accepted such as new styles, slang, and etcetera. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, corrupt means to change from good to bad in morals, manners, or actions. Society was never good in the beginning for it to become corrupt because of music. Not everyone in society started off having good morals, manners, or action. No one is perfect all the time, and neither is a society. In a society there will always be people who break the laws. Just because music changes does not mean society completely changes with it. In today’s society with the hip hop era there is a lot of things that are done now that would not have been done twenty years ago. For example rappers today call females derogatory names, and now a lot of females are excepting to be called those names. While some females are proud to be called those names, other not so much, and they stand up for what they believe in. Plato then goes to say that it is the guardian’s responsibility to pick what is right for the child to hear â€Å"our guardians must lay the foundations of their fortress in music† (Plato 18). This goes back to book II, were the parent will pick what they feel is right for the child to hear. The parents should be educated on the effects that the music can have on the child. Even though music can have no direct effect on one child’s life, it could have an indirect effect. It could have an indirect effect, because of the people who have the direct effect pass it on. While the music can have no direct effect on a child, Plato feels that the child should still be taught on what can be sung at home, and what can be sung at church. For example it is reasonable to sing a gospel song in church, but not a song by Lady Gaga, because it is not appropriate for church. Plato focuses on how new music changes society in negative way, but never says how new music can help society. New music can help society by bringing about new ideas, bringing people together, and it gives the people a sense of expression. According to emedexpert. om, music can help with blood pressure, the heart, and memory. So music is not just something for the soul, but it also helps heal the body. In Book X, Plato focuses on poets and poetry. Plato feels that poetry is an imitation of the soul; he feels that it portrays a bad part of the soul. Plato argues that the soul is quiet and stable. By quiet and stable Plato means that the souls have no emotion, and should not act angry, or any other way that can be seen as bad by sayingâ€Å" and he is also like him in being concerned with an inferior part of the soul† (Plato 29). For some people poetry is an outlet for people to express themselves, and get their angry and frustrations out. Plato also feels that it poet write about things that they have no knowledge of â€Å"the poet is like a painter who, as we have already observed, will make likeness of a cobbler though he understands nothing of cobbling; and his pictures is good enough for those who know no more than he does, and judge only by colors and figures† (Plato 24). No one can judge whether a person’s poetry is true or not, most likely no one knows the person personally to make that judgment. It might be things that the poet writes about that happened years ago. He feels that Poets cannot be factual educators because they do not know what is good. Poetry is an art that is supposed to felt, and it supposed to bring out the bad part of the soul, because it is the part that needs to be expressed. So Plato’s argument about the soul being stable and quiet is false, because nobody is happy all the time. Plato believes that once one gets in touch with their angry side, one will start to become an angry person, and that poetry will not be entertainment, but the way some people handle situations in life. Plato is so convinced that poetry is so bad for the soul, he never talks about how it could heal the soul. Poetry can help heal the soul by letting out built up emotions. Plato banishes poetry for the republic because they are unwholesome and dangerous. In the end, Plato has set rules and banned the people and arts that he does not want for his republic. Plato’s republic will be very simple, and will not allow hardly any new art. No new music will be allowed for the fear that it will corrupt the state. No poetry will be allowed for the fear of letting people getting in touch will their emotional side. Overall, Plato fails to do what he planned on doing, and that is improving society. Throughout The Republic, Plato keeps the same narrow mind set by not seeing the good in art. He failed on improving society by failing to see how the arts can help him change society, rather than corrupt society.

Purpose of Life, Modern Changes, and Human Isolation Essay

An especially confusing irony arising from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is that one of history’s more well-received and lauded plays is at the same time accorded so many diverse interpretations that understanding frequently seems elusive. The academic and critical literature clearly illustrates how the play has been debated. Exact thematic elements and even the playwright’s precise motivations have proven difficult to derive from the narrative’s textual structure. These interpretive nuances and proffered variations have been rendered even more suspect because Samuel Beckett offered evasive replies whenever he was queried about the intended function of certain characters or his personal intentions regarding any particular passage. These realities are not offered to argue that particular thematic features are incapable of determination, as familiar types of themes and thematic elements can be fairly well-established to a certain extant, but simply to point out and to acknowledge as a theoretical point of departure that Waiting for Godot is a broadly conceived type of narrative that touches upon many themes rather than being narrowly constrained to a particular theme. An examination of certain secondary scholarly analyses unequivocally illustrates the breadth of academic interpretations arguing that Beckett’s play addresses themes such as the meaning of God, the quest for individual salvation, the resistance of the French people against Germany’s occupation during World War Two, how human beings ought to live their lives in changing times, the fleeting nature of time, and the new circumstances that human beings had to adapt to in a post-World War Two era emerging from the Industrial Revolution. To be sure, with so many different interpretations supported by references to certain passages of the play’s text and relevant historical factors, it might seem highly unlikely to persuasively support a dominant or fundamental theme. A critical and comprehensive review of the textual evidence, on the other hand, does eventually suggest that there does exist a primary theme. This dominant theme in Waiting for Godot is that human beings can never truly understand the world in which they exist or how individuals are to be best integrated into a world with contradictory messages and imperfect information. Such a thesis can function to harmonize the different interpretations offered by secondary sources by showing how the main characters’ dialogue in different circumstances consistently illustrates and reinforces the human search for a definite purpose and a rational meaning in an external environment that persistently appears hopelessly incomprehensible. A Unifying Theme: Transcending Particular Interpretations To begin, addressing secondary theories before turning to the play’s actual text, it is necessary to demonstrate how academic and critical commentary has created more confusion than understanding by concentrating too narrowly from a thematic point of view. This type of analytical framework is necessary because virtually all of these at times conflicting and contradictory interpretations are capable of harmonization to a large extant if the play’s primary theme is posited as the individual human being’s desire to better understand and comprehend the function of the human animal in an incomprehensible external environment. It is superficially agreed, for example, that Beckett frequently utilizes universal themes in the narrative; in this respect, one secondary source argues that, â€Å"Waiting for Godot, in many ways, simply extends those uncertainties: Why are we here? Are we alone in an uncaring universe, or not? What are we to do while we are here? How can we know? And, ultimately, what does it matter? †(Hutchings x). This focus on universal concerns in the key to understanding the play and identifying the fundamental theme; indeed, these universal types of characterizations function in the larger picture to transcend more limited and narrow types of interpretations.