Ukpokolo, Isaac E. . Enriching the Knowledge of the Other Through an Epistemology of Intercourse
2020, In: Imafidon, E. (ed.) Handbook of African Philosophy of Difference. Cham: Springer, 193-204
Topics: Applied Epistemology; Applied Ethics; Culture; Justice; Metaepistemology; Normative Ethics; Personal and Social Identity; Race; Social Epistemology
Keywords: Cartesianism; Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel; Intercourse; John Locke; Subject-object dichotomy; representation
Keywords: Cartesianism; Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel; Intercourse; John Locke; Subject-object dichotomy; representation
Traditions: Comparative/Intercultural; Critical; Cultural; Geographical; Historical; Sub-Saharan African
Languages: English
Figures: Georg Hegel
Languages: English
Figures: Georg Hegel
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Added by: Björn Freter, Contributed by: Björn FreterAbstract: Ideas, knowledge, and cognitive claims we have about “the other” or “the different” traditionally stems from what can be referred to as mainstream Cartesianism of epistemic duality, an orientation that has primary consideration for subject-object dichotomy; the knower and the known; the I and the thou; and the center and the periphery. In such considerations, what is of the center perceives what is not as an “other.” This disposition about the other constitutes a gap in cognition resulting in poverty of knowledge – knowledge of the other attained from a distance. Furthermore, this condition presents some rigid boundary between episteme (the knowledge) and doxa (the opinions), between the “self” and the “other,” between reality and appearance, between noumena and the phenomena, or between space and time. The present work attempts an alternative epistemology that avoids the impossibility of obtaining genuine knowledge beyond the self, proposing an epistemology of intercourse which alone, I believe, is capable of re-presenting a robust understanding of the entirety of reality (a holistic cognition of reality that is a continuum). According to this proposal, “knowledge” is “intercourse.” The knower is subsumed in the known and vice versa. Only then can the knower know the other for what it is and appreciates the non-difference between the knower and the known. This way, a just relationship between the self and the other would evolve.Comment: This is a stub entry. Please add your comments below to help us expand itDifficulty: IntermediateRecommended use: IntroductoryComments (0): Read and add advice on using this text.
Ullmann-Margalit, Edna. Big Decisions: Opting, Converting, Drifting
2006, Ullmann-Margalit, Edna (2006). Big Decisions: Opting, Converting, Drifting. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 58:157-172.
Topics: Normative Ethics
Keywords: big decisions; decision making; rational choice; transformative experience
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Added by: Petronella Randell
Abstract: I want to focus on some of the limits of decision theory that are of interest to the philosophical concern with practical reasoning and rational choice. These limits should also be of interest to the social-scientists’ concern with Rational Choice.
Comment: Ullmann-Margalit's work on big decisions is a significant precursor to L.A. Paul's work on transformative experience. This paper introduces the idea of big decisions as a problem for decision theory, and would be suitable as the essential or further reading on a week discussing challenges to decision theory, rational choice, or on transformative experience.Difficulty: EasyRecommended use: Further, IntroductoryComments (0): Read and add advice on using this text.
Unknown. Cantares Mexicanos: Songs of the Aztecs.
1985, John Bierhorst (trans.). Stanford University Press
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Added by: M. Jimena Clavel Vázquez and Andrés Hernández VillarrealPublisher’s Note:
Adapted from prologue. “Since its rediscovery in the mid-nineteenth century the codex Cantares Mexicanos has come to be recognized as the chief source of Aztec poetry and one of the monuments of American Indian literature (…) Over the years a tradition has gradually been established that views the Cantares as a poet’s miscellany, studded with lyrics composed by famous kings (…) [Bierhorst’s edition] breaks with this tradition (…) The findings [of the present study] in brief are these: The ninety-one songs in the Cantares, without exception, belong to a single genre, which flourishes during the third quarter of the sixteenth century. Netotiliztli (or dance associated with worldly entertainment) is the native name that appears to have been applied to the genre in its entirety. But for lack of certainty on this point, and for the sake of convenience, I have chosen to designate it by the term “ghost songs.” (…) the Aztec ghost song may be described as a musical performance in which warrior-singers summon the ghosts of ancestors in order to swell their ranks and overwhelm their enemies. (…) The Cantares itself (…) is limited to songs belonging to the city-state of Mexico, or to Mexico and its close ally, Azcapotzalco (…) Although it is possible that a few of the songs in the Cantares manuscripts were composed before the Conquest, by far the greater number belong to the post-Conquest period.”
Comment (from this Blueprint): These cantares exemplify some of the ideas discussed by León-Portilla in Aztec Thought and CultureDifficulty: AdvancedRecommended use: SpecialisedComments (0): Read and add advice on using this text.
Valentini, Laura. Ideal Vs. Non-Ideal Theory: A Conceptual Map
2012, Philosophy Compass 7(9): 654-664.
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Added by: Carl Fox, Contributed by: Jojanneke VanderveenAbstract: This article provides a conceptual map of the debate on ideal and non-ideal theory. It argues that this debate encompasses a number of different questions, which have not been kept sufficiently separate in the literature. In particular, the article distinguishes between the following three interpretations of the 'ideal vs. non-ideal theory' contrast: (i) full compliance vs. partial compliance theory; (ii) utopian vs. realistic theory; (iii) end-state vs. transitional theory. The article advances critical reflections on each of these sub-debates, and highlights areas for future research in the field.Comment: Useful overview article of the ideal vs non-ideal theory debate. Lays out the territory and major concerns and offers several helpful distinctions. Would work as either a good main text for a lecture or seminar on this topic or as further reading for anyone working on it.Difficulty: IntermediateRecommended use: Further, IntroductoryComments (0): Read and add advice on using this text.
van Brabant, Petra, Prinz, Jesse. Why Do Porn Films Suck?
2012, in Art and Pornography: Philosophical Essays, ed. by Hans Maes and Jerrold Levinson (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
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Added by: Simon FoktContent: The authors present ‘the paradox of porn’: pornography seems to score very highly on various evaluative criteria which make art good (e.g. ability to elicit strong emotions), and has features similar to great art (e.g. ‘Brechtian’ acting, idealisation of the human body), yet is rarely consider art. They proceed to discuss some arguments for the exclusivist thesis, suggesting that they ‘reflect a limited knowledge of or experience with pornography’ (168). A review of various types of non-mainstream porn leads them to claim that the division between pornography and art is a false dichotomy. Section 3 revisits the paradox, offering an analysis of various reasons which could lead to so little porn being (considered) art. After rejecting most of the common arguments, the authors suggest that a great majority of porn is not art for purely contingent reasons: very few pornographers even try to pursue that possibility. But pornography has the potential to be great art, and section 4 explores the ways in which it could.Comment: This text is a fairly easy and a very entertaining read, and is presented in a form of an intriguing and unexpected paradox. This makes it an excellent introductory reading which can really interest students in the subject. It also paints a very varied and diverse picture of pornography, reaching far beyond the mainstream images most often discussed in the literature, and likely best known to students.Difficulty: EasyRecommended use: IntroductoryComments (0): Read and add advice on using this text.
Van Dyke, Christina. Mysticism
2010, In R. Pasnau and Christina Van Dyke (eds.) The Cambridge History of Medieval Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 720-734.
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Added by: Francesca BrunoSummary: This article offers an accessible overview of Medieval mysticism (12th-15th c, within the Christian tradition). It examines how two traditions of mysticism, e.g. the apophatic and affective traditions, intersect with a number of topics of medieval philosophical interest, including the relative importance of intellect and will, and the role of contemplation and activity in the good life.Comment: This article offers an accessible overview of Medieval mysticism (12th-15th c, within the Christian tradition). It is a good background reference for those interested in teaching Medieval women philosophers, many of whom were mystics.Difficulty: Easy, IntermediateRecommended use: SpecialisedComments (0): Read and add advice on using this text.
Van Dyke, Christina. Eating as a Gendered Act: Christianity, Feminism, and Reclaiming the Body
2008, in K. J. Clark (ed.) Readings in the Philosophy of Religion, Second Edition. Peterborough: Broadview Press: 475-489.
Topics: Culture; Gender Sex and Sexuality
Keywords: christianity; eating; feminist philosohy of religion; gendered acts; male appetite
Keywords: christianity; eating; feminist philosohy of religion; gendered acts; male appetite
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Added by: Emily PaulAbstract: In current society, eating is most definitely a gendered act: that is, what we eat and how we eat it factors in both the construction and the performance of gender. Furthermore, eating is a gendered act with consequences that go far beyond whether one orders a steak or a salad for dinner. In the first half of this paper, I identify the dominant myths surrounding both female and male eating, and I show that those myths contribute in important ways to cultural constructions of male and female appetites more generally speaking. In the second half, I argue that the Christian church should share feminism's perception of these current cultural myths as fundamentally disordered, and I claim that the Christian traditions of fasting and feasting present us with a concrete means to counter those damaging conceptions and reclaim a healthy attitude toward our hunger.Comment: A great reading for a feminist philosophy of religion course, or alternatively for a general philosophy of religion course as a way to introduce feminist philosophy of religion - this text could also be a further reading for the latter. I think that this reading would incite a great deal of interest, and provoke fruitful discussion. Would be potentially even more useful for a course on religious aesthetics.Difficulty: IntermediateRecommended use: SpecialisedComments (0): Read and add advice on using this text.
Various Contributors. Uqalurait: An Oral History of Nunavut
2008, John R. Bennett and Susan Rowley (eds.). McGill-Queen's University Press.
Topics: Applied Ethics; Culture; Education; Personal and Social Identity; Political Authority and Legitimacy
Keywords: anti-cruelty; humility; inua; need; rebirth; respect
Keywords: anti-cruelty; humility; inua; need; rebirth; respect
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Added by: Sonja Dobroski and Quentin PharrPublisher’s Note:
Uqalurait presents a comprehensive account of Inuit life on land and sea ice in the area now called Nunavut, before extensive contact with southerners. Drawing on a broad range of oral history sources - from nineteenth-century exploration accounts to contemporary community-based projects - the book uses quotes from over three hundred Inuit elders to provide an 'inside' view of family life, social relations, hunting, the land, shamanism, health, and material culture. For the first time, the reader encounters Inuit culture and traditional knowledge through the voices of people who lived the life being described. Based on a larger research project developed under the guidance of six Inuit from across Nunavut, Uqalurait consists of thousands of quotations organised thematically into cohesive chapters. The book describes the seasonal rounds of four different groups, capturing the fact that while Inuit across Nunavut had much in common, there was also much to distinguish them from each other, living as they did in many small groups of people, each with its own territory and identity. Given the recent creation of Nunavut and the current focus of attention on the Arctic due to climate change, Uqalurait is a timely source of insight from a people whose values of sharing and respect for the environment have helped them to live contentedly for centuries at the northern limit of the inhabitable world.Comment: available in this BlueprintDifficulty: EasyRecommended use: Introductory, OverviewComments (0): Read and add advice on using this text.
Various Contributors. Indigenous Land Stewardship: Tending Nature
2021, KCET. 57min. USA.
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Added by: Sonja Dobroski and Quentin PharrAbstract:
This "Tending Nature" special features multiple perspectives and voices from Indigenous communities across California who are striving to keep the practices of their heritage alive. From coming-of-age rituals, seasonal food harvests, basket weaving and jewelry making, the documentary shares how traditional practices can be protected and maintained as a way of life for future generations.Comment: available in this BlueprintDifficulty: EasyRecommended use: IntroductoryComments (0): Read and add advice on using this text.
Vasterling, Veronica. Heidegger’s hermeneutic account of cognition
2015, Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 14(4): 1145-1163.
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Added by: Andrea BlomqvistAbstract: Hermeneutic phenomenology is absent in 4 EAC literature (embedded, embodied, enactive, extended and affective cognition). The aim of this article is to show that hermeneutic phenomenology as elaborated in the work of Heidegger is relevant to 4 EAC research. In the first part of the article I describe the hermeneutic turn Heidegger performs in tandem with his ontological turn of transcendental phenomenology, and the hermeneutic account of cognition resulting from it. I explicate the main thesis of the hermeneutic account, namely that cognition is interaction with the world, followed by a discussion of the modes of cognition distinguished in the hermeneutic account. In the second part of the article I discuss the implications of this account with respect to the status and meaning of first, second and third person perspective of cognition. The article concludes with the draft and discussion of an exploratory model of hermeneutic cognition.Comment: The text gives a very concise overview and interpretation of Heidegger's account of hermeneutics, relating it to 4E debates in the philosophy of mind and cognition. It could be interesting as advanced reading in courses in the philosophy of mind, or more introductory reading in hermeneutic phenomenology and the work of Heidegger.Difficulty: IntermediateRecommended use: Overview, SpecialisedComments (0): Read and add advice on using this text.
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