bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
From Logical Atomism to Practical Holism
Authors: Stern David G. 
Published: February 2006

Abstract
This chapter examines the developments that led from Wittgenstein’s early logical atomist view that all meaningful discourse can be analyzed into logically independent elementary propositions to his later philosophy. In 1929, Wittgenstein rejected logical atomism for a “logical holist” conception of language as composed of calculi, formal systems characterized by their constitutive rules. By the mid-1930s, he had rejected the model of a calculus, emphasizing that language is action within a social and natural context — more like a game than a calculus — and that rule-governed behavior is dependent on a background of practices which cannot themselves be explicitly formulated as rules. The discussion of these central developments for the emergence of his later “practical holism” focuses on changes in his conception of the nature of measurement and the role of mind and mental processes in linguistic meaning.
The Description of Immediate Experience
Authors: Stern David G. 
Published: February 2006

Abstract
The first section of this chapter presents a close reading of Wittgenstein’s “Remarks on Logical Form”, focusing on the conception of the relationship between language and experience, and the nature of the analysis of immediate experience that are set out there. Section two sets out an interpretation of what Wittgenstein meant when he said that he had rejected “phenomenological language” or “primary language” as his goal. Distinguishing between a weak and a strong sense of these terms shows how he could have given up the goal of formulating a language that would amount to a complete analysis of immediate experience, yet retain the goal of finding ways of clarifying what we say about experience. Section three discusses Wittgenstein’s use of the analogy of the pictures on a roll of film in a movie projector and the pictures on a cinema screen for the relationship between world and experience. The final section analyzes how and why the analogy leads Wittgenstein to a paradoxical conception of immediate experience as a separate realm, “timeless” and “neighborless”, a conception of the “world as idea” that is supposedly inexpressible.
The Flow of Life
Authors: Stern David G. 
Published: February 2006

Abstract
In 1929, Wittgenstein made use of river imagery to convey the supposedly inexpressible thesis that all is in flux (“Alles fliesst”). However, he rejects this extreme thesis in manuscripts from the early 1930s and drafts of the Philosophical Investigations, affirming that one can step twice into the same river. His later discussion of the “stream of life” involves a return, in certain respects, to the river analogy, albeit in a very different key. Examining Wittgenstein’s changing use of this image casts light on the continuities and discontinuities in the development of his philosophy. Wittgenstein’s argument that a private definition is impossible because ostension always depends on a “technique of use”, and his rejection of a positive theory of mind is clarified by examining some unusually explicit notes for a public lecture on private language. This material shows how the treatment of training and practice in the opening sections of the Philosophical Investigations is the basis for the subsequent discussion of both rule-following and privacy.
Measuring the Intentional World
Authors: Trout J. D. 
Published: February 2006

Abstract
Scientific realism has been advanced as an interpretation of the natural sciences but never the behavioral sciences. This book introduces a novel version of scientific realism, Measured Realism, that characterizes the kind of theoretical progress in the social and psychological sciences that is uneven but indisputable. It proposes a theory of measurement, Population-Guided Estimation, that connects natural, psychological, and social scientific inquiry. Presenting quantitative methods in the behavioral sciences as at once successful and regulated by the world, the book will engage philosophers of science, historians of science, sociologists of science, and scientists interested in the foundations of their own disciplines. Part I introduces measured realism beginning with a novel realist theory of measurement (Population-Guided Estimation, or PGE). It examines two other versions of scientific realism — minimal (Hacking) and robust (Boyd, Putnam, and Newton-Smith) — and advances measured realism as best supported by the evidence in the behavioral sciences. It also critically evaluates the anti-realist arguments of van Fraassen, Laudan, and Fine. Part II formulates and develops a version of epistemological naturalism most appropriate to measured realism. Drawing upon the realist theory of measurement developed earlier, it favorably appraises a variety of statistical methods in the behavioral sciences against selected criticisms. It concludes that traditional, narrative methods in the behavioral and social sciences are unreliable by the measures of epistemological naturalism.
Measured Realism
Authors: Trout J. D. 
Published: February 2006

Abstract
This chapter defends a relatively modest but distinctive version of scientific realism, measured realism, that steers a middle course between minimal and robust realism. Measured realism includes four theses: (1) at least some of the quantitative methods and practices of science reliably detect and identify some of the central posited entities, processes, states, properties, and events in the social and behavioral sciences; (2) sometimes behavioral and social scientific theories, more often the generalizations that constitute them, are confirmed by the application of accepted methodological standards in the field; (3) in our best psychological and social theories, confirmation relations important to theoretical progress in those sciences are epistemically bite-sized and, accordingly, some parts of the tested theory are typically confirmationally adipose or extraneous; and (4) the reality described by our best psychological and social theories is independent of us as observers of, or as thinkers about that reality. Drawing on scientific evidence, psycholinguistics, signal processing, and paleontology, it is argued that these four theses provide the best explanation for the reliability of methodology in the social and behavioral sciences. The epistemic relation of mercenary reliance — the remote dependence upon experts outside of one’s discipline — provides a clear and novel illustration of adipose theory and bite-sized theoretical commitments.
Statistical Designs as Instruments
Authors: Trout J. D. 
Published: February 2006

AbstractThis chapter aims to advance a realist conception of statistical designs according to which they are instruments of measurement. These instruments are best understood as detecting theoretical entities, particularly because improvements in design are guided by theoretical considerations. Drawing on designs from psychological research on the frequency effect and semantic priming, this chapter attempts to reveal the implausibility of the competing empiricist analysis. It then assesses how this realist treatment of statistical design fares against empiricist alternatives using experimental speech perception data. Empiricist efforts to avoid a realist understanding of this subject matter fail for the same reason that the operationalist analysis of lab instrumentation failed: the instruments/(designs) reflect, and scientists treat them as reflecting, sensitivity to real and unobservable causal features of the world.
Statistical Testing and the World's Contribution to Rationality
Authors: Trout J. D. 
Published: February 2006

Abstract
Many of the background theories in the social sciences and psychology are unreliable, and so theoretical improvement often requires the experimental strain of statistical predictions. Significance testing is the primary method for establishing causal relationships in psychology, and proposes conditions that are diagnostic of the reality of a theoretical entity in psychology. The fulfillment of these conditions reflect a principle of robustness which states that real psychological effects are: (1) reproducible by similar methods, (2) detectable by diverse means, and (3) able to survive theoretical integration. The principle of robustness explains why spurious significant findings perish under the strain of persistent tests of their robustness. The resulting vindication of significance testing confers on the world a role in determining the rationality of a method, and provides a realist explanation for the fast progress of “hard” areas of psychology.
Failed Attempts: The Frailties of Narrative Methods
Authors: Trout J. D. 
Published: February 2006

AbstractThe epistemological naturalism expressed by Population-Guided Estimation supports measured realism about the social and behavioral sciences, but also has striking implications for the way traditional narrative social science has been done. Social science and psychology have overcome humble beginnings, and in their current form, owe a profound debt to the resources of statistical methods. Elegant and learned narratives — the classics of early social science — led readers through a world of charismatic leaders, diplomats’ diaries, peasant uprisings, cartel formation, courtly intrigue, workers’ movements, and wars of religion and capital. However, except in cases where the processes or events described were especially robust, these anecdotal techniques proved a poor guide to the existence of any postulated social entities and an unreliable basis for generalization. This claim is grounded on a survey of recent results in cognitive psychology on the biases of human judgment (results spawned by Tversky, Kahneman, and their colleagues), and in a discussion of disposition to neglect important yet simple actuarial features that guide reliable inductive reasoning.
Truth and an African Language
Authors: Wiredu Kwasi 
Published: February 2006

AbstractThis essay compares the conceptions of truth within Akan and Western languages. It explores Western conceptions of truth, focusing on the correspondence, coherence, and pragmatic theories of truth. It argues that the Akan language helps clarify thinking about how to know what can be characterized as truth. The unification of the three competing Western theories of truth is possible by an infusion of the Akan conception of truth.
An Outline of a Theory of Destiny
Authors: Gbadegesin Segun 
Published: February 2006

AbstractThis essay explores the concept of destiny in Yoruba philosophical discourse. It argues that the Yoruba concept of destiny is complex, and that this complexity may be the source of the problems encountered by scholars. References to the concept of destiny in traditional Yoruba philosophy, the problem of choice, interconnectedness of destinies, individual and communal destinies, reincarnation, and the significance of destiny are discussed.
Witchcraft, Science, and the Paranormal in Contemporary African Philosophy
Authors: Mosley Albert 
Published: February 2006

AbstractThis essay explores the traditional African philosophical foundations that gave rise to current perspectives on the supernatural within contemporary African philosophical thought. It rejects the comparative Western tenet that while Western ontology is grounded on facts about nature, traditional African ontology is rooted in metaphysical fantasy. Critiquing African ontology outside the contextual framework that gives it structure and meaning will result in unjustifiable biases.
Bashful Eggs, Macho Sperm, and Tonypandy Paul R. Gross
Authors: Gross Paul A. 
Published: February 2006

Abstract
For the last decade, feminist academics including feminist epistemologists and a number of sociologists and historians of science, have derogated the “masculinism” of natural science. A favored example thereof is the supposed elevation of the spermatozoon and diminution of the egg, and of their respective roles in fertilization and embryonic development. This essay examines the history and the reproductive biology that are adduced as evidence of this bias. Both are either false or nonexistent.
Is Darwinism Sexist? (And if It Is, So What?)Michael Ruse
Authors: Ruse Michael 
Published: February 2006

AbstractA major complaint of critics, especially feminists, is that Darwinism is sexist. It is argued that this criticism is based on very selective reading of the texts, and that for every sexist Darwinian there has been an ardently pro-feminism Darwinian. The implications of this for the nature of science are explored.
When Experiments FailIs “Cold Fusion” Science as Normal? William J. McKinney
Authors: McKinney William J. 
Published: February 2006

AbstractCollins and Pinch contend that the cold fusion episode illustrates their claim that the evaluation of science hypotheses is strongly influenced by the interests of the parties concerned instead of epistemic factors. This essay looks at this case in detail, and concludes that it offers no support for the Science, Technology, and Society Studies (STS) account.
Do Mutants Die of Natural Causes? The Case of Atomic Parity Violation Allan Franklin
Authors: Franklin Allan 
Published: February 2006

Abstract
Andrew Pickering’s Constructing Quarks claims that the scientific community’s evaluation of atomic parity violation experiments was determined by career considerations, and not the quality of the experimental observations. This essay argues that scientists had good evidential reasons to accept atomic parity violation as a strong confirmation of the Weinberg-Salam Standard Model of weak interactions.
Alchemy, Domination, and Gender William R. Newman
Authors: Newman William R. 
Published: February 2006

Abstract
Evelyn Fox Keller and Carolyn Merchant claimed that the alchemical worldview was an attractive alternative to the repressive, patriarchal mechanical philosophy, which succeeded it. This essay shows that alchemy was hardly the rose-tinted framework that feminists, following Jung and Eliade, believed it to be, and actually contained some of the violent imagery that they decried in later science.
Reflections on Bruno Latour's Version of the Seventeenth Century Margaret C. Jacob
Authors: Jacob Margaret C. 
Published: February 2006

Abstract
Because some historians of 17th-century science did not understand the vast differences in the political positions taken by Robert Boyle and Thomas Hobbes, they concluded that not much difference would have resulted had Hobbes’s absolutism become the English form of government in the 17th century. The actual autonomy of parliament and relative freedom of civil society seemed relatively insignificant. Not being an historian but undeterred by his inexperience, Bruno Latour jumped into the field and argued that modernity, representative institutions, and the freedom of civil society, like the science of either of these great theorists, offered little that was distinctively different from the forms of government in France or Spain at the time. “We Have Never Been Modern” argued that position, and this essay seeks to show how wrong-headed it is.
The End of Science, the Central Dogma of Science Studies, Monsieur Jourdain, and Uncle Vanya Norman Levitt
Authors: Levitt Norman 
Published: February 2006

Abstract
John Horgan’s well-known book, The End of Science, maintains that much of science has reached a stage where it can only generate “ironic” ideas, so called because there is little hope that they can be scientifically accurate in a straightforward sense. Horgan, in claiming that in several key areas, science is now confronted by impenetrable barriers to achieving new and valid knowledge, is heavily influenced by postmodern and constructivist theories of knowledge. Though in some ways he departs from the epistemological nihilism of the postmodernists, he nonetheless echoes them in suggesting that the search for new, deep knowledge can at best produce mere narratives instead. Horgan’s position is refutable, but it is interesting in that it illuminates the cultural pessimism and the resentment that underlie the radical critiques of science that have proliferated in the academic world as well as in popular writing.
The Millennial New World
Authors: Graziano Frank 
Published: February 2006

AbstractThe opening chapter of this book defines millennialism in its broadest sense, encompassing apocalypticism, messianism, and utopia. The subsequent chapters explore a wide range of colonial and modern movements, myths, and ideologies. as they pursue millennial themes through Latin American history. The study of Spanish messianic imperialism and perceptions of the New World as Eden and New Jerusalem provide European precedents. Extensive treatment of nativist and syncretic millennialism includes the Land-without-Evil, Taqui Onqoy, the Tzeltal Rebellion, the Caste War of the Yucatan, and the myths of Inkarrí and Quetzalcóatl, among many others. End-of-the-world sects and their messiahs are also considered, as are utopian communities, Pentecostalism, Liberation Theology, military messianism, and popular Catholicism. The discussion further encompasses the secular millennialism of revolutionaries and populists, including such figures as Lope de Aguirre, Túpac Amaru, Simón Bolívar, Augusto César Sandino, Juan and Evita Perón, Che Guevara, and Shining Path’s Abimael Guzmán.
Introduction
Authors: Graziano Frank 
Published: February 2006

AbstractThis chapter defines the key terms millennial, millennialism, messianism, messiah, apocalypse, apocalyptic, and apocalypticism, then provides an overview of the attributes of millennial thought and action. The overview introduces such themes as messianic responses to social crisis, charisma, legitimacy, fragmentation and unification, ritual and symbolic violence, symbolic inversion, and polarization.
Crisis and Salvation
Authors: Graziano Frank 
Published: February 2006

AbstractThis chapter treats eschatological and apocalyptic themes through a range of cases from Latin America and early modern Spain. Of particular focus are the imminent end of the world, the messianic imperialism of Spanish colonization and its impact on indigenous peoples, the Last World Emperor, cyclical and periodized time, prophesy, and the collective death of adherents to millennial movements. It also discusses the influence of Joachim of Fiore on Spanish missions and syncretic myths.
The Promise of Paradise
Authors: Graziano Frank 
Published: February 2006

Abstract
This chapter surveys utopian ideas in Latin America, from the European myths projected onto the New World during exploration to more recent endeavors to discover or build paradise on earth. Themes include pursuit of allusive utopian islands and enclaves, the relation of utopia and subversion, the projection of utopia into the future, and reunification of a fragmented world. The case studies focus on the Tupí-Guaraní Land-without-Evil, El Dorado, Christopher Columbus’s belief that he discovered terrestrial paradise, and the utopian missions founded by priests and friars, including the Jesuit Reductions of Paraguay and the missions of Bartolomé de Las Casas.
The Messiah
Authors: Graziano Frank 
Published: February 2006

Abstract
This chapter presents a study of messianic leaders, beginning with a general discussion of the supernatural means by which messianic power is acquired and maintained. Subsequent sections explore the dialogical relation between the charismatic and his followers, and the catastrophic consequences when the charismatic’s promises are broken. The case studies focus on Lope de Aguirre, Simón Bolívar, Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, Juan and Evita Perón, the messiahs of Brazil (including Antonio Conselheiro), and Ezequiel Ataucusi Gamonal.
Spinoza's Substance Monism
Authors: Rocca Michael Della 
Published: February 2006

Abstract
This essay supports a so-called identification-oriented interpretation of the argument for substance monism. It emphasizes the conceptual barrier between different attributes and the conceptual-independence condition in the definition of substance. It argues that certain features of Spinoza’s notion of attributes enable him to defend his argument for substance monism from a number of challenges: (1) the fact that, for Spinoza, each attribute of a substance, independently of the modes of the substance and independently of other attributes, is sufficient for conceiving of the substance; and (2) the fact that, for Spinoza, because of the conceptual independence of the attributes, no attribute of a substance can prevent that substance from having any other attribute.
Concrete Logic
Authors: Mason Richard 
Published: February 2006

Abstract
This essay explores logical and physical readings of Spinoza’s Ethics. It argues that Spinoza made logic more like physics, rather than making physics into logic. A dichotomy between the metaphysical and physical is inappropriate in thinking about his work. One way to understand his approach is through quasi-Kantian terms, of making physics possible, although his work has left the question of what exists to those pursuing research to find out.
Mirroring Spinoza's Mind
Authors: Dalton Peter 
Published: February 2006

AbstractThis essay explores Spinoza’s theory of the mind. It argues that Spinoza’s theory is marred by obscurities, omissions, questionable inferences, a heavy dependence on theological view of reality, and incoherence. Fourteen Spinozistic theses about the mind are presented, and the most serious problems of the reconstructed theory are discussed. A model that functions like a Spinozistic mind that solves or avoids the problems is then described.
Leibniz, Spinoza, and Tschirnhaus
Authors: Kulstad Mark A. 
Published: February 2006

Abstract
This essay explores the philosophical relationship of Spinoza and Leibniz. It argues that the relationship is best viewed as three-cornered metaphysical transaction beginning with Spinoza, continuing to Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus’s exchanges with Spinoza, and leading to reflections by Leibniz on a Spinoza mediated by these exchanges. It focuses on two topics that exemplify this three-cornered relationship: (1) the relationship between God and things, and the derivation of things from God; and (2) the critical Leibnizian topic of possible worlds.
A Theory of Art
Authors: Berger Karol 
Published: February 2006

AbstractWhat, if anything, has art to do with the rest of our lives, and in particular with those ethical and political issues that matter to us most? This book shifts the focus of inquiry from the usual question of what art is, to the question of what the function of art should be if art is to have a value for us. It examines the role of art in the overall economy of our ethical lives and compares the uses of art with those of history, philosophy, and religion. Instead of the usual focus on either poetry or painting, musical modernity represents the central features and dilemmas of the social and historical situation of art today in a particularly radical, acute, and clear fashion. The range of questions asked is not limited to those traditionally asked by writers on aesthetics, but also includes issues in poetics and hermeneutics, such as diegesis and mimesis, narrative and lyric, and the validity of interpretation. Thus, the two areas of inquiry that all too often ignore one another, the philosophical aesthetics and literary theory, are brought together here.