bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Hume and Hartley
Authors: Mander W. J. 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Scarcely had it been advanced by Berkeley than the volitional theory of causation received its first critical assault, at the hands of David Hume. Since Hume’s objections have been widely regarded as significant and even decisive ones, colouring both the reputation and the subsequent development of the volitional theory, this chapter examines them in turn and in close detail. It is demonstrated that since each of his objections admits of a possible rational response, his opposition to the volitional theory is far from the last word on the matter that many modern philosophers take it to be. The chapter concludes with an examination of the views of his near contemporary, David Hartley, with respect to causation and volition, noting both similarities and differences.
Reid and Kames
Authors: Mander W. J. 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
This chapter examines how Reid sets out a view of active causal agency in opposition to Hume’s causal scepticism. After explaining the difference between the principles of causality and the idea of causation itself, it is explained how Reid thinks that we possess an idea of active power revealed to us only through our own activity as free and personal agents. The chapter then looks at Reid’s argument that, since causation is only exercised by spirits but the majority of natural phenomena are clearly not brought about by any finite spirit known to us, such events must be thought of as being brought about by God. The implications of this position for science are examined through a consideration of Reid’s distinction between scientific causes and true causes. After considering Reid’s positions on free will and on the self, the chapter concludes with a brief discussion of Lord Kames, demonstrating the way in which his understanding stands mid-way between those of Hume and Reid.
Maine de Biran and Schopenhauer
Authors: Mander W. J. 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
The first part of this chapter examines the causal theory of Maine de Biran, noting his distinctive epistemology of introspection (sense intime) and his claim that this reveals to us a primitive fact of willed effort (effort voulu). Close attention is paid to the detailed arguments de Biran offers against Hume’s rebuttals of the volitional theory of causation, to the importance for him of the idea of resistance, and also to the difference of opinion between de Biran and Victor Cousin about extending the argument from personal agency to causation in general. The second part of the chapter examines the causal theory of Schopenhauer, noting that he may be read as both a critic and a supporter. His view of causality as but a spatio-temporal rule of ordering imposed by subjects on their own experience motivates explicit criticism of the efforts of philosophers like Maine de Biran, but his own metaphysical conception in which the whole of reality is but the outward expression of an underlying Will shows many of the typical features of a volitional theory of causation.
Critics of the volitional theory
Authors: Mander W. J. 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Having left the critical case to one side since Hume, this chapter returns to look at challenges to the volitional theory of causation, examining four voices in particular. Thomas Brown and James Mill are significant for the developments they propose respecting the empiricist theory of the will, which both regard as being a product of the laws of association; while William Hamilton and John Stuart Mill are important contributors to the story for the direct arguments they offer against the volitional theory. Hamilton questions how introspection could possibly yield the concept of necessity which the theory calls for and Mill highlights the difficulty in moving from the fact that volition is the only known cause to the conclusion that it is the only kind of cause there can be.
Mansel, Martineau, and others
Authors: Mander W. J. 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
This chapter begins with a brief discussion of four figures, Taylor, Herschel, Whewell, and the American, Francis Bowen, whose ready adoption of the volitional theory of causation illustrates how popular a theory this had become by the early nineteenth century. The main discussion of the chapter concerns Henry Mansel and James Martineau, who took the theory to new heights of development and sophistication. Both regard this conception of causality as closely linked to the notion of selfhood and as a fundamental constituent of their theism. Martineau in particular had significant influence, and the chapter concludes with a brief discussion of two of his followers, Hutton and Upton.
Recent critics
Authors: Mander W. J. 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
If the growth of psychology encouraged some to focus on notions of agency, it encouraged others to develop new ways of dismissing such ideas, and this chapter begins by considering the renewed efforts of such late-nineteenth-century British empiricists as Spencer, Bain, and Lewes to undermine any sense of will in a revitalized Humeanism. Such lines of work were not exclusively British, and an interesting parallel debunking of the notion of volitional causal power may be observed in the work of Nietzsche. The chapter continues by charting the way in which turn-of-the-century neo-positivists, such as Mach, Pearson, Russell, and Ayer continued that sceptical challenge, going on to explore the way in which, in the hands of Wittgenstein and Ryle, the critique became an increasingly linguistic one.
Recent advocates
Authors: Mander W. J. 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
The final historical chapter begins by exploring the work of four early-twentieth-century metaphysicians, William James, F. C. S. Schiller, Hastings Rashdall, and the later work of G. F. Stout—each of whom bucked the trend of the time and developed versions of the volitional theory. The chapter continues by examining the work of Jean Piaget, whose 1927 book The Child’s Conception of Physical Causality conceptualized the development of human understanding of causality in essentially the same way that the volitional theory charts, even if the metaphysical conclusions he drew from that story were somewhat different. There can be no doubt that the dominant naturalism of the twentieth century made it a time largely unfriendly to the volitional theory of causation. However, it never quite went away, and the chapter concludes with an examination of one contemporary philosopher, John Searle, who in his 1983 work, Intentionality, puts forward a theory in which the intentional state of volitional is an integral part of the content of our concept of causality.
Concluding discussion
Authors: Mander W. J. 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
In part to recap some of the points that have been made along the way, and in part to recap what insights of enduring philosophical value we might draw from the long story of development, the final chapter puts forward a case for the volitional theory of causation. The discussion argues in support of six distinct points: that reflection upon the experience of passing time shows that we must accept the reality of genuinely efficient causation; that there obtains a felt sense of agency; that this sense of agency cannot be illusory; that volitional causality is best understood in a teleological and holistic fashion; that such volition provides us with the very meaning of what it is to be causal; and that considerations of causal continuity make it reasonable to think that such causality operates, not just in ourselves, but in the universe at large.
The Nature of Endangerment in India
Authors: Rashkow Ezra 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Perhaps no category of people on earth has been perceived as more endangered, nor subjected to more preservation efforts, than indigenous peoples. And in India, calls for the conservation of Adivasi culture have often reached a fever pitch, especially amongst urban middle-class activists and global civil society groups. But are India’s ‘tribes’ really endangered? Do they face extinction? And is this threat somehow comparable to the threat of extinction facing tigers and other wildlife? Combining years of fieldwork and archival research with intensive theoretical interrogations, this book offers a global intellectual history of efforts to ‘protect’ indigenous peoples and their cultures, usually from above. It also offers a critique of the activist impulse to cry ‘Save the tigers!’ and ‘Save the tribes!’ together in the same breath. It is not a history or an ethnography of the tribes of India but rather a history of discourses—including Adivasis’ own—about what is perceived to be the fundamental question for nearly all indigenous peoples in the modern world: the question of survival. Examining views of interlinking biological and cultural (or biocultural) diversity loss in western and central India—particularly in regard to Bhil and Gond communities facing not only conservation and development-induced displacement but also dehumanizing animal analogies comparing endangered tigers and tribes—the book problematizes the long history of human endangerment and extinction discourse. In doing so, it shows that fears of tribal extinction actually predated scientific awareness of the extinction of non-human species. Only by confronting this history can we begin to decolonize this discourse.
Human Endangerment Discourse
Authors: Rashkow Ezra 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
The chapter presents a broad, global, overview of the emergence of the concepts of endangerment and extinction with reference to indigenous peoples and the environment. It argues that long before there was even scientific awareness that non-human species could become extinct, there was a growing acknowledgement that cultures coming into contact with Europeans in the age of empire were vanishing; by the early nineteenth century, while the phenomenon of species extinction was still disputed, the extinction of so-called primitive races was widely accepted. And by the late nineteenth century, the fates of those offensively labelled ‘wild tribes’ and ‘wild animals’ were frequently and explicitly linked in colonial discourse. Studying the history of this racist, imperialist analogy reveals that postcolonial era conservation efforts have roots in, and are often guilty of repeating, the colonial past. Tracing the interwoven tropes of human and wildlife endangerment from their colonial manifestations through to their postcolonial reverberations, clear connections between contemporary agendas and long repudiated positions emerge, particularly in the burgeoning field of biocultural diversity conservation.
A National Park for the Gond & Baiga
Authors: Rashkow Ezra 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Chapter 6 draws on fieldwork conducted with Gond and Baiga Adivasis in and around Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh to discuss the problematic history of the idea of preserving human communities today referred to as ‘indigenous’ in parks. In 1939, anthropologist Verrier Elwin proposed a plan to establish ‘a sort of National Park, in which not only the Baiga, but the thousands of simple Gond in their neighbourhood might take refuge’. This park was to be established in a ‘ “wild and largely inaccessible” part of the country’, exactly where Kanha National Park now stands. Today, still, many activists claim that what is ‘endangered’ in Kanha is ‘not just tigers’ but also ‘indigenous communities’. In the very first-ever call for a national park, as well as in frequent proposals for national parks throughout the nineteenth, twentieth, and now the twenty-first century, protected areas have been envisioned as places of conservation, study, and display not only of endangered species but also of human groups perceived to be endangered. The problem is not only that Adivasis have long been perceived as in danger of becoming extinct, and therefore paternalistically projected as in need of protection. It is also that these peoples, who have long suffered dehumanizing animal analogies, are envisioned as endangered like wildlife, and in need of protection in parks.
Apex of Power
Authors: Ura Karma 
Published: January 2023

AbstractThe Legal Decree of 1729 remained in force more or less till the mid-20th century. While it aspired to be consistent with the thriving of Buddha dharma and ten virtues, it had to deal with the reality of selfishness, crime, fraud, forgery, and bribery. It spoke to a range of offences such as murder, theft, unfair trade, excess taxation, excess requisition of workers, deception by religious figures, unfair investigation, sexual mistreatment, and officials’ intoxication. It attempted to enforce non-vegetarianism during funerals and ban tobacco. Flogging and fines seem to have been popular punishments. The Legal Decree pitched high standards for monks and officials, and set out the main contours of consensus and force, sanctions and punishments in the society. While presenting sanctions, it often recommended decision based on customs and conventions of a community without specifying these numerous mores. The entitlements of officials in terms of supply of horses, foods, and retainers, in station or on the road, were stipulated clearly. The Decree urged the officials to ‘illuminate like the sun possessing the magical wheel of intelligence that allows them to master the elaborate display of the four noble karmas’. After presenting compressed provisions on soldiering, it enjoined the combatants ‘to act with immense bravery of a lion that shines with majesty in the midst of wild beasts’.
Monks and Monasteries
Authors: Ura Karma 
Published: January 2023

AbstractAfter the 12th century, Bhutan attracted a series of religious masters and treasure revealers (tertons) who rejuvenated teachings by revealing ters hidden by Guru Rinpoche and Khando Yeshey Tshogyal. Overtime, the country came to be dotted with temples. Buddhism flourished and has been perpetuated, since the 17th century, as the state religion, with Kagyud and Nyingma existing in harmony. Learning in the state monasteries were divided into the father-guru’s dharma (pha chos) and the son-disciple’s dharma (bu chos). Guru’s dharma consisted of the three interwoven instructions and the disciple’s dharma referred to ritual dance, sand mandala art, and ritual chants. Levels of vows among the monks as they progressed through the monastic hierarchy culminated in full bodhisattva and secret-mantra vows. The hierarchical ranks among monks were indicated by their dress styles. The chapter goes into routines of their sleep, study, prayers, meals, washing, and bathing, and provides glimpses of the state monasteries’ kitchens and refectories. Daily food offerings have been made to the founder of Bhutan, Zhabdrung Rinpoche, whose holy body is preserved in a golden stupa in Punakha dzong and which plays a profound role in the life of the nation.
Integrate-and-fire neurons and population models
Authors: Trappenberg Thomas P. 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
This chapter introduces a variety of abstractions of neurons. This includes the all-important leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) neuron. The chapter also introduces more recent generalizations of this basic model to allow again to incorporate more realistic feature of specific neuronal groups. The middle section of this chapter discusses some general aspects information processing with spiking neurons that will set the stage for our final abstraction of neural systems. This includes another important leap to describe the collective behaviour of groups of neurons, also known as population models or rate models. Population nodes are the basis for many system-level investigations in cognitive neuroscience and are used frequently in later sections of this book. This chapter is an important start of abstractions that are necessary to tackle more system-level information processing principles.
Feed-forward mapping networks
Authors: Trappenberg Thomas P. 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
This chapter explores the ability of basic neural networks that feed input from and input layer through possible layers of hidden notes to the output layer. It is then shown that such neural networks can implement mapping functions. Mapping neural representations are important in many brain processes and have dominated models in cognitive science in the form of multilayer perceptrons. For this it is important to explore the effects of choosing appropriate values for synaptic weights through learning algorithms. While feedforward networks are not enough to explain cognitive functions alone, they are an important ingredient of brain-style information processing and have contributed greatly to our understanding of adaptive systems. This chapter includes some review about concepts of machine learning and more recent developments such as deep learning. Such techniques are becoming increasingly important for industrial applications as well as analysing neuroscience data. However, we will largely focus on their relation to brain-style information processing.
Recurrent associative networks and episodic memory
Authors: Trappenberg Thomas P. 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
This chapter continues the discussion on the dynamics of recurrent networks. Instead of using the characteristic recurrent weight profile of the previous chapter, the networks are now trained on random patterns. It is shown that such networks can function as auto-associative memories, which can rapidly store items and are able to recall stored items from partial information. In contrast to DNF models, which have a continuous manifold of point attractors (continuous attractors for short), the models here have isolated point attractors of their dynamics. We discuss the storage capacity of point attractor networks and their extraordinary robustness to noise and lesions. But memories can also break down rapidly when overloading the network or when lesions become too severe, and we will study the physics of such sharp transitions to amnesic phases. We also review gated recurrent networks such as long short-term memory.
Awareness and the Substructure of Knowledge
Authors: Silva Jr Paul 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
The expression ‘S is aware of the fact that p’ is a commonplace, not at all a philosopher’s term of art. It is often used to criticize, excuse, admonish, and inform others. Such uses of the expression presuppose the existence of a state of awareness that one can be in or fail to be in with regard to some fact. Here lies the phenomenon of factual awareness. It is conventional in epistemology to treat ‘S is aware of the fact that p’ as either expressing the same thought as ‘S knows that p’ or at least entailing it. Learning of the failure of conventional views is often both surprising and theoretically fruitful. This book provides a comprehensive case against the view that factual awareness just is knowledge or even essentially related to knowledge: factual awareness is not identical to, and it does not entail, knowing, being in a position to know, or being capable of knowing. It provides a systematic exploration of the relation between knowledge and factual awareness, arguing that knowledge is but one species of factual awareness and that we can understand the possession of objective reasons, the normativity of knowledge, and the nature of knowledge in terms of factual awareness. In this way, the state of factual awareness is, structurally and substantively, a more basic type of state than knowledge. If correct, this undermines a number of ways in which knowledge has been regarded as ‘first’ in recent epistemology.
Towards an Awareness-First Epistemology
Authors: Silva Jr Paul 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
The concept of being aware of a fact has a prominent place in ordinary talk and ordinary thought. Indeed, factual awareness occupies a role not unlike that of knowledge in many cases. This could be explained by the idea that factual awareness and knowledge come to the same thing. But it need not be. This introduction explains where we will end up after justifying a distinction between knowledge and factual awareness that treats knowledge as but one kind of factual awareness. The upshot is a novel and, as yet unexplored, set of positions across issues of central importance to epistemology.
Awareness without Knowledge
Authors: Silva Jr Paul 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
There are two plausible views about the relation between knowledge and factual awareness. One view identifies knowledge and factual awareness (the Identity View), the other view treats factual awareness as a more general kind of which knowledge is but one instance (the Generality of Awareness). Which of these two views is correct turns on the question of whether or not factual awareness entails knowledge. This chapter defends a diverse range of arguments against such an entailment. The Identity View is, therefore, to be rejected. This leaves us with the Generality of Awareness to explore in later chapters.
Awareness and the Normativity of Knowledge
Authors: Silva Jr Paul 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Many have found it plausible that knowledge is a state grounded in the possession of reasons. Many have also found it plausible that certain cases of knowledge are not grounded in the possession of reasons in cases of basic knowledge. Such cases form the primary objection to the idea that knowledge is a constitutively normative state. In what follows the dilemma of having to choose between basic knowledge and the normativity of knowledge is resolved by relying on the idea that the possession of reasons is to be understood in terms of factual awareness. After explaining the idea that knowledge is a constitutively normative state and providing motivations for this view, this chapter explores the integrity of objections to the normativity of knowledge. It then shows how broad factualism and the awareness-theoretic account of possession converge in a way that helps us understand the constitutive normativity of knowledge.
Illicit Legislative Intentions in the Separation of State and Religion
Authors: Sadurski Wojciech 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
In many democratic constitutional systems, an idea of using illicit legislative purposes serves as the exclusive basis for the invalidation of statutes in the field of separation of state and religion. It is shown that in the case law of top courts in countries as different as the United States, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Germany, and Israel, legislative motives serve as the crucial factor for judicial decisions regarding state/religion relationship: either for upholding the law when wrongful motives are absent or for invalidating the law when prohibited purposes are detected. In all the landmark judgments discussed in this chapter, the religious motives for the legislation were either viewed as exclusive grounds for the judgment about unconstitutionality or otherwise dominated the effects of legislation as factors for the determination of a judicial outcome.
Standards of Scrutiny, Equal Protection, and Illicit Motives for Discrimination
Authors: Sadurski Wojciech 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Connection between anti-discrimination law and the ideal of public reason (PR) is found in a doctrine that the invidious quality of a law claimed to be discriminatory must ultimately be traced to discriminatory legislative motives/purposes. This chapter begins by taking seriously a concept of ‘suspect classifications’ developed in the US Supreme Court’s case law under the Fourteenth Amendment, and inquires into the most likely features that may render a classification ‘suspect’, which inevitably—as the chapter argues—leads to the question of legislative motivations behind a legal classification. The chapter offers a theory which may help us understand the idea of ‘prejudice’ by looking at external ‘indicia’ of such prejudice, hence, of suspect classifications. Illustrations for this proposition are taken from the US and South Africa. Finally, using examples from India and Canada, the chapter offers some examples of how judges figure out the presence of impermissible motives behind a legal classification.