In this paper, I examine Max Deutsch’s dilemma for the implementation of newly engineered concepts. In the debate over this dilemma, the goal of conceptual engineering tends to be set either too high or too low. As a result, implementation tends to be seen as either very unlikely to succeed or too easily achievable. This paper aims to offer a way out of this dilemma. I argue that the success conditions for implementation can be better understood if we distinguish between (...) different stages in the implementation process. Implementation is a complex process involving several stages, each of which can be evaluated as a success or a failure. I argue that even if an implementation does not reach the final stage in which a new concept is widely used in the society at large, it may not be a complete failure: conceptual engineers may not even aim for a new concept to be widely used in the society at large; or even if they do and a new concept only circulates in a smaller subgroup, this can still be a significant achievement. The upshot is that we should take more seriously the possibility that conceptual engineering can be implemented locally at the subgroup level. (shrink)

In his 1975 paper “The Meaning of ‘Meaning’”, Hilary Putnam famously argued for semantic externalism. Little attention has been paid, however, to the fact that already in 1973, Putnam had presented the idea of the linguistic division of labor and the Twin Earth thought experiment in his comment on Wilfrid Sellars’s “Meaning as Functional Classification” at a conference, and Sellars had replied to Putnam from a broadly inferentialist perspective. The first half of this paper aims to trace the development of (...) Putnam’s semantic externalism, situate his debate with Sellars in it, and reconstruct the two arguments he presented against Sellars. The second half of this paper aims to reconstruct how Sellars replied to Putnam. I argue that Sellars not only accepts the social character of language but also suggests how inferentialists can accommodate the contribution of the world. Sellars’s key idea is that substance terms have a “promissory note aspect” which is to be cashed out in a successor conceptual framework. I reconstruct Sellars’s position as ideal successor externalism, and compare it with temporal externalism. (shrink)

Previous findings in cultural psychology indicated that East Asians are more likely than North Americans to be attentive to contextual information (e.g., Nisbett & Masuda, ). However, to what extent and in which conditions culture influences patterns of attention has not been fully examined. As a result, universal patterns of attention may be obscured, and culturally unique patterns may be wrongly assumed to be constant across situations. By carrying out two cross-cultural studies, we demonstrated that (a) both European Canadians and (...) Japanese attended to moving objects similarly when the task was to simply observe the visual information; however, (b) there were cultural variations in patterns of attention when participants actively engaged in the task by constructing narratives of their observation (narrative construction). These findings suggest that cultural effects are most pronounced in narrative construction conditions, where the need to act in accordance with a culturally shared meaning system is elicited. (shrink)

Even after Willard Quine’s critique of the analytic-synthetic distinction in “Two Dogmas of Empiricism,” Wilfrid Sellars maintained some forms of analyticity or truth in virtue of meaning. In this article, I aim to reconstruct (a) his neglected account of the analytic-synthetic distinction and the revisability of analytic sentences, (b) its connection to his inferentialist account of meaning, and (c) his response to Quine. While Sellars’s account of the revisability of analytic sentences bears certain similarities to Carnap’s and Grice and Strawson’s (...) accounts, it is still striking in that it is part of his broader picture of how our language develops dynamically in our ongoing inquiry. I aim to show how it relates to his account of how the diachronic continuity in meaning, language, or conceptual framework can be preserved through a revision of analytic sentences and to his evolutionary account of the development of our language or conceptual framework. (shrink)

This article reviews Scott McQuire's book, The Media City, which focuses on the historical formation of the media-architecture complex of the current urban environment. While the book provides rich insights into the ways various media technologies have become interconnected with urban architectural structures, the underlying concept of media in McQuire's discussion could be criticized in three respects: visual-centred, technology-based and real-time oriented. After considering these three points in the context of the theoretical ideas put forward by Henri Lefebvre, Friedrich Kittler (...) and Walter Benjamin, particular attention is paid to Benjamin's prominent figure of the flâneur. Through reconsidering the experience of the flâneur in terms of the technique of getting lost in the city, possibilities are suggested as to thinking differently about the `media city'. In other words, it is proposed that we should examine the theoretical possibilities concerning the modern urban experience between the `media city' and the `city as a medium'. (shrink)

We study stable strategy profiles in a pure exchange game of bads, where each player dumps his or her bads such as garbage onto someone else. Hirai et al. (Mathematical Social Sciences 51(2):162–170, 2006) show that cycle dumping, in which each player follows an ordering and dumps his or her bads onto the next player, is a strong Nash equilibrium and that self-disposal is $$\alpha $$ -stable for some initial distributions of bads. In this paper, we show that a strategy (...) profile of bullying, in which all players dump their bads onto a single player, becomes $$\alpha $$ -stable for every exchange game of bads. We also provide a necessary and sufficient condition for a strategy profile to be $$\alpha $$ -stable in an exchange game of bads. In addition, we show that repeating an exchange after the first exchange makes self-disposal stationary. (shrink)

The objective of this paper is to study stable coalition structures in symmetric majority games. We assume that players deviate from a coalition structure to another to maximize their power given by the Owen power index. We introduce three myopic core concepts and one farsighted stability concept, the farsighted vNM stable set. Our main result is that the pessimistic core, the largest myopic core, coincides with some farsighted vNM stable set for any number of players. Moreover, we show that a (...) coalition structure belongs to the pessimistic core and the farsighted vNM stable set if and only if it contains an exact majority coalition. (shrink)

Moral reasoning develops rapidly in early childhood. Recent evidence from cognitive neuroscience literature suggests that the development of moral reasoning is supported by an integration of cognitive and affective components. However, the role of culture in the development of moral reasoning in young children is under-investigated. Previous cross-cultural research suggests that culture shapes how people interpret other’s behaviors. In particular, people raised in independent cultures, such as the United States, tend to form impressions of others and attribute others’ behaviors to (...) their personal dispositions more quickly than people raised in interdependent cultures, such as Japan. In the present cross-cultural study, we examined parents’ discourse with children in Japan and the United States. Parents and their 3- to 4-year-old children were asked to view and discuss cartoon characters depicting prosocial and antisocial acts. Results indicated that in both cultures, parents discussed about moral actions of characters. Furthermore, United States parents were more likely to evaluate dispositional characteristics of characters based on their pro-social and anti-social acts, whereas Japanese parents were more likely to refer to emotion of the characters who got hurt. We discuss implications of cross-cultural differences and similarities in parental moral socialization and the development of moral reasoning in young children. (shrink)

雑誌『現代思想』が創刊された七〇年代から現在までの社会/思想の推移を、その特集と営みを補助線としながら考察し、これからの歴史の読み方を鋭く問う。.

80年代から90年代の時代情況に向かい合い、その根源にある心と生命の問題をヘーゲル、フーコー、ヴェイユ、良寛、日本人の死...

The world’s population is currently aging, and the issue of ageism has become serious worldwide, including in Japan. Negative attitudes toward older adults can have undesirable effects on the mental and physical health of this group. We focused on the effects of contact experience with older adults and germ aversion, or the degree of aversion to infection, on negative attitudes toward older adults. Additionally, we included a moderating variable; youth identity, or the sense of belonging with younger rather than older (...) age groups. An online survey was conducted with Japanese participants. We conducted multiple regression analyses and the results showed that the interaction effect between youth identity and contact experience on negative attitudes toward older adults was significant. The findings suggest that contact experience may help in reducing negative attitudes toward older adults among people with low youth identity. The interaction effect between youth identity and germ aversion, however, was not significant. Academic research on the effects of some psychological interventions should pay particular attention to the role of youth identity. Future directions for empirical studies are also discussed. (shrink)

Allah katında en şerefli amellerden biri Kur’ân ilimleri hakkında araştırma yapmaktır. Özellikle Rasulullah’ın ashabına öğretmiş olduğu vahiy vecihlerinin lafızlarını nakletme olgusunu üstlenen kırâat ilmi hakkında araştırma yapmanın ayrı bir yeri vardır. Kur’ân-ı Kerim İslam şeriatının ilk kaynağı olduğundan dolayı geçmiş ve günümüz alimleri kendisiyle alakalı olan tefsir, kırâat, dil bilimi, i’râb ve benzeri ilimlere ehemmiyet vermişlerdir. Biz de bu çalışmamızda çeşitli islami ilimler hakkında ilim ehli zatlar arasındaki yüksek mevkii bulunan İmam Ebû Muhammed Mekkî b. Ebî Talib’i ele aldık. Kırâat, (...) tecvid, arapça, fıkıh, kelam vb. İslami ilimlerde yüze yakın eser telif eden Mekki, İslami ilimlerin çoğunu elde ederek, özellikle Kırâat ve tefsir ilmine öncülük etmiş nadir âlimlerden biridir. Biz bu çalışmamızda Mekkî b. Ebî Talib’in Kırâat ilmindeki yeri ve bu ilme katkısını ele aldık. Bunun yanı sıra onun bu alanda telif ettiği eserler ve bu eserlerin önemi üzerinde durup, özellikle kendisinin Kırâatteki Tevatür meselesine değindik. Çünkü araştırmacılar Mekkî’nin bu konudaki görüşü hakkında ihtilafa düşüp farklı fikirler öne sürmüşlerdir. Son olarak çalışmamızı Mekki b. Ebu Talib’in kırâat ilminde kendisinden sonra gelen kişiler üzerinde ki etkisi hakkında bahsederek sonlandırmış olduk. (shrink)

Kur’ân-ı Kerîm ilimlerini araştırmak Allah indinde en şerefli amellerdendir. Özellikle de bu, Resulullah’ın ashabına öğrettiği vecih üzere vahiy lafızlarını nakletme olgusunu üstlenen kıraat ilmini araştırma olunca. Kur’ân-ı Kerîm İslam şeriatının ilk kaynağı olduğundan eskiden ve şuan âlimler Kur’ân-ı Kerîm’le ilgili olan tefsir, kıraat, dil bilim, i‘râb ve benzeri ilimlere önem vermişlerdir. Ben bu âlimlerden biri hakkında konuşmak istedim. O da çeşitli şeriat ilimlerinde ilim ehli arasındaki yüksek konumundan ötürü İmam Ebû Muhammed Mekkî b. Ebî Talib’tir. Mekkî, şeriat ilimlerin çoğunu elde (...) etmiş nadir âlimlerden biridir. Özellikle de O, Kur’ân ve tefsir ilminde birinci mevkiyi elde etmiş ve bununla da bu ilimlerde ipi göğüslemiştir. Kırâat, tecvid, arapça dil bilgisi, fıkıh, kelam ve diğer ilimler de yüz kadar esere ulaşan telifleri arkasında bırakmıştır. Ben bu çalışmada ilk başta Mekkî b. Ebî Talib ve kıraat ilimleri ile ilgili kitapları hakkında ışık tutmak, ardından da ayrıcalıkları ve onun özellikle de araştırmacıların anlamakta ihtilaf ettikleri tevâtür konusu hakkındaki görüşleri hakkında konuşmak istedim. Çalışmamı, kırâat ilimlerinde kendisinden sonrakiler üzerindeki etkisi hakkında konuşmak ile bitiriyorum. (shrink)

Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie sytuacji oraz kondycji finansowej strefy euro i próba zorientowania się w tym względzie na przyszłość. Kryzys strefy euro to największe wyzwanie dla całego Eurolandu, ale i Unii Europejskiej. Zła sytuacja finansowa i stagnacja z nią związana zmuszają do refleksji i podjęcia działań naprawczych. Nie wyciągnięcie wniosków generuje problemy i dezintegruje całą strefę euro. W artykule zostaną postawione: hipotezy, tezy oraz pytania badawcze.

The commutativity of the 1-dimensional XY-h type Hamiltonian and the transfer matrix of a 2-dimensional spin-lattice model constructed from an R-matrix is studied by Sutherland's method. We generalize Krinsky's result to more general Hamiltonians and more general R matrices, and we obtain a generic condition on their parameters for the commutativity, which defines an irreducible algebraic manifold in the parameter space.

The postmodern enterprise, with its foundationlessness, fragmentariness, constructivism, and neopragmatism challenges interdisciplinarity. This paper discusses functional specialization and interdisciplinary method which provides a basis for interdisciplinary collaboration. In functional specialization, successive stages in the process of coming to know are distinguished. These stages correspond to Lonergan’s four levels of consciousness, namely experiencing the data, coming to understanding through addressing questions which arise from the data, and judgment about which hypothesis best fits the data. Authenticity, which involves genuine attentiveness, intelligence, reasonableness, (...) and responsibility, guides the appropriate attitude in interdisciplinary work. (shrink)

In this article, we present evidence that in four different cultural groups that speak quite different languages there are cases of justified true beliefs that are not judged to be cases of knowledge. We hypothesize that this intuitive judgment, which we call “the Gettier intuition,” may be a reflection of an underlying innate and universal core folk epistemology, and we highlight the philosophical significance of its universality.

Since at least Hume and Kant, philosophers working on the nature of aesthetic judgment have generally agreed that common sense does not treat aesthetic judgments in the same way as typical expressions of subjective preferences—rather, it endows them with intersubjective validity, the property of being right or wrong regardless of disagreement. Moreover, this apparent intersubjective validity has been taken to constitute one of the main explananda for philosophical accounts of aesthetic judgment. But is it really the case that most people (...) spontaneously treat aesthetic judgments as having intersubjective validity? In this paper, we report the results of a cross‐cultural study with over 2,000 respondents spanning 19 countries. Despite significant geographical variations, these results suggest that most people do not treat their own aesthetic judgments as having intersubjective validity. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for theories of aesthetic judgment and the purpose of aesthetics in general. (shrink)

In the remainder of this article, we will disarm an important motivation for epistemic contextualism and interest-relative invariantism. We will accomplish this by presenting a stringent test of whether there is a stakes effect on ordinary knowledge ascription. Having shown that, even on a stringent way of testing, stakes fail to impact ordinary knowledge ascription, we will conclude that we should take another look at classical invariantism. Here is how we will proceed. Section 1 lays out some limitations of previous (...) research on stakes. Section 2 presents our study and concludes that there is little evidence for a substantial stakes effect. Section 3 responds to objections. The conclusion clears the way for classical invariantism. (shrink)

Philosophers have long debated whether, if determinism is true, we should hold people morally responsible for their actions since in a deterministic universe, people are arguably not the ultimate source of their actions nor could they have done otherwise if initial conditions and the laws of nature are held fixed. To reveal how non-philosophers ordinarily reason about the conditions for free will, we conducted a cross-cultural and cross-linguistic survey (N = 5,268) spanning twenty countries and sixteen languages. Overall, participants tended (...) to ascribe moral responsibility whether the perpetrator lacked sourcehood or alternate possibilities. However, for American, European, and Middle Eastern participants, being the ultimate source of one’s actions promoted perceptions of free will and control as well as ascriptions of blame and punishment. By contrast, being the source of one’s actions was not particularly salient to Asian participants. Finally, across cultures, participants exhibiting greater cognitive reflection were more likely to view free will as incompatible with causal determinism. We discuss these findings in light of documented cultural differences in the tendency toward dispositional versus situational attributions. (shrink)

This article examines whether people share the Gettier intuition (viz. that someone who has a true justified belief that p may nonetheless fail to know that p) in 24 sites, located in 23 countries (counting Hong Kong as a distinct country) and across 17 languages. We also consider the possible influence of gender and personality on this intuition with a very large sample size. Finally, we examine whether the Gettier intuition varies across people as a function of their disposition to (...) engage in “reflective” thinking. (shrink)