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A list of books on humanities is presented.

Presents a list of books on philosophy received by the Department of Philosophy at the State University of New York.

This paper argues that when sociologists study religious experience we cannot study "experiencing" -- religious experience in real time and its physical, mental, and emotional constituents -- and therefore must study retrospective accounts -- linguistic representations -- of religious experiences. It is in the nature of experiencing anti its linguistic expression that the two are loosely coupled and therefore we do not study phenomenological descriptions of experiences but how an experience is made meaningful. On this basis existing studs of religious experience are criticized, and an alternative, narrative approach to studying religious experience which is sensitive to its unique ontology is elaborated. The paper concludes with some brief suggestions for applying the narrative approach to studying the meaning of religious experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into intuitive interaction often builds on the development of a definition and clear-cut criteria. The present paper suggests an alternative, more phenomenological approach. In line with the User Experience perspective,we focus on the experiential phenomenon and subjective feelings related to intuitive interaction. Our analysis makes use of insights from psychological research on intuitive decision-making and user research in Human--Computer Interaction. As a result, we suggest four components of intuitive interaction (Gut Feeling,Verbalizability, Effortlessness, Magical Experience) and a research framework of relevant influencing factors. Given that intuitive interaction relies on the transfer of previously acquired knowledge, one suggested influencing factor is the domain transfer distance, i.e. the distance between the application domain and the source domain of transferred prior knowledge. Our theoretical model assumes a differential effect of the domain transfer distance on the four components of intuitive interaction. An empirical study (n = 152) substantiates the suggested components and theoretical considerations on the special effect of the domain transfer distance. As assumed, Gut Feeling, Verbalizability, Effortlessness and Magical Experience were all relevant for participants' subjective understanding of intuitive interaction. In line with our model of domain transfer distance, usage scenarios with higher transfer distance were perceived as better representatives of intuitive interaction and characterized by Gut Feeling/Magical Experience, whereas lower transfer distance scenarios were characterized by Verbalizability/Effortlessness. The present paper offers a number of contributions for research and design. Besides providing a better understanding of the phenomenon of intuitive interaction and underlying mechanisms, we discuss how design can profit from these insights (e.g. specification of the desired experience, design for innovation). Limitations of the present study and implications for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes and needs in marine science (and natural science in general) training over the past six decades are discussed. Among these are: new technological advances; the loss of -ology courses; the loss of field courses and sense of place opportunities for students; the need for a more interdisciplinary approach to training natural science students; a need to better expose our students to threats to Earth's biocultural diversity; a need to include more humanities in our student training, including addressing diminished readership and appreciation of the great books; the nature of creativity; the perils of the internet; and university emphasis on faculty overhead dollars and high-profile publications at the expense of student training and more creative research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responds to Jim Stone's argument that the combination of three-dimensionalism (TD) and counterpart theory (CT) leads irresistibly to absurdity. Attempt to show that Stone's arguments are not persuasive; Presentation of one form of TD-CT combo; Defense against the relevant criticisms from Stone's paper; Presentation of a theory combining TD and CT.

Research examining the effect of regime type on conflict has focused on the democracy/autocracy continuum expounded in the political philosophies of liberal thinkers such as Kant and Schumpeter. While this concentration has yielded impressive results (democratic peace), it seems plausible that other conceptions of regime type may yield similar success. This paper examines the philosophy of Machiavelli and develops a measure of his“imperial regimes.” These states, which can either be democratic or autocratic, should exhibit an increased propensity to initiate international conflict. Testing this contention in Renaissance Italy (1250–1494) and the modern international system (1920–1992), this paper finds strong empirical support. Machiavelli's views illuminate key differences between democracies and autocracies that have been previously overlooked. Thus, it deepens rather than replaces our conception of how domestic institutions affect international conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study offers an analysis of the affinity between Korean traditional religious culture and Protestant Christianity in order to bring into sharper relief several important points of contact that strengthened the appeal of the imported faith in South Korea. In particular, Korean Shamanism, the enduring core of Korean religious and cultural thought, is given special attention in order to explain the prominence of its worldview and practices in the uniquely Korean form of Protestantism. The paper also examines the way in which specific Protestant doctrines and practices were modified or accentuated to suit the disposition of the Korean people. What this study reveals is that Christian conversion in South Korea did not involve an exclusivistic change of religious affiliation, meaning that it did not require the repudiation of traditionally held beliefs. Instead, millions of South Koreans eagerly embraced Christianity precisely because the new faith was advanced as an extension or continuation of Korean religious tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on a collection of twelve papers presented to P.F. Strawson on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday. Celebration of the achievements of notable men; Contributions of Strawson to philosophy.

Focuses on the contents of Alan Gewirth's paper "Reason and Morality". Roots of morality in philosophers; Acceptance of certain evaluative and deontic judgments.

Focuses on arguments in Simon Blackburn's paper "Moral Realism". Condition of supervenience on moral truth; Acceptance of moral principle.

Inherent in religion is an ironic tension between a predisposition, developed in early life, to see ultimate reality as nurturing, and an adult shared doubt about the claims of this world. This feature of religion leads in its flourishing in marginality and stagnating in an established condition. This conceptualization of religion is applied to the contemporary world, which features such macro institutions as big business and big government and such micro institutions as the family, the local school, and religion. The paper endeavors to create a synthetic framework for the sociology of contemporary religion that creates a general depiction out of numerous kinds of inquiry conducted at present in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we briefly review relevant research on the culture of poverty and set our findings within the general context of culture of poverty arguments. Data from a community survey in a Southwestern city are analyzed using Oscar Lewis' four major culture of poverty dimensions: 1) the individual, 2) the family. 3) the slum community, and 4) the community's relation to society. In our study a sample of 271 black respondents was divided into two groups, here termed the "poor" and the "non-poor." In noting all the broad traits studied in all dimensions taken together, some support for Lewis' culture of poverty was found in less than half of the cases; and in several cases our findings were in direct opposition to culture of poverty predictions. In addition, we have suggested that the majority of those traits that did lend support to Lewis' argument might be better classified as situational conditions of poverty rather than as a part of a bonafide "culture" of poverty. The findings of this paper may call into question the use of the "culture of poverty" perspective as a basis for policy decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on the book "Reduction, Time and Reality: Studies in the Philosophy of the Natural Sciences," edited by Richard Healey. The book suggests that it is not fruitful to take sides in the hitherto global debate, whether to adopt a realistic or a positivistic attitude towards scientific theories. By means of this evidential diversity, the unifying theory eventually gob to be bettor confirmed than the conjunction of phenomenal generalisations over the various domains.

Focuses on referential uses and speaker meaning. Speech-act theorists' objection to Donnellan's distinction between referential and attributive uses of definite descriptions; Strategy of Searle.

This paper is an attempt to reorient one of the central questions of philosophical aesthetics, like, "What is art?" The direction that this reorientation proposes relies upon taking advantage of the prac- tice, or, more aptly, the practices of art as the primary means of identifying those objects which are to count as art. This essay is written within the context of the philosophy of art as that has evolved in the Anglo-American tradition. For the positive position advanced in this paper is supposed to have the advantage of overcoming the liabilities of these earlier interludes in the discussion.

This article discusses the philosophy and moral reasons of the interests between present people and the future people. The decisions related to consuming scarce resources and answers to some assumptions are explored. The analogy on the issue of delaying aid intended to prevent suffering is explained and not vindicated.

Responds to Tal Manor's critique of the article "Choice-egalitarianism and the paradox of the baseline". Author's proposed a paradox pertaining to choice-egalitarianism, the dominant philosophical view of egalitarianism; Argument that choice-egalitarianism compels us to bring about states of affairs so unacceptable that the position becomes absurd; Author's claim that choice-egalitarianism's hope of reconciling a strong egalitarianism with robust personal choice and something like the prevailing market economy is a chimera.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of religious factors and their relationship to other measures of social support in affecting the emotional well-being of adolescent mothers. The data derive from prenatal and post-birth interviews that were part of a longitudinal prospective study of very young mothers and their children (N = 261). The two competing hypotheses are (1) religious affiliation provides a supportive environment to help sustain young women in their childbearing experience and (2) the prohibition of nonmarital fertility implicit in religious teachings represents a source of conflict that contributes to the distress experienced by these young women. Both bivariate and multivariate regression models suggest a pattern of religious influence and distress experienced in the first weeks after delivery that is consistent with the hypothesis that religious affiliation is a source of conflict for the unmarried adolescents. However, this general finding is modified by variable that describe denomination and involvement with organized religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the philosophy of anti-realism. Anti-realist semantic theory; Formation of T-theory; Account for the conditional.

Focuses on free will and fatalism. Characterization of fatalism or causal determinism; Discussion of the case of Aristotle; Correspondence principle of truth.

The article presents philosophical approaches to categories. In this paper the author is concerned with categories only in the philosophical sense. He outlines and contrasts what he thinks are the two main philosophical approaches to categories, the metaphysical approach of Aristotle and the epistemological approach of Immanuel Kant. He relates the two approaches to contemporary philosophies, the essentialism on the one hand, and naturalism and transcendentalism on the other. The author attempts to expose the basic presuppositions of each extreme and to indicate how the contemporary positions he considers appear as modifications of them.

Ancient and modern methods and results of man's efforts to formulate satisfying statements about the ultimate meaning of human life and the nature of the universe were interwoven in the program presented at the sixth international gathering of philosophers held at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts on September 13-17, 1927. The courts and handsomely assembly rooms of a group of new dormitories located on the banks of the Charles River supplied a delightful atmosphere of academic quiet and gave opportunities for innumerable enjoyable personal contacts. This first New-World session of the Congress was attended by 630 persons, of whom 375 were active members. The 75 foreign delegates came from leading European countries, from Canada, South America, Mexico and India. The tremendous scope of the subjects presented and the abstract or even mystical treatment of many of the topics were in striking contrast to the growing specialization and concreteness observed in the papers presented in national gatherings of social scientists. Inconsistencies in the methods and results of modern philosophy as presented in the discussions of this Congress would justify a modification of this statement to the more modest claim that philosophy may enlarge the outlook of the human spirit by stimulating speculative efforts to achieve this tremendous program.

This article undertakes to cite the new orientation, to state what seem to be the emerging generalizations, and to at least suggest the extent of findings which they seem capable of ordering. This optimism is based on two phenomena. The first of these is a new orientation toward the study of communication effects which has recently become conspicuous in the literature. And the second phenomenon is the emergence, from this new approach, of a few generalizations. It is proposed that these generalizations can be tied together, and tentatively developed a little further, and that when this is done the resulting set of generalizations can be extremely helpful. More specifically, they seem capable of organizing and relating a good deal of existing knowledge about the processes of communication effect, the factors involved in the process, and the direction which effects typically take. They thus provide some hope that the vast and ill-ordered array of communications research findings may be eventually molded, by these or other generalizations, into a body of organized knowledge.

In journalism research the past 20 years have seen a trend toward study of the communication process in its relation to society. Methodologically, increasing use has been made of the quantitative methods of the behavioral sciences, but by no means to the exclusion of the qualitative approach of the humanities. Rapid progress has been sparked by the growing availability of basic data, the development of research tools, and increasing institutional support for field research. Communication effect, however, remains a little understood area. For the purpose of this article, "journalism research" is defined as research on the printed media of mass communication. It is not being equated with research done in journalism schools; their research is not limited to print. Neither is it being equated with research on newspapers, which is usually considered to be the central subject matter of "journalism." The article talks about the broad sweep of research on newspapers, magazines, and books, in this country, during the 20 years which are spanned by the distinguished history of the "Public Opinion Quarterly."

Lists the books received for review in the October 1980 issue of the periodical "The Philosophical Quarterly." Topics of the books; Titles of the books; Authors of the publications.

The article discusses the adoption of holistic approaches in frailty research, particularly in examining the health and illness of older people. Other topics include the possible adoption of social sciences and humanities toolkits in identifying the social and biological factors in frailty and in designing effective interventions, as well as the emerging concept of intrinsic capacity in geriatric medicine.

Using data from the UK, this study explores the institutional and environmental factors that influence universities' efficiency in knowledge transfer. While studies of universities' knowledge transfer performance have so far focused on patent commercialisation and research contracting with industry, it is increasingly acknowledged that universities engage in a broader range of knowledge transfer activities, including consulting, public engagement and provision of knowledge-intensive services. When these are taken into account, less research-intensive universities, and those with a greater share of staff in the arts and humanities, improve their relative efficiency. More specialised, older and larger institutions are more efficient performers, while research intensity is no longer a strong predictor of efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of communication, like much of higher education, is facing a set of crises brought about by economic, political and technological changes that affect all segments of society. We owe to ourselves, our students and our societies to face these challenges and rethink our mission and our practices in ways that will contribute to solutions. In this article I focus on several dimensions of our present circumstances: the need to embrace a broader vision of the career paths for which we are training our doctoral students; the importance of envisioning communication studies as a necessary and essential component of any rational liberal arts education in the 21st century; the critical role that communication scholarship can and should play in addressing current public policy debates and issues; and the crucial role we need to assume as leaders of a cultural environment movement that will counter the negative externalities of our pervasive corporate media environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviews of several articles about humanities and politics are presented including "Conflict Response and the Study of Peace," by Tim Jacoby, "Mediation's Failings in El Salvador and the Limits of Crusading Universalism," by Kirsten Howarth, and "After Atrocity: International Justice and Post-Conflict Governance," by Christopher Lamont.

The article presents a reading list in humanities, which is prepared by the Oregon Council. It includes "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" by Frederick Douglass, "Notes of a Native Son," and "Stranger in the Village," both by James Baldwin, "An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," by Adam Smith, "The True Basis of Heroism" from the book "The Roosevelt Book: Selections From the Writings of Theodore Roosevelt," by Theodore Roosevelt and "Widening the Web of Citizenship in an Age of Private Citizens," by Michael Schudson.

Reflection on cases involving the occurrence of various types of perceptual activity suggests that the phenomenal character of perceptual experience can be partly determined by agential factors. I discuss the significance of these kinds of case for the dispute about phenomenal character that is at the core of recent philosophy of perception. I then go on to sketch an account of how active and passive elements of phenomenal character are related to one another in activities like watching and looking at things. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the problem of the singular causation properties. The author aims to combine two different solutions to the problem of the properties of singular causation properties do not play any role in singular causation. The second one is that a token event causes another token event in the virtue of having a trope and not the property-type. The author believes that combining these two very different solutions can avoid objection He considers two solutions to the problem of the properties of singular causation. The first one is that tropes against both of them.

There is presently considerable debate about the application and interpretation of realism in economics. Interest in this area of the philosophy and methodology of economics has intensified over the last twenty years, especially owing to the substantial contributions by Uskali Mäki and Tony Lawson, respectively. Although their work falls under the same banner of realism in economics, their projects differ significantly in many important respects. This review tries to clarify the contrasting approaches of each author and explains the main reasons for the differences between them. The emphasis is on clarification of their respective positions rather than a comprehensive critical evaluation as such. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the canonical collection of William Shakespeare's works in the 17th century. It has been said that Shakespeare's works, preserved in the first four Folios, included only plays. Furthermore, the attempt to bring a comprehensive collection of his poems in 1640, excluded the most celebrated poems like "Venus and Adonis" and "The Rape of Lucrece." However, in 1664 and a few years following that, a second issue of the Third and a Fourth Folio revealed that the previous Folios were not as comprehensive as it was perceived. Several plays and poems were added to the collection to make the Third and Fourth Folios as the accepted complete Shakespeare. Issues pertaining to authenticity are also tackled.

This article presents an introduction to the topics explored by the articles contained in the September 2006 issue of "MELUS." The authors mention that the introduction of disability studies into the fields of humanities and cultural studies has taken disability from the control of medical science and has helped to expand the understanding of the world of those with disabilities. Ethnic studies have long considered race as it relates to gender, class, sexuality, and more, but there is very little work on the relation of race/ethnicity and disability.

Heterodoxy serves as an umbrella term to cover the coming together of separate projects or traditions. In answering the question, 'what distinguishes heterodoxy from the orthodoxy?', the author argues that matters of ontology are central. In answering the question, 'how are the various traditions that make up the modern heterodoxy to be distinguished from each other?', the author defends criteria other than varying commitments to specific substantive theories, policy measures or techniques (or basic units) of analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first three sections, I argue that Hobbes has a distinctive conception of philosophy, the highest value of which is not truth, but human benefit; and that his philosophical utterances are constrained by this value (both insofar as they are philosophical in particular, and insofar as they are public utterances of any kind). I address an evidentiary problem for this view in the penultimate section, and then turn to the question of how such a conception of philosophy requires different interpretations of particular philosophical positions. The whole is intended as a case study of the need for an interpreter to understand how the interpreted philosopher conceives of the nature and aim of his undertaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Aristotelian notion of a First Substance (like Fido the dog), an enduring thing with perhaps changing properties, became ridiculed and rejected in the period from Locke to Hume. I clarify the idea and explain how, when separated from some unnecessary accretions, it emerges as a notion to which we are all committed, perhaps, indeed, innocently. One standard objection (that the substance ends up, absurdly, having ‘no properties’) involves the misconception that the Aristotelian subject of Fido's properties needs to be some extra item, other than, literally, Fido. The main rival view treats things as ‘bundles’ of properties or ‘tropes’; I explore some difficulties in conceiving the components of the bundles. The root of the trouble, I think, lies in the Humean view that if two things are non-identical, they must also be capable of existing separately: this immediately, and disastrously, makes it impossible to recognize ontological dependence between non-identical objects. I end by replying to two special worries: that if substances existed at all, they would be imperceptible and unknowable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a case in which testimony generates knowledge that the source lacks. Examples offered in Lackey (1999) and Graham (2000); Generation of knowledge through testimony which itself is unreliable, insensitive, and unsafe; Examination of how testimony that is unreliable can nevertheless succeed in being trustworthy; Argument that trustworthiness is that property of testimony, the possession of which renders the testimony worthy of being trusted.

Comments on David Lewis' argument, from a position of metaphysical neutrality on the nature of unactualized possibilities, that the truthmaker principle (TM) is equivalent to a principle which he calls the "difference-making" principle (DM). Argument that the principle entails a claim about what possibilities there are, namely, that there cannot be indiscernible worlds; Attempt to show that, without substantive metaphysical assumptions of the kind Lewis is trying to remain neutral on, (TM) does not entail (DM).

Explains why counterpart theory and four-dimensionalism are incompatible. Presentation of the scenario where God creates "ex nihilo" a bronze statue of a unicorn and later annihilates it; Argument that the statue and the piece of bronze occupy the same space for their entire career; Suggestion that many philosophers find it incredible that two material things coincide ever, not to mention for their entire career; Four-dimensionalists' argument that ordinary objects persist by having temporal parts at different times.

Responds to John Williams' critique of G.E. Moore's paradox and G. Evans' principle. Moore's observation that there is something odd or defective about sentences of the form 'p; Defective nature of Moorean sentences; Williams' epistemic lines arguing that Moorean sentences are absurd because they cannot be justifiably believed; Williams' claim that Evans's observation is tantamount to the rule that whenever one is in a position to sincerely assert that p then one is in a position to sincerely assert that I believe that p.

The article focuses on the works of philosopher Monroe Beardsley's various works related to aesthetics. The author thinks that Beardsley's book, "Aesthetics: Problems in the Philosophy of Criticism," had not been published, he fears he might never have found out what aesthetics is, despite the fact that he had already been a teacher of aesthetics for two years when it was published. The publication of Beardsley's book was, he believe, the single most important event in twentieth-century analytic aesthetics; it provided an organization and a focus that the field had lacked. It is an interesting fact that Beardsley's book burst upon the aesthetics scene, coming almost out of the blue, nineteen years after he had begun teaching.

Reducing religion to a mere ethnic marker has stifled the debate about its social and political significance in Northern Ireland. This article puts forward a constructivist argument, which understands religion as a dynamic of personal and group identification, as the key to illuminating its social significance. Drawing on analysis of in-depth interviews it finds four main ways in which religion informs processes of social identification and community construction in Northern Ireland: where it acts as an identity marker; where religious rituals play a practical role, or religious ideas play a symbolic role, in the construction of community; and, where doctrine can legitimize oppositional social identifications. In fact, specifically religious structures and religious ideas remain socially significant beyond the confines of the most devout. Thus, rather than just marking out ethnic identities, this article argues that religion generally provides some substantive content to processes of categorization and social comparison in Northern Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A striking feature of the traditional armchair method of philosophy is the use of imaginary examples: for instance, of Gettier cases as counterexamples to the justified true belief analysis of knowledge. The use of such examples is often thought to involve some sort ofa priorirational intuition, which crude rationalists regard as a virtue and crude empiricists as a vice. It is argued here that, on the contrary, what is involved is simply an application of our general cognitive capacity to handle counterfactual conditionals, which is not exclusivelya prioriand is not usefully conceived as a form of rational intuition. It is explained how questions of metaphysical possibility and necessity are equivalent to questions about counterfactuals, and the epistemology of the former (in particular, the role of conceiving or imagining) is a special case of the epistemology of the latter. A non-imaginary Gettier case is presented in order to show how little difference it makes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If one is impressed with Wittgenstein's philosophizing, then it is a deep mistake to think that the terms that he made famous—philosophical terms like‘form of life’,‘language-game’,‘everyday’,‘bedrock’—are the key to his philosophy. On the contrary, they are in the end an obstacle to be overcome. The last temptation of the Wittgensteinian philosopher is to treat these terms as providing a kind ofersatzfoundation. They are rather a ladder that takes one . . . to where one already is, only now undeluded. Provided, that is, that one throws them away, at the first sign that one feels oneself to be securely grounded by—or holding onto—them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the argument of philosopher Harold Noonan on flaws in the view that objects persist by perduring. Attempt to show the existence of a world of temporal parts; Possibility of the existence of some temporal part; Aceptance of the patchwork principle of possibility.

According to T.M. Scanlon's buck-passing account of value, to be valuable is not to possess intrinsic value as a simple and unanalysable property, but rather to have other properties that provide reasons to take up an attitude in favour of their owner or against it. The 'wrong kind of reasons' objection to this view is that we may have reasons to respond for or against something without this having any bearing on its value. The challenge is to explain why such reasons are of the wrong kind. This is what I set out to do, after illustrating the objection more thoroughly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the epistemic privileges of introspective knowledge, and the frailties of perceptual knowledge. Disagreements over the precise nature and extent of first-person authority; Distinction between introspective and perceptual knowledge; Examination of the privileges that McKinney attributes to first-person introspective knowledge.