Search

Perhaps, nothing matters. Life might be devoid of value and meaning. Such thoughts can prompt feelings of angst. What kind of philosophical view could provide us with comfort? Some moral realists think that moral realism can. Moral realism does not comfort me. I think the comfort it gives others is an illusion. If we are moral realists, moral facts may be forever beyond our grasp. However, if we are anti‐realist sentimentalists, then moral facts are built for us to find. If we want to avoid angst, we can find solace in sentimentalism. That is not a reason to think sentimentalism is true. However, it is a reason to prefer that it is true. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can art illuminate life or is it just so much irrelevant illusion (or delusion)? Certainly, Plato—the great founding father of Western philosophy—seems to have been largely drawn to the latter view. From Plato onwards, however, this more sceptical perspective seems bedevilled by a range of conceptual conflations and confusions regarding the language and purposes of art. Proceeding by way of critical attention to distinctions between (for example) imagination and fantasy and the artistic and the aesthetic and to the different cognitive and affective functions of literal and figurative usage, this article also draws upon diverse insights of poets and artists to argue that the ultimate purpose of the deliberate or "artificial" separation of significant art from "real" human life is nevertheless to enable deeper perception and appreciation of that life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion that metaphorical statements are strictly false suggests that all statements, even those that seemed 'literal', are false, as none can 'literally' reflect reality. Statements about what we perceive or could perceive rely on evoking sensory images of such 'visibles', even though we have no direct access to what others, may perceive. In addition to what is visible, we must also deal with 'invisibilia' (both the fantasms that respectable moderns now reject and the realities that lie beyond or before all sentient experience). Talking about such distant or long-ago realities must always be 'metaphorical', as they cannot have any of the merely 'subjective' properties of experience, nor do they explain those latter properties. Is there some way of confirming the brute conviction that there is a 'real and intelligible world', and that we can find it out or describe it 'literally'? May 'Reason' be a route to understanding? But this too is an illusion: we seem never in practice to escape contradictions and had perhaps better turn again to consider the worlds of experience to which we are confined. What we experience is conditioned by our imagination: whether that metaphorical imagination points beyond experience remains uncertain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of ABHATH is the property of ABHATH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Immanuel Kant has been a crucial milestone in various spheres of human thought. His treatment of the ancient problem of appearance is not exempt from this premise. However, his notable contribution in this regard has not received the attention and depth provided by the primary studies of his work. This paper aims to comprehensively expose the problematic nature of illusions from Kant's perspective. Firstly, a concise review of the treatment of appearance throughout the history of philosophy will be conducted. Subsequently, the relevance of Kant's intervention in relation to this topic will be emphasized. Following that, a meticulous reconstruction of the topography of the different types of illusory appearance addressed in the Critique of Pure Reason will be undertaken, namely: empirical, logical, and transcendental illusions. This analysis will highlight the peculiarities, contexts, and inherent meanings of each of these forms, ultimately concluding the essay with a comprehensive evaluation of this significant episode in Kantian philosophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kant famously claims that pure reason is subject to a transcendental illusion in which the subjective validity and the regulative use of a principle of reason are conflated with its objective validity and constitutive use. His doctrine of transcendental illusion is puzzling for he insists that this illusion is natural as well as necessary. The two dominant interpretation strategies cannot make sense of this puzzle because they turn out to be either too strong or too weak: they either struggle to account for the legitimate, regulative use of the transcendental principle of reason or fall short of explaining the necessity of the transcendental illusion. In contrast, I shall argue that it is possible to account for the fact that the transcendental illusion is natural and necessary because it has its source in the discursive form of our human understanding, and that this illusion can nevertheless be known to be illusory because our discursive nature can be recognised as a merely particular form of understanding by comparing it with a possible, intuitive form of understanding in an act of critical self‐reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Illusion thermotics, which aims at creating temperature fields to mislead a thermal detector, encompasses many thermal functionalities. It has attracted significant attention due to the increasing number of promising applications. Transformation thermotics and scattering cancellation methods are frequently adopted for illusion devices, though they have inherent defects such as anisotropic thermal properties and complicated fabrication methods. Here, we present a general framework for topology optimization, which can be used to design the structure of an illusion device automatically. The optimized configuration can camouflage the thermal exterior of an illusion device so that it is identical to a reference. The original heat source can drive the virtual heat source despite the structure being simply composed of natural materials. To establish an effective topology optimization model, a volume constraint was imposed on the total volume of iron and a prescribed objective function was used to evaluate the difference between the reference temperature and the temperature field during the topology optimization. The flexibility of the method presented was successfully validated by changing the total volume of iron, the number and locations of the thermal illusions, the types of composite materials, and the original heat sources. Topology optimization is a new and flexible approach for designing thermal metamaterials and metadevices for diverse thermal functionalities and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a general method is presented for the design of arbitrarily shaped 3D illusion devices with piecewise homogeneous parameters based on geometric divisions and linear coordinate transformations. Three illusion devices that can reshape the sizes or positions of the wrapped objects are demonstrated, namely, shrinking, amplifying, and shifting devices. The shrinking device can shrink a larger object into a smaller one with different material parameters, whereas the amplifying device can enlarge a smaller object into a larger one, and a shifting device can generate a new image with an identical size but located at a different position. In addition, based on the presented shrinking device, a perfect 3D invisibility cloak is achieved by shrinking the wrapped object to sufficiently small dimensions as compared to the operating frequency. An electromagnetic concentrator is also obtained by replacing the coated object of the amplifying device with a compression medium. The presented design approach can be easily extended to the design of other electromagnetic devices and even to other physical fields. It is believed that the presented piecewise homogeneous devices are more practicable in reality and can accelerate the potential applications of illusion devices in both military and commercial fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More management scholars than ever are expressing concern about the state of our field. Complaints include the suggestion that many publications are written purely to further our careers rather than to advance knowledge. Our discipline is in crisis. We neglect really important issues in favor of bite-sized chunks of research that are more likely to find quick publication in leading journals. Given that such journals insist on the primacy of theory development, we also increasingly resort to pretentious and long-winded prose to at least create the illusion of "theory development." The result is writing that can only be understood by those already on the inside of the debates it references. As opposed to "imposter syndrome," in which qualified people doubt their suitability for a given job, I suggest that many of us have become "genuine imposters" in that we pretend to be doing more important work, and more competently, than we really are. Finally, I propose changes in our mind-sets and journal practices to restore some sense of deeper purpose to what we do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While memes have been implicated in a loosening of the boundary between illusion and reality during the rise of Trumpism and the COVID-19 pandemic, they have been afforded scarce attention from a psychoanalytic perspective. This essay proposes that Sigmund Freud's language on dream-work can be used to describe the psychical work that these digital items effect. If Freud's terms identify the operations by which unconscious fantasies are inscribed in certain cultural artefacts, their resonance with memetic characteristics suggests that the meme may be a privileged form for investigating the mass mediation of group dynamics. Drawing on the work of psychoanalysts such as Stephen Mitchell, Jean-Bertrand Pontalis, René Kaës, and Didier Anzieu, this text explores how their theoretical frameworks might enrich a conceptualization of the role that memes play within the psychic life of groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the lessons drawn by Irenaeus from the third temptation of Jesus in the desert (Adv. Haer. 5. 22. 2), the deceitful nature of the senses and the need not to be surprised by riches, by worldly glory and by present phantasy (praesenti phantasia) stand out. The Greek term φαντασία, which has its Latin equivalent in imaginatio, had been widely analyzed in Stoic Logic, before undergoing certain changes over time that confined it to the field of Psychology. Linked to assent (συνκατάθεσις) and appetitus, it drags the wise man into error. The novelty of St. Irenaeus consists in giving fantasy a religious nuance, that of the illusory aspect of the sensible world which engenders deceptive images in those who contemplate it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Investigaciones Historicas is the property of Universidad de Valladolid, Facultad de Filosofia y Letras and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents a Buddhist critique and reconceptualization of philosopher Karl Marx's concept of human desire. Topics discussed are structure of recognition and desire that reveals or reflects the nature of the ego, Marx's claims about desire-satisfaction as form of the human good, suffering as a result of desires not being satisfied and conditions for human desire-satisfaction, the Buddhist idea of a desiring self or ego as an illusion of self, and the possibility of self-contradiction

In the article, approximations are made to the utopian statements of an economy for life and the relations that the subjects establish with utopias are determined. In the method of analysis, the transcendences that the subjects carry out during the development of the economic process are detected. The results indicate that the general utopian statement of an economy for life is "life on Earth is eternal and full life" (general transcendence). The subjects project four specific utopian statements (partial transcendences) in this economic perspective, one of them focused on the total satisfaction of physical-biological needs through the optimal consumption of goods. From this statement, which is immersed in the economic field, ten other statements are derived (sub-partial transcendences) linked, from an economy for life, with full employment, with economic and technical feasibility in productions and with the income of the subjects. Utopias are distorted when they enter the framework of transcendental illusion; in contrast, they make sense in relation to human life when they are based on imaginations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multiple process model contends that there are two forms of online control for manual aiming: impulse regulation and limb-target control. This study examined the impact of visual information processing for limb-target control. We amalgamated the Gunslinger protocol (i.e., faster movements following a reaction to an external trigger compared with the spontaneous initiation of movement) and Müller-Lyer target configurations into the same aiming protocol. The results showed the Gunslinger effect was isolated at the early portions of the movement (peak acceleration and peak velocity). Reacted aims reached a longer displacement at peak deceleration, but no differences for movement termination. The target configurations manifested terminal biases consistent with the illusion. We suggest the visual information processing demands imposed by reacted aims can be adapted by integrating early feedforward information for limb-target control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the discussion on use of digital techniques in performance, where the performer creates an illusion of 3D space by moving beyond the camera's virtual backdrop including creation of multiple performative spaces.

This paper considers one unique solution to the puzzle of temporal passage in the block universe. (Norton, Humana. Mente: Journal of Philosophical Studies 13:23–34, 2010) argues that, although a precise description of its workings is currently beyond our understanding, time really passes. After introducing Norton's account, I argue that it both implies a counterintuitive relationship between the "now" and passage and that it leads to an unlikely relationship between our experience and reality. I then propose that, even if one is willing to accept these consequences, there is reason to question whether Norton builds a convincing case for the claim that, since we are not able to find any of the identifying characteristics of an illusion in the case of temporal passage, the passage of time is not an illusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary discussion on the subjective character of conscious experience is characterized by a stark contrast between higher-order intentionalism, according to which any state of awareness depends on the instantiation of intentional properties by mental states, and anti-intentionalism, according to which the inner awareness constitutive of subjective experience is fundamentally different from ordinary instances of external or introspective awareness, in that one's experience is not given to the subject as an ordinary intentional object. The purpose of this paper is to outline the most fundamental dimensions of variation among the different kinds of higher-order theories and to show, by providing a comprehensive analysis of the logical space available, that these seemingly incompatible views can be reconciled within an intentionalist framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I reconstruct Immanuel Kant's theory of theoretical and practical error, and I situate it within the broader context of his transcendental philosophy. I thereby refer to his conception of dialectic as the logic of illusion (CpR, B 86) and to his concept of rationalizing. By referring to Donald Davidson's conception of irrationality, I argue that Kant's theory of error allows us to keep the erring person responsible both in theoretical and practical regards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article throws light on psychoanalysis and its radical reconfiguration of fantasy's relationship to reality, its rejection of the belief that the former is merely an illusory rendering of the latter. It says that fantasy's role in the cultivation of desire is of paramount importance. Psychoanalysis insists that fantasy is not only not brought about by unsatisfied desires, but that it is in fact responsible for the object of desire.

This article proposes a reading of the novel El ruido de las cosas al caer (2011) by Juan Gabriel Vásquez from the perspective of the narco convention and poetics existing in Colombian narrative. The aim of the paper is to demonstrate a paradoxical condition of the novel: handling all the ingredients of the narco convention and poetics, the novel portrays a failure of the illusions of drug trafficking as a way of social and individual ascent, which makes it a kind of anti-narconovela and leads to a certain subversion of the narco paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is common for an object to present different colour appearances to different perceivers, even when the perceivers and viewing conditions are normal. For example, a Munsell chip might look unique green to you and yellowish green to me in normal viewing conditions. In such cases, there are three possibilities. Ecumenism: both experiences are veridical. Nihilism: both experiences are non-veridical. Inegalitarianism: one experience is veridical and the other is non-veridical. Perhaps the most important objection to inegalitarianism is the ignorance objection, according to which inegalitarianism should be rejected because it is committed to the existence of unknowable colour facts (for example, facts about which objects are unique green). The goal of this paper is to show that ecumenists are also committed to unknowable colour facts. More specifically, I argue that, with the exception of colour eliminativism, all major philosophical theories of colour are committed to unknowable colour facts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes boy viewers as internal audiences in Imperial ekphrastic treatises. The first section traces the origins of the boy viewer to Plato's Republic and examines early examples in the Tabula Cebetis and Rhetorum praeceptor. The second half of the article then investigates how the Philostrati and Callistratus rework this device in their own texts, focusing on themes of childlike wonder and susceptibility to illusion. I conclude that these treatises use the boy viewer to subvert the distinction between expert and inexpert viewing, and thereby contest the ideal of the cultured gaze inherited from the Second Sophistic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to uncover where the disagreement between illusionism and anti-illusionism about phenomenal consciousness lies fundamentally. While illusionists claim that phenomenal consciousness does not exist, many philosophers of mind regard illusionism as ridiculous, stating that the existence of phenomenal consciousness cannot be reasonably doubted. The question is, why does such a radical disagreement occur? To address this question, I list various characterisations of the term "phenomenal consciousness": (1) the what-it-is-like locution, (2) inner ostension, (3) thought experiments such as philosophical zombies, inverted qualia and Mary's room, (4) scientific knowledge about secondary properties, (5) theoretical properties such as being ineffable and being intrinsic, and (6) appearance/reality collapse. Then I examine whether each characterization provides (i) a dubitable sense of phenomenal consciousness in which the existence of phenomenal consciousness can be reasonably doubted, (ii) an indubitable sense in which its existence cannot be reasonably doubted, or (iii) a gray sense in which it is controversial whether its existence can be reasonably doubted. By doing so, I show that there is no single sense of phenomenal consciousness in which illusionists and anti-illusionists disagree whether the existence of phenomenal consciousness can be reasonably doubted. I conclude that the disagreement between illusionists and anti-illusionists is fundamentally terminological: while illusionists adopt a dubitable sense of phenomenal consciousness, anti-illusionists adopt an indubitable sense of phenomenal consciousness. Because of the extreme vagueness and ambiguity of the term "phenomenal consciousness", illusionists and anti-illusionists fail to see that they talk about different senses of phenomenal consciousness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preliminary evidence showed a reduced temporal sensitivity (i.e., larger temporal binding window) to audiovisual asynchrony in obesity. Our aim was to extend this investigation to visuotactile stimuli, comparing individuals of healthy weight and with obesity in a simultaneity judgment task. We verified that individuals with obesity had a larger temporal binding window than healthy-weight individuals, meaning that they tend to integrate visuotactile stimuli over an extended range of stimulus onset asynchronies. We point out that our finding gives evidence in support of a more pervasive impairment of the temporal discrimination of co-occurrent stimuli, which might affect multisensory integration in obesity. We discuss our results referring to the possible role of atypical oscillatory neural activity and structural anomalies in affecting the perception of simultaneity between multisensory stimuli in obesity. Finally, we highlight the urgency of a deeper understanding of multisensory integration in obesity at least for two reasons. First, multisensory bodily illusions might be used to manipulate body dissatisfaction in obesity. Second, multisensory integration anomalies in obesity might lead to a dissimilar perception of food, encouraging overeating behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Art work that shows how the viewer translates visual cues into meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theory of Kolmogorov, enunciated for very large Reynolds numbers, has progressively been shown to be inoperative for characterizing flows of practical relevance. Yet, in a recent study by Alves Portela et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 896, 2020, A16), the turbulence statistics in the very near wake of a square prism at modest Reynolds numbers, reveal a significant portion of scales complying with a cascade of Kolmogorov type. By resorting to a generalized version of the Kármán–Howarth–Kolmogorov equation, this intriguing observation is shown to be an illusion, hiding a measurable influence of coherent structures and statistical inhomogeneity. This striking conclusion highlights that a complete statistical theory of turbulence cannot dispense with the influence of large scales, possibly coherent, motions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]