Ljudski se mozak polako otvara znanstvenoj spoznaji. Novi uvidi u način rada ovog vrhunski sofisticiranog ljudskog/digitalnog »stroja« bacaju povratno svjetlo na načine »aktiviranja « ljudske osjetilnosti, načine doživljavanja i spoznavanja svijeta.Cilj je ovog rada istražiti moguću povezanost tehničkih naprava kao ljudskih ekstenzija i procesa u mozgu koji povratno određuju načine percepcije svijeta. Istovremeno riječ je o promišljanju zanimljive i u znanosti prisutne teze o podijeljenosti hemisfera ljudskoga mozga kao oblika podijeljenosti temeljnih ljudskih sposobnosti.U tom kontekstu želimo propitati bioetičku dimenziju (...) McLuhanovog razmišljanja o paraleli podijeljenosti hemisfera ljudskoga mozga i hemisfera civilizacija nastanjenih na istočnoj odnosno zapadnoj strani zemaljske kugle.Područja istraživanja su dakle sljedeća: tehnologije kao ekstenzije i ljudski mozak; lijeva i desna hemisfera mozga; tehnologije, kultura, mozak; ekstenzije jezika i pisma u predjezičkom i predpismenom; »digitalno« ustrojstvo mozga; mozak kao krajnji korektiv tehnocivilizacijskih zabluda.Postoje poveznice između neurolingvističkih, teoloških, filozofijskih i biologijskih stavova o mozgu. Tragajući za svojim odgovorima o izvorima jezika, o determiniranosti ljudskoga mišljenja, o odnosu potencijalnoga i realiziranoga, o sukobima u čovjeku između utilitarnog i empatije… u konačnici promišljanje želi odgovoriti na pitanje regulativnog karaktera ljudskog mozga u uspostavljanju balansa moći kako pojedinih ljudi tako i civilizacija.Science is slowly revealing secrets of the human brain. Latest discoveries on the functioning of this digital, highly sophisticated human “device” reflect the ways how sensations, experience and understanding of the world are “activated”.The aim of this study is to investigate the eventual link between technical devices as human extensions and brain processes that in return determine the ways of the perception of the world. At the same time it is a reflection on interesting thesis which exists in the science on the split of the human brain hemispheres as a form of a division between basic human abilities.In this context we want to investigate the bioethical dimension of McLuhan’s thought on the parallel between two hemispheres of the human brain and civilisations which exists on Eastern and Western hemisphere of our planet.The areas of investigation are the following: technologies as extensions and human brain; left and right hemisphere of the brain; technologies, culture, brain; extensions of spoken and written language in pre-linguistic and pre-literacy; “digital” configuration of the brain; brain as the final corrective of the techno-civilisations delusions.There are links between neurolinguistical, theological, philosophical and biological standpoints on human brain. Research into the origins of language, determination of human thoughts, relation between potential and realised, the internal conflict between utilitarian and human empathy… at the end the contemplation tries to answer the question on the regulatory nature of the human brain in establishing the balance of power of both individuals and civilizations. (shrink)

Svijest o tehničkoj reproduktibilnosti umjetničkog djela povela nas je iz područja promišljanja umjetničkog djela prema estetizaciji svakodnevice , društvu spektakla, mekdonaldizaciji i diznijevskoj amerikanizaciji kulture cijeloga svijeta.Umnažanje je postalo ponavljanje koje zavodi, odnosno uspostavlja nove odnose kulturne i svake druge ovisnosti. Pokazalo se da u svijetu »množina« vladaju zakonitosti koje određuju današnjeg čovjeka više nego je to filozofija spremna detektirati. Snaga i uvjerljivost epa danas je sadržana u malim sloganima, uz pomoć kojih se upravlja javnim mnijenjem i masama massmedijski oblikovanih (...) potrošača informacija. Slogani su sonde pomoću kojih globalne korporacije osvajaju strukture mišljenja i govora. Umnažanje reklamnih poruka, političkih slogana, ratnohuškačkih rečenica i spektakularnih ispraznosti – završava u copy/paste kulturi, koja, nesvjesna mehanizama i tehnologija, polako ali sigurno počinje zauzimati mjesto na policama dućana globalnih trgovaca. McLuhanovo djelo "Mechanical Bride" prvo je na ozbiljan način promišljalo značenje koje naizgled obični reklamni slogani mogu imati na oblikovanje svjesne i nesvjesne pozicije potrošača. Analizom njegova pristupa u ovom manje poznatom djelu te usporedbom s nekim indikativnim suvremenim pojavama hrvatske i svjetske javnosti – ocrtava se kontekst kojega suvremeno filozofijsko mišljenje ne smije ispustiti iz vida.The awareness about the reproductiveness of artwork led us from the field of discussion about artwork to the aesthetization of the everyday , to a society of spectacles, to McDonaldization and the Disneyesque Americanization of the entire world culture.Multiplication became a seductive repetition, setting up new relations of cultural and other addiction. It seems that in a world of “plurals” there are laws that define today’s man more than philosophy is prepared to detect. The strength and convincingness of epics is sublimated into little slogans, used to manipulate public opinion and hordes of information consumers shaped by the mass media. Slogans are really probes with which global corporations conquer the structures of opinion and speech. The multiplication of advertising messages, political slogans, warmongering sentences and spectacular meaninglessness – ends up in a copy/paste culture, which is, unaware of mechanisms and technologies, slowly but surely starting to take its place on the store-shelves of global marketers. McLuhan’s work "Mechanical Bride" was the first to seriously consider the meaning that the seemingly common advertising slogans can have for the shaping of a conscious and unconscious position of the consumers. By analyzing his approach in this less known work and comparing it with certain suggestive modern phenomena in the Croatian and world public – we outline a context, which should not be eft out of the sight of the modern philosophic thought. (shrink)

al-Kitāb al-awwal. al-Qawāʻid al-Badrīyah fī ʻaqāʼid al-barīyah -- al-kitāb al-thānī. Masālik al-naẓar fī masālik al-bashar -- al-kitāb al-thālith. Taʻjīz al-mustaʻjaz.

Complete works of Gujarati author ; chiefly on Jaina spiritual life and philosophy.

While the story of Stanislav Petrov – the Soviet Lieutenant Colonel who likely saved the world from nuclear holocaust in 1983 – is often trotted out to advocate for the view that human beings ought to be kept “in the loop” of automated weapons’ responses, I argue that the episode in fact belies this reading. By attending more closely to the features of this event – to Petrov’s professional background, to his familiarity with the warning system, and to his decisions (...) to defy his protocol – it becomes clear that Petrov was not seamlessly working “in his loop,” but reassessing it entirely. I claim that this exhibits a paradox intrinsic to all automated loops: namely, that their optimum function in fact rests on unforeseen human interventions that cannot be reliably codified ex ante, that is, that good judgment cannot simply be “programmed into” their protocols. This dependence, moreover, reveals automation’s ineluctable need for virtue ethics – not in the usual sense (whereby ethics deliberates about, say, possible damages and loss of life), but in the sense that ethical judgment, rightly understood, entails the reassessment of all of the conditions surrounding a decision, including whether a protocol should be followed at all. (shrink)

Pyrrhonism, named after the scepticism of Pyrrho of Elis, as one of the significant philosophical doctrines in the history of philosophy, was revived by Aenesidemus and Agrippa, and defended by Sextus Empiricus, its last follower, against criticisms in the theoretical and practical contexts. Pyrrhonian scepticism, based on three tenets as the state of equipollence, suspension of judgment and ataraxia, accepts adherence to appearances as a practical guide for life. The aim of this study is to discuss Sextus’ objections regarding two (...) main problems, the nature of good and evil and the art of living, elaborated in Outlines of Pyrrhonism and Against the Ethicists and contemporary remarks on the subject. Thus, it will be addressed whether the sceptic way of life prescribed by Sextus is compatible with his theoretical framework and therefore, whether it can be applied in practice. (shrink)

Plakias has recently argued that there is nothing wrong with publishing defences of philosophical claims which we don't believe and also nothing wrong with concealing our lack of belief, because an author's lack of belief is irrelevant to the merit of a published work. Fleisher has refined this account by limiting the permissibility of publishing without belief to what he calls ‘advocacy role cases’. I argue that such lack of belief is irrelevant only if it is the result of an (...) inexplicable incredulity or the result of a metaphilosophical or epistemic stance that is unrelated to the specific claim. However, in many real-life cases, including Fleisher's advocacy role cases, our doubts regarding the claims we defend arise from reasons that have something to do with the insufficiency of the philosophical evidence supporting the claim, and publishing an unconditional defence of a claim without revealing our doubts is impermissible as it involves withholding philosophically relevant reasons. Plakias has also argued that discouraging philosophers from publishing claims they don't believe would be unfair to junior philosophers with unsettled views. I propose that we should change our academic practices that pressure philosophers to publish articles that pretend to be defences of settled views. (shrink)

Falsafat wa-ḥayāt Abī Hāshim al-Jubbāʼī wa-madrasatuh -- al-Tawallud ʻinda al-Muʻtazilah.

On the nature of knowledge in Islamic philosophy, by a philosopher belonging to the "School of Distinction"(Maktab-i tafkīk).

Conduct of Muslim women in Turkey in the age of globelization; 20th century.