For most of its career philosophy of religion has been a controversial dis cipline: it has usually ended up becoming a substitute for what it set out to explain. Born out of the religious scepticism of the late seventeenth century it remained for many years what it was to Hume and Lessing: an instrument for criticizing rather than for interpreting faith. Gradually the hostility subsided, but not the tendency to reduce. Nearly each one of the great names in this area (...) represents a theory that goes "beyond" faith. Phenomenology changed that situation. Conceived for accurate under standing of acts and meanings rather than for the building of vast synthe ses, its method was more apt to yield understanding than criticism. Moreover, by distinguishing the ideal meanings from the psychic realities of the act, it chased its followers from the quagmire of psychic genesis, causal justification and rational "proof" of the religious object, and forced them to concentrate on the intentional terminus of the experience. (shrink)

The way students perceive a learning climate (e.g. controlling or stimulating) is significantly influenced by feedback and assessment. However, at present much is unclear about the relation between feedback and motivational state. More specifically, the interplay with student characteristics is unclear. Since there is a strong increase of group work, the central research question is what are the effects of positive, neutral or negative feedback presented to collaborating teams of students, on students? intrinsic motivation, performance and on group processes? One (...) hundred thirty?eight higher education students participated in this study. There were no significant differences in performance across conditions. Multi?level analysis enabled a detailed comparison between groups and individual members of groups. Amongst others, it was found that feelings of competence facilitate the effect of positive feedback at the group level, which suggests that positive feedback boosts interest especially in groups of highly competent students. (shrink)

This paper analyses the phenomenology and epistemology of chatbots such as ChatGPT and Bard. The computational architecture underpinning these chatbots are large language models (LLMs), which are generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems trained on a massive dataset of text extracted from the Web. We conceptualise these LLMs as multifunctional computational cognitive artifacts, used for various cognitive tasks such as translating, summarizing, answering questions, information-seeking, and much more. Phenomenologically, LLMs can be experienced as a “quasi-other”; when that happens, users anthropomorphise them. (...) For most users, current LLMs are black boxes, i.e., for the most part, they lack data transparency and algorithmic transparency. They can, however, be phenomenologically and informationally transparent, in which case there is an interactional flow. Anthropomorphising and interactional flow can, in some users, create an attitude of (unwarranted) trust towards the output LLMs generate. We conclude this paper by drawing on the epistemology of trust and testimony to examine the epistemic implications of these dimensions. Whilst LLMs generally generate accurate responses, we observe two epistemic pitfalls. Ideally, users should be able to match the level of trust that they place in LLMs to the degree that LLMs are trustworthy. However, both their data and algorithmic opacity and their phenomenological and informational transparency can make it difficult for users to calibrate their trust correctly. The effects of these limitations are twofold: users may adopt unwarranted attitudes of trust towards the outputs of LLMs (which is particularly problematic when LLMs hallucinate), and the trustworthiness of LLMs may be undermined. (shrink)

Parto de uma conceitualização geral de como o problema do mal fora abordado ao longo da tradição filosófica e religiosa, enquanto problema ontológico e relativo, no mais das vezes, a uma teodiceia que busca explicar a existência do mal no mundo. Em seguida, abordo uma nova forma de se pensar o problema do mal através do pensamento idealista de Immanuel Kant, que movimentou a problemática em uma direção outra àquela anterior, ou seja, afirmando que o mal não era um problema (...) localizado na realidade, mas no sujeito enquanto ser dotado de moralidade, residindo na dimensão mais radical da natureza humana. Em Arendt, o mal deixa o plano do sujeito singular e passa a ser compreendido enquanto um fenômeno político. Para a autora, o mal não deve ser um fenômeno político, todavia com a ascensão dos movimentos totalitários e outros fenômenos de ruptura com o fio da tradição, esse problema passa a ocupar a dimensão da vida pública. Desta forma, o objetivo da autora é tentar compreender as condições para se pensar o mal enquanto fenômeno político, assim como aquilo que lhe fundamenta e garante legitimidade. O fio condutor deste artigo são as obras Origens do Totalitarismo (ARENDT, 2018) e o conjunto de ensaios publicados no período de 1930-54 (ARENDT, 2008). O produto da presente análise refere-se à experiência humana da solidão enquanto fundamento do mal na esfera política. (shrink)

Les ontologies catégoriales tentent de répartir la totalité des objets en différentes catégories ontologiques entretenant certaines relations déterminées entre elles. Ces ontologies ont connu un regain d’intérêt dans la métaphysique analytique contemporaine, regain d’intérêt qui trouve son origine dans les travaux de Brentano. Dans cet article, nous examinons dans quelle mesure la théorie de l’objet développée par un élève de Brentano, Meinong, peut être comptée au nombre des ontologies catégoriales. Pour ce faire, nous analysons en premier lieu les différents sortes (...) d’objets meinongiens selon les types de vécus élémentaires auxquels ils se rapportent. Nous étudions ensuite les modes d’être (réel et idéal) qui échoient éventuellement à ces objets. Qu’un objet soit réel ou idéal, il est complet, mais il y a aussi des objets qui, comme la montagne d’or ou le cercle-carré, sont incomplets. Analysant cette dernière classe d’objets, nous montrons comment les objets de ce type se voient attribuer un statut extraontologique, un mode d’objectualité qui ne se réduit pas à un mode d’être. Si Meinong semble de la sorte subsumer tous les objets sous une seule et même catégorie, nous expliquons qu’il n’en est en fait rien, la notion d’objet (en général) n’étant en aucun cas un summum genus. Dans la conclusion, nous défendons l’idée que la théorie de l’objet de Meinong n’est pas une ontologie catégoriale au sens strict. S’il y a bien des catégories, celles-ci sont des catégories objectuelles, des catégories dont les catégories ontologiques sont au mieux une sous-classe. (shrink)

Durch eine Untersuchung der verschiedenen Konzeptionen und Elemente, die im Begriff der ästhetischen Erfahrung angelegt sind, und durch die Unterscheidung der mit ihnen verbundenen Logiken und Ziele versucht der Beitrag, zu einem besseren Verständnis der vielfältigen semantischen und evaluativen Dimensionen dieses Begriffs zu gelangen. Dabei wird zudem für eine Anerkennung der ästhetischen Dimension sexueller Erfahrungen plädiert, die gewöhnlich aus dem Bereich der ästhetischen Erfahrung ausgeschlossen werden.

Essays appraising the contemporary relevance of am kara for inter-religious dialogue and human rights as well as revised assessments of am kara s understanding of divine grace, the role of the gods, Buddhism, am kara s relation to later Advaita, and the unity of the Self.

Corruption involves greed, money, and risky decision-making. We explore the love of money, pay satisfaction, probability of risk, and dishonesty across cultures. Avaricious monetary aspiration breeds unethicality. Prospect theory frames decisions in the gains-losses domain and high-low probability. Pay dissatisfaction (in the losses domain) incites dishonesty in the name of justice at the individual level. The Corruption Perceptions Index, CPI, signals a high-low probability of getting caught for dishonesty at the country level. We theorize that decision-makers adopt avaricious love-of-money aspiration (...) as a lens and frame dishonesty in the gains-losses domain (pay satisfaction-dissatisfaction, Level 1) and high-low probability (CPI, Level 2) to maximize expected utility and ultimate serenity. We challenge the myth: Pay satisfaction mitigates dishonesty across nations consistently. Based on 6500 managers in 32 countries, our cross-level three-dimensional visualization offers the following discoveries. Under high aspiration conditions, pay dissatisfaction excites the highest- (third-highest) avaricious justice-seeking dishonesty in high (medium) CPI nations, supporting the certainty effect. However, pay satisfaction provokes the second-highest avaricious opportunity-seizing dishonesty in low CPI entities, sustaining the possibility effect—maximizing expected utility. Under low aspiration conditions, high pay satisfaction consistently leads to low dishonesty, demonstrating risk aversion—achieving ultimate serenity. We expand prospect theory from a micro and individual-level theory to a cross-level theory of monetary wisdom across 32 nations. We enhance the S-shaped Curve to three 3-D corruption surfaces across three levels of the global economic pyramid, providing novel insights into behavioral economics, business ethics, the environment, and responsibility. (shrink)

In einer Zeit intensiver Begegnung der Kulturen und Religionen ist die Frage unausweichlich: Wie müssen Religionen sich selber verstehen, um zu einem solchen Dialog fähig zu sein? Perry Schmidt-Leukel antwortet auf diese Frage: Um dialogfähig zu sein oder zu werden, müssen die Religionen auf jeden „exklusiven" Wahrheitsanspruch verzichten, aber auch den „inklusivistischen" Anspruch preisgeben, dass alles, was in anderen Religionen wahr und gut ist, in ihrer eigenen Botschaft bereits „inkludiert" sei. Der vorliegenden Artikel bestreitet sowohl die Möglichkeit als auch die (...) Notwendigkeit eines verstandenen „Pluralismus". Als Alternative dazu entwirft er eine Theorie des „Lernens auch noch im Widerspruch" und zeigt, dass ein solches Lernen dem Gespräch der Religionen besser dient als der von Schmidt-Leukel vorgeschlagene Verzicht auf alle „exklusivistischen" und „inklusivistischen" Wahrheitsansprüche. (shrink)

Les périodes de confinement sont des moments éprouvants. On a la sensation de perdre nos repères. Nous nous sentons déboussolés. On peut cependant saisir l’occasion de faire le point. Sous le regard de la réflexion philosophique, ce petit livre est une tentative pour éviter de perdre le nord. L’auteur propose de courtes réflexions puisées à même la littérature philosophique. Sans prétention, il s’agit de fournir des pistes rendant intelligibles nos conditions d’êtres confinés.

On March 12, 2018, I received an email from André De Tienne, General Editor of the Peirce Edition Project. He recommended that I visit the Francis Blake archives at the Massachusetts Historical Society, remarking, Francis Blake was a cousin of Charles Peirce. I have not yet figured out how that cousinage works out genealogically. In any case, on 13 January 1893, the day CSP and Juliette returned from Boston to New York after the Lowell Lectures, they first took a trip (...) to Weston, MA, to visit Frank Blake, and from there they went to Worcester to visit W. Stanley Hall at Clark University. … If you look in folder R L49, it... (shrink)