본 논문은 『중용』의 인간과 하늘에 대한 존재론적 규정을 살펴봄으로써, 『중용』에서 제시하고 있는 인간과 하늘의 의미와 이것의 관계를 확인하고자 하는 데 목적을 두고 있다. 『중용』의 핵심은 하늘과 인간의 공통성 즉 성명적 일관성을 전제로 하여, 하늘이 하늘 되는 소이와 인간의 존재의미를 드러내는 것이다. 性과 道와 敎의 의미에 대한 규정과 率性과 修道의 방법적 의미를 갖는 愼獨과 中和 그리고 중화 실현의 공효인 天地位焉과 萬物育焉 등을 제시하여, 인간의 존재의미와 인간본성 실현은 하늘과 연계된 것임을 보여주고 있다. 하늘과 인간을 연결하는 매개체로 제시되고 있는 것이 바로 誠이다. 이러한 (...) 誠은 개별자의 본성 실현의 내용일 뿐만 아니라, 인간이 천지의 화육에 참여 가능케 하는 것이다. 인간과 하늘의 연계성을 전제로 하여 인간의 존재의미와 역할을 설명하는 것이 『중용』이다. 『중용』은 하늘과 땅이 펼치는 그 化育의 場으로 인간을 끌어 들임으로써, 인간의 존재가치를 부각시키고 있다. 인간본성의 온전한 실현은 天人合一이라는 말로 규정될 수 있는데, 이것을 가능하게 하는 방법이 곧 愼獨과 致中和이다. 愼獨은 때와 장소에 관계없이 특히 홀로 있을 때 사람의 길에서 일탈해서는 안 된다는 무서운 경계를 담고 있다. 致中和는 천지가 正位하고 만물이 잘 길러질 수 있도록 하는 최고의 인간 행위이다. 이것은 고원한 것이 아니라 인간이 지닌 喜怒哀樂의 감정을 적절하게 실현함을 의미한다. 그러나 이 말 속에는 인간의 부적절한 감정의 실현과 행위는 천지가 제자리을 잃고 만물이 제대로 화육되지 못하는 결과를 초래한다는 경고의 메시지를 담고 있다. (shrink)

Contemporary architecture is increasingly grounded in science and mathematics. Architectural discourse has shifted radically from the sometimes disorienting Derridean deconstruction, to engaging scientific terms such as fractals, chaos, complexity, nonlinearity, and evolving systems. That's where the architectural action is -- at least for cutting-edge architects and thinkers -- and every practicing architect and student needs to become conversant with these terms and know what they mean. Unfortunately, the vast majority of architecture faculty are unprepared to explain them to students, not (...) having had a scientific education themselves. Here is an architecture book by an architect/scientist, just in time to help architects in the new millennium. Alexander discusses many of the scientific terms arising in cutting-edge architecture, and explains them to those who don't have scientific training or advanced mathematical knowledge. We find discussions of the evolution of forms; the importance of process in design; iteration; genetic algorithms; sequences of transformations; different levels of scale (i.e. fractals); etc. They are explained here by an architect who is also a scientist, because he wants to change the way architects think and build. Alexander is not merely popularizing other scientists' results and making them accessible to architects: he is in fact presenting new and original scientific work that ties many of these concepts together in a way that will be useful to architects. (shrink)

Many theories of kind representation suggest that people posit internal, essence-like factors that underlie kind membership and explain properties of category members. Across three studies (N = 281), we document the characteristics of an alternative form of construal according to which the properties of social kinds are seen as products of structural factors: stable, external constraints that obtain due to the kind’s social position. Internalist and structural construals are similar in that both support formal explanations (i.e., “category member has property (...) P due to category membership C”), generic claims (“Cs have P”), and the generalization of category properties to individual category members when kind membership and social position are confounded. Our findings thus challenge these phenomena as signatures of internalist thinking. However, once category membership and structural position are unconfounded, different patterns of generalization emerge across internalist and structural construals, as do different judgments concerning category definitions and the dispensability of properties for category membership. We discuss the broader implications of these findings for accounts of formal explanation, generic language, and kind representation. (shrink)

The objective of the research is to test the feasibility of implementing Structured Rational Thinking to learn disciplinary principles, evaluate written language, and answer the questions: What are its epistemological foundations? What explains why rational thinking is not common in people? How do students modify their conceptualization of thematic principles through it? And how does it help students to build knowledge and express it? Rational thinking was theoretically framed and its derivation into types of structured thinking: (...) logical, methodical, and narrative; and its characterization according to its content, purpose, and structure, in its classical and modern forms. The hypothesis was: "people stop thinking rationally due to the lack of applying a method to order and properly conduct thoughts; one aspect is the method and another is the thought that it generates." Mixed methodology; results, it is expected that 50 students surveyed generate knowledge and language attached to objectified reality. Test 1: the level of understanding was assessed according to types of thinking, in ranges of: little, moderately and a lot, coded with ordinal values in intervals from 0 to 2, by interaction matrix. Test 2: table identifying levels of rational thinking, interval scale: 1 to 2 low level, 3 to 4 medium, 5 to 6 high, more than 6 very high. Conclusions, the effects of not applying a type of thinking that orders ideas to interpret reality and generate proven knowledge, far from conjectures, are outlined. The best thinking, guides reason when faced with compound and dynamic facts. (shrink)

In this paper, representational structures of arithmetical thinking, encoded in human minds, are described. On the basis of empirical research, it is possible to distinguish four types of mental number lines: the shortest mental number line, summation mental number lines, point-place mental number lines and mental lines of exact numbers. These structures may be treated as generative mechanisms of forming arithmetical representations underlying our numerical acts of reference towards cardinalities, ordinals and magnitudes. In the paper, the theoretical framework for (...) a formal model of mental arithmetical representations is constructed. Many competitive conceptions of the mental system responsible for our arithmetical thinking may be unified within the presented framework. The paradigm underlying our research may be interpreted philosophically as a neo-Kantian approach to modeling the mind’s representational structures. (shrink)

Designing Engineering Cases contributes to learning Physics principles. This involves a method derived from Structured Rational Thinking. The research objectives were: analyze the design process of the Case by the SRJU model: structure, review, judges validation, students evaluation, with the dimensions of: clarity, coherence, relevance, sufficiency. It was described the relationship of rational thinking with the SRJU model. The first stage consisted of theoretically basing pedagogy related with rational thought of ancient Greece; Secondly, was developed the test (...) design through an interaction matrix for order and interpret data that reflect level of conceptualization, according to types of structured thought: logical, methodical, narrative; For each type, dimensions of content, purpose and structure are evaluated, through an essay of the designed Case and Socratic dialogue implemented; with a sample of a control and experimental group of 45 students. To measure the impact of understanding, three levels considered: little, moderate and a lot; each level related to a type of rational thinking with its dimensions, coded with an ordinal scale from 1 to 3. A summary table was constructed for identifying type of thought in student's interpretation when wrote and discussed the Case. In the third stage, the results of validation and evaluation showed optimal levels of relevance and sufficiency; with coincidences in acceptable assessments that the Case is not totally coherent with a linear reality but complex. Conclusion, the SRJU model is effective to design Cases due to its processes derived from rational thought, which also may improve understanding. (shrink)

While extremes tend to capture attention, the ordinary is often most of the story. So it may be with the structure-mapping process. The structure-mapping process can account for such pinnacles of thinking as analogy and metaphor, which can lead to overlooking the mundane, incremental use of structure mapping. Consequently, the current discussion shifts focus to the value of close comparisons between literally similar items for the development of knowledge. The intent is to foster greater integration between (...) process and content as well as between individuals and collectives. The payoff is identifying some undue simplifications and some promising new directions. (shrink)

This article presents a relational criticism of the "morphogenetic theory" of M. Archer. This theory is founded and representative of the most influential mode of perception of the social universe of the last few decades: co-determinism (structure ↔ agency). Co-determinism's influence can be explained by its integration of modern general presuppositions like freedom, individualism, and the quest for a new social order. By identifying five basic principles of relational sociology, we see that Archer's co-deterministic theory offers a complicated solution (...) to avoid voluntarism and co-determinism, limits the potential of sociological imagination, cannot adequately see the fluidity of social processes, produces a certain reification of social structures and agency, and is based on an inconsistent use of egocentric and relational perspectives. These problems can be avoided if we use a relational approach (actor ↔ actor ⇒ structures) based on the study of complex and empirical trans-actions. (shrink)

Against the tide of philosophers committed to this view this book presents a naturalistic view of human thinking, arguing that computers are merely...

In the first part of my paper, we will journey through the general structure of the first volume of Ideas, from which we will be able to deduce the position of Volume II. After carrying out a general analysis of the noesis/noema correlation structure in Section III and having provided, in Section IV, the basics of a phenomenology of reason, the second volume of Ideas should study the general fields in which the objects of transcendental experience appear: the (...) world, the animal being, and the spiritual or cultural being. The third, unwritten volume should have been devoted to the study of the superior products of culture, and science. Thus, the second part of this paper will show the place of Ideas’ second volume. The third part, the decisive one, will inquire into the position of the world and the place of the body and culture. Specifically, it will ask whether the experience of the body is understood to be an objective genitive or whether it is also understood, necessarily, as a subjective genitive. The same question will be asked about culture. An understanding of one as objective or subjective genitive radically alters the meaning of the pure ego. (shrink)

Two popular models of trustworthiness have garnered support over the years. One has postulated three aspects of trustworthiness as state-based antecedents to trust. Another has been interpreted to comprise two aspects of trustworthiness. Empirical data shows support for both models, and debate remains as to the theoretical and practical reasons researchers may adopt one model over the other. The present research aimed to consider this debate by investigating the factor structure of trustworthiness. Taking items from two scales commonly employed (...) to assess trustworthiness, we leveraged structural equation modeling to explore which theoretical model is supported by the data in an organizational trust context. We considered an array of first-order, second-order, and bifactor models. The best-fitting model was a bifactor model comprising one general trustworthiness factor and ability, benevolence, and integrity grouping factors. This model was determined to be essentially unidimensional, though this is qualified by the finding that the grouping variables accounted for significant variance with for several organizational outcome criteria. These results suggest that respondents typically employ a general factor when responding to items assessing trustworthiness, and researchers may be better served treating the construct as unidimensional or engaging in scale parceling of their models to reflect this response tendency more accurately. However, the substantial variance accounted by the grouping variables in hierarchical regression suggest there may be contexts in which it would be acceptable to consider the theoretical factors of ability, benevolence, and integrity independent of general trustworthiness. (shrink)

In this paper, following Rahel Jaeggi’s critique of forms of life, I contend that to identify genuine critical thinking we should start from an analysis of the normative nature of forms of life as the basic constituents of the social world. In this view, critical thinking can be seen as a critical behaviour. While genuine forms of life can recognize and consider the variety of concrete and diverse situations, on the contrary non-functioning forms of life’s critical rationality understands (...) the norm as applied from outside of the form of life. In this case the norm, erroneously understood as a neutral and universally applicable principle, such as economic rationality, is not able to consider the particularity of forms of life as goods in themselves. I defend the meaning that an education in critical thinking must have, as a genuine and functional rationality characterising human beings in a social world. -/- . (shrink)

Conceptual understanding is essential to learn physics principles, for this it is advisable to develop a method of thinking. The Case Method can develop it hence the objectives of research: test the viability of implementing Rational Thought and the Case Metod in classrooms and answer the questions: how does rational thought modify in students conceptualization? and how the Case Method modifies their thinking scheme for learning disciplinary principles? The first stage consisted of theoretically basing classical pedagogy, with the (...) rational thought of ancient Greece and its derivation in scientific thought. For test design, an interaction matrix is proposed to order and interpret data that reflect the level of conceptualization, according to types of structured thought: logical, methodical and narrative; For each type of thought, dimensions of content, purpose and structure are evaluated. In the second stage implement the method with the IGBE model imply: individual activity, Case reading; focus group; plenary; anecdotal log; evaluation judges dimensions understanding; diagnostic surveys and verification of experimental and control groups. The results of first stage: methodological, theoretical and test design foundations were achieved supported by preliminary conclusions. Secondly when implementing the method, the judges evaluated plenary discussion with high levels of understanding. When evaluating logs, the results showed medium and high levels. When implementing diagnostic surveys, similar levels of preconceptions were observed in both groups. When comparing results from verification surveys, higher levels of understanding were observed in the experimental group than in the control group; The method favorably impacts understanding through dialogic socialization. (shrink)

이 글은 중국 고대의 명실론을 개괄하고 동서양 사유구조의 단면을 고찰한 것이다. 동서철학은 공통적으로 인간에 대한 연구를 중시하지만 상호 차별성을 갖고 있다. 첫째 서양철학에서는 개인 혹은 자아 연구를 중시하고, 개인의 권익과 자유를 강조한다. 그런데 중국의 전통철학 가운데 특히 유가는 개인과 타인의 관계에 치중하고 있다. 우리는 이 점을 유가와 법가의 논의를 통해서 확인할 수 있다. 둘째 동서철학은 모두 사람과 자연의 관계를 중시한다. 그러나 여기에도 각각의 차별성을 갖고 있다. 서양철학에서는 사람의 자연에 대한 이용과 정복을 강조하고, 자연의 사람에 대한 제약 혹은 반작용을 소홀히 여긴다. (...) 더욱이 서양의 경험주의와 과학주의에서는 사람과 자연의 대립을 중시하고, 나아가 자연의 개조를 강조한다. 그런데 중국철학 가운데 특히 도가는 그렇지 않다. 그들이 강조하는 것은 사람과 자연의 대립이 아니라 인간과 자연의 통일이며, 인간의 자연에 대한 의존성을 강조하고, 양자의 和諧를 도모한다. 우리는 이것을 도가의 논의에서 확인할 수 있다. 그렇다면 동서양의 사유구조에 근본적 차이가 있게 된 것은 무엇 때문인가? 흔히 이것을 역사적으로 경제제도 및 지리환경의 차이에서 비롯한 것으로 설명한다. 그런데 여기에 더욱 근본적인 원인으로서 양자의 언어적 특징과 언어에 대한 관점의 차이를 덧붙이는 경우가 있다. 이에 따른다면 서양인의 안목에서 언어는 하느님과 마찬가지로 전지전능하여 세상에서 언어와 수학으로 표현될 수 없는 것은 없다고 본다는 것이다. 사실 이것은 사유방식의 차이뿐만 아니라 나아가 논리적 형식체계의 차이가 나는 원인으로 볼 수 있을 것이다. (shrink)

Two approaches to the study of diagnostic thinking are compared, one mainly propositional, namely that of Patel and Groen (1986), the other mainly semantic, that of Lemieux and Bordage (1986). Patel and Groen analyzed the linear dimension of cardiologists' discourses while solving a case of acute bacterial endocarditis, that is, the before and after propositional rules. A secondary analysis of two of their pothophysiological protocols is done using structural semantic techniques from Lemieux and Bordage where the vertical dimension of (...) the discourses is analyzed, that is, the levels of meaning or semantic axes. Contrary to Patel and Groen's position, making an accurate diagnosis is not explained in terms of pure forward reasoning through networks of causal rules, but by means of networks of semantic qualities abstracted from the symptoms and signs. The semantic qualities operate in the clinician's mind in terms of binary oppositions (e.g., sudden-gradual, unilateral-bilateral) whereby each pair of properties constitutes a semantic axis (e.g., sudden-gradual). The successful diagnosticians are those who use the most diversified and pertinent set of semantic axes and, therefore, have a deeper representation of the problem. (shrink)

We examine the spiral structure of the thinking and the work of Marshall McLuhan, which we believe will provide a new way of viewing McLuhan’s work. In particular, we believe that the way he reversed figure and ground, reversed content and medium, reversed cause and effect, and the relationship he established between the content of a new medium and the older media it obsolesced all contain a spiral structure going back and forth in time. Finally, the time (...) structure of his Laws of Media in which a new medium obsolesced an older medium, while retrieving an even older medium and then when pushed far enough flipped into a still newer medium has the feeling of a spiral. We will also examine the spiral structure of the thinking and work of those thinkers and artists that most influenced McLuhan such as Vico, Hegel, Marx, Freud, Joyce, TS Eliot, Wyndham Lewis and the Vorticism movement. (shrink)

Thinking Philosophically: An Introduction to the Great Debates presents a highly accessible introduction to five of the most fundamental debates in world philosophy. Introduces five fundamental philosophical debates in a highly engaging and accessible manner that invites readers to enter the discussion themselves Features chapters that each consider a central philosophical question dialectically by exploring the conflicting approaches of different philosophers Argues that the work of philosophers like Plato and Rousseau is just as relevant today as it was in (...) their own time Provides a structure that encourages readers to apply philosophical principles to their everyday lives. (shrink)

Students’ perceptions of learning are important predictors of their learning motivation and academic performance. Examining perceptions of learning has meaningful implications for instruction practices, while it has been largely neglected in the research of computational thinking. To contribute to the development of CT education, we explored the influence of students’ perceptions on their motivation and performance in CT acquisition and examined the gender difference in the structural model using a multigroup structural equation modeling analysis. Two hundred and eighty-five students (...) from a Chinese urban high school were recruited for the study. The analysis revealed that students’ perceptions of CT positively influenced their CT performance and learning motivation, and some motivational constructs, namely self-efficacy and learning goal orientation, also positively influenced their CT performance. Furthermore, in the male student group, perceptions of CT exhibited significant correlations with both self-efficacy and LGO. However, no significant correlation was found in the female student group. Implications for research and teaching practice in CT education are presented herein. (shrink)

This study investigates structural influence of the Madrassah system on effectiveness of its students in terms of civic health, system thinking and professional development. The researchers constructed the instrument of survey after rigorous literature review, frequent interaction with scholars, clerics and policy makers. The survey was administrated to 600 Madrassah’s students from different schools of thought. By applying T-test and Kruskal Waliss Rank Test for measurement of effectiveness and Structural Equation Modeling methodology the researchers has explored the relationship between (...) the variables, and later analyzed with the help of selected model. Findings of the study demonstrate that education system followed in Madrassahs does not seem to be effective and need-based in contemporary times. Indicators of Madrassah structure such as curriculum and openness negatively influences the students while peda­gogy positively influences the effectiveness of students of Madrasah in Pakistan. In the end, it is recommended that curriculum and pedagogy of Madrassah should be reformed and updated in accordance with knowledge-based economy. This will not only upgrade the poor segment of society but also bring together the variety of individuals close enough to understand each other. (shrink)

First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Kant’s transcendental philosophy of Kant is the metaphysics of possible experience related to the solution of the [semantic] problem set in his famous letter to M. Hertz (02.21.1772): “What is the ground of the relation of that in us which we call 'representation' to the object?” There are two possible ways to solve it: empiricism and apriorism, – and Kant chooses the second of them, thus making his “Copernican Revolution”. In the Preface to the 2nd ed. Critique Kant correlates his (...) Copernican turn/revolution with "altered method of our way of thinking [in metaphysics]" [BXVIII] and considers it as an analogue of the hypothetico-deductive scientific method of Copernicus – Galileo – Newton. The analysis of structure of the Copernican Revolution shows that it is possible to pick out two vectors: the empirical (from the thing-in-itself to representations) and the noumenal ones (from the transcendental unity of apperception [or transcendental object] to objects of experience). The introduction of an a priori vector (resp. a priori forms) means that Kant's conception is not empirical, but Kant’s keeping empirical vector says that it is compatible with empirical realism [A370–1]. Thus, Kantian transcendentalism is a synthesis of realism (basic level) and transcendental idealism (as a meta-level superstructure above it), whose task is to find out and analyze the transcendental conditions [possibility] of our knowledge of objects. (shrink)

Why do people create extra representations to help them make sense of situations, diagrams, illustrations, instructions and problems? The obvious explanation— external representations save internal memory and com- putation—is only part of the story. I discuss seven ways external representations enhance cognitive power: they change the cost structure of the inferential landscape; they provide a structure that can serve as a shareable object of thought; they create persistent referents; they facilitate re- representation; they are often a more natural (...) representation of structure than mental representations; they facilitate the computation of more explicit encoding of information; they enable the construction of arbitrarily complex structure; and they lower the cost of controlling thought—they help coordinate thought. Jointly, these functions allow people to think more powerfully with external representations than without. They allow us to think the previously unthinkable. (shrink)

Structural equations have become increasingly popular in recent years as tools for understanding causation. But standard structural equations approaches to causation face deep problems. The most philosophically interesting of these consists in their failure to incorporate a distinction between default states of an object or system, and deviations therefrom. Exploring this problem, and how to fix it, helps to illuminate the central role this distinction plays in our causal thinking.

Thinking, Language, and Experience was first published in 1989.Hector-Neri Castañeda's intricate and provocative essays have been widely influential, especially his work in epistemology and ethics, and his theory on the relation of thought to action. The fourteen essays in Thinking, Language, and Experience -- half of them written expressly for this volume -- demonstrate the breadth and richness of his recent work on the unitary structure of human experience.A comprehensive, unified study of phenomena at the intersection between (...) experience, thinking, language, and reality, this book focuses on singular reference -- that is, reference to individuals insofar as they are thought of as individuals: indicators, quasi-indicators, proper names, singular descriptions. Castañeda establishes a large number of new facts -- linguistic, semantic, psychological, and sociological -- about the workings of language in human experience, and from them develops a network of new theories, all grounded in his comprehensive Guise Theory.These theories offer a systematic account for: the structure of human experience and the world at large; the mental powers required to think of the world and to undergo experiences; self-consciousness; the language for thinking of other minds; perception and the interaction between indexical reference and perceptual fields; and the role of subjectivity in perception and intentional action. (shrink)

The execution of critical thinking depends on a set of skills and dispositions. It is unanimously accepted that skills represent the cognitive component, but consensus varies with regard to dispositions. Although most theoreticians admit that this is a complex construct integrated by motivations and mental habits, they don’t explain further. We have performed a study attempting to explore the internal structure of dispositions. We suggest a possible hypothesis of “Motivational Genesis of Dispositions,” according to which disposition would be (...) formed by motivation and by mental habits, although the contribution of each of these factors would change depending on the practice gained in critical thinking. Thus, when a person is not practised in critical thinking, motivation makes a greatercontribution than mental habits. Nevertheless, with practice and motivated exercise of the skills of critical thinking, the influence of these mental habits increases. The regression analyses carried out support such a hypothesis. (shrink)

Metacognition, otherwise known as ‘thinking about one’s thinking,’ leads to greater academic success and is foundational. Given this importance, metacognitive behaviors need to be developed within early years contexts to provide young children the opportunity to practice these behaviors and receive feedback. However, literature continues to focus on the development of metacognition in later grades. This mixed methods study explored metacognition in eight Kindergarten classrooms. Participants included eight Kindergarten teachers, six early childhood educators (ECEs), and 80 students. Data (...) collection was conducted at two time periods separated by 12 weeks. Data collection included the Children’s Independent Learning Development (CHILD) measure, semi-structured interviews, and classroom observations. The quantitative data from the CHILD were analyzed using a paired samplest-test in SPSS. All qualitative data were analyzed thematically. Qualitatively, three themes were identified: (1) Conceptualization of metacognition, (2) Barriers to developing metacognition, and (3) Operationalization of strategies to facilitate metacognitive development. Evidence demonstrated that participants had incomplete conceptualizations of metacognition. Some articulated simple understandings by reporting the literal translation and were unable to articulate more fulsome conceptions. However, some teachers had more developed conceptions of metacognition that included different facets such as planning and reflective thinking. All participants were forthcoming with identifying ways in which they struggled with implementing metacognitive practices or encouraging the development of metacognition. These barriers included large classroom sizes, developmental readiness, and wide student ability. Despite having an incomplete understanding of metacognition, early years educators were trying a variety of different strategies to help promote metacognitive thinking within their Kindergarten classrooms. Surprisingly, teacher ratings using the CHILD did not change significantly from Time 1 (M= 1.88, SD = 0.744) to Time 2 (M= 1.85, SD = 0.66),t(72) = 0.72,p> 0.05. A similar trend was observed for ECE ratings using the CHILD as they did not change significantly from Time 1 (M= 1.89, SD = 0.70) to Time 2 (M= 1.80, SD = 0.79),t(52) = 1.36,p> 0.05. This research highlights empirical practices that Kindergarten educators can use to help facilitate metacognitive thinking. Furthermore, it identifies a need to better support Kindergarten educators by integrating practices aimed at developing metacognitive thinking in their students through explicit examples of strategies. (shrink)

This paper examines whether structural realism entails an anti-realist thesis about natural kinds. Structural Realism is the view that the scientific realist can only support a realist claim about the structure of reality rather than its objects. Ladyman (1998) (2002) & French & Ladyman (2003) motivate the claim that ontic structural realism eliminates ‘objects’ as a distinct ontological category, thereby eliminating any possibility of a metaphysical account of individual objects. This is empirically motivated by fundamental physics. Those inclined towards (...) realism about the rest of the sciences (chemistry, biology, the medical sciences, economics and so on) might think the appeal of structural realism as a general metaphysics for all of the sciences limited. Nevertheless, recent literature argues that mature special sciences e.g. economics, can be equally described by mathematical/syntactic models making the appeal of structural realism a more general one for the metaphysics of all of the sciences. {Ross (2006)}. Given a commitment to ontic structural realism, if natural kinds are kinds of “object”, then anti-realism about natural kinds should follow. However, I examine two realist theses about natural kinds and argue that a commitment to structural realism is not straightforwardly inconsistent with either. (shrink)

When people talk about kinship systems, they often use co-speech gestures and other representations to elaborate. This paper investigates such polysemiotic (spoken, gestured, and drawn) descriptions of kinship relations, to see if they display recurring patterns of conventionalization that capture specific social structures. We present an exploratory hypothesis-generating study of descriptions produced by a lesser-known ethnolinguistic community to the cognitive sciences: the Paamese people of Vanuatu. Forty Paamese speakers were asked to talk about their family in semi-guided kinship interviews. Analyses (...) of the speech, gesture, and drawings produced during these interviews revealed that lineality (i.e., mother's side vs. father's side) is lateralized in the speaker's gesture space. In other words, kinship members of the speaker's matriline are placed on the left side of the speaker's body and those of the patriline are placed on their right side, when they are mentioned in speech. Moreover, we find that the gesture produced by Paamese participants during verbal descriptions of marital relations are performed significantly more often on two diagonal directions of the sagittal axis. We show that these diagonals are also found in the few diagrams that participants drew on the ground to augment their verbo-gestural descriptions of marriage practices with drawing. We interpret this behavior as evidence of a spatial template, which Paamese speakers activate to think and communicate about family relations. We therefore argue that extending investigations of kinship structures beyond kinship terminologies alone can unveil additional key factors that shape kinship cognition and communication and hereby provide further insights into the diversity of social structures. (shrink)

In recent years, there has been a wide-ranging debate about the neo-republican principle of non-domination. Neo-republicans argue that domination is a capacity for one to intentionally use arbitrary power to interfere in someone’s life. Critics of neo-republicanism argue that this definition of freedom as non-domination precludes a structural analysis of domination, which would explain and critique the ways in which societies produce structural domination unintentionally. The article focuses on capitalism’s labor process and its labor markets. It argues that critics are (...) correct to think that the neo-republican principle of non-domination has an insufficient scope, but that an alternative account of structural domination should still support the neo-republican idea that agency must be involved. Otherwise, we might simply fail to explain the social processes that reproduce structural domination. What is needed is to explain how the labor process creates incentives for agents to intentionally produce structures that have unintended, yet dominating effects, and in turn, how the intentions of agents are conditioned by their social positions. Domination is thus agential and structural. (shrink)