DEKARTIŠKI SEMANTINIO NATŪRALIZMO BRUOŽAI

Author(s): Mindaugas Gilaitis / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 91/2017

The paper analyses theoretical presuppositions of the predominant form of semantic naturalism in contemporary analytic philosophy. The aim is to show that irrespective of the fact that the doctrine of semantic naturalism is grounded in ontological and epistemological naturalism, and is developed on the basis of semantic externalism, this conception of foundational semantics rests on internalist premises, and therefore should be construed as Cartesian. Theories and their interrelations that are assumed by semantic naturalism are explicated by relying on the tripartite interpretation of “the problem of intentionality”. The Cartesian aspects of the assumed theories – and thus of the form of semantic naturalism that is analysed – are then specified in the context of Hilary Putnam’s version of semantic externalism.

Who We Are Is What Makes Us Laugh: Humour as Discourse on Identity and Hegemony

Author(s): Christian Ylagan / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

There exists a sociocultural function to humour that is geared towards maintaining order through a subversion (or inversion) of the more serious, structured status quo, and while there is a pragmatic side to the dispensation of humour across any given society, humour can also serve a fundamentally ontological function in determining and representing a group’s identity. Though notions of social organization and culture exist and are perpetuated primarily within a group’s literary canon, as espoused for example in the privileging of genres such as the epic or the novel as loci of national identity, this paper argues that such identities can be just as effectively – if not better – constructed through popular representations in humour, especially in satirical content found in “ephemeral” mediums such as comic strips. Such representations in turn can be mobilized to complement or even dismantle the status quo and offer alternative paradigms of understanding national identities and cultural affiliations.

Философски интерпретации на некласическите логики

Author(s): Martin Tabakov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 6/2020

The paper examines questions that are essential to the philosophical interpretation of modern logic. The enormous number of different non-classical logics leads some philosophers to doubt the possibility of classifying them. Our objective requires a classification corresponding to the philosophical interpretation and importance of the systems rather than to their formal technical elements. This will not be a classification in the precise sense of the word, but a “typologization”, since a system may have different interpretations and the demarcation will not be strictly exclusive. I propose the following “typologization” of logics, corresponding to their philosophical evaluation (this is a “typologization”, and maybe even a classification, of the basic, most important and crucial philosophical-methodological interpretations of logical systems): “Logical systems serving as bases for a mathematical theory”; “Logical systems – attempts for the explication of logical inference”; “Logical systems expressing epistemological aspects. Logical systems related to ontological aspects”; “Logical systems as pure mathematical models without philosophical justification”; “Applied logic”; “Quasi-logical studies of language”.

REVIVALISTICS IS NOT DOCUMENTARY LINGUISTICS

Author(s): Ghil`ad Zuckermann / Language(s): English Issue: 18/2021

This article introduces a new field of enquiry called revivalistics, and explores its trans-disciplinarity and various ethical, aesthetic and utilitarian benefits. Revivalistics is an emerging global, trans-disciplinary field of enquiry studying comparatively and systematically the universal constraints and global mechanisms on the one hand (Zuckermann, 2003; 2009; 2020), and particularistic peculiarities and cultural relativist idiosyncrasies on the other, apparent in linguistic reclamation, revitalization and reinvigoration across various sociological backgrounds, all over the globe (Zuckermann, 2020; Zuckermann & Walsh, 2011; 2014). The article focuses on the crucial differences between revivalistics and documentary linguistics. It provides examples from the field that demonstrate the complexity of the revivalist’s work and how the revivalist’s work is distinct from that of the documentary linguist. Too many documentary linguists mislead themselves to believe that they can easily be revivalists too. But there are two crucial differences between revivalistics and documentary linguistics, which are at war between themselves: (1) Whereas documentary linguists put the language at the centre, revivalists put the language custodians at the centre. (2) Whereas in documentary linguistics the Indigenous/minority people have the knowledge of the language, in revivalistics the revivalist is the one with that knowledge. Given that the Aboriginal/minority people are the language custodians, and given that the language custodians are at the centre of the revivalistic enterprise, the revivalist must be extremely sensitive. A revivalist is not only a linguist but also a psychologist, social worker, teacher, driver, schlepper, financial manager, cook, waiter, babysitter, donor etc. A revivalist must have a heart of gold, “balls” of steel and the patience of a saint. Language revival is similar to co-parenting. But the revivalist is only a step-father. The important biological mother is the Indigenous/minority community. If you are the step-father and your spouse, who is the biological mother, makes what you perceive to be a mediocre decision with regard to your children, you cannot just disapprove of it. After all, the children are your spouse’s more than they are yours. You must work together for the best possible outcome. Similarly, if the community supports a decision that is not linguistically viable, the revivalist can try to inspire the community members, but must accept their own verdict. That would be difficult for a documentary linguist with poor social skills.

Introduction

Author(s): INETA KIVLE,Raivis Bičevskis: / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

The thematic coverage of this special issue was to some extent influenced by the international interdisciplinary conference “Let things be! Edmund Husserl 160, Martin Heidegger 130,” which took place at the University of Latvia, Riga in December 2019, the proceedings of which can be read in the journal “Horizon. Studies in Phenomenology” (Kivle, Bičevskis & Lācis, 2020, 373–381). Any researcher of phenomenology and hermeneutics was invited to contribute to the content of this issue. As a result, the journal’s topics cover issues of the history of phenomenology, the detailed application of the phenomenological method in the study of specific phenomena, Husserl’s or Heidegger’s concepts and the importance of phenomenology and hermeneutics in other fields of knowledge and art. The topics of the journal deviate from in-depth analysis of transcendental philosophy, fundamental ontology, and phenomenological methods, and draw attention to the understanding of certain concepts and their possible modification in specific situations and thematic areas, looking at the history of phenomenology in a regional context.

Debate between American Philosophers H. Putnam and N. Chomsky on the Internal or Social Nature of Language

Author(s): Yaroslav Sobolievskyi,Hanna Liebiedieva / Language(s): English Issue: 8/2021

The topic of this article concerns the view on the philosophy of language of two leading American thinkers of the 20th century – N. Chomsky and H. Putnam, namely the divergence of their views on the proper approach to the study of language: semantic externalism and internalism. Firstly, N. Chomsky is famous as a linguist, who draws philosophical conclusions from his linguistic research background, thus immersing himself in the field of philosophy of language and philosophy of mind. His political activity can be considered as a separate type of intellectual activity. Secondly, H. Putnam is a philosopher of science, particularly the philosopher of physics, mathematics, logic, from the study of which he turns to the study of language. Thus, H. Putnam and N. Chomsky got there in the field of philosophy of language; their field of study covers philosophy, linguistics, and political science.

Kyiv Philosophical School and Human Rights. National-Cultural Movement in the Ukrainian SSR: Scientific and Public Dialogue and Interaction

Author(s): Heorhii Vdovychenko / Language(s): English Issue: 8/2021

This article deals with defining and analyzing the experience of dialogue and interaction of the founders of the Kyiv philosophical school, as a leading participant in the philosophical life of the Ukrainian SSR from the Khrushchev’s “thaw” to the Gorbachev’s “perestroika,” with the human rights and national-cultural movement of the 1950s and 1980s, also represented, in particular, by its figures V. Lisovyi and Y. Pronyuk. Academicians S. Krymskyi and V. Horskyi, founders both of this school and, at the same time, its main academic center, namely the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, were long-term employees of its two most nonconforming Departments – Logic and Methodology of Science and History of Philosophy of Ukraine, and left a lot of evidence on this topic. In their final autobiographical reconstructions of the past two decades, they left a number of recollections of their long-term friendly relations with the known ideologists of the Ukrainian human rights movement I. Svitlychny, I. Dziuba, E. Sverstiuk, L. Plyushch, including their colleagues, prisoners of conscience V. Lisovyi and Y. Pronyuk. At the same time, they provided much evidence of similar relations with well-known in the USSR and the world Russian Soviet dissidents: the philosophers A. Zinoviev and A. Esenin-Volpin, and the writer V. Nekrasov. Other no less important sources of the topic of the article, apart from the memoirs of the mentioned and other figures of the Kyiv philosophical school, as significant achievements of the first domestic projects on the oral history of philosophy of T. Chaika and Student Society of Oral History of Philosophy of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, are used below. These are scientific works, memoirs, and correspondence of the said well-known academic human rights scholars: dissident philosopher V. Lisovyi and his colleague from the Institute of Cybernetics of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences, also dissident philosopher L. Plyushch. They reflected the formation of a new type of Ukrainian intelligentsia of the post-Stalin era of the generation of the sixties as postmodern thinkers-visionaries of democratic Ukraine

Book review

Author(s): Mark Weeks / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2021

Неизказаното, което ни свързва

Author(s): Constantin Yanakiev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2022

This paper presents ideas from a report held at a conference in honour of the 100th anniversary of Azarya Polikarov. The author shares Polikarov’s view that Thomas Kuhn’s exemplars introduce continuity between disciplinary matrices despite of Kuhn’s own conception of scientific revolutions as radical breaks with the past. Kuhn’s notion of a disciplinary matrix owes much to Carnap’s “linguistic framewoks”, and scientific revolutions are analogous to the solutions of Carnap’s “external questions”. But the unspoken suggestion of exemplars not only acts forwards on future scientific practice. It reaches back to a past tradition, thus connecting an old and a new disciplinary matrix. This tacit connection between disciplinary matrices is the same that binds us in love and faith.

Значение на говорителя и конвенционално значение в правните норми

Author(s): Boyan Bahanov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2022

Law is a main source of justice in a democratic society, and as such it must send clear and unequivocal messages to its addressees. Therefore, the question of meaning in the legal vocabulary does not lose its relevance and universality. The present study examines the question of the linguistic significance of legal norms in legal vocabulary, applying an interdisciplinary approach. Joining the thesis that the legislation can be considered as an expression of the legally significant will of the rule-making authority, the legal provisions will be presented as an intentional act. In search of the most appropriate explanatory method, two kinds of theories will be applied in parallel: Paul Grice’s theory of linguistic meaning, on the one hand, and some theories with both textualist and intentionalist orientation, on the other. Subsequently, the communicative maxims proposed by Grice will be related to selected normative requirements related to the language of the normative acts.

Спекулативната граматика

Author(s): Jan Pinborg / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 6/2022

Jan Pinborg’s article Speculative Grammar traces in a historical and problematical way basic questions of the semantic doctrine of modes of signifying (the theory of speculative grammars). Speculative grammars are investigated: (1) from their appearance and historical and conceptual ground (Aristotle and his Arabic commentators, Donatus, Priscian); (2) through the development and sophistication of the system of modes of signifying (considering in the same time its ontological and logical aspects); 3) to the theoretical criticism against them and the appearance of alternative semantic conceptions (Roger Bacon, Ockham, Buridan…). The importance of the modistic doctrine for the further development of the logic and theoretical grammar is pointed out. A particular emphasis is put on the semantic character of the speculative grammars, together with its systematical account.

Метафизическото мислене като трансценденция

Author(s): Georgi Donev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2022

The article aims to substantiate the genesis of consciousness and self-consciousness through metaphysical thinking. Metaphysical thinking is explicated as a transcendence that a priori determines every possible object of consciousness. In this sense, metaphysical thinking determines a priori the unity of existence. Existence is explicated as a unity of the interpretive models of consciousness. Thus, metaphysical thinking is seen as a function of the transcendent unity that is the a priori truth of the consciousness’ genesis. The logical relation between metaphysical thinking and consciousness is expressed by asymmetric implication. In this way, existence in the language of consciousness is phenomenologized. Thus arises the ontological understanding of existence. In this sense, metaphysical thinking determines the transcendental form of consciousness and the ontological form of existence.

Mai dire basta alla pasta. Il discorso delle diete dimagranti nel periodico italiano per uomini “For Men Magazine” (2013—2022)

Author(s): Joanna Ozimska / Language(s): Italian Issue: 34/2022

Using the tools of rhetoric and critical discourse analysis, the paper describes the discourse of slimming diets in the Italian men’s magazine “For Men”. The study covered 49 monthly issues published in 2013—2022. The research has shown the presence of numerous persuasive techniques based on building the credibility of theses presented to the readers (mostly using the argument of authority). There are numerous references to popular topoi that increase the competitiveness of the proposed nutritional regimes. Some techniques influencing the emotions of readers were used to a lesser extent. The discourse of diets is present in every issue of the magazine under study, and much space is devoted to it, creating the impression that it is an important and interesting topic for contemporary Italian readers (permanent columns present). In addition, phenomena such as scientization and medicalization of nutrition, fragmentation of the male body were observed. Many of the examples cited could be found in the Italian women’s press published about 15 years ago.

Approaches to Teaching Agreement and Disagreement in Selected Coursebook Series

Author(s): Silvie Válková,Jana Kořínková / Language(s): English Issue: 9/2023

The article focuses on the explicit teaching of language used to express agreement and disagreement in the popular English language coursebooks English File and Navigate. It reviews the current research on teaching various aspects of polite language and politenesssensitive speech acts and analyses and compares the explicitly taught phrases of agreement and disagreement in the two selected coursebook series, as well as the methods of their presentation and the amount of background theoretical information provided to students and teachers to facilitate their proper usage. Differences were identified not in the inventories and language representation of the explicitly taught phrases, but mainly in the background support available for students and teachers on their usage.

Диалектиката на „хипер“. От модернизъм към постмодернизъм

Author(s): Michael Epstein / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 29/2022

The text is an attempt to analyze „the modernist premises of postmodernism in light of postmodern perspectives on modernism” or, put more simply, the interdependence of these two historical phenomena. The argument focuses on a variety of modernist approaches: in physics (quantum mechanics), in literary theory (new criticism), in philosophy (existentialism), across psychoanalytic theories and practices (sexual revolution), and across Soviet social and intellectual trends, such as “collectivism” and “materialism.” All these trends manifest the phenomenon of “hyper” in its first stage, which is constituted by the revolutionary overthrow of the “classic” paradigm and an assertion of a “true, essential reality,” or “superreality.” In the second stage, the same phenomena are realized and exposed as “pseudo-realities” thus marking the transformation of “hyper” itself, its inevitable transition from the modernist to the postmodernist stage, from “super” to “pseudo.” The author argues that the development of the twentieth-century cultural paradigm depends on a necessary connection between these two stages of the “super” and the “pseudo.” The concept of “hyper” highlights not only the lines of continuity between modernism and postmodernism, but also the parallel developments in Russian and Western postmodernisms as reactions to and revisions of a common “revolutionary” legacy.

HERMENEUTIC VALUES OF GENIUS IN MODERN PHILOSOPHY. IMMANUEL KANT AND ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER

Author(s): Bogdan Guguianu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 32/2023

The present study aims at capturing the hermeneutic values that the concept of genius has acquired in the modern period exclusively by referring to the meanings this term had in ancient culture and civilization. The study is structured into three main sections except for the introduction and conclusions. The first will present the meanings that this concept had in the ancient period, evoking also the etymology of the word. The second is devoted to the evaluation of Immanuel Kant’s hermeneutical views of genius while the third provides an evaluation of Arthur Schopenhauer’s views on the topic. In this way, it will be possible to pinpoint the elements of influence and the cultural heritage represented by genius in relation to modern philosophy.

Co to znaczy być krytycznym realistą? Dwie różne odpowiedzi: Nicolai Hartmann i Richard Hönigswald

Author(s): Iwona Alechnowicz-Skrzypek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 48/2022

Iwona Alechnowicz-Skrzypek’s aim in this paper is to compare the two nonspecific Neo Kantians, admittedly both representing critical realism. Nicolai Hartmann, a follower of the Marburg School, was an idealist before becoming a critical realist, while Richard Hönigswald, a student of Alois Riehl, held on to the position of critical realism from the beginning of his philosophical career. There are many similarities between Hartmann and Hӧnigswald in terms of their understanding of the concept of realism. There are also several differences, which mostly relate to how they addressed the question of the thingin-itself. The most important difference concerns their solution of the problem of empirical data as a basis for the mental representation of objects. A comparison of Hartmann’s and Hönigswald’s approaches to this problem helps us to understand why both are considered non-specific neo-Kantians.

MAKING INDIGENOUS RELIGION AT THE SAN FRANCISCO PEAKS: Navajo Discourses and Strategies of Familiarization

Author(s): Seth Schermerhorn / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

Navajo claims pertaining to the sacredness of the San Francisco Peaks (as well as those of other Native American tribes), while no doubt profoundly sincere, are necessarily and strategically positioned in relation to the contemporary legal struggles within which they have arisen. However, I cannot stress too heavily that this should not suggest that their claims are spurious, invented, or in other words “inauthentic.” Greg Johnson asserts that “frequently, the specter against which authenticity is measured is what critics might call ‘postured tradition,’ a shorthand means of suggesting that tradition expressed in political contexts is ‘merely political’” (2007: 3). To be sure, the discourses that posit the sacredness of the Peaks are fundamentally and simultaneously both religious and political; yet this does not necessarily mean that traditional religious claims made in contemporary political contexts are motivated by purely political considerations. Although these claims are necessarily formulated to persuade others of the incontestable ‘authenticity’ of their claims, I suggest that the degree to which this incontestability is achieved is directly related to an accumulation and accretion of discourse resulting from nearly four decades of continuing conflict at the Peaks.For the purposes of this article, I have primarily limited my inquiry to the claims of only one of five tribes engaged in the litigation concerning the San Francisco Peaks between 2005 and 2009: the Navajos. Moreover, they are only one of at least thirteen Native American tribes to describe the Peaks as sacred. My limited focus is not intended to suggest that the claims of these other tribes are less important, or especially less ‘authentic.’ Rather, the only compelling reason that I do not provide a full analysis of every tribe’s claims regarding the sacredness of the Peaks is the limitation of space in this project.

Приложение на теорията на Грайс в лингвистични изследвания

Author(s): Elena Tsvetkova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 6/2023

Two tasks are assigned to this article, related to Grice's theory of conversational implicatures. One of them is concerned with the distinction that Mark Jary proposes between behavioral and material conversational implicatures and the idea that, if this distinction is accepted, then Grice’s notion of non-natural meaning is reduced to cases of behavioral implicatures. An attempt is made to disprove this position and simultaneously maintain the distinction between the two types of implicature. The second task is related to the application of Grice’s theory in linguistic studies to further develop explanations for the processing of utterances containing metaphor or irony.

Diagram, diagrammatics, and diagrammatology in semiotics

Author(s): Karl Joosep Pihel / Language(s): English Issue: 24/2023

The objective of Pihel’s chapter is to introduce the concept of the diagram, as found in contemporary semiotics, especially after a renewed interest in its role in Charles S. Peirce’s epistemology and logic, spearheaded by scholars such as Ahti-Veikko Pietarinen and Frederik Stjernfelt. This entails a re-evaluation of both diagrams and iconicity in Peirce’s thought, but also their role in modern semiotics, where the concept of the diagram can be seen to bridge Peircean semiotics and iconicity with studies on discrete symbolic systems such as natural language, bridging the gap with Saussurean semiotics, and between semiotics and cognitive linguistics and sciences, which rely on a similar schematism as being inherent to cognition. The chapter proceeds by giving an overview of Peirce’s conception of the diagram-sign and its role in his semiotics and sign-typology. Following that undertaking, the chapter considers conceptual parallels between diagrams and other developments in modern semiotics and humanities. Finally, it considers an alternative conception of the diagram concept, as found in works by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. Pihel’s main academic interests are in music semiotics, Peircean semiotics in general, and the study of diagrammatic signs in music in particular. He has divided his time and interest between both practice and theoretical study of music and semiotics, having previously written on the modelling of space and motion in music, and on the narrative analysis of classical music. More recently, he has devoted time to Deleuzean and continental philosophical thought.