Tuesday, June 10, 2008
US develops world's fastest computer dubbed Roadrunner
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Substance
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Substance theory, or substance attribute theory, is an ontological theory about objecthood, positing that a substance is distinct from its properties.
Substance is a core concept of ontology and metaphysics. Indeed, philosophies may be divided into monist philosophies, and dualist or pluralist philosophies. Monistic views, often associated with immanence, hold that there is only one substance, sometimes called God or Being. Dualist and pluralist views hold that two or more types of substances do exist, and that these can be placed in an ontological hierarchy. Platonism or Aristotelianism considers that there are various substances, while stoicism and Spinoza hold that there is only one substance.
Contents
1 The concept of substance in Western philosophy
2 Criticisms of the concept of substance
3 Primitive concepts of substance theory
3.1 Bare particular
3.2 Inherence relation
4 Arguments supporting the theory
4.1 Argument from grammar
4.2 Argument from conception
5 Bundle theory
5.1 Indiscernibility
5.2 Discernible concrete particulars
5.3 Identity of indiscernibles
6 Stoicism
The concept of substance in Western philosophy
In the millennia-old Aristotelian tradition, as well as early modern traditions that follow it, substances are treated as having attributes and modes.
This concept helps to explain, for instance, state transitions. Let us take a quantity of water and freeze it into ice. Substance theory maintains that there is a "substance" which is unchanged through this transition, which is both the liquid water and also the frozen ice. It maintains that the water is not replaced by the ice - it is the same "stuff," or substance. If this is true, then it must be the case that the wetness of water, the hardness of ice, are not essential to the underlying substance. (Essentially, matter does not disappear, it only changes form.)
The Aristotelian view of God considered God as both ontologically and causally prior to all other substance; others, including Spinoza, argued that God is the only substance. Substance, according to Spinoza, is one and indivisible, but has multiple modes; what we ordinarily call the natural world, together with all the individuals in it, is immanent in God: hence the famous phrase Deus sive Natura ("God, or Nature").
Criticisms of the concept of substance
Friedrich Nietzsche and, after him, Martin Heidegger, Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze rejected the notion of "substance", and in the same movement the concept of subject. For this reason, Althusser's "anti-humanism" and Foucault's statements were criticized, by Jürgen Habermas and others, for misunderstanding that this led to a fatalist conception of social determinism. For Habermas, only a subjective form of liberty could be conceived, to the contrary of Deleuze who talks about "a life", as an impersonal and immanent form of liberty.
For Heidegger, Descartes means by "substance" that by which "we can understand nothing else than an entity which is in such a way that it need no other entity in order to be." Therefore, only God is a substance as ens perfectissimus (most perfect being). Heidegger showed the inextricable relationship between the concept of substance and of subject, which explains why, instead of talking about "man" or "humankind", he speaks about the Dasein, which is not a simple subject, nor a substance. [1]
Primitive concepts of substance theory
Two primitive concepts (i.e., genuine notions that cannot be explained in terms of something else) in substance theory are the bare particular and the inherence relation.
Bare particular
In substance theory, a bare particular of an object is the element without which the object would not exist, that is, its substance, which exists independent from its properties, even if it is physically impossible for it to lack properties entirely. It is "bare" because it is considered without its properties and "particular" because it is not abstract. The properties that the substance has are said to inhere in the substance.
In substance theory of the mind, the objects are minds.
Inherence relation
Another primitive concept in substance theory is the inherence relation between a substance and its properties. For example, in the sentence, "The apple is red," substance theory says that red inheres in the apple. Substance theory considers to be clear the meaning of the apple having the property of redness or the property of being juicy, and that a property's inherence in a substance is similar to, but not identical with, being part of the substance. Thus, Aristotle wrote:
"By being 'present in a subject' I do not mean present as parts are present in a whole, but being incapable of existence apart from the said subject." (The Categories 1a 24-26)
The inverse relation is participation. Thus in the example above, just as red inheres in the apple, so the apple participates in red.
Arguments supporting the theory
Two common arguments supporting substance theory are the argument from grammar and the argument from conception.
Argument from grammar
The argument from grammar uses traditional grammar to support substance theory. For example, the sentence, "Snow is white," contains a subject, "snow", and the assertion that the subject is white. The argument holds that it makes no grammatical sense to speak of "whiteness" disembodied, without snow or some other subject that is white. That is, the only way to make a meaningful claim is to speak of a subject and to predicate various properties of it. Substance theory calls this subject of predication a substance. Thus, in order to make claims about physical objects, one must refer to substances, which must exist in order for those claims to be meaningful.
Many ontologies, including bundle theory, reject the argument from grammar on the basis that a grammatical subject does not necessarily refer to a metaphysical subject. Bundle theory, for example, maintains that the grammatical subject of statement refers to its properties. For example, a bundle theorist understands the grammatical subject of the sentence, "Snow is white", as a referent to a bundle of properties, including perhaps the containing of ice crystals, being cold, and being a few feet deep. To the bundle theorist, the sentence then modifies that bundle of properties to include the property of being white. The bundle theorist, then, maintains that one can make meaningful statements about bodies without referring to substances that lack properties.
Argument from conception
Another argument for the substance theory is the argument from conception. The argument claims that in order to conceive of an object's properties, like the redness of an apple, one must conceive of the object that has those properties. According to the argument, one cannot conceive of redness, or any other property, distinct from the thing that has that property. The thing that has the property, the argument maintains, is a substance. The argument from conception holds that properties (e.g. redness or being four inches wide) are inconceivable by themselves and therefore it is always a substance that has the properties. Thus, it asserts, substances exist.
A criticism of the argument from conception is that properties' being of substances does not follow from inability to think of isolated properties. The bundle theorist, for example, says that properties need only be associated with a bundle of other properties, which bundle is called an object. The critic maintains that the inability for an individual property to exist in isolation does not imply that substances exist. Instead, he argues, bodies may be bundles of properties, and an individual property may simply be unable to exist separately from such a bundle.
Bundle theory
In direct opposition to substance theory is bundle theory' whose most basic premise is that all concrete particulars are merely constructions or 'bundles' of attributes, or qualitive properties:
Necessarily, for any concrete entity, a, if for any entity, b, b is a constituent of a, then b is an attribute.
The bundle theorist's principal objections to substance theory concern the bare particulars of a substance, which substance theory considers independently of the substance's properties. The bundle theorist objects to the notion of a thing with no properties, claiming that one cannot conceive of such a thing and citing John Locke, who described a substance as "a something, I know not what." To the critic, as soon as one has any notion of a substance in mind, a property accompanies that notion. That is, to the critic it is not only physically impossible to encounter a bare particular without properties, but the very notion of a thing without properties is so strange that he cannot even form such a notion.
Indiscernibility
The indiscernibility argument from the substance theorist targets those bundle theorists who are also metaphysical realists. Metaphysical realism uses repeatable entities known as universals exemplified by concrete particulars to explain the phenomenon of attribute agreement. Substance theorists then say that bundle theory and metaphysical realism can only coexist by introducing an identity of indiscernibles creed, which substance theorists suggest is incoherent. The identity of indiscernibles says that any concrete particular that is numerically different from another must have its own qualitive properties, or attributes.
Since bundle theory states that all concrete particulars are merely constructions or 'bundles' of attributes, or qualitive properties, the substance theorist's indiscernibility argument claims that the ability to recognize numerically different concrete particulars, such as concrete objects, requires those particulars to have discernible qualitative differences in their attributes and that the metaphysical realist who is also a bundle theorist must therefore concede to the existence of 'discernible (numerically different) concrete particulars', the 'identity of indiscernibles', and a 'principle of constituent identity'.
Discernible concrete particulars
Necessarily, for any complex objects, a and b, if for any entity, c, c is a constituent of a if and only if c is a constituent of b, then a is numerically identical with b.
The indiscernibility argument points out that if bundle theory and discernible concrete particulars theory explain the relationship between attributes, then the identity of indiscernibles theory must also be true:
Identity of indiscernibles
Necessarily, for any concrete objects,a and b, if for any attribute, Φ, Φ is an attribute of a if and only if Φ is an attribute of b, then a is numerically identical with b.
The indiscernibles argument then asserts that the identity of indiscernibles is false. For example, two different pieces of printer paper can be side by side, numerically different from each other. However, the argument says, all of their qualitive properties can be the same (e.g. both can be white, rectangular-shaped, 9 x 11 inches...). Thus, the argument claims, bundle theory and metaphysical realism cannot both be correct.
However, bundle theory combined with trope theory (as opposed to metaphysical realism) is immune to the indiscernibles argument. The immunity stems from the fact that each trope (attribute) can only be held by one concrete particular, thus qualitive indiscernible objects can exist while being numerically identical and the identity of indiscernibles therefore does not hold.
Stoicism
The Stoics rejected the idea that incorporeal beings inhere in matter, as taught by Socrates and Aristotle. They believed that all being is corporeal. Thus they developed a scheme of categories different from Aristotle's based on the ideas of Anaxagoras and Timaeus.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Logic
a. Definition.
Logic is first of all an instinctive art. We all, from an early age, try to 'sort out' our experiences and 'make sense' of the world around us — and this thought process is to varying degrees 'logical'. It is logical to the extent that we try to consider the evidence, avoid contradictions, and try to understand. We call this using 'common sense'.
On a higher level, logic is a science, which developed out of the self-awareness of thinkers. They began to wonder why some thoughts were more credible, forceful, and informative than others, and gradually discerned the patterns of logical intelligence, the apparatus of reasoning. A logic theorist is called a logician. Note that we also call 'a logic', any specific field of or approach to logical science.
Logic as a field of inquiry has two goals, then. On a practical level, we want it to provide us with a guide book and exercise manual, which tells us how to think straight and trains us to do so efficiently. On a theoretical level, we seek the assurance that human knowledge does, or can be made to, conform to reality. How these methodological and philosophical tasks are fulfilled, will become apparent as we proceed.
Logic is of value to all individuals, bettering their daily reasoning processes, and thus their efficacy in dealing with their lives, and their work. It teaches you organization, enabling you to arrive at the solution of problems more efficiently. It helps you to formulate more pondered opinions and values.
Be you an artist, a parent, a university professor, a doctor, a psychologist, a civil engineer, an auto-mechanic, a bank manager, an office worker, an investor, a planner, an organizer, a negotiator, a lawmaker, judge or lawyer, a politician or journalist, a systems analyst, a statistician, a computer or robot programmer, whatever your profession or walk of life — you are sure to find the study of logic useful.
It is of value to scientists of all disciplines, helping them to clarify issues and formulate solutions to problems. There is no area of human interest or endeavor where logic does not have a say, and where the study of logic would not be effective in improving our situation.
Logic is worth studying also, for the sheer esthetic joy of it. There is no describing the mind's response to this beautiful, colorful achievement of the human spirit. I hope the reader will have as much fun reading this book, as I had writing it. It can be hard work, but it is rewarding. My own favorite topic is de-re modality; I find it closer to earth than logical modality.
Logic teaches us to pursue and verify knowledge. It is based on an acknowledgment of the possibility of human error, but also implies our ability to correct errors. Where veracity or falsity is hard to establish, it tells us at least how 'reasonable' or 'forced' our judgments are.
It is essentially a holistic science, teaching us to take everything into consideration when forming judgments. Truth is not to be found in a limited viewpoint, but through a global perspective, an awareness of all aspects of an issue, all proposed answers to a question.
Logical science shows us what to look for in the course of knowledge acquisition, by listing and clarifying the main forms of relation among things and ideas (whence the name 'formal logic'). It is the 'systems analysis' of human thought.
Logic is concerned with the formalities of reasoning, without so much regard to its subject-matter. It allows for objective assessments of inferential processes, precisely because its principles make minimal references to specific contents of thought. It is emotionally detached, it has no double standards, it is open-minded and fair.
Logic is a tool of interpretation, understanding, and prediction. It is a method for drawing the maximum amount of useful information from new experiences, or enveloped in previous knowledge, so as to fully exploit the lessons of the world of matter and mind, appearing all around us all the time.
What logic does is to help us to take all impressions and intuitions in stride, and resolve any disagreements which may arise. What is sure, is that, in reality, things themselves can never be in contradiction. It is ideas which conflict with each other or with primary experiences. Sometimes it is the idea that there is a conflict which turns out to be wrong.
The so-called logical order of development is satisfying to trained logicians (from the general to the particular, as it were), and has also some didactic value. But it is often the opposite of the way an individual or a researcher normally arrives at knowledge (building up from specific discoveries, then formulating a comprehensive theory); sometimes, replicating the natural order is a more effective teaching method.
Sometimes these two kinds of orders coincide. In the last analysis, they are always to some extent both involved, working in tandem; logical practise is an integral part of logical theorizing.
As for the historical order, it follows the natural order pretty closely, though with some redundancies. Some other consciousness must precede self-consciousness. Logic has developed on both the deductive and inductive sides alternately, and not in a systematic fashion.
The goal of logic is to make the facts and their relations transparent; it teaches us to focus the object until its most firm manifestation is captured. Logic cannot immediately solve all problems, but it always brings us closer to the solutions.
For the individual, this self-discipline is the source of realism and understanding. 'Think for yourself', do your own thinking, 'use your head', be creative, think things through. The goal is not a mind a-buzz with words, a slave to words; but the inner peace and self-respect of efficacy.
In communication with others, transparency means expressing one's thoughts clearly, so that, as far as possible at the time, there is no doubt or ambiguity as to just what one is trying to say, and on the basis of what processes. 'Say what you mean, and mean what you say'. Information is freely and helpfully shared; points or areas of ignorance or error are easily admitted.
This is the idea of 'glasnost', transparency, a mutual respect and openness policy, a cooperative attitude, without unnecessary frictions. Too often, politicians, media, and others, use words to hide or distort, and do not in turn pay attention to input. You may prove something to them incontrovertibly; they remain unfazed, comme si de rien n’était.
Clarity of expression, accuracy of observation and thought, passing knowledge on honestly, reasonableness on all sides, are essential to vibrant democracy and social peace. Logic is a civilized way to resolve disputes.
This means self-criticism, the ability to review one's own proposals, and anticipate possible objections, and try to deal with them as well as one can. We often gloss over possible problems in our own ideas, hoping no one will spot them; but this wastes one's time, and everybody else's. Logic is taking the time to double check one's projects, shifting them this way and that way, to see how well focused they are in the largest context.
On the other hand, when receiving ideas, one's should not look at them with an overly-critical eye, at least until one has properly understood them. Like rigid bone, hasty and excessive skepticism can inhibit the growth of knowledge. 'Stop, look, listen', hear, consider, make the effort to assimilate it. Learn before you try to teach.
While I am not of the opinion that logic is relative and arbitrary, there is more often than not at least some helpful truth to be found in other people's concerns. One should not reject offhand, though still reserve one's judgement. One should neither fool nor be fooled. Be humble, but keep your standards high.
Logic is not a method of inferring all knowledge from a limited number of abstract premises; it is not a magical tool of omniscience. It depends for its action on moment by moment impressions or intuitions, which in some cases turn out to be unfounded. Nor is logic merely a mechanized manner of pursuing solutions to specific problems.
People often wrongly regard and use logic as a square-headed, narrow-minded activity. But in my opinion, logic is, straight and tough on a level of details, but overall very broad and open minded. Obstinacy and prejudice, are rather attributes of people unwilling to listen to reason, not even to at least consider alternative viewpoints. This is the very antithesis of a logician's attitude.
People often oppose 'logic' to feeling; they believe it discards the emotional side of life. But logic does not mean ignoring feelings, but rather recommends taking the feelings — including their inner meaning, their intuited significance — as one set of data among others in the total picture; rationalistic data must also, however, be given their due weight.
Some people complain that 'logic' sometimes leads to evil conclusions. But value-judgments involve inferences from standards. So either the norms are unsound, or they have not been given their due weights in comparison to other norms, or the proposed means are not the exclusive ways to achieve the norms. Thus, the failure involved may precisely be a weakness in logical abilities, rather than any inherent coldness of logic.
Logic is only a tool — it cannot be blamed for errors made in its name, nor can it control the moral choices of individuals who utilize it. Its only possible danger is that the efficacy it endows on thought and action may be used for nefarious ends. But even then, a person who sees things truly clearly, with the broad conception logic gives, is less likely to have twisted values.
Logic is an important component of both mental health and moral responsibility. It requests that we face facts and listen to the voice of reason: this does not exclude having a heart or paying attention to one's intuition. A person who does not keep in close touch with reality, can easily develop unhealthy emotions and make counter-productive choices. Rationality is a sign of maturity.
Another wrong impression people have of logic is that it is a meaningless manipulation of symbols, or at best a branch of mathematics. One man recently told me the following sad story. He thought of himself as a 'logical person', and being inclined to constantly improve his education, he enrolled for a University course on the subject in San Francisco. He was so put off by the lessons he attended, that he now hesitates to call himself 'logical'!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Scholasticism
Scholasticism is derived from the Latin word scholasticus (Greek: σχολαστικός), which means "that [which] belongs to the school", and was a method of learning taught by the academics (or school people) of medieval universities circa 1100–1500. Scholasticism originally started to reconcile the philosophy of the ancient classical philosophers with medieval Christian theology. Scholasticism is not a philosophy or theology in itself but a tool and method for learning which places emphasis on dialectical reasoning. The primary purpose of scholasticism is to find the answer to a question or to resolve a contradiction. It is most well-known for its application in medieval theology, but was eventually applied to classical philosophy and many other fields of study.
Contents |
Scholastic method
The scholastics would choose a book (say, the Bible) by a renowned scholar, auctor (author), as a subject for investigation. By reading it thoroughly and critically, the disciples learned to appreciate the theories of the auctor. Other documents related to the book would be referenced, such as Church councils, papal letters and anything else written on the subject, be it ancient or contemporary. The points of disagreement and contention between multiple sources would be written down in individual sentences or snippets of text, known as sententiae.
The Bible contains many apparent contradictions for Christians, such as laws which detail what foods are kosher. These contradictions have been examined by scholastics both ancient and contemporary. They would gather all arguments about the contradictions, looking at problems from all sides with open minds.
Once the sources and points of disagreement had been laid out through a series of dialectics, the two sides of an argument would be made whole so that they would be found to be in agreement and not contradictory. This was done in two ways.
The first was through philological analysis. Words were examined and argued to have multiple meanings. It was also considered that the auctor might have intended a certain word to mean something different. Ambiguity could be used to find common ground between two otherwise contradictory statements.
The second was through logical analysis, which relied on the rules of formal logic to show that contradictions did not exist but were subjective to the reader.
Scholastic genres
Scholastics developed two genres of literature:
The first was called quæstiones (questions). This was essentially as described above, except that, unconfined to a single scholar or auctor, the scholastic method was applied to a question: by way of example, "Is it permissible to kill for self-preservation?" From such a preface, any number of sources could be referenced to divine the pros and cons of a question.
The second genre was called a summa, a system of all questions, or a complete summary of what was possible to conceive on a subject. Any question could be found in the summa and would reference any other question that might arise. The most famous summa was by Thomas Aquinas, called Summa Theologica, whose goal was to cover the "sum" total of Christian theology at the time.
Scholastic school
Scholastic schools had two methods of teaching. The first was the lectio: a teacher would read a text, expounding on certain words and ideas, but no questions were permitted; it was a simple reading of a text: instructors explained, and students listened in silence.
The second was the disputatio, which goes right to the heart of scholasticism. There were two types of disputationes: the first was the "ordinary" type, whereby the question to be disputed was announced beforehand; the second was the quodlibetal, whereby the students proposed a question to the teacher without prior preparation. The teacher advanced a response, citing authoritative texts such as the Bible to prove his position. Students then rebutted the response, and the quodlibetal went back and forth. Someone took notes on what was said, so the teacher could summarise all arguments and present his final position the following day, riposting all rebuttals.
History
Scholastic philosophy usually combined logic, metaphysics and semantics into one discipline. It is generally recognised to have developed our understanding of logic significantly as compared with older sources.
Scholasticism was concurrent with movements in early Islamic philosophy (in the works of Alkindus, Alfarabi, Avicenna, Algazel and Averroes) and Jewish philosophy (especially in the case of Maimonides). From the Eighth Century, the Mutazilite school of Islam, compelled to defend their principles against the more orthodox Ash'ari school, looked for support in philosophy. They are among the first to pursue a rational theology, Ilm-al-Kalam, which can be seen as a form of scholasticism. Later, the philosophical schools of Avicennism and Averroism exerted great influence on Scholasticism (see Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe).
In the high scholastic period, from 1250 to 1350, scholasticism moved beyond theology into the philosophy of nature, psychology, epistemology and philosophy of science. In Spain, the scholastics made important contributions to economic theory, which influenced the later development of the Austrian school.
During the humanism of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, scholastics were backgrounded and somewhat forgotten (although revived in Spain in the School of Salamanca). This is the source of the view that scholasticism is a rigid, formalistic, outdated and improper way of conducting philosophy. During the catholic scholastic revival of the late 1800s and early 1900s, the scholastics were repopularized, but with a somewhat narrow focus on certain scholastics and their respective schools of thought, most notably with Thomas Aquinas. In this context, scholasticism is often used with theology and metaphysics, but not many other areas of inquiry.
The following authors and works were commonly used as auctores:
- Plato, specifically the Timaeus
- Aristotle ("The Philosopher")
- The Bible
- Saint Augustine
- Boethius and his Consolation of Philosophy
- Avicenna, especially The Book of Healing
- Peter Lombard, specifically his Sentences
- Averroes ("The Commentator")
Early Scholasticism and its contemporaries
Anselm of Canterbury is sometimes misleadingly called the "Father of Scholasticism", owing to the prominence accorded to reason in his theology. Rather than establish points by appeal to authority, his arguments demonstrated why what he believed on authority must be so. His approach was not especially influential in his time, as he kept his distance from the Cathedral Schools.
We should look instead to the production of the gloss on Scripture associated with Anselm of Laon, the rise to prominence of dialectic (middle subject of the medieval trivium) in the work of Abelard, and the production by Peter Lombard of a collection of Sentences or opinions of the Church Fathers and other authorities. Scholasticism proper can be thought of as the kind of theology that emerges when, in the Cathedral schools and their successors, the tools of dialectic are pressed into use to comment upon, explain and develop the gloss and the sentences.
Notable authors include:
- Anselm of Canterbury (1033/1034-1109)
- Anselm of Laon (died 1117)
- Hugh of St Victor (1078-1151)
- Peter Abelard (1079-1142)
- Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)
- Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
- Peter Lombard (c. 1100-1160)
- Alain de Lille (c. 1128-1202)
- Joachim of Fiore (c. 1135-1202)
High Scholasticism and its contemporaries
The Thirteenth Century saw the attempted suppression of various groups perceived as heterodox, like the Cathars and Waldensians, and the associated rise of the mendicant orders (most notably the Franciscans and Dominicans). This was intended in part as an orthodox alternative to the heretical groups.
The two orders quickly became contexts for some of the most intense scholastic theologising, producing such "high-scholastic" theologians as Alexander of Hales (Franciscan) and Thomas Aquinas (Dominican), and the less-obviously-scholastic Bonaventure (Franciscan).
The century also saw a flourishing of mystical theology, whereby women such as Mechthild of Magdeburg played prominent roles. In addition, it is seen as the earliest period in which the study of natural philosophy which could (anachronistically) be termed "science" began, in the hands of such men as Robert Grosseteste and Roger Bacon, to flourish again in theological soil.
Notable authors include:
- Saint Dominic (1170-1221)
- Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175-1253)
- Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)
- Alexander of Hales (died 1245)
- Mechthild of Magdeburg (1210-1285)
- Roger Bacon (1214-1294)
- Bonaventure (1221-1274)
- Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
- Angela of Foligno (1248-1309)
Late Scholasticism and its contemporaries
Scholastic theology continued to develop as the Thirteenth Century gave way to the Fourteenth, becoming all the more complex and subtle in its distinctions and arguments. The Fourteenth Century saw particularly the rise to dominance of the nominalist or voluntarist theologies of men like William of Ockham. The Fourteenth Century was also a time in which movements of widely varying character worked for the reform of the institutional church. These included conciliarism, Lollardy and the Hussites. Spiritual movements such as the Devotio Moderna also flourished.
Notable authors include:
Friday, May 09, 2008
Political Philosophers
Influential political philosophers
A larger list of political philosophers is intended to be closer to exhaustive. Listed below are a few of the most canonical or important thinkers, and especially philosophers whose central focus was in political philosophy and/or who are good representatives of a particular school of thought.
- Confucius : The first thinker to relate ethics to the political order.
- Chanakya : Founder of an independent political thought in India, laid down rules and guidelines for social, law and political order in society.
- Socrates/Plato: Named their practice of inquiry "philosophy", and thereby stand at the head of a prominent (often called "Western") tradition of systematic intellectual analysis. Set as a partial basis to that tradition the relation between knowledge on the one hand, and a just and good society on the other. Socrates is widely considered founder of Western political philosophy, via his spoken influence on Athenian contemporaries; since Socrates never wrote anything, much of what we know about him and his teachings comes through his most famous student, Plato.
- Aristotle: Wrote his Politics as an extension of his Nicomachean Ethics. Notable for the theories that humans are social animals, and that the polis (Ancient Greek city state) existed to bring about the good life appropriate to such animals. His political theory is based upon an ethics of perfectionism (as is Marx's, on some readings).
- Thomas Aquinas : In synthesizing Christian theology and Peripatetic teaching, Aquinas contends that God's gift of higher reason, coupled with divine virtues and human law, provides the foundation for righteous government.
- Niccolò Machiavelli: First systematic analyses of: (1) how consent of a populace is negotiated between and among rulers rather than simply a naturalistic (or theological) given of the structure of society; (2) precursor to the concept of ideology in articulating the epistemological structure of commands and law.
- Thomas Hobbes: Generally considered to have first articulated how the concept of a social contract that justifies the actions of rulers (even where contrary to the individual desires of governed citizens), can be reconciled with a conception of sovereignty.
- Baruch Spinoza: Set forth the first analysis of "rational egoism", in which the rational interest of self is conformance with pure reason. To Spinoza's thinking, in a society in which each individual is guided of reason, political authority would be superfluous.
- John Locke: Like Hobbes, described a social contract theory based on citizens' fundamental rights in the state of nature. He departed from Hobbes in that, based on the assumption of a society in which moral values are independent of governmental authority and widely shared, he argued for a government with power limited to the protection of personal property. His arguments may have been deeply influential to the formation of the United States Constitution.
- Baron de Montesquieu: Analyzed protection of liberty by a "balance of powers" in the divisions of a state.
- David Hume: Hume criticized the social contract theory of John Locke and others as resting on a myth of some actual agreement. Hume was a realist in recognizing the role of force to forge the existence of states and that consent of the governed was merely hypothetical. He also introduced the concept of utility, later picked up on and developed by Jeremy Bentham.
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Analyzed the social contract as an expression of the general will, and controversially argued in favor of absolute democracy where the people at large would act as sovereign.
- Immanuel Kant: Argued that participation in civil society is undertaken not for self-preservation, as per Thomas Hobbes, but as a moral duty. First modern thinker who fully analyzed structure and meaning of obligation. Argued that an international organization was needed to preserve world peace.
- Jeremy Bentham: The first thinker to analyze social justice in terms of maximization of aggregate individual benefits. Founded the philosophical/ethical school of thought known as utilitarianism.
- John Stuart Mill: A utilitarian, and the person who named the system; he goes further than Bentham by laying the foundation for liberal democratic thought in general and modern, as opposed to classical, liberalism in particular. Articulated the place of individual liberty in an otherwise utilitarian framework.
- Karl Marx: In large part, added the historical dimension to an understanding of society, culture and economics. Created the concept of ideology in the sense of (true or false) beliefs that shape and control social actions. Analyzed the fundamental nature of class as a mechanism of governance and social interaction.
- John Dewey: Co-founder of pragmatism and analyzed the essential role of education in the maintenance of democratic government.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
STOP START
IF ANYBODY COMPLAINING ABOUT THE ILLEGAL COMMODITIES, JUST THINK ONLY ABOUT THE IGNORANCE.
IF AN AVAILABLE THING IS BAD FOR ALL AND ONE HAS THE CHOICE OF NOT CHOOSING IT.
NOBODY IN THE WORLD FORCED TO CONSUME IT. SO STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT THE MULTI MILLION - BILLION - TRIILLION - ETC. 'S OF THE ILLEGAL WORLD. THEY ARE SO BECAUSE OF THEIR END PRODUCTS POPULARITY AND THE CONSUMERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL.
ONE CAN SWITCH TO ANOTHER CHANNEL EASILY BY PRESSING THE BUTTON OF THE REMOTE CONTROL AND CAN DETERMINE WHAT WANT TO WATCH. SO THE DETERMINATION AND FREEDOM CAN MAKE DIFFERENCE IN THIS WORLD.
EVERYTHING IN THE BAD WORLD IS GOOD FOR SOME OTHER. SO STOP COMPLAINING.
BE YOURSELF.
--
Shine K. R.
Research Scholar
Online News Editor
Trivandrum, Kerala
Friday, April 04, 2008
In the agriculture and forestry sector, 450,000 jobs could be replaced by robots if harvesting and pruning robots spread widely, said the foundation, affiliated with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
In services such as cleaning and delivery, it said, 1.41 million jobs could be taken over by robots.
The foundation also said about 74 minutes of free time per household are expected to be created each day if robots that do household chores such as cleaning are introduced, helping more women to enter the labor market.
Japan could face a labor force shortage of 4.27 million people in 2025 on the back of the declining birthrate and mass retirement of baby boomers, according to the foundation.
But its projections showed that about 80 percent of the labour shortage could be covered if advanced robots become popular.
An official of the foundation said that "next-generation robots would be a simple remedy for the aging population" and the labour shortage. Japan has been considering using more foreign workers and retired people to address these issues.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Scientists find how we see ghosts -- 'it's all in the mind'
The researchers at the University College in London have found that that when people gaze around in a poorly lit context, it can fool their brains into seeing things that are not really there.
"The context surrounding what we see is all important -- sometimes overriding the evidence gathered by our eyes and even causing us to imagine things.
"Illusionists have been alive to this phenomenon for years. When you see them throw a ball into the air, followed by a second ball, and then a third ball which 'magically' disappears, you wonder how they did it.
"In truth, there's often no third ball -- it's just our brain being deceived by the context, telling us that we really did see three balls launched into the air, one after the other."
"This could also be why monsters tend to lurk in the shadows. In shadows many things are seen vaguely (rather than clearly), thus tending to trigger the filling in," 'The Daily Telegraph' quoted lead researcher Prof Li Zhaoping as saying.
In their study, 18 observers were asked by the team to concentrate on the centre of a black computer screen.
Every time a buzzer sounded they pressed one of two buttons to record whether or not they had just seen a small, dim, grey "target" rectangle in the middle of the screen. It didn't appear every time, but when it did it was displayed for just 80 milliseconds (80 one thousandths of a second).
"People saw the target much more often if it appeared in the middle of a vertical line of similar looking, grey rectangles, compared to when it appeared in the middle of a pattern of bright, white rectangles. They even registered 'seeing' the target when it wasn't actually there.
"This is because people are mentally better prepared to see something vague when the surrounding context is vague. "It made sense for them to see it -- so that's what happened. When the target didn't match the expectations set by the surrounding context, they saw it much less often," said Prof Zhaoping.
The results of the study have been published in the 'PLoS Computational Biology' journal.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Flash drives ready to jump in capacity
SanDisk 72GB solid state drive(Credit: SanDisk)
Flash memory is gaining as a replacement for hard drives in ultra-thin, ultra-small notebooks such as the MacBook Air and Asus Eee PC. Why? Flash uses less power, generates less heat, and has faster access times than hard drives. The Air, for example, offers a 64GB flash-based SSD as an option while the Eee PC is sold standard with flash storage.
There is a big catch, though. High-capacity SSDs are expensive. Prohibitively so. The flash drive in the pricier $3,098 Air is the main culprit in the gaping $1,300 price difference with the lower-cost hard-drive model ($1,799). Update: SSDs also have limited write cycles. That is, flash drives can eventually "wear out" after hundreds of thousands of write cycles. File systems that spread the write over the device can extend the life cycle but it's still an issue.
The low power and high speed, however, make a flash drive almost irresistible for some users. A SanDisk SSD 1.8-inch drive achieves a sustained read rate of 66MB/sec and a random read rate of over 7,000 inputs/outputs per second for a 512-byte transfer, many times the speed of a hard drive--which must move an arm across a spinning platter to find data, the so-called seek time of a hard drive.
SanDisk will not discuss future pricing but as larger-capacity SSDs hit the market, prices are certain to fall. And eventually these will be steep price drops. For example, an 8GB SanDisk flash card now sells for about $80 at resellers. A few years ago consumers would have paid this much (or more) for a 1GB drive. (And a 1GB card was originally priced at $500 in 2004!)
SanDisk and Toshiba will start making flash memory on a new 43-nanometer manufacturing process that will result in SSDs later this year with capacities that should approach those of today's mainstream 2.5-inch hard drives, ranging between 120GB and 160GB.
The two companies recently achieved 32-gigabit (Gb) density, according to Khandker N. Quader, SanDisk's senior vice president of flash memory design and product development. The 32Gb die combined with multilevel cell (MLC) technology--which uses multiple levels per cell to allow more bits to be stored--"doubles the SSD capacity points," Quader said in a written response to questions.
Flash based on "X3" technology is another new development, Quader said. "This is an important milestone (and) allows us to do 3bits/cell as opposed to 2bits/cell thereby providing improved manufacturing efficiency," he said. "So a combination of technology scaling (i.e., 56nm to 43nm) and the bit scaling (i.e. 2bits/cell to 3bits/cell) is extremely powerful for manufacturing efficiency and for increasing capacities of flash memories."
But there are challenges. Moving to X3 can affect performance. "One very important point to take into consideration is that X3 is not a simple memory to manage," Quader said. "This is the first generation X3. We expect this to evolve in 2008."
SanDisk has also developed a 43nm 16Gb MLC for MicroSD, according to Quader. MicroSD is a tiny flash chip used in mobile phones. The new technology will double the capacity of current 8GB MicroSD, he said.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Orkut turns four; aims to outgrow rivals
"Each of us has a different target userbase, we, at Orkut, aim casual and leisure exchanges between family and friends, as compared to a LinkedIn, which targets professional exchanges between individuals," Google India Country Head, Products, Vinay Goel said.
Orkut, with a strong India following, started as a plain vanilla exchange platform, but has now moved to the next level as a mature user now wants newer features.
So, as compared to the early structure where anyone could visit any person's account and get to know the personal details and conversations taking place between individuals there, one has now the option to restrict visitors.
"This new feature is increasingly becoming popular, and more so amongst women," Goel said.
Answering on Orkut platform playing the pivotal role in the murder of 16-year-old Mumbai boy Adnan Patrawala, he said "Adnan's case was very unfortunate." "It is hard to rectify each user registering on the website in India, but we do work in close contact with law and order departments over them," Goel said.
99.9 per cent use it for the right purposes as a platform of self expression. Also, we try to educate them on etiquettes of being a part of a social networking sites through the privacy and security centre.
Monday, January 28, 2008
‘Cinema limits freedom of viewers’: poet Rajanbabu
Friday, January 25, 2008
Small kids snatch purse from woman
MEERUT: Giving 'Oliver Twist' a run for his money, two small children allegedly decamped with a woman's purse from a shopping complex here.
The woman Shikha Agrawal, who is a lecturer at Chaudhary Charan Singh University, today lodged an FIR at Medical College police station that the purse containing a mobile phone, Rs 1,200 and some documents was stolen by the children. The complaint said she had gone to Krishna Plaza to get some papers xeroxed yesterday and had left the bag lying on a chair at the photocopy shop, Senior Superintendent of Police Jyoti Narayan said. Agrawal alleged that two children, aged between five and eight years, came into the shop, grabbed the purse and ran away. The police have launched a search for the children, the SSP said.
1.1 billion mobiles sold around the world in 2007
PARIS: More than 1.1 billion mobile phones were sold around the world last year, and developing countries in Africa and elsewhere should maintain the momentum in 2008, according to a study released.
Nokia of Finland strengthened its position as the world's best selling phone maker while South Korea's Samsung moved up to second place and American maker Motorola dropped back to third, according to the Strategy Analytics study. Apple's much vaunted iPhone was not as big a hit as expected however, the study said. Sales increased about 10 per cent from one billion in 2006 to 1.12 billion in 2007 and for 2008 Strategy Analytics predicted another 10 per cent surge to 1.24 billion phones. "Emerging regions, particularly Africa, will continue to drive shipments," it said. "Saturated Western markets -- many of them likely to see weak GDP growth -- will remain sluggish in 2008." The market information firm said Nokia made sizeable gains in Africa and the Middle East "despite fierce competition from dozens of rivals in every price tier." It sold 437 million handsets in 2007, up from 347 million in 2006 to grab a 38.8 per cent market share. Samsung increased sales from 113 million to 161 million -- growing three times faster than the industry average -- to move ahead of Motorola which saw sales collapse from 217 million to 159 million.
"Motorola's device portfolio remains weak; without a more attractive lineup of handsets the pain is likely to continue into the second half of 2008." The study said better third generation (3G) phones and "cooler sub-branding" by Samsung, LG Electronics and Nokia ate into Sony Ericsson's market share.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Tamil woman hands over girl baby to Government Cradle Centre
The centre was set up by the Tamil Nadu Government in April, 2002 to check the evil practice of female infanticide, widely prevalent in the region.
According to officials of the centre, Kavitha (27), wife of R Kumar (29) of Sinnaleerhalli village, 42 km from here in Krishnagiri District, gave birth to the girl baby on December 7. Since the couple already have two daughters, the woman handed over the three-day old baby to the centre.
In the mandatory affidavit, the parents cited poverty as as the reason for their decision.
With the new addition, the centre had received 1,009 babies, including 40 baby boys, since its inception. This also includes over 50 abandoned babies.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
"Be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight,"
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - What people eat and how fast they grow are both significant causes of cancer, but many Americans still incorrectly believe that factors such as pesticides on food are bigger causes, experts reported on Wednesday.
Breastfeeding reduces the risk of cancer for mother and child, and tall people have a higher risk of cancer than shorter people, the report found.
"We need to think about cancer as the product of many long-term influences, not as something that 'just happens,'" Dr. Walter Willett, a nutrition expert at the Harvard School of Public Health in Massachusetts, told a news conference.
The report, released jointly by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research, is the result of five years of study by nine teams of scientists.
They reviewed 7,000 studies on diet, exercise, weight and cancer.
Most of what they recommended is in line with what health experts, including governments and the World Health Organization, have long been advising -- that diets based on fruits, vegetables and whole grains and that go easy on red meats, dairy products and fats protect against heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
They found evidence that factors such as hormones that cause the body to grow quickly may be involved in some cancers.
"We found that tallness is also probably linked to increased risk for ovarian, pancreatic and pre-menopausal cancer as well," said Willett. He stressed that tall people are not destined to get cancer but should take care to maintain healthy habits.
The groups make keeping a healthy weight their No. 1 recommendation to reduce the risk of cancer.
AS LEAN AS POSSIBLE
"Be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight," the 400-page report reads. That means keeping a body mass index, they said, of between 21 and 23. BMI is a calculation of height to weight, and the normal range is usually considered to be 18 to 25, with anything over 25 being overweight.
Exercise is also key. "Be physically active as part of everyday life," is the second of 10 recommendations made by the expert panel. The recommendations also include eating mostly plant foods, such as fruits, vegetables and grains, avoiding calorie-dense foods such as sugary drinks, and limiting red meat, alcohol and salt.
The American Institute for Cancer Research also released a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults that show most do not understand these risks. Only 38 percent knew of the link between cured and processed meats and cancer, 49 percent knew that diets low in fruits and vegetables raised the risk of cancer and 46 percent knew that obesity was a well-documented risk.
But 71 percent thought that pesticide residue on produce was a cause -- something that has never been shown; 56 percent thought stress causes cancer, again not proven; and 49 percent believed hormones in beef cause cancer.
"Americans are increasingly likely to attribute cancer to factors over which they have no control, and for which no proven links to the disease exist," the report reads.
"This reflects an 'everything causes cancer' mindset," it adds.
The meat industry quickly denounced the report.
"WCRF's conclusions are extreme, unfounded and out of step with dietary guidelines," said American Meat Institute Foundation Vice President of Scientific Affairs Randy Huffman.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Simple thumb drive that lets you lift video off your computer and play it on your TV
-- a simple thumb drive that lets you lift video off your computer and play it on your TV.
SanDisk also wants to help you find stuff to watch. So it is simultaneously unveiling a beta version of Fanfare, its new online video distribution platform. The site will have both paid and free content, and SanDisk hopes it will eventually be a place you can go to catch up on all your favorite shows. For now, there's limited fare from CBS (e.g. CSI: Miami, "Survivor-Fiji"), Showtime (Fat Actress, Brotherhood), as well as content from Smithsonian Networks, TVGuide, The Weather Channel and the Jaman movie service.
SanDisk is best known as the inventor and world's largest supplier of flash data memory storage cards. Only Apple sells more portable digital music and video players than SanDisk's Sansa line of portable devices -- a lot more, of course.
With TakeTV, SanDisk is set to compete with Apple and others in another emerging digital battleground — the business of lifting video content off a computer and onto a television.
The gadget consists of a small (roughly 4½-inch tall, 1½-inch wide) USB stick onto which you drag and drop video files from a PC, just as you copy files onto a regular flash drive.
After doing so, you slip the stick into a cradle you connect to your TV (via either a "Composite" or "S-Video" connection). And then you hit play on the simple TakeTV remote control, which is revealed only after pulling the stick apart.
A 4 gigabyte TakeTV version (offering about 5-hours of video playback) costs $100; an 8GB, (10 hour) version fetches $150. TakeTV can't handle high definition content at this early stage. Out of the gate it supports the MPEG-4, DivX and xVid video formats.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Internet speed record
75-year-old likely set Internet speed record
Web latecomer downloaded a full-length flick online in 2 seconds
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STOCKHOLM, Sweden - She is a latecomer to the information superhighway, but 75-year-old Sigbritt Lothberg is now cruising the Internet with a dizzying speed.
Lothberg's 40 gigabits-per-second fiber-optic connection in Karlstad is believed to be the fastest residential uplink in the world, Karlstad city officials said.
In less than 2 seconds, Lothberg can download a full-length movie on her home computer —many thousand times faster than most residential connections, said Hafsteinn Jonsson, head of the Karlstad city network unit.
Jonsson and Lothberg's son, Peter, worked together to install the connection.
The speed is reached using a new modulation technique that allows the sending of data between two routers placed up to 1,240 miles apart, without any transponders in between, Jonsson said.
"We wanted to show that that there are no limitations to Internet speed," he said.
Peter Lothberg, who is a networking expert, said he wanted to demonstrate the new technology while providing a computer link for his mother.
"She's a brand new Internet user," Lothberg said by phone from California, where he lives. "She didn't even have a computer before."
His mother isn't exactly making the most of her high-speed connection. She only uses it to read Web-based newspapers.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
700,000 iPhones have sold
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Neither Apple nor AT&T disclosed precise sales figures. Tech and telecom analysts estimated sales of 500,000 to 700,000 units of the combination phone, iPod and pocket Internet device by Sunday.
"It's a phenomenal start," said Gene Munster of equity firm Piper Jaffray. "Apple had an incredible weekend."
Munster's sales estimate: $250 million.
Munster estimates that 95% of iPhone buyers bought the more-expensive $599 iPhone with 8 gigabytes of storage (it's also available for $499 with 4 GB of storage) and that Apple kept most of the phone inventory for its own retail stores.
"The big flagship Apple Stores had as many as 10,000 phones per store, compared to about 50 at the AT&T stores," he said.
Still, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said, "We sold more iPhones in the first weekend of sales than in the first month of sales for any device in AT&T history."
In a note to investors, analyst David Bailey at Goldman Sachs wrote that Apple had more initial stock on hand "than any other product introduction we could remember for the company."
When it was introduced in 2004, Apple's colorful iPod Mini quickly sold out, and Apple had shortages for weeks.
Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris wouldn't say which stores have inventory left. But she says new phones are being delivered daily. "The response to the iPhone has been incredible. We're thrilled," she said.
Apple has a website tool (www.apple.com/retail/iphone) that lets consumers type in their ZIP code to determine — after 9 p.m. local time — where to find an available iPhone the next day.
Over the weekend, some customers contacted Apple and AT&T to complain of long waits to activate the phone, but AT&T says the problems have been addressed and fixed.
The problems are "substantially behind us," spokesman Siegel said.
Since activation of the phone takes place at home, not in the store as with most cellphones, Apple cashiers were able to move a lot more phones over the weekend, Munster said. "They could process up to 1,000 sales per hour," he said.
Munster watched the action from the huge Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York City. He says he saw few people adding Mac computers or iPods to their baskets. "The extras will come later," he says. "Most people went in to get an iPhone, picked up a case or extra charger and left. They wanted to get home and play with the phone."
Investors ran up Apple stock to all-time highs before Friday's iPhone launch. On Monday, shares were down 78 cents in regular trading at $121.26 and fell 1 cent in after-hours trading.