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‘Consciousness’ and Brain Functions: A Re-look from Functionalist Perspective
Issue:
Volume 10, Issue 1, March 2022
Pages:
1-6
Received:
20 December 2021
Accepted:
8 January 2022
Published:
18 January 2022
Abstract: Consciousness is very fundamental to human existence. It is one of the basic necessities for all the living creatures of the universe. It does not only assist human beings to experience both gross (table, chair, etc.) and subtle objects (hunger, thirst, feelings, etc.) of the world but also assist in acquiring knowledge about worldly affairs. Human beings acquire knowledge due to their mental representation of objects and concepts of the world. In this regard, the notion of ‘consciousness’ and the concept of ‘mental representation’ are interrelated with each other. The functionalists (computer scientists, cognitive scientists, neuroscientists, and others) suggest that a person’s body and brain are interrelated with each other due to the presence of consciousness in every part of body and brain. But they could not answer an important question, that is, in what ways body and brain of a person are connected to each other? This paper attempts to answer this question from a functionalist perspective. While answering this question, it argues that the emergence of consciousness in a person is not due to his/her brain functions, but due to the presence of ‘self’ in a person from birth to death.
Abstract: Consciousness is very fundamental to human existence. It is one of the basic necessities for all the living creatures of the universe. It does not only assist human beings to experience both gross (table, chair, etc.) and subtle objects (hunger, thirst, feelings, etc.) of the world but also assist in acquiring knowledge about worldly affairs. Human...
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Pandemic, Poverty and Corruption as a Concept of Broken World
Evert Manuel Dela Peňa Jr.
Issue:
Volume 10, Issue 1, March 2022
Pages:
7-12
Received:
3 January 2022
Accepted:
19 January 2022
Published:
25 January 2022
Abstract: In a pessimistic view, the world is a series of struggles and sufferings. The tribulations are inevitable to man’s life for he is in the world. Pandemic, poverty and corruption are the most prominent and prevailing faces of struggles in the world. It affects the individual’s lives deeply for it undercuts the experience of being alive and free. It weakens man’s appreciation of moments due to misery. The conflicts in the world holds man to appreciate moments for they are occupied on their functionality. The world simply becomes a mechanical for the people lives like a machine where working is much important than reflecting. These problematic figures were paralleled to Gabriel Marcel’s concept of broken world. The paper tends to justify that the world is broken for the reason that first, its problems that could be seen in the contemporary world as pandemic, poverty and corruption. Second, man becomes alienated from himself for he ceases on living due to this problematic world. This paper also ventured to Gabriel Marcel’s concept of broken world which eventually paralleled to the mainstream problems in contemporary world. The author intended to present a pessimistic view about the world which he claimed to be mad and broken.
Abstract: In a pessimistic view, the world is a series of struggles and sufferings. The tribulations are inevitable to man’s life for he is in the world. Pandemic, poverty and corruption are the most prominent and prevailing faces of struggles in the world. It affects the individual’s lives deeply for it undercuts the experience of being alive and free. It w...
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Mmuo: Soul or Spirit, a Problem of Imposition of Language
Issue:
Volume 10, Issue 1, March 2022
Pages:
13-16
Received:
6 January 2022
Accepted:
28 January 2022
Published:
16 February 2022
Abstract: A people’s philosophy emanates from their worldview. Sometimes, some worldviews are similar or even related, but there are no two worldviews that are the same or that share exactly the same ideas. Worldviews are expressed through languages and the differences in worldviews are visible in the differences in the various world languages but often more visible during translation of literatures from one language to another. This difficulty cuts across different areas of various worldviews such as the days of the week, where many African worldviews have just four (4) days, but the Gregorian calendar, which could be called western calendar has seven (7) days. Therefore, the imposition of the Gregorian calendar on the African calendar will definitely leave gaps for comprehension. The same thing holds sway about used words; sometimes, words used in Africa do not get perfect literally translations into English language and this should not be strange, realizing that there are experiences of people that are dependent on their environments. But this work will be restricted to showcasing these difficulties through the ambiguity in translating the word ‘mmuo’ into English; should it be translated as soul or spirit? This research work seeks to bring to bare the ambiguity of translation and the problem of lack of equivalent or exact matching words; ending up in the imposing of meaning to words that are not the same. It will adopt the analytical philosophical method and will use the Igbo background in its study. It intends to help one another in appreciating people and their cultures, without the conscious or unconscious efforts to extinguish some cultures from the world.
Abstract: A people’s philosophy emanates from their worldview. Sometimes, some worldviews are similar or even related, but there are no two worldviews that are the same or that share exactly the same ideas. Worldviews are expressed through languages and the differences in worldviews are visible in the differences in the various world languages but often more...
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The Rational-Empiric Model of the Functional Intellect and the Structural Brain
Mohammad Mushfequr Rahman
Issue:
Volume 10, Issue 1, March 2022
Pages:
17-22
Received:
16 February 2022
Accepted:
4 March 2022
Published:
12 March 2022
Abstract: The traditional conflict in epistemology has been between rationalism and empiricism. Philosophers have often tried to align themselves in one of these schools even though a close reading of some of their writings may suggest they may often have used both varyingly, one more than the other. This paper demonstrates that both rationalism and empiricism work together and are thus called the rational-empiric model. The paper extends the scope of the rational-empiric model to also evolving cognitive developments and other aspects of reasoning such as computational thought and makes an effort towards summarizing the nature of human reason by explaining the functional intellect and the structural brain since the time of Aristotle to date drawing from theology, philosophy, logic, computer science, and psychology. The paper presents the rational-empiric model in a broader in-depth context with supporting ideas and evidence. Various literature on theology, logic, philosophy, and psychology has been used to elaborate on the concepts. The paper concludes that the purpose of the rational empiric model is to discover knowledge by finding and understanding ontologies as they exist and function or as they ought to exist and function.
Abstract: The traditional conflict in epistemology has been between rationalism and empiricism. Philosophers have often tried to align themselves in one of these schools even though a close reading of some of their writings may suggest they may often have used both varyingly, one more than the other. This paper demonstrates that both rationalism and empirici...
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Extent Aristotle's Influence on Alexander (Challenges and Bets)
Issue:
Volume 10, Issue 1, March 2022
Pages:
23-28
Received:
5 February 2022
Accepted:
26 February 2022
Published:
18 March 2022
Abstract: Talking about Alexander and Aristotle calls for a discussion of the historical context in which each of them existed with a perspective that explains the internal factors and the summary of individual behavior, which provides us with the method of assimilation in the expression of Robin George Collingwood) His relationship and his discipleship with Aristotle on the other hand, which was primarily the main reason for spreading Greek civilization in the state of Alexander, as well as a more rational discourse on the dismantling of the difference that occurred between Aristotle and Alexander, as narrated by the historian Plutarch (in one of the most prominent texts) From Alexander to Aristotle, greetings, it was a mistake of you to publicly publish your lessons for me, which were what distinguished me from others, and you made them accessible to all people, I would have preferred to be distinguished by these knowledge, than to be distinguished by authority. Fact-finding on the issue of the difference between Aristotle and Alexander raises important issues in the theory of knowledge, in terms of power and dominance manifested in its authority as well. Alexander also discusses the issue of dependency from a more psychological point of view, where we are looking at an ongoing question: Was Greece really the power of Alexander in his conquests?
Abstract: Talking about Alexander and Aristotle calls for a discussion of the historical context in which each of them existed with a perspective that explains the internal factors and the summary of individual behavior, which provides us with the method of assimilation in the expression of Robin George Collingwood) His relationship and his discipleship with...
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A Critical Analysis of Thomas Nagel’s View on Moral Luck
Issue:
Volume 10, Issue 1, March 2022
Pages:
29-32
Received:
20 January 2022
Accepted:
17 February 2022
Published:
18 March 2022
Abstract: Thomas Nagel tries to defend moral luck by saying that a moral agent is never responsible for the action performed by him, because the situation or outer conditions of an action, which are not controlled by the agent, are responsible for an action. In this paper Ii is sought to make a solution to the moral luck problem based on a fair opportunity account of control. Thomas Nagel claims that moral luck reveals a paradox. It holds that the apparent paradox emerges only because he assumes that attributions of responsibility require agents to have total control over their actions. The reason is that a more modest understanding of what it takes for someone to be a responsible agent i.e. being capable of doing the right thing for the right reasons—dissolves the paradox and shows that responsibility and luck aren’t at odds. It is clear that moral luck leads us to the moral agent has no freedom of will and he acts something as machine. If it is held then the judicial system of all countries are to be stopped and it does not need any administrative system also. In the same way none can admire any one for his good action and condemn any one for his bad action. This is really a ridiculous. Moreover, Nagel emphasized condition of an action; but here it can be thought that a condition may have other prior conditions and these second types of condition may have third types. Thus it creates an infinitive regress; people will not be able to have the actual one.
Abstract: Thomas Nagel tries to defend moral luck by saying that a moral agent is never responsible for the action performed by him, because the situation or outer conditions of an action, which are not controlled by the agent, are responsible for an action. In this paper Ii is sought to make a solution to the moral luck problem based on a fair opportunity a...
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Too Late the (Super) Hero, Todd Phillips’ Joker
Issue:
Volume 10, Issue 1, March 2022
Pages:
33-40
Received:
31 January 2022
Accepted:
14 March 2022
Published:
23 March 2022
Abstract: The article reads the film Joker by Todd Phillips as a denunciation of the pathologies of contemporary society and its self-destructive drift. Caused by a process of homogenization of the individual personality to collective models, it not only generates those conformism and massification phenomena underlined by postmodern reflection, but gives rise to processes of disintegration of the subject which lead to the uncontrolled explosion of violence. Prisoner of a growing and systematic dynamic of mimetic identification with the dominant models of mass society through pervasive containment and control methods, such as "repressive desublimation" (Herbert Marcuse) and "redundancy" (Umberto Eco) the individual, denied his own difference and uniqueness, is inexorably pushed towards Thanatos. This, now the dominant force, is capable of destroying humankind’s best resources and putting the latter on course to a dead end. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, Western society has been pervaded by a restlessness caused by humankind’s tendency to destroy itself and the planet. This restlessness grew further in the following years in a directly proportionate manner to technological development and the exponential increase in its destructive potential, as made unmistakably clear by two world wars and the atom bomb. By way of a Freudian strategy, this unsustainable awareness was immediately repressed from the collective consciousness and projected onto another not scientific but “science fiction” dimension, characterized by “alien” enemy figures whose omnipotence could be contrasted by equally as fantastic creatures, namely superheroes. Quite simply, Phillips’ film destroys the illusion and brings us back to reality: we are the enemy.
Abstract: The article reads the film Joker by Todd Phillips as a denunciation of the pathologies of contemporary society and its self-destructive drift. Caused by a process of homogenization of the individual personality to collective models, it not only generates those conformism and massification phenomena underlined by postmodern reflection, but gives ris...
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Pascal’s Wager and Its Postmodern Counterpart
Issue:
Volume 10, Issue 1, March 2022
Pages:
41-47
Received:
28 February 2022
Accepted:
16 March 2022
Published:
23 March 2022
Abstract: Pascal’s Wager is probably the most analyzed apologetic argument in the history of apologetics. What has often been the case, however, is that this piece of Pascal’s Pensées has often been misinterpreted and taken out of Pascal’s total apologetic work. For that reason, the Wager has been misappropriated and has undergone a battery of misplaced criticism. Taken in its proper context, the Wager is a beautiful vindication of the Christian faith, cleverly constructed to make the skeptic re-think his position and contemplate the importance of the Christian faith. Much confusion exists about the placement of this particular Pensées, and where it is situated in his overall apology (Pensées 418) lends itself to the challenge of what has become “the Many Gods Objection.” For that reason, I would suggest that Pascal’s Wager belongs at the very beginning of his Pensées, where the rest of the Pensées are an explanation for the reason Christianity is the most attractive belief. Postmodern philosophers have re-appropriated the Wager and made it fit their own philosophical and theological presuppositions playing in the hands of the “Many-Gods-Objection.” This paper describes the beauty of Pascal’s Wager in its proper context and expresses the erroneous postmodern appropriation of the Wager.
Abstract: Pascal’s Wager is probably the most analyzed apologetic argument in the history of apologetics. What has often been the case, however, is that this piece of Pascal’s Pensées has often been misinterpreted and taken out of Pascal’s total apologetic work. For that reason, the Wager has been misappropriated and has undergone a battery of misplaced crit...
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Passing on Foucault’s Poststructuralist Perspective: The Development and Application of Governmentality as Research Framework
Issue:
Volume 10, Issue 1, March 2022
Pages:
48-54
Received:
27 February 2022
Accepted:
16 March 2022
Published:
29 March 2022
Abstract: From the 1960s, poststructuralism originated in France began to spread in the Western cultures, and merged with the postmodernism in the fields of literature, art, history, sociology, and political science, which brought about a wide impact on the research in social sciences. Following the principles of poststructuralism, scholars developed various fragmented, discontinuous, and diversified methods for investigating social issues. This paper focuses on the concept of governmentality put forward by Foucault as well as its development and application in the “post-Foucault” era. Governmentality is one of Michel Foucault’s key academic theories and research approaches, and it well demonstrates Foucault’s poststructuralist perspectives. As a poststructuralist research method, governmentality bears with itself unique critical perspectives. Through decades of development, especially the development during the Post-Foucauldian Era, governmentality has developed into a systematic research approach that offers unique viewpoints for the analyses of different social domains and has become one of the key perspectives of critique in the contemporary era. In this paper, we will start with the identification of Foucault as a poststructuralist, which serves as the source for Foucault to propose governmentality as a poststructural research perspective. Then we will explore in detail the development and application of governmentality in the post-Foucauldian era as well as the potential value of governmentality research with particular focus on the conceptualization of rationalities and technologies of government as research tools that can be adopted for investigations into various social issues. Such elaboration of governmentality will not only enrich our understanding of the governmental practices in the Western world but also enhance the reflection and exploration of the governing in contemporary China.
Abstract: From the 1960s, poststructuralism originated in France began to spread in the Western cultures, and merged with the postmodernism in the fields of literature, art, history, sociology, and political science, which brought about a wide impact on the research in social sciences. Following the principles of poststructuralism, scholars developed various...
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