Phronimon最新文献

筛选

英文中文

Cosmology, Chemistry, and Aristotleâ€™s Elemental Powers 宇宙学、化学和亚里士多德的<e:1>元素力量

IF 0.8

Phronimon Pub Date : 2018-10-03 DOI: 10.25159/2413-3086/3199

B. Berman

{"title":"Cosmology, Chemistry, and Aristotleâ€™s Elemental Powers","authors":"B. Berman","doi":"10.25159/2413-3086/3199","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2413-3086/3199","url":null,"abstract":"Aristotle employs the simple bodies, or elements, in two rather different scientific contexts, each of which highlights some of their qualities at the expense of others. On the one hand, he uses the elements in the service of cosmology, where their natural motions are imperative to drafting an architectural plan of the cosmos. On the other hand, he uses them in the service of chemistry, where their heat, coldness, dryness, and moistness are decisive in securing accounts of elemental transformation and the generation of composite bodies. Two families of interpretive proposals for the formal principles of Aristotleâ€™s elements have been advanced accordingly. One family of interpretations construes the form of a simple body in terms of its cosmological characterisation, while a second construes that form in terms of the simple bodyâ€™s chemical characterisation instead. A critical step in bridging that interpretive divide is thus to bridge the underlying divide between Aristotleâ€™s cosmological and chemical characterisations of the sublunary elements. It is that latter task that I set out to accomplish in the present paper. I argue that the hot and the cold are efficient causes, respectively, of the light and the heavy, and further, that the moistness of elemental water and air explains the intermediary natural positions of those elements relative to earth and fire in Aristotleâ€™s idealised cosmic landscape. In this way, Aristotleâ€™s chemical characterisation of the elements is shown to ground his cosmological characterisation of them","PeriodicalId":42048,"journal":{"name":"Phronimon","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2018-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44610890","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Parsing â€œDecolonisationâ€

IF 0.8

Phronimon Pub Date : 2018-09-05 DOI: 10.25159/2413-3086/3064

B. Olivier

{"title":"Parsing â€œDecolonisationâ€","authors":"B. Olivier","doi":"10.25159/2413-3086/3064","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2413-3086/3064","url":null,"abstract":"This article addresses the fraught question of â€œdecolonisationâ€ at South African universitiesâ€”what does it mean when students and some academic staff members call for the decolonisation of the curriculum? The issue of legitimate participation in the debate is raised, as well as that of the â€œincommensurability thesisâ€â€”the claim that individuals working within a certain â€œparadigmatically distinctâ€ theory or within an identifiable discourse, cannot understand those working withinÂ other theoretical paradigms, and therefore thwart discussion between pro-decolonisers and those who oppose it. The consideration that, regardless of culture, or race, or gender, all human subjects are linguistic beings, is related to the mutual translatability of languages, and the notion of always being embedded in a cultural life-world. Instead of remaining relativistically imprisoned in the latter, it is argued that the sciences afford people the opportunity to step away from their involvement in this life-world, with its cultural prejudices, to meet one another through a shared terminology and conceptual or theoretical apparatus that enable one to understand the (natural and social) world in a manner that allows intersubjective understanding. The point is made that, for something to be scientific (or â€œrationalâ€), any human being should be able to â€œtestâ€ or examine, or simply enter into a (sometimes difficult) dialogue about it. Unless these issues are kept in mind, one cannot even begin to discuss the merits of the demand for decolonisation. It is acknowledged, however, that there are â€œknowledgesâ€ that have been (unjustifiably) â€œdisqualifiedâ€ by Western culture as being â€œinadequateâ€ in terms of â€œscientific cognition.â€ For this reason it is argued that every scholar, scientist or philosopher must be willing to see beyond the confines of privileged Western knowledge to acknowledge these â€œexcluded knowledgesâ€ and to affirm that they are epistemic â€œequalsâ€ of, albeit different from, Western knowledge.","PeriodicalId":42048,"journal":{"name":"Phronimon","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2018-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41798239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 1

The Question of Epistemic Justice: Polemics, Contestations and Dialogue 认识正义问题：论战、争论与对话

IF 0.8

Phronimon Pub Date : 2018-06-15 DOI: 10.25159/2413-3086/3251

P. Mungwini

引用次数: 10

首页上一页