Waltz's Theory of Theory

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ole Wæver
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Natural Science ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Extreme Case ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Central Attention ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Theory Of Theory ◽  
The Way

Waltz's 1979 book, Theory of International Politics, is the most influential in the history of the discipline. It worked its effects to a large extent through raising the bar for what counted as theoretical work, in effect reshaping not only realism but rivals like liberalism and reflectivism. Yet, ironically, there has been little attention paid to Waltz's very explicit and original arguments about the nature of theory. This article explores and explicates Waltz's theory of theory. Central attention is paid to his definition of theory as `a picture, mentally formed' and to the radical anti-empiricism and anti-positivism of his position. Followers and critics alike have treated Waltzian neorealism as if it was at bottom a formal proposition about cause—effect relations. The extreme case of Waltz being so victorious in the discipline, and yet being so consistently misinterpreted on the question of theory, shows the power of a dominant philosophy of science in US IR, and thus the challenge facing any ambitious theorising. The article suggests a possible movement of fronts away from the `fourth debate' between rationalism and reflectivism towards one of theory against empiricism. To help this new agenda, the article introduces a key literature from the philosophy of science about the structure of theory, and particularly about the way even natural science uses theory very differently from the way IR's mainstream thinks it does — and much more like the way Waltz wants his theory to be used.

Galilei, Galileo (1564–1642)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernan McMullin
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Natural Science ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Church Authority ◽  
Modern Natural ◽  
Modern Natural Science ◽  
History Of ◽  
Practice Of Science ◽  
The Way

Galileo Galilei, one of the most colourful figures in the long history of the natural sciences, is remembered best today for two quite different sorts of reason. He has often been described as the ’father’ of modern natural science because of his achievements in the fields of mechanics and astronomy, and for what today would be called his philosophy of science, his vision of how the practice of science should be carried on and what a completed piece of natural science should look like. While none of the elements of that philosophy was entirely new, the way in which he combined them was so effective that it did much to shape all that came after in the sciences. In the popular mind, however, as a continuing stream of biographies attest, it is his struggle with Church authority that remains the centre of attention, symbolic as it is of the often troubled, but always intriguing, relationship between science and religion.

Two Refutations of the Vorhanden Reading of Heidegger’s Philosophy of Science in Being and Time

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 174-187
Author(s):  
Paul Goldberg ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Natural Science ◽  
Being And Time ◽  
Robert Brandom ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Hubert Dreyfus

The dominant interpretation of Heidegger’s philosophy of science in Being and Time is that he defines science, or natural science, in terms of presence-at-hand (Vorhandenheit). I argue that this interpretation is false. I call this dominant view about Heidegger’s definition of science the vorhanden claim; interpreters who argue in favor of this claim I call vorhanden readers. In the essay, I reconstruct and then refute two major arguments for the vorhanden claim: respectively, I call them equipmental breakdown (Section 1) and theoretical assertion (Section 2). The equipmental breakdown argument, stemming mainly from Hubert Dreyfus, advances a vorhanden reading on the basis of three other interpretive claims: I call them, respectively, the primacy of practice claim, the decontextualization claim, and the breakdown claim. While I remain agnostic on the first claim, the argument fails because of decisive textual counterevidence to the latter two claims. Meanwhile, the theoretical assertion argument, which I reconstruct mainly from Robert Brandom, premises its vorhanden claim on the basis of some remarks in Being and Time indicating that theoretical assertions, as such, refer to present-at-hand things. Since science is taken to be a paradigmatic case of an activity that makes theoretical assertions, the vorhanden claim is supposed to follow. I refute this argument on the grounds that it equivocates on Heidegger’s concept of “theoretical assertion” and cannot account for his insistence that science does not principally consist in the production of such assertions. I conclude that, with the failure of these two arguments, the case for the vorhanden claim is severely weakened.

Shariah

2021 ◽  
pp. 17-25
Author(s):  
Mohammad Hashim Kamali
Keyword(s):  
Islamic Law ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
Concise Review ◽  
Broad Concept ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Way

In addition to a concise review of the meaning and definition of shariah, the chapter introduces the sources of shariah, including the two main types of revealed and rational sources and their subdivisions. The history of shariah (“the way to the watering place,” or “the path to correct guidance, salvation, and relief”) is occupied with scholastic developments and the embodiment of what became known as fiqh, which consists mainly of the practical rules of Islamic law that regulate the daily lives of Muslims. Shariah is a broad concept that is not confined to legal rules but comprises the totality of guidance that God Most High has revealed to humankind, pertaining to the dogma of Islam, its moral values, and its practical legal rules.

scholarly journals Definitions of Evaluation Use and Misuse, Evaluation Influence, and Factors Affecting Use

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 434-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marvin C. Alkin ◽  
Jean A. King
Keyword(s):  
Evaluation Use ◽  
Initial Stimulus ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Evaluation Influence ◽  
The Third ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Way

The second article in this series on the history of evaluation use has three sections. The first and longest develops a functional definition of the term use, noting that a thorough definition of evaluation use includes the initial stimulus (i.e., evaluation findings or process), the user, the way people use the information, the aspect of the program considered, and the purpose. It then defines evaluation use’s unethical companion, misuse, detailing the distinction between the two. The second section briefly discusses a broadened concept of evaluation impact that expands to include evaluation influence. Finally, the third section summarizes the factors that research has shown to be related to evaluation use.

scholarly journals Contemporary Chinese art: Mao's legacy and Danto's definition

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-200
Author(s):  
Wiseman Bittner
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Recent History ◽  
Chinese Art ◽  
Contemporary Chinese Art ◽  
Western Art ◽  
Social Nature ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Contemporary Chinese ◽  
The Way

In this paper I am going to do three things: First, identify several themes in contemporary Chinese art that show its essentially social nature and its robust materialism. Second, suggest a way that contemporary art in China is post-modern in the way that Western art is and claim, moreover, that as different as the themes and recent history of this art are from contemporary Western art, the works satisfy a definition of art constructed by Arthur Danto. Finally, in a coda, I present the work of a woman artist that is unlike most recent Chinese and Western art. It positions itself at the far reaches of what art in China is and what Danto's definition allows at the same time that it suggests both the interiority of the practice of art and one way of being a woman.

scholarly journals ARSITEKTUR KOLONIAL BELANDA DI INDONESIA DALAM KONTEKS SEJARAH FILSAFAT DAN FILSAFAT ILMU

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Dimas Wihardyanto ◽  
Sudaryono Sudaryono
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
East Indies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
Architectural Research ◽  
Dutch Colonial ◽  
The Way

Arsitektur merupakan salah satu produk budaya hasil pemikiran manusia yang mampu menggambarkan secara komprehensif bagaimana hubungan dirinya dengan konteks sosial maupun seting lingkungan yang ada. Tidak terkecuali arsitektur kolonial Belanda di Indonesia. Kolonialisasi di Indonesia terutama yang dilakukan oleh Belanda merupakan salah satu babak sejarah penting di Indonesia karena mampu merubah cara berfikir arsitektur di Hindia Belanda semakin modern mendekati yang terjadi di Barat. Pengaruh modernisme dalam arsitektur tersebut tentunya tidak dapat dilepaskan dari perkembangan cara berfikir masyarakat barat yang bertitik tolak dari cara memandang alam dan manusia melalui pendekatan kategorisasi dan analogi. Setelah melalui kurun waktu yang cukup panjang arsitektur kolonial Belanda di Indonesia akhirnya tidak dapat memaksakan penggunaan arsitektur barat secara penuh. Konteks sosial budaya serta seting lingkungan dan iklim yang berbeda akhirnya mampu mengajak para arsitek untuk mengedepankan cara berfikir yang bertitik tolak pada alam melalui pendekatan analogi alih-alih menonjolkan arsitektur barat sebagai simbol manusia modern melalui pendekatan kategorisasi. Kemunculan arsitektur Indis adalah salah satu buktinya. Selanjutnya melalui metode kajian literatur terhadap sejarah perkembangan filsafat barat, metodologi penelitian arsitektur, dan teori-teori mengenai arsitektur kolonial Belanda di Indonesia peneliti mencoba merunut dan merumuskan bagaimana Posisi keilmuan arsitektur kolonial Belanda di Indonesia dalam konteks sejarah filsafat dan filsafat ilmu. Hasil yang didapatkan dari penelitian ini adalah bahwasanya perkembangan arsitektur kolonial di Indonesia berawal dari cara berfikir dualisme dengan mengambil alam sebagai tidak tolak, kemudian beralih menjadi cara berfikir monisme dengan revolusi industri sebagai latar belakang, dan kemudian kembali ke cara berfikir dualisme dengan menempatkan alam sebagai titik tolak pada abad ke 20.DUTCH COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE IN INDONESIA IN THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF PHILOSOPHY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE                                                  Architecture is one of the cultural products of human thought that can to comprehensively describe how its relationship with the social context and the existing environmental settings. Dutch colonial architecture in Indonesia is no exception. Colonialism in Indonesia, especially those carried out by the Dutch, is one of the important historical phases in Indonesia because it can change the way of thinking architecture in the Dutch East Indies increasingly modern that is happening in the West. The influence of modernism in architecture indeed cannot be separated from the development of western society's way of thinking, which starts from the way of looking at nature and humans through a categorization and analogy approach. After a long period of time, Dutch colonial architecture in Indonesia finally could not force the full use of western architecture. The socio-cultural context and the different environmental and climatic settings were finally able to invite the architects to put forward the way of thinking that starts with nature through an analogy approach instead of highlighting western architecture as a symbol of modern humans through the categorization approach. The emergence of Indis architecture is one of the proofs. Furthermore, through the method of studying literature on the history of the development of western philosophy, architectural research methodology, and theories about Dutch colonial architecture in Indonesia researchers try to trace and formulate the scientific position of Dutch colonial architecture in Indonesia in the context of the history of philosophy and philosophy of science. The results obtained from this study are that the development of colonial architecture in Indonesia started from the way of thinking of dualism by taking nature as not rejecting, then turning into monism with the industrial revolution as a background, and then returning to the way of thinking of dualism by placing nature as a point starting in the 20th century.

Conception and Philosophy of Science

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-141
Author(s):  
Dmitry M. Koshlakov ◽  
Alexander I. Shvyrkov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Promising Tool ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Way

The authors try to show that even Wittgensteinian definition of concept is not always sufficient to analyze what really happens in science. As a result, in addition to “concept” we propose “conception” as a new promising tool for philosophy of science. We provide a brief historical analysis of this term and reveal two main interpretations of “conception” in philosophy and scientific disciplines. In accordance with the first view, conception appears as either a “twin” of the concept, or a pair entity to the concept. According to the second view, conception is a kind of “strange concept” that exists among “normal” concepts. Since conception is understood differently in sciences and philosophical systems, it is not possible to give a generalized definition of conception. That is, it is impossible to formulate this definition, so to speak, inductively. Moreover, even if it was possible, such a definition would not necessarily have to be automatically accepted by philosophy of science. That is why the introduction of a concept of conception was carried out through the analysis of a global process associated with the return of metaphysics to science. We define conception as a semantic construction denoting the unknown (and, possibly, fundamentally unknowable) and ensuring the possibility of working with this unknown (unknowable). By virtue of the way conception was introduced (conception is not a “generalization” of the interpretations available in specific sciences) many conceptions that are considered as conception in specific sciences turn out to not to be conceptions within this definition. Thus, the article interprets conception as a new possible tool of philosophy of science, which is aimed at understanding how specific sciences develop.

The cultural construction of Italy in Albania and vice versa: migration dynamics, strategies of resistance and politics of mutual self-definition across colonialism and post-colonialism

Modern Italy ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Mai
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Construction ◽  
Projective Identification ◽  
Independent State ◽  
Parallel Processes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Environments ◽  
Migration Dynamics ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Way

SummaryThis article analyses the shifting ways in which Italy has been strategically represented in Albania during the different key passages of the latter's relatively recent history as a sovereign independent state. As a parallel narrative, the article also examines the way Albania has been equally strategically represented in Italy before and during the two periods in which Italy has been militarily involved in Albania, and the way this has been consistent with an attempt to elaborate and sustain a politically strategic definition of Italian identity and culture. The history of the asymmetrical relationship between Albania and Italy is deeply embedded in the social, cultural and political environments that are on the two shores of the Adriatic Sea. The cultural construction of Albania in Italy and vice versa of Italy in Albania should be linked to seemingly independent instances of domestic reforms. The dynamics of projective identification or dis-identification stemming from these instances should be seen as intertwined within two parallel processes of mutual definition encompassing both the colonial and the postcolonial relations between and within the two countries.

Informal Empire? An Exploration in the History of Anglo-Argentine Relations, 1810–1914

1992 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 419-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
British Imperialism ◽  
Water Line ◽  
Working Definition ◽  
Political Function ◽  
Informal Empire ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Way

Introduction: the genesis of ‘informal empire’In 1953 John Gallagher and Ronald Robinson published an article entitled ‘The Imperialism of Free Trade’, which has since become a landmark in the study of nineteenth-century British imperialism. Seeking to overturn long-cherished notions of a mid-Victorian ‘indifference’ and a late-Victorian ‘enthusiasm’ for empire, it proposed a basic continuity of policy whereby British industrialisation caused an ever-extending and intensifying development of overseas regions for both strategic and economic purposes. Hence the suggestion of a working definition of imperialism as ‘the sufficient political function of this process of integrating new regions into the expanding economy’. In switching the focus of a definition of imperialism from the way in which Britain was able to assert her superiority over weaker, subordinate nations to the impetus and motivation behind such expansion, traditional conceptions of empire were suddenly shattered. Indeed, as Robinson and Gallagher maintained, ‘The conventional interpretation of the nineteenth century empire continues to rest on the study of formal empire alone, which is rather like judging the size and character of icebergs solely from the parts above the water-line’.2The whole framework of reference for a study of British imperialism was being recast, the revised assumption being that the empire of formal dominion, which can loosely be defined as control through annexation and constitutional subordination, is not comprehensible in isolation. Rather, the assertion of British paramountcy, which for Robinson and Gallagher lies close to the very heart of imperialism, was achieved by informal means if possible, or by formal annexation when this was deemed necessary.

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