ABSTRACTS LIST
Vol. II, No. 1, Spring-Summer 2009
EDITORIAL
GLIGOR, Mihaela, "Mind and Language. The Problem", International
Journal on Humanistic Ideology 2 (1) 7-12, 2009.
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ARTICLES
CHOMSKY, Noam, "Thoughts on Minds and
Language", International Journal on Humanistic Ideology 2 (1)
13-42, 2009.
Abstract: I have been thinking about various ways to approach this
opportunity, and on balance, it seemed that the most constructive
tack would be to review, and rethink, a few leading themes of the
biolinguistic program since its inception in the early 1950s, at
each stage influenced by developments in the biological sciences.
And to try to indicate how the questions now entering the research
agenda develop in a natural way from some of the earliest concerns
of these inquiries. Needless to say, this is from a personal
perspective.
Keywords: Mind, Language, Universal Grammar, biolinguistic program.
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CHATTERJEE, Amita, "Naturalism in Linguistic
Theory", International Journal on Humanistic Ideology 2 (1)
43-58, 2009.
Abstract: The article begins with an exploration of different
varieties of naturalism in order to understand what "naturalism"
means in linguistic theory. Having discussed the methodological
naturalism propounded by Chomsky, the author presents the views of
Bhartr?hari, the famous Grammarian thinker of the P?n?inian
tradition of ancient India. Both Chomsky and Bhartr?hari argued
against conventionalism and both treated language as a natural
object. However, their desiderata were completely different and
hence their linguistic theories developed differently, in spite of
having significant overlaps.
Keywords: naturalism, conventionalism, the language faculty,
performance-systems, sphota-theory.
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PINKER, Steven, "The Evolutionary Social
Psychology of Off-Record Indirect Speech Acts", International
Journal on Humanistic Ideology 2 (1) 59-90, 2009.
Abstract: This paper proposes a new analysis of indirect speech in
the framework of game theory, social psychology, and evolutionary
psychology. It builds on the theory of Grice, which tries to ground
indirect speech in pure rationality (the demands of efficient
communication between two cooperating agents) and on the Politeness
Theory of Brown and Levinson, who proposed that people cooperate not
just in exchanging data but in saving face (both the speaker's and
the hearer's). I suggest that these theories need to be supplemented
because they assume that people in conversation always cooperate. A
reflection on how a pair of talkers may have goals that conflict as
well as coincide requires an examination of the game-theoretic logic
of plausible denial, both in legal contexts, where people's words
may be held against them, and in everyday life, where the sanctions
are social rather than judicial. This in turn requires a theory of
the distinct kinds of relationships that make up human social life,
a consideration of a new role for common knowledge in the use of
indirect speech, and ultimately the paradox of rational ignorance,
where we choose not to know something relevant to our interests.
Keywords: social psychology, indirect speech, off-record, knowledge,
language.
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DRĂGHICI, Virgil, "On Some Limits of Thought",
International Journal on Humanistic Ideology 2 (1) 91-104,
2009.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is one essentially expositive. Two
different points of view regarding some limits of thought, having
their starting point the paradoxical constructions are presented:
the one (I) represented by the limitative theorems, as a consistent
solution to some paradoxes, the other (II) represented by
dialetheism, according to which the limits can be transcended by
dropping the principle of noncontradiction.
Keywords: limitative theorems, Gödel, Tarski, Church, semantical/syntactical
paradoxes, incompleteness, dialetheism, Priest, true contradictions.
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LOGAN, Robert K., "The Extended Mind and the
Emergence of Language and Culture", International Journal on
Humanistic Ideology 2 (1) 105-128, 2009.
Abstract: A model based on the evolution of notated language and
complexity theory is presented to explain the emergence of language
and culture. Language emerges as the bifurcation from percept-based
to concept-based thought. Our first words are our first concepts and
act as strange attractors for the percepts associated with that
concept. A distinction is made between the brain and the mind. The
mind emerges as a bifurcation of the brain acting as a percept
processor with the simultaneous emergence of language.
Keywords: bifurcation, culture, emergence, evolution, language,
mind.
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SIRKER, Smita, "Can we infer the
non-Observable Mind without Language?", International Journal on
Humanistic Ideology 2 (1) 129-134, 2009.
Abstract: We know our minds through introspection and others through
inference. The occult perception of the one's "mind" is dependent on
the "mental activity"; dependent on the "awareness of one's mental
states" itself. One finds difficulty in separating the distinct
roles of inference and perception in case of self-knowledge. The
life of philosophers, brain scientists and of course the ordinary
folks sails through the stormy debate concerning whether "mind and
its states exist" quite peacefully. The discourse between the
philosopher and the brain scientist; the philosopher and the
ordinary folk; the brain scientist and ordinary folk presupposes
that our minds exist and we share our thoughts and doubts through
our ordinary language which in a big way helps us in the inference
of "other minds". This brief article explores the role of ordinary
language in our discourse to discover the enigma of the "mind".
Keywords: Descartes' myth, introspection, ordinary language, mental
activity, inference of mind, privilege access, phenomenal
experience.
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GHASSEMZADEH, Habibollah, "The Wise Man and
Collective Memory in Sa'di's Rose Garden: A Cognitive - Narrative
Analysis", International Journal on Humanistic Ideology 2 (1)
135-166, 2009.
Abstract: Analysis of stories in a psychological framework with an
emphasis on cognitive concepts and constructs such as schema,
memory, problem solving, and wisdom as well as narrative elements
such as sequentiality of the events may be regarded as one of the
most important contributions to the field of narrative theory and
narratology. As an initiatory step toward such an analysis, a story
from Sa'di's Gulistan has been selected and analyzed at five levels
of processing. This cognitive- narrative study of Sa'di's story may
be considered as a preliminary effort to move toward a cognitive and
narrative analysis of a story in Persian culture and Persian
language. It presents an analysis of story as a window to a culture.
Furthermore, since this is most likely the first attempt in this
direction, it also may have some implications for future studies
about Persian stories.
Keywords: Cognitive-narrative analysis, Collective memory, Labov's
Model, Problem solving, Sa'di's Gulistan (Rose Garden), Schematic
processing, Sequentiality, Wisdom, Wise man.
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DHAR, Sharmistha, "Determinism: Do Untutored
Intuitions Feed the Bugbears?", International Journal on
Humanistic Ideology 2 (1) 167-190, 2009.
Abstract: Philosophers have since long been relying on their own
intuitions to shore up their own belief about agency and about the
possibility of reconciliation with the domain of physical events
that seems to be freewheeled by an underlying necessitarian process.
In a certain philosophical circle, a trend has now emerged to put
unprimed intuitions to test through psychological experiments, in
order to figure out whether philosophers should exercise some
temperance in bringing their own belief about agency to the fore,
and the possible sources of the intuitional dilemma. This paper aims
to explore the folk concept of agency and figure out the
implications of the extant empirical work for our concept of free
will.
Keywords: Determinism, Indeterminism, Compatibilism, Incompatibilism,
Folk intuition.
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