Tag: meaning

  • Frege’s View of the World

    by Mark English ____ Gottlob Frege was a mathematician with strong philosophical interests and preoccupations. In an attempt to discover and make explicit the logical foundations of mathematics he developed — almost singlehandedly — the basic ideas of the predicate calculus. But he also had deep and compelling views on language and an appreciation of […]

  • What is it like to be an art critic?

    by Ken Johnson ___ S: I would like to become an art critic. How should I proceed? C: Just start doing it. S: Shouldn’t I go to grad school to learn all the things I need to know in order to do it? C: No, it’s not like you need a license. There’s no exam […]

  • MEANING, INTELLIGIBILITY, MORALITY, AND GOD: A CONVERSATION WITH JOSHUA RASMUSSEN, PART 2

    by Daniel A. Kaufman ____ The second of a two-part conversation with Joshua Rasmussen of Azusa Pacific University on a broad variety of issues, related to the meaning of life, morality, the intelligibility of the world, and God. Technical difficulties interrupted us, so the conversation is being presented in two parts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8vwO9YSq-0&ab_channel=ElectricAgora 01:10 Does longevity […]

  • The Inevitable Impossibility

    by E. John Winner ___   Born to die Some German theorist came up with the idea that primitive peoples approach death as always a mysterious, even incomprehensible, visitation to the tribal community, requiring avoidance and always met with fear.  He must have been thinking of the faculty at his university. Actually, the archaeological and […]

  • The Many Cups of Coffee

    E. John Winner 1. Semiotic interpretation is important, and yet it is somewhat variable and changeable, depending on the context in which it occurs. Consider the crucifix: if found in a Catholic church we interpret it one way; in a vampire movie another; and hanging around the neck of a Hell’s Angel motorcyclist something else […]

  • Language and Meaning

    by Mark English The topic of eliminative materialism (or ‘eliminativism’ as its current manifestation is usually called) has been the focus of some recent debate. What prompted this piece, however, was a brief discussion in a comment thread about a very specific kind of eliminativism which applies to language and which is known as semantic […]