•  527
    No Need to Speak the same Language? Review of Ramberg, Donald Davidson's Philosophy of Language
    Dialectica, Vol. 50, No.1, 1996, Pp. 63-71 50 (1): 63-72. 1996.
    The book is an “introductory” reconstruction of Davidson on interpretation —a claim to be taken with a grain of salt. Writing introductory books has become an idol of the tribe. This is a concise book and reflects much study. It has many virtues along with some flaws. Ramberg assembles themes and puzzles from Davidson into a more or less coherent viewpoint. A special virtue is the innovative treatment of incommensurability and of the relation of Davidson’s work to hermeneutic themes. The weaknes…Read more
  •  2
    Filosofie van de wetenschappen
    with J. T. van den Brink
    D. Coutinho. 1988.
    Inleiding in de wetenschapsfilosofie, bedoeld voor filosofiestudenten.
  •  1
    De-essentialising Across the Board: No Need to Speak the Same Language
    Netherlands Journal of Legal Philosophy 3 263-284. 2006.
    status: published.
  •  23
    Ceteris paribus laws
    Behavioral and Brain Sciences 15 (3): 584-585. 1992.
  •  19
    Art and science as ways of worldmaking
    with Barbara Saunders
    In Paul Weingartner & Gerhard Schurz (eds.), Proceedings of the 11th International Wittgenstein Symposium, Hölder-pichler-tempsky. 1987.
  •  80
    On the neglect of the philosophy of chemistry
    Foundations of Chemistry 1 (2): 111-174. 1999.
    In this paper I present a historiography of the recent emergence of philosophy of chemistry. Special attention is given to the interest in this domain in Eastern Europe before the collapse of the USSR. It is shown that the initial neglect of the philosophy of chemistry is due to the unanimous view in philosophy and philosophy of science that only physics is a proper science (to put in Kant's words). More recently, due to the common though incorrect assumption that chemistry can in principle be r…Read more
  •  28
    A Theory of Interpretation for Comparative and Chinese Philosophy
    with Lin Ma
    Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 15 (4): 575-589. 2016.
    Why should interpretation of conceptual schemes and practices across traditions work at all? In this paper we present the following necessary conditions of possibility for interpretation in comparative and Chinese philosophy: the interpreter must presuppose that there are mutually recognizable human practices; the interpreter must presuppose that “the other” is, on the whole, sincere, consistent, and right; the interpreter must be committed to certain epistemic virtues. Some of these necessary c…Read more
  •  82
    Is Our Universe a Mere Fluke? The Cosmological Argument and Spinning the Universes
    PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1988 75-82. 1988.
    Recent discussions about the anthropic principle and the argument from design can perhaps be summarized as follows : The world is very unusual, so it must have been made by an intelligent creator. The world is very unusual, but unusual things do occur by chance. Both and , in their ordinary interpretations, have been labelled probabilistic fallacies. In my paper I will discuss in particular the following two aspects: The contemporary relevance of Cicero's discussions on chance. The fact that any…Read more
  •  35
    Natural Kinds and Manifest Forms of Life
    Dialectica 46 (3‐4): 243-261. 1992.
    SummaryIn this paper I try to make sense of and give provisional answers to question like: Are there interesting theories about natural kinds ? Are some classifications or categorisations more natural than others? Does it matter whether or not there are natural kinds? To get an initial feel for the subject let's consider some suggestions from the literature as to what might count as a candidate for a natural kind or natural kind term
  • Eliminativisme gereduceerd tot pragmatisme
    Algemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte 85 (1): 113-127. 1993.
  •  30
    Consciousness is not a natural kind
    Behavioral and Brain Sciences 18 (2): 269-270. 1995.
    Blocks distinction between “phenomenal feel” consciousness and “thought/cognition” consciousness is a cultural construction. Consciousness (and its “subspecies”) is not a natural kind. Some crosscultural data are presented to support this.
  •  23
    Telematic Life Forms
    Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology 4 (3): 208-219. 1999.
    status: published.
  •  8
    A multiculture of veridicalities
    Behavioral and Brain Sciences 21 (4): 481-482. 1998.
    Edelman's target article purports to be about veridical representations. I argue that it would be a mistake to think it has much to do with veridicality as normally understood.
  •  38
    Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Chemistry
    Hyle: International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry 20 (1): 11-57. 2014.
    In this paper I assess the relation between philosophy of chemistry and philosophy of science, focusing on those themes in the philosophy of chemistry that may bring about major revisions or extensions of current philosophy of science. Three themes can claim to make a unique contribution to philosophy of science: first, the variety of materials in the world; second, extending the world by making new stuff; and, third, specific features of the relations between chemistry and physics.
  •  32
    Out of the Ge-stell? The Role of the East in Heidegger’s das andere Denken
    with Lin Ma
    Philosophy East and West 64 (3): 527-562. 2014.
    Modern technology (Technik, la technique) has constituted the gears on which the wheels of the modern world keep turning. The later Heidegger devotes sustained reflection to this unprecedented phenomenon in human history. It is notable that, compared with other figures from twentieth-century continental philosophy, Heidegger has served as the most frequent reference point in current philosophy of technology (Technikphilosophie). This field of philosophy came into being after the so-called empiri…Read more
  •  22
    Internal Realism, Truth and Charity
    Dialectica 42 (1): 37-44. 1988.
  •  20
    In this article, I look at those passages in the Zhuangzi usually associated with “uselessness.” I discuss in what way these passages may have been suggestive to Martin Heidegger to explain his ideas of the necessity of the other thinking and of the “waiting people” being entirely unusable to others. Then I make some brief comments concerning basic conditions of interpretation, using examples taken from the Zhuangzi passages discussed. These conditions include family resemblance across the board…Read more
  •  93
    Amidst the progress being made in the various (sub-)disciplines of the behavioural and brain sciences a somewhat neglected subject is the problem of how everything fits into one world and, derivatively, how the relation between different levels of discourse should be understood and to what extent different levels, domains, approaches, or disciplines are autonomous or dependent. In this paper I critically review the most recent proposals to specify the nature of interdiscourse relations, focusing…Read more
  • C. S. Peirce: Categories to Constantinople — Proceedings of the International Symposium on Peirce
    with Michael van Heerden
    Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 36 (1): 187-192. 2000.
  •  34
    The world: An unruly mess (review)
    Foundations of Chemistry 3 (3): 251-262. 2001.
  •  276
    Chemistry and physics: no need for metaphysical glue (review)
    Foundations of Chemistry 12 (2): 123-136. 2010.
    Using the notorious bridge law “water is H 2 O” and the relation between molecular structure and quantum mechanics as examples, I argue that it doesn’t make sense to aim for specific definition(s) of intertheoretical or interdiscourse relation(s) between chemistry and physics (reduction, supervenience, what have you). Proposed definitions of interdiscourse and part-whole relations are interesting only if they provide insight in the variegated interconnected patchwork of theories and beliefs. The…Read more
  •  91
    Are there nontrivial constraints on colour categorization?
    with B. A. C. Saunders
    Behavioral and Brain Sciences 20 (2): 167-179. 1997.
    In this target article the following hypotheses are discussed: (1) Colour is autonomous: a perceptuolinguistic and behavioural universal. (2) It is completely described by three independent attributes: hue, brightness, and saturation: (3) Phenomenologically and psychophysically there are four unique hues: red, green, blue, and yellow; (4) The unique hues are underpinned by two opponent psychophysical and/or neuronal channels: red/green, blue/yellow. The relevant literature is reviewed. We conclu…Read more
  •  22
    On The Philosophy of Chemistry
    with H. Vermeeren
    Philosophy Research Archives 7 501-552. 1981.
    While in the research area known,as ’philosophy of science' there is a growing interest in separate disciplines of the empirical sciences, applied sciences and even technologies, one can find hardly any reference to the discipline of chemistry other than some preliminary discussions of chemical concepts or studies concerning the rational reconstruction of the history of chemistry. No analyses, which might be called 'philosophy of chemistry’ can be found to date. It is hoped that this review pape…Read more
  •  406
    Heidegger's Comportment Toward East-West Dialogue
    with Lin Ma and Jaap Van Brakel
    Philosophy East and West 56 (4): 519-566. 2006.
    The primary purpose here is to ascertain what Heidegger's comportment toward East-West dialogue is most plausibly like in the light of his philosophical concerns and orientations. Considering that one should not uncritically take at face value occasional remarks by Heidegger that seem to suggest that he is preparing an East-West dialogue, we will proceed from Heidegger's own path of thinking and bring to light fundamental presuppositions in his thought and the response he may accordingly give to…Read more
  •  15
    Interpreting self-ascriptions
    Behavioral and Brain Sciences 18 (2): 393-395. 1995.