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Edited volumes-theories, technologies, instrumentalities of color. Anthropological and historiographic perspectivesHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 24 (2): 347. 2002.
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36Theories, Technologies, Instrumentalities of Color is the outcome of a workshop, held in Leuven, Belgium, in May 2000
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54Can the World Help Us in Fixing the Reference of Natural Kind Terms?Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 29 (1). 1998.According to Putnam the reference of natural kind terms is fixed by the world, at least partly; whether two things belong to the same kind depends on whether they obey the same objective laws. We show that Putnam's criterion of substance identity only "works" if we read "objective laws" as "OBJECTIVE LAWS". Moreover, at least some of the laws of some of the special sciences have to be included. But what we consider to be good special sciences and what not depends upon our values. Hence, "objecti…Read more
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31Which colour space(s) is Shepard talking about?Behavioral and Brain Sciences 24 (4): 661-662. 2001.Contra Shepard we argue, first, that his presentation of a three-dimensional representational (psychological or phenomenal) colour space is at odds with many results in colour science, and, second, that there is insufficient evidence for Shepard's stronger claim that the three-dimensionality of colour perception has resulted from natural selection, moulded by the particulars of the solar spectrum and its variations. [Shepard].
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43Orange laser beams are not illusory: The need for a plurality of “real” color ontologiesBehavioral and Brain Sciences 26 (1): 27-28. 2003.Reflectance physicalism only provides a partial picture of the ontology of color. Byrne & Hilbert’ account is unsatisfactory because the replacement of reflectance functions by productance functions is ad hoc, unclear, and only leads to new problems. Furthermore, the effects of color contrast and differences in illumination are not really taken seriously: Too many “real” colors are tacitly dismissed as illusory, and this for arbitrary reasons. We claim that there cannot be an all-embracing ontol…Read more
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14International Society: What is the best we can do? The Multatuli Lecture 1999Ethical Perspectives 6 (3-4): 199-200. 1999.
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23Revisiting the Exchange between Zhuangzi and Huizi on QingDao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 20 (1): 133-148. 2021.In this article we focus on the famous dialogue between Zhuangzi 莊子 and Huizi 惠子 concerning the question whether or not ren 人 (in particular the shengren 聖人) have qing 情. Most scholars have understood qing in this exchange as referring to “feelings” or “emotions.” We take issue with such readings. First, we demonstrate that, while Huizi probably understands qing as something like feelings or emotions, Zhuangzi’s view is that having qing is connected with making shifei 是非 judgments whereas having…Read more
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6Alexus McLeod, Theories of Truth in Chinese Philosophy: A Comparative Approach, London, 2016Journal of World Philosophies 1 (1): 159-161. 2016.The main argument of the book under review, 'Theories of Truth in Chinese Philosophy,' is to show that one can find a pluralistic theory of shí 實 in the Lunheng, “prepared” by a range of sources in the Warring States Period in China. This argument is not convincing because of small inconsistencies and major unsupported stipulations. Nevertheless the book contains many perceptive and suggestive remarks concerning the texts discussed.
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1Universities and appropriate developmentSINET: Ethiopian Journal of Science 1. 1978.status: published.
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19Fundamentals of Comparative and Intercultural PhilosophyAlbany. 2016.Discusses the conditions of possibility for intercultural and comparative philosophy, and for crosscultural communication at large. This innovative book explores the preconditions necessary for intercultural and comparative philosophy. Philosophical practices that involve at least two different traditions with no common heritage and whose languages have very different grammatical structure, such as Indo-Germanic languages and classical Chinese, are a particular focus. Lin Ma and Jaap van Brakel …Read more
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9Emotions as the fabric of forms of life: a cross-cultural perspectiveIn W. M. Wentworth & J. Ryan (eds.), Social perspectives on emotion, . 1994.status: published.
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7Form(s) of lifeIn Rudolf Haller & Klaus Puhl (eds.), Wittgenstein and the future of philosophy: a reassessment after 50 years: papers of the 24th international Wittgenstein symposium, . 2002.status: published.
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7Kant's legacy for the philosophy of chemistryIn Davis Baird, Eric R. Scerri & Lee C. McIntyre (eds.), Philosophy of chemistry: synthesis of a new discipline, Springer. 2006.status: published.
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8The empirical stance and the colour warDivinatio: Studia Culturologica Series 20. 2004.status: published.
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10Heidegger and the reversed order of science and technologyThe Multidimensionality of Hermeneutic Phenomenology 70. 2014.status: published.
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5František Wald's EmpiricismHyle: An International Journal for the Philosophy of Chemistry 19 (2). 2013.In this paper I present an ordered selection of citations from František Wald's publications and correspondence to give some idea of how he fitted in his times, how his views were received by contemporaries, and to illustrate his epistemological views. I highlight the originality of Wald's aim to develop a theory of chemistry on the basis of the concept of 'phase', instead of the concepts of compound and element. In chemistry there has been a vast increase in substances that are phases, which ma…Read more
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13Prehistory of the Philosophy of ChemistryPhilosophy of Chemistry 6. 2012.Throughout the history of philosophy, chemical concepts and theories have appeared in the work of philosophers, both as examples and as topics of discussion in their own right, and scientists themselves have often engaged with theoretical, conceptual, and methodological issues that fall within what one would now recognize as philosophy of chemistry. This chapter offers a summary of the history of philosophy of chemistry since Kant, alongside a critical examination of why chemistry has been releg…Read more
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49Extension of Family Resemblance Concepts as a Necessary Condition of Interpretation across TraditionsDao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 14 (4): 475-497. 2015.In this paper we extend Wittgenstein’s notion of family resemblance to translation, interpretation, and comparison across traditions. There is no need for universals. This holds for everyday concepts such as green and qing 青, philosophical concepts such as emotion and qing 情, as well as philosophical categories such as form of life and dao 道. These notions as well as all other concepts from whatever tradition are family resemblance concepts. We introduce the notion of quasi-universal, which conn…Read more
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16On the Interpreter’s Choices: Making Hermeneutic Relativity ExplicitDao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 17 (4): 453-478. 2018.In this essay, we explore the various aspects of hermeneutic relativity that have rarely been explicitly discussed. Our notion of “hermeneutic relativity” can be seen as an extension, with significant revisions, of Gadamer’s notion of Vorurteil. It refers to various choices and constraints of the interpreter, including beliefs concerning the best way of doing philosophy, what criteria are to be used to evaluate competing interpretations, and so on. The interpreter cannot completely eliminate the…Read more
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18A Theory of Interpretation for Comparative and Chinese PhilosophyDao: 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
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21On the Interpreter’s Choices: Making Hermeneutic Relativity ExplicitDao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 17 (4): 453-478. 2018.In this essay, we explore the various aspects of hermeneutic relativity that have rarely been explicitly discussed. Our notion of “hermeneutic relativity” can be seen as an extension, with significant revisions, of Gadamer’s notion of Vorurteil. It refers to various choices and constraints of the interpreter, including beliefs concerning the best way of doing philosophy, what criteria are to be used to evaluate competing interpretations, and so on. The interpreter cannot completely eliminate the…Read more
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17Moral and political implications of pragmatismJournal of Value Inquiry 23 (4): 259-274. 1989.status: published.