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Digital Public Diplomacy: The dark & the Bright Side -Prof.Dr.Pratik Rajan Mungekar
The scope, volume, and intensity of global data connectivity are expected to explode in the coming years. The disruption produced by this transformation will have far-reaching implications for the way in which individuals, communities and societies define and conduct themselves and for the way in which public diplomacy as a practice of building bridges with foreign publics. Our article seeks to advance our understanding of how digital technologies re-sets the context in which public diplomacy operates by reshaping the medium of public communication, blurring the boundary between foreign and domestic affairs and empowering new actors. The evolution of the medium of communication is a key factor affecting the conduct of public diplomacy in the digital age. Without communication, there can be no diplomacy. Yet the tools through which diplomats communicate are undergoing a revolution and, subsequently, so is the context of public diplomacy. Some of these revolutions are already evident, as is the case with visual enhancements and algorithms, while others such as virtual reality and 3D simulations have yet to reveal themselves. By leveraging new communication tools, diplomats can augment public diplomacy activities and ensure that public diplomacy messages are heard and listened to by relevant audiences. One example of how new communication tools can be leveraged by diplomats toward public diplomacy goals is machine learning.
Given the challenge of information overload and the growing competitiveness of the online space, machine learning will likely become an indispensable tool for studying pattern recognition and making data-driven predictions about the main issues of concern for the target audiences. As the volume of data-driven interactions continues to grow at an exponential rate, one can make oneself heard only by professionally learning how to separate 'signals' from the background 'noise' and by proactively adjusting one's message accordingly in a manner that ensures maximal visibility in the online space, in real-time. Making oneself listened to would require, by extension, a better understanding of the cognitive frames and emotional undertones that enable audiences to connect meaningfully with a particular message. Most importantly, the ongoing transition from a textual to a visual or audio form of communication is likely to accelerate and, consequently, public diplomacy campaigns are expected to become increasingly sophisticated in visual or audio terms. Augmented reality technology is particularly well suited to take advantage of this trend by allowing, for instance, public diplomats to use geolocation-based apps to showcase issues of interest in a tailored and interactive manner. In this way, communication tools will continue to impact the context in which public diplomacy is practiced. Yet digitalization is also expected to create new audiences for public diplomacy. Citizens' migration online has created a new reality in which domestic and foreign audiences flock to the same digital platforms thus blurring the lines between the domestic and the foreign. Consequently, diplomats can now engage with the national citizenry and rally domestic support for foreign policy achievements. Given that some nations have taken to using digital tools towards disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda, diplomats may use new digital tools to rally support from the national citizenry and ensure that the citizenry remains well-informed. Using virtual reality
diplomats could transport their citizens to the scene of an international crisis and demonstrate the effectiveness of their policies. Using new tele-presence capabilities, diplomats will be able to hold town-hall meetings throughout their nations thus narrating national policies while algorithms could be used to identify citizens are exposed to fictitious or malicious information. These citizens can then be engaged to limit the impact of disinformation campaigns. Finally, digitalization is likely to empower new diplomatic actors. As digital technologies grow in their agency and impact, two questions come to the fore: who are diplomats, and who needs public diplomacy? In terms of diplomats, it is now evident that tech giants and their CEOs have morphed into diplomatic actors who interact with world leaders and with national institutions in order to promote their business interests. Indeed, some tech giants now have resources exceeding those of some sovereign states and can bypass the formal structures of their home nation's diplomatic bureaucracy. By creating new digital tools tech giants impact the context of public diplomacy while through their diplomatic activities, they impact relations between states. Some countries have realized the awesome power that tech giants now hold and have taken measures to engage with such giants. Such is the case with Denmark that recently appointed a tech Ambassador tasked with managing relations with tech actors in Silicon Valley and China. When publicly announcing this decision, Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs Anders Samuelsen stated: 'Companies such as Google, IBM, Apple, and Microsoft are now so large that their economic strength and impact on our everyday lives exceed that of many of the countries where we have more traditional embassie'. Other nations soon followed suite while tasking tech Ambassadors with dealing with a host of issues including digital governance, international negotiations on cybersecurity, and intellectual property issues online. These recent ambassadorial appointments signify not only the important socio-economic and political roles of technology, but also how diplomacy is evolving and adapting to the disruptive changes in our societies. Tech Ambassadors acknowledge that public diplomacy is now being conducted in a new era where material forces or wealth are not the most important trump card, but data and information instead. While our analysis suggests that diplomats may use new technologies to augment public diplomacy activities, engage with new audiences and manage relations with tech giants, we are aware that these technologies can also be used for to advance the "dark side" of public diplomacy. 3D simulations, algorithmic filtering, and the absence of an international consensus on cybersecurity can all be used to strategically spread disinformation, increase mistrust and build walls instead of bridges. Despite these inevitable challenges, the future of public diplomacy in the digital age remains bright, as long as diplomats continue to engage creatively and positively with digital technologies and stay committed to the mission of building bridges between offline and online communities. Digital technologies can play an influential role in how individuals, communities, and societies not only interact with each other but also how to redefine themselves as social and political actors in the digital age. I. ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT 1. Top leadership must champion innovation
Digital diplomacy innovation needs support from the top leadership. This is particularly important during the pivotal first steps. Karl Bildt, former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden is often quoted as the person who pushed Swedishdigital diplomacy forward, through his dedicated approach. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Estonia and Latvia also lead their ministries' efforts by setting their own examples. Sushma Swaraj, India's Minister of External Affairs, is an avid social media user, who often personally answers messages ranging from calls for help to suggestions about Indian diplomacy. Leaders need to show proactivity or at least reassure their staff that creativity and innovation are well-seen and encouraged. 2. Avoid a grandiose digital diplomacy strategy It is easy to slip into an attempt to create a spectacular strategy. In particular, new developments such as digital diplomacy tend to trigger calls for a strategic framework. Although a forward-looking vision is important, the over-formalization of a vision can be counter-productive, as it could create rigid structures that might not allow for the flexibility needed to adapt to new technologies. The most effective digital diplomacies rely on guidelines as a softer way to manage efforts in this field. For example, the UK produced a set of social media guidelines for diplomats. 3. Digital diplomacy is much more than social media and public diplomacy Most of the current e-diplomacy coverage focuses on public diplomacy, with social media activities of presidents or ministers contributing to the creation of a positive country brand – hence the popular term twiplomacy. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. A much broader array of digital diplomacy activities takes place in thousands of diplomatic negotiations, policy initiatives, and crisis management actions every day worldwide – and they all depend heavily on digital technologies. Although these dimensions of digital diplomacy may be less visible than public diplomacy, they are no less important. For example, the social media network of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has been used in crisis management situations in Libya and Iraq. Social media was often the most effective way to communicate with nationals and organize their vacations from these two countries. 4. High budgets sometimes yield low impacts and low budgets sometimes yield high impacts Money rarely solves the problems that digital diplomacy has to address, which are mostly related to changes in professional cultures, and the organisation of diplomatic services. A lot of money can trigger grand projects, 'the right solutions for the wrong problems', and, ultimately, failure. Using Wikipedia is one example of a low-cost – high-impact public diplomacy project. Wikipedia entries often rank at the top of search engine results for your country and its diplomacy. Editing Wikipedia pages is very inexpensive and simple. Anyone can do it. If diplomatic services are well aware of how Wikipedia works and the norms that govern the platform,, they can easily use Wikipedia as part of their public diplomacy efforts, through editing and shaping messages. 5. Select the most effective digital platform for your needs Websites are the most dominant digital platform: 170 ministries of foreign affairs (MFAs) have their own websites through which they communicate with the public.
Twitter is the most popular social media platform among MFAs, followed by Facebook, according to a recent survey of the use of digital platforms by MFAs. The selection of a digital platform will depend on many factors, including the target audience, and the availability of human resources for maintaining the ministry's online presence on the platform. 6. Put diplomats, particularly young officials, in the driving seat E-tools and procedures cannot be easily imposed on existing team members. They need to grow bottom-up from working diplomats. Sometimes, initiatives to use new technologies come from diplomats themselves, often those with an interest in the Internet. With a technologically-savvy young generation, this is becoming more common. Sometimes, techies should just nudge diplomats to start using certain tools. Most successful digital diplomacy projects (e.g. USA, UK, India) have been led by diplomats. 7. Encourage early adopters, but do not punish laggers There are different speeds in the adoption of digital diplomacy, often mirroring generational differences and levels of interest in technology. While leaders in digital diplomacy should be encouraged to join in, it is extremely important to avoid a division into 'two-track diplomatic services'. Clear, motivating efforts should be made to encourage, train, and engage 'digital diplomacy laggers'. They may not have all of the necessary social media skills or interests, but they probably bring in extensive diplomatic knowledge and experience, including writing skills. A bit of patience and innovation can generate enormous results by involving experienced diplomats in digital diplomacy processes. 8. Learn from others, with necessary caution Learning from others and being open to innovative ideas are given prerequisites for successful digital diplomacy. However, there are certain limitations on the transfer of expertise and experience from other domains. First, learning from the business sector is limited by the specific professional culture and institutional dynamism of diplomatic services. One can learn a lot from others about how to operate a social media account or campaign. Yet, the more the discussion becomes organizational (related to motivation, procedures, risk management, etc.), the less relevant this external expertise would be. Second, there are limits to learning from other diplomatic services. Big countries, such as the USA, UK, China, Russia, and India, have different aims, as well as different resources for digital diplomacy than smaller ones. Bigger countries also try to address a wider global public. Medium and small states have fewer resources, but usually, they also have fewer demands on them. As a result, their campaigns are usually more targeted. For small countries, the experience of countries such as Estonia, Singapore, and Latvia is particularly relevant. 9. Return on investment Traditionally, digital development costs have been associated with hardware and software. Today, these costs are minimal, which is why people often perceive social media as being 'free'. But social media requires a lot of staff time, which is becoming a precious resource. For example, in 2012 the US Department of State had
already 150 staff working exclusively on social media, as well as other staff dedicating part of their working time to social media support tasks. Human resource expenses are the main element of investment which should be used in calculating an entity's return on investment. II. SECURITY 10. Cybersecurity is about risk management Digital data is like water. Once it is released, it is naturally drawn to any possible path to leak. You must start from the assumption that you cannot construct a bullet-proof digital system. What you can do is manage the risk. Ultimately, you have to decide what level of risk your organization can tolerate. This is particularly important in the use of social media, where openness and engagement increase cyber risk. Once you decide what level of cyber risk you can tolerate, you have to implement the necessary cybersecurity measures. Technology is indispensable for cybersecurity, but it is rarely a stand-alone solution. Security breaches can usually be traced back to some kind of human error. A lot can be achieved by increasing digital hygiene, training your staff, creating smart cybersecurity procedures, and preparing mitigation procedures to ensure rapid response when a breach does, inevitably, occur. 11. You cannot succeed without failure. Make sure that failures are contained and that lessons are learned The tolerance of failure is the main field of tension between diplomacy and social media cultures. Diplomacy is a risk-avoidance profession by its very nature. Social media projects have an in-built possibility for failure. Many social initiatives fail. By being prepared for failure, you can enjoy your success even more. III. TIME – TIMING – TEMPO 12. Be aware of the time needed: one day – one month – one-year dynamics Digital diplomacy has a very low entry point; i.e. one can learn how to use Twitter or Facebook in just one day. However, at the same time, new users face a considerable challenge in communicating effectively using social media. It takes at least a month to start using these tools in a reasonably effective way (learning to listen and follow, acquiring the cultural context, and developing a unique social media voice). Even more time, at least one year is needed for an institution to effectively integrate social media into its operations. Social media use requires a change in communication habits and an organised daily routine. Such changes require time and patience. Paradoxically, the patience needed to effectively integrate social media does not correspond to the perception of immediacy that surrounds social media and the Internet world. The aspect of the time investment needed for digital diplomacy is often counter-intuitive. Digital and social media carry the implicit idea of the dominance of the 'now and immediate'. Yet the time needed to make an impact is often underestimated. 13. Experiment and try to be among the early adopters, but also occasionally benefit from a delayed start
Technologies change very fast. New tools emerge and new communities appear. You need to be aware of these changes. Over time, you can also develop an understanding of whether a new technology is a just more hype, or if it is something that is here to stay. Following the latest technological developments is very important, but it takes time and resources. Diplomats, in particular from small diplomatic teams, could, however, benefit from a delayed start in using new digital tools. On the condition that the start is scheduled at the point when the new technology begins moving to the so-called 'plateau of productivity' – so that no resources are wasted on ineffective uses of the technology. IV. CONTENT, CONTEXT,AND FAILURES 14. Content is king in an era where context is content Constant engagement and timely content attract followers and make your online presence vibrant. It can be in the form of a good tweet, a blog post, or a video clip. Content – and easy ways to navigate through it – is needed for a clear, engaging, and user-friendly website. Context is another 'king' or at least a 'prince'. Ultimately what matters is the context in which the content is presented. Effective contextualized content showcases the immediate objective of the message (e.g. an event, a state visit, follow-up, a topical discussion), its audience, and its timing. 15. Be aware of different audiences Social media reaches a wide variety of audiences. You have to be aware of the predominant audiences of the platform through which you send your message. Different platforms usually attract slightly different followers. It is also crucial to bear in mind the purpose of the message– which in turn redefines its intended audience and is reflected in the tone and language of the message. Typically, Instagram and Snapchat are used by a younger population. Facebook is a more 'mainstream' platform. Linkedin is mostly followed by professional communities. The popularity and demographics of each social media platform vary from country to country as well. 16. Try to separate official from informal communication channels Diplomacy and social media contain inherent tensions. Diplomacy is an official profession very often presented in long and not particularly engaging documents. Press releases are issued, treaties are signed, and notes verbales are exchanged. Their distribution is valuable for the media, and for others who follow national diplomacies. Yet, it is difficult to 'win the hearts and minds' of the general public through this type of document. The most effective solution to avoid miscommunication and confusion is to separate formal and informal communications. For example, the Indian MEA achieved this separation by creating an official channel for official announcements, and a public diplomacy channel for more creative and informal engagement with its social media audience. You can find official announcements at @MEAIndia and more informal public diplomacy content at @IndianDiplomacy. 17. Try to separate professional from a private communication in the digital space Separating professional from private communication is probably the main challenge for, and a potential weakness of, digital diplomacy. Diplomacy is often more than a profession. Practicing diplomacy does not end at the end of the working day.
Diplomats represent their countries 24/7. The dividing line between their professional and private lives therefore hardly exists. The Clintone-mail crisis is another prominent example of the difficulty in separating professional from private communication in digital spaces. Indian diplomacy insists on separating professional from private digital communication sometimes. The successes and failures in this policy could offer more relevant lessons for other diplomatic services. 18. You cannot control the message in social media, and sometimesthe medium is the message Traditionally, diplomatic services have tended to control the interpretation of the message by domestic and foreign publics (selection of media, reducing ambiguity, etc.). In the social media space, it is almost impossible to control the interpretation of messages. Diplomatic services should be aware of this risk. 19. Prepare for difficulties in advance, during sunny days'
Crises and difficulties will come sooner or later in your digital diplomacy efforts. Prepare in advance. The best preparation consists of building and maintaining your credibility within the community that follows you. Credibility requires time and effort. Once you are exposed to criticism, the best insurance policy you have is your followers and your social media community. V. MAXIMISE KNOWLEDGE AND HIDDEN RESOURCES 20. The most important digital diplomacy resource is found in the knowledge and experience of your diplomats. Make sure to use them. Diplomatic services are rich with expertise and knowledge. These resources are usually underutilized because of the complexity and priorities of organizational and professional structures. Diplomatic services have to move from the traditional need-to-know principle to a need-to-share principle. This decision creates certain trade-offs, since the need-to-share provides access to a wider number of officials and, ultimately, increases the chances for leaks. This trade-off is worth accepting, given the importance of the internal sharing of information for the efficient running of modern diplomatic services and for effective public diplomacy in particular. 21. Diplomats are writers and social media is about writing The primary tool of diplomacy is the written language. As Italian authors, Baldi and Baldocci stressed, 'diplomats are born with a pen in their hand.' Yes, diplomacy happens in corridors and at dinners, but ultimately, diplomatic deals have to be put onto paper, even if this has transformed into an electronic version. Within diplomatic services, the ability to write informative and concise reports is often a criterion for diplomatic professionalism and advances in career. With this centrality of writing, diplomats are already trained and prepared to begin the practice of social media and digital diplomacy.
This could explain why the Indian diplomatic service is so successful in digital diplomacy. The Indian diplomatic service has given us many prominent writers. One example is Ambassador Vikas Swarup, the current spokesperson of the MEA, and leader of its digital diplomacy project. His 2005 novel 'Q&A' was adapted into the Oscar-winning movie 'SlumdogMillionaire'.
VI. TRAINING AND SUPPORT FOR DIGITAL DIPLOMATS
22. Presumed competences of digital diplomats
Diplomats should have sufficient skills and knowledge to judge what they can, and what they cannot publish on social media. They are often recruited after a very competitive selection process. The UK introduced the principle of presumed competencies of their officials. If this is taken as a starting point, digital diplomacy can be introduced in simple ways. The ministry, however, still needs to train diplomats and develop crisis management mechanisms (in case something goes wrong).
23. Build learning into your digital organisation
The division between senior and junior diplomats could be a barrier, but also a great opportunity. They have a lot to offer to each other. Senior diplomats have a lot of experience and knowledge about the diplomatic profession. Junior diplomats tend to be masters of social media.If you manage this dichotomy intelligently, you can turn a potential obstacle into a great opportunity, and allow two generations to learn from each other in an interactive, productive way.
24. Social management for social media
Even the term 'social media indicates a need to use a social approach in its management. This is not about technology. It is about understanding the required professional culture and dynamics. It is about dealing with the challenges social media presents to traditional hierarchies in diplomatic services. The key is to reduce the number of those who are excluded from digital diplomacy processes. Social media and digital diplomacy can create convergence and new energy within diplomatic services.
25. Training, training, training(and practice, practice,practice)
and finally, it is important to engage in just-in-time and ongoing training programmes. India's MEA has clearly reconfirmed our insights that training curriculums must adapt very quickly when working with innovative technologies. New technologies often have to be adopted very quickly. In addition, training must be supplemented by coaching. Social media coaches should be available to help in critical moments. Curriculum for training ranges from the 'one-day' aspect (learning basic technical skills)to more comprehensive training.
About Dr Pratik Mungekar
1) He is the first Indian to be appointed as the planetary Minister of Sustainable Development of Newly emerging The Kingdom of Atlantis (a Decentralized Sovereign Kingdom)
2) He is the first youngest Indian whose book Introduction to Sustainable Development Goals (Non-Academic) is now part of the Atlantean Education program.
3) He is the first youngest Indian to receive 300+ Honorary Doctorates from all over the world.
4)He is the first youngest Indian professor who taught more than 8000+ Students & Career guided 4000+ Students to date & the count is still on.
5) He is the first Indian who has 850+ International, National & State Awards 6 National Patents, 15 World Records at the age of 28 for his contribution in the field of Teaching & Research.
6) He is the first youngest Indian to receive 125+ Honorary High Degrees across the Globe.
7) He is the first Indian to be appointed by 45+ International organizations on various High-positions at the same time.
8) He is the first youngest Indian to be appointed as Ambassador by 46 organizations of many countries in almost all disciplines.
9) He is the first Indian youngest professor to start teaching at the age of sixteen, the age of twenty Seven He has completed twelve years of Teaching.<


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Biografia
Franciszek Misztal nasce il 15 marzo 1901 nel villaggio di Lisie Jamy, vicino a Lubaczów. Nel 1921 si diploma presso la scuola superiore a Leopoli, iscrivendosi poi alla locale Università. Come studente, nel 1924, riceve un posto di lavoro come assistente presso il Dipartimento di Meccanica dell'Università. Allo stesso tempo presta servizio presso l'Unione degli Studenti Aviatori dell'Università di Leopoli. Qui sviluppa un particolare interesse per la tecnica aeronautica. Si laurea in ingegneria meccanica nel 1926, completando l'anno di lavoro come assistente. Per approfondire le proprie conoscenze nel settore del trasporto aereo, nel 1927 si reca ad Aquisgrana dove studia presso il locale Istituto Politecnico di aerodinamica. Allo stesso tempo mantiene i contatti con il professor Czeslaw Witoszyńskim, direttore dell'Istituto aerodinamico di Varsavia. Nel 1929 completa gli studi ad Aquisgrana dove ottiene il diploma di dottore in aerodinamica.

Nel frattempo, per studiare ad Aquisgrana, aveva fatto il pendolare perché nel 1928 era stato assunto come progettista indipendente presso la fabbrica di stato Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze di Varsavia, dove lavorò fino allo scoppio della guerra, il 1º settembre 1939. Presso la PZL applica praticamente tutta la sua conoscenza, impegnandosi nei lavori di progettazione di numerosi aerei. Negli anni trenta diviene uno dei progettisti aeronautici più famosi, distinguendosi per l'alta creatività della sua produzione. Collabora alla progettazione dell'aereo da trasporto passeggeri PZL.4 (1929), dei velivoli sportivi PZL.19 e PZL.26, dell'aereo da ricognizione e bombardamento PZL.23 Karaś (cassone alare). Come capo progettista sviluppa il prototipo del caccia bimotore PZL.38 Wilk e del suo successore PZL.48 Lampart. Quest'ultimo prototipo non viene completato a causa dello scoppio della guerra. Nella primavera del 1939 elabora il progetto preliminare del bimotore da caccia PZL.54 Ryś. Collabora anche, parzialmente, allo sviluppo del velivolo da addestramento PWS-33 Wyżeł.

Durante l'occupazione tedesca della Polonia Misztal rimane nel paese. Tra il 1940 ed il 1944 insegna meccanica presso la Facoltà di Ingegneria Wawelberg e Rotwand di Varsavia. Dopo la liberazione prese parte attiva nella ricostruzione dell'aeronautica polacca. Iniziò a lavorare presso la compagnia aerea LOT, dove fu capo del dipartimento tecnico (1945-1946). Allo stesso tempo si impegnò nella ricostruzione del settore del trasporto aereo attraverso la partecipazione a comitati di sviluppo per la costruzione di progetti aeronautici. Per il settore del trasporto aereo, nel corso del 1946, fu nominato direttore del Centro Studi Aeronautici (Centralnego Studium Samolotów) di Varsavia-Okecie, che organizzò totalmente. L'ingegner Misztal fu in grado di riunire progettisti, personale tecnico e operai che avevano lavorato nello stabilimento della PZL prima della guerra. Sotto la sua direzione il C.S.S. progettò gli aerei da addestramento CSS-10A, CSS-10C, CSS-11 e l'aereo da trasporto passeggeri CSS-12.

Nei primi anni del dopoguerra Misztal condusse estese operazioni volte a ricostruire e a far rinascere la forza aerea polacca, prestando servizio ovunque ci fosse bisogno di lui. Nel 1945 prese parte al rilancio dell'Aero Club di Varsavia e collaborò fortemente all'organizzazione dell'Aviazione Universitaria. Già nello stesso anno aveva iniziato i colloqui per la costruzione di aerei presso il Dipartimento dell'aviazione della Scuola di Ingegneria Meccanica dell'Università Wawelberg e Rotwand. Tali lavori di costruzione aeronautiche procedettero fino al 1951. Nel mese di ottobre del 1947 fu nominato professore aggiunto presso il Politecnico di Varsavia, prendendo parte attiva nell'organizzazione dello studio sugli aeroporti civili polacchi. Nel marzo del 1948 gli venne data la cattedra di professore. Nello stesso anno prese parte al rilancio della rivista aeronautica Technika Lotnicza, entrando nella composizione della sua redazione. Nel 1950 l'ingegner Misztal fu tolto dal lavoro nel settore aerospaziale, focalizzando interamente la sua attività sull'insegnamento universitario e sulla ricerca. Nel 1951 organizzò, e diresse per molti anni, il Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica Aeronautica dell'Università di Varsavia. Dopo la sua riorganizzazione divenne Capo Dipartimento, ricoprendo quella posizione fino al 1970, anno in cui andò in pensione. Negli anni 1954-1956 fu Preside della Facoltà di Aviazione del Politecnico (Wydziału Lotniczego Politechniki), presidente della sezione aeronautica del Consiglio della S. I.M.P. (1953-1955), pubblicando allo stesso tempo diversi articoli su riviste scientifiche.

Dopo il 1955 tornò a lavorare nel settore aerospaziale, dirigendo l'ufficio di progettazione dell'Istituto di Aeronautica (Instytucie Lotnictwa), in cui disegnò due aerei da trasporto passeggeri, entrambi non realizzati, l'FM-11 e l'FM-12 ed un velivolo da caccia FM-13.
Il 1956 fu un anno di straordinari cambiamenti per l'aeronautica polacca. Misztal si impegnò socialmente nei lavori della Commissione Storica dell'Aeroclub polacco, nella riattivazione dei voli in mongolfiera e nell'organizzazione del Klubu Seniorów Lotnictwa (Aeroclub seniores). Allo stesso tempo, associato con la sua attività presso l'Accademia polacca delle scienze, lavorò presso il Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica. Dal 1957 lavorò alla realizzazione del Centro per la progettazione dell'equipaggiamento per le comunicazioni aeronautiche (Ośrodku Konstrukcji Lotniczych Wytwórni Sprzętu Komunikacyjnego) di Varsavia-Okecie, mentre negli anni successivi fu consulente presso l'ufficio della realizzazione dell'impianto. Nel 1959, insieme con il professor Leszek Duleba, progetta e realizza l'aereo da trasporto passeggeri e per rilievi aerofotogrammetrici PZL MD-12.

Negli anni 1960-1965 fu Segretario della IV Divisione delle Scienze tecniche dell'Accademia polacca delle scienze, ed allo stesso tempo divenne membro del Presidio del P.A.S. (1960-1972). Venne poi nominato vicesegretario alle Scienze tecniche del P.A. N. (1966-1968). Nel 1964 fu nominato membro dell'Accademia delle Scienze. Da allora fu anche membro della rivista Archiwum Budowy Maszyn e poi, dal 1972, ne divenne direttore editoriale. Nonostante il suo pensionamento, avvenuto nel 1970, mantenne sempre i contatti con l'Istituto di Aeronautica, la Facoltà di Idroaerodinamica e quella di Ingegneria Aeronautica del Politecnico di Varsavia, dove fece numerose conferenze e consulti e partecipò alla ricerca scientifica. Egli, tra gli altri, partecipò agli studi sull'uso dei laminati nella costruzione degli alianti e collaborò con il centro sperimentale Szybowcowymi Zakłady Szybowcowymi di Bielsko-Biala.

Franciszek Misztal fu per tutta la sua vita un appassionato sostenitore dello sviluppo del settore del trasporto aereo in Polonia, ostinatamente combattuto tra l'opportunità di costruire un paese indipendente dopo la guerra, e un sistema di trasporto aereo, addestramento e volo sportivo di piccole dimensioni.
Morì a Varsavia il 9 giugno 1981, all'età di 80 anni.

Pubblicazioni
Przewietrzanie tunelu warszawskiego Dworca Śródmieście (1929-1930)
O wytrzymałości rur cienkościennych (1930)
Doświadczalne sprawdzenie teorii zginania belek prostych o przekrojach wiotkich (1931)
Sterowanie poprzeczne samolotem za pomocą klapek odchylających (1934)
Pomiar i analiza naprężeń i odkształceń kesonowej konstrukcji skrzydła z blachy falistej (1938)

Realizzazioni
PZL.4
PZL.19
PZL.23 Karaś
PZL.38 Wilk
PZL.48 Lampart
PZL.54 Ryś
PWS-33 Wyżeł
CSS-10A
CSS-10C
CSS-11
CSS-12
FM-11
FM-12
FM-13
PZL MD-12

Bibliografia

Konieczny, Jerzy Ryszard, Malinowski Tadeusz. "Mała encyklopedia lotników polskich. Tomik II. Wydawnictwa Komunikacji i Łączności. Warszawa 1988. ISBN 83-206-0734-5, p. 75

Altri progetti

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Bird's-eye view of the plan. Paris Spatiale is the first grand scale proposal of the Ville Spatiale. It's objective was to extend the space to live in the city, without demolishing the existing and without forcing the less fortunate in the periphery. Here the Ville Spatiale is drawn over the existing borderlines of Paris (France) on the north, east and south (below).
Collection Museum of Modern Art, New York Courtesy of Marianne Homiridis
Bird's-eye view of the plan. Paris Spatiale is the first grand scale proposal of the Ville Spatiale. It's objective was to extend the space to live in the city, without demolishing the existing and without forcing the less fortunate in the periphery. Here the Ville Spatiale is drawn over the existing borderlines of Paris (France) on the north (below), east and south.
Photomontage of bird's eye view of the Ville Spatiale over the riverbank of the Seine on the west side of the centre of Paris.
To visualize the idea of a Ville Spatiale, Friedman made photomontages of well known city sites of Paris (France).
Collection Centre Pompidou, musée national d'art moderne, Paris (France) Courtesy of Marianne Homiridis
Photomontage of bird's eye view of the Ville Spatiale over the Seine and one of its banks on the west side of the centre of Paris.
Photomontage of bird's eye view of the Ville Spatiale on the west side of the centre of Paris.
Photomontage of a Ville Spatiale over a street in the city centre of Paris.
To visualize the idea of a Ville Spatiale, Friedman made photomontages of well known city sites of Paris (France). These drawings were meant as an illustration and were no serious proposals.
collection Centre Pompidou, musée national d'art moderne , Paris Courtesy of Marianne Homiridis
Year:1959-1970
Photomontage of a Ville Spatiale over the river Seine in the city centre of Paris.
Photomontage of a Ville Spatiale over the river Seine with a view of the Île de la Cité in the city centre of Paris.
Photomontage of a Ville Spatiale over the Île de la Cité in the city centre of Paris.
Photomontage of a Ville Spatiale over the Place de la Concorde in the city centre of Paris.
Photomontage of a Ville Spatiale over the Champs Élysées with a view of the Arc de Triomphe in the city centre of Paris.
Photomontage of a Ville Spatiale over the Seine in the heart of Paris. The individual dwellings seem afloat in the space frame.
Photomontage of a Ville Spatiale crossing high up over the town and the Seine in the heart of Paris.
Drawing of a boulevard in Paris with a Ville Spatiale in the middle.
To visualize the idea of a Ville Spatiale, Friedman used well known city sites. These drawings were meant as an illustration and were no serious proposals.
Photomontage with an aerial view of a Ville Spatiale over a traffic and parking area .

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
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Dallas Cowboys linebacker James Anderson performs an exercise that develops explosiveness, lower-body stability, and first-step quickness.
This fall, linebacker James Anderson, will be entering his tenth season in the NFL, signed last December by the Dallas Cowboys. Judging from his Instagram feed, Anderson is relentless about his weight room workouts, and he often posts videos of himself working on everything from boxing skills to footwork drills, from Hang Cleans to single-leg strength.
An exercise Anderson posted recently caught our attention, because it simultaneously promotes upper-body and core explosiveness as well as lower-body stability and first-step quickness, to help him blast off the line of scrimmage. First he performs an explosive Push-Up, landing in a Forward Lunge. Then he grabs a med ball in front and pushes forward with his front leg.
This fall, linebacker James Anderson, will be entering his tenth season in the NFL, signed last December by the Dallas Cowboys. Judging from his Instagram feed, Anderson is relentless about his weight room workouts, and he often posts videos of himself working on everything from boxing skills to footwork drills, from Hang Cleans to single-leg strength.


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The Executive Director and Production Manager of ExxonMobil Nigeria, Mr Richard Laing, has firmly debunked reports that the oil firm was planning to exit the country.
Mr Laing reacted to the exit rumour when Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, visited the ERHA FPSO operated by ExxonMobil Nigeria.
The ExxonMobil executive said the ERHA field is located in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 133 and ExxonMobil Nigeria holds a 56.25 percent participating interest while Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) holds the remaining 43.75 percent share.
The Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) has about 2.2 million barrels of storage capacity making it one of the largest of its kind, globally.
During the visit, the Minister the visit not only marks a defining one for the nation but also highlights a personal achievement for him considering that he took on his current portfolio from his then position as the Executive Vice Chairman of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited and General Counsel for ExxonMobil Nigeria affiliate Upstream and Downstream Companies in Nigeria.
It was disclosed that the visit to the FPSO's was to provoke the Oil Production Fields of Nigeria to ramp up their crude production and unlock gas in line with the Gas Revolution Agenda of the #7BigWins.
While addressing key business concerns of Exxon Mobil, Mr Kachikwu urged them to not only focus on the profitability of the firm but also on giving back to the society having been doing business around the country for a long time.
He commended the crew on behalf of federal government of Nigeria for their Sacrifice, urgency of attention and value addition while conveying President Muhammadu Buhari's deep commitment to the welfare of those on the production fields.
Mr Kachikwu name-checked the Department of Petroleum Resources' automation initiatives that include Crude Oil and LNG Tracking (COLT), Automatic Downstream System (ADS), Accelerated Lease Renewal Program (ALRP) and others. He also referenced the community engagement drive of the organization evidenced by the peace and harmony seen in operating areas.


Mary Lloyd Moore, executive director of the Suzanne Vitale Clinical Education Complex at WKU, announces the new 'LifeWorks at WKU' program.
An innovative residential program to prepare adults with autism spectrum disorder for transition to the workforce was announced April 12 at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green.
Mary Lloyd Moore is executive director of the Suzanne Vitale Clinical Education Complex at WKU. She said the project called 'LifeWorks at WKU' will begin in the Fall of 2020.
"We plan for it to be a two-year residential program whereby there will be supported living, supported employment, supported community engagement, and education for relationship skills in the community at home and in life," said Moore.
She said the residence will be apartment living located within a block of the Clinical Education Complex. It will house up to 26 people.
She said state-mandated services for people with disabilities end when they reach 21 and the new program will fill a critical gap.
Moore said the innovative program could become a model for Kentucky and the nation. The program is affiliated with WKU, but is privately funded by community supporters.
The Clinical Education Complex has been working with several community partners since 2015 to develop the LifeWorks at WKU program to help individuals with autism spectrum disorder transition to independent living, secure employment and engage in commmunity and leisure activities. Community partners include LifeSkills, Bowling Green Housing Authority, Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Sunrise Children's Services and Wabuck Development company.
The Clinical Education Complex was created in 2006 when the university responded to the community need for trained autism professionals to support families and children from age two through high school. The Kelly Autism Program's Circle of Support, founded in 2003, serves WKU students with autism. The addtion of LifeWorks at WKU will now serve individuals on the autism spectrum for as long as services are needed.
Moore said parents will of those with ASD will pay for the residential program.
She said there are few programs similar to LifeWorks at WKU and the Bowling Green initiative is unique because it is attached to a university. The program will offer training opportunities for students in academic programs including medicine, social work, communication disorders, psychology and counseling.
An Owensboro nonprofit that serves people with developmental disabilities is suspending its autism program. The CEO says the autism program will undergo a major restructuring to better serve its clients, who are students in elementary, middle and high school.
Wendell Foster is a nonprofit that's been serving people with disabilities for 72 years. The autism program began as a satellite location for the Kelly Autism Program at Western Kentucky University, but eventually the Owensboro program became independent.
The current autism program in Owensboro has been offered as an afterschool program a few hours a week, which has an average of 15-20 students, and a summer camp three days a week, which usually has about 30 students.


text:
#ifndef AV1_COMMON_ENTROPYMODE_H_
#define AV1_COMMON_ENTROPYMODE_H_

#include "av1/common/entropy.h"
#include "av1/common/entropymv.h"
#include "av1/common/filter.h"
#include "av1/common/seg_common.h"
#include "aom_dsp/aom_filter.h"

#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif

#define BLOCK_SIZE_GROUPS 4

#define TX_SIZE_CONTEXTS 2

#define INTER_OFFSET(mode) ((mode)-NEARESTMV)

struct AV1Common;

struct tx_probs {
  aom_prob p32x32[TX_SIZE_CONTEXTS][TX_SIZES - 1];
  aom_prob p16x16[TX_SIZE_CONTEXTS][TX_SIZES - 2];
  aom_prob p8x8[TX_SIZE_CONTEXTS][TX_SIZES - 3];
};

struct tx_counts {
  unsigned int p32x32[TX_SIZE_CONTEXTS][TX_SIZES];
  unsigned int p16x16[TX_SIZE_CONTEXTS][TX_SIZES - 1];
  unsigned int p8x8[TX_SIZE_CONTEXTS][TX_SIZES - 2];
  unsigned int tx_totals[TX_SIZES];
};

struct seg_counts {
  unsigned int tree_total[MAX_SEGMENTS];
  unsigned int tree_mispred[MAX_SEGMENTS];
  unsigned int pred[PREDICTION_PROBS][2];
};

typedef struct frame_contexts {
  aom_prob y_mode_prob[BLOCK_SIZE_GROUPS][INTRA_MODES - 1];
  aom_prob uv_mode_prob[INTRA_MODES][INTRA_MODES - 1];
  aom_prob partition_prob[PARTITION_CONTEXTS][PARTITION_TYPES - 1];
  av1_coeff_probs_model coef_probs[TX_SIZES][PLANE_TYPES];
  aom_prob
      switchable_interp_prob[SWITCHABLE_FILTER_CONTEXTS]
                            [SWITCHABLE_FILTERS - 1];

#if CONFIG_REF_MV
  aom_prob newmv_prob[NEWMV_MODE_CONTEXTS];
  aom_prob zeromv_prob[ZEROMV_MODE_CONTEXTS];
  aom_prob refmv_prob[REFMV_MODE_CONTEXTS];
  aom_prob drl_prob0[DRL_MODE_CONTEXTS];
  aom_prob drl_prob1[DRL_MODE_CONTEXTS];
#endif

  aom_prob inter_mode_probs[INTER_MODE_CONTEXTS][INTER_MODES - 1];
  aom_prob intra_inter_prob[INTRA_INTER_CONTEXTS];
  aom_prob comp_inter_prob[COMP_INTER_CONTEXTS];
  aom_prob single_ref_prob[REF_CONTEXTS][2];
  aom_prob comp_ref_prob[REF_CONTEXTS];
  struct tx_probs tx_probs;
  aom_prob skip_probs[SKIP_CONTEXTS];
#if CONFIG_REF_MV
  nmv_context nmvc[NMV_CONTEXTS];
#else
  nmv_context nmvc;
#endif
#if CONFIG_MISC_FIXES
  struct segmentation_probs seg;
#endif
  aom_prob intra_ext_tx_prob[EXT_TX_SIZES][TX_TYPES][TX_TYPES - 1];
  aom_prob inter_ext_tx_prob[EXT_TX_SIZES][TX_TYPES - 1];
  int initialized;
} FRAME_CONTEXT;

typedef struct FRAME_COUNTS {
  unsigned int kf_y_mode[INTRA_MODES][INTRA_MODES][INTRA_MODES];
  unsigned int y_mode[BLOCK_SIZE_GROUPS][INTRA_MODES];
  unsigned int uv_mode[INTRA_MODES][INTRA_MODES];
  unsigned int partition[PARTITION_CONTEXTS][PARTITION_TYPES];
  av1_coeff_count_model coef[TX_SIZES][PLANE_TYPES];
  unsigned int
      eob_branch[TX_SIZES][PLANE_TYPES][REF_TYPES][COEF_BANDS][COEFF_CONTEXTS];
  unsigned int
      switchable_interp[SWITCHABLE_FILTER_CONTEXTS][SWITCHABLE_FILTERS];

#if CONFIG_REF_MV
  unsigned int newmv_mode[NEWMV_MODE_CONTEXTS][2];
  unsigned int zeromv_mode[ZEROMV_MODE_CONTEXTS][2];
  unsigned int refmv_mode[REFMV_MODE_CONTEXTS][2];
  unsigned int drl_mode0[DRL_MODE_CONTEXTS][2];
  unsigned int drl_mode1[DRL_MODE_CONTEXTS][2];
#endif

  unsigned int inter_mode[INTER_MODE_CONTEXTS][INTER_MODES];
  unsigned int intra_inter[INTRA_INTER_CONTEXTS][2];
  unsigned int comp_inter[COMP_INTER_CONTEXTS][2];
  unsigned int single_ref[REF_CONTEXTS][2][2];
  unsigned int comp_ref[REF_CONTEXTS][2];
  struct tx_counts tx;
  unsigned int skip[SKIP_CONTEXTS][2];
#if CONFIG_REF_MV
  nmv_context_counts mv[NMV_CONTEXTS];
#else
  nmv_context_counts mv;
#endif
#if CONFIG_MISC_FIXES
  struct seg_counts seg;
#endif
  unsigned int intra_ext_tx[EXT_TX_SIZES][TX_TYPES][TX_TYPES];
  unsigned int inter_ext_tx[EXT_TX_SIZES][TX_TYPES];
} FRAME_COUNTS;

extern const aom_prob
    av1_kf_y_mode_prob[INTRA_MODES][INTRA_MODES][INTRA_MODES - 1];
#if !CONFIG_MISC_FIXES
extern const aom_prob av1_kf_uv_mode_prob[INTRA_MODES][INTRA_MODES - 1];
extern const aom_prob
    av1_kf_partition_probs[PARTITION_CONTEXTS][PARTITION_TYPES - 1];
#endif

extern const aom_tree_index av1_intra_mode_tree[TREE_SIZE(INTRA_MODES)];
extern const aom_tree_index av1_inter_mode_tree[TREE_SIZE(INTER_MODES)];
extern const aom_tree_index av1_partition_tree[TREE_SIZE(PARTITION_TYPES)];
extern const aom_tree_index
    av1_switchable_interp_tree[TREE_SIZE(SWITCHABLE_FILTERS)];

void av1_setup_past_independence(struct AV1Common *cm);

void av1_adapt_intra_frame_probs(struct AV1Common *cm);
void av1_adapt_inter_frame_probs(struct AV1Common *cm);

void av1_tx_counts_to_branch_counts_32x32(const unsigned int *tx_count_32x32p,
                                           unsigned int (*ct_32x32p)[2]);
void av1_tx_counts_to_branch_counts_16x16(const unsigned int *tx_count_16x16p,
                                           unsigned int (*ct_16x16p)[2]);
void av1_tx_counts_to_branch_counts_8x8(const unsigned int *tx_count_8x8p,
                                         unsigned int (*ct_8x8p)[2]);

extern const aom_tree_index av1_ext_tx_tree[TREE_SIZE(TX_TYPES)];

static INLINE int av1_ceil_log2(int n) {
  int i = 1, p = 2;
  while (p < n) {
    i++;
    p = p << 1;
  }
  return i;
}

#ifdef __cplusplus
}  // extern "C"
#endif

#endif  // AV1_COMMON_ENTROPYMODE_H_

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
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text:
On Freud, Rawls, Rose, the contrast between Analytic/Continental Philosophy, and Lewis-Kripke
Behind one half of Ferrante's pen name, Elena, is a tale from Greek mythology. According to a relatively little-known version of the story, Zeus rapes and impregnates, not Leda the swan, but Nemesis, who turns herself into a goose to escape him. She then lays an egg, found by a shepherd and handed to Leda, who nurtures it and out of which Elena is born, who is then raised by Leda, in Ferrante's suggestive formula, as 'her daughter-non-daughter'.4 It must be one of the earliest stories of surrogacy, as well as offering a model of motherhood without vested interest because it has embraced a stranger.--Jacuqeline Rose, Mothers: An Essay on Love and Cruelty, p. 146.
One important feature of the distinction between analytical and continental philosophy is that analytical philosophy is when not outright hostile to Freud/Freudianism, in its indifference to it, purportedly untouched by it.* This is most evident in the brief spectacle of the late twentieth century flowering of analytical Marxism--these hard-nosed men (it was really a boys club), which self-consciously set itself against the mushy forms of Marxism found in Paris and Frankfurt (and elsewhere). What's conspicuous about their (the analytical marxist) work is not the elegance and wit of their writings, but their inability to make visible how oppression as a social phenomenon generates, through violence and lies/ideology, the deformation, material and psychic, at the heart of of everybody's lives.+ (Of course, one can state and argue this without Freudian theory, but often without fertility.)
I think I can explain what I have in mind: John Rawls (to be sure no analytical Marxist), who read more widely than most analytic philosophers, discusses Freud briefly several time in Theory of Justice in the context of the significance of moral education. For Rawls Freud is somebody who, first, offers cautionary warnings about taking moral sentiments at face value due to their being rooted in processes of "conflict and stress" (TJ, 459); second, he treats Freud as, we may say, a Nietzschean, who offers a kind of error theory for the sense of justice (and, in so doing, mistakenly conflates envy and resentment). (Susan Moller Okin has also noticed the first passage. She treats it as evidence of Rawls's blindness to Freud's sexism.) Rawls treats the grounds of the "conflict and stress" as mere psychological process to be overcome in adulthood (with the help, surprisingly enough, of "sound principles" that is, political philosophy) and not as expressing the effects of (ahh) a badly functioning basic structure(s) of society.**
I have come to think it's not Freudianism's dubious character as a science that accounts for analytic philosophy's hostility/indifference (or early analytic philosophy's flirtation with behaviorism), but rather something that G.A. Cohen mislabels as "acid Freudian skepticism:" that all given identities are at once (too) robust in their fixity and fragile in their vulnerability to fracturing. The effect of this acid is that identity becomes liquid. Such liquidity is played with in Derrida and embraced by Deleuze, and treated at arm's length in the analytic mainstream. For, while one may think that political philosophy and moral education are at the margin's of analytic philosophy's self-understanding -- despite the fact that (recall) the Strawson-Carnap debate pivots on it-- identity is central. I can't, of course, prove this point to you.
However, I think I can make it arresting. I hope you will forgive me if I use Kripke as a representative agent, as an exemplar. I want to return to Kripke's response to Lewis's counterpart theory. This response exhibits more than dispassionate philosophical disagreement. I reproduce most of the relevant footnote from Naming and Necessity:
Lewis's elegant paper also suffers from a purely formal difficulty: on his interpretation of quantified modality, the familiar law (y) ((x)A(x) ⊃ A(y) falls, if A(x) is allowed to contain modal operators. (For example, (∃y) ((x) ◊(x ≠y) is satisfiable but (∃y) ◊ (y ≠ y) is not.) Since Lewis's formal model follows rather naturally from his philosophical views on counterparts, and since the failure of universal instantiation for modal properties is intuitively bizarre, it seems to me that this failure constitutes an additional argument against the plausibility of his philosophical views. There are other, lesser, formal difficulties as well. I cannot elaborate here.
Strictly speaking, Lewis's view is not a view of 'transworld identification'. Rather, he thinks that similarities across possible worlds determine a counterpart relation which need be neither symmetric nor transitive. The counterpart of something in another possible world is never identical with the thing itself. Thus if we say 'Humphrey might have won the election (if only he had done such-and-such), we are not talking about something that might have happened to Humphrey but to someone else, a "counterpart".' Probably, however, Humphrey could not care less whether someone else, no matter how much resembling him, would have been victorious in another possible world.
Thus, Lewis's view seems to me even more bizarre than the usual notions of transworld identification that it replaces. The important issues, however, are common to the two views: the supposition that other possible worlds are like other dimensions of a more inclusive universe, that they can be given only by purely qualitative descriptions, and that therefore either the identity relation or the counterpart relation must be established in terms of qualitative resemblance.
Many have pointed out to me that the father of counterpart theory is probably Leibnitz. I will not go into such a historical question here. It would also be interesting to compare Lewis's views with the Wheeler-Everett interpretation of quantum mechanics. I suspect that this view of physics may suffer from philosophical problems analogous to Lewis's counterpart theory; it is certainly very similar in spirit.
Notice that Kripke repeatedly treats Lewis' position as bizarre. (It is quite amazing, actually, to see a formal difficulty itself be explicated in terms of what seems intuitively bizarre.) The one other time (right at the start) in Naming and Necessity where Kripke treats a view as bizarre is the denial of the indiscernability of identicals. (Notably he treats the denial of it as on par as the denial of the 'law of contradiction.') My point here is not to claim that Kripke's critique of Lewis isn't well motivated or un-argued.++ Kripke is not cheating. And my present purpose is not to defend Lewis (although regular readers know I think counterpart theory grasps something fundamental about self-identity.)
Rather, I am marking that Kripke's hostility (the repeated bizarre) expresses something that goes beyond mere disagreement. As Freud notes in a very different context (dreams, etc.), treating something as bizarre is a mechanism by which we allow ourselves to ignore something important. It's to Kripke's credit that he explains why Lewis' position must be set aside. Kripke says that the most important point (of disagreement) is that for Lewis the identity relation, including self-identity, must be established in terms of qualitative resemblance.*** Kripke's emphatic ''bizarre" betrays how he recoils from the (ahh) instability this generates.
Continue reading "On Freud, Rawls, Rose, the contrast between Analytic/Continental Philosophy, and Lewis-Kripke" »
Posted at 02:01 PM in analytic philosophy, David Lewis, Freud, logic, Marxism, political philosophy, Rawls | Permalink | Comments (4)
A Minor Debate: Kripke vs Dennett
As will be seen immediately, inversion in this sense is a devise for reversing priorities. William James summarized his famous theory of emotions (The Principles of Psychology)...by the assertion, "...the...rational statement is that we feel sorry because we cry...not that we cry...because we are sorry. (p. 450). Many philosophies can be summed up crudely (no doubt, not really accurately) by slogans in similar form: "We do not condemn certain acts because they are immoral; they are immoral because we condemn them." "We do not accept the law of contradiction because it is a necessary truth; it is a necessary truth because we accept it (by convention." "Fire and heat are not constantly conjoined because fire causes heat; fire causes heat because they are constantly conjoined" (Hume). "We do not all say 12+7-19 and the like because all grasp the concept of addition; we say we all grasp the concept of addition because we all say 12+7=19 and the like" (Wittgenstein).
The device of inversion of a conditional in the text achieves the effect of reversing priorities in a way congenial to such slogans. Speaking for myself, I am suspicious of philosophical positions of the types illustrated by the slogans, whether or not they are so crudely put." Saul Kripke (1982) Wittgenstein on Rules, pp. 93-4 note 76. [HT Jody Azzouni]
In the "preface" to Wittgenstein on Rules, Kripke informs the reader "with "emphasis" that "in this piece of writing" he does not "attempt to speak'" for himself, "or, except in occasional and minor asides, to say anything about" his "views on the substantive issues." (ix) Thus, the present topic is perfect for a Digression.
The quoted passage is a footnote to a restatement (and elucidation) by Kripke of an interpretation he has just given of a politically salient element of Wittgenstein's view as understood by Kripke. (At this point of the overall 'argument' Kripke is presenting Wittgenstein's 'skeptical solution' to the rule following 'paradox.') A deviant individual may be "judged a madman" by the community if his responses do not accord with the community's in enough cases. To be mad by the community's lights is to be (thought) to follow "no coherent rule at all." And then it excludes him from some transactions "such as the one between the grocer and the customer." (93) On this view, ordinary commercial life presupposes, for example, being a member in good standing of a community.* Somebody whose behaviors can be relied upon.
An impatient reader may be annoyed that I call the discussion 'politically' salient here. On this picture of communal life, from within the community there is almost no difference between the madman, the outlaw (recall this post on Azzouni's aesthetics), the dissident, and the political revolutionary (until she usurps power successfully). A philosopher at odds with her own community better remain silent.
To return to the main point, or better Kripke's footnote, Kripke treats inversion as a device to shift attention and "reverses our priorities." (94) It is notable that Kripke, speaking in his own voice, strictly for himself (and, one may hasten to add, on nobody's authority) does not treat inversion as explanatory at all. Not to put too fine point on it, and to speak crudely for a moment, Kripke sees himself as unmasking a louche gimmick that is widespread in philosophy--William James is famous for some such trick, and so are Hume and Wittgenstein.**
As it happens, James's version of the inversion is Spinozistic in character: "Our natural way of thinking about these standard emotions is that the mental perception of some fact excites the mental affection called the emotion, and that this latter state of mind gives rise to the bodily expression. . My thesis on the contrary is that the bodily changes follow directly the PERCEPTION of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur IS the emotion." (I am not claiming that James is committed to attribute-parallelism here.) And it is notable that the one of the unnamed slogans [we do not condemn certain acts because they are immoral; they are immoral because we condemn them] is also Spinozistic (and Hobbesian).+ What James and Spinoza have in common is a willingness to treat our natural way of thinking as something that can be shown to be illusory even if there is also a sense in which this way of thinking, a manifest image of sorts, can not be eliminated fully from ordinary life.
One reason why Kripke is unmoved by the inversion, is that he sees in it merely a logical point, after all "a conditional is equivalent to a contrapositive." (94) (P--> Q); (-Q --> -P). In such instances, to treat the contrapositive as special and more worthy of our attention seems (ahh) crude no better than a slogan. (Of course, a slogan may well be true!)
But, that's not the end of the matter. Another influential reader of Wittgenstein, Daniel Dennett, treats such inversions as potentially explanatory. And that's because he does not treat them as merely logical. For we can represent how Dennett thinks of the inversions in the following way:
You may naturally think that some basic property X is required for the explanation of (observed) properties Y.
Where X exhibits some intelligence/mindedness/intentionality and Ys typically do not.
But in reality properties Y are needed to explain X.
Throughout his writings of the last decade, Dennett attributes some such strange inversion of reasoning as a key moment in Darwin (natural selection), Turing (computing), Hume (causation), and David Haig (content). It is undoubtedly the case that Dennett has a tendency to say, 'don't look there, look here.' And philosophical critics often trouble themselves with understanding what the point of Dennett's writings are. (Kripke does not mention Dennett, so if you are the sincere type, you can treat the title of my post as click-bait.)
But in Dennett (and James, Hume, etc.) the shift of attention is not the end of the matter, but a heuristic toward a better explanation of the thing (mind, computers, emotions, morality, natural selection, causation, etc.) we're trying to understand. And a key step is to give up, or forego, a natural way of thinking about the issue at hand. To do so frequently is indeed mad. But the first step to a better understanding may well require a willingness to be thought mad by one's community/peers.
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Posted at 03:03 PM in Adam Smith, Aesthetics, analytic philosophy, Daniel C. Dennett, David Hume, Jody Azzouni, Kuhn, logic, Wittgenstein | Permalink | Comments (0)
On the absence of Method(s) in analytic (Political) Philosophy
1. People like me, who have been trying to do philosophy for more than forty years, do in due course learn, if they're lucky, how to do what they've been trying to do: that is, they do learn how to do philosophy. But although I've learned how to do philosophy, nobody ever told me how do it, and, so far as I would guess, nobody will have told you how to do it, or is likely to tell you how to do it in the future. The most charitable explanation of that fact, the fact, that is, that nobody tells philosophy students how to do philosophy, is that it is impossible to explain to anybody how philosophy is to be done. The only way to teach people how to do it is by letting them watch, and listen, and imitate. The least charitable explanation of the self-same fact, the fact that we don't teach you how to do philosophy, is that those of us who have learned how to do it struggled so hard to get where we now are that we're now selfishly reluctant to give you some of the fruit of our struggle for free: we think you, too, should suffer. Probably there's some truth in each explanation.--G.A. Cohen "How to Do Political Philosophy" 225. [Edited by Mike Otsuka]
I am unsure if Cohen would have wished for these remarks to appear in print, but I am pleased Mike Otsuka included them in his edition. There is much in this short essay to ruminate on, and I hope to return to it again before long.
Once upon a time, Cohen teaches, professional (analytic) philosophers* were not trained in method. These days there are handbooks to philosophical method (edited by leading philosophers), even one on the methods (note the plural) in analytical political theory (which I am toying with buying). So, it may become hard to imagine to some readers what analytic philosophy was like in the days when its methods were not articulated yet. The previous sentence is deliberately equivocal between the scandalous thought that in earlier times [A] analytic philosophy was free of methods and the equally scandalous thought (the one G.A. Cohen entertains and considers plausibly true) that [B] the methods were kept quiet. Cohen adds to B the further rationalization/explanation [B*] that people may have thought -- perhaps because they repeatedly read the Meno or Protagoras -- the methods of philosophy cannot be explicitly taught/said, but have to be shown via example/exemplars.
Before I say more about [A-B-B*] and [C] the more sadistic-survivor-syndrom interpretation [recall "those of us who have learned how to do it struggled so hard to get where we now are that...we think you, too, should suffer"] as well as its close cousin [C*] the ungenerous interpretation ["we're now selfishly reluctant to give you some of the fruit of our struggle for free"], it is worth marking three features of Cohen's position (and again, for all I know he may well have not wished to publish this). First he is surprisingly immodest in his willingness to assert that he is now a proper exemplar who has "learned how to do philosophy." (I am not suggesting he is wrong.) Second, in the paper, he associates philosophy primarily with arguments. Much of his initial, primary advice is about how to think of one's arguments and what to aim for in them. In fact, these two features of Cohen are connected, in a sense, because what Cohen wishes to promote, it seems, is an understanding of philosophy as a kind of hyper-self-consciousness about the nature, aims, targets, and status of one's argument. (That is, the connection is not one of entailment; but Cohen seems to suggest that because he is in control of argument he can have a proper estimation of his own status.)**
And, third, it is a bit odd that if Cohen thinks philosophical method is about argument that (a) it was not taught and (b) that it would be all that difficult to teach. (That's compatible with few getting good at it.) I actually think this shows that the focus on argument is a bit of a red herring. For, Cohen also allows that
Sometimes one senses that a consideration has some sort of bearing on a controversy...and it is nevertheless worthwhile bringing the consideration forward, if only because it may provoke a discussion that leads to a clearer idea of the polemical significance of the consideration, that is, into which box(es) in our matrix it falls. One should aspire to clarity, but one should not avoid possible insight for the sake of avoiding unclarity. A bad way never to make a mistake is to shut up and say nothing. (226)
I am not suggesting Cohen is defending here the worth of argument-free insight, but he does seem to think that acquiring a certain amount of clarity and insight may be worth the price of argumentative muddle. I think Cohen is, in fact, rather skeptical about what arguments can achieve because he is extremely aware that what grounds (forgive the property metaphors) the occupation of philosophical territory is the commitment to a "point of view" (232) as "obvious." (It's not that arguments for these point of views don't exist; they do exist and can be refined and clarified greatly.) In this essay, Cohen does not say much more, I think, about how one comes to find oneself to occupy a philosophical territory, so we'll leave it at that. (One senses it's not so much Carnapian voluntarism as it is to be explained, if there is one, in an emotional commitment to certain values as non-relinquish-able.)
I do want to close with two alternative suggestions. I think the most charitable explanation of that fact that the methods of philosophy were not taught is that, to restate, [A] analytic philosophy was free of methods. (This is different from the claim that [D] the methods of (early to middle) analytical philosophy were not unified.) Now, I am aware that, at various point early analytic philosophers certainly discussed the methods of sciences; they also often claimed to be following a "method of analysis" or a methodized "logical analysis" or a "method of rational reconstruction."++ And their writings are full of proposals (for others) to follow some method or another, but it's by no means obvious that there was a method. (There are, rather, lots of attempts at articulating some method or another; recall my exchange with Dennett and his response on analysis; and also this post on the Strawson-Carnap exchange) .) To say that there was no method is not a criticism.
But it does lead me to the most uncharitable explanation of the silence over method: (recall) [E] it is a form of boundary policing. Under such a regime, outsiders are permanently mystified about the rules of the game because they don't know what move to make to acquire standing. [To put this in terms of a bad joke: insiders have Wittgenstein to explain the game to them; outsiders get bullied.] Obviously, the least charitable explanation need not be true. But there are plenty of incentives that are compatible with the truth.
If the least charitable explanation has some truth then it's a good thing that philosophy is being methodized. Of course, it need not follow that following philosophical method teaches you how to do philosophy.
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Posted at 10:41 PM in analytic philosophy, Carnap, Daniel C. Dennett, history of philosophy, logic, Meta-philosophy, Origin of Analytical Philosophy, Philosophical Enforcers, Philosophy of Education, Plato, Political Economy of Science, political philosophy, Professional Philosophy, Russell | Permalink | Comments (2)
A.N. Prior on Philosophical Regress
The clarifications achieved through ethical discussions of the eighteenth century were largely forgotten during the nineteenth, except by one or two, such as Archbishop Whately, who carried no great weight in the field of Moral Philosophy. But towards the end of the century we find the older and clearer language being spoken again by a moralist who commanded the attention of his fellows, namely Henry Sidgwick.--A.N. Prior (1946) Logic and the Basis of Ethics (Oxford), p. 36.
Prior here notes two phenomena: first, philosophical regress is genuinely possible even without the circumstances political or revolutionary destruction of the institutions of collective and professional memory. (Undeniably, there were serious changes between the eighteen and nineteenth century in Britain, but there was also great deal of political and pedagogical continuity.) Nor did he think that such regress is only possible prior to the modern research university. His favorite examples of philosophical regress come from the writings of E.F. Carritt (largely unfamiliar to me). Second, that even at a given time the market of ideas need not be efficient; who remembers or rediscovers X makes a great deal of difference: not all of us command "the attention" of our peers.
That the market in ideas need not be efficient is also clear from another commitment: that Whately (who was a fine economist, too) ought to have commanded more attention not just from his role of remembering the right things, but from the quality of his thought more generally. This his clear not so much from Prior's praise of Whately as a practitioner and popularizer of "the traditional formal logic which has come to us from Aristotle," (ix)* but from the closing line of his book, "Nor need any more be said in order to the establish the fact that Professor [G.E.] Moore's achievement has not been to work a revolution in Moral Philosophy, but simply to help keep alive, in our own age, the eighteen-century tradition of sanity and logical rigour which Sidgwick (with Huxley the agnostic beside him and Whately the Archbishop behind him) kept alive in his," (107) In particular, Whately's use of the argument from trivialization against Paley is analyzed in detail.
As an aside, the denial of a revolutionary status to Moore's writings in Moral Philosophy is undoubtedly a response to the overblown claims about Moore's role in founding a new kind of philosophy -- analytical philosophy. (Prior, a student of Findlay, who was educated in New Zealand, was not sociologically invested, as many are, in overpraising the founders of analytical philosophy.)
Given that Prior thinks that regress in moral philosophy is possible it is not surprise that Prior thought that revolutions in philosophy and other intellectual inquiries are impossible. While discussing the autonomy of ethics from other scientific enterprises, he cites with care (p.43) the work, The Scope and Method of Political Economy, of J.N. Keynes (Sidgwicks's "younger associate at Cambridge," the father of the economist, although Prior treats J.M. Keynes as a logician not an economist). This work by the elder Keynes lays out (recall) the Kuhnian analysis of scientific revolutions including the movement from immature to mature sciences (without the use of incommensurability thesis).
Prior does not really explain the causes of philosophical regress. He may not have a general theory of philosophical regress: "the tendency to fall into fallacious modes of reasoning is rather like an epidemic that breaks out during war." (26) It's pretty clear -- reading between the lines -- that he thinks that (Kantian or) Hegelian jargon is to blame for some of the lack of clarity of the nineteenth century. But he also thinks that certain kinds of regress can also set the stage for an improvement in theory:
"In Sidgwick there is far more than a revival of old positions; he develops them with a new subtlety, no doubt acquired in the process of threading his way through denser obscurities (in the work of his contemporaries) than any eighteenth-century writer had to cope with; but the positions which he thus develops are the old ones, and quite consciously so." (37)
I don't think that Prior thinks it was a good such (a la cunning of history) as such that Sidgwick had to plow through obscure stuff. But it turns out, perhaps, to have been salutary for Sidgwick in order to develop more fine-grained distinctions that helped diagnose errors in others.
It should be clear from the last few quoted passages, that Prior -- who is one of the greatest historians of philosophy -- tends not to see much novelty. Rather he evaluates other thinkers in light of their commitment to maintain clarity and expose fallacies in moral reasoning in others--"a task which it seems to be necessary to perform anew in every age." (x) While it's an interesting fact that when he wrote these lines, Prior was not yet known as a logician, the use of 'necessary' here points to a larger historical duty (and thus thesis about the nature of learning throughout history). Prior clearly thinks that without great vigilance most of what's done in philosophy is sub-optimal. This is the basis of his praise of Moore: "The unoriginality of Professor Moore, for example, on which I have laid some stress in the following pages...does not alter the fact that he has done more than any other single individual to promote clear thinking on ethical subjects in the present century" (x).
If Prior is right, that regress is always a live possibility and that claims to originality tend to rely on a lack of historical background knowledge (or perhaps party-line propaganda), then it's right to write a history with the tools of logic to praise the restorers of clarity and rigor (and provide detailed analysis of their actions) and thereby provide others a further incentive not to be forgotten by philosophical posterity for good reasons. Of course, the fate of an Archbishop's afterlife is probably better served by higher powers.
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Posted at 07:05 PM in history of philosophy, logic, philosophy of history, Political Economy of Science, political philosophy, Sidgwick | Permalink | Comments (0)
On Hume and Smith Being a Systematic Philosopher
This is the Hinge of your system.--David Hume on The Theory of Moral Sentiments to Adam Smith, 28 July 1759
In his forthcoming intellectual biography of David Hume, James Harris points out that after the youthful Treatise, Hume does not self-describe his own writing(s) as 'systematic' or a 'system' in his works (even though he continues to describe other people's writings in those terms). This is surprising given how important this feature is (see here for an approach). For example, Hume writes in the Introduction: "to explain the principles of human nature, we in effect propose a compleat system of the sciences, built on a foundation almost entirely new, and the only one upon which they can stand with any security." Some other time I explore what follows from Harris' observation (including Harris' interpretion of this).* Even so, it is worth noting that Hume is reported (including by Adam Smih) as battling other people's "systems of superstition" to the end of his life; so, even if Hume is no longer himself a systematic philosopher after the Treatise, he remains concerned with the effects of systematic thought on human affairs.
Recent literature, inspired by Hayek's concerns over social planning (in part), on Adam Smith has paid considerable attention to Smith's criticisms of the "man of system" who is "apt to be very wise in his own conceit" (see, for example, here). And if you start reading The Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS), you quickly encounter Smith's concern with how "the judgments of mankind [can be] perverted by wrong systems." And a few pages later, he implies in a deflationary matter that a "system of philosophy" as such (so not its consequences) is not a matter of much interest.
But as is also well known, Smith also notes that, as a matter of fact, the "love of system" can activate the most "noble and magnificent" political and philanthropic projects, and "public spirit," even though he is aware that such love can become excessive and then turns into a (problematic) "spirit of system" among other problems (recall this post). So, presumably Smith must approve of systems that can generate the right sort of love, and avoid the excessive kind. In fact, in the final edition of TMS, Smith specifies that one feature the right kind of systems have in common is that they promote caution about implementation (here's why: "to insist upon establishing, and upon establishing all at once, and in spite of all opposition, every thing which that [systemic] idea may seem to require, must often be the highest degree of arrogance.") And in Wealth of Nations, Smith himself promotes this gradualist feature in his own system on grounds of humanity and fear of "disorder" (see here for discussion).
At the start of the last edition of TMS, Smith remarks that:
In the last paragraph of the first Edition of the present work, I said, that I should in another discourse endeavour to give an account of the general principles of law and government, and of the different revolutions which they had undergone in the different ages and periods of society; not only in what concerns justice, but in what concerns police, revenue, and arms, and whatever else is the object of law. In the Enquiry concerning the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, I have partly executed this promise; at least so far as concerns police, revenue, and arms. What remains, the theory of jurisprudence, which I have long projected, I have hitherto been hindered from executing, by the same occupations which had till now prevented me from revising the present work. Though my very advanced age leaves me, I acknowledge, very little expectation of ever being able to execute this great work to my own satisfaction; yet, as I have not altogether abandoned the design, and as I wish still to continue under the obligation of doing what I can, I have allowed the paragraph to remain as it was published more than thirty years ago, when I entertained no doubt of
being able to execute every thing which it announced.
So, Smith clearly thought that his works were part of a larger system. In that "last paragraph," (of TMS) Smith is explicit that Grotius falls short by not being systematic enough.
As an aside, to be sure, Smith recognizes that being systematic is not itself (to use an understatement) truth-conducive. As he puts it in Wealth of Nations: there are many "systems of natural and moral philosophy" whose "arguments" rest on "very slender probabilities, and sometimes [are] mere sophisms." In fact, Smith argues that concern over how the appearance of systematicity can mislead, explains the origin of logic. (As is well known, Smith's "History of Astronomy" has a very finegrained analysis of the social epistemology of the revolutions among scientific systems.)
Be that as it may, unlike Hume, Smith, who was a careful student of Hume's writings, was eager to call attention to his own aspirations to systematicity even (as we have seen) in "advanced age." This strikes me as an important starting point for any appreciation of their relation.
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Posted at 03:50 PM in Adam Smith, David Hume, Early Modern Philosophy, early modern science, economics, history of philosophy, history of science, HOPOS, Kuhn, logic | Permalink | Comments (2)
Montaigne, Collier and Painting (and Spinoza?)
Having considered the proceedings of a painter that serves me, I had a mind to imitate his way. He chooses the fairest place and middle of any wall, or panel, wherein to draw a picture, which he finishes with his utmost care and art, and the vacuity about it he fills with grotesques, which are odd fantastic figures without any grace but what they derive from their variety, and the extravagance of their shapes. And in truth, what are these things I scribble, other than grotesques and monstrous bodies, made of various parts, without any certain figure, or any other than accidental order, coherence, or proportion? [Que sont-ce icy aussi, à la verité, que crotesques et corps monstrueux, rappiecez de divers membres, sans certaine figure, n'ayants ordre, suite ny proportion que fortuite?]—Montaigne, Essays: Of Friendship.
The Vanitas Still life with Works of Montaigne represents in addition to a globe and several symbolic reminders of the brevity of life, a representation of the Dutch edition of Montaigne's Essays in Glazemaker's translation. The painting is signed "Charles Field," but Dror Wahrman persuasively argues in his Mr. Collier's Letter Racks that it was painted by Edward Collier (recall this post); in fact, the painting is one of four nearly identical paintings that Collier almost certainly had more than a hand in: one with Collier's signature, one without signature, and two with signatures ascribed two others, although all four paintings have Collier's initials ("E.C.") inscribed in them. The Glazemaker translation appeared in 1672 (The Dutch "disaster year"), but in all four paintings the represented date does not correspond to any known editions of Glazemaker's translation. (In the "Field," the fake date is given as 1753, and Wahrman notes that "53" is a "fairly accurate" reversed "E c" as "digits allow." (152)) Collier's Vanitas plays many of the same games as his Trompe-l'œils, creating the illusion that the depicted objects are really, well, real, while at the same time constantly undermining the stability of identity with elaborate games and hidden messages. In one's logic one might assume that A= A, but upon closer inspection you can't be so sure.
Wahrman does not link Collier's art to the contents of Montaigne's Essays, which is a shame given Collier's more general skepticism about identity. So, I started paging through my copy and my eye fell on the opening of the essay "Of Friendship," which I have reproduced at the top of this post. There Montaigne claims about his own craft that (against Plato's injunctions) he will happily imitate the method of a certain kind of painter. Montaigne's imitation is partial; by this I do not just mean that Montaigne seems to skip the content of the painter's picture altogether, but also, and more importantly, that Montaigne seems to be imitating (methodologically) only the stuff outside the frame of the carefully crafted picture frame!
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Posted at 09:53 AM in Aesthetics, art, David Hume, Kant, logic, Montaigne, Plato, Skepticism, Socratic Problem, Spinoza | Permalink | Comments (0)
Can one be funny in analytical philosophy?
IT is sometimes said that the world might itself be vague. Rather than vagueness being a deficiency in our mode of describing the world, it would then be a necessary feature of any true description of it. It is also said that amongst the statements which may not have a determinate truth value as a result of their vagueness are identity statements. Combining these two views we would arrive at the idea that the world might contain certain objects about which it is a fact that they have fuzzy boundaries. --Gareth Evans
"Is Gareth Evans (the philosopher) funny?" I ask myself in reflecting on his famous "Can There Be Vague Objects?"*
By this I do not mean the kind of funny in which one uses a principle denied by the opponent as an undisputed premise in one's argument against them.** This kind of funny is generally an expression of situational power--one can assert and get away with it. It is a byproduct that accompanies the clever in a certain milieu.
I also do not mean the kind of funny that presents itself as rigor, yet does not axiomatize or stipulate the rules of the sentential operator.*** In fairness to Evans, there is funniness here because Evans might respond that this problem, while real, is really his unnamed opponent's problem. It's not clear that the principled metaphysical indeterminatist has a right to a definite logic of vagueness.
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Posted at 11:50 AM in A.N. Prior, analytic philosophy, Derrida, jokes, logic, W.E. Johnson, Wittgenstein, Writing | Permalink | Comments (2)
Please give us new human beings
Today I received a call for papers in my email inbox. At first I thought it was satire. But in following the links, I ended up on the EU funded European Network for Social Intelligence. As we know, European bureaucrats would not risk the ire of the increasingly skeptical public and openly fund satire (of itself). So, what to make of this call for papers? (As an aside, I note that parts of the call are plagiarized from this paper's abstract; I don't mean to suggest that this is anyway an ethical lapse; it's just amusing given the high minded tone.) I quote first, then comment:
Argument and debate form cornerstones of civilized society and of intellectual life. As online interaction usurps many traditional forms of interaction and communication, we would hope to see these processes alive and well on the web. But we do not. In spite of the ever-growing volume of online interaction, its current mechanisms hamper and discourage serious debate; they facilitate poor quality argument; and they allow fuzzy thinking to go unchecked. Meanwhile, these same online resources are increasingly being trusted and adopted with little critical reflection. The problem needs to be addressed from two different but converging perspectives:
We need better understanding and widespread awareness in the use of current and future ICT, to enable people to profit from new opportunities for argumentative interaction, instead of being mislead and thwarted by lack of familiarity with the emerging socio-technical systems. Several research areas are critical to this purpose, but their contributions need to be integrated in a concerted effort: among others, philosophy of information, critical thinking, digital literacy, e-inclusion, persuasive technologies, CMC.
We need new tools, new systems and new standards engineered into the heart of the internet to encourage debate, to facilitate good argument, and to promote a new online critical literacy. This is the vision of the Argument Web, a web platform that brings together different domains and interaction styles (e.g. argument analysis, real-time debate, blogging) by combining linked argument data with software tools that make online debate intuitive for various audiences, including mediators, students, academics, broadcasters and bloggers.
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Posted at 12:46 PM in Iris Marion Young, logic, Science, standpoint theory, Technology, Web/Tech, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0)
Philosophical Escapism
I experienced my first taste of philosophical escapism, Mackie's The Miracle of Theism, in a cramped, rented apartment in Glyfada, a suburb of Athens. Mackie's wonderful book had been recommended by H.M. Kuitert, a Dutch reverend and theologian, in the Saturday Books section, in a page devoted to "unread treasures," of NRC Handelsblad on Dec 24, 1994. The conceit behind the section was, I think, to ask people to read a non-fiction book that they owned (and probably should have read long before).* Mackie's elegant book with its crisp, clear prose and razor-sharp arguments was the perfect companion to distract me from my shame at my failure at being loved. This shame stared me in the face whenever I glanced at my beloved.
To be sure, engaging with philosophy is not so cerebral that one feels nothing. Like David Hume I am inclined to think that most thought is felt; in particular, focused, philosophical thought can be intensely felt. So, in reading Mackie I displaced the possibility of painful shame (held at bay by my numbness) with joy and marvel at the intellectual world that he opened up for me. Such displacement is routine in philosophy. Given the drabness of many feelings and the dreariness of many experiences, such displacement may well improve the lot of our lives.
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Posted at 12:15 PM in Aesthetics, David Hume, Deleuze, Escapism, logic, love, Mackie, Meaning of Life, Meta-philosophy, Plato | Permalink | Comments (0)