Oral tradition

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

A Kyrgyz manaschi This article is about the Oral Tradition in general. For the Oral Tradition in Christianity, see Christian Oral Tradition. Oral tradition and oral lore is cultural material and tradition transmitted orally from one generation to another.[1][2] The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants. In this way, it is possible for a society to transmit oral history, oral literature, oral law and other knowledges across generations without a writing system. A narrower definition of oral tradition is sometimes appropriate.[1] Sociologists might also emphasize a requirement that the material is held in common by a group of people, over several generations, and might distinguish oral tradition from testimony or oral history.[3] In a general sense, "oral tradition" refers to the transmission of cultural material through vocal utterance, and was long held to be a key descriptor of folklore (a criterion no longer rigidly held by all folklorists).[4] As an academic discipline, it refers both to a set of objects of study and a method by which they are studied[5] -- the method may be called variously "oral traditional theory", "the theory of Oral-Formulaic Composition" and the "Parry-Lord theory" (after two of its founders; see below) The study of oral tradition is distinct from the academic discipline of oral history,[6] which is the recording of personal memories and histories of those who experienced historical eras or events.[7] It is also distinct from the study of orality, which can be defined as thought and its verbal expression in societies where the technologies of literacy (especially writing and print) are unfamiliar to most of the population.[8]

Contents

1 Study of oral tradition

1.1 History 1.2 Milman Parry and Albert Lord 1.3 Walter Ong 1.4 John Miles Foley 1.5 Acceptance and further elaboration 2 Criticism and debates 3 See also 4 References
o o o o o

5 External links

Study of oral tradition

History

Filip Vinji (17671834) Serbian blind guslar Oral tradition as a field of study had its origins[9] in the work of the Serb scholar Vuk Stefanovi Karadi (17871864), a contemporary and friend of the Brothers Grimm. Vuk pursued similar projects of "salvage folklore" (similar to rescue archaeology) in the cognate traditions of the Southern Slavic regions which would later be gathered into Yugoslavia, and with the same admixture of romantic and nationalistic interests (he considered all those speaking Serbo-Croat as Serbs). Somewhat later, but as part of the same scholarly enterprise of nationalist studies in folklore,[10] the turcologist Vasily Radlov (18371918) would study the songs of the Kara-Kirghiz in what would later become the Soviet Union; Karadzic and Radloff would provide models for the work of Parry.

Milman Parry and Albert Lord

Shortly thereafter, Milman Parry (19021935), pursuing a degree in Classics at the University of California, Berkeley, began to grapple with what was then called the "Homeric Question". This was usually framed as "who was Homer?" and "what are the Homeric poems?" [11] The Homeric question actually consists of a series of related inquiries. Parry's contribution, which drew upon and synthesized the insights of previous scholars including Marcel Jousse,[12] Matija Murko and Arnold van Gennep, was to reconsider the foundational assumptions which framed the inquiries. This reordering would have consequences for a great many literatures and disciplines.[13] Parry's work under Antoine Meillet at the Sorbonne led to his crucial insight into the "formula", which he originally defined as "a group of words which is regularly employed under the same metrical conditions to express a given essential idea."[14] In Homeric verse, for example, phrases like eos rhododaktylos ("rosy fingered dawn") or oinops pontos ("winedark sea") occupy a certain metrical pattern that fits, in modular fashion, into the six-colon Greek hexameter, and aids the aioidos or bard in extempore composition. Moreover, phrases of this type would be subject to internal substitutions and adaptations, permitting flexibility in response to narrative and grammatical needs: podas okus Achilleus ("swift footed Achilles") is metrically equivalent to koruthaiolos Hektor ("glancing-helmeted Hektor"). Parry and Lord observed that the same phenomenon was apparent in the Old English alliterative line: Hrothgar mathelode helm Scildinga ("Hrothgar spoke, protector of the Scildings") Beowulf mathelode bearn Ecgtheowes ("Beowulf spoke, son of Ecgtheow") and in the junacki deseterac (heroic decasyllable) of the demonstrably oral poetry of the Serbs: a besjedi od Orasca Tale ("But spoke of Orashatz Tale") a besjedi Mujagin Halile ("But spoke Mujo's Halil") In Parry's view, formulas were not individual and idiosyncratic devices of particular artists, but the shared inheritance of a tradition of singers. They were easily remembered, making it possible for the singer to execute an improvisational composition-in-performance. A later scholar commented on the potential for Parry's concept to be seen as disparaging of Homeric genius: "The meaning of the Greek term 'rhapsodize', rhapsoidein, 'to stitch song together' could then be taken in a negative sense: Homer stitched together pre-fabricated parts."[15] The idea indeed met with immediate resistance,[16] because it seemed to make the fount of Western literary eloquence the slave of a system of clichs, but it accounted for such otherwise inexplicable features of the Homeric poems as gross anachronisms (revealed by advances in historical and archaeological knowledge), the presence of incompatible dialects, and the deployment of locally unsuitable epithets ("blameless Aegisthos" for the murderer of Agamemnon, or the almost comic use of "swift-footed Achilles" for the hero in conspicuously sedentary moments).[11][17]

Mandinka Griot Al-Haji Papa Susso performing songs from the oral tradition of the Gambia on the kora Parry was appointed to a junior professorship at Harvard, and during this time became aware of living oral traditions in the Balkan region. In two field expeditions with his young assistant Albert Lord (19121991) he would record thousands of songs on aluminum disks.[18] The collection would provide the basis for an empirical documentation of the dynamics of composition of metrical narrative in traditional oral performance.[19] This analysis included the patterns and types of variation at lexical and other levels which would yield a structural account of a work's multi formity. This phenomenon could only be accounted for in standard literary methodology by concepts of "corruption" and "distortion" of a pristine, original "ur-text" or hypothetical "lost Q" ("Quelle", German for "source"), hypothesized via stemmatology. Thus the work of Parry and Lord reduced the prominence of the historic-geographic method in folkloristics.[20] Parry died in 1935. His work was posthumously published by his son Adam Parry as The Making of Homeric Verse (Oxford: Clarendon, 1971). Lord, however, had meanwhile published The Singer of Tales (1960),[21] a work which summarized both Parry's response to the Homeric Question, and the joint work he had done with Parry in the Balkans. The Parry-Lord work exercised great influence on other scholars, notably Francis P. Magoun, whose application of their model to Anglo-Saxon traditions demonstrated the explicative and problem-solving power of the theory[22] a process that would be repeated by other scholars in numerous independent traditions (see below).

Walter Ong
In a separate development, the media theorist Marshall McLuhan (19111980) would begin to focus attention on the ways that communicative media shape the nature of the content conveyed.[23] He would serve as mentor to the Jesuit, Walter Ong (19122003), whose interests in cultural history, psychology and rhetoric would result in Orality and Literacy (Methuen, 1980) and the important but less-known Fighting for Life: Contest, Sexuality and Consciousness (Cornell, 1981)[24] These two works articulated the contrasts between cultures defined by primary orality, writing, print, and the secondary orality of the electronic age.[16]

I style the orality of a culture totally untouched by any knowledge of writing

or print, 'primary orality'. It is 'primary' by contrast with the 'secondary orality' of present-day high technology culture, in which a new orality is sustained by telephone, radio, television and other electronic devices that depend for their existence and functioning on writing and print. Today primary culture in the strict sense hardly exists, since every culture knows of writing and has some experience of its effects. Still, to varying degrees many cultures and subcultures, even in a high-technology ambiance, preserve much of the mind-set of primary orality.[25]

Ong's works also made possible an integrated theory of oral tradition which accounted for both production of content (the chief concern of Parry-Lord theory) and its reception.[16] This approach, like McLuhan's, kept the field open not just to the study of aesthetic culture but to the way physical and behavioral artifacts of oral societies are used to store, manage and transmit knowledge, so that oral tradition provides methods for investigation of cultural differences, other than the purely verbal, between oral and literate societies. The most-often studied section of Orality and Literacy concerns the "psychodynamics of orality" This chapter seeks to define the fundamental characteristics of 'primary' orality and summarizes a series of descriptors (including but not limited to verbal aspects of culture) which might be used to index the relative orality or literacy of a given text or society.[26]

John Miles Foley

In advance of Ong's synthesis, John Miles Foley, who studied with Robert Creed (who had in turn studied with Magoun), began a series of papers based on his own fieldwork on South Slavic oral genres, emphasizing the dynamics of performers and audiences.[27] Foley effectively consolidated oral tradition as an academic field [3] when he compiled Oral-Formulaic Theory and Research in 1985. The bibliography gives a summary of the progress scholars made in evaluating the oral tradition up to that point, and includes a list of all relevant scholarly articles relating to the theory of Oral-Formulaic Composition. He also both established both the journal Oral Tradition and founded the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition (1986) at the University of Missouri. Foley developed Oral Theory beyond the somewhat mechanistic notions presented in earlier versions of Oral-Formulaic Theory, by extending Ong's interest in cultural features of oral societies beyond the verbal, by drawing attention to the agency of the bard and by describing how oral traditions bear meaning. The bibliography would establish a clear underlying methodology which accounted for the findings of scholars working in the separate Linguistics fields (primarily Ancient Greek, Anglo-Saxon and Serbo-Croatian). Perhaps more importantly, it would stimulate conversation among these specialties, so that a network of independent but allied investigations and investigators could be established.[28] Foley's key works include The Theory of Oral Composition (1988);[29] Immanent Art (1991); Traditional Oral Epic: The Odyssey, Beowulf and the Serbo-Croatian Return-

Song (1993); The Singer of Tales in Performance (1995); Teaching Oral Traditions (1998); How to Read an Oral Poem (2002). His Pathways Project (2005-2012) draws parallels between the media dynamics of oral traditions and the Internet.

Acceptance and further elaboration

The theory of oral tradition would undergo elaboration and development as it grew in acceptance.[30] While the number of formulas documented for various traditions proliferated,[31] the concept of the formula remained lexically-bound. However, numerous innovations appeared, such as the "formulaic system"[32] with structural "substitution slots" for syntactic, morphological and narrative necessity (as well as for artistic invention).[33] Sophisticated models such as Foley's "word-type placement rules" followed.[34] Higher levels of formulaic composition were defined over the years, such as "ring composition",[35] "responsion"[36] and the "type-scene" (also called a "theme" or "typical scene"[37]). Examples include the "Beasts of Battle"[38] and the "Cliffs of Death". [39] Some of these characteristic patterns of narrative details, (like "the arming sequence;"[40] "the hero on the beach";[41] "the traveler recognizes his goal")[42] would show evidence of global distribution.[43] At the same time, the fairly rigid division between oral and literate was replaced by recognition of transitional and compartmentalized texts and societies, including models of diglossia (Brian Stock[44] Franz Buml,[45] and Eric Havelock).[46] Perhaps most importantly, the terms and concepts of "orality" and "literacy" came to be replaced with the more useful and apt "traditionality" and "textuality".[47] Very large units would be defined (The Indo-European Return Song)[48] and areas outside of military epic would come under investigation: women's song,[49] riddles[47] and other genres. The methodology of oral tradition now conditions a large variety of studies, not only in folklore, literature and literacy, but in philosophy,[50] communication theory,[51] Semiotics,[52] and including a very broad and continually expanding variety of languages and ethnic groups,[53][54][55][56][57][58][59] and perhaps most conspicuously in biblical studies, [60] in which Werner Kelber has been especially prominent.[61] The annual bibliography is indexed by 100 areas, most of which are ethnolinguistic divisions.[62] Present developments explore the implications of the theory for rhetoric[63] and composition,[64] interpersonal communication,[65] cross-cultural communication,[66] postcolonial studies,[67] rural community development,[4] popular culture[68] and film studies,[5] and many other areas. The most significant areas of theoretical development at present may be the construction of systematic hermeneutics[69][70][71] and aesthetics[72] [73] specific to oral traditions.

Criticism and debates

The legendary Finnish storyteller Vinminen with his kantele The theory of oral tradition encountered early resistance from scholars who perceived it as potentially supporting either one side or another in the controversy between what were known as "unitarians" and "analysts" that is, scholars who believed Homer to have been a single, historical figure, and those who saw him as a conceptual "author function," a convenient name to assign to what was essentially a repertoire of traditional narrative.[74] A much more general dismissal of the theory and its implications simply described it as "unprovable"[75] Some scholars, mainly outside the field of oral tradition, [76][77][78][79] represent (either dismissively or with approval) this body of theoretical work as reducing the great epics to children's party games like "telephone" or "Chinese whispers". While games provide amusement by showing how messages distort content via uncontextualized transmission, Parry's supporters argue that the theory of oral tradition reveals how oral methods optimized the signal-to-noise ratio and thus improved the quality, stability and integrity of content transmission.[80] There were disputes concerning particular findings of the theory. For example, those trying to support or refute Crowne's hypothesis found the "Hero on the Beach" formula in numerous Old English poems. It was also discovered in other works of Germanic origin, Middle English poetry, and even an Icelandic prose saga. J.A. Dane, in an article[81] characterized as "polemics without rigor"[82] claimed that the appearance of the theme in Ancient Greek poetry, a tradition without known connection to the Germanic, invalidated the notion of "an autonomous theme in the baggage of an oral poet." Within Homeric studies specifically, Lord's The Singer of Tales, which focused on problems and questions that arise in conjunction with applying oral-formulaic theory to problematic texts such as the Iliad, Odyssey, and even Beowulf, influenced nearly all of the articles written on Homer and oral-formulaic composition thereafter. However, in response to Lord, Geoffrey Kirk published The Songs of Homer, questioning Lord's extension of the oral-formulaic nature of Serbian and Croatian literature (the area from which the theory was first developed) to Homeric epic. Kirk argues that Homeric poems differ from those traditions in their "metrical strictness", "formular system[s]", and creativity. In other words, Kirk argued that Homeric poems were recited under a system that gave the reciter much more freedom to choose words and passages to get to the same end than the Serbo-Croatian poet, who was merely "reproductive".[83][84] Shortly thereafter, Eric Havelock's Preface to Plato revolutionized how scholars looked at Homeric epic by arguing not only that it was the product of an oral tradition, but also that the oral-formulas contained therein served as a way for ancient Greeks to preserve cultural knowledge across many different generations.[85] Adam Parry, in his 1966 work "Have we Homer's Iliad?", theorized the existence of the most fully developed oral poet to his time, a person who could (at his discretion) creatively and intellectually create

nuanced characters in the context of the accepted, traditional story. In fact, he discounted the Serbo-Croatian tradition to an "unfortunate" extent, choosing to elevate the Greek model of oral-tradition above all others.[86][87] Lord reacted to Kirk's and Parry's essays with "Homer as Oral Poet", published in 1968, which reaffirmed Lord's belief in the relevance of Yugoslav poetry and its similarities to Homer and downplayed the intellectual and literary role of the reciters of Homeric epic.[88] Many of the criticisms of the theory have been absorbed into the evolving field as useful refinements and modifications. For example, in what Foley called a "pivotal" contribution, Larry Benson introduced the concept of "written-formulaic" to describe the status of some Anglo-Saxon poetry which, while demonstrably written, contains evidence of oral influences, including heavy reliance on formulas and themes[89] A number of individual scholars in many areas continue to have misgivings about the applicability of the theory or the aptness of the South Slavic comparison,[90] and particularly what they regard as its implications for the creativity which may legitimately be attributed to the individual artist.[91] However, at present, there seems to be little systematic or theoretically coordinated challenge to the fundamental tenets of the theory; as Foley put it, ""there have been numerous suggestions for revisions or modifications of the theory, but the majority of controversies have generated further understanding.[92]

See also

American Indian elder Folk process Hadith Intangible culture Oral history Oral law Oral literature Oral Torah Oral Tradition Journal Oral-formulaic composition Orality Parampara Patha, rauta Secondary orality Traditional knowledge Understanding Media World Oral Literature Project

References
This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (May 2012) 1. ^ a b Vansina, Jan: Oral Tradition as History, 1985, James Currey Publishers, ISBN 0-85255-007-3, ISBN 978-0-85255-007-6; at page 27 and 28,

where Vasina defines oral tradition as "verbal messages which are reported statements from the past beyond the present generation" which "specifies that the message must be oral statements spoken, sung or called out on musical instruments only"; "There must be transmission by word of mouth over at least a generation". He points out that "Our definition is a working definition for the use of historians. Sociologists, linguists or scholars of the verbal arts propose their own, which in, e.g., sociology, stresses common knowledge. In linguistics, features that distinguish the language from common dialogue (linguists), and in the verbal arts features of form and content that define art (folklorists)." 2. ^ Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: "Methodology and African Prehistory", 1990, UNESCO International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa; James Currey Publishers, ISBN 0-85255-091-X, 9780852550915; see Ch. 7; "Oral tradition and its methodology" at pages 54-61; at page 54: "Oral tradition may be defined as being a testimony transmitted verbally from one generation to another. Its special characteristics are that it is verbal and the manner in which it is transmitted." 3. ^ Henige, David. "Oral, but Oral What? The Nomenclatures of Orality and Their Implications" Oral Tradition, 3/1-2 (1988): 229-38. p 232; Henige cites Jan Vansina (1985). Oral tradition as history. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press 4. ^ Degh, Linda. American Folklore and the Mass Media. Bloomington: IUP, 1994, p. 31 5. ^ Dundes, Alan, "Editor's Introduction" to The Theory of Oral Composition, John Miles Foley. Bloomington, IUP, 1988, pp. ix-xii 6. ^ Henige, David. "Oral, but Oral What? The Nomenclatures of Orality and Their Implications" Oral Tradition, 3/1-2 (1988): 229-38. p 232; Henige cites Jan Vansina (1985). Oral tradition as history. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press 7. ^ Oral History[dead link] 8. ^ Ong, Walter, S.J., Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. London: Methuen, 1982 p 12 9. ^ The history of the theory of oral tradition was first reported by John Miles Foley; the following overview draws upon Oral-Formulaic Theory and Research: An Introduction and Annotated Bibliography, (NY: Garland Publishing, 1985, 1986, 1989); additional material is summarized from the overlapping prefaces to the following volumes: The Theory of Oral Composition: History and Methodology, (Indiana University Press, 1988, 1992); Immanent Art: From Structure to Meaning in Traditional Oral Epic (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991); The Singer of Tales in Performance (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995) and Comparative Research on Oral Traditions: A Memorial for Milman Parry (Columbus, Ohio: Slavica Publishers, 1987). 10. ^ "Early Scholarship on Oral Traditions": Radloff, Jousse and Murko Oral Tradition 5:1 (1990) 73-90 11. ^ a b Foley, John Miles. The Theory of Oral Composition. Bloomington: IUP, 1991, Chapters 1 & 2 12. ^ "marceljousse.co.za". marceljousse.co.za. Retrieved 2012-10-23. 13. ^ Milman Parry. "Studies in the epic technique of oral verse-making. I: Homer and Homeric style". Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 41 (1930), pp. 118ff.

14. ^ Adam Parry (ed.). The Making of Homeric Verse: The Collected Papers of Milman Parry. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1971, p. 272. 15. ^ Walter J. Ong. Orality and literacy: the technologizing of the word. Routledge, London & New York, 1982, 2002; p. 22. 16. ^ a b c Foley, John Miles. The Theory of Oral Composition. Bloomington: IUP, 1991, pp. 57 ff. 17. ^ Foley, John Miles. Immanent Art. From Structure to Meaning in Traditional Oral Epic. Bloomington: IUP, 1991. 3, 52 18. ^ Milman Parry On-Line Collection 19. ^ The work is reviewed and analyzed in Lord, Albert, The Singer of Tales. Cambridge: Harvard UP 1960. 20. ^ Foley, John Miles. Immanent Art. From Structure to Meaning in Traditional Oral Epic. Bloomington: IUP, 1991. 100, 100n11, 102, 119 21. ^ Albert B. Lord. The Singer of Tales. Harvard Studies in Comparative Literature, 24. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1981 22. ^ Francis P. Magoun, Jr. The oral-formulaic character of Anglo-Saxon narrative poetry. Speculum Vol. 28 (1953), pp. 446-67. 23. ^ See for example Marshall McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1962. 24. ^ Walter J. Ong. Fighting for Life: Context, Sexuality and Consciousness. Cornell University Press, Ithaca & London, 1981. 25. ^ Walter J. Ong. Orality and Literacy, p. 11. 26. ^ Walter J. Ong. Orality and literacy: the technologizing of the word, pp. 31-76. 27. ^ Foley, John Miles. The Theory of Oral Composition. Bloomington: IUP, 1991, p 76. 28. ^ Foley, John Miles. Oral Formulaic Theory and Research: An Introduction and Annotated Bibliography. NY: Garland, 1985. The Theory of Oral Composition. Bloomington: IUP, 1991, pp. 64-66. 29. ^ John Miles Foley. The Theory of Oral Composition: History and Methodology. Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1988. 30. ^ Foley, John Miles. "Oral Formulaic Theory and Research: An Introduction and Annotated Bibliography." NY: Garland, 1985. The Theory of Oral Composition. Bloomington: IUP, 1991, p. 70 31. ^ A. Orchard, 'Oral Tradition', Reading Old English Texts, ed. K O'Brien O'Keeffe (Cambridge, 1997), pp. 101-23 32. ^ Fry, Donald K. "Old English Formulas and Systems" English Studies 48 (1967):193-204. responds to what was known, pejoratively, in Greek studies as the "hard Parryist" position, in which the formula was defined in terms of verbatim lexical repetition (see Rosenmyer, Thomas G. "The Formula in Early Greek Poetry" Arion 4 (1965):295-311). Fry's model proposes underlying generative templates which provide for variation and even artistic creativity within the constraints of strict metrical requirements and extempore composition-in-performance 33. ^ Davis, Adam Brooke "Verba volent, scripta manent: Oral Tradition and the Non-Narrative Genres of Old English Poetry." Diss. Univ. of Missouri at Columbia. DAI 52A (1991), 2137 pp. 202, 205 34. ^ Foley, John Miles. Immanent Art: From Structure to Meaning in Traditional Oral Epic. Bloomington: IUP, 1991. 30, 31, 202n22, 207 n36, 211n43

35. ^ Foley, John Miles. "The Singer of Tales in Performance. Bloomington: IUP, 1995. 55, 60, 89 108, 122n40 36. ^ Olsen, Alexandra Hennessey. "Oral -Formulaic Research in Old English Studies:II" Oral Tradition 3:1-2 (1988) 138-90, p. 165) Olsen cites Foley's "Hybrid Prosody and Old English Half-Lines" in Neophilologus 64:28489 (1980). 37. ^ Foley, John Miles. The Singer of Tales in Performance. Bloomington: IUP, 1995. 2, 7, 8n15, 17 et passim. 38. ^ Magoun, Francis P. "The Oral-Formulaic Character of Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poetry." Speculum 28 (1953): 446-67 39. ^ Fry, Donald K. "The Cliff of Death in Old English Poetry." In Comparative Research in Oral Traditions: A Memorial for Milman Parry, ed. John Miles Foley. Columbus: Slavica, 1987, 213-34. 40. ^ Zumthor, Paul "The Text and the Voice." Transl. Marilyn C. Englehardt. New Literary History 16 (1984):67-92 41. ^ D. K. Crowne, "The Hero on the Beach: An Example of Composition by Theme in Anglo-Saxon Poetry", Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 61 (1960), 371. 42. ^ Clark, George. "The Traveller Recognizes His Goal." Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 64 (1965):645-59. 43. ^ Armstrong, James I. "The Arming Motif in the Iliad". The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 79, No. 4. (1958), pp. 337-354. 44. ^ Stock, Brian. "The Implications of Literacy. Written Language and Models of Interpretation in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries" (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983) 45. ^ Buml, Franz H. "Varieties and Consequences of Medieval Literacy and Illiteracy", in Speculum, Vol. 55, No. 2 (1980), pp.243-244. 46. ^ Havelock, Eric Alfred. Preface to Plato. "Vol. 1 A History of the Greek Mind", Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts: 1963. 47. ^ a b Davis, Adam Brooke. "Agon and Gnomon: Forms and Functions of the Anglo-Saxon Riddles" in De Gustibus: Essays for Alain Renoir. Ed John Miles Foley. NY: Garland, 1992 110-150 48. ^ Foley, John Miles. Immanent Art Bloomington: IUP, 1991. 15, 18, 2021, 34, 45, 63-64, 64n6, 64-68,, 74n23, 75, 76, 77n28, 78, 80, 82, 82n38, 83, 8791, 92, 93, 94, 102, 103, 104n18, 105, 109, 110n32 49. ^ Weigle, Marta. "Women's Expressive Forms" in Foley, John Miles, ed. "Teaching Oral Traditions" NY:MLA 1998. pp. 29850. ^ Kevin Robb. "Greek Oral Memory and the Origins of Philosophy." The Personaist: An International Review of Philosophy, 51:5-45.; A study of the AG oral mentality that assumes (1) the existence of composition and thinking that took shape under the aegis of oral patterns, (2) the educational apparatus as an oral system, and (3) the origins of philosophy as we know it in the abstract intellectual reaction against the oral mentality. The opening section on historical background covers developments in archaeology and textual criticism (including Parry's work) since the late nineteenth century, with descriptions of and comments on formulaic and thematic structure. In "The Technique of the Oral Poet" (14-22), he sketches both a synchronic picture of the singer weaving his narrative and a diachronic view of the tradition developing over time. In the third part, on the psychology of performance, he discusses "the prevalence of

rhythmic speech over prose; the prevalence of the event' over the abstraction'; and the prevalence of the paratactic arrangement of parts... over alternative schema possible in other styles" (23). In sympathy with Havelock (1963), he interprets Plato's reaction against the poets as one against the oral mentality and its educative process. 51. ^ "Review: Communication Studies as American Studies" Daniel Czitrom American Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 4 (Dec., 1990), pp. 678-683 52. ^ Nimis, Stephen A. Narrative Semiotics in the Epic Tradition. Indiana University Press: Bloomington, 1988 53. ^ [1][dead link] 54. ^ "Wayne State University Press - Language and Literature: - Page 1". Wsupress.wayne.edu. Retrieved 2012-10-23. 55. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1310/is_1985_August/ai_3877977 56. ^ [2][dead link] 57. ^ http://www.sacbf.org.za/2004%20papers/Sunday%20Okoh.rtf 58. ^ http://www.usp.nus.edu.sg/post/poldiscourse/casablanca/sarhrouny1.html 59. ^ "Studies in Canadian Literature / tudes en littrature canadienne". Lib.unb.ca. Retrieved 2012-10-23. 60. ^ http://journal.oraltradition.org/files/articles/1i/3_culley.pdf 61. ^ "Werner H. Kelber - Oral Tradition in Bible and New Testament Studies - Oral Tradition 18:1". Muse.jhu.edu. doi:10.1353/ort.2004.0025. Retrieved 2012-10-23. 62. ^ "Oral Tradition". Oral Tradition. Retrieved 2012-10-23. 63. ^ Boni, Stefano. Contents and contexts : the rhetoric of oral traditions in the oman of Sefwi Wiawso, Ghana. Africa. 70 (4) 2000, pages 568-594. London 64. ^ Miller, Susan, Rescuing the Subject. A Critical Introduction to Rhetoric and the Writer. Southern Illinois University Press, 2004 65. ^ Minton, John. "The Reverend Lamar Roberts and the Mediation of Oral Tradition". The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 108, No. 427 (Winter, 1995), pp. 3-37 66. ^ http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:iOZaD11Ix0J:www.oise.utoronto.ca/CASAE/cnf2002/2002_Papers/simpkins2002w.pdf+ %22oral+tradition%22+%22intercultural+communication %22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us 67. ^ "Culture Education" and the Challenge of Globalization in Modern Nigeria by Ademola Omobewaji Dasylva. This paper has to do with the challenges of globalization in modern Nigeria and the process of "culture education," a terminology used to emphasize the peculiar means and methods of instruction by which a society imparts its body of values and mores in the pursuance and attainment of the society's collective vision, aspirations, and goals. Within this framework, this paper examines the legacies of imperialism and colonization within the Nigerian educational systemparticularly in reference to the teaching of folklore and oral traditionincluding the destruction of indigenous knowledge systems and the continuing lack of adequate resources in African universities. The paper concludes by offering suggestions for a more fully synthesized indigenous and formal Nigerian educational system as a method of addressing postcolonial rupture. PDF Oral Tradition 21/2 (2006):325-41.

68. ^ Skidmore, Thomas E. Black Into White: Race and Nationality in Brazilian Thought New York: Oxford University Press, 1974 p. 89 69. ^ J. A. (Bobby) Loubser, "Shembe Preaching: A Study in Oral Hermeneutics," in African Independent Churches. Today, ed. M. C. Kitshoff (Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1996 70. ^ Kelber, Werner H. "The Oral and the Written Gospel: The Hermeneutics of Writing and Speaking in the Synoptic Tradition" Philadelphia: Fortress P 1983. 71. ^ Swearingen, C. Jan. "Oral Hermeneutics during the Transition to Literacy: The Contemporary Debate". Cultural Anthropology, Vol. 1, No. 2, The Dialectic of Oral and Literary Hermeneutics (May, 1986), pp. 138-156 72. ^ Foley, John Miles. The Theory of Oral Composition: History and Methodology. Bloomington: IUP, 1988. 55, 64, 66, 72, 74, 77, 80, 97, 105, 110111, 129n20,; artistic cp to mechanistic, 21, 25, 38, 58, 63-64, 65, 104, 118119n20, 120-121n16, 124n31, 125n53, oral aesthetic cp to literate aestetics, 35, 58, 110-11, 121n26. 73. ^ Foley, John Miles. Immanent Art: From Structure to Meaning in Traditional Oral Epic. Bloomington: IUP, 1991. 245 74. ^ Frederick M. Combellack, "Milman Parry and Homeric Artistry" Comparative Literature, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Summer, 1959), pp. 193-208 . p. 194 75. ^ Rutherford, R.B. Homer: Odyssey Books XIX & XX,, Cambridge UP 1992 remarks on oral-formulaic diction, pp. 47-49 76. ^ Botstein, Leon. "Hearing Is Seeing: Thoughts on the History of Music and the Imagination." The Musical Quarterly 1995 79(4):581-89 77. ^ Elliot Oring cites Bruchac, Joe Storytelling: Oral History or Game of 'Telephone'?" American Folklore Society Newsletter 19/2:34. 78. ^ "Christopher Butler cites Bart Ehrman, Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why". Christopherbutler.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2012-10-23. 79. ^ "chapter4.DOC" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-10-23. 80. ^ Dawkins, Richard. The God Delusion. Great Britain: Bantam, 2006 p. 118 -- Dawkins contradicts this view, however, on p. 227) 81. ^ Dane, J.A. "Finnsburh and Iliad IX: A Greek Survival of the Medieval Germanic Oral-Formulaic Theme The Hero on the Beach." Neophilologus 66:443-449 82. ^ Foley, John Miles. Oral-Formulaic Theory and Research: An Introduction and Annotated Bibliography, (NY: Garland Publishing, 1985), p. 200 83. ^ Kirk, Geoffrey S. The Songs of Homer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962. pp88 - 91. 84. ^ Foley, John M. Oral-Formulaic Theory and Research: An Introduction and Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc, 1985. p. 35. 85. ^ Foley, John M. Oral-Formulaic Theory and Research: An Introduction and Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc, 1985. p. 36. 86. ^ Foley, John M. Oral-Formulaic Theory and Research: An Introduction and Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc, 1985. pp. 36, 505. 87. ^ Parry, Adam. "Have we Homer's Iliad?"Yale Classical Studies.20 (1966), pp.. 177-216.

88. ^ Foley, John M. Oral-Formulaic Theory and Research: An Introduction and Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc, 1985. pp. 40, 406. 89. ^ Foley, John M. Oral-Formulaic Theory and Research: An Introduction and Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc. 1985. p. 42.; Foley cites "The Literary Character of Anglo-Saxon Formulaic Poetry" Publications of the Modern Language Association 81 (1966):, 334-41 90. ^ George E. Dimock. "From Homer to Novi Pazar and B ack." Arion, 2, iv:40-57. Reacts against the Parry-Lord hypothesis of an oral Homer, claiming that, although Lord demonstrated that the oral poet thinks in verse and offered many explanations of the various facets of the Homeric Question by recourse to the Yugoslav analogy, the difference between Homer and other, literate poets is one of degree rather than kind. Wants to rescue Homer's art from what he sees as the dangers inherent in the oral theory model. 91. ^ Perhaps the most prominent and steadfast opponent of oral traditional theory on these grounds was Arthur Brodeur, in, e.g., The Art of Beowulf. Berkeley: University of California Press. 3rd printing 1969; "A Study of Diction and Style in Three Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poems." In Nordica et Anglica. Ed. Allan H. Orrick. The Hague: Mouton. pp. 97-114; "Beowulf: One Poem or Three?" In Medieval Literature and Folklore Studies in Honor of Francis Lee Utley. Ed. Jerome Mandel and Bruce A. Rosenberg. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. pp. 3-26. 92. ^ Foley, John Miles. The Theory of Oral Composition: History and Methodology. Bloomington:IUP, 1988." p.93

External links

Back to the Oral Tradition The Center for Studies in Oral Tradition The Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature Online Oral Tradition Journal The World Oral Literature Project Post-Gutenberg Galaxy Ddalo Project. Open Software Platform for Management of Intangible Cultural Heritage and Oral History Archive of Turkish Oral Narrative at Texas Tech University

Categories:

Humanities Oral tradition

Oral literature
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Oral literature or folk literature corresponds in the sphere of the spoken (oral) word to literature as literature operates in the domain of the written word. It thus forms a

generally more fundamental component of culture, but operates in many ways as one might expect literature to do. The Ugandan scholar Pio Zirimu introduced the term orature in an attempt to avoid an oxymoron, but oral literature remains more common both in academic and popular writing.[citation needed] Pre-literate societies, by definition, have no written literature, but may possess rich and varied oral traditionssuch as folk epics, folklore, proverbs and folksongthat effectively constitute an oral literature. Even when these are collected and published by scholars such as folklorists and paremiographers, the result is still often referred to as "oral literature". Literate societies may continue an oral tradition - particularly within the family (for example bedtime stories) or informal social structures. The telling of urban legends may be considered an example of oral literature, as can jokes and also oral poetry including slam poetry which has been a televised feature on Russell Simmons' Def Poetry; performance poetry is a genre of poetry that consciously shuns the written form [1]

Contents

1 History of the oral literature concept 2 Styles of memorization 3 Deaf culture 4 See also 5 Bibliography 6 External links 7 References

History of the oral literature concept

Lore is seen in societies with vigorous oral conveyance practices to be a general term inclusive of both oral literature and any written literature, including sophisticated writings, as well, potentially, as visual and performance arts which may interact with these forms, extend their expression, or offer additional expressive media. Thus even where no phrase in local language which exactly translates "oral literature" is used, what constitutes "oral literature" as understood today is already understood to be part or all of the lore media with which a society conducts profound and common cultural affairs among its members, orally. In this sense, oral lore is an ancient practice and concept natural to the earliest storied communications and transmissions of bodies of knowledge and culture in verbal form near the dawn of language-based human societies, and 'oral literature' thus understood was putatively recognized in times prior to recordings of history in non-oral media including painting and writing. Oral literature as a concept, after CE 19th century antecedents, was more widely circulated by Hector Munro Chadwick and Nora Kershaw Chadwick in their comparative work on the "growth of literature" (193240). In 1960, Albert B. Lord published The Singer of Tales (1960), which influentially exmamined fluidity in both ancient and later texts and "oral-formulaic" principles being used during composition-

in-performance, particularly by contemporary Eastern European bards relating long traditional narratives. From the 1970s, the term "Oral literature" appears in the work of both literary scholars and anthropologists: Finnegan (1970, 1977), Grg-Karady (1982), Bauman (1986) and in the articles of the journal Cahiers de Littrature Orale.[2]

Styles of memorization
In ancient India, memorization of the sacred Vedas included up to eleven forms of recitation of the same text. The texts were subsequently "proof-read" by comparing the different recited versions. Forms of recitation included the ja-pha (literally "mesh recitation") in which every two adjacent words in the text were first recited in their original order, then repeated in the reverse order, and finally repeated again in the original order.[3] The recitation thus proceeded as: word1word2, word2word1, word1word2; word2word3, word3word2, word2word3; ... In another form of recitation, dhvaja-pha[3] (literally "flag recitation") a sequence of N words were recited (and memorized) by pairing the first two and last two words and then proceeding as: word1word2, word(N-1)wordN; word2word3, word(N-3)word(N-2); ...; word(N1)wordN, word1word2; The most complex form of recitation, ghana-pha (literally "dense recitation"), according to (Filliozat 2004, p. 139), took the form: word1word2, word2word1, word1word2word3, word3word2word1, word1word2word3; word2word3, word3word2, word2word3word4, word4word3word2, word2word3word4; ... That these methods have been effective, is testified to by the preservation of the most ancient Indian religious text, the gveda (ca. 1500 BCE), as a single text, without any variant readings.[3] Similar methods were used for memorizing mathematical texts, whose transmission remained exclusively oral until the end of the Vedic period (ca. 500 BCE). However, claims that oral literature is frequently memorized and passed down without any variation are not plausible. For example, the great oral Sundiata, the great oral epic from Mali is known to exist in three versions, including both prose and verse (Tsaaior 2010: 321).

Deaf culture
Although deaf people communicate manually rather than orally, their culture and traditions are considered in the same category as oral literature. Stories, jokes and poetry are passed on from person to person with no written medium.

See also

Akyn Archive of Turkish Oral Narrative Ethnopoetics Hainteny Improvisation Intangible Cultural Heritage Kamishibai Korean art Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity National epic Oral poetry Oral history Oral tradition Orality Pantun Patha Seanachai Yukar Storytelling World Oral Literature Project

Bibliography

Finnegan, Ruth. (2012) Oral Literature in Africa. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers. CC BY edition Ong, Walter. (1982) Orality and Literacy: the technologizing of the word. New York: Methuen Press. Tsaaior, James Tar. 2010. Webbed words, masked meanings: Proverbiality and narrative/discursive strategies in D.T. Niane's Sundiata: and epic of old Mali. Proverbium 27: 319-338. Vansina, Jan. (1978) Oral Tradition, Oral History: Achievements and Perspectives, in B.Bernardi, C.Poni and A.Triulzi (Eds.) Fonti Orali, Oral Sources, Sources Orales. Milan: Franco Angeli, pp. 5974. Vansina, Jan. (1961) Oral Tradition. A Study in Historical Methodology. Chicago and London: Aldine and Routledge & Kegan Paul.

External links

World Oral Literature Project: voices of vanishing worlds, University of Cambridge

References
1. ^ Three-minute poetry? Its all the rage, March 07, 2011 / December 16, 2009, publisher The Times, UK

2. ^ Barnard, Alan, and Spencer, Jonathan, Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology (Taylor & Francis, 2002). 3. ^ a b c (Filliozat 2004, p. 139) [hide]

v t e

Literacy

Teaching literacy

Reading education in the USA Phonics Whole language Dick and Jane National Council of Teachers of English NCLB Family literacy Adolescent literacy Functional illiteracy Critical literacy International Reading Association List of countries by literacy rate Literacy in India International Literacy Day List of Chinese administrative divisions by illiteracy rate Frank Laubach Paulo Freire Griffith Jones Marie Clay Agricultural literacy Aliteracy Asemic writing Computer literacy Cultural literacy Dyslexia Diaspora literacy Ecological literacy Electracy

Defining literacy

Literacy internationally

Major contributors to literacy

Related concepts

Emotional literacy Financial literacy Health literacy Information literacy Information and media literacy Literacy test Media literacy Mental health literacy Mental literacy New literacies Numeracy Oracy Orality Oral literature Postliterate society Racial literacy Scientific literacy Statistical literacy Technological literacy Transliteracy Visual literacy Writing system

Categories:

Literature by medium Oral tradition

Hypersociability
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search In the context of transmedia storytelling, hypersociability is the encouraged involvement of media consumers in a story through ordinary social interaction.[1] A story may be shared through discourse within a fan group. Hypersociability lessens the need for a publisher to offer fixed media. Instead, storytellers hope that fans will build on the story themselves either over the Internet or through direct conversation. The principle of hypersociability is most widely used in Japanese pop culture, examples of which include Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokmon, which used multiplayer games separate from the original media.[1][2] The Wachowski Brothers deliberately incorporated elements of hypersociability for The Animatrix by seeking the help of Japanese animators.[1] Hypersociability can also occasionally refer to a symptom of Williams syndrome characterized by an unusual willingness to converse with others.[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (New York: New York University Press, 2006). 2. ^ Mizuko Ito, "Technologies of the Childhood Imagination: Yugioh, Media and Everyday Cultural Production," in Joe Karaganis and Natalie Jeremijenko (eds.), Network/Netplay: Structures of Participation in Digital Culture (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2005). 3. ^ Jones et al., "Hypersociability in Williams Syndrome," Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, volume 12, pages 30-46, (MIT Press, 2000). Categories:

Internet culture Storytelling

Hyperpanofiction
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article is an orphan, as no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions may be available. (February 2009) Hyperpanofiction is a variation on the traditional literature based role-play methodology. Hyper-Pano-Fiction means Multi-Universe-Fiction. First suggested at the World Autonomous Control Conference (WAC) in Hawaii 2000 by Anthony Nolan. Hyperpanofiction is described as "an exciting development in storytelling, transforming fiction into a 3D literary maze ... a fascinating puzzle to be explored. This innovative format encourages the reader to weave the story themselves by transversing timelines, making critical decisions, alternating main characters, and switching between plots."[1] Just like traditional role-play mediums, there are uses for entertainment, psychotherapy, counseling, and training. The advantage when using a Hyperpanofiction approach is that there is a greater opportunity for variation and perspective through the wider use of linkages across time and characters. Traditional Hyperpanofiction was developed purely for the fiction, storytelling environment. It has gone on to be developed also for the business educational, intelligent scenario training and gifted childrens counseling.

References
1. ^ Nolan, Anthony G. (2007). A Guide to Writing Hyperpanofiction. Artarmon, N.S.W.: Decision Intelligence Group. ISBN 978-0-9751338-1-1. The NSW Writers'Center, Newswrite (Issue 158), ISSN 1039-7531 Categories:

Storytelling

Oral storytelling
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (November 2011) This article may contain wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information. (November 2011) Oral storytelling is an ancient tradition and the most personal and intimate form of storytelling. The storyteller and the listeners are physically close as well as, through the story connection, psychically close. The storyteller reveals, and thus shares, him/her self through his/her telling and the listeners reveal and share themselves through their reception of the story. The intimacy and connection is deepened by the flexibility of oral storytelling which allows the tale to be moulded according to the needs of the audience and/or the location or environment of the telling. Listeners also experience the immediacy of a creative process taking place in their presence and they experience the empowerment of being a part of that creative process. The flexibility of oral storytelling extends to the teller. Each teller will bring their own personality and character to the story. Some tellers consider anything outside the narrative as extraneous while other storytellers choose to enhance their telling of the tale with the addition of visual and audio tools, specific actions and creative strategies and devices.

Contents

1 Human need 2 History 3 Oral storytelling festivals 4 Films 5 References 6 External links

Human need

"Storyteller Under Sunny Skies," a clay sculpture by Rose Pecos-Sun Rhodes (Jemez Pueblo), 1993, in the permanent collection of The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis It is likely that oral storytelling has been around as long as human language. Storytelling fulfills the need for human beings to cast their experiences in narrative form. Our ancestors probably gathered around the evening fires and expressed their fears, their beliefs and their heroism through oral narratives. This long tradition of storytelling is evident in ancient cultures such as the Australian Aborigines. Community storytelling offered the security of explanation; how life and its many forms began and why things happen, as well as entertainment and enchantment. Communities were strengthened and maintained through stories that connected the present, the past and the future. Telling stories is a nurturing act for the listener, who is connected to the storyteller through the story, as well as for the storyteller who is connected to the listeners through the story.

History
The earliest storytelling probably consisted of simple chants. People sang chants as they worked at grinding corn or sharpening tools. Our early ancestors created myths to explain natural occurrences. They assigned superhuman qualities to ordinary people, thus originating the hero tale. Early storytelling combined stories, poetry, music, and dance. Storytelling was natural for everyone but those who excelled at it became entertainers, educators, cultural advisors and historians for the community. The history of a culture was handed down from generation to generation through the storytellers. The importance of stories and storytellers throughout human history is evidenced by the reverence and respect afforded to storytellers, such as the African griot and the Irish seancha.

The 9th century fictional storyteller Scheherazade of 1001 Nights, who saves herself from execution by telling tales, is one example illustrating the value placed on storytelling in days of old. Centuries before Scheherazade the power of storytelling is reflected by Vyasa at the beginning of the Indian epic, Mahabharata, who says, If you listen carefully, at the end youll be someone else. In the Middle Ages storytellers could be seen in the market places and were honoured members of in royal courts. A Medieval storyteller, also called a troubadour or a minstrel, was expected to know all the current tales and in the words of American storyteller Ruth Sawyer, to repeat all the noteworthy theses from the universities, to be well informed on court scandal, to know the healing power of herbs and simples (medicines), to be able to compose verses to a lord or lady at a moment's notice, and to play on at least two of the instruments then in favour at court. According to some writers there were 426 minstrels employed at the wedding of Princess Margaret of England in 1290. Two of the storytellers of the court of King Edward I were two women who performed under the names of Matill Makejoye and Pearl in the Egg. Travelling storytellers journeyed from land to land, gathering news and learning the favourite stories of various regions. Storytellers exchanged stories and changed stories so that it is difficult to trace the origins of many stories. In the 1800s Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm collected and published stories that had been told orally in Germany. They did not publish them as they found them however, but edited them in accordance with their own values. Like the Grimm brothers in Germany, Peter Asbjornsen and Jorgen Moe collected Norwegian folk tales. In Denmark Hans Christian Andersen adapted folktales he heard from oral storytellers. In England, Joseph Jacobs recorded collections of folktales of England, Scotland, Wales. In the 1900s the importance of oral storytelling was recognised by storytellers such as Marie Shedlock, a retired English schoolteacher. She made several tours to the United States to lecture on the art of storytelling emphasising the importance of storytelling as a natural way to introduce literature to children.

Oral storytelling festivals

In the 20th century oral storytelling has undergone a revival of interest and focus. Including the establishment of a number of storytelling festivals beginning with the National Storytelling Festival (USA) in Jonesborough, TN.

Films

How People Got Fire - Animated film about oral storytelling in Native culture

References
1.Jane Yolen; Favorite Folktales From Around the World. 2.Stone, Packer & Hoopes (1983); The Short Story-An Introduction 3.Carlson, Ann D. Storytelling. World Book Advanced. 2009

4.Wolf, Eric Interview with Connie Regan-Blake on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf Show A history of the National Storytelling Festival. 2008

External links

Article about storytelling Tim Sheppard's Storytelling Resources

Categories:

Spoken word Storytelling

Storygraph
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This article needs more links to other articles to help integrate it into the encyclopedia. (December 2012) The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline. (October 2011) This article is an orphan, as no other articles link to it. (March 2012) Storygraph is the term of storytelling format which was introduced by an Indonesian writer : Rio Haminoto. Writings combined with illustrations as reflections of story and also accompanied with soundtrack consists of several songs. His first storygraph was titled : Don Joviano. Published in 1998, about an Italian Mafioso in New York City who happens to be half Indonesian. In 2007, Rio published his second one : KIONELLE ; The Avenue to Northern Ireland. This one is about a journey of an Indonesian citizen who got involved in The Provisional Irish Republican Army and becoming the most wanted terrorist in Western hemisphere. In 2010, Rio became the writer of Catatan Si Boy in storygraph format. First presented as radio show in the 1980s (Prambors Radio), Catatan Si Boy became a motion picture with 5 sequels. This storygraph of Rio's was filmed in the new version of Catatan Si Boy named Catatan Harian Si Boy which was released in 2011. The first storygraph of Catatan Si Boy was auctioned for IDR 3.5 Million.

References

http://entertainment.kompas.com/read/2011/08/25/09265772/Dirilis.Buku.Story graph.Catatan.Si.Boy http://m.detik.com/read/2011/09/03/100611/1714846/1059/buku-catatan-si-boykembali-hadir http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/people/a-dreamboat-no-longer-idle/372822

Categories:

Storytelling

List of narrative forms

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Narrative forms have been subject to classification by literary theorists, in particular during the 1950s, a period which has been described metaphorically as the Linnaean period in the study of narrative.[1] Narrative forms include: This literature-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Captivity narrative the protagonist is captured and describes his experience with the other culture Epic poem a lengthy story of heroic exploits in the form of a poem Fable a story that teaches a lesson, often using animal characters that behave like people Fantasy a story about characters that may not be realistic and about events that could not really happen Folk tale an old story that reveals the customs of a culture Historical fiction stories about characters who might have lived in the past and about events that might have really happened in history, with some made up details and events Legend a story that is based on fact but often includes exaggerations about the hero Myth an ancient story often meant to explain the mysteries of life or nature Play a story that is told mostly through dialogue and is meant to be performed on stage Quest narrative the characters must achieve a goal. This includes some illness narratives Realistic fiction stories that portray characters and settings that could exist in real life, as well as events that could happen in real life Slave narrative Short story a brief story that usually focuses on one character and one event Tall tale a humorous story that tells about impossible happenings, exaggerating the accomplishment of the hero News - an information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience Biography - a detailed description or account of someone's life

See also

Bibliography - a ..... Literary device Narrative mode

References

Peterson, Shelley (2005). "Writing Across the Curriculum: Because All Teachers Teach Writing". Portage & Main Press,. pp. 88. Retrieved 2009-10-01.

Citations
1. ^ Stanzel, F. K. (1984). A theory of narrative. Cambridge University Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-521-31063-5. This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it. This literature-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. This sociology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Categories:

Literature stubs Sociology stubs Narrative forms Literature lists

Historical present
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search In linguistics and rhetoric, the historical present (also called dramatic present or narrative present) refers to the employment of the present tense when narrating past events. Besides its use in writing about history, especially in historical chronicles (listing a series of events), it is used in fiction, for 'hot news' (as in headlines), and in everyday conversation (Huddleston & Pullum 2002: 129131). In conversation, it is particularly common with 'verbs of communication' such as tell, write, and say (and in colloquial uses, go) (Leech 2002: 7). Literary critics and grammarians have said that the historical present has the effect of making past events more vivid. More recently, analysts of its use in conversation have argued that it functions not by making an event present, but by marking segments of a narrative, foregrounding events (that is, signalling that one event is particularly important, relevant to others) and marking a shift to evaluation (Brinton 1992: 221).

Examples
In an excerpt from Dickens' David Copperfield, we can see that the shift from the past tense to the historical present gives a sense of immediacy, as of a recurring vision:

If the funeral had been yesterday, I could not recollect it better. The very air of the best parlour, when I went in at the door, the bright condition of the fire, the shining of the wine in the decanters, the patterns of the glasses and plates, the faint sweet smell of cake, the odour of Miss Murdstones dress, and our black clothes. Mr. Chillip is in the room, and comes to speak to me. 'And how is Master David?' he says, kindly. I cannot tell him very well. I give him my hand, which he holds in his. (Chapter IX)

Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale is entirely written in the historical present tense.

In describing fiction
Summaries of the narratives (plots) of works of fiction are conventionally presented using the present tense rather than the past tense. At any particular point of the story, as it unfolds, there is a now, and hence a past and a future, so whether some event mentioned in the story is past, present, or, future changes as the story progresses; the entire plot description is presented as if the story's now is a continuous present. Thus, in summarizing the plot of A Tale of Two Cities, one may write: "Manette is obsessed with making shoes, a trade he learned while in prison."

Further reading

*Brinton, L. J. (1992). "The historical present in Charlotte Bronte's novels: Some discourse functions." Style 26(2): 221-244. *Huddleston, R. and G. K. Pullum (2002). The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-52143146-8 *Leech, G. N. (1971). Meaning and the English Verb, London: Longman. . ISBN 0-582-52214-5

This linguistics article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Categories:

Grammatical tenses Rhetorical techniques Narrative techniques Linguistics stubs

Semiotics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

Semiotics General concepts Biosemiotics Code Computational semiotics Connotation Decode Denotation Encode Lexical Literary semiotics Modality Representation (arts) Salience Semeiotic Semiosis Semiosphere Semiotic elements & sign classes Sign Sign relational complex Sign relation Umwelt Value Methods Commutation test Paradigmatic analysis Syntagmatic analysis Semioticians Mikhail Bakhtin Roland Barthes Marcel Danesi John Deely Umberto Eco Algirdas Julien Greimas Flix Guattari Louis Hjelmslev Roman Jakobson Roberta Kevelson Kalevi Kull Juri Lotman Charles S. Peirce Augusto Ponzio Ferdinand de Saussure Thomas Sebeok Michael Silverstein Eero Tarasti Jakob von Uexkll Vyacheslav Ivanov Vladimir Toporov Related topics Structuralism Post-structuralism Aestheticization Postmodernity

v t e

Chart semiotics of Social Networking Semiotics, also called semiotic studies and including (in the Saussurean tradition) semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes (semiosis), indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication. Semiotics is closely related to the field of linguistics, which, for its part, studies the structure and meaning of language more specifically. However, as different from linguistics, semiotics studies also non-linguistic sign systems. Semiotics is often divided into three branches:

Semantics: Relation between signs and the things to which they refer; their denotata, or meaning Syntactics: Relations among signs in formal structures Pragmatics: Relation between signs and the effects they have on the people who use them

Semiotics is frequently seen as having important anthropological dimensions; for example, Umberto Eco proposes that every cultural phenomenon can be studied as communication.[1] However, some semioticians focus on the logical dimensions of the science. They examine areas belonging also to the natural sciences such as how organisms make predictions about, and adapt to, their semiotic niche in the world (see semiosis). In general, semiotic theories take signs or sign systems as their object of study: the communication of information in living organisms is covered in biosemiotics (including zoosemiotics). Syntactics is the branch of semiotics that deals with the formal properties of signs and symbols.[2] More precisely, syntactics deals with the "rules that govern how words are combined to form phrases and sentences."[3] Charles Morris adds that semantics deals with the relation of signs to their designata and the objects which they may or do denote; and, pragmatics deals with the biotic aspects of semiosis, that is, with all the psychological, biological, and sociological phenomena which occur in the functioning of signs.

Contents

1 Terminology 2 Formulations 3 History 4 Some important semioticians 5 Current applications

6 Branches 7 Pictorial semiotics 8 Semiotics of food 9 Semiotics and globalization 10 Main institutions 11 See also 12 References 13 External links

Terminology
The term, which was spelled semeiotics, derives from the Greek , (smeitikos), "observant of signs"[4] (from - smeion, "a sign, a mark"[5]) and it was first used in English by Henry Stubbes[6] in a very precise sense to denote the branch of medical science relating to the interpretation of signs. John Locke used the terms semeiotike and semeiotics in Book 4, Chapter 21 of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690). Here he explains how science can be divided into three parts: All that can fall within the compass of human understanding, being either, first, the nature of things, as they are in themselves, their relations, and their manner of operation: or, secondly, that which man himself ought to do, as a rational and voluntary agent, for the attainment of any end, especially happiness: or, thirdly, the ways and means whereby the knowledge of both the one and the other of these is attained and communicated; I think science may be divided properly into these three sorts. Locke, 1823/1963, p. 174 Locke then elaborates on the nature of this third category, naming it (Semeiotike) and explaining it as "the doctrine of signs" in the following terms: Nor is there any thing to be relied upon in Physick,[7] but an exact knowledge of medicinal physiology (founded on observation, not principles), semiotics, method of curing, and tried (not excogitated,[8] not commanding) medicines. Locke, 1823/1963, 4.21.4, p. 175 In the nineteenth century, Charles Sanders Peirce defined what he termed "semiotic" (which he sometimes spelled as "semeiotic") as the "quasi-necessary, or formal doctrine of signs", which abstracts "what must be the characters of all signs used by...an intelligence capable of learning by experience",[9] and which is philosophical logic pursued in terms of signs and sign processes.[10] Charles Morris followed Peirce in using the term "semiotic" and in extending the discipline beyond human communication to animal learning and use of signals. Ferdinand de Saussure, however, founded his semiotics, which he called semiology, in the social sciences: It is... possible to conceive of a science which studies the role of signs as part of social life. It would form part of social psychology, and hence of general psychology. We shall

call it semiology (from the Greek semeon, 'sign'). It would investigate the nature of signs and the laws governing them. Since it does not yet exist, one cannot say for certain that it will exist. But it has a right to exist, a place ready for it in advance. Linguistics is only one branch of this general science. The laws which semiology will discover will be laws applicable in linguistics, and linguistics will thus be assigned to a clearly defined place in the field of human knowledge. Cited in Chandler's "Semiotics For Beginners", Introduction.

Formulations

Color-coding hot- and cold-water faucets is common in many cultures but, as this example shows, the coding may be rendered meaningless because of context. The two faucets were probably sold as a coded set, but the code is unusable (and ignored) as there is a single water supply. Semioticians classify signs or sign systems in relation to the way they are transmitted (see modality). This process of carrying meaning depends on the use of codes that may be the individual sounds or letters that humans use to form words, the body movements they make to show attitude or emotion, or even something as general as the clothes they wear. To coin a word to refer to a thing (see lexical words), the community must agree on a simple meaning (a denotative meaning) within their language. But that word can transmit that meaning only within the language's grammatical structures and codes (see syntax and semantics). Codes also represent the values of the culture, and are able to add new shades of connotation to every aspect of life. To explain the relationship between semiotics and communication studies, communication is defined as the process of transferring data from a source to a receiver. Hence, communication theorists construct models based on codes, media, and contexts to explain the biology, psychology, and mechanics involved. Both disciplines also recognize that the technical process cannot be separated from the fact that the receiver must decode the data, i.e., be able to distinguish the data as salient and make meaning out of it. This implies that there is a necessary overlap between semiotics and communication. Indeed, many of the concepts are shared, although in each field the emphasis is different. In Messages and Meanings: An Introduction to Semiotics, Marcel Danesi (1994) suggested that semioticians' priorities were to study signification first and communication second. A more extreme view is offered by Jean-Jacques Nattiez (1987; trans. 1990: 16), who, as a musicologist, considered the theoretical study of communication irrelevant to his application of semiotics.

Semiotics differs from linguistics in that it generalizes the definition of a sign to encompass signs in any medium or sensory modality. Thus it broadens the range of sign systems and sign relations, and extends the definition of language in what amounts to its widest analogical or metaphorical sense. Peirce's definition of the term "semiotic" as the study of necessary features of signs also has the effect of distinguishing the discipline from linguistics as the study of contingent features that the world's languages happen to have acquired in the course of their evolutions. Perhaps more difficult is the distinction between semiotics and the philosophy of language. In a sense, the difference lies between separate traditions rather than subjects. Different authors have called themselves "philosopher of language" or "semiotician". This difference does not match the separation between analytic and continental philosophy. On a closer look, there may be found some differences regarding subjects. Philosophy of language pays more attention to natural languages or to languages in general, while semiotics is deeply concerned about non-linguistic signification. Philosophy of language also bears a stronger connection to linguistics, while semiotics is closer to some of the humanities (including literary theory) and to cultural anthropology. Semiosis or semeiosis is the process that forms meaning from any organism's apprehension of the world through signs. Scholars who have talked about semiosis in their sub-theories of semiotics include C. S. Peirce, John Deely, and Umberto Eco. Cognitive Semiotics is combinding methods and theories developed in the disciplines of cognitive methods and theories developed in semiotics and the humanities, with providing new information into human signification and its manifestation in cultural practices.[11] The research on cognitive semiotics researcher brings together semiotics from linguistics, cognitive science, and related disciplines on a common metatheoretical platform of concepts, methods, and shared data.

History
The importance of signs and signification has been recognized throughout much of the history of philosophy, and in psychology as well. Plato and Aristotle both explored the relationship between signs and the world, and Augustine considered the nature of the sign within a conventional system. These theories have had a lasting effect in Western philosophy, especially through scholastic philosopher. More recently, Umberto Eco, in his Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language, has argued that semiotic theories are implicit in the work of most, perhaps all, major thinkers. Early theorists in this area include Charles W. Morris.[12] Max Black attributes the work of Bertrand Russell as being seminal.[13] Semiotics is usually defined as the study of signs, or more generally meaning, the polysemy and popularity of the term cognitive, just about any semiotic theory from those of Peirce and Saussure to those of Eco (1999) and Hoffmeyer (1996) could qualify as a cognitive semiotics [14] In the last two decades of the century, researchers from developmental and cognitive psychology (Bates, Bruner, Tomasello) and linguistics (Langacker, Talmy, Lakoff) turned increasingly to experiential notions such as joint attention, metaphor, and narrative.[14]

Some important semioticians

Charles Sanders Peirce (18391914), a noted logician who founded philosophical pragmatism, defined semiosis as an irreducibly triadic process wherein something, as an object, logically determines or influences something as a sign to determine or influence something as an interpretation or interpretant, itself a sign, thus leading to further interpretants.[15] Semiosis is logically structured to perpetuate itself. The object can be quality, fact, rule, or even fictional (Hamlet), and can be (1) immediate to the sign, the object as represented in the sign, or (2) dynamic, the object as it really is, on which the immediate object is founded. The interpretant can be (1) immediate to the sign, all that the sign immediately expresses, such as a word's usual meaning; or (2) dynamic, such as a state of agitation; or (3) final or normal, the ultimate ramifications of the sign about its object, to which inquiry taken far enough would be destined and with which any actual interpretant can at most coincide. [16] His semiotic[17] covered not only artificial, linguistic, and symbolic signs, but also semblances such as kindred sensible qualities, and indices such as reactions. He came circa 1903[18] to classify any sign by three interdependent trichotomies, intersecting to form ten (rather than 27) classes of sign.[19] Signs also enter into various kinds of meaningful combinations; Peirce covered both semantic and syntactical issues in his speculative grammar. He regarded formal semiotic as logic per se and part of philosophy; as also encompassing study of arguments (hypothetical, deductive, and inductive) and inquiry's methods including pragmatism; and as allied to but distinct from logic's pure mathematics. For a summary of Peirce's contributions to semiotics, see Liszka (1996) or Atkin (2006). Ferdinand de Saussure (18571913), the "father" of modern linguistics, proposed a dualistic notion of signs, relating the signifier as the form of the word or phrase uttered, to the signified as the mental concept. It is important to note that, according to Saussure, the sign is completely arbitrary, i.e. there was no necessary connection between the sign and its meaning. This sets him apart from previous philosophers such as Plato or the Scholastics, who thought that there must be some connection between a signifier and the object it signifies. In his Course in General Linguistics, Saussure himself credits the American linguist William Dwight Whitney (18271894) with insisting on the arbitrary nature of the sign. Saussure's insistence on the arbitrariness of the sign has also influenced later philosophers and theorists such as Jacques Derrida, Roland Barthes, and Jean Baudrillard. Ferdinand de Saussure coined the term semiologie while teaching his landmark "Course on General Linguistics" at the University of Geneva from 190611. Saussure posited that no word is inherently meaningful. Rather a word is only a "signifier," i.e. the representation of something, and it must be combined in the brain with the "signified," or the thing itself, in order to form a meaning-imbued "sign." Saussure believed that dismantling signs was a real science, for in doing so we come to an empirical understanding of how humans synthesize physical stimuli into words and other abstract concepts. Jakob von Uexkll (18641944) studied the sign processes in animals. He borrowed the German word for 'environment', Umwelt, to describe the individual's subjective world, and he invented the concept of functional circle (Funktionskreis) as a general model of sign processes. In his Theory of Meaning

(Bedeutungslehre, 1940), he described the semiotic approach to biology, thus establishing the field that is now called biosemiotics. Valentin Voloshinov (18951936) was a Soviet/Russian linguist, whose work has been influential in the field of literary theory and Marxist theory of ideology. Written in the late 1920s in the USSR, Voloshinov's Marxism and the Philosophy of Language (tr.: Marksizm i Filosofiya Yazyka) developed a counter-Saussurean linguistics, which situated language use in social process rather than in an entirely decontexualized Saussurean langue. Louis Hjelmslev (18991965) developed a formalist approach to Saussure's structuralist theories. His best known work is Prolegomena to a Theory of Language, which was expanded in Rsum of the Theory of Language, a formal development of glossematics, his scientific calculus of language. Charles W. Morris (19011979). In his 1938 Foundations of the Theory of Signs, he defined semiotics as grouping the triad syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Syntax studies the interrelation of the signs, without regard to meaning. Semantics studies the relation between the signs and the objects to which they apply. Pragmatics studies the relation between the sign system and its human (or animal) user. Unlike his mentor George Herbert Mead, Morris was a behaviorist and sympathetic to the Vienna Circle positivism of his colleague Rudolf Carnap. Morris was accused by John Dewey[20] of misreading Peirce. Thure von Uexkll (19082004), the "father" of modern psychosomatic medicine, developed a diagnostic method based on semiotic and biosemiotic analyses. Roland Barthes (19151980) was a French literary theorist and semiotician. He would often critique pieces of cultural material to expose how bourgeois society used them to impose its values upon others. For instance, the portrayal of wine drinking in French society as a robust and healthy habit would be a bourgeois ideal perception contradicted by certain realities (i.e. that wine can be unhealthy and inebriating). He found semiotics useful in conducting these critiques. Barthes explained that these bourgeois cultural myths were second-order signs, or connotations. A picture of a full, dark bottle is a sign, a signifier relating to a signified: a fermented, alcoholic beverage wine. However, the bourgeois take this signified and apply their own emphasis to it, making wine a new signifier, this time relating to a new signified: the idea of healthy, robust, relaxing wine. Motivations for such manipulations vary from a desire to sell products to a simple desire to maintain the status quo. These insights brought Barthes very much in line with similar Marxist theory.

Signaling and communication between the Astatotilapia burtoni

Algirdas Julien Greimas (19171992) developed a structural version of semiotics named generative semiotics, trying to shift the focus of discipline from signs to systems of signification. His theories develop the ideas of Saussure, Hjelmslev, Claude Lvi-Strauss, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Thomas A. Sebeok (19202001), a student of Charles W. Morris, was a prolific and wide-ranging American semiotician. Though he insisted that animals are not capable of language, he expanded the purview of semiotics to include nonhuman signaling and communication systems, thus raising some of the issues addressed by philosophy of mind and coining the term zoosemiotics. Sebeok insisted that all communication was made possible by the relationship between an organism and the environment it lives in. He also posed the equation between semiosis (the activity of interpreting signs) and life the view that has further developed by Copenhagen-Tartu biosemiotic school. Juri Lotman (19221993) was the founding member of the Tartu-Estonia (or Tartu-Moscow) Semiotic School. He developed a semiotic approach to the study of culture and established a communication model for the study of text semiotics. He also introduced the concept of the semiosphere. Among his Moscow colleagues were Vladimir Toporov, Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich Ivanov, and Boris Uspensky. Umberto Eco (1932present) made a wider audience aware of semiotics by various publications, most notably A Theory of Semiotics and his novel, The Name of the Rose, which includes applied semiotic operations. His most important contributions to the field bear on interpretation, encyclopedia, and model reader. He has also criticized in several works (A theory of semiotics, La struttura assente, Le signe, La production de signes) the "iconism" or "iconic signs" (taken from Peirce's most famous triadic relation, based on indexes, icons, and symbols), to which he purposes four modes of sign production: recognition, ostension, replica, and invention. Eliseo Vern (1935present) developed his "Social Discourse Theory" inspired in the Peircian conception of "Semiosis". The Mu Group (Groupe ) (founded 1967) developed a structural version of rhetorics, and the visual semiotics.

Current applications
Applications of semiotics include:

It represents a methodology for the analysis of texts regardless of the medium in which it is presented. For these purposes, "text" is any message preserved in a form whose existence is independent of both sender and receiver; It can improve ergonomic design in situations where it is important to ensure that human beings can interact more effectively with their environments, whether it be on a large scale, as in architecture, or on a small scale, such as the configuration of instrumentation for human use.

In some countries, its role is limited to literary criticism and an appreciation of audio and visual media, but this narrow focus can inhibit a more general study of the social and political forces shaping how different media are used and their dynamic status within modern culture. Issues of technological determinism in the choice of media and the design of communication strategies assume new importance in this age of mass

media. The use of semiotic methods to reveal different levels of meaning and, sometimes, hidden motivations has led Yale's Harold Bloom to demonise elements of the subject as Marxist, nihilist, etc. (e.g. critical discourse analysis in Postmodernism and deconstruction in Post-structuralism). Publication of research is both in dedicated journals such as Sign Systems Studies, established by Juri Lotman and published by Tartu University Press; Semiotica, founded by Thomas A. Sebeok and published by Mouton de Gruyter; Zeitschrift fr Semiotik; European Journal of Semiotics; Versus (founded and directed by Umberto Eco), et al.; The American Journal of Semiotics; and as articles accepted in periodicals of other disciplines, especially journals oriented toward philosophy and cultural criticism. The major semiotic book series "Semiotics, Communication, Cognition", published by De Gruyter Mouton (series editors Paul Cobley and Kalevi Kull) replaces the former "Approaches to Semiotics" (over 120 volumes) and "Approaches to Applied Semiotics" (series editor Thomas A. Sebeok). Since 1980 the Semiotic Society of America has produced an annual conference series: Semiotics: The Proceedings of the Semiotic Society of America.

Branches
Semiotics has sprouted a number of subfields, including but not limited to the following:

Biosemiotics is the study of semiotic processes at all levels of biology, or a semiotic study of living systems (e.g., CopenhagenTartu School). Semiotic anthropology Cognitive semiotics is the study of meaning-making by employing and integrating methods and theories developed in the cognitive sciences. This involves conceptual and textual analysis as well as experimental investigations. Cognitive semiotics was initially developed at the Center for Semiotics at Aarhus University (Denmark), with an important connection with the Center of Functionally Integrated Neuroscience (CFIN) at Aarhus Hospital. Amongst the prominent cognitive semioticians are Per Aage Brandt, Svend stergaard, Peer Bundgrd, Frederik Stjernfelt, Mikkel Wallentin, Kristian Tyln, Riccardo Fusaroli and Jordan Zlatev. Computational semiotics attempts to engineer the process of semiosis, say in the study of and design for Human-Computer Interaction or to mimic aspects of human cognition through artificial intelligence and knowledge representation. Cultural and literary semiotics examines the literary world, the visual media, the mass media, and advertising in the work of writers such as Roland Barthes, Marcel Danesi, and Juri Lotman (e.g., TartuMoscow Semiotic School). Design Semiotics or Product Semiotics is the study of the use of signs in the design of physical products. Introduced by Rune Mon while teaching Industrial Design at the Institute of Design, Ume University, Sweden. Film Semiotics is the study of the various codes and signs of film and how they are understood. See the works of Christian Metz. Law and Semiotics. One of the more accomplished publications in this field is the International Journal for the Semiotics of Law. Music semiology "There are strong arguments that music inhabits a semiological realm which, on both ontogenetic and phylogenetic levels, has developmental

priority over verbal language." (Middleton 1990, p. 172) See Nattiez (1976, 1987, 1989), Stefani (1973, 1986), Baroni (1983), and Semiotica (66: 13 (1987)). Gregorian chant semiology is a current avenue of palaeographical research in Gregorian chant which is revising the Solesmes school of interpretation. Organisational semiotics is the study of semiotic processes in organizations. It has strong ties to Computational semiotics and Human-Computer Interaction. Social semiotics expands the interpretable semiotic landscape to include all cultural codes, such as in slang, fashion, and advertising. See the work of Roland Barthes, Michael Halliday, Bob Hodge, and Christian Metz. Structuralism and post-structuralism in the work of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Louis Hjelmslev, Roman Jakobson, Jacques Lacan, Claude LviStrauss, Roland Barthes, etc. Theatre Semiotics extends or adapts semiotics onstage. Key theoricians include Keir Elam. Urban semiotics. Visual semiotics a subdomain of semiotics that analyses visual signs. See also visual rhetoric.[21] Semiotics of Photography.[22]

Pictorial semiotics
Pictorial Semiotics is intimately connected to art history and theory. It has gone beyond them both in at least one fundamental way, however. While art history has limited its visual analysis to a small number of pictures which qualify as "works of art," pictorial semiotics has focused on the properties of pictures more generally. This break from traditional art history and theoryas well as from other major streams of semiotic analysisleaves open a wide variety of possibilities for pictorial semiotics. Some influences have been drawn from phenomenological analysis, cognitive psychology, and structuralist and cognitivist linguistics, and visual anthropology/sociology.

Semiotics of food
Food has been one traditional topic of choice in relating semiotic theory because it is extremely accessible and easily relatable to the average individuals life.[23] Semiotics is the study of sign processes when conducted individually or in groups and how these sign processes give insight as to how meaning is enabled and also understood.[23] Food is said to be semiotic because it transforms meaning with preparation. Food that is eaten by a wild animal raw from a carcass is obviously different in meaning when compared to a food that is prepared by humans in a kitchen to represent a cultural dish.
[23]

Food can also be said to be symbolic of certain social codes. If food is treated as a code, the messages it encodes will be found in the pattern of social relations being expressed. The message is about different degrees of hierarchy, inclusion and exclusion, boundaries and transactions across boundaries.[24]

Food is a semiotic regardless of how it is prepared. Whether food is prepared with precision in a fine dining restaurant, picked from a dumpster, plucked, devoured, or even consumed by a wild animal, meaning can always be extracted from the way a certain food has been prepared and the context in which it is served.

Semiotics and globalization

Present research found that, as airline industry brandings grow and become more international, their logos become more symbolic and less iconic. The iconicity and symbolism of a sign depends on the cultural convention and are on that ground in relation with each other. If the cultural convention has greater influence on the sign, the signs get more symbolic value.[25]

Main institutions
A world organisation of semioticians the International Association for Semiotic Studies, with its journal Semiotica was established in 1969. The larger research centers together with extensive teaching program include the Semiotics Departments of Tartu University, Aarhus University, and Bologna University.

See also

Outline of semiotics Index of semiotics articles Semiotic elements and classes of signs

References
Notes 1. ^ Caesar, Michael (1999). Umberto Eco: Philosophy, Semiotics, and the Work of Fiction. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-7456-0850-1. 2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Syntactics 3. ^ Wiktionary.org 4. ^ , Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus 5. ^ , Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus 6. ^ Stubbe, H.,The Plus Ultra reduced to a Non Plus ... (London, England, 1670), page 75: "... nor is there any thing to be relied upon in Physick, but an exact knowledge of medicinal phisiology (founded on observation, not principles), semeiotics, method of curing, and tried (not excogitated, not commanding) medicines ...." 7. ^ A now-obsolete term for the art or profession of curing disease with (herbal) medicines or (chemical) drugs; especially purgatives or cathartics. Also, it specifically refers to the treatment of humans.

8. ^ That is, "thought out", "contrived", or "devised" (Oxford English Dictionary). 9. ^ Peirce, C.S., Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, vol. 2, paragraph 227. 10. ^ Peirce, C.S. (1902), "Logic, Considered as Semeiotic", Manuscript L75, transcription at Arisbe: The Peirce Gateway, and, in particular, its "On the Definition of Logic" (Memoir 12), transcription at Arisbe. 11. ^ (Zlatev 12. ^ 1971, orig. 1938, Writings on the general theory of signs, Mouton, The Hague, The Netherlands 13. ^ 1944, Black M. The Philosophy of Bertrand Russell, Library of Living Philosophers, V5 14. ^ a b Zlatev 15. ^ For Peirce's definitions of signs and semiosis, see under "Sign" and "Semiosis, semeiosy" in the Commens Dictionary of Peirce's Terms; and "76 definitions of sign by C. S. Peirce" collected by Robert Marty. Peirce's "What Is a Sign" (MS 404 of 1894, Essential Peirce v. 2, pp. 4-10) provides intuitive help. 16. ^ See Peirce, excerpt from a letter to William James, March 14, 1909, Collected Papers v. 8, paragraph 314. Also see under relevant entries in the Commens Dictionary of Peirce's Terms. On coincidence of actual opinion with final opinion, see MS 218, transcription at Arisbe, and appearing in Writings of Charles S. Peirce v. 3, p. 79. 17. ^ He spelt it "semiotic" and "semeiotic". See under "Semeiotic [etc.] in the Commens Dictionary of Peirce's Terms. 18. ^ Peirce, Collected Papers v. 2, paragraphs 243-63, written circa 1903. 19. ^ He worked on but did not perfect a finer-grained system of ten trichotomies, to be combined into 66 (Tn+1) classes of sign. That raised for Peirce 59,049 classificatory questions (59,049 = 310, or 3 to the 10th power). See p. 482 in "Excerpts from Letters to Lady Welby", Essential Peirce v. 2. 20. ^ Dewey, John, (1946, February 14), Peirce's Theory of Linguistic Signs, Thought, and Meaning. The Journal of Philosophy, v. 43, n. 4, pp.85-95. 21. ^ Wikibooks.org 22. ^ Semiotics of Photography 23. ^ a b c Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (1993). Semiotics and communication: Signs, codes, cultures. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. 24. ^ Douglas, Mary. 1971. Deciphering a Meal. In: Clifford Geertz (ed.) Myth, Symbol and Culture. New York: Norton, pp. 6182. 25. ^ Thurlow, C. & Aiello, G. (2007). National pride, global capital: a social semiotic analysis of transnational visual branding in the airline industry, Visual Communication, 6(3), 305344 Bibliography

Atkin, Albert. (2006). "Peirce's Theory of Signs", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Barthes, Roland. ([1957] 1987). Mythologies. New York: Hill & Wang. Barthes, Roland ([1964] 1967). Elements of Semiology. (Translated by Annette Lavers & Colin Smith). London: Jonathan Cape. Chandler, Daniel. (2001/2007). Semiotics: The Basics. London: Routledge.

Clarke, D. S. (1987). Principles of Semiotic. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Clarke, D. S. (2003). Sign Levels. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Culler, Jonathan (1975). Structuralist Poetics: Structuralism, Linguistics and the Study of Literature. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Danesi, Marcel & Perron, Paul. (1999). Analyzing Cultures: An Introduction and Handbook. Bloomington: Indiana UP. Danesi, Marcel. (1994). Messages and Meanings: An Introduction to Semiotics. Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press. Danesi, Marcel. (2002). Understanding Media Semiotics. London: Arnold; New York: Oxford UP. Danesi, Marcel. (2007). The Quest for Meaning: A Guide to Semiotic Theory and Practice. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Deely, John. (2005 [1990]). Basics of Semiotics. 4th ed. Tartu: Tartu University Press. Deely, John. (2003). The Impact on Philosophy of Semiotics. South Bend: St. Augustine Press. Deely, John. (2001). Four Ages of Understanding. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Derrida, Jacques (1981). Positions. (Translated by Alan Bass). London: Athlone Press. Eagleton, Terry. (1983). Literary Theory: An Introduction. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Eco, Umberto. (1976). A Theory of Semiotics. London: Macmillan. Eco, Umberto. (1986) Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Eco, Umberto. (2000) Kant and the Platypus. New York, Harcourt Brace & Company. Eco, Umberto. (1976) A Theory of Semiotics. Indiana, Indiana University Press. Emmeche, Claus; Kull, Kalevi (eds.) (2011) Towards a Semiotic Biology: Life is the Action of Signs. London: Imperial College Press. Foucault, Michel. (1970). The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. London: Tavistock. Greimas, Algirdas. (1987). On Meaning: Selected Writings in Semiotic Theory. (Translated by Paul J Perron & Frank H Collins). London: Frances Pinter. Herlihy, David. 1988present. "2nd year class of semiotics". CIT. Hjelmslev, Louis (1961). Prolegomena to a Theory of Language. (Translated by Francis J. Whitfield). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Hodge, Robert & Kress, Gunther. (1988). Social Semiotics. Ithaca: Cornell UP. Lacan, Jacques. (1977) crits: A Selection. (Translated by Alan Sheridan). New York: Norton. Lidov, David (1999) Elements of Semiotics. New York: St. Martin's Press. Liszka, J. J. (1996) A General Introduction to the Semeiotic of C.S. Peirce. Indiana University Press. Locke, John, The Works of John Locke, A New Edition, Corrected, In Ten Volumes, Vol.III, T. Tegg, (London), 1823. (facsimile reprint by Scientia, (Aalen), 1963.) Lotman, Yuri M. (1990). Universe of the Mind: A Semiotic Theory of Culture. (Translated by Ann Shukman). London: I.B. Tauris. Morris, Charles W. (1971). Writings on the general theory of signs. The Hague: Mouton.

Menchik, D., and X. Tian. (2008) "Putting Social Context into Text: The Semiotics of Email Interaction." The American Journal of Sociology. 114:2 pp. 33270. Peirce, Charles S. (1934). Collected papers: Volume V. Pragmatism and pragmaticism. Cambridge, MA, USA: Harvard University Press. Petrilli, S. (2009). Semiotics as semioethics in the era of global communication. Semiotica, 173(1-4), 343-347, 353-354, 359. doi: 10.1515/SEMI.2009.015 Ponzio, Augusto & S. Petrilli (2007) Semiotics Today. From Global Semiotics to Semioethics, a Dialogic Response. New York, Ottawa, Toronto: Legas. 84 pp. ISBN 978-1-894508-98-8 Sebeok, Thomas A. (Editor) (1977). A Perfusion of Signs. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Signs and Meaning: 5 Questions, edited by Peer Bundgaard and Frederik Stjernfelt, 2009 (Automatic Press / VIP). (Includes interviews with 29 leading semioticians of the world.) Stubbe, Henry (Henry Stubbes), The Plus Ultra reduced to a Non Plus: Or, A Specimen of some Animadversions upon the Plus Ultra of Mr. Glanvill, wherein sundry Errors of some Virtuosi are discovered, the Credit of the Aristotelians in part Re-advanced; and Enquiries made...., (London), 1670. Uexkll, Thure von (1982). Semiotics and medicine. Semiotica 38-3/4:205-215 Williamson, Judith. (1978). Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising. London: Boyars. Zlatev, Jordan. (2009). "The Semiotic Hierarchy: Life, Consciousness, Signs and Language, Cognitive Semiotics". Sweden: Scania.

External links
Further reading Applied Semiotics / Smiotique applique Communicology: The link between semiotics and phenomenological manifestations Language and the Origin of Semiosis Semiotics for Beginners Signo www.signosemio.com Presents semiotic theories and theories closely related to semiotics The Semiotics of the Web

Peircean focus

Arisbe: The Peirce Gateway Minute Semeiotic, English, Portuguese Peirce's Theory of Semiosis: Toward a Logic of Mutual Affection free online course Semiotics according to Robert Marty, with 76 definitions of the sign by C. S. Peirce The Commens Dictionary of Peirce's Terms

Tartu Semiotics Department

Journals, book series associations, centers Look up semiotics in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

American Journal of Semiotics, Joseph Brent, Editor, & John Deely, Managing Editor from the Semiotic Society of America.

Applied Semiotics / Smiotique applique (AS/SA), Peter G. Marteinson & Pascal G. Michelucci, Editors. Approaches to Semiotics (196997 book series), Thomas A. Sebeok, Alain Rey, Roland Posner, et al., Editors. Approaches to Applied Semiotics (20002009 book series), Thomas Sebeok et al., Editors. Biosemiotics, Marcello Barbieri, Editor-in-Chief from the International Society for Biosemiotic Studies. Center for Semiotics, Aarhus University, Denmark. Cognitive Semiotics, Per Aage Brandt & Todd Oakley, Editors-in-Chief. Cybernetics and Human Knowing, Sren Brier, Chief Editor. International Journal of Signs and Semiotic Systems (IJSSS), Angelo Loula & Joo Queiroz, Editors. Open Semiotics Resource Center. Journals, lecture courses, etc. S.E.E.D. Journal (Semiotics, Evolution, Energy, and Development) (20017), Edwina Taborsky, Editor from SEE. Semiotica, Marcel Danesi, Chief Editor from the International Association for Semiotic Studies. Semiotiche, Gian Paolo Caprettini, Managing Director; Andrea Valle & Miriam Visalli, Editors. Some articles in English. Home site seems gone from Web, old url [1] no longer good, and Wayback Machine cannot retrieve. Semiotics, Communication and Cognition (book series), Paul Cobley & Kalevi Kull, Editors. SemiotiX New Series: A Global Information Bulletin, Paul Bouissac et al. Sign Systems Studies, Kalevi Kull, Kati Lindstrom, Mihhail Lotman, Timo Maran, Silvi Salupere, Peeter Torop, Editors from the Dept. of Semiotics, U. of Tartu, Estonia. Signs - International Journal of Semiotics. Martin Thellefsen, Torkild Thellefsen, & Bent Srensen, chief eds. Tartu Semiotics Library (book series), Peeter Torop, Kalevi Kull, Silvi Salupere, Editors. The Public Journal of Semiotics, Paul Bouissac, Editor in Chief; Alan Cienki, Associate Editor; Ren Jorna, Winfried Nth. The Semiotic Review of Books, Gary Genosko, General Editor; Paul Bouissac, Founding Editor. Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, Cornelis de Waal, Chief Editor from The Charles S. Peirce Society. Versus: Quaderni di studi semiotici, founded by Umberto Eco. [show]

v t e

Communication studies
[show]

t e

Sub-fields of and approaches to human geography

Categories:

Cybernetics Semiotics Philosophy of language Communication studies

Category:Branches of philosophy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This category is intended for the main areas of philosophy studied in modern academia. See also: Philosophy by field. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Branches of philosophy

Subcategories
This category has the following 8 subcategories, out of 8 total.

L
Aesthetics (19 C, 107 P)

P cont.
Logic (22 C, 136 P)

Political philosophy (47 C, 196 P)

M
Epistemology (18 C, 146 P) Ethics (13 C, 119 P P)

S
Metaphysics (12 C, 67 P)

S Social philosophy (29 C, 244 P)

Philosophy by field (30 C, 46 P)

Pages in category "Branches of philosophy"

The following 7 pages are in this category, out of 7 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

L
Aesthetics

S
Logic

Social philosophy

M
Epistemology Ethics

Metaphysics

Political philosophy

Categories:

Subfields by academic discipline Philosophy

Subcategories
This category has the following 3 subcategories, out of 3 total.

Semanticists (30 P) Semioticians (85 P) Syntacticians (57 P)

This category has the following 16 subcategories, out of 16 total.

L
Philosophers of language (3 C, 181 P)

Linguistic turn (6 C, 20 P)

Deconstruction (2 C, 64 P) Definition (1 C, 28 P)

Meaning (philosophy of language) (5 C, 28 P)

Evolution of language (11 P)

O Ordinary language philosophy (10 P)

P
Indian linguistic philosophy (1 C, 2 P) Interpretation (philosophy) (9 C,

P Philosophy of language literature (19 P) Pragmatics (63 P)

19 P)

Reference (10 C, 32 P)

Subcategories
This category has the following 10 subcategories, out of 10 total.

C cont.
Concepts in aesthetics (8 C, 48 P) Concepts in epistemology (8 C, 92 P) Concepts in ethics (11 C, 92 P) E Concepts in logic (11 C, 86 P)

Concepts in metaphysics (15 C, 131 P)

Existentialist concepts (1 C, 32 P)

Philosophical categories (5 P) Philosophical problems (4 C, 38 P)

Subcategories
This category has the following 8 subcategories, out of 8 total.

E
A Aesthetic beauty (3 C, 7 P)

S
Entertainment (45 C, 81 P)

Style (fiction) (2 C, 45 P)

H
Comedy (24 C, 73 P) Creativity (18 C, P 91 P)

T
Humour (22 C, 102 P)

Tragedy (4 C, 27 P)

Pleasure (2 C, 5 P)

Pages in category "Concepts in aesthetics"

The following 48 pages are in this category, out of 48 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

E cont.
Aesthetic emotions Aesthetic interpretation Apollonian and Dionysian Art manifesto Avant-garde

M cont.
Miyabi

Entertainment Eroticism Essentially contested N concept

Notability

Gaze

Beauty Boredom

Painterliness Perception Perfection

Harmony Horror Victorianorum

Camp (style) Creativity Cuteness Kawaii

Quality (philosophy)

Iki (aesthetic ideal) Imitation (art)

Rasa (aesthetics)

J
Dionysian imitatio Disgust

S
Japanese aesthetics Judgement

K
Ecstasy (philosophy) Elegance Ens

Shibui Style (visual arts) Subjectile Sublime (philosophy)

Kitsch

Life imitating art Lyrical Abstraction

Taste (sociology) Truth claim (photography)

W
Magnificence (History of ideas) Medium specificity Mimesis

Wabi-sabi Work of art

Yabo

Categories:

Philosophical concepts

Aesthetics

Hidden categories:

Philosophy maintenance categories

Category:Concepts in epistemology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

Epistemology Philosophical concepts

Epistemology portal

Philosophy of science Epistemology of science Formal epistemology Social epistemology

Epistemologists Epistemology literature Concepts in epistemology Epistemological theories

Aesthetic concepts Epistemological concepts Ethical concepts

Logical concepts Metaphysical concepts Social concepts

Ph Lit

Th

The main article for this category is Epistemology. Philosophy Reference Resources
Concepts in epistemology at PhilPapers

Subcategories
This category has the following 8 subcategories, out of 8 total.

J
Belief (18 C, 69 P, 1 F)

S
Justification (9 C, 23 P)

Sources of knowledge (7 C, 21 P)

K
Evidence (2 C, 10 P)

V
Knowledge (27 C, 105 P)

Veracity (3 C, 29 P)

P
Inductive reasoning (5 C, 26 P)

Perception (14 C, 188 P, 1 F)

Pages in category "Concepts in epistemology"

The following 92 pages are in this category, out of 92 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

E cont.
A priori and a posteriori Acatalepsy Alief (belief) Analyticsynthetic distinction Anamnesis (philosophy)

O cont.
Objectivity (philosophy) Omphalos hypothesis Overbelief

B
Basic limiting principle Belief Brain in a vat

Epistemic commitment Epistemic virtue Epistemological rupture Epoch P Eschatological verification Evidence Exclusion principle (philosophy) Existential phenomenology Expectation (epistemic) Experiential knowledge Exploratory thought R

Perception Peripatetic axiom Philosophical analysis Problem of induction Problem of other minds Proof (truth) Propositional attitude

Cartesian Other Cartesian Self Causal chain Causality Cogito ergo sum Cognitive closure (philosophy) Common sense Composition of Causes Condition of possibility Criteria of truth

Fact

Rationality Regress argument

S
Gettier problem

Here is a hand Hume's fork

Sensus communis Simulated reality Skeptical regress Speculative reason Subjectobject problem

I
Daimonic Descriptive knowledge Dianoia Direct experience Dispositional and occurrent belief Doxa

T
I know that I know nothing Ignoramus et ignorabimus Ignorance Infallibility Intellectual responsibility Intelligibility (philosophy)

Tabula rasa Techne Telesis Transparency (philosophy) Truth Truth by consensus Truth-value link

Intuition (psychology)

Emergence Empirical method Empirical relationship Empirical research Endoxa Episteme Epistemic closure

Uncertainty Understanding Unknown known Unobservable

Justified true belief

Verisimilitude

Katalepsis KK thesis Knowledge

World view

Leap of faith Logos

Maieutics Molyneux's problem

Object (philosophy)

Categories:

Philosophical concepts Epistemology

Hidden categories:

Philosophy maintenance categories

Category:Concepts in ethics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

Ethics Philosophical

Normative ethics Meta-ethics Applied ethics

Ethicists Ethics literature Concepts in ethics Ethics theories Logical concepts Metaphysical concepts Social concepts

Aesthetic concepts Epistemological concepts Ethical concepts

Phil Lite

The

concepts
The main article for this category is Ethics.
Ethics portal

Subcategories
This category has the following 11 subcategories, out of 11 total.

H
Amorality (2 P) Authority (5 C, 18 P)

V
Human rights concepts (12 P)

Value (7 C, 66 P) Vices (6 C, 27 P) Virtue (8 C, 77 P)

M
Dilemmas (34 P) Morality (8 C, 74 P)

T
E Ethical principles (7 C, 35 P)

Thought experiments in ethics e (12 P)

Utility (1 C, 46 P)

Pages in category "Concepts in ethics"

The following 92 pages are in this category, out of 92 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

H cont.
Benevolent suicide Akrasia All men are created equal Alternative possibilities Arete Autonomy

P cont.

Higher good Human rights

Potential person Practical reason Prescriptivity Primary goods Principle

Bad faith

Incontinence (philosophy) Informed consent Initiation of force Injustice Intrinsic value (ethics)

Quality (philosophy)

Basic goodness

Just war theory

Commensurability (ethics) Common good Conscience Consent Cornelian dilemma Corruption

Li (Confucian)

Rational agent Reflective equilibrium Ren (Confucianism) Ressentiment (Scheler) Righteousness Rights Ring of Gyges

Desert (philosophy) Dilemma of determinism Distrust

Maxim (philosophy) S Mental reservation Might makes right Moral authority Moral conversion Moral equivalence Moral evil T Moral imperative Moral responsibility Moral universe

Spite (sentiment) Suffering Supererogation Synderesis

Empathy Endowment (philosophy) Equiveillance Ethics of care Ethos Eudaimonia

Natural and legal rights Natural order (philosophy) Norm (philosophy)

Throffer Traditional values Trust (social sciences) Truthmaker Two-stage model of free will

Face-to-face Family values Free will

Good and evil Greed

Objectivity (philosophy) Obligation Oikeisis Open-question argument Ought implies can

Unintended consequences Universalizability

Value (ethics) Value judgment Veil of ignorance Virtue

P
Happiness Harm principle Heterogony of ends

W
Permission (philosophy) Person Phronesis Possession is ninetenths of the law

Wrong

Yi (Confucianism)

Categories:

Ethics Philosophical concepts

Hidden categories:

Philosophy maintenance categories

Category:Concepts in logic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

Philosophical concepts Logic

Aesthetic concepts Epistemological concepts Ethical concepts

Logical concepts Metaphysical concepts Social concepts

Phil Lite

The

Philosophical logic Mathematical logic History of logic

Critical thinking Proof theory Model theory

Logicians Set theory Computability theory

Logic lite Concepts Theories

Logic Index of logic articles Outline of logic

Logic portal

Subcategories
This category has the following 11 subcategories, out of 11 total.

L cont.
Dilemmas (34 P)

S
Supertasks (6 P)

Interpretation (philosophy) (9 C, 19 N P)

Logical consequence (5 C, 21 P) T Logical truth (4 C, 14 P)

Theorems (6 C, 11 P)

Necessity (2 C, 11 P)

Latin logical phrases (46 P) Logic symbols (2 C, 53 P)

Veracity (3 C, 29 P)

Paradoxes (4 C, 122 P)

Pages in category "Concepts in logic"

The following 86 pages are in this category, out of 86 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

Law of thought

I cont.

Absoluteness Analyticsynthetic distinction Antinomy J Axiom Axiom of reducibility

Inference Infinity Irrationality Irreducibility

Reason Reference Reflective equilibrium Rule bank

S
Judgment (mathematical logic)

Canonical form Common knowledge (logic) Comprehension (logic) Connotation

Leap of faith Lemma (logic) Logic Spectacles Logical consequence Logical constant Logical form Logical truth Logos

Decidability (logic) Deductive closure Definition Dilemma Disquotational principle Doxa

Mutatis mutandis

Salva congruitate Salva veritate Satisfiability Second-order predicate Semantics Set (mathematics) Singular term Situation Soundness Speculative reason Statement (logic) Strength (mathematical logic) Substitution (logic) Supertask Symbol (formal) Syntax (logic)

Equisatisfiability Explanandum Explanation Extension (semantics) Extensionality

T Name Necessity and sufficiency Non-rigid designator

Overbelief

Theorem Truth Truth claim Truth value Truthmaker Type (model theory)

P
Fact First-order predicate

V
Paradox Pars destruens/pars construens Polychotomous key

Validity Verisimilitude

Hold come what may Hume's fork Hume's principle

Possible world Predicable Prescriptivity Presupposition Primitive notion Principle of sufficient reason Propositional function Propositional variable

Identity (philosophy) Identity of indiscernibles

Impredicativity Categories:

Logic Philosophical concepts

Hidden categories:

Philosophy maintenance categories

Category:Concepts in metaphysics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

Philosophical concepts
Metaphysics portal

Aesthetic concepts Epistemological concepts Ethical concepts

Logical concepts Metaphysical concepts Social concepts

Ph Lit

Th

The main article for this category is Metaphysics.

Subcategories
This category has the following 15 subcategories, out of 15 total.

M cont.
Causality (11 C, 86 P)

R
Reality (8 C, 29 P)

Mind (15 C, 16 P) Modality (5 C, 10 P) S

N
Emergence (1 C,

Self (9 C, 120 P)

11 P)

Nothing (7 C, 40 T P)

O
Form (8 C, 1 P) Free will (3 C, 56 P)

Time (22 C, 113 P)

Objects (6 C, 1 P) V

Value (7 C, 66 P) Veracity (3 C, 29 P)

Meaning (philosophy of language) (5 C, 28 P)

Principles (9 C, 70 P)

Pages in category "Concepts in metaphysics"

The following 131 pages are in this category, out of 131 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

H cont.
A-series and B-series Absolute time and space Abstract and concrete I Abstract particulars Abstraction Active intellect Actual entity Actus Essendi Aletheia Analogy of the divided line Arche

P cont.

Hyle Hypokeimenon

Balance (metaphysics) Basic limiting principle Being Best of all possible worlds Bradley's regress

Idea Identity (philosophy) Identity and change Identity of indiscernibles Immanence Q Immaterial force Immediacy (philosophy) Incorporeality Infinity (philosophy) Information Inherence R Intellect Intention Intrinsic and extrinsic properties (philosophy)

Physis Plane of immanence Platonia (philosophy) Plenitude principle Popper's three worlds Potentiality and actuality Principle Property (philosophy) Pure thought

Qualia Quality (philosophy) Quantity

L S

Reality Reduction (philosophy) Relational space Res extensa

Category of being Causal chain Causal closure M Causality Choice Cogito ergo sum Conatus Concept Concrescence (process philosophy) Creativity (process philosophy)

Lifeworld

Matter (philosophy) Meaning (existential) Meinong's jungle Mental representation Mental substance Metakosmia Metaphysics of presence T Mind Monad (philosophy) Moral universe

Sea of Beauty Philosophy of self Soul Stoic Categories Subject (philosophy) Subjectobject problem Subjunctive possibility Substantial form Supervenience

Datum (process philosophy) Duration (philosophy)

lan vital Emergence Entity Epiphenomenon Essence Eternal objects Everything Evidential existentiality Existence Experience Extension (metaphysics)

Natural law Necessity and sufficiency Nexus (process philosophy) Non-physical entity Nothing Notion (philosophy)

Teleonomy The Void (philosophy) Thought Time Transcendence (philosophy) Transcendentals Truth Truth-value link Truthmaker Typetoken distinction

U
Object (philosophy) Objectivity (philosophy) Ontic Ousia

Universal (metaphysics) Universalizability Unobservable

P
Four causes

V
Paradox of inaction Participation (philosophy) Particular Pattern Perception Phenomenon Physical body

Value (ethics) Virtuality

Geist Growing block universe

Well-founded phenomenon World disclosure World riddle

Human spirit

Hume's fork Categories:

Metaphysics Philosophical concepts

Hidden categories:

Philosophy maintenance categories

Category:Existentialist concepts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

Subcategories
This category has only the following subcategory.

Daseinsanalysis (10 P)

Pages in category "Existentialist concepts"

The following 32 pages are in this category, out of 32 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

E cont.
Absurdism Absurdity Angst Anguish Authenticity (philosophy)

Encounter (psychology) Existence precedes essence Existentiell

Nothing

Facticity

Bad faith Bad faith (existentialism) Being in itself

Existential phenomenology Philosophy of Max Stirner Philosophy of Sren Kierkegaard Pour soi

Gaze

Boredom

Ressentiment

Human condition

Existential crisis

Self-deception Social alienation

Emptiness

Lightness (philosophy) Logotherapy

Thought of Thomas Aquinas

Meaning (existential) W Meaning of life

Wish fulfillment

Moral conversion

Categories:

Existentialism Philosophical concepts

Category:Philosophical categories
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

Pages in category "Philosophical categories"

The following 5 pages are in this category, out of 5 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

Categories (Aristotle) Categories (Peirce) Category (Kant) Category of being

Stoic Categories

Categories:

Philosophical concepts

Category:Philosophical problems
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The main article for this category is Philosophical problems.

Subcategories
This category has the following 4 subcategories, out of 4 total.

Dilemmas (34 P)

Mindbody problem (4 C, 15 P)

Paradoxes (4 C, 122 P) Problem of evil (1 C, 7 P)

Pages in category "Philosophical problems"

The following 38 pages are in this category, out of 38 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

List of unsolved problems in philosophy

F cont.

P cont.

Problem of future contingents

Alternative possibilities

Gettier problem

Predeterminism Problem of evil Problem of mental causation Problem of religious language

I
Bradley's regress

Q
If a tree falls in a forest Problem of induction R Isought problem

Quantum mindbody problem

C
Competing goods

M
Meaning of life

Regress argument

Demarcation problem Dilemma of determinism

Mindbody problem Molyneux's problem S Moral luck

Subjectobject problem Synchronicity

Eternity of the world

Ordinary language philosophy Problem of other minds

P Frame problem Frame problem (philosophy) Free will Free will in antiquity Freedom of action

Two-stage model of free will

Philosophical problems of testimony Physical determinism

Problem of universals

Frege's Puzzle

Verisimilitude

World riddle

Categories:

Philosophical concepts Open problems

Category:Social concepts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

Philosophical concepts
Subcategories

Aesthetic concepts Epistemological concepts Ethical concepts

Logical concepts Metaphysical concepts Social concepts

Phil Lite

The

This category has the following 19 subcategories, out of 19 total.

H cont.
Accountability (13 C, 24 P) Authority (5 C, 18

P cont.

Human rights concepts (12 P)

Punishment (3 C, 10 P)

P)

R
Inequality (3 C, 8 P)

Conflict (19 C, 16 P) C Cultural concepts J (1 C, 12 P) Cultural hegemony (1 C, 5 P)

Reform (12 C, 8 P) Rights (10 C, 60 P)

Justice (14 C, 51 S P)

L
Etiquette (9 C, 74 P)

S Social conventions (8 C, 1 P)

Law (52 C, 51 P) U

O
Human rights (24 C, 176 P)

Utopias (5 C, 47 P)

Obfuscation (4 C, 15 P)

Peace (28 C, 98 P) P Political concepts (13 C, 31 P)

Pages in category "Social concepts"

The following 62 pages are in this category, out of 62 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

I
Accountability Authority

P cont.
Injustice

J
Justice Civic virtue Class consciousness L Collective intentionality Common good Consent of the governed Conspiracies against the laity

Power (social and political) Procreative beneficence

Lateral violence Law Leadership Legitimacy (political) Liberty

Reciprocity (social and political philosophy) Ressentiment Revolution Rights

Convention (norm) Cultural hegemony

S
Multitude Mutual liberty

Defamation Bill 2012-13

Essentially contested concept

Negative capability Negative liberty Non-aggression principle Norm (philosophy) Norm (social) Normlessness

Social contract Social dilemma Social fact Social practice theory Social progress Social relation Space of flows State of affairs (sociology) Structuration

Face-to-face False necessity Family values Freedom of choice French and Raven's five bases of power

Traditional values Tschandala

Open society V Oppression Oppressors oppressed distinction

Value judgment Vanishing mediator Verstehen

P
Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft Generosity

Peace Political freedom Positive liberty

H
Habitus (sociology)

Human spirit Categories:

Social philosophy Philosophical concepts Social sciences

Hidden categories:

Philosophy maintenance categories

Category:Social philosophy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The main article for this category is Social philosophy.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Social philosophy Philosophy Reference Resources
Social philosophy at the Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project Social philosophy at PhilPapers Philosophy portal Social and political philosophy portal

Social philosophy is the philosophical study of questions about social behavior (typically, of humans). Social philosophy addresses a range of subjects, from individual meanings to legitimacy of laws, from the social contract to criteria for revolution, from the functions of everyday actions to the effects of science on culture, from changes in human demographics to the collective order of a wasp's nest. The field has a number of sub-disciplines. Click the "" below to see all subcategories: Branches of philosophy Aesthetics Epistemology Ethics Logic Metaphysics Philosophy by field Political philosophy Social philosophy

Subcategories
This category has the following 29 subcategories, out of 29 total.

P cont.
Critical theory (23 C, 123 P) Criticism of capitalism (1 C, 3 P)

S cont.

Dialectic (1 C, 15 P)

Philosophy of education (10 C, 138

Philosophy of social science (9 C, 20 P) Political philosophy (47 C, 196 P) P Political science (18 C, 104 P) Prejudice and discrimination (3 C, 20 P) Privilege (social inequality) (10 P)

Social epistemology (6 C, 25 P) Social ethics (10 C, 34 P) S Social movements (48 C, 138 P) Social philosophers (2 C, 67 P) Social philosophy literature (2 C, 20 P) Social theories (32 C, 98 P) Sociocultural

P)

Feminist philosophy (3 C, 12 P)

Philosophy of racism (1 P) Revolutions (9 C, T 29 P)

evolution (4 C, 103 P) Sociological paradigms (8 C, 27 P)

A Anarchist theory (10 C, 87 P)

Hermeneutics (2 C, 55 P)

Simple living (2 C, 75 P) Social change (7 C, 38 P) S Social concepts (19 C, 62 P)

Naturism (8 C, 36 P)

Phenomenology (5 C, 57 P) P Philosophy of love (5 C, 47 P) Philosophy of sexuality (9 C, 58 P)

Pages in category "Social philosophy

Category:Branches of philosophy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This category is intended for the main areas of philosophy studied in modern academia. See also: Philosophy by field. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Branches of philosophy

Subcategories
This category has the following 8 subcategories, out of 8 total.

P cont.

Aesthetics (19 C, 107 P)

Logic (22 C, 136 P)

Political philosophy (47 C, 196 P)

Epistemology (18 C, 146 P) Ethics (13 C, 119 P)

Metaphysics (12 C, 67 P)

S Social philosophy (29 C, 244 P)

Philosophy by field (30 C, 46 P)

Pages in category "Branches of philosophy"

The following 7 pages are in this category, out of 7 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

L
Aesthetics

S
Logic

Social philosophy

M
Epistemology Ethics

Metaphysics

Political philosophy

Categories:

Subfields by academic discipline Philosophy

Category:Political philosophy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Philosophy Reference Resources
Political philosophy at the Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project Political philosophy at PhilPapers

The main article for this category is Political philosophy. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Political theories
Social and political philosophy portal

Philosophy portal

For similar topics see the following categories also:

Political ideologies and its main article Political ideologies. Political theories for theoretic concepts related to political systems. Political systems and its main article Political systems. Political culture and its main article Political culture.

Pages in this category should be moved to subcategories where applicable. This category may require frequent maintenance to avoid becoming too large. It should directly contain very few, if any, articles and should mainly contain subcategories. Click the "" below to see all subcategories: Branches of philosophy Aesthetics Epistemology Ethics Logic Metaphysics Philosophy by field Political philosophy Social philosophy

Subcategories
This category has the following 47 subcategories, out of 47 total.

I cont.
Political movements (9 C, 118 P)

P cont.

Interregnums (3 C, 5 P)

Abolitionism (8 C, 12 P) American Enlightenment (3 C, 6 P) American political philosophy (10 C, 7 P) Anarchism (19 C, M 7 P, 1 F) Political philosophy in ancient

Law enforcement theory (19 P) Liberalism (19 C, 103 P) Libertarian socialism (8 C, 12 P) Libertarianism (14 C, 5 P)

P Political science (18 C, 104 P) P Political systems (17 C, 64 P) P Political theories (36 C, 247 P) Populism (4 C, 46 P) Positivism (2 C, 27 P) Postcolonialism (5 C, 56 P) Progressivism (1 C, 17 P)

Machiavellianism M

Radicalism

Greece (1 C, 17 P) (6 P)

N
Biopolitics (3 P)

(historical) (2 C, 9 P) Right of asylum (3 C, 34 P)

Community building (7 C, 140 P) Confucianism (7 O C, 78 P) Corporatism (11 C, 49 P) Critical theory (23 C, 123 P) Criticisms of P political philosophy p (1 C, 5 P)

S New Right (Europe) (1 C, 33 P) New Right (United States) (1 C, 47 P)

Old Right (United States) (70 P)

Political satire (5 C, 66 P) S Social democracy (4 C, 34 P) Social justice (1 C, 39 P) Socialism (41 C, 225 P, 1 F)

W
P Philosophy of law (12 C, 128 P) P Political concepts (13 C, 31 P) Political philosophers (7 C, 142 P) Political philosophy by politician (6 C, 63 P) Political philosophy literature p (4 C, 35 P) Political positions by person (1 C, 10 P) P Political realism (1 C, 42 P)

Whiggism (3 C, 8 P) W World government (7 C, 48 P)

Forms of government (14 C, 154 P)

History of political thought (3 C, 7 P)

Idealism (4 C, 25 P) Imperialism (11 C, 20 P)

Pages in category "Political philosophy"

The following 196 pages are in this category, out of 196 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

Index of social and H cont. political philosophy articles History of Political Omnilateralism Philosophy

P cont.

Pirate utopia Plutocracy

Political philosophy

Holism Hybrid Institutions and Governance

Celine's laws

Aggressive legalism American Redoubt Anti-clericalism Authority Authority problem Avodah

Beerwolf Between Past and Future Biopower The Broken Compass: How British Politics Lost its Way Budapest School (Lukcs) Budget theory

Ideal theory Ideological repression Ideology Imagined communities Imperative mandate Imperium Imputed income Inclusive Democracy Indian political philosophy Individualism Interpellation R (philosophy) Interregnum Inverted totalitarianism Invisible dictatorship Italian Association for Political Philosophy
Joseph Priestley and Dissent Justice Justification for the S state Justitium

Political catholicism Political consciousness Political ethics Political positivism Political radicalism Political theology Positivism Post-politics Posthegemony Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism Postsecularism Present age Progressive Era Public Affairs Quarterly Public reason

J
Catonism Choice architecture Classical liberalism Communalism (political philosophy) Conscience Consent of the K governed Consent theory Consequentialist justifications of the state Cooperative L federalism Cosmopolitanism Counterintelligence state

Radical center (politics) Radical egalitarianism Rational economic exchange Real freedom Redistribution of income and wealth Right Hegelians Right to the city

Political philosophy of Immanuel Kant Kyklos

Landscapes of power Leadership League of peace Left-libertarianism

School of Diplomacy Secular liberalism Secularism Secularization Philosophy of self Seniority Seventeen-article constitution Social Credit Social exclusion Transformative social change Society Society of the Friends

Country Party (Britain)

Defensor minor Deference Delegate model of representation Delegated authority M Deliberation Dignitas (Roman concept) Direct democracy Dirty hands Disability studies Disciplinary institution Discourse Divine right of kings

Liberal Catholicism Liberal nationalism Liberalism Agorism Libertarian socialism Libertarianism London Economic Conference

of Truth Soft paternalism Soft tyranny Spatial justice Spiritual capital State of exception State of nature Statolatry Subjectivity Synoecism

Mandate (politics) Pierre Manent Marxist philosophy Masterslave dialectic Meritocracy Meta-rights Minority (philosophy) Mixed economy Monarchomachs

Tacitean studies Therapeutic governance Third Way Tory Totalitarianism Tractatus Politicus Transnational governance Truth

Ecogovernmentality N Economic freedom Emperor Entrepreneurial leadership Equity of condition Essex School of discourse analysis Everything which is not forbidden is allowed O

U
Negarchy Neutrality (philosophy) New Man (utopian concept) Non-simultaneity Aletta Norval

Unitary executive theory United States of the West

Virt

Family as a model for the state Fourier complex Frankfurt School Free association (communism and anarchism) Free State Wyoming French and Raven's five bases of power Fhrerprinzip P Fusionism

Objectivity (philosophy) Obstructionism Oligarchy OMG standard Open government Open Philanthropy Organic work Organicism Other Otium

Wagnerism Western conservatism What is a Nation? Whiggism Wildness Workers' selfmanagement

Panarchism

General will Global feminism Global justice Global justice movement The God of the Machine Governance Governmentality

Participism Patriarchalism Perfectionist liberalism Philosophy of history Philosophy of human rights Pirate haven

Young Hegelians Youth exclusion

Halifax Initiative Hate speech Hebrew republic

Historical subject Categories:

Social philosophy Politics Subfields of political science Branches of philosophy

Hidden categories:

Categories requiring diffusion Philosophy maintenance categories

Category:Philosophy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search
Philosophy portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Philosophy Library cataloging and classification Universal Decimal Classification: 1 100 Click the "" below to see all subcategories: Branches of philosophy Aesthetics Epistemology Ethics Logic

 Metaphysics Philosophy by field Political philosophy Social philosophy The main article for this category is Philosophy.

For articles on abstract concepts, see Category:Philosophical concepts. For articles on particular philosophies, see Category:Philosophical theories. For fields of philosophy, see Category:Philosophy by field

Subcategories
This category has the following 20 subcategories, out of 20 total.

Philosophy by period (5 C, 4 P) Philosophy by field (30 C, 46 P) Philosophy by region (10 C, 29 P)

T
Philosophyrelated lists (4 C, 44 P)

Philosophical theories (20 C, 47 P)

P
Philosophers (20 C, 12 P)

Philosophical literature (15 C, 56 P) Philosophy disambiguation (86 P)

Women and philosophy (4 C, 2 P) P Philosophy writers (6 C, 19 P)

Branches of R philosophy (8 C, 7 P)

P Philosophy images (5 C, 2 P, 11 F)

Philosophical concepts (10 C, 192 P)

Philosophy redirects (1 C, 328 P) Religious philosophy (24 C, 21 P)

P Philosophy portals (12 C, 13 P)

P Philosophy school (5 P) Philosophy and society (5 C, 2 P)

H History of ideas (12 C, 96 P)

P Philosophy stubs (6 C, 636 P)

Pages in category "Philosophy"

The following 28 pages are in this category, out of 28 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

Philosophy

S
Inherent bad faith model Internal measurement

Affinity (taxonomy) Atheist math

K
Karl Jaspers Prize Choiceless awareness Criticism L Criticism of science Criticism of Western culture

Science of Being and Art of Living Scientific socialism Self-Indication Assumption Self-Sampling Assumption

T
The Law of One

M
Eventual Linkage Theory

Materialism and Empirio-criticism

Term (argumentation) Theoretical philosophy Trichotomy (philosophy)

N
Genus (philosophy) Grouped Events

V
Nonviolence

Visual space

Philosothon

Rationes seminales Remarks on Frazer's Golden Bough Ridiculous

Categories:

Abstraction Humanities Thought

Hidden categories:

Philosophy maintenance categories

Category:Thought
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Thought Thought is a mental process which allows beings to model the world, and so to deal with it effectively according to their goals, plans, ends and desires. Concepts akin to thought are sentience, consciousness, idea, and imagination. See also: Portal:Thinking The main article for this category is Thought.

Subcategories
This category has the following 15 subcategories, out of 15 total.

I
Abstraction (18 C, 38 P)

Q
Imagination (2 C, 24 P) I Intellectual works (10 C, 3 P) S Intention (5 C, 31 P) Qualities of thought (5 P)

C Chinese thought (13 C, 64 P) Concepts (24 C, 42 P) C Critical thinking (19 C, 84 P)

S Schools of thought (4 C, 6 P)

Knowledge (27 C, 105 P)

P
Evaluation (13 C, 73 P)

Thought experiments (2 C, 23 P)

Philosophy (20 C, V 28 P)

Visual thinking (1 C, 8 P)

Wikipedia books on thought (4 C, 1 P)

Pages in category "Thought"

The following 70 pages are in this category, out of 70 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

Outline of thought D cont. Thought Portal:Contents/Philosophy

P cont.

Permanent brain

and thinking

DSRP

E
Portal:Thinking

Abstraction Adaptive reasoning Analysis Attribute substitution

Educational assessment Epiphany (feeling) Expectation (epistemic)

Personal experience Philosophical analysis Plan Planning Po (lateral thinking) Polymath Pure thought

R
Figure of thought Finite and Infinite Games Freedom of S thought

Bohm Dialogue

Racing thoughts Reason Rhetorical reason

G Causal thinking Choice Cogito ergo sum Concept H Concept driven strategy Conceptual framework Convergent and divergent production Convergent thinking I Creative problem solving Critical thinking

Generalization

History of ideas

Socratic questioning Soft systems methodology Strategy Synectics Systematic inventive thinking Systemic Development

Derailment (thought disorder) Dianoia Distinction (philosophy) Socially distributed cognition Divergent thinking

Idea T Ideology Imagined speech Inquiry Intention Intrusive thoughts

Thought identification Train of thought TRIZ Truth condition

Kinesthetic learning

Vertical thinking

Lateral thinking List of philosophies List of thought processes

Mental model Mind map

Object Pairing Objective approach

Parallel thinking

Media in category "Thought"

This category contains only the following file.

Charlie at Wind Temple... 1.13 MB Categories:

Mind Cognition Mental processes Mental content

Category:Humanities
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Humanities The main article for this category is Humanities.

Subcategories

This category has the following 27 subcategories, out of 27 total.

E cont.
Area studies (24 C, 50 P) Arts (33 C, 55 P) Humanities awards (9 C, 8 P)

Entertainment (45 C, 83 P) Environmental humanities (15 C, 19 P) Ethnic studies (13 C, 12 P)

Language (27 C, 62 P) Linguistics (62 C, 227 P) Literature (52 C, 78 P)

Chronology (20 C, G 56 P) Comedy (24 C, 73 P)

G Gender studies (19 C, 124 P)

Media studies (10 C, 79 P) Museology (19 C, 64 P)

H
D Digital humanities (1 C, 47 P) D Disability studies (1 C, 10 P) Drama (21 C, 79 P)

P
History (41 C, 35 P) Humanities journals (19 C, 2 P) Humanities R occupations (2 C, 9 P) Humor research (2 C, 16 P) Philosophy (20 C, 28 P)

Humanities education (4 C, 1 P) I

S Study of religion (14 C, 42 P) Rhetoric (11 C, 234 P)

Humanities institutes (12 P)

Tragedy (4 C, 27 P)

Pages in category "Humanities"

The following 70 pages are in this category, out of 70 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

Humanities Outline of the humanities

G cont.

O cont.

German Studies Association

Oral tradition Organizational communication

Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations

P
HASTAC

APGRD Area studies Art history Arts and Humanities Data Service Arts and Humanities Research Council Association for Computers and the I Humanities Austrian Studies Association

Health humanities History by period Hprints Humanist (electronic seminar) Humanities in the United States R

Packard Humanities Institute Portal:Philosophy Public humanities

Romance studies

Caucasology Celtic studies Chorography Classics Collegium Artium Commonwealth of World Citizens Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes

Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities Integrated human studies Intellectual history

Satire School of Letters Society for Digital Humanities Somatic theory Stand-up tragedy

Karl Jaspers Society of North America

Defamation Bill 2012-13 Department of Musicology (Palack University, Faculty of Philosophy)

Law Library science Linguistic turn Linguistics List of people considered a founder in a Humanities field Literary nonsense U Literature

Text Encoding Initiative THATCamp The Word and the World Tragedy Tragicomedy Transparency (behavior) Transparency (social)

M
European Culture and Economy European studies

UCL Centre for Digital Humanities Urtext

Futures of American Studies N

Maine Humanities Council V Media studies Variantology Missouri Humanities Council W

Vorlage

World community

National Endowment for the Humanities

Geisteswissenschaft O German studies

Open Humanities Press

Categories:

Academic disciplines Culture Main topic classifications Humans

Category:Abstraction
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Abstraction Abstraction is the thought process in which ideas are distanced from objects. Abstraction uses a strategy of simplification of detail, wherein formerly concrete details are left ambiguous, vague, or undefined; thus speaking of things in the abstract demands that the listener have an intuitive or common experience with the speaker, if the speaker expects to be understood. The main article for this category is Abstraction.

Subcategories
This category has the following 18 subcategories, out of 18 total.

I cont.
Abstract data types (1 C, 19 P) Abstract art (8 C, 37 P, 2 F) L

Inductive reasoning (5 C, 26 P)

Ordering (4 C, 5 P)

P
Logic (22 C, 136 P)

Philosophy (20 C, 28 P)

Chaos (1 C, 3 P) Conceptual M distinctions (2 C, 18 P) Conceptual systems (15 C, 15 P)

S
Mathematical modeling (5 C, 62 P) Mathematical objects (8 C, 4 P)

S Systems theory (20 C, 170 P)

Mathematics (18 C, 3 P) T Scientific modeling (21 C, 100 P)

Identity (14 C, 47 P)

Taxonomy (11 C, 152 P)

U Unknown content (3 C, 5 P)

Wikipedia books on abstraction (4 C, 1 P)

Pages in category "Abstraction"

The following 38 pages are in this category, out of 38 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

Abstraction

M cont.
Entitativity

Absent-minded F professor Abstract and concrete Abstract process Abstract structure Abstraction (art) G Abstraction (computer science) Abstraction (mathematics) Abstractionism H

Meta Metamechanics Mutually exclusive events

First principle Frictionless plane

Object of the mind Objective precision

Genusdifferentia definition

Property (philosophy)

Complexity Continuous predicate

Hyperfocus Hypostatic abstraction

I
Daydream Distinction (philosophy)

Semantic gap Simplicity Symbol (formal)

Intentional stance Is-a

Typetoken

distinction Leaky abstraction Logic Logical form

Wason selection task

Maladaptive daydreaming Mapterritory relation

Book:Abstraction

Categories:

Thought Structure Innovation Problem solving Creativity Concepts Philosophy of logic

Category:Formal sciences
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The main article for this category is Formal sciences.

Subcategories
This category has the following 14 subcategories, out of 14 total.

I
Classification systems (27 C, 106 P)

S
Information theory (13 C, 173 P)

L
D Decision theory (15 C, 192 P)

Standards (12 C, 172 P) S Systems science (15 C, 18 P)

Logic (22 C, 137 T P)

M
F Formal languages (9 C, 194 P)

Theoretical computer science (19 C, 94 P)

Mathematics (19 C, 5 P)

Formal theories (2 C, 3 P)

Methodology (7 C, 40 P) Scientific modeling (20 C, 99 P)

Game theory (16 C, 280 P)

Wikipedia books on formal sciences (3 C, 1 P)

Pages in category "Formal sciences"

The following 32 pages are in this category, out of 32 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

Formal science

M
Data mining Decision theory

Actuarial science Analytics E Artificial intelligence Econometrics Exact science

Mathematics Micro-X-ray fluorescence Mutual intelligence

Pattern recognition

Bioinformatics

Q
Formal ontology

Queueing theory

Campus in Multidisciplinary Perception and Intelligence of Albacete 2006 Computational linguistics Confrontation analysis Control theory Cryptography Cybernetics

R
Game theory Grammar systems theory

Risk analysis (business)

S
Homeokinetics

Statistical physics Systems ecology Systems science

Image analysis Information theory

Theoretical computer science

Logic

Categories:

Logic

Scientific disciplines Formalism (deductive)

Category:Logic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

Logic

Philosophical logic Mathematical logic History of logic

Critical thinking Proof theory Model theory

Logicians Set theory Computability theory

Logic lite Concepts Theories

Logic Index of logic articles Outline of logic

Logic portal Philosophy portal Mathematics portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Logic Philosophy Reference Resources
Logic at the Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project Logic at PhilPapers

Click the "" below to see all subcategories: Branches of philosophy Aesthetics Epistemology Ethics Logic Metaphysics Philosophy by field Political philosophy Social philosophy Pages in this category should be moved to subcategories where applicable. This category may require frequent maintenance to avoid becoming too large. It should directly contain very few, if any, articles and should mainly contain subcategories.

Subcategories

Category:Mind
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mind The main article for this category is Mind. Mind is often contrasted with Brain.

Subcategories
This category has the following 15 subcategories, out of 15 total.

M cont.
Behavior (16 C, 58 P)

P cont.
Philosophy of mind (14 C, 76 P) Psychology (22 C, 162 P)

Consciousness (8 C, 23 P)

M Mental processes (13 C, 51 P) Mind control (8 C, 47 P) Motor control (3 C, 68 P) Q

Q Quantum mind (15 P)

Emotion (10 C, 107 P)

Perception (14 C, 188 P, 1 F) S Personality (5 C, 57 P)

Self (9 C, 121 P)

T
Memory (14 C, 113 P, 1 F) Mental health (16 C, 99 P)

Thought (15 C, 70 P, 1 F)

Pages in category "Mind"

The following 16 pages are in this category, out of 16 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

Geist Mind

C cont.

P cont.

Consciousness after death

Primacy of mind Pure thought

Bte machine Vihangamyoga

Q
Intelligibility (philosophy)

Qualia

Centre for the Mind L Cittabhumi

S
List of topics related to brain mapping

Soul

Mental operations

Personal experience Phonemic imagery

Categories:

Cognitive science Concepts in metaphysics Philosophy of psychology

Category:Thought
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Thought Thought is a mental process which allows beings to model the world, and so to deal with it effectively according to their goals, plans, ends and desires. Concepts akin to thought are sentience, consciousness, idea, and imagination. See also: Portal:Thinking The main article for this category is Thought.

Subcategories
This category has the following 15 subcategories, out of 15 total.

I
Abstraction (18 C, 38 P)

Q
Imagination (2 C, 24 P) I Intellectual works (10 C, 3 P) S Intention (5 C, 31

Qualities of thought (5 P)

C Chinese thought

S Schools of thought

P)

(13 C, 64 P) Concepts (24 C, 42 P) C Critical thinking (19 C, 84 P)

(4 C, 6 P)

T
Knowledge (27 C, 105 P)

P
Evaluation (13 C, 73 P)

Thought experiments (2 C, 23 P)

Philosophy (20 C, V 28 P)

Visual thinking (1 C, 8 P)

Wikipedia books on thought (4 C, 1 P)

Pages in category "Thought"

The following 70 pages are in this category, out of 70 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

Outline of thought D cont. Thought Portal:Contents/Philosophy DSRP and thinking

P cont.

E
Portal:Thinking

A
Abstraction Adaptive reasoning Analysis Attribute substitution

Educational assessment Epiphany (feeling) Expectation (epistemic)

Permanent brain Personal experience Philosophical analysis Plan Planning Po (lateral thinking) Polymath Pure thought

Bohm Dialogue

Figure of thought R Finite and Infinite Games Freedom of thought

Racing thoughts Reason Rhetorical reason

G
Causal thinking Choice

S
Generalization

Socratic questioning Soft systems

Cogito ergo sum Concept H Concept driven strategy Conceptual framework Convergent and divergent production I Convergent thinking Creative problem solving Critical thinking

History of ideas

methodology Strategy Synectics Systematic inventive thinking Systemic Development

Derailment (thought disorder) Dianoia Distinction (philosophy) Socially distributed cognition Divergent thinking

Idea T Ideology Imagined speech Inquiry Intention Intrusive thoughts

Thought identification Train of thought TRIZ Truth condition

Kinesthetic learning

Vertical thinking

Lateral thinking List of philosophies List of thought processes

Mental model Mind map

Object Pairing Objective approach

Parallel thinking

Media in category "Thought"

This category contains only the following file.

Charlie at Wind Temple... 1.13 MB Categories:

Mind Cognition Mental processes Mental content

Category:Cognition
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cognition The main article for this category is Cognition. Cognition is the scientific term for "the process of thought." Its usage varies in different ways in accord with different disciplines: For example, in psychology and cognitive science it refers to an information processing view of an individual's psychological functions. Other interpretations of the meaning of cognition link it to the development of concepts.

Subcategories
This category has the following 23 subcategories, out of 23 total.

K
Analysis (23 C, 29 P) A Animal cognition (3 C, 9 P) Attention (2 C, 56 P) L

P cont.
Knowledge (27 C, 105 P) Knowledge sharing (3 C, 9 P) R

Psycholinguistics P (3 C, 63 P)

C
C Cognitive biases

Reasoning (4 C, 52 P)

Language (27 C, 62 P) S Learning (21 C,

150 P)

(3 C, 173 P) Concepts (24 C, 42 P)

Heuristics (2 C, 64 P)

M Mental structures (2 C, 14 P) M Music cognition (2 C, 25 P)

Stereotypes (7 C, 69 P) Symptoms and signs: Cognition, perception, emotional state and behaviour s (78 P) Synesthesia (21 P)

T
Observation (8 C, 17 P)

Intelligence (10 C, 58 P) Interest (psychology) (4 P)

Thought (15 C, 70 P, 1 F)

U
Perception (14 C, 189 P, 1 F)

Units of information (cognitive processes) ( (3 C, 10 P)

Pages in category "Cognition"

The following 200 pages are in this category, out of 202 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more). (previous 200) (next 200) Cognition

C cont.

M cont.

A-not-B error Activist knowledge Activity recognition Adaptive reasoning Alexithymia Amodal perception D Analysis of Competing Hypotheses Anecdotal cognitivism Apperception Apprehension (understanding) Approach-avoidance conflict Attention versus memory in prefrontal

Contrast effect Convergent and divergent production Countersignaling Creativity Cue validity

DehaeneChangeux model Derailment (thought N disorder) Philosophy of desire Diagrammatic reasoning Wikipedia:Dichotic Listening Dichotic listening

Mental confusion Mind-wandering Mindbody problem Model of hierarchical complexity Modularity of mind Molecular cellular cognition Motion perception Motivation

Negative priming Neural correlate Neural correlates of consciousness Neurocognitive Numerical cognition

cortex Attentional blink Attribute substitution Augmented cognition Autonomous agent Awareness

test Discovery (observation) Dot-probe paradigm Dual brain theory Dual process theory O DunningKruger effect Duplex perception

Numerosity adaptation effect Nutrition and cognition

Basic category Basking in reflected E glory Behavioral script Ben Franklin effect Binaural fusion Binding problem Biological functionalism Biological neural network Body schema Bouma Boundaries of the Mind: The Individual in the Fragile Sciences Bridge locus F Business activity monitoring

Object of the mind Object permanence Observation Orientation (mental)

East PoleWest Pole P divide Embodied language processing The Emotion Machine Event stream processing Executive functions Exotericism Experimental language

CAST (software) CCACE Centipede's dilemma Certainty Chunking (psychology) Cognitive bias Cognitive complexity G Cognitive deficit Cognitive description Cognitive dissonance Cognitive distortion Cognitive elite Cognitive ergonomics Cognitive holding power Cognitive miser H Cognitive neuropsychology

Face perception Feature integration theory Field dependence Fractal catalytic R model Fragmentalism Functional fixedness Functionalism (philosophy of mind)

Parallel thinking Planning (cognitive) Positivity effect Pre-attentive processing Pretext Priming (psychology) Problem of universals Psychological mindedness Psychology of programming Psychology of reasoning

The Game (mind game) Generic views Gestaltzerfall Global precedence Gnosology

Rapid serial visual presentation Recognition failure of recallable words Recognition primed decision Recognition-bycomponents theory Refined concept map Repetition blindness Representational momentum Role taking theory

S
Hempel's dilemma

Sensory integration

Cognitive polyphasia Cognitive psychology Cognitive remediation I Cognitive Research Trust Cognitive skill Cognitive style Cognitive styles analysis Cognitive synonymy Cognitive-shifting Comparative cognition Compartmentalization (psychology) Complex event processing Computational cognition Conation Concept driven strategy Conceptual Spaces Conflict continuum Congruence bias Consciousness Constructive Developmental Framework

Richards Heuer

Idea Idea networking Imagination Imagined interaction Inattentional blindness Infinity Walk Information integration theory The Institute for Cultural Research Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge Intelligence-based design International T Cognitive Linguistics Association International Congress of Linguists Introspection Introspection illusion Intrusive thoughts Intuition (psychology) U Intuition and decision-making Involuntary Narrative Ironic process theory Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Sentience quotient Silver bullet Similarity (psychology) Situation awareness Sizeweight illusion Social cognition Social information processing (cognition) Spatial cognition Speech perception Speech shadowing State (computer science) Stream of consciousness (psychology) Subjectobject problem

T.O.T.E. Target fixation THOG problem Thought suppression Train of thought Transparallel processing

Uncertainty Understanding Unexpected events Universal law of generalization User control

V
Knowledge space

Language and thought Language of thought hypothesis

Visual reasoning Visual space Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) Volition

Lethologica Listening Logovisual technology

(psychology)

Magical thinking Mental age Mental chronometry

(previous 200) (next 200) Categories:

Philosophy of mind Consciousness Cognitive science Epistemology Mental processes

Reality
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Reality (disambiguation). In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined.[1] In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible. A still more broad definition includes everything that has existed, exists, or will exist. Philosophers, mathematicians, and other ancient and modern thinkers, such as Aristotle, Plato, Frege, Wittgenstein, and Russell, have made a distinction between thought corresponding to reality, coherent abstractions (thoughts of things that are imaginable but not real), and that which cannot even be rationally thought. By contrast existence is often restricted solely to that which has physical existence or has a direct basis in it in the way that thoughts do in the brain. Reality is often contrasted with what is imaginary, delusional, (only) in the mind, dreams, what is abstract, what is false, or what is fictional. The truth refers to what is real, while falsity refers to what is not. Fictions are considered not real.

Contents

1 Related concepts o 1.1 Reality, world views, and theories of reality 2 Western philosophy o 2.1 Being

2.2 Perception 2.3 Abstract objects and mathematics 2.4 Properties 2.5 Time and space 2.6 Possible worlds 2.7 Theories of everything (TOE) and philosophy 2.8 Phenomenological reality 2.9 Skeptical hypotheses 3 Physical sciences o 3.1 Scientific realism o 3.2 Realism and locality in physics o 3.3 Role of the observer in quantum mechanics o 3.4 Multiverse o 3.5 Scientific theories of everything 4 Technology o 4.1 Virtual reality and cyberspace o 4.2 "RL" in internet culture 5 See also 6 References
o o o o o o o o

7 External links

Related concepts
See Also: Truth and Fact.

Reality, world views, and theories of reality

Further information: World view A common colloquial usage would have reality mean "perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes toward reality," as in "My reality is not your reality." This is often used just as a colloquialism indicating that the parties to a conversation agree, or should agree, not to quibble over deeply different conceptions of what is real. For example, in a religious discussion between friends, one might say (attempting humor), "You might disagree, but in my reality, everyone goes to heaven." Reality can be defined in a way that links it to world views or parts of them (conceptual frameworks): Reality is the totality of all things, structures (actual and conceptual), events (past and present) and phenomena, whether observable or not. It is what a world view (whether it be based on individual or shared human experience) ultimately attempts to describe or map. Certain ideas from physics, philosophy, sociology, literary criticism, and other fields shape various theories of reality. One such belief is that there simply and literally is no reality beyond the perceptions or beliefs we each have about reality. Such attitudes are summarized in the popular statement, "Perception is reality" or "Life is how you perceive reality" or "reality is what you can get away with" (Robert Anton Wilson), and

they indicate anti-realism that is, the view that there is no objective reality, whether acknowledged explicitly or not. Many of the concepts of science and philosophy are often defined culturally and socially. This idea was elaborated by Thomas Kuhn in his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962). The Social Construction of Reality, a book about the sociology of knowledge written by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann, was published in 1966.

Western philosophy
Philosophy addresses two different aspects of the topic of reality: the nature of reality itself, and the relationship between the mind (as well as language and culture) and reality. On the one hand, ontology is the study of being, and the central topic of the field is couched, variously, in terms of being, existence, "what is", and reality. The task in ontology is to describe the most general categories of reality and how they are interrelated. If a philosopher wanted to proffer a positive definition of the concept "reality", it would be done under this heading. As explained above, some philosophers draw a distinction between reality and existence. In fact, many analytic philosophers today tend to avoid the term "real" and "reality" in discussing ontological issues. But for those who would treat "is real" the same way they treat "exists", one of the leading questions of analytic philosophy has been whether existence (or reality) is a property of objects. It has been widely held by analytic philosophers that it is not a property at all, though this view has lost some ground in recent decades. On the other hand, particularly in discussions of objectivity that have feet in both metaphysics and epistemology, philosophical discussions of "reality" often concern the ways in which reality is, or is not, in some way dependent upon (or, to use fashionable jargon, "constructed" out of) mental and cultural factors such as perceptions, beliefs, and other mental states, as well as cultural artifacts, such as religions and political movements, on up to the vague notion of a common cultural world view, or Weltanschauung. The view that there is a reality independent of any beliefs, perceptions, etc., is called realism. More specifically, philosophers are given to speaking about "realism about" this and that, such as realism about universals or realism about the external world. Generally, where one can identify any class of object, the existence or essential characteristics of which is said not to depend on perceptions, beliefs, language, or any other human artifact, one can speak of "realism about" that object. One can also speak of anti-realism about the same objects. Anti-realism is the latest in a long series of terms for views opposed to realism. Perhaps the first was idealism, so called because reality was said to be in the mind, or a product of our ideas. Berkeleyan idealism is the view, propounded by the Irish empiricist George Berkeley, that the objects of perception are actually ideas in the mind. In this view, one might be tempted to say that reality is a "mental construct"; this is not quite accurate, however, since in Berkeley's view perceptual ideas are created and coordinated by God. By the 20th century, views similar to Berkeley's were called phenomenalism. Phenomenalism

differs from Berkeleyan idealism primarily in that Berkeley believed that minds, or souls, are not merely ideas nor made up of ideas, whereas varieties of phenomenalism, such as that advocated by Russell, tended to go farther to say that the mind itself is merely a collection of perceptions, memories, etc., and that there is no mind or soul over and above such mental events. Finally, anti-realism became a fashionable term for any view which held that the existence of some object depends upon the mind or cultural artifacts. The view that the so-called external world is really merely a social, or cultural, artifact, called social constructionism, is one variety of anti-realism. Cultural relativism is the view that social issues such as morality are not absolute, but at least partially cultural artifact. A correspondence theory of knowledge about what exists claims that "true" knowledge of reality represents accurate correspondence of statements about and images of reality with the actual reality that the statements or images are attempting to represent. For example, the scientific method can verify that a statement is true based on the observable evidence that a thing exists. Many humans can point to the Rocky Mountains and say that this mountain range exists, and continues to exist even if no one is observing it or making statements about it.

Being
The nature of being is a perennial topic in metaphysics. For, instance Parmenides taught that reality was a single unchanging Being, whereas Heraclitus wrote that all things flow. The 20th century philosopher Heidegger thought previous philosophers have lost sight the question of Being (qua Being) in favour of the questions of beings (existing things), so that a return to the Parmenidean approach was needed. An ontological catalogue is an attempt to list the fundamental constituents of reality. The question of whether or not existence is a predicate has been discussed since the Early Modern period, not least in relation to the ontological argument for the existence of God. Existence, that something is, has been contrasted with essence, the question of what something is. Since existence without essence seems blank, it associated with nothingness by philosophers such as Hegel. Nihilism represents an extremely negative view of being, the absolute a positive one.

Perception
The question of direct or "nave" realism, as opposed to indirect or "representational" realism, arises in the philosophy of perception and of mind out of the debate over the nature of conscious experience;[2][3] the epistemological question of whether the world we see around us is the real world itself or merely an internal perceptual copy of that world generated by neural processes in our brain. Nave realism is known as direct realism when developed to counter indirect or representative realism, also known as epistemological dualism,[4] the philosophical position that our conscious experience is not of the real world itself but of an internal representation, a miniature virtual-reality replica of the world. Timothy Leary coined the influential term Reality Tunnel, by which he means a kind of representative realism. The theory states that, with a subconscious set of mental filters formed from their beliefs and experiences, every individual interprets the same world

differently, hence "Truth is in the eye of the beholder". His ideas influenced the work of his friend Robert Anton Wilson.

Abstract objects and mathematics

The status of abstract entities, particularly numbers, is a topic of discussion in mathematics. In the philosophy of mathematics, the best known form of realism about numbers is Platonic realism, which grants them abstract, immaterial existence. Other forms of realism identify mathematics with the concrete physical universe. Anti-realist stances include formalism and fictionalism. Some approaches are selectively realistic about some mathematical objects but not others. Finitism rejects infinite quantities. ultra-finitism accepts finite quantities up to a certain amount. Constructivism and intuitionism are realistic about objects that can be explicitly constructed, but reject the use of the principle of the excluded middle to prove existence by reductio ad absurdum. The traditional debate has focused on whether an abstract (immaterial, intelligible) realm of numbers has existed in addition to the physical (sensible, concrete) world. A recent development is the mathematical universe hypothesis, the theory that only a mathematical world exists, with the finite, physical world being an illusion within it. An extreme form of realism about mathematics is the mathematical multiverse hypothesis advanced by Max Tegmark. Tegmark's sole postulate is: All structures that exist mathematically also exist physically. That is, in the sense that "in those [worlds] complex enough to contain self-aware substructures [they] will subjectively perceive themselves as existing in a physically 'real' world".[5][6] The hypothesis suggests that worlds corresponding to different sets of initial conditions, physical constants, or altogether different equations should be considered real. The theory can be considered a form of Platonism in that it posits the existence of mathematical entities, but can also be considered a mathematical monism in that it denies that anything exists except mathematical objects.

Properties
Main article: Problem of universals The problem of universals is an ancient problem in metaphysics about whether universals exist. Universals are general or abstract qualities, characteristics, properties, kinds or relations, such as being male/female, solid/liquid/gas or a certain colour,[7] that can be predicated of individuals or particulars or that individuals or particulars can be regarded as sharing or participating in. For example, Scott, Pat, and Chris have in common the universal quality of being human or humanity. The realist school claims that universals are real they exist and are distinct from the particulars that instantiate them. There are various forms of realism. Two major forms are Platonic realism and Aristotelian realism.[8] Platonic realism is the view that

universals are real entities and they exist independent of particulars. Aristotelian realism, on the other hand, is the view that universals are real entities, but their existence is dependent on the particulars that exemplify them. Nominalism and conceptualism are the main forms of anti-realism about universals.

Time and space

Main article: Philosophy of space and time A traditional realist position in ontology is that time and space have existence apart from the human mind. Idealists deny or doubt the existence of objects independent of the mind. Some anti-realists whose ontological position is that objects outside the mind do exist, nevertheless doubt the independent existence of time and space. Kant, in the Critique of Pure Reason, described time as an a priori notion that, together with other a priori notions such as space, allows us to comprehend sense experience. Kant denies that either space or time are substance, entities in themselves, or learned by experience; he holds rather that both are elements of a systematic framework we use to structure our experience. Spatial measurements are used to quantify how far apart objects are, and temporal measurements are used to quantitatively compare the interval between (or duration of) events. Although space and time are held to be transcedentally ideal in this sense, they are also empirically real, i.e. not mere illusions. Idealist writers such as J. M. E. McTaggart in The Unreality of Time have argued that time is an illusion. As well as differing about the reality of time as a whole, metaphysical theories of time can differ in their ascriptions of reality to the past, present and future separately.

Presentism holds that the past and future are unreal, and only an ever changing present is real. The block universe theory, also known as Eternalism, holds that past, present and future are all real, but the passage of time is an illusion. It is often said to have a scientific basis in relativity. The growing block universe theory holds that past and present are real, but the future is not.

Time, and the related concepts of process and evolution are central to the systembuilding metaphysics of A. N. Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne.

Possible worlds
The term "possible world" goes back to Leibniz's theory of possible worlds, used to analyse necessity, possibility, and similar modal notions. Modal realism is the view, notably propounded by David Kellogg Lewis, that all possible worlds are as real as the actual world. In short: the actual world is regarded as merely one among an infinite set of logically possible worlds, some "nearer" to the actual world and some more remote. Other theorists may use the Possible World framework to express and explore problems without committing to it ontologically. Possible world theory is related to alethic logic:

a proposition is necessary if it is true in all possible worlds, and possible if it is true in at least one. The many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics is a similar idea in science.

Theories of everything (TOE) and philosophy

Main article: Theory of everything (philosophy) The philosophical implications of a physical TOE are frequently debated. For example, if philosophical physicalism is true, a physical TOE will coincide with a philosophical theory of everything. The "system building" style of metaphysics attempts to answer all the important questions in a coherent way, providing a complete picture of the world. Plato and Aristotle could be said to be early examples of comprehensive systems. In the early modern period (17th and 18th centuries), the system-building scope of philosophy is often linked to the ratioanlist method of philosophy,that is the technique of deducing the nature of the world by pure a priori reason. Examples from the early modern period include the Leibniz's Monadology, Descarte's Dualism, Spinoza's Monism. Hegel's Absolute idealism and Whitehead's Process philosophy were later systems. Other philosophers do not believe its techniques can aim so high. Some scientists think a more mathematical approach than philosophy is needed for a TOE, for instance Stephen Hawking wrote in A Brief History of Time that even if we had a TOE, it would necessarily be a set of equations. He wrote, "What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?".[9]

Phenomenological reality
On a much broader and more subjective level,[specify] private experiences, curiosity, inquiry, and the selectivity involved in personal interpretation of events shapes reality as seen by one and only one individual[citation needed] and hence is called phenomenological. While this form of reality might be common to others as well, it could at times also be so unique to oneself as to never be experienced or agreed upon by anyone else. Much of the kind of experience deemed spiritual occurs on this level of reality. Phenomenology is a philosophical method developed in the early years of the twentieth century by Edmund Husserl and a circle of followers at the universities of Gttingen and Munich in Germany. Subsequently, phenomenological themes were taken up by philosophers in France, the United States, and elsewhere, often in contexts far removed from Husserl's work. The word phenomenology comes from the Greek phainmenon, meaning "that which appears", and lgos, meaning "study". In Husserl's conception, phenomenology is primarily concerned with making the structures of consciousness, and the phenomena which appear in acts of consciousness, objects of systematic reflection and analysis. Such reflection was to take place from a highly modified "first person" viewpoint, studying phenomena not as they appear to "my" consciousness, but to any consciousness whatsoever. Husserl believed that phenomenology could thus provide a

firm basis for all human knowledge, including scientific knowledge, and could establish philosophy as a "rigorous science".[10] Husserl's conception of phenomenology has been criticised and developed not only by himself, but also by his student and assistant Martin Heidegger, by existentialists, such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean-Paul Sartre, and by other philosophers, such as Paul Ricoeur, Emmanuel Levinas, and Dietrich von Hildebrand.[11]

Skeptical hypotheses
Skeptical hypotheses in philosophy suggest that reality is very different from what we think it is; or at least that we cannot prove it is not. Examples include:

The "Brain in a vat" hypothesis is cast in scientific terms. It supposes that one might be a disembodied brain kept alive in a vat, and fed false sensory signals, by a mad scientist. The "Dream argument" of Descartes and Zhuangzi supposes reality to be indistinguishable from a dream. Descarte's Evil demon is a being "as clever and deceitful as he is powerful, who has directed his entire effort to misleading me." The five minute hypothesis (or omphalos hypothesis or Last Thursdayism) suggests that the world was created recently together with records and traces indicating a greater age. The Matrix hypothesis or Simulated reality hypothesis suggest that we might be inside a computer simulation or virtual reality.

Physical sciences
Scientific realism
Scientific realism is, at the most general level, the view that the world described by science (perhaps ideal science) is the real world, as it is, independent of what we might take it to be. Within philosophy of science, it is often framed as an answer to the question "how is the success of science to be explained?" The debate over what the success of science involves centers primarily on the status of entities that are not directly observable discussed by scientific theories. Generally, those who are scientific realists state that one can make reliable claims about these entities (viz., that they have the same ontological status) as directly observable entities, as opposed to instrumentalism.

Realism and locality in physics

Realism in the sense used by physicists does not equate to realism in metaphysics.[12] The latter is the claim that the world is mind-independent: that even if the results of a measurement do not pre-exist the act of measurement, that does not require that they are the creation of the observer. Furthermore, a mind-independent property does not have to be the value of some physical variable such as position or momentum. A property can be dispositional (or potential), i.e. it can be a tendency: in the way that glass objects tend to break, or are disposed to break, even if they do not actually break. Likewise, the

mind-independent properties of quantum systems could consist of a tendency to respond to particular measurements with particular values with ascertainable probability.[13] Such an ontology would be metaphysically realistic, without being realistic in the physicist's sense of "local realism" (which would require that a single value be produced with certainty). A closely related term is counterfactual definiteness (CFD), used to refer to the claim that one can meaningfully speak of the definiteness of results of measurements that have not been performed (i.e. the ability to assume the existence of objects, and properties of objects, even when they have not been measured). Local realism is a significant feature of classical mechanics, of general relativity, and of electrodynamics; but quantum mechanics has shown that quantum entanglement is possible. This was rejected by Einstein, who proposed the EPR paradox, but it was subsequently quantified by Bell's inequalities.[14] If Bell's inequalities are violated, either local realism or counterfactual definiteness must be incorrect; but some physicists dispute that experiments have demonstrated Bell's violations, on the grounds that the sub-class of inhomogeneous Bell inequalities has not been tested or due to experimental limitations in the tests. Different interpretations of quantum mechanics violate different parts of local realism and/or counterfactual definiteness.

Role of the observer in quantum mechanics

The quantum mindbody problem refers to the philosophical discussions of the mind body problem in the context of quantum mechanics. Since quantum mechanics involves quantum superpositions, which are not perceived by observers, some interpretations of quantum mechanics place conscious observers in a special position. The founders of quantum mechanics debated the role of the observer, and of them, Wolfgang Pauli and Werner Heisenberg believed that it was the observer that produced collapse. This point of view, which was never fully endorsed by Niels Bohr, was denounced as mystical and anti-scientific by Albert Einstein. Pauli accepted the term, and described quantum mechanics as lucid mysticism.[15] Heisenberg and Bohr always described quantum mechanics in logical positivist terms. Bohr also took an active interest in the philosophical implications of quantum theories such as his complementarity, for example.[16] He believed quantum theory offers a complete description of nature, albeit one that is simply ill suited for everyday experiences which are better described by classical mechanics and probability. Bohr never specified a demarcation line above which objects cease to be quantum and become classical. He believed that it was not a question of physics, but one of philosophy. Eugene Wigner reformulated the "Schrdinger's cat" thought experiment as "Wigner's friend" and proposed that the consciousness of an observer is the demarcation line which precipitates collapse of the wave function, independent of any realist interpretation. Commonly known as "consciousness causes collapse", this interpretation of quantum mechanics states that observation by a conscious observer is what makes the wave function collapse.

Multiverse
The multiverse is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes (including the historical universe we consistently experience) that together comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, and energy as well as the physical laws and constants that describe them. The term was coined in 1895 by the American philosopher and psychologist William James.[17] In the many-worlds interpretation (MWI), one of the mainstream interpretations of quantum mechanics, there are an infinite number of universes and every possible quantum outcome occurs in at least one universe. The structure of the multiverse, the nature of each universe within it and the relationship between the various constituent universes, depend on the specific multiverse hypothesis considered. Multiverses have been hypothesized in cosmology, physics, astronomy, religion, philosophy, transpersonal psychology and fiction, particularly in science fiction and fantasy. In these contexts, parallel universes are also called "alternative universes", "quantum universes", "interpenetrating dimensions", "parallel dimensions", "parallel worlds", "alternative realities", "alternative timelines", and "dimensional planes," among others.

Scientific theories of everything

A theory of everything (TOE) is a putative theory of theoretical physics that fully explains and links together all known physical phenomena, and predicts the outcome of any experiment that could be carried out in principle. The theory of everything is also called the final theory.[18] Many candidate theories of everything have been proposed by theoretical physicists during the twentieth century, but none have been confirmed experimentally. The primary problem in producing a TOE is that general relativity and quantum mechanics are hard to unify. This is one of the unsolved problems in physics. Initially, the term "theory of everything" was used with an ironic connotation to refer to various overgeneralized theories. For example, a great-grandfather of Ijon Tichy, a character from a cycle of Stanisaw Lem's science fiction stories of the 1960s, was known to work on the "General Theory of Everything". Physicist John Ellis[19] claims to have introduced the term into the technical literature in an article in Nature in 1986.[20] Over time, the term stuck in popularizations of quantum physics to describe a theory that would unify or explain through a single model the theories of all fundamental interactions and of all particles of nature: general relativity for gravitation, and the standard model of elementary particle physics which includes quantum mechanics for electromagnetism, the two nuclear interactions, and the known elementary particles. Current candidates for a theory of everything include string theory, M theory, and loop quantum gravity.

Technology
Virtual reality and cyberspace
Virtual reality (VR) is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds.

Reality-Virtuality Continuum. The Virtuality Continuum is a continuous scale ranging between the completely virtual, a Virtuality, and the completely real: Reality. The reality-virtuality continuum therefore encompasses all possible variations and compositions of real and virtual objects. It has been described as a concept in new media and computer science, but in fact it could be considered a matter of anthropology. The concept was first introduced by Paul Milgram.
[21]

The area between the two extremes, where both the real and the virtual are mixed, is the so-called Mixed reality. This in turn is said to consist of both Augmented Reality, where the virtual augments the real, and Augmented virtuality, where the real augments the virtual. Cyberspace, the world's computer systems considered as an interconnected whole, can be thought of as a virtual reality; for instance, it is portrayed as such in the cyberpunk fiction of William Gibson and others. Second life and MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft are examples of artificial environments or virtual worlds (falling some way short of full virtual reality) in cyberspace.

"RL" in internet culture

On the Internet, "real life" refers to life in the real world. It generally references life or consensus reality, in contrast to an environment seen as fiction or fantasy, such as virtual reality, lifelike experience, dreams, novels, or movies. Online, the acronym "IRL" stands for "in real life", with the meaning "not on the Internet".[22] Sociologists engaged in the study of the Internet have determined that someday, a distinction between online and real-life worlds may seem "quaint", noting that certain types of online activity, such as sexual intrigues, have already made a full transition to complete legitimacy and "reality".[23] The abbreviation "RL" stands for "real life". For example, one can speak of "meeting in RL" someone whom one has met in a chat or on an Internet forum. It may also be used to express an inability to use the Internet for a time due to "RL problems".

See also

Absolute (philosophy) Alternate history Advaita Allegory of the Cave Anosognosia Authenticity Roland Barthes Jorge Luis

Emanationism Empiricism Existence Explanatory model False awakening Fiction Fictionalism Fregoli delusion

Nagarjuna Ontology Paranormal Paramnesia Phenomenon Principle of locality Psychosis Rashomon (film) Real world

Sunyata Surrealism Vanilla Sky The Truman Show Tulpa The Usual Suspects Waking

Borges Capgras delusion Charles Fort Consensus reality Cotard delusion Counterfactual history Delusion Determinism Derealization Phillip K. Dick Dissociation Dream Dreamtime (religion) Dreamworld E-prime

Imagination Hallucination Hyperreality Illusion Immanuel Kant Language and thought Map and territory Marshall McLuhan The Matrix Maya (illusion) Mental representation Mindville Nihilism Noumenon

Reality in Buddhism Reality shifts (mysticism) Reality-based community (politics) Reality TV Red pill Reification (disambiguatio n) Sapir-Whorf hypothesis Semiotics Simulacrum Simulated reality Skepticism Social constructionis m Solipsism

Life (film)

Zhuangzi

References
1. ^ Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English, Oxford University Press, 2005. (Full entry for reality: "reality noun (pl. realities) 1 the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them. 2 a thing that is actually experienced or seen. 3 the quality of being lifelike. 4 the state or quality of having existence or substance.") 2. ^ Lehar, Steve. (2000). The Function of Conscious Experience: An Analogical Paradigm of Perception and Behavior, Consciousness and Cognition. 3. ^ Lehar, Steve. (2000). Nave Realism in Contemporary Philosophy, The Function of Conscious Experience. 4. ^ Lehar, Steve. Representationalism 5. ^ Tegmark, Max (February 2008). "The Mathematical Universe". Foundations of Physics 38 (2): 101150. arXiv:0704.0646. Bibcode 2008FoPh...38..101T. doi:10.1007/s10701-007-9186-9. 6. ^ Tegmark (1998), p. 1. 7. ^ Loux (2001), p.4 8. ^ Price (1953), among others, sometimes uses such Latin terms 9. ^ as quoted in [Artigas, The Mind of the Universe, p.123] 10. ^ Joseph Kockelmans (2001). Edmund Husserl's phenomenology (2 ed.). Purdue University Press. pp. 311314. ISBN 1-55753-050-5. 11. ^ Steven Galt Crowell (2001). Husserl, Heidegger, and the space of meaning: paths toward transcendental phenomenology. Northwestern University Press. p. 160. ISBN 0-8101-1805-X. 12. ^ Norsen, T. Against "Realism"

13. ^ Ian Thomson's dispositional quantum mechanics 14. ^ Ben Dov, Y. Local Realism and the Crucial experiment. 15. ^ Juan Miguel Marin (2009). "'Mysticism' in quantum mechanics: the forgotten controversy". European Journal of Physics 30: 807822. Bibcode 2009EJPh...30..807M. doi:10.1088/0143-0807/30/4/014. link, summarized here 16. ^ John Honner (2005). "Niels Bohr and the Mysticism of Nature". Zygon Journal of Science and Religion 17-3: 243253. 17. ^ James, William, The Will to Believe, 1895; and earlier in 1895, as cited in OED's new 2003 entry for "multiverse": "1895 W. JAMES in Internat. Jrnl. Ethics 6 10 Visible nature is all plasticity and indifference, a multiverse, as one might call it, and not a universe." 18. ^ Weinberg (1993) 19. ^ Ellis, John (2002). "Physics gets physical (correspondence)". Nature 415 (6875): 957. Bibcode 2002Natur.415..957E. doi:10.1038/415957b. 20. ^ Ellis, John (1986). "The Superstring: Theory of Everything, or of Nothing?". Nature 323 (6089): 595598. Bibcode 1986Natur.323..595E. doi:10.1038/323595a0. 21. ^ Milgram, Paul; H. Takemura, A. Utsumi, F. Kishino (1994). "Augmented Reality: A class of displays on the reality-virtuality continuum" (pdf). Proceedings of Telemanipulator and Telepresence Technologies. pp. 235134. Retrieved 2007-03-15. 22. ^ "AcronymFinder.com search for IRL". 23. ^ Don Slater (2002). "Social Relationships and Identity On-line and Offline". In Leah, Sonia, Lievrouw, and Livingstone. Handbook of New Media: Social Shaping and Consequences of ICTs. Sage Publications Inc. pp. 533543. ISBN 0-7619-6510-6.

External links
Find more about Reality at Wikipedia's sister projects Definitions and translations from Wiktionary Media from Commons Learning resources from Wikiversity News stories from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Source texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks Travel information from Wikivoyage

C.D. Broad on Reality Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on Realism

Video: Carl Sagan on the 4th Dimension Explanation Video: Animated version of the above with Dr Quantum - Flatland Phenomenology Online: Materials discussing and exemplifying phenomenological research Concept and Reality, a Meditatiion Perspective The Illusion of Reality by Jim AL-Khalili The Matrix as Metaphysics by David Chalmers The Universes of Max Tegmark

[show]

v t e

Philosophy
[show]

v t e

Metaphysics
Categories:

Concepts in metaphysics Core issues in ethics Ontology Reality Reality by type

Theory of everything (philosophy)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For the book, see Theory of everything (book). In philosophy, a theory of everything or ToE is an ultimate, all-encompassing explanation of nature or reality.[1][2][3] Adopting the term from physics, where the search for a theory of everything is ongoing, philosophers have discussed the viability of the concept and analyzed its properties and implications.[1][2][3] Among the questions to be addressed by a philosophical theory of everything are: "Why is reality understandable?" "Why are the laws of nature as they are?" "Why is there anything at all?"[1]

Contents

1 Comprehensive philosophical systems 2 Nicholas Rescher

2.1 Properties and impasse of self-substantiation 2.2 Properties 2.2.1 Principle of sufficient reason 2.2.2 Comprehensiveness 2.2.3 Finality 2.2.4 Noncircularity 2.2.5 Impasse o 2.3 Ways forward o 2.4 Criticism 3 See also
o o

4 References

Comprehensive philosophical systems

The "system building" style of metaphysics attempts to answer all the important questions in a coherent way, providing a complete picture of the world. Plato and Aristotle could be said to be early examples of comprehensive systems. In the early modern period (17th and 18th centuries), the system-building scope of philosophy is often linked to the rationalist method of philosophy, that is the technique of deducing the nature of the world by pure apriori reason. Examples from the early modern period include the Leibniz's Monadology, Descarte's Dualism, Spinoza's Monism. Hegel's Absolute idealism and Whitehead's Process philosophy were later systems. Other philosophers do not believe its techniques can aim so high. Some scientists think a more mathematical approach than philosophy is needed for a TOE, for instance Stephen Hawking wrote in A Brief History of Time that even if we had a TOE, it wouldn't necessarily be a set of equations. He wrote, What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?.[4]

Nicholas Rescher
Properties and impasse of self-substantiation
In The Price of an Ultimate Theory,[2] originally published in 2000, Nicholas Rescher specifies what he sees as the principal properties of a Theory of Everything and describes an apparent impasse on the road to such a theory.

Properties

Principle of sufficient reason

First, he takes as a presupposition the principle of sufficient reason, which in his formulation states that every fact t has an explanation t':

where E predicates explanation, so that t' E t denotes "t' explains t".

Comprehensiveness
Next, he asserts that the most direct and natural construction of a Theory of Everything T* would confer upon it two crucial features: comprehensiveness and finality. Comprehensiveness says that wherever there is a fact t, T* affords its explanation:

Finality
Finality says that as an ultimate theory, T* has no deeper explanation:

so that the only conceivable explanation of T* is T* itself.

Noncircularity
Rescher notes that it is obviously problematic to deploy a theory for its own explanation; at the heart of the traditional conception of explanatory adequacy, he says, is a principle of noncircularity stating that no fact can explain itself:

Impasse
The impasse is then that the two critical aspects of a Theory of Everything, comprehensiveness and finality, conflict with the fundamental principle of noncircularity. A comprehensive theory which explains everything must explain itself, and a final theory which has no deeper explanation must, by the principle of sufficient reason, have some explanation; consequently it too must be self-explanatory. Rescher concludes that any Theorist of Everything committed to comprehensiveness and finality is bound to regard noncircularity as something that has to be jettisoned. But how, he asks, can a theory adequately substantiate itself?

Ways forward
Rescher's proposal in "The Price of an Ultimate Theory" is to dualize the concept of explanation so that a fact can be explained either derivationally, by the premises which lead to it, or systemically, by the consequences which follow from it. With derivational explanation, a fact t is explained when it is subsumed by some prior, more fundamental fact t'. With systemic explanation, t is explained when it is a "best fit" for its consequences, where fitness is measured by uniformity, simplicity, connectedness, and other criteria conducive to systemic integration. Rescher concludes that while a theory of everything cannot be explained derivationally (since no deeper explanation can subsume it), it can be explained systemically by its capacity to integrate its consequences.

In his 1996 book The Conscious Mind,[5] David Chalmers argues that a theory of everything must explain consciousness, that consciousness does not logically supervene on the physical, and that therefore a fundamental theory in physics would not be a theory of everything. A truly final theory, he argues, needs not just physical properties and laws, but phenomenal or protophenomenal properties and psychophysical laws explaining the relationship between physical processes and conscious experience. He concludes that "[o]nce we have a fundamental theory of consciousness to accompany a fundamental theory in physics, we may truly have a theory of everything." Developing such a theory will not be straightforward, he says, but "it ought to be possible in principle." In "Prolegomena to Any Future Philosophy",[3] a 2002 essay in the Journal of Evolution and Technology, Mark Alan Walker discusses modern responses to the question of how to reconcile "the apparent finitude of humans" with what he calls "the traditional telos of philosophythe attempt to unite thought and Being, to arrive at absolute knowledge, at a final theory of everything." He contrasts two ways of closing this "gap between the ambitions of philosophy, and the abilities of human philosophers": a "deflationary" approach in which philosophy is "scaled down into something more human" and the attempt to achieve a theory of everything is abandoned, and an "inflationary", transhumanist approach in which philosophers are "scaled up" by advanced technology into "super-intelligent beings" better able to pursue such a theory.

Criticism
In "Holistic Explanation and the Idea of a Grand Unified Theory",[1] originally presented as a lecture in 1998, Rescher identifies two negative reactions to the idea of a unified, overarching theory: reductionism and rejectionism. Reductionism holds that large-scale philosophical issues can be meaningfully addressed only when divided into lesser components, while rejectionism holds that questions about such issues are illegitimate and unanswerable. Against reductionism, Rescher argues that explaining individual parts does not explain the coordinating structure of the whole, so that a collectivized approach is required. Against rejectionism, he argues that the question of the 'reason'the'why'-behind existence is pressing, important, and not obviously meaningless.

See also

Theory of everything (physics)

References
1. ^ a b c d Rescher, Nicholas (2006a). "Holistic Explanation and the Idea of a Grand Unified Theory". Collected Papers IX: Studies in Metaphilosophy. 2. ^ a b c Rescher, Nicholas (2006b). "The Price of an Ultimate Theory". Collected Papers IX: Studies in Metaphilosophy. (Googlebooks preview) 3. ^ a b c Walker, Mark Alan (March 2002). "Prolegomena to Any Future Philosophy". Journal of Evolution and Technology Vol. 10. 4. ^ as quoted in [Artigas, The Mind of the Universe, p.123] 5. ^ Chalmers, David J. (1996). The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory. pp. 126127.

Categories:

Metaphysical theories

Nature
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search "Natural" and "Natural World" redirect here. For other uses, see Nature (disambiguation) and Natural (disambiguation).

Hopetoun Falls, Australia

Bachalpsee in the Swiss Alps

Pookkode Lake Kerala, India

Lightning strikes during the eruption of the huge Galunggung volcano, West Java, in 1982. Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. It ranges in scale from the subatomic to the cosmic. The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura, or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth".[1] Natura was a Latin translation of the Greek word physis (), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord.[2][3] The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word by pre-Socratic philosophers, and has steadily gained currency ever since. This usage was confirmed during the advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries.[4][5] Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" often refers to geology and wildlife. Nature may refer to the general realm of various types of living plants and animals, and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects the way that particular types of things exist and change of their own accord, such as the weather and geology of the Earth, and the matter and energy of which all these things are composed. It is often taken to mean the "natural environment" or wildernesswild animals, rocks, forest, beaches, and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist despite human intervention. For example, manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, "human nature" or "the whole of nature". This more traditional concept of natural things which can still be found today implies a distinction between the natural and the artificial, with the artificial being understood as that which has been brought into being by a human consciousness or a human mind. Depending on the particular context, the term "natural" might also be distinguished from the unnatural, the supernatural, or synthetic.

Contents

1 Earth 1.1 Geology 1.1.1 Geological evolution o 1.2 Historical perspective 2 Atmosphere, climate, and weather 3 Water on Earth o 3.1 Oceans o 3.2 Lakes 3.2.1 Ponds o 3.3 Rivers o 3.4 Streams 4 Ecosystems o 4.1 Wilderness 5 Life
o

5.1 Evolution 5.2 Microbes 5.3 Plants and animals 6 Human interrelationship o 6.1 Aesthetics and beauty 7 Matter and energy 8 Beyond Earth 9 See also 10 Notes and references
o o o

11 External links

Earth
Main articles: Earth and Earth science

View of the Earth, taken in 1972 by the Apollo 17 astronaut crew. This image is the only photograph of its kind to date, showing a fully sunlit hemisphere of the Earth. Earth (or, "the earth") is the only planet presently known to support life, and its natural features are the subject of many fields of scientific research. Within the solar system, it is third closest to the sun; it is the largest terrestrial planet and the fifth largest overall. Its most prominent climatic features are its two large polar regions, two relatively narrow temperate zones, and a wide equatorial tropical to subtropical region.[6] Precipitation varies widely with location, from several metres of water per year to less than a millimetre. 71 percent of the Earth's surface is covered by salt-water oceans. The remainder consists of continents and islands, with most of the inhabited land in the Northern Hemisphere. Earth has evolved through geological and biological processes that have left traces of the original conditions. The outer surface is divided into several gradually migrating tectonic plates. The interior remains active, with a thick layer of plastic mantle and an iron-filled core that generates a magnetic field. The atmospheric conditions have been significantly altered from the original conditions by the presence of life-forms,[7] which create an ecological balance that stabilizes the surface conditions. Despite the wide regional variations in climate by latitude and other geographic factors, the long-term average global climate is quite stable during

interglacial periods,[8] and variations of a degree or two of average global temperature have historically had major effects on the ecological balance, and on the actual geography of the Earth.[9][10]

Geology
Main article: Geology

Three types of geological plate tectonic boundaries. Geology is the science and study of the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth. The field of geology encompasses the study of the composition, structure, physical properties, dynamics, and history of Earth materials, and the processes by which they are formed, moved, and changed. The field is a major academic discipline, and is also important for mineral and hydrocarbon extraction, knowledge about and mitigation of natural hazards, some Geotechnical engineering fields, and understanding past climates and environments.

Geological evolution
The geology of an area evolves through time as rock units are deposited and inserted and deformational processes change their shapes and locations. Rock units are first emplaced either by deposition onto the surface or intrude into the overlying rock. Deposition can occur when sediments settle onto the surface of the Earth and later lithify into sedimentary rock, or when as volcanic material such as volcanic ash or lava flows, blanket the surface. Igneous intrusions such as batholiths, laccoliths, dikes, and sills, push upwards into the overlying rock, and crystallize as they intrude. After the initial sequence of rocks has been deposited, the rock units can be deformed and/or metamorphosed. Deformation typically occurs as a result of horizontal shortening, horizontal extension, or side-to-side (strike-slip) motion. These structural regimes broadly relate to convergent boundaries, divergent boundaries, and transform boundaries, respectively, between tectonic plates.

Historical perspective
Main articles: History of the Earth and Evolution

Plankton inhabit oceans, seas and lakes, and have existed in various forms for at least 2 billion years.[11]

An animation showing the movement of the continents from the separation of Pangaea until the present day. Earth is estimated to have formed 4.54 billion years ago from the solar nebula, along with the Sun and other planets.[12] The moon formed roughly 20 million years later. Initially molten, the outer layer of the planet cooled, resulting in the solid crust. Outgassing and volcanic activity produced the primordial atmosphere. Condensing water vapor, most or all of which came from ice delivered by comets, produced the oceans and other water sources.[13] The highly energetic chemistry is believed to have produced a self-replicating molecule around 4 billion years ago.[14] Continents formed, then broke up and reformed as the surface of Earth reshaped over hundreds of millions of years, occasionally combining to make a supercontinent. Roughly 750 million years ago, the earliest known supercontinent Rodinia, began to break apart. The continents later recombined to form Pannotia which broke apart about 540 million years ago, then finally Pangaea, which broke apart about 180 million years ago.[15] There is significant evidence that a severe glacial action during the Neoproterozoic era covered much of the planet in a sheet of ice. This hypothesis has been termed the "Snowball Earth", and it is of particular interest as it precedes the Cambrian explosion in which multicellular life forms began to proliferate about 530540 million years ago.
[16]

Since the Cambrian explosion there have been five distinctly identifiable mass extinctions.[17] The last mass extinction occurred some 65 million years ago, when a meteorite collision probably triggered the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs and

other large reptiles, but spared small animals such as mammals, which then resembled shrews. Over the past 65 million years, mammalian life diversified.[18] Several million years ago, a species of small African ape gained the ability to stand upright.[19] The subsequent advent of human life, and the development of agriculture and further civilization allowed humans to affect the Earth more rapidly than any previous life form, affecting both the nature and quantity of other organisms as well as global climate. By comparison, the Great Oxygenation Event, produced by the proliferation of algae during the Siderian period, required about 300 million years to culminate. The present era is classified as part of a mass extinction event, the Holocene extinction event, the fastest ever to have occurred.[20][21] Some, such as E. O. Wilson of Harvard University, predict that human destruction of the biosphere could cause the extinction of one-half of all species in the next 100 years.[22] The extent of the current extinction event is still being researched, debated and calculated by biologists.[23]

Atmosphere, climate, and weather

Lightning

Blue light is scattered more than other wavelengths by the gases in the atmosphere, giving the Earth a blue halo when seen from space

A tornado in central Oklahoma Main articles: Atmosphere of Earth, Climate, and Weather The atmosphere of the Earth serves as a key factor in sustaining the planetary ecosystem. The thin layer of gases that envelops the Earth is held in place by the planet's gravity. Dry air consists of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon and other inert gases, carbon dioxide, etc.; but air also contains a variable amount of water vapor. The atmospheric pressure declines steadily with altitude, and has a scale height of about 8 kilometres at the Earth's surface: the height at which the atmospheric pressure has declined by a factor of e (a mathematical constant equal to 2.71...).[24][25] The ozone layer of the Earth's atmosphere plays an important role in depleting the amount of ultraviolet (UV) radiation that reaches the surface. As DNA is readily damaged by UV light, this serves to protect life at the surface. The atmosphere also retains heat during the night, thereby reducing the daily temperature extremes. Terrestrial weather occurs almost exclusively in the lower part of the atmosphere, and serves as a convective system for redistributing heat. Ocean currents are another important factor in determining climate, particularly the major underwater thermohaline circulation which distributes heat energy from the equatorial oceans to the polar regions. These currents help to moderate the differences in temperature between winter and summer in the temperate zones. Also, without the redistributions of heat energy by the ocean currents and atmosphere, the tropics would be much hotter, and the polar regions much colder. Weather can have both beneficial and harmful effects. Extremes in weather, such as tornadoes or hurricanes and cyclones, can expend large amounts of energy along their paths, and produce devastation. Surface vegetation has evolved a dependence on the seasonal variation of the weather, and sudden changes lasting only a few years can have a dramatic effect, both on the vegetation and on the animals which depend on its growth for their food. The planetary climate is a measure of the long-term trends in the weather. Various factors are known to influence the climate, including ocean currents, surface albedo, greenhouse gases, variations in the solar luminosity, and changes to the planet's orbit. Based on historical records, the Earth is known to have undergone drastic climate changes in the past, including ice ages. The climate of a region depends on a number of factors, especially latitude. A latitudinal band of the surface with similar climatic attributes forms a climate region. There are a number of such regions, ranging from the tropical climate at the equator to the polar climate in the northern and southern extremes. Weather is also influenced by the

seasons, which result from the Earth's axis being tilted relative to its orbital plane. Thus, at any given time during the summer or winter, one part of the planet is more directly exposed to the rays of the sun. This exposure alternates as the Earth revolves in its orbit. At any given time, regardless of season, the northern and southern hemispheres experience opposite seasons. Weather is a chaotic system that is readily modified by small changes to the environment, so accurate weather forecasting is currently limited to only a few days. [citation needed] Overall, two things are currently happening worldwide: (1) temperature is increasing on the average; and (2) regional climates have been undergoing noticeable changes.[26]

Water on Earth

The Iguazu Falls on the border between Brazil and Argentina Main article: Water Water is a chemical substance that is composed of hydrogen and oxygen and is vital for all known forms of life.[27] In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or state, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam. Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface.[28] On Earth, it is found mostly in oceans and other large water bodies, with 1.6% of water below ground in aquifers and 0.001% in the air as vapor, clouds (formed of solid and liquid water particles suspended in air), and precipitation.[29] Oceans hold 97% of surface water, glaciers and polar ice caps 2.4%, and other land surface water such as rivers, lakes and ponds 0.6%. Additionally, a minute amount of the Earth's water is contained within biological bodies and manufactured products.

Oceans

A view of the Atlantic Ocean from Leblon, Rio de Janeiro.

Earth's oceans

Arctic Atlantic Indian Pacific Southern

World Ocean

v t e

Main article: Ocean An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface (an area of some 361 million square kilometers) is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas. More than half of this area is over 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) deep. Average oceanic salinity is around 35 parts per thousand (ppt) (3.5%), and nearly all seawater has a salinity in the range of 30 to 38 ppt. Though generally recognized as several 'separate' oceans, these waters comprise one global, interconnected body of salt water often referred to as the World Ocean or global ocean.[30][31] This concept of a global ocean as a continuous body of water with relatively free interchange among its parts is of fundamental importance to oceanography.[32] The major oceanic divisions are defined in part by the continents, various archipelagos, and other criteria: these divisions are (in descending order of size) the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. Smaller regions of the oceans are called seas, gulfs, bays and other names. There are also salt lakes, which are smaller bodies of landlocked saltwater that are not interconnected with the World Ocean. Two notable examples of salt lakes are the Aral Sea and the Great Salt Lake.

Lakes

Lake Mapourika, New Zealand Main article: Lake A lake (from Latin lacus) is a terrain feature (or physical feature), a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin (another type of landform or terrain feature; that is, it is not global) and moves slowly if it moves at all. On Earth, a body of water is considered a lake when it is inland, not part of the ocean, is larger and deeper than a pond, and is fed by a river.[33][34] The only world other than Earth known to harbor lakes is Titan, Saturn's largest moon, which has lakes of ethane, most likely mixed with methane. It is not known if Titan's lakes are fed by rivers, though Titan's surface is carved by numerous river beds. Natural lakes on Earth are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing or recent glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers. In some parts of the world, there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from the last Ice Age. All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will slowly fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing them.

Ponds

The Westborough Reservoir (Mill Pond) in Westborough, Massachusetts. Main article: Pond A pond is a body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of man-made bodies of water are classified as ponds, including water gardens designed for aesthetic ornamentation, fish ponds designed for commercial fish breeding, and solar ponds designed to store thermal energy. Ponds and lakes are distinguished from streams via current speed. While currents in streams are easily observed, ponds and lakes possess thermally driven microcurrents and moderate wind driven currents. These features distinguish a pond from many other aquatic terrain features, such as stream pools and tide pools.

Rivers

The Nile river in Cairo, Egypt's capital city Main article: River A river is a natural watercourse,[35] usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill; there is no general rule that defines what can be called a river. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location; one example is Burn in Scotland and North-east England. Sometimes a river is said to be larger than a creek,[36] but this is not always the case, due to vagueness in the language.[37] A river is part of the hydrological cycle. Water within a river is generally collected from precipitation through surface runoff, groundwater recharge, springs, and the release of stored water in natural ice and snowpacks (i.e., from glaciers).

Streams

A rocky stream in Hawaii Main article: Stream A stream is a flowing body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. In the United States a stream is classified as a watercourse less than 60 feet (18 metres) wide. Streams are important as conduits in the water cycle, instruments in groundwater recharge, and they serve as corridors for fish and wildlife migration. The biological habitat in the immediate vicinity of a stream is called a riparian zone. Given the status of the ongoing Holocene extinction, streams play an important corridor role in connecting fragmented habitats and thus in conserving biodiversity. The study of streams and waterways in general involves many branches of inter-disciplinary natural science and engineering, including hydrology, fluvial geomorphology, aquatic ecology, fish biology, riparian ecology and others.

Ecosystems

Loch Lomond in Scotland forms a relatively isolated ecosystem. The fish community of this lake has remained unchanged over a very long period of time.[38]

Lush green Aravalli Mountain Range in the Desert country-Rajasthan, India. A wonder how such greenery can exist in hot Rajasthan, a place well known for its Thar Desert

An aerial view of a human ecosystem. Pictured is the city of Chicago Main articles: Ecology and Ecosystem Ecosystems are composed of a variety of abiotic and biotic components that function in an interrelated way.[39] The structure and composition is determined by various environmental factors that are interrelated. Variations of these factors will initiate dynamic modifications to the ecosystem. Some of the more important components are: soil, atmosphere, radiation from the sun, water, and living organisms. Central to the ecosystem concept is the idea that living organisms interact with every other element in their local environment. Eugene Odum, a founder of ecology, stated: "Any unit that includes all of the organisms (ie: the "community") in a given area interacting with the physical environment so that a flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic structure, biotic diversity, and material cycles (i.e.: exchange of materials between living and nonliving parts) within the system is an ecosystem."[40] Within the ecosystem, species are connected and dependent upon one another in the food chain, and exchange energy and matter between themselves as well as with their environment.[41] The human ecosystem concept is grounded in the deconstruction of the

human/nature dichotomy and the premise that all species are ecologically integrated with each other, as well as with the abiotic constituents of their biotope.[citation needed] A smaller unit of size is called a microecosystem. For example, a microsystem can be a stone and all the life under it. A macroecosystem might involve a whole ecoregion, with its drainage basin.[42]

Wilderness

Old growth European Beech forest in Biogradska Gora National Park, Montenegro. Main article: Wilderness Wilderness is generally defined as areas that have not been significantly modified by human activity. The WILD Foundation goes into more detail, defining wilderness as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with roads, pipelines or other industrial infrastructure." Wilderness areas can be found in preserves, estates, farms, conservation preserves, ranches, national forests, national parks and even in urban areas along rivers, gulches or otherwise undeveloped areas. Wilderness areas and protected parks are considered important for the survival of certain species, ecological studies, conservation, solitude, and recreation. Some nature writers believe wilderness areas are vital for the human spirit and creativity,[43] and some Ecologists consider wilderness areas to be an integral part of the planet's self-sustaining natural ecosystem (the biosphere). They may also preserve historic genetic traits and that they provide habitat for wild flora and fauna that may be difficult to recreate in zoos, arboretums or laboratories.

Life

Female mallard and ducklings reproduction is essential for continuing life

Main articles: Life, Biology, and Biosphere Although there is no universal agreement on the definition of life, scientists generally accept that the biological manifestation of life is characterized by organization, metabolism, growth, adaptation, response to stimuli and reproduction.[44] Life may also be said to be simply the characteristic state of organisms. Properties common to terrestrial organisms (plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea and bacteria) are that they are cellular, carbon-and-water-based with complex organization, having a metabolism, a capacity to grow, respond to stimuli, and reproduce. An entity with these properties is generally considered life. However, not every definition of life considers all of these properties to be essential. Human-made analogs of life may also be considered to be life. The biosphere is the part of Earth's outer shell including land, surface rocks, water, air and the atmosphere within which life occurs, and which biotic processes in turn alter or transform. From the broadest geophysiological point of view, the biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere (rocks), hydrosphere (water), and atmosphere (air). Currently the entire Earth contains over 75 billion tons (150 trillion pounds or about 6.8 x 1013 kilograms) of biomass (life), which lives within various environments within the biosphere.[45] Over nine-tenths of the total biomass on Earth is plant life, on which animal life depends very heavily for its existence.[46] More than 2 million species of plant and animal life have been identified to date,[47] and estimates of the actual number of existing species range from several million to well over 50 million.[48][49][50] The number of individual species of life is constantly in some degree of flux, with new species appearing and others ceasing to exist on a continual basis.[51][52] The total number of species is presently in rapid decline.[53][54][55]

Evolution

An area of the Amazon Rainforest shared between Colombia and Brazil. The tropical rainforests of South America contain the largest diversity of species on Earth.[56][57] Main article: Evolution Life is only known to exist on the planet Earth.(cf Astrobiology) The origin of life is still a poorly understood process, but it is thought to have occurred about 3.9 to 3.5 billion years ago during the hadean or archean eons on a primordial earth that had a substantially different environment than is found at present.[58] These life forms possessed the basic traits of self-replication and inheritable traits. Once life had

appeared, the process of evolution by natural selection resulted in the development of ever-more diverse life forms. Species that were unable to adapt to the changing environment and competition from other life forms became extinct. However, the fossil record retains evidence of many of these older species. Current fossil and DNA evidence shows that all existing species can trace a continual ancestry back to the first primitive life forms.[58] The advent of photosynthesis in very basic forms of plant life worldwide allowed the sun's energy to be harvested to create conditions allowing for more complex life.[citation needed] The resultant oxygen accumulated in the atmosphere and gave rise to the ozone layer. The incorporation of smaller cells within larger ones resulted in the development of yet more complex cells called eukaryotes.[59] Cells within colonies became increasingly specialized, resulting in true multicellular organisms. With the ozone layer absorbing harmful ultraviolet radiation, life colonized the surface of Earth.

Microbes

A microscopic mite Lorryia formosa. Main article: Microbe The first form of life to develop on the Earth were microbes, and they remained the only form of life on the planet until about a billion years ago when multi-cellular organisms began to appear.[60] Microorganisms are single-celled organisms that are generally microscopic, and smaller than the human eye can see. They include Bacteria, Fungi, Archaea and Protista. These life forms are found in almost every location on the Earth where there is liquid water, including the interior of rocks within the planet.[61] Their reproduction is both rapid and profuse. The combination of a high mutation rate and a horizontal gene transfer[62] ability makes them highly adaptable, and able to survive in new environments, including outer space.[63] They form an essential part of the planetary ecosystem. However some microorganisms are pathogenic and can post health risk to other organisms.

Plants and animals

Main articles: Plant and Animal

A selection of diverse plant species

A selection of diverse animal species Originally Aristotle divided all living things between plants, which generally do not move fast enough for humans to notice, and animals. In Linnaeus' system, these became the kingdoms Vegetabilia (later Plantae) and Animalia. Since then, it has become clear that the Plantae as originally defined included several unrelated groups, and the fungi and several groups of algae were removed to new kingdoms. However, these are still often considered plants in many contexts. Bacterial life is sometimes included in flora, [64][65] and some classifications use the term bacterial flora separately from plant flora. Among the many ways of classifying plants are by regional floras, which, depending on the purpose of study, can also include fossil flora, remnants of plant life from a previous era. People in many regions and countries take great pride

in their individual arrays of characteristic flora, which can vary widely across the globe due to differences in climate and terrain. Regional floras commonly are divided into categories such as native flora and agricultural and garden flora, the lastly mentioned of which are intentionally grown and cultivated. Some types of "native flora" actually have been introduced centuries ago by people migrating from one region or continent to another, and become an integral part of the native, or natural flora of the place to which they were introduced. This is an example of how human interaction with nature can blur the boundary of what is considered nature. Another category of plant has historically been carved out for weeds. Though the term has fallen into disfavor among botanists as a formal way to categorize "useless" plants, the informal use of the word "weeds" to describe those plants that are deemed worthy of elimination is illustrative of the general tendency of people and societies to seek to alter or shape the course of nature. Similarly, animals are often categorized in ways such as domestic, farm animals, wild animals, pests, etc. according to their relationship to human life. Animals as a category have several characteristics that generally set them apart from other living things. Animals are eukaryotic and usually multicellular (although see Myxozoa), which separates them from bacteria, archaea and most protists. They are heterotrophic, generally digesting food in an internal chamber, which separates them from plants and algae. They are also distinguished from plants, algae, and fungi by lacking cell walls. With a few exceptions, most notably the sponges (Phylum Porifera), animals have bodies differentiated into separate tissues.[citation needed] These include muscles, which are able to contract and control locomotion, and a nervous system, which sends and processes signals. There is also typically an internal digestive chamber. The eukaryotic cells possessed by all animals are surrounded by a characteristic extracellular matrix composed of collagen and elastic glycoproteins. This may be calcified to form structures like shells, bones, and spicules, a framework upon which cells can move about and be reorganized during development and maturation, and which supports the complex anatomy required for mobility.

Human interrelationship

Despite their natural beauty, the secluded valleys along the Na Pali Coast in Hawaii are heavily modified by introduced invasive species such as She-oak.

Sochi dendrarium is an example of confluence of "natural" and a "made" environment Although humans currently comprise only a minuscule proportion of the total living biomass on Earth, the human effect on nature is disproportionately large. Because of the extent of human influence, the boundaries between what humans regard as nature and "made environments" is not clear cut except at the extremes. Even at the extremes, the amount of natural environment that is free of discernible human influence is presently diminishing at an increasingly rapid pace. The development of technology by the human race has allowed the greater exploitation of natural resources and has helped to alleviate some of the risk from natural hazards. In spite of this progress, however, the fate of human civilization remains closely linked to changes in the environment. There exists a highly complex feedback loop between the use of advanced technology and changes to the environment that are only slowly becoming understood.[66] Man-made threats to the Earth's natural environment include pollution, deforestation, and disasters such as oil spills. Humans have contributed to the extinction of many plants and animals. Humans employ nature for both leisure and economic activities. The acquisition of natural resources for industrial use remains the primary component of the world's economic system.[citation needed] Some activities, such as hunting and fishing, are used for both sustenance and leisure, often by different people. Agriculture was first adopted around the 9th millennium BCE. Ranging from food production to energy, nature influences economic wealth. Although early humans gathered uncultivated plant materials for food and employed the medicinal properties of vegetation for healing,[67] most modern human use of plants is through agriculture. The clearance of large tracts of land for crop growth has led to a significant reduction in the amount available of forestation and wetlands, resulting in the loss of habitat for many plant and animal species as well as increased erosion.[68]

Aesthetics and beauty

Pinguicula grandiflora, commonly known as a Butterwort Beauty in nature has historically been a prevalent theme in art and books, filling large sections of libraries and bookstores. That nature has been depicted and celebrated by so much art, photography, poetry and other literature shows the strength with which many people associate nature and beauty. Reasons why this association exists, and what the association consists of, is studied by the branch of philosophy called aesthetics. Beyond certain basic characteristics that many philosophers agree about to explain what is seen as beautiful, the opinions are virtually endless.[69] Nature and wildness have been important subjects in various eras of world history. An early tradition of landscape art began in China during the Tang Dynasty (618907). The tradition of representing nature as it is became one of the aims of Chinese painting and was a significant influence in Asian art. Although natural wonders are celebrated in the Psalms and the Book of Job, wilderness portrayals in art became more prevalent in the 1800s, especially in the works of the Romantic movement. British artists John Constable and J. M. W. Turner turned their attention to capturing the beauty of the natural world in their paintings. Before that, paintings had been primarily of religious scenes or of human beings. William Wordsworth's poetry described the wonder of the natural world, which had formerly been viewed as a threatening place. Increasingly the valuing of nature became an aspect of Western culture.[70] This artistic movement also coincided with the Transcendentalist movement in the Western world. A common classical idea of beautiful art involves the word mimesis, the imitation of nature. Also in the realm of ideas about beauty in nature is that the perfect is implied through perfect mathematical forms and more generally by patterns in nature. As David Rothenburg writes, "The beautiful is the root of science and the goal of art, the highest possibility that humanity can ever hope to see".[71]:281

Matter and energy

The first few hydrogen atom electron orbitals shown as cross-sections with color-coded probability density Main articles: Matter and Energy Some fields of science see nature as matter in motion, obeying certain laws of nature which science seeks to understand. For this reason the most fundamental science is generally understood to be "physics" the name for which is still recognizable as meaning that it is the study of nature. Matter is commonly defined as the substance of which physical objects are composed. It constitutes the observable universe. The visible components of the universe are now believed to compose only 4 percent of the total mass. The remainder is believed to consist of 23 percent cold dark matter and 73 percent dark energy.[72] The exact nature of these components is still unknown and is currently under intensive investigation by physicists. The behavior of matter and energy throughout the observable universe appears to follow well-defined physical laws. These laws have been employed to produce cosmological models that successfully explain the structure and the evolution of the universe we can observe. The mathematical expressions of the laws of physics employ a set of twenty physical constants[73] that appear to be static across the observable universe.[74] The values of these constants have been carefully measured, but the reason for their specific values remains a mystery.

Beyond Earth

Planets and dwarf planets of the Solar System (Sizes to scale, distances not to scale)

NGC 4414 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices about 56,000 light years in diameter and approximately 60 million light years from Earth Main articles: Outer space, Universe, and Extraterrestrial life Outer space, also simply called space, refers to the relatively empty regions of the universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. Outer space is used to distinguish it from airspace (and terrestrial locations). There is no discrete boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and space, as the atmosphere gradually attenuates with increasing altitude. Outer space within the Solar System is called interplanetary space, which passes over into interstellar space at what is known as the heliopause. Outer space is certainly spacious, but it is far from empty.[citation needed] Outer space is sparsely filled with several dozen types of organic molecules discovered to date by microwave spectroscopy, blackbody radiation left over from the big bang and the origin of the universe, and cosmic rays, which include ionized atomic nuclei and various subatomic particles. There is also some gas, plasma and dust, and small meteors. Additionally, there are signs of human life in outer space today, such as material left over from previous manned and unmanned launches which are a potential hazard to spacecraft. Some of this debris re-enters the atmosphere periodically. Although the planet Earth is currently the only known body within the solar system to support life, current evidence suggests that in the distant past the planet Mars possessed bodies of liquid water on the surface.[75] For a brief period in Mars' history, it may have also been capable of forming life. At present though, most of the water remaining on Mars is frozen. If life exists at all on Mars, it is most likely to be located underground where liquid water can still exist.[76] Conditions on the other terrestrial planets, Mercury and Venus, appear to be too harsh to support life as we know it.[citation needed] But it has been conjectured that Europa, the fourthlargest moon of Jupiter, may possess a sub-surface ocean of liquid water and could potentially host life.[77] Recently, the team of Stphane Udry have discovered a new planet named Gliese 581 g, which is an extrasolar planet orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 581.[citation needed] Gliese 581 g appears to lie in the habitable zone of space surrounding the star, and therefore could possibly host life as we know it.

See also

Book: Nature

Environment portal Ecology portal Earth sciences portal Weather portal Astronomy portal

Media:

Natural History, by Pliny the Elder Nature, by Ralph Waldo Emerson Nature, a prominent scientific journal National Wildlife (magazine), publication of the National Wildlife Federation Nature (TV series)

Organizations:

The Nature Conservancy Nature Detectives

Science:

Natural history Natural landscape

Philosophy:

Mother Nature Nature (philosophy) Naturalism (philosophy): any of several philosophical stances, typically those descended from Materialism and Pragmatism that do not distinguish the supernatural from nature.[citation needed] This includes the methodological naturalism of natural science, which makes the methodological assumption that observable events in nature are explained only by natural causes, without assuming either the existence or non-existence of the supernatural. Balance of nature (biological fallacy): A discredited concept of natural equilibrium in predator:prey dynamics.

Notes and references

1. ^ Harper, Douglas. "nature". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2006-09-23. 2. ^ A useful though somewhat erratically presented account of the preSocratic use of the concept of may be found in Naddaf, Gerard The Greek Concept of Nature, SUNY Press, 2006. The word , while first used in connection with a plant in Homer, occurs very early in Greek philosophy, and in

several senses. Generally, these senses match rather well the current senses in which the English word nature is used, as confirmed by Guthrie, W.K.C. Presocratic Tradition from Parmenides to Democritus (volume 2 of his History of Greek Philosophy), Cambridge UP, 1965. 3. ^ The first known use of physis was by Homer in reference to the intrinsic qualities of a plant: , . (So saying, Argeiphontes [=Hermes] gave me the herb, drawing it from the ground, and showed me its nature.) Odyssey 10.302-3 (ed. A.T. Murray). (The word is dealt with thoroughly in Liddell and Scott's Greek Lexicon.) For later but still very early Greek uses of the term, see earlier note. 4. ^ Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687), for example, is translated "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy", and reflects the then-current use of the words "natural philosophy", akin to "systematic study of nature" 5. ^ The etymology of the word "physical" shows its use as a synonym for "natural" in about the mid-15th century: Harper, Douglas. "physical". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2006-09-20. 6. ^ "World Climates". Blue Planet Biomes. Retrieved 2006-09-21. 7. ^ "Calculations favor reducing atmosphere for early Earth". Science Daily. 2005-09-11. Retrieved 2007-01-06. 8. ^ "Past Climate Change". U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved 2007-01-07. 9. ^ Hugh Anderson, Bernard Walter (March 28, 1997). "History of Climate Change". NASA. Archived from the original on 2008-01-23. Retrieved 2007-01-07. 10. ^ Weart, Spencer (June 2006). "The Discovery of Global Warming". American Institute of Physics. Retrieved 2007-01-07. 11. ^ Margulis, Lynn; Dorian Sagan (1995). What is Life?. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81326-2. 12. ^ Dalrymple, G. Brent (1991). The Age of the Earth. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-1569-6. 13. ^ Morbidelli, A.; et al. (2000). "Source Regions and Time Scales for the Delivery of Water to Earth". Meteoritics & Planetary Science 35 (6): 1309 1320. Bibcode 2000M&PS...35.1309M. doi:10.1111/j.19455100.2000.tb01518.x. 14. ^ "Earth's Oldest Mineral Grains Suggest an Early Start for Life". NASA Astrobilogy Institute. 2001-12-24. Retrieved 2006-05-24. 15. ^ Murphy, J.B.; R.D. Nance (2004). "How do supercontinents assemble?". American Scientist 92 (4): 324. doi:10.1511/2004.4.324. 16. ^ Kirschvink, J.L. (1992). "Late Proterozoic Low-Latitude Global Glaciation: The Snowball Earth". In J.W. Schopf, C. Klein eds.. The Proterozoic Biosphere. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 5152. ISBN 0-52136615-1. 17. ^ Raup, David M.; J. John Sepkoski Jr. (March 1982). "Mass extinctions in the marine fossil record". Science 215 (4539): 15013. Bibcode 1982Sci...215.1501R. doi:10.1126/science.215.4539.1501. PMID 17788674. 18. ^ Margulis, Lynn; Dorian Sagan (1995). What is Life?. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 145. ISBN 0-684-81326-2.

19. ^ Margulis, Lynn; Dorian Sagan (1995). What is Life?. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81326-2. 20. ^ Diamond J; Ashmole, N. P.; Purves, P. E. (1989). "The present, past and future of human-caused extinctions". Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 325 (1228): 46976; discussion 4767. Bibcode 1989RSPTB.325..469D. doi:10.1098/rstb.1989.0100. PMID 2574887. 21. ^ Novacek M, Cleland E (2001). "The current biodiversity extinction event: scenarios for mitigation and recovery". Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98 (10): 546670. Bibcode 2001PNAS...98.5466N. doi:10.1073/pnas.091093698. PMC 33235. PMID 11344295. 22. ^ Wick, Lucia; Mhl, Adrian (2006). "The mid-Holocene extinction of silver fir (Abies alba) in the Southern Alps: a consequence of forest fires? Palaeobotanical records and forest simulations". Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 15 (4): 435444. doi:10.1007/s00334-006-0051-0. 23. ^ See, e.g. [1], [2], [3] 24. ^ "Ideal Gases under Constant Volume, Constant Pressure, Constant Temperature, & Adiabatic Conditions". NASA. Retrieved 2007-01-07. 25. ^ Pelletier, Jon D. (2002). "Natural variability of atmospheric temperatures and geomagnetic intensity over a wide range of time scales". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 99 (90001): 25462553. Bibcode 2002PNAS...99.2546P. doi:10.1073/pnas.022582599. PMC 128574. PMID 11875208. 26. ^ "Tropical Ocean Warming Drives Recent Northern Hemisphere Climate Change". Science Daily. April 6, 2001. Retrieved 2006-05-24. 27. ^ "Water for Life". Un.org. 2005-03-22. Retrieved 2011-05-14. 28. ^ "CIA- The world fact book". Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2008-12-20. 29. ^ Water Vapor in the Climate System[dead link], Special Report, [AGU], December 1995 (linked 4/2007). Vital Water[dead link] UNEP. 30. ^ "Ocean". The Columbia Encyclopedia. 2002. New York: Columbia University Press 31. ^ "Distribution of land and water on the planet". UN Atlas of the Oceans 32. ^ Spilhaus, Athelstan F. 1942 (Jul.). "Maps of the whole world ocean." Geographical Review (American Geographical Society). Vol. 32 (3): pp. 4315. 33. ^ Brittanica online. "Lake (physical feature)". Retrieved 2008-06-25. "[a Lake is] any relatively large body of slowly moving or standing water that occupies an inland basin of appreciable size. Definitions that precisely distinguish lakes, ponds, swamps, and even rivers and other bodies of nonoceanic water are not well established. It may be said, however, that rivers and streams are relatively fast moving; marshes and swamps contain relatively large quantities of grasses, trees, or shrubs; and ponds are relatively small in comparison to lakes. Geologically defined, lakes are temporary bodies of water." 34. ^ a body of fresh or salt water of considerable size, surrounded by land. "Dictionary.com definition". Retrieved 2008-06-25. 35. ^ River {definition} from Merriam-Webster. Accessed February 2010. 36. ^ River[dead link], Wordnet 37. ^ USGS U.S. Geological Survey faqs, #17 What is the difference between mountain, hill, and peak; lake and pond; or river and creek?

38. ^ Adams, C.E. (1994). "The fish community of Loch Lomond, Scotland : its history and rapidly changing status". Hydrobiologia 290 (13): 91102. doi:10.1007/BF00008956. 39. ^ Pidwirny, Michael (2006). "Introduction to the Biosphere: Introduction to the Ecosystem Concept". Fundamentals of Physical Geography (2nd Edition). Retrieved September 28, 2006. 40. ^ Odum, EP (1971) Fundamentals of ecology, third edition, Saunders New York 41. ^ Pidwirny, Michael (2006). "Introduction to the Biosphere: Organization of Life". Fundamentals of Physical Geography (2nd Edition). Retrieved September 28, 2006. 42. ^ Bailey, Robert G. (April 2004). "Identifying Ecoregion Boundaries" (PDF). Environmental Management 34 (Supplement 1): S1426. doi:10.1007/s00267-003-0163-6. PMID 15883869. 43. ^ No Man's Garden by Daniel B. Botkin p155-157 44. ^ "Definition of Life". California Academy of Sciences. 2006. Retrieved 2007-01-07. 45. ^ The figure "about one-half of one percent" takes into account the following (See, e.g., Leckie, Stephen (1999). "How Meat-centred Eating Patterns Affect Food Security and the Environment". For hunger-proof cities : sustainable urban food systems. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre. ISBN 0-88936-882-1., which takes global average weight as 60 kg.), the total human biomass is the average weight multiplied by the current human population of approximately 6.5 billion (see, e.g., "World Population Information". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved September 28, 2006.): Assuming 6070 kg to be the average human mass (approximately 130150 lb on the average), an approximation of total global human mass of between 390 billion (390109) and 455 billion kg (between 845 billion and 975 billion lb, or about 423 million488 million short tons). The total biomass of all kinds on earth is estimated to be in excess of 6.8 x 1013 kg (75 billion short tons). By these calculations, the portion of total biomass accounted for by humans would be very roughly 0.6%. 46. ^ Sengbusch, Peter V.. "The Flow of Energy in Ecosystems Productivity, Food Chain, and Trophic Level". Botany online. University of Hamburg Department of Biology. Retrieved September 23, 2006. 47. ^ Pidwirny, Michael (2006). "Introduction to the Biosphere: Species Diversity and Biodiversity". Fundamentals of Physical Geography (2nd Edition). Retrieved September 23, 2006. 48. ^ "How Many Species are There?". Extinction Web Page Class Notes. Retrieved September 23, 2006. 49. ^ "Animal." World Book Encyclopedia. 16 vols. Chicago: World Book, 2003. This source gives an estimate of from 2 to 50 million. 50. ^ "Just How Many Species Are There, Anyway?". Science Daily. May 2003. Retrieved September 26, 2006. 51. ^ Withers, Mark A.; et al. (1998). "Changing Patterns in the Number of Species in North American Floras". Land Use History of North America. Retrieved September 26, 2006. Website based on the contents of the book: Sisk, T.D., ed., ed. (1998). Perspectives on the land use history of North America: a context for understanding our changing environment (Revised September 1999

ed.). U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division. USGS/BRD/BSR1998-0003. 52. ^ "Tropical Scientists Find Fewer Species Than Expected". Science Daily. April 2002. Retrieved September 27, 2006. 53. ^ Bunker, Daniel E.; et al. (November 2005). "Species Loss and Aboveground Carbon Storage in a Tropical Forest". Science 310 (5750): 1029 31. Bibcode 2005Sci...310.1029B. doi:10.1126/science.1117682. PMID 16239439. 54. ^ Wilcox, Bruce A. (2006). "Amphibian Decline: More Support for Biocomplexity as a Research Paradigm". EcoHealth 3 (1): 1. doi:10.1007/s10393-005-0013-5. 55. ^ Clarke, Robin, Robert Lamb, Dilys Roe Ward eds., ed. (2002). "Decline and loss of species". Global environment outlook 3 : past, present and future perspectives. London; Sterling, VA: Nairobi, Kenya : UNEP. ISBN 92807-2087-2. 56. ^ "Why the Amazon Rainforest is So Rich in Species : News". Earthobservatory.nasa.gov. 2005-12-05. Retrieved 2011-05-14. 57. ^ "Why The Amazon Rainforest Is So Rich In Species". Sciencedaily.com. 2005-12-05. Retrieved 2011-05-14. 58. ^ a b Line M (1 January 2002). "The enigma of the origin of life and its timing". Microbiology 148 (Pt 1): 217. PMID 11782495. 59. ^ Berkner, L. V.; L. C. Marshall (May 1965). "On the Origin and Rise of Oxygen Concentration in the Earth's Atmosphere". Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 22 (3): 225261. Bibcode 1965JAtS...22..225B. doi:10.1175/15200469(1965)022<0225:OTOARO>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 1520-0469. 60. ^ Schopf J (1994). "Disparate rates, differing fates: tempo and mode of evolution changed from the Precambrian to the Phanerozoic". Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91 (15): 673542. Bibcode 1994PNAS...91.6735S. doi:10.1073/pnas.91.15.6735. PMC 44277. PMID 8041691. 61. ^ Szewzyk U, Szewzyk R, Stenstrm T (1994). "Thermophilic, anaerobic bacteria isolated from a deep borehole in granite in Sweden". Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91 (5): 18103. Bibcode 1994PNAS...91.1810S. doi:10.1073/pnas.91.5.1810. PMC 43253. PMID 11607462. 62. ^ Wolska K (2003). "Horizontal DNA transfer between bacteria in the environment". Acta Microbiol Pol 52 (3): 23343. PMID 14743976. 63. ^ Horneck G (1981). "Survival of microorganisms in space: a review". Adv Space Res 1 (14): 3948. doi:10.1016/0273-1177(81)90241-6. PMID 11541716. 64. ^ "flora". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved September 27, 2006. 65. ^ "Glossary". Status and Trends of the Nation's Biological Resources. Reston, VA: Department of the Interior, Geological Survey. 1998. SuDocs No. I 19.202:ST 1/V.1-2.[dead link] 66. ^ "Feedback Loops In Global Climate Change Point To A Very Hot 21st Century". Science Daily. May 22, 2006. Retrieved 2007-01-07. 67. ^ "Plant Conservation Alliance Medicinal Plant Working Groups Green Medicine". US National Park Services. Retrieved September 23, 2006. 68. ^ Oosthoek, Jan (1999). "Environmental History: Between Science & Philosophy". Environmental History Resources. Retrieved 2006-12-01.

69. ^ For an example of a range of opinions, see: "On the Beauty of Nature". The Wilderness Society. Retrieved September 29, 2006. and Ralph Waldo Emerson's analysis of the subject: Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1849). "Beauty". Nature; Addresses and Lectures. 70. ^ History of Conservation BC Spaces for Nature. Accessed: May 20, 2006. 71. ^ Rothenberg, David (2011). Survival of the Beautiful: Art, Science and Evolution. Bloomsbury. 72. ^ "Some Theories Win, Some Lose". WMAP Mission: First Year Results. NASA. Retrieved 29 2006. 73. ^ Taylor, Barry N. (1971). "Introduction to the constants for nonexperts". National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved 200701-07. 74. ^ D. A. Varshalovich, A. Y. Potekhin, A. V. Ivanchik (2000). "Testing cosmological variability of fundamental constants". AIP Conference Proceedings 506: 503. arXiv:physics/0004062. doi:10.1063/1.1302777. 75. ^ Bibring, J; et al. (2006). "Global mineralogical and aqueous mars history derived from OMEGA/Mars Express data". Science 312 (5772): 4004. Bibcode 2006Sci...312..400B. doi:10.1126/science.1122659. PMID 16627738. 76. ^ Malik, Tariq (2005-03-08). "Hunt for Mars life should go underground". The Brown University News Bureau. Retrieved September 4, 2006. 77. ^ Scott Turner (1998-03-02). "Detailed Images From Europa Point To Slush Below Surface". The Brown University News Bureau. Retrieved September 28, 2006.

External links
Find more about Nature at Wikipedia's sister projects Definitions and translations from Wiktionary Media from Commons Learning resources from Wikiversity News stories from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Source texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks Travel information from Wikivoyage

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (iucnredlist.org) The Wild Foundation - The heart of the global wilderness conservation movement (wild.org)*

Fauna & Flora International is taking decisive action to help save the worlds wild species and spaces (fauna-flora.org) European Wildlife is a Pan-European non-profit organization dedicated to nature preservation and environmental protection (eurowildlife.org) Nature Journal (nature.com) The National Geographic Society (nationalgeographic.com) Record of life on Earth (arkive.org) BBC - Science and Nature (bbc.co.uk) PBS - Science and Nature (pbs.org) Science Daily (sciencedaily.com) European Commission Nature and Biodiversity (ec.europa.eu) Natural History Museum (.nhm.ac.uk) Geology (geology.com) Encyclopedia of Life (eol.org). Science.gov Environment & Environmental Quality. NatureWatch Wiki for documenting biodiversity (german)

[show]

v t e

The Earth
[show]

v t e

Elements of nature
[hide]

v t e

Natural science

Physical science Space science Earth science Life sciences [show]

t e

Environmental science
[show]

v t e

Branches of Biology
Categories:

Nature Environmental science

Natural science
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2012) See also: Outline of natural science

The natural sciences seek to understand how the world and universe around us works. There are five major branches: Chemistry (center), astronomy, earth science, physics, and biology (clockwise from top-left).
Part of a series on Science

Formal sciences[show] Physical sciences[show]

Life sciences[show] Social sciences[show] Applied sciences[show] Interdisciplinarity[show] Philosophy and history of science[show]

Outline Portal Category

v t e

The natural sciences are those branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world through scientific methods.[1] The term "natural science" is used to distinguish the subject from the social sciences, which apply the scientific method to study human behavior and social patterns; the humanities, which use a critical or analytical approach to study the human condition; and the formal sciences such as mathematics and logic, which use an a priori, as opposed to factual methodology to study formal systems.

Contents

1 Overview 2 History o 2.1 Aristotelian natural philosophy (400 B.C.1100 A.D.) o 2.2 Medieval natural philosophy (11001600) o 2.3 Newton and the scientific revolution (16001800) o 2.4 19th-century developments (18001900) o 2.5 Modern natural science (1900present) 3 Branches of natural science o 3.1 Astronomy o 3.2 Biology o 3.3 Chemistry 3.3.1 Materials science o 3.4 Physics

3.5 Earth science 3.5.1 Atmospheric science 3.5.2 Oceanography 4 Interdisciplinary studies 5 See also 6 References o 6.1 Bibliography 7 Further reading
o

8 External links

Overview
There are five branches of natural science: astronomy, biology, chemistry, the Earth sciences and physics.[2][3] This distinguishes sciences that cover inquiry into the world of nature from human sciences such as anthropology, sociology and linguistics, and from formal sciences such as mathematics and logic.[2] Despite their differences, these sciences sometimes overlap. For example, the social sciences and biology both study human beings as organisms while mathematics is used regularly in all the natural sciences.[2] Alongside its traditional usage, natural science may encompass natural history, which emerged in the 16th century and focused on the description and classification of plants, animals, minerals and other natural objects.[4] Today, natural history refers to observational descriptions of the natural world aimed at popular audiences rather than an academic ones.[5] The natural sciences are sometimes referred to colloquially as hard science, or fields seen as relying on experimental, quantifiable data or the scientific method and focusing on accuracy and objectivity.[6] These usually include physics, chemistry and biology.[6] By contrast, soft science is used as a pejorative term to describe fields more reliant on qualitative research, including the social sciences.[6]

History
See also: Natural philosophy and History of science Some scholars trace the origins of natural science as far back as pre-literate human societies, where understanding the natural world was necessary for survival.[7] People observed and built up knowledge about the behavior of animals and the usefulness of plants as food and medicine, which was passed down from generation to generation.[7] These primitive understandings gave way to more formalized inquiry around 3,500 to 3,000 B.C. in Mesopotamian and Ancient Egyptian cultures, which produced the first known written evidence of natural philosophy, the precursor of natural science.[8] While the writings show an interest in astronomy, mathematics and other aspects of the physical world, the ultimate aim of inquiry about nature's workings was in all cases religious or mythological, not scientific.[9] A tradition of scientific inquiry also emerged in Ancient China, where Taoist alchemists and philosophers experimented with elixirs to extend life and cure ailments.[10] They focused on the yin and yang, or contrasting elements in nature; the yin was associated

with femininity and coldness, while yang was associated with masculinity and warmth. [11] The five phases fire, earth, metal, wood and water described a cycle of transformations in nature. Water turned into wood, which turned into fire when it burned. The ashes left by fire were earth.[12] Using these principles, Chinese philosophers and doctors explored human anatomy, characterizing organs as predominantly yin or yang; they understood the relationship between the pulse, the heart and the flow of blood in the body centuries before it became accepted in the West.[13] Little evidence survives of how Ancient Indian cultures around the Indus River understood nature, but some of their perspectives may be reflected in the Vedas, a set of sacred Hindu texts.[13] They reveal a conception of the universe as ever-expanding and constantly being recycled and reformed.[13] Surgeons in the Ayurvedic tradition saw health and illness as a combination of three humors: wind, bile and phlegm.[13] A healthy life was the result of a balance between these humors.[13] In Ayurvedic thought, the body consisted of five elements: earth, water, fire, wind and empty space.[13] Ayurvedic surgeons performed complex surgeries and developed a detailed understanding of human anatomy.[13] Pre-Socratic philosophers in Ancient Greek culture brought natural philosophy a step closer to direct inquiry about cause and effect in nature between 600 and 400 B.C., although an element of magic and mythology remained.[14] Natural phenomena such as earthquakes and eclipses were explained increasingly in the context of nature itself instead of being attributed to angry gods.[14] Thales of Miletus, an early philosopher who lived from 625 to 546 B.C., explained earthquakes by theorizing that the world floated on water and that water was the fundamental element in nature.[15] In the fifth century B.C., Leucippus was an early exponent of atomism, the idea that the world is made up of fundamental indivisible particles.[16] Pythagoras applied Greek innovations in mathematics to astronomy, and suggested that the earth was spherical.[16]

Aristotelian natural philosophy (400 B.C.1100 A.D.)

Later Socratic and Platonic thought focused on ethics, morals and art and did not attempt an investigation of the physical world; Plato criticized pre-Socratic thinkers as materialists and anti-religionists.[17] Aristotle, however, a student of Plato who lived from 384 to 322 B.C., paid closer attention to the natural world in his philosophy.[18] In his History of Animals, he described the inner workings of 110 species, including the stingray, catfish and bee.[19] He investigated chick embryos by breaking open eggs and observing them at various stages of development.[20] Aristotle's works were influential through the 19th century, and he is considered by some scholars to be the father of biology.[21] He also presented philosophies about physics, nature and astronomy using inductive reasoning in his works Physics and Meteorology.[22]

Plato (left) and Aristotle in a 1509 painting by Raphael. Plato rejected inquiry into natural philosophy as against religion, while his student, Aristotle, created a body of work on the natural world that influenced generations of scholars. While Aristotle considered natural philosophy more seriously than his predecessors, he approached it as a theoretical branch of science.[23] Still, inspired by his work, Ancient Roman philosophers of the early first century A.D., including Lucretius, Seneca and Pliny the Elder, wrote treatises that dealt with the rules of the natural world in varying degrees of depth.[24] Many Ancient Roman Neoplatonists of the third to the sixth centuries A.D. also adapted Aristotle's teachings on the physical world to a philosophy that emphasized spiritualism.[25] Early medieval philosophers including Macrobius, Calcidius and Martianus Capella also examined the physical world, largely from a cosmological and cosmographical perspective, putting forth theories on the arrangement of celestial bodies and the heavens, which were posited as being composed of aether.[26] Aristotle's works on natural philosophy continued to be translated and studied amid the rise of the Byzantine Empire and Islam in the Middle East.[27] A revival in mathematics and science took place during the time of the Abbasid Caliphate from the ninth century onward, when Muslim scholars expanded upon Greek and Indian natural philosophy.[28] The words alcohol, algebra and zenith all have Arabic roots.[29]

Medieval natural philosophy (11001600)

Aristote's works and other Greek natural philosophy did not reach the West until about the middle of the 12th century, when works were translated from Greek and Arabic into Latin.[30] The development of European civilization later in the Middle Ages brought with it further advances in natural philosophy.[31] European inventions such as the horseshoe, horse collar and crop rotation allowed for rapid population growth, eventually giving way to urbanization and the foundation of schools connected to monasteries and cathedrals in modern-day France and England.[32] Aided by the schools, an approach to Christian theology developed that sought to answer questions about nature and other subjects using logic.[33] This approach, however, was seen by some detractors as heresy.[33] By the 12th century, Western European scholars and philosophers came into contact with a body of knowledge of which they had previously

been ignorant: a large corpus of works in Greek and Arabic that were preserved by Islamic scholars.[34] Through translation into Latin, Western Europe was introduced to Aristotle and his natural philosophy.[34] These works were taught at new universities in Paris and Oxford by the early 13th century, although the practice was frowned upon by the Catholic church.[35] A 1210 decree from the Synod of Paris ordered that "no lectures are to be held in Paris either publicly or privately using Aristotle's books on natural philosophy or the commentaries, and we forbid all this under pain of excommunication."[35] In the late Middle Ages, Spanish philosopher Dominicus Gundissalinus translated a treatise by the earlier Arab scholar Al-Farabi called On the Sciences into Latin, calling the study of the mechanics of nature scientia naturalis, or natural science.[36] Gundissalinus also proposed his own classification of the natural sciences in his 1150 work On the Division of Philosophy.[36] This was the first detailed classification of the sciences based on Greek and Arab philosophy to reach Western Europe.[36] Gundissalinus defined natural science as "the science considering only things unabstracted and with motion," as opposed to mathematics and sciences that rely on mathematics.[37] Following Al-Farabi, he then separated the sciences into eight parts, including physics, cosmology, meteorology, minerals science and plant and animal science.[37] Later philosophers made their own classifications of the natural sciences. Robert Kilwardby wrote On the Order of the Sciences in the 13th century that classed medicine as a mechanical science, along with agriculture, hunting and theater while defining natural science as the science that deals with bodies in motion.[38] Roger Bacon, an English friar and philosopher, wrote that natural science dealt with "a principle of motion and rest, as in the parts of the elements of fire, air, earth and water, and in all inanimate things made from them."[39] These sciences also covered plants, animals and celestial bodies.[39] Later in the 13th century, Catholic priest and theologian Thomas Aquinas defined natural science as dealing with "mobile beings" and "things which depend on matter not only for their existence, but also for their definition."[40] There was wide agreement among scholars in medieval times that natural science was about bodies in motion, although there was division about the inclusion of fields including medicine, music and perspective.[41] Philosophers pondered questions including the existence of a vacuum, whether motion could produce heat, the colors of rainbows, the motion of the earth, whether elemental chemicals exist and where in the atmosphere rain is formed.[42] In the centuries up through the end of the Middle Ages, natural science was often mingled with philosophies about magic and the occult.[43] Natural philosophy appeared in a wide range of forms, from treatises to encyclopedias to commentaries on Aristotle. [44] The interaction between natural philosophy and Christianity was complex during this period; some early theologians, including Tatian and Eusebius, considered natural philosophy an outcropping of pagan Greek science and were suspicious of it.[45] Although some later Christian philosophers, including Aquinas, came to see natural science as a means of interpreting scripture, this suspicion persisted until the 12th and 13th centuries.[46] The Condemnation of 1277, which forbade setting philosophy on a level equal with theology and the debate of religious constructs in a scientific context, showed the persistence with which Catholic leaders resisted the development of natural philosophy even from a theological perspective.[47] Aquinas and Albertus Magnus, another Catholic theologian of the era, sought to distance theology from science in their

works.[48] "I don't see what one's interpretation of Aristotle has to do with the teaching of the faith," he wrote in 1271.[49]

Newton and the scientific revolution (16001800)

By the 16th and 17th centuries, natural philosophy underwent an evolution beyond commentary on Aristotle as more early Greek philosophy was uncovered and translated. [50] The invention of the printing press in the 1400s, the invention of the microscope and telescope, and the Protestant Reformation fundamentally altered the social context in which scientific inquiry evolved in the West.[50] Christopher Columbus's discovery of a new world changed perceptions about the physical makeup of the world, while observations by Copernicus, Tyco Brahe and Galileo brought a more accurate picture of the solar system as heliocentric and proved many of Aristotle's theories about the heavenly bodies false.[51] A number of 17th-century philosophers, including Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Francis Bacon made a break from the past by rejecting Aristotle and his medieval followers outright, calling their approach to natural philosophy as superficial.[52] The titles of Galileo's work Two New Sciences and Johannes Kepler's New Astronomy underscored the atmosphere of change that took hold in the 17th century as Aristotle was dismissed in favor of novel methods of inquiry into the natural world.[53] Bacon was instrumental in popularizing this change; he argued that people should use the arts and sciences to gain dominion over nature.[54] To achieve this, he wrote that "human life [must] be endowed with new discoveries and powers."[55] He defined natural philosophy as "the knowledge of Causes and secret motions of things; and enlarging the bounds of Human Empire, to the effecting of all things possible."[53] Bacon proposed scientific inquiry supported by the state and fed by the collaborative research of scientists, a vision that was unprecedented in its scope, ambition and form at the time.[55] Natural philosophers came to view nature increasingly as a mechanism that could be taken apart and understood, much like a complex clock.[56] Natural philosophers including Isaac Newton, Evangelista Torricelli and Francesco Redi conducted experiments focusing on the flow of water, measuring atmospheric pressure using a barometer and disproving spontaneous generation.[57] Scientific societies and scientific journals emerged and were spread widely through the printing press, touching off the scientific revolution.[58] Newton in 1687 published his The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, or Principia Mathematica, which set the groundwork for physical laws that remained current until the 19th century.[59] Some modern scholars, including Andrew Cunningham, Perry Williams and Floris Cohen, argue that natural philosophy is not properly called a science, and that genuine scientific inquiry began only with the scientific revolution.[60] According to Cohen, "the emancipation of science from an overarching entity called 'natural philosophy' is one defining characteristic of the Scientific Revolution."[60] Other historians of science, including Edward Grant, contend that the scientific revolution that blossomed in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries occurred when principles learned in the exact sciences of optics, mechanics and astronomy began to be applied to questions raised by natural philosophy.[60] Grant argues that Newton attempted to expose the mathematical basis of nature the immutable rules it obeyed and in doing so joined natural philosophy and mathematics for the first time, producing an early work of modern physics.[61]

The scientific revolution, which began to take hold in the 1600s, represented a sharp break from Aristotelian modes of inquiry.[62] One of its principal advances was the use of the scientific method to investigate nature. Data was collected and repeatable measurements made in experiments.[63] Scientists then formed hypotheses to explain the results of these experiments.[64] The hypothesis was then tested using the principle of falsifiability to prove or disprove its accuracy.[64] The natural sciences continued to be called natural philosophy, but the adoption of the scientific method took science beyond the realm of philosophical conjecture and introduced a more structured way of examining nature.[62] Newton, an English mathematician and physicist, was the seminal figure in the scientific revolution.[65] Drawing on advances made in astronomy by Copernicus, Brahe and Kepler, Newton derived the universal law of gravitation and laws of motion.[66] These laws applied both on earth and in outer space, uniting two spheres of the physical world previously thought to function independently of each other, according to separate physical rules.[67] Newton, for example, showed that the tides were caused by the gravitational pull of the moon.[68] Another of Newton's advances was to make mathematics a powerful explanatory tool for natural phenomena.[69] While natural philosophers had long used mathematics as a means of measurement and analysis, its principles were not used as a means of understanding cause and effect in nature until Newton.[69] In the 1700s and 1800s, scientists including Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, Alessandro Volta, and Michael Faraday built upon Newtonian mechanics by exploring electromagnetism, or the interplay of forces with positive and negative charges on electrically charged particles.[70] Faraday proposed that forces in nature operated in "fields" that filled space.[71] The idea of fields contrasted with the Newtonian construct of gravitation as simply "action at a distance", or the attraction of objects with nothing in the space between them to intervene.[71] James Clerk Maxwell in the 19th century unified these discoveries in a coherent theory of electrodynamics.[70] Using mathematical equations and experimentation, Maxwell discovered that space was filled with charged particles that could act upon themselves and each other, and that they were a medium for the transmission of charged waves.[70] Significant advances in chemistry also took place during the scientific revolution. Antoine Lavoisier, a French chemist, refuted the phlogiston theory, which posited that things burned by releasing "phlogiston" into the air.[71] Joseph Priestley had discovered oxygen in the 1700s, but Lavoisier discovered that combustion was the result of oxidation.[71] He also constructed a table of 33 elements and invented modern chemical nomenclature.[71] Formal biological science remained in its infancy in the 18th century, when the focus lay upon the classification and categorization of natural life. This growth in natural history was led by Carolus Linnaeus, whose 1735 taxonomy of the natural world is still in use. Linnaeus in the 1750s introduced scientific names for all his species.[72]

19th-century developments (18001900)

The MichelsonMorley experiment was used to disprove that light propagated through a luminiferous aether. This 19th-century concept was then superseded by Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity. By the 19th century, the study of science had come into the purview of professionals and institutions. In so doing, it gradually acquired the more modern name of natural science. The term scientist was coined by William Whewell in an 1834 review of Mary Somerville's On the Connexion of the Sciences.[73] But the word did not enter general use until nearly the end of the same century.

Modern natural science (1900present)

According to a famous 1923 textbook Thermodynamics and the Free Energy of Chemical Substances by the American chemist Gilbert N. Lewis and the American physical chemist Merle Randall,[74] the natural sciences contain three great branches: Aside from the logical and mathematical sciences, there are three great branches of natural science which stand apart by reason of the variety of far reaching deductions drawn from a small number of primary postulates they are mechanics, electrodynamics, and thermodynamics.[75] Today, natural sciences are more commonly divided into life sciences, such as botany and zoology; and physical sciences, which include physics, chemistry, geology and astronomy.

Branches of natural science

Astronomy
Main article: Astronomy

Space missions have been used to image distant locations within the Solar System, such as this Apollo 11 view of Daedalus crater on the far side of the Moon. This discipline is the science of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere. It is concerned with the evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and motion of celestial objects, as well as the formation and development of the universe. Astronomy includes the examination, study and modeling of stars, planets, comets, galaxies and the cosmos. Most of the information used by astronomers is gathered by remote observation, although some laboratory reproduction of celestial phenomenon has been performed (such as the molecular chemistry of the interstellar medium). While the origins of the study of celestial features and phenomenon can be traced back to antiquity, the scientific methodology of this field began to develop in the middle of the 17th century. A key factor was Galileo's introduction of the telescope to examine the night sky in more detail. The mathematical treatment of astronomy began with Newton's development of celestial mechanics and the laws of gravitation, although it was triggered by earlier work of astronomers such as Kepler. By the 19th century, astronomy had developed into a formal science, with the introduction of instruments such as the spectroscope and photography, along with much-improved telescopes and the creation of professional observatories.

Biology
Main article: Biology

A fragment of DNA, the chemical sequence that contains genetic instructions for the development and functioning of living organisms This field encompasses a set of disciplines that examines phenomena related to living organisms. The scale of study can range from sub-component biophysics up to complex ecologies. Biology is concerned with the characteristics, classification and behaviors of organisms, as well as how species were formed and their interactions with each other and the environment. The biological fields of botany, zoology, and medicine date back to early periods of civilization, while microbiology was introduced in the 17th century with the invention of the microscope. However, it was not until the 19th century that biology became a unified science. Once scientists discovered commonalities between all living things, it was decided they were best studied as a whole. Some key developments in biology were the discovery of genetics; Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection; the germ theory of disease and the application of the techniques of chemistry and physics at the level of the cell or organic molecule. Modern biology is divided into subdisciplines by the type of organism and by the scale being studied. Molecular biology is the study of the fundamental chemistry of life, while cellular biology is the examination of the cell; the basic building block of all life. At a higher level, physiology looks at the internal structure of organism, while ecology looks at how various organisms interrelate.

Chemistry
Main article: Chemistry

This structural formula for molecule caffeine shows a graphical representation of how the atoms are arranged. Constituting the scientific study of matter at the atomic and molecular scale, chemistry deals primarily with collections of atoms, such as gases, molecules, crystals, and metals. The composition, statistical properties, transformations and reactions of these materials are studied. Chemistry also involves understanding the properties and interactions of individual atoms for use in larger-scale applications. Most chemical processes can be studied directly in a laboratory, using a series of (often well-tested) techniques for manipulating materials, as well as an understanding of the underlying processes. Chemistry is often called "the central science" because of its role in connecting the other natural sciences. Early experiments in chemistry had their roots in the system of Alchemy, a set of beliefs combining mysticism with physical experiments. The science of chemistry began to develop with the work of Robert Boyle, the discoverer of gas, and Antoine Lavoisier, who developed the theory of the Conservation of mass. The discovery of the chemical elements and the concept of Atomic Theory began to systematize this science, and researchers developed a fundamental understanding of states of matter, ions, chemical bonds and chemical reactions. The success of this science led to a complementary chemical industry that now plays a significant role in the world economy. Materials science Main article: Materials science Originally developed through the field of metallurgy, the study of the properties of materials has now expanded into many materials other than metals. The field covers the chemistry, physics and engineering applications of materials including metals, ceramics, artificial polymers, and many others.

Physics
Main article: Physics

The orbitals of the hydrogen atom are descriptions of the probability distributions of an electron bound to a proton. Their mathematical descriptions are standard problems in quantum mechanics, an important branch of physics. Physics embodies the study of the fundamental constituents of the universe, the forces and interactions they exert on one another, and the results produced by these interactions. In general, physics is regarded as the fundamental science, because all other natural sciences use and obey the principles and laws set down by the field. Physics relies heavily on mathematics as the logical framework for formulation and quantification of principles. The study of the principles of the universe has a long history and largely derives from direct observation and experimentation. The formulation of theories about the governing laws of the universe has been central to the study of physics from very early on, with philosophy gradually yielding to systematic, quantitative experimental testing and observation as the source of verification. Key historical developments in physics include Isaac Newton's theory of universal gravitation and classical mechanics, an understanding of electricity and its relation to magnetism, Einstein's theories of special and general relativity, the development of thermodynamics, and the quantum mechanical model of atomic and subatomic physics. The field of physics is extremely broad, and can include such diverse studies as quantum mechanics and theoretical physics, applied physics and optics. Modern physics is becoming increasingly specialized, where researchers tend to focus on a particular area rather than being "universalists" like Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Lev Landau, who worked in multiple areas.

Earth science
Main article: Earth science Earth science (also known as geoscience), is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth, including geology, geophysics, hydrology, meteorology, physical geography, oceanography, and soil science. Although mining and precious stones have been human interests throughout the history of civilization, the development of the related sciences of economic geology and

mineralogy did not occur until the 18th century. The study of the earth, particularly palaeontology, blossomed in the 19th century. The growth of other disciplines, such as geophysics, in the 20th century led to the development of the theory of plate tectonics in the 1960s, which has had a similar effect on the Earth sciences as the theory of evolution had on biology. Earth sciences today are closely linked to petroleum and mineral resources, climate research and to environmental assessment and remediation. Atmospheric science Main article: Atmospheric sciences Though sometimes considered in conjunction with the earth sciences, due to the independent development of its concepts, techniques and practices and also the fact of it having a wide range of sub disciplines under its wing, the atmospheric science is also considered a separate branch of natural science. This field studies the characteristics of different layers of the atmosphere from ground level to the edge of the time. The timescale of study also varies from days to centuries. Sometimes the field also includes the study of climatic patterns on planets other than earth. Oceanography Main article: Oceanography The serious study of oceans began in the early to mid-1900s. As a field of natural science, it is relatively young but stand-alone programs offer specializations in the subject. Though some controversies remain as to the categorization of the field under earth sciences, interdisciplinary sciences or as a separate field in its own right, most modern workers in the field agree that it has matured to a state that it has its own paradigms and practices. As such a big family of related studies spanning every aspect of the oceans is now classified under this field.

Interdisciplinary studies
The distinctions between the natural science disciplines are not always sharp, and they share a number of cross-discipline fields. Physics plays a significant role in the other natural sciences, as represented by astrophysics, geophysics, chemical physics and biophysics. Likewise chemistry is represented by such fields as biochemistry, geochemistry and astrochemistry. A particular example of a scientific discipline that draws upon multiple natural sciences is environmental science. This field studies the interactions of physical, chemical, geological, and biological components of the environment, with a particular regard to the effect of human activities and the impact on biodiversity and sustainability. This science also draws upon expertise from other fields such as economics, law and social sciences. A comparable discipline is oceanography, as it draws upon a similar breadth of scientific disciplines. Oceanography is sub-categorized into more specialized crossdisciplines, such as physical oceanography and marine biology. As the marine

ecosystem is very large and diverse, marine biology is further divided into many subfields, including specializations in particular species. There are also a subset of cross-disciplinary fields which, by the nature of the problems that they address, have strong currents that run counter to specialization. Put another way: In some fields of integrative application, specialists in more than one field are a key part of most dialog. Such integrative fields, for example, include nanoscience, astrobiology, and complex system informatics.

See also
Ecology portal Environment portal Earth sciences portal Science portal

Book: Natural science

Empiricism Fields of science List of academic disciplines

References
1. ^ Ledoux 2002, p. 34. 2. ^ a b c Barr 2006, p. 1. 3. ^ Simhony 1994, p. 49. 4. ^ Oglivie 2008, pp. 12. 5. ^ "Natural History". Princeton University WordNet. Retrieved October 21, 2012. 6. ^ a b c Lagemaat 2006, p. 283. 7. ^ a b Grant 2007, p. 1. 8. ^ Grant 2007, p. 2. 9. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 23. 10. ^ Magner 2002, p. 3. 11. ^ Magner 2002, pp. 34. 12. ^ Magner 2002, p. 4. 13. ^ a b c d e f g Magner 2002, p. 5. 14. ^ a b Grant 2007, p. 8. 15. ^ Barr 2006, p. 2. 16. ^ a b Barr 2006, p. 3. 17. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 2122. 18. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 2728. 19. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 3334. 20. ^ Grant 2007, p. 34. 21. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 3435. 22. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 3739, 53.

23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72.

^ Grant 2007, p. 52. ^ Grant 2007, p. 95. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 54, 59. ^ Grant 2007, p. 103. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 6166. ^ Barr 2006, p. 11. ^ Barr 2006, pp. 1112. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 95, 130. ^ Grant 2007, p. 106. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 106107. ^ a b Grant 2007, p. 115. ^ a b Grant 2007, p. 130. ^ a b Grant 2007, p. 143. ^ a b c Grant 2007, p. 155. ^ a b Grant 2007, p. 156. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 156157. ^ a b Grant 2007, p. 158. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 159163. ^ Grant 2007, p. 234. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 236237. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 170178. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 189190. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 239240. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 241-243. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 246247. ^ Grant 2007, p. 251. ^ Grant 2007, p. 252. ^ a b Grant 2007, p. 274. ^ Grant 2007, p. 274275. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 276277. ^ a b Grant 2007, p. 278. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 278279. ^ a b Grant 2007, p. 279. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 280285. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 280290. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 280295. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 304306. ^ a b c Grant 2007, p. 307. ^ Grant 2007, pp. 317318. ^ a b Barr 2006, p. 26. ^ Barr 2006, pp. 2627. ^ a b Barr 2006, p. 27. ^ Barr 2006, p. 33. ^ Barr 2006, pp. 3335. ^ Barr 2006, p. 35. ^ Barr 2006, p. 36. ^ a b Barr 2006, p. 37. ^ a b c Barr 2006, p. 48. ^ a b c d e Barr 2006, p. 49. ^ Mayr 1982, pp. 171179.

73. ^ Holmes, R (2008). The age of wonder: How the romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of science. London: Harper Press. p. 449. ISBN 9780007149537. 74. ^ Lewis, Gilbert N.; Randall, Merle (1923). Thermodynamics and the Free Energy of Chemical Substances. later Printing edition (First ed.). McGrawHill Book Company. ASIN B000GSLHZS. 75. ^ Huggins, Robert A. (2010). Energy storage (Online-Ausg. ed.). New York: Springer. p. 13. ISBN 9781441910233.

Bibliography

Barr, Stephen M. (2006). A Students Guide to Natural Science. Wilmington, DE: Intercollegiate Studies Institute. ISBN 978-1-932-23692-7. Gohau, Gabriel (1990). A History of Geology. Revised and translated by Albert V. Carozzi and Marguerite Carozzi. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-1666-0. Grant, Edward (2007). A History of Natural Philosophy: From the Ancient World to the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-68957-1. Lagemaat, Ricahrd van de (2006). Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-54298-2. Ledoux, Stephen F. (2002). "Defining Natural Sciences" (PDF). Behaviorology Today 5 (1): 34. "Fundamentally, natural sciences are dened as disciplines that deal only with natural events (i.e., independent and dependent variables in nature) using scientic methods." Magner, Lois N. (2002). A History of the Life Sciences. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc.. ISBN 978-0-8247-0824-5. Mayr, Ernst (1982). The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-36445-7. Oglivie, Brian W. (2008). The Science of Describing: Natural History in Renaissance Europe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-22662088-6. Prpic, Katarina (2009). Beyond the Myths about the Natural and Social Sciences: A Sociological View. Zagreb: Institute for Social Research. ISBN 978953-6218-40-0. Simhony, M. (2006). Invitation to the Natural Physics of Matter, Space, and Radiation. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co., Inc.. ISBN 978-9-81021649-8. Smith, C.H. Llewellyn (1997). "The use of basic science". CERN. Retrieved October 20, 2012. Stokes, Donald E. (1997). Pasteur's Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 978-0-81578177-6.

Further reading

Defining Natural Sciences Ledoux,S. F., 2002: Defining Natural Sciences, Behaviorology Today, 5(1), 34-36.

External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Natural science Look up natural science in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The History of Recent Science and Technology Natural Sciences Information on the Natural Sciences degree programme at Durham University. Natural Sciences Contains updated information on research in the Natural Sciences including biology, geography and the applied life and earth sciences. Natural Sciences Information on the Natural Sciences degree programme at the University of Bath which includes the Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Pharmacology, Physics and Environmental Studies. Reviews of Books About Natural Science This site contains over 50 previously published reviews of books about natural science, plus selected essays on timely topics in natural science. Scientific Grant Awards Database Contains details of over 2,000,000 scientific research projects conducted over the past 25 years. Natural Sciences Tripos Provides information on the framework within which most of the natural science is taught at the University of Cambridge. E!Science Up-to-date science news aggregator from major sources including universities. [hide]

v t e

Natural science

Physical science Space science Earth science

Life sciences Categories:

Natural sciences

Branches of science
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Fields of science) Jump to: navigation, search

Part of a series on Science

Formal sciences[show] Physical sciences[show] Life sciences[show] Social sciences[show] Applied sciences[show] Interdisciplinarity[show] Philosophy and history of science[show]

Outline Portal Category

v t e

The branches of science (which are also referred to as "sciences", "scientific fields", or "scientific disciplines") are commonly divided into two major groups: natural sciences, which study natural phenomena (including biological life), and social sciences, which study human behavior and societies. These groupings are empirical sciences, which means the knowledge must be based on observable phenomena and capable of being tested for its validity by other researchers working under the same conditions.[1] There are also related disciplines that are grouped into interdisciplinary and applied sciences, such as engineering and medicine. Within these categories are specialized scientific fields that can include parts of other scientific disciplines but often possess their own terminology and expertise.[2]

Contents

1 Natural science o 1.1 Physical science 1.1.1 Physics

1.1.2 Chemistry 1.1.3 Earth science o 1.2 Life science 1.2.1 Biology 1.2.1.1 Zoology 1.2.1.2 Human Biology 1.2.1.3 Botany 2 Social sciences 3 Formal sciences o 3.1 Decision theory o 3.2 Logic o 3.3 Mathematics o 3.4 Statistics o 3.5 Systems theory o 3.6 Theoretical computer science 4 Applied science 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References

8 External links

Natural science
Main articles: Natural science and Outline of natural science Natural science is a branch of science that seeks to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by applying an empirical and scientific method to the study of the universe. The term natural sciences is used to distinguish it from the social sciences, which apply the scientific method to study human behavior and social patterns; the humanities, which use a critical, or analytical approach to the study of the human condition; and the formal sciences, such as mathematics and logic, which use an a priori, as opposed to factual methodology to study formal systems.

Physical science
Main article: Outline of physical science Physical Science is an encompassing term for the branches of natural science and science that study non-living systems, in contrast to the life sciences. However, the term "physical" creates an unintended, somewhat arbitrary distinction, since many branches of physical science also study biological phenomena. There is a difference between physical science and physics.

Physics
Main articles: Physics and Outline of physics Physics (from Ancient Greek: physis "nature") is a natural science that involves the study of matter[3] and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such

as energy and force.[4] More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.[5][6][7] Physics is one of the oldest academic disciplines, perhaps the oldest through its inclusion of astronomy.[8] Over the last two millennia, physics was a part of natural philosophy along with chemistry, certain branches of mathematics, and biology, but during the Scientific Revolution in the 16th century, the natural sciences emerged as unique research programs in their own right.[9] Certain research areas are interdisciplinary, such as biophysics and quantum chemistry, which means that the boundaries of physics are not rigidly defined. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries physicalism emerged as a major unifying feature of the philosophy of science as physics provides fundamental explanations for every observed natural phenomenon. New ideas in physics often explain the fundamental mechanisms of other sciences, while opening to new research areas in mathematics and philosophy.

Chemistry
Main articles: Chemistry and Outline of chemistry Chemistry (the etymology of the word has been much disputed)[10] is the science of matter and the changes it undergoes. The science of matter is also addressed by physics, but while physics takes a more general and fundamental approach, chemistry is more specialized, being concerned with the composition, behavior (or reaction), structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions.[11] It is a physical science which studies various substances, atoms, molecules, and matter (especially carbon based); biochemistry, the study of substances found in biological organisms; physical chemistry, the study of chemical processes using physical concepts such as thermodynamics and quantum mechanics; and analytical chemistry, the analysis of material samples to gain an understanding of their chemical composition and structure. Many more specialized disciplines have emerged in recent years, e.g. neurochemistry the chemical study of the nervous system (see subdisciplines).

Earth science
Main articles: Earth science and Outline of earth science Earth science (also known as geoscience, the geosciences or the Earth sciences) is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth.[12] It is arguably a special case in planetary science, the Earth being the only known life-bearing planet. There are both reductionist and holistic approaches to Earth sciences. The formal discipline of Earth sciences may include the study of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, oceans and biosphere, as well as the solid earth. Typically Earth scientists will use tools from physics, chemistry, biology, geography, chronology and mathematics to build a quantitative understanding of how the Earth system works, and how it evolved to its current state.

Life science
Main article: Life science

Life science comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of living organisms, like plants, animals, and human beings. However, the study of behavior of organisms, such as practiced in ethology and psychology, is only included in as much as it involves a clearly biological aspect. While biology remains the centerpiece of life science, technological advances in molecular biology and biotechnology have led to a burgeoning of specializations and new, often interdisciplinary, fields.

Biology
Main articles: Biology and Outline of biology Biology is the branch of natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy.[13] Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines.

Zoology
Main articles: Zoology and Outline of zoology Zoology /zoldi/, occasionally spelled zology, is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct. The term is derived from Ancient Greek (zon, "animal") + (logos, "knowledge").

Human Biology
Human biology is an interdisciplinary academic field of biology, biological anthropology, nutrition and medicine which focuses on humans; it is closely related to primate biology, and a number of other fields. Some branches of biology include: microbiology, anatomy, neurology and neuroscience, immunology, genetics, psychology, physiology, pathology, biophysics, and ophthalmology.

Botany
Main articles: Botany and Outline of botany Botany, plant science(s), or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Botany covers a wide range of scientific disciplines including structure, growth, reproduction, metabolism, development, diseases, chemical properties, and evolutionary relationships among taxonomic groups. Botany began with early human efforts to identify edible, medicinal and poisonous plants, making it one of the oldest sciences. Today botanists study over 550,000 species of living organisms. The term "botany" comes from Greek , meaning "pasture, grass, fodder", perhaps via the idea of a livestock keeper needing to know which plants are safe for livestock to eat.

Social sciences

Main article: Social sciences The social sciences are the fields of scholarship that study society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences. These include: anthropology, archaeology, business administration, communication, criminology, economics, education, government, linguistics, international relations, political science, sociology and, in some contexts, geography, history, law, and psychology.[14][15]

Formal sciences
Main articles: Formal sciences and Outline of formal science The formal sciences are the branches of knowledge that are concerned with formal systems, such as logic, mathematics, theoretical computer science, information theory, systems theory, decision theory, statistics, and some aspects of linguistics. Unlike other sciences, the formal sciences are not concerned with the validity of theories based on observations in the real world (empirical knowledge), but rather with the properties of formal systems based on definitions and rules. Methods of the formal sciences are, however, essential to the construction and testing of scientific models dealing with observable reality,[16] and major advances in formal sciences have often enabled major advances in the empirical sciences.

Decision theory
Main article: Decision theory Decision theory in economics, psychology, philosophy, mathematics, and statistics is concerned with identifying the values, uncertainties and other issues relevant in a given decision, its rationality, and the resulting optimal decision. It is very closely related to the field of game theory.

Logic
Main articles: Logic and Outline of logic Logic (from the Greek logik)[17] is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science. Logic examines general forms which arguments may take, which forms are valid, and which are fallacies. In philosophy, the study of logic figures in most major areas: epistemology, ethics, metaphysics. In mathematics, it is the study of valid inferences within some formal language.[18] Logic is also studied in argumentation theory.[19]

Mathematics
Main articles: Mathematics and Outline of mathematics

Mathematics, which is classified as a formal science,[20][21] has both similarities and differences with the empirical sciences (the natural and social sciences). It is similar to empirical sciences in that it involves an objective, careful and systematic study of an area of knowledge; it is different because of its method of verifying its knowledge, using a priori rather than empirical methods.[22]

Statistics
Main articles: Statistics and Outline of statistics Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, and interpretation of data.[23][24] It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments.[23] A statistician is someone who is particularly well versed in the ways of thinking necessary for the successful application of statistical analysis. Such people have often gained this experience through working in any of a wide number of fields. There is also a discipline called mathematical statistics, which is concerned with the theoretical basis of the subject. The word statistics, when referring to the scientific discipline, is singular, as in "Statistics is an art."[25] This should not be confused with the word statistic, referring to a quantity (such as mean or median) calculated from a set of data,[26] whose plural is statistics ("this statistic seems wrong" or "these statistics are misleading").

Systems theory
Main article: Systems theory Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, with the goal of elucidating principles that can be applied to all types of systems in all fields of research. The term does not yet have a well-established, precise meaning, but systems theory can reasonably be considered a specialization of systems thinking and a generalization of systems science. The term originates from Bertalanffy's General System Theory (GST) and is used in later efforts in other fields, such as the action theory of Talcott Parsons and the system-theory of Niklas Luhmann. In this context the word systems is used to refer specifically to self-regulating systems, i.e. that are self-correcting through feedback. Self-regulating systems are found in nature, including the physiological systems of our body, in local and global ecosystems, and in climate.

Theoretical computer science

Main article: Theoretical computer science Theoretical computer science (TCS) is a division or subset of general computer science and focuses on more abstract or mathematical aspects of computing.

These divisions and subsets include analysis of algorithms and formal semantics of programming languages. Technically, there are hundreds of divisions and subsets besides these two. Each of the multiple parts have their own individual personal leaders (of popularity) and there are many associations and professional social groups and publications of distinction.

Applied science
Main article: Applied science Applied science is the application of scientific knowledge transferred into a physical environment. Examples include testing a theoretical model through the use of formal science or solving a practical problem through the use of natural science. Applied science differs from fundamental science, which seeks to describe the most basic objects and forces, having less emphasis on practical applications. Applied science can be like biological science and physical science. Example fields of applied science include

Applied mathematics Applied physics Medicine Computer science

Fields of engineering are closely related to applied sciences. Applied science is important for technology development. Its use in industrial settings is usually referred to as research and development (R&D).

See also

Outline of science o Exact science o Fundamental science o Hard and soft science Branches of philosophy o Philosophy of science

Notes
1. ^ Popper 2002, p. 20. 2. ^ See: Editorial Staff (March 7, 2008). "Scientific Method: Relationships among Scientific Paradigms". Seed magazine. Retrieved 2007-09-12. 3. ^ Richard Feynman begins his Lectures with the atomic hypothesis, as his most compact statement of all scientific knowledge: "If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generations ..., what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is ... that all things are made up of

atoms little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another. ..." R.P. Feynman, R.B. Leighton, M. Sands (1963). The Feynman Lectures on Physics. 1. p. I-2. ISBN 0-201-02116-1. 4. ^ J.C. Maxwell (1878). Matter and Motion. D. Van Nostrand. p. 9. ISBN 0-486-66895-9. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which relates to the order of nature, or, in other words, to the regular succession of events." 5. ^ H.D. Young, R.A. Freedman (2004). University Physics with Modern Physics (11th ed.). Addison Wesley. p. 2. "Physics is an experimental science. Physicists observe the phenomena of nature and try to find patterns and principles that relate these phenomena. These patterns are called physical theories or, when they are very well established and of broad use, physical laws or principles." 6. ^ S. Holzner (2006). Physics for Dummies. Wiley. p. 7. ISBN 0-47061841-8. "Physics is the study of your world and the world and universe around you." 7. ^ Note: The term 'universe' is defined as everything that physically exists: the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter, energy and momentum, and the physical laws and constants that govern them. However, the term 'universe' may also be used in slightly different contextual senses, denoting concepts such as the cosmos or the philosophical world. 8. ^ Evidence exists that the earliest civilizations dating back to beyond 3000 BCE, such as the Sumerians, Ancient Egyptians, and the Indus Valley Civilization, all had a predictive knowledge and a very basic understanding of the motions of the Sun, Moon, and stars. 9. ^ Francis Bacon's 1620 Novum Organum was critical in the development of scientific method. 10. ^ See: Chemistry (etymology) for possible origins of this word. 11. ^ Chemistry. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary. Retrieved August 19, 2007. 12. ^ Wordnet Search: Earth science 13. ^ Based on definition from Aquarena Wetlands Project glossary of terms. 14. ^ Verheggen; et al. (1999). "From shared representations to consensually coordinated actions". In Morrs, John. Theoretical Issues in Psychology. International Society for Theoretical Psychology. 15. ^ Garai, L.; Kocski, M. (1995). "Another crisis in the psychology: A possible motive for the Vygotsky-boom". Journal of Russian and EastEuropean Psychology 33 (1): 8294. doi:10.2753/RPO1061-0405330182. 16. ^ Popper 2002, pp. 7982. 17. ^ "possessed of reason, intellectual, dialectical, argumentative", also related to (logos), "word, thought, idea, argument, account, reason, or principle" (Liddell & Scott 1999; Online Etymology Dictionary 2001). 18. ^ Hofweber, T. (2004). "Logic and Ontology". In Zalta, Edward N. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 19. ^ Cox, J. Robert; Willard, Charles Arthur, eds. (1983). Advances in Argumentation Theory and Research. Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 978-0-8093-1050-0. 20. ^ Marcus Tomalin (2006) Linguistics and the Formal Sciences

21. ^ Benedikt Lwe (2002) "The Formal Sciences: Their Scope, Their Foundations, and Their Unity" 22. ^ Popper 2002, pp. 1011. 23. ^ a b Dodge, Y. (2003) The Oxford Dictionary of Statistical Terms, OUP. ISBN 0-19-920613-9 24. ^ The Free Online Dictionary 25. ^ "Statistics". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 26. ^ "Statistic". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.

References

Popper, Karl R. (2002) [1959]. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. New York, NY: Routledge Classics. ISBN 0-415-27844-9. OCLC 59377149.

External links

Branches of science

Categories:

Science

Category:Philosophy of science
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

Epistemology

Philosophy of science Epistemology of science Formal epistemology Social epistemology

Epistemologists Epistemology literature Concepts in epistemology Epistemological theories

Philosophy of science portal Philosophy portal Science portal

The main articles for this category are Philosophy of science and Epistemology. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Philosophy of science Philosophy Reference Resources
Philosophy of science at the Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project Philosophy of science at PhilPapers

Subcategories
This category has the following 30 subcategories, out of 30 total.

O
Anti-psychiatry (1 C, 66 P)

S
Ontology (8 C, 121 P)

P
Philosophy of biology (11 C, 54 P)

Causality (11 C, 86 P)

Epistemology of science (10 C, 40 P)

H History of science (32 C, 46 P)

Philosophers of science (4 C, 263 P) Philosophy of computer science (1 C, 4 P) Philosophy of science events (2 P) Philosophy of social science (9 C, 20 P) T Philosophy of technology (3 C, 28 P) Philosophy of physics (7 C, 54 P) Positivism (2 C, V 27 P)

Scientific laws (1 C) Scientific revolution (2 C, 33 P) S Scientific theories (19 C, 5 P) Social epistemology (6 C, 25 P) Sociology of scientific knowledge s (1 C, 31 P) S Systems theory (20 C, 170 P)

Types of scientific fallacy (3 C, 18 P)

R
Inductive reasoning (5 C, 26 P)

Religion and science (14 C, 126 P)

Validity (statistics) (20 P) Vienna Circle (26 P) Vitalism (1 C, 39 P)

Philosophy of science literature (47 P) L Logical positivism (1 C, 17 P)

Roman Catholicism and science (1 C, 13 P)

Metaphysics of science (3 C, 11 P) Metatheory of science (4 C, 39 P)

Pages in category "Philosophy of science"

The following 199 pages are in this category, out of 199 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

History and E cont. P cont. philosophy of science Index of philosophy Explanatory power Philosophy of of science articles Eyewitness testimony Artificial Intelligence Philosophy of science and Cognitive Science F Philosophy of chemistry Fact Philosophy of Portal:Philosophy of Fallibilism engineering science Fecundity Scientific community Folk science metaphor Foundations of Philosophy of statistics Science Association Free parameter Action theory Physical law Functional (philosophy) Philosophy of contextualism Actornetwork physics theory Physics (Aristotle) Androcentrism G Physics envy Anecdotal evidence Positivism Antipositivism Genidentity Post-normal science Antireductionism Global Perspectives Pragmatism Antiscience on Science and Predictive power Applied science Spirituality Preformationism Atomism God of the gaps Problem of induction Austrian Ludwig Growth of Pseudoskepticism Wittgenstein Society knowledge Psychology of science H Bayesian probability Berlin Circle Biofact (philosophy) Biological determinism Blue skies research Boundary-work British Society for the Philosophy of Science

Hard and soft science Q Historiography of science Hitchens' razor Holism Human biocomputer R Humanistic naturalism Hypothesis Hypotheticodeductive model

Quasi-empirical method

Cartesian anxiety Cartesian doubt Causality Center for

Idealization Impact assessment Impact evaluation

Ramsey sentences RamseyLewis method Relationship between religion and science Reproducibility Revisionary materialism Rhetoric of science Role of chance in

Philosophy of Science The central science Centre for History and Philosophy of Science, University of Leeds Ceteris paribus Classical limit Classification of the sciences (Peirce) Closed circle Cognitive closure (philosophy) Commensurability (philosophy of science) Computational epistemology Condition of K possibility Consilience Construct (philosophy of L science) Content theory Cooking (science) Coordinative definition Copernican principle Correspondence M principle Corroborating evidence

Inquiry Instrumentalism Interconnectivity S International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science International Union of History and Philosophy of Science International Wittgenstein Symposium Intersubjective verifiability Introspection Islamic bioethics

scientific discoveries

Karl Jaspers Prize

Lakatos Award Law (principle) Lie-to-children Logical positivism

Science of morality Scientific community Scientific controversy Scientific law Scientific temper Scientific theory Serendipity Simple (philosophy) Situational analysis Philosophy of social science Social epistemology Sociology of scientific knowledge Sociology of the history of science Special sciences Stage theory Philosophy of statistics Statistical inference Science studies Subjectivity

Decline effect (article) Deductivenomological model Demarcation problem N Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge Descriptive science Vinciane Despret Determinism Division of Logic,

Medawar Lecture Mediocrity principle Metaphysical naturalism Methodical culturalism Models of scientific inquiry

Philosophy of technology Testability Theory Theory choice Timeline of scientific thought Trial and error Truth by consensus Two-stage model of free will

Natural kind Nature (philosophy) Neurathian bootstrap Neurophilosophy Neutrality (philosophy) Normal conditions

Uncomfortable science Underdetermination Unity of science Universal science

Methodology, and Philosophy of Science Doctrine of signatures O Doxa DuhemQuine thesis

Normal science Normative science Not even wrong

Universology

Empirical limits in science Endophysics Engineering Entity realism Episteme Epistemological anarchism Eternity Etiology Exemplar Experience P Experimental system Explanandum Explanatory gap

Objectivity (frame invariance) Objectivity W (philosophy) Objectivity (science) Observation Observational science Occam's razor Ontic Operational Z definition Organicism Overdetermination

Validity (statistics) Vienna Circle Vitalism

Wholeness and the Implicate Order Working hypothesis Wrong Wronger than wrong

Zilsel Thesis

Parable of the Sunfish Paradigm shift Pessimistic induction Phenomenology (science) Philosophy of artificial intelligence

Categories:

Epistemology Philosophy by field Science Science studies Historiography of science Science and culture Analytic philosophy

Hidden categories:

Philosophy maintenance categories

Category:Epistemology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Epistemology

Philosophy of science Epistemology of science Formal epistemology Social epistemology

Epistemologists Epistemology literature Concepts in epistemology Epistemological theories

Philosophy portal Epistemology portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Epistemology Philosophy Reference Resources
Epistemology at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Epistemology at the Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project Epistemology at PhilPapers

Library cataloging and classification Universal Decimal Classification: 1 120 Click the "" below to see all subcategories: Branches of philosophy Aesthetics Epistemology Ethics Logic Metaphysics Philosophy by field Political philosophy Social philosophy Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope (limitations) of knowledge. The main article for this category is Epistemology.

Subcategories

Category:Narratology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Narratives This category comprises articles pertaining to narratology, the study of fictional and nonfictional narratives and narrative structures.

Subcategories
This category has the following 28 subcategories, out of 28 total.

L
A Anthropomorphism (7 C, 7 P)

N cont.
Lists of stories (1 C, 26 P) Literary archetypes (4 C, 6 P) Literary motifs (4 P C, 13 P)

Nonlinear narrative television series (13 P)

Clichs (2 C, 39 M P) Comparative mythology (10 C, 66 P) Conflict (narrative) (4 P) Continuity (fiction) (6 C, 29 P)

Metafiction (4 C, 8 P) Monomyths (6 C, 57 P) R Mythological archetypes (8 C, 45 P)

Parts of the narrative structure (3 C) N Narrative poems (6 C, 70 P)

Rhetoric (11 C, 234 P)

N
F False documents (3 C, 14 P) Fantasy tropes (4 C, 39 P) Fiction with unreliable narrators u (148 P) Fictional characters by role in the narrative structure t (9 C, 12 P)

T
Narrative forms (7 C, 21 P) Narrative techniques (5 C, 21 P) Narrative units (2 C, 5 P) W Nonlinear narrative films (141 P)

Terminology by ideology (10 C, 1 P) Traditional narratives (1 C, 10 P) Tropes (5 C, 9 P)

Worldbuilding (4 C, 5 P)

Genres (18 C, 28 P)

Pages in category "Narratology"

The following 158 pages are in this category, out of 158 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

Narrative

F cont.

P cont.

Narratology

Fiction New-adult fiction

First-person narrative Flashing arrow Focal character Focalization Formula fiction Frame story Framing device

A-Plot Action (fiction) Anagnorisis Anti-romance Aristeia Article (publishing) Artistic license Authorial intent Authoritarian literature

Genre Genre studies

Pitch (filmmaking) Plot device Plot generator Plot point Plot twist Poetic justice Poetics (Aristotle) Narrative poetry Polyphony (literature) Premise (filmmaking) Present day Psychological thriller Purple prose

Had I but known Hamartia Happy ending Hook (filmmaking) Hysteron proteron

Quest

Backwards episode I Balanced sentence Beat (filmmaking) Big Dumb Object Body swap Body swap appearances in media

Iceberg Theory Idiot plot Imitation (art) In medias res Involuntary Narrative It was a dark and stormy night

L Catharsis Central conceit Character (arts) Character arc Characterization Childhood secret club Climax (narrative) Clip show M Comic book death Conflict (narrative) Continuity (fiction) Contrast (literary)

Real time (media) Representation (arts) Retroscripting Reverse chronology Revisionism (fictional) Rhetoric Rhetorical modes Ring composition Rule of three (writing)

Legend Lexis (Aristotle) Literary forgery Literary technique

Day in the life of Deathtrap (plot

MacGuffin Marriage plot Meta-reference Metafiction Metanoia (rhetoric) Metaphoric criticism Mimesis Mode (literature)

Scene (drama) Second-person narrative Secret history Self-insertion Setting (narrative) Shared universe Shooting script Show, don't tell Spec script Stock character Story arc Stream of unconsciousness

device) Description Deus ex machina Dialogue in writing Diegesis Digital narratology Dionysian imitatio Directorial beat Documentary N practice Dramatic structure Dramatica Theory of Story Structure Dramatistic pentad

Monologue Monomyth Moral Motive (law) Myth of redemptive violence Mythos (Aristotle)

(narrative mode) Subplot Suspension of disbelief Syntagma (linguistics)

Elfland catacombs Epistolary novel Ethos Eucatastrophe Exercises in Style

Narrative designer Narrative environment Narrative history Narrative hook Narrative mode Narrative network Narrative paradigm Narrative structure Narrativity Narrator Non sequitur (literary device) Nonlinear narrative

Third-person limited narrative Third-person omniscient narrative The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations Three-act structure Traditional story Traitt de l'origine des romans Transportation theory (psychology) TV Tropes Type scene

Fabula and syuzhet False document Fiction writing

Opening narration

Verisimilitude (narrative)

Fiction-writing mode P

W
Paratext Peripeteia

Wheel of Fire Worldbuilding Writer's voice Writing style

Categories:

Drama Film theory Literature Storytelling

Category:Drama
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The main article for this category is Drama. See also category: Acting

Pages in this category should be moved to subcategories where applicable. This category may require frequent maintenance to avoid becoming too large. It should directly contain very few, if any, articles and should mainly contain subcategories. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Drama

Subcategories
This category has the following 21 subcategories, out of 21 total.

Acting (13 C, 57 J P) Dramatists and playwrights (19 C, 3 P) D Drama by medium (6 C, 1 P) M Drama by nationality (8 C) Plays (29 C, 5 P)

N
Dramatic portrayals of Jesus (7 C, 2 P)

Narratology (28 C, 157 P)

Drama teachers (1 C, 96 P)

Drama genres (4 C, 16 P)

Masques (2 C, 19 P) M Medieval drama P (1 C, 56 P) M Modernist theatre (19 C, 92 P) Monodrama (1 C, 50 P) Monologues (21 P) S M Musical theatre (18 C, 94 P, 2 F)

One-act drama (3 C)

P Plot (narrative) (55 P) Postmodern theatre (2 C, 28 P)

Drama schools (3 C, 13 P) Spoken word (4 C, 39 P) S Stock characters (19 C, 129 P)

Pages in category "Drama"

The following 79 pages are in this category, out of 79 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

Drama Drama (disambiguation) Play (theatre)

C cont.

P cont.

Creative drama

Process drama Protasis Psychological effects

D
Act (drama) Anatomy of Gray Antilabe Applied Drama Aqua drama Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Busy with treat of Gay (film) Aside Augustan drama

of method acting Punch and Judy

Descente Aux Enfers R Deuteragonist Domestic drama Domestic tragedy Dramatic monologue Dramatic theory S Dundrearyism Duodrama

Realism (theatre) Renaissance tragedy

Epitasis Explorative strategies

Screenwriting Scripts At Work Senecan tragedy She-tragedy Sock and Buskin Soliloquy Stichomythia

Bourgeois tragedy Breeches role Maschenka Burra katha

T
Drama film Folk play Frames and distance

Catastasis Catastrophe (drama) Chamber play Character (arts) Circe in the arts Classical unities I Closet drama Closet screenplay Cold reading (theatrical) Comedy (drama) M Comedy of manners Costume drama

Hamburgische Dramaturgie Heroic drama

Talent show Teichoscopy Theatrical style The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations Throwaway line Tom Shows Travesti (theatre) Trial film Tritagonist Two-hander

Induction (play) Intermedio

Verse drama and dramatic verse

Mermaid Series Meta-reference Mimesis Monologue Mystery play

Well-made play

Nativity play New Mermaids

Performance studies Problem play

Categories:

Performing arts Entertainment Theatre Genres Humanities Fiction

Hidden categories:

Categories requiring diffusion

Category:Fiction
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search See also: Outline of fiction Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fiction This category describes fiction. For fictional things universes, characters and so forth see the subcategory Category:Fictional. Individual book articles should not be categorized here. For books of fiction, please use Category:Fiction books.

Subcategories
This category has the following 32 subcategories, out of 32 total.

Fictional (31 C) F Fiction by genre (44 C, 20 P) Fiction by nationality (107 C) F Fiction by topic (64 C, 7 P)

F cont.

S cont.

Folklore (36 C, 155 P)

Style (fiction) (2 C, 45 P)

T
Legends (11 C, 19 P) LGBT fiction (4 U C, 1 P) L Literary concepts (3 C, 76 P) Theme (3 C, 5 P)

Fiction anthologies (4 C, 62

Fiction with unreliable narrators u

P)

Locations in fiction (20 C, 1 P)

M
Fiction books (7 C, 1 P)

(142 P) Urban legends (12 C, 203 P)

F Fiction magazines W (7 C, 27 P)

P
Continuity (fiction) (6 C, 28 P)

P Plot (narrative) (54 P) Point of view (10 P)

Drama (21 C, 79 R P)

Web fiction (2 C, 6 P) Worldbuilding (4 C, 5 P) Fiction writers (12 C, 2 P) Writers of books about writing fiction a (28 P)

F Fictional rivalries (15 P)

Fan fiction (5 C, 22 P) Fiction forms (3 C, 22 P) Fiction-writing mode (1 C, 10 P)

Images from fiction (18 C)

Setting (5 C, 13 P) Short stories (22 C, 2 P)

F Fiction templates (2 C, 6 P)

Pages in category "Fiction"

The following 120 pages are in this category, out of 120 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

Docufiction Ethnofiction Fiction Outline of fiction Short prose

F cont.

P cont.

A-Plot Action (literature) Alternative universe (fan fiction) Anachronism Anagnorisis Arthropods in film Authoritarian

Fiction writing Fiction-absolute Fictional universe Film clef Nomen clef First-person narrative Flash fiction Folklore Foreshadowing Formula fiction Frame story Framing device

Petrifaction in mythology and fiction Pious fiction Plot device Plot generator Plot hole Plot twist Predestination paradox Problem novel Prologue Purple prose

literature

G
Balanced sentence Bible fiction Blog fiction

Q
Genre Genre fiction Grammar

Quest

Happy ending

Cannibalization of fiction Captivity narrative Character (arts) Character sketch Characterization Children's literature Children's literature criticism Cliffhanger Climax (narrative) Fictional crossover

Imagery Irony

List of fiction set in Geneva Lists of books Literary technique Literature Fictional location

DC Cinematic Universe Deathtrap (plot device) Detective dnouement Dialogue Dialogue in writing Dramatic structure Dream world (plot device)

MacGuffin Maternal mortality in fiction Metaphor T Mode (literature) Monologue

Saga novel Scene (drama) Screenplay Second-person narrative Self-fulfilling prophecy Setting (narrative) Setting tone Shared universe Show, don't tell Stock character Story arc Story within a story Storyline Stream of unconsciousness (narrative mode) Style (fiction) Subplot Subtext Suspension of disbelief

Eavesdropping Epic poetry Epilogue Epiphany (feeling) Escapist fiction

Narrative Narrative hook Narrative mode Narrative structure Narrative thread Narrator Novel

Theme (narrative) Tone (literature) Tragicomedy Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Severian

O
Fairy tale

Origin story

Verisimilitude (narrative) Vignette (literature)

Fantasy world Female epic

W
Parable Paradox of fiction Parallel universe (fiction) Paranoid fiction

Worldbuilding Writer's voice Writing style

New-adult fiction

Categories:

Alternate reality Communication of falsehoods Concepts Creativity Genres Literary genres Literature

Category:Creativity
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The main article for this category is Creativity. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Creativity

Subcategories
This category has the following 18 subcategories, out of 18 total.

C cont.
Abstraction (18 C, 38 P) Arts (33 C, 55 P)

I cont.

Creativity researchers (16 P)

Intertextuality (5 C, 5 P)

M
Fiction (32 C, 120 P)

Bionics (13 P) Books about creativity (12 P)

Creativity and mental illness (2 C, 4 P)

C Creative works

Imagination (2 C, 24 P) Improvisation (2

P Problem solving (14 C, 93 P)

(20 C, 2 P)

C, 24 P) Innovation (16 C, 90 P) I Intellectual works T (10 C, 3 P)

Psychology of creativity journals (1 P)

Creativity Management (2 P)

TRIZ (7 P)

Word play (6 C, 43 P)

Pages in category "Creativity"

The following 91 pages are in this category, out of 91 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

Creativity

D cont.

M cont.

6-3-5 Brainwriting

Disney method Distributed creativity William Duff (writer)

E
Abstraction Artistic inspiration The Artist's Way

Electracy Epiphany (feeling) Eureka effect

Method of focal objects Mind map Morphological analysis (problemsolving) Morphological box

F
Bodystorming Brainstorming

Chiang Mai Creative City Chief creative officer Conceptual economy G Convergent and divergent production Coolhunting CREATES Creative director Creative industries H Creative limitation Creative problem

Flow (psychology) Fluid and crystallized intelligence O Foodpairing Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art Future Map

National Scientist of the Philippines Necessity is the mother of invention

Object Pairing Oblique Strategies

P
Gaussian adaptation Generativity Theory

Parallel thinking Pictive Private Eye Project Production blocking Psychology of art Publication cycle

solving Creative professional Creative services Creative services firm Creative trip Creative work Creative writing CreativeMornings I Junior Ambassador Creativity and mental illness Creativity techniques Cultural arts Curiosity Cut and paste job

Ned Herrmann S James Hilton (designer) History of the concept of creativity Hyperfocus

Idea Ideation (idea generation) Incubation (psychology) Insight Invention

Science and technology in the Philippines Senior media creative Sleep and creativity Synectics Systematic inventive thinking

Design thinking

Knowledge Cafe

Thinkabout (U.S. TV series) Thinking outside the box Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking Ellis Paul Torrance Transliteracy TRIZ

Latent inhibition Lateral thinking Laws of technical systems evolution Level of Invention List of dreams List of Filipino inventions and discoveries Losada Zone

Vertical thinking

Williams' Taxonomy Work of art

Yew Kam Keong

Metaplan

Categories:

Intelligence Human behavior Action Concepts in aesthetics

Category:Cognition
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cognition The main article for this category is Cognition. Cognition is the scientific term for "the process of thought." Its usage varies in different ways in accord with different disciplines: For example, in psychology and cognitive science it refers to an information processing view of an individual's psychological functions. Other interpretations of the meaning of cognition link it to the development of concepts.

Category:Epistemology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

Epistemology

Philosophy of science Epistemology of science Formal epistemology Social epistemology

Epistemologists Epistemology literature Concepts in epistemology Epistemological theories

Philosophy portal Epistemology portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Epistemology Philosophy Reference Resources
Epistemology at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Epistemology at the Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project Epistemology at PhilPapers

Library cataloging and classification Universal Decimal Classification: 1 120 Click the "" below to see all subcategories: Branches of philosophy Aesthetics Epistemology Ethics Logic Metaphysics Philosophy by field Political philosophy Social philosophy Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope (limitations) of knowledge.

The main article for this category is Epistemology.

Symbolic communication
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009) Symbolic communication is exchange of messages that change a priori expectation of events. Examples of this are modern communication technology as also exchange of information amongst animals. In animal societies, symbolic communication helps one understand the conduct of members of cooperating groups. The behavior of weaver ant workers has been carefully studied and it has been found that communicative gestures with respect to members of the same colony are different than those used with intruders. The interpretation of the symbolic dance of honey bees as a communicative language has been questioned by a few, though numerous experimental results over the last several decades have effectively laid this controversy to rest. See: Bee learning and communication See also: animal communication. By referring to objects and ideas not present at the time of communication, a world of possibility is opened. In humans, this process has been compounded to result in our current state of modernity.

This linguistics article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Categories:

Communication theory Linguistics stubs

Communication theory
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Communication theory is a field of information and mathematics that studies the technical process of information[1] and the human process of human communication.[2] According to communication theorist Robert T. Craig in his essay 'Communication Theory as a Field' (1999), "despite the ancient roots and growing profusion of theories about communication," there is not a field of study that can be identified as 'communication theory'.[3]

Contents

1 History o 1.1 Origins o 1.2 Models of communication 2 Communication Theory as a Field 3 Elements of communication 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External links

History
Main articles: A Mathematical Theory of Communication, Jakobson's functions of language, Outline of communication, and Harold Innis's communications theories

Origins
The fundamental problem of communication is that of reproducing at one point either exactly or approximately a message selected at another point.[1] Claude Shannon (19162001) The origins of communication theory is linked to the development of information theory in the early 1920s.[4] Limited information-theoretic ideas had been developed at Bell Labs, all implicitly assuming events of equal probability. Harry Nyquist's 1924 paper, Certain Factors Affecting Telegraph Speed, contains a theoretical section quantifying "intelligence" and the "line speed" at which it can be transmitted by a communication system. Ralph Hartley's 1928 paper, Transmission of Information, uses the word information as a measurable quantity, reflecting the receiver's ability to distinguish one sequence of symbols from any other. The natural unit of information was therefore the decimal digit, much later renamed the hartley in his honour as a unit or scale or measure of information. Alan Turing in 1940 used similar ideas as part of the statistical analysis of the breaking of the German second world war Enigma ciphers. The main landmark event that opened the way to the development of communication theory was the publication of an article by Claude Shannon in the Bell System Technical Journal in July and October 1948 under the title 'A Mathematical Theory of Communication.'[1] Shannon focused on the problem of how best to encode the information that a sender wants to transmit. He used also tools in probability theory, developed by Norbert Wiener. They marked the nascent stages of applied communication theory at that time. Shannon developed information entropy as a

measure for the uncertainty in a message while essentially inventing the field of information theory. In 1949, a declassified version of his wartime work on the mathematical theory of cryptography ('Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems',) he proved that all theoretically unbreakable ciphers must have the same requirements as the one-time pad. He is also credited with the introduction of sampling theory, which is concerned with representing a continuous-time signal from a (uniform) discrete set of samples. This theory was essential in enabling telecommunications to move from analog to digital transmissions systems in the 1960s and later. In 1951, Shannon made his fundamental contribution to natural language processing and computational linguistics with his article 'Prediction and Entropy of Printed English' (1951), providing a clear quantifiable link between cultural practice and probabilistic cognition.

Models of communication
Main article: Models of communication The studies on information theory by Claude Elwood Shannon, Warren Weaver and others, prompted research on new models of communication from other scientific perspectives like psychology and sociology. In science, a model is a structure that represents a theory.[5] Scholars from disciplines different to mathematics and engineer began to take distance from the Shannon and Weaver models as a 'transmissible model': They developed a model of communication which was intended to assist in developing a mathematical theory of communication. Shannon and Weaver's work proved valuable for communication engineers in dealing with such issues as the capacity of various communication channels in 'bits per second'. It contributed to computer science. It led to very useful work on redundancy in language. And in making 'information' 'measurable' it gave birth to the mathematical study of 'information theory' D. Chandler, [6] Harold Lasswell (19021978), a political scientist and communication theorist, was a member of the Chicago school of sociology. In his work 'The Structure and Function of Communication in Society' (1948) he defined the communication process as Who (says) What (to) Whom (in) What Channel (with) What Effect. The distinct model he propounded was known as Dance Model.[7] These first studies on communication's models promoted more researches on the topic. Wilbur Lang Schramm (19071987), called by communication theorist Everett Rogers as the founder of communication study,[8] focused his studies on the experience of the sender and receiver (listener). Communication is possible only upon a common language between sender and receiver.[9] Everett Roger's accounts later led to the basis for development communication studies.

In 1960, David Kenneth Berlo, a disciple of Schramm, expanded on Shannon and Weavers linear model of communication and created the Sender-Message-ChannelReceiver Model of communication (SMCR Model) exposed in his work The Process of Communication, where communication appears as a regulated process that allows the subject to negotiate with his living environment. Communication becomes, then, a value of power and influence (psychology of communication.)[10] In 1963, Richard Whately's (1787-1863) 'Elements of Rhetoric' was republished[11] with a critical introduction by Douglas Ehninger and a foreword by David Potter. They explored what they called the 'Aristotle's models of communication'. James L. Kinneavy[12] (19201999) also explored Aristotle's rhetoric and communication model in 'A Theory of Discourse' (1971).[13] This section requires expansion. (September 2012)

Communication Theory as a Field

Main articles: Communication Theory as a Field and Robert T. Craig (scholar)

"(...) Although there exist many theories of communication (...) there is no consensus on communication theory as a field."[3] (Robert T. Craig (scholar)) In 1999 Craig wrote a landmark article[14] "Communication Theory as a Field"[3] which expanded the conversation regarding disciplinary identity in the field of communication. [15][14][16][17][18][19][20] At that time, communication theory textbooks had little to no agreement on how to present the field or what theories to include in their textbooks.[21] [22][23] This article has since become the foundational framework for four different textbooks to introduce the field of communication.[24][3][25][26][27] In this article Craig "proposes a vision for communication theory that takes a huge step toward unifying this rather disparate field and addressing its complexities."[25] To move toward this unifying vision Craig focused on communication theory as a practical discipline and shows how "various traditions of communication theory can be engaged in dialogue on the practice of communication."[28][29] In this deliberative process theorists would engage in dialog about the "practical implications of communication theories."[30] In the end Craig proposes seven different traditions of Communication Theory and outlines how each one of them would engage the others in dialogue.[31]

Elements of communication
Basic elements of communication made the object of study of the communication theory:[32]

Source: Shannon calls it information source, which "produces a message or sequence of messages to be communicated to the receiving terminal."[1] Sender: Shannon calls it transmitter, which "operates on the message in some way to produce a signal suitable for transmission over the channel.[1] In Aristotle it is the speaker (orator).[11] Channel: For Shannon it is "merely the medium used to transmit the signal from transmitter to receiver.[1] Receiver: For Shannon the receiver "performs the inverse operation of that done by the transmitter, reconstructing the message from the signal."[1] Destination: For Shannon destination is "the person (or thing) for whom the message is intended".[1] Message: from Latin mittere, "to send". A concept, information, communication or statement that is sent in a verbal, written, recorded or visual form to the recipient. Feedback Entropic elements, positive and negative

See also

In Semiotics there are more elaborated models and theories of communication from a linguistical and philosophical point of view. Communication studies Metacommunicative competence Rogerian argument Tetrad of media effects Text and conversation theory

References
1. ^ a b c d e f g h Shannon, Claude Elwood (July and October, 1948). A Mathematical Theory of Communication. The Bell System Technical Journal. pp. 55. Retrieved 11.04.2011. 2. ^ Dainton, Marianne; Elain D. Zellei and others (2011). Applying Communication Theory for Professional Life. Sage Publications. pp. 247. ISBN 1-4129-7691-X. Retrieved 11.04.2011. 3. ^ a b c d Crag, Robert T. (1999). Communication Theory as a Field. International Communication Association. Retrieved 12.07.2011. 4. ^ Management Effectiveness and Communication, MBA 665, Online Resources, Communication Models. Bob Jones University. 2008. Retrieved 11.05.2011. 5. ^ Frigg, Roman and Hartmann, Stephan (2009). Models in Science. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 11.06.2011. 6. ^ Chandler, Daniel (1994). The Transmission Model of Communication. University of Western Australia. Retrieved 11.06.2011.

7. ^ Laswell, Harold Dwight (1948). The Structure and Function of Communication in Society. Lyman Bryson (New York: Institute for Religious and Social Studies, Jewish Theological Seminary of America. p. 37. 8. ^ Wilbur Lang Schramm (1907-1987), Forefather in the field of communication. University of Rhode Island. 2000. Retrieved 11.15.2011. 9. ^ Oukrop, Carol Christensen (1965). A History of the University of Iowa School of Journalism, from Its Founding in 1924 under C.H. Weller, through the Tenure of Wilbur Schramm as Director, June 1947. University of Iowa. 10. ^ Berlo, David Kenneth (1960). The process of communication. Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, New York. 11. ^ a b Richard Whately, Douglas Ehninger and David Potter (1963). Elements of Rhetoric: Comprising an Analysis of the Laws of Moral Evidence. Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 978-0-8093-2974-8. Retrieved 11.07.2011. 12. ^ Faulkner, Larry R. (1999). IN MEMORIAM JAMES L. KINNEAVY. The University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 11.07.2011. 13. ^ Kinneavy, James L. A Theory of Discourse. 14. ^ a b Littlejohn & Foss 2008, pp. 6. 15. ^ Donsback, Wolfgang (September 2006). "The Identity of Communication Research". Journal of Communication (Blackwell Publishing Ltd.; International Communication Association) 54 (4): 589615. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00294.x. Retrieved January 28, 2011. 16. ^ Penman, Robyn (2000). Reconstructing Communicating: looking to a Future. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Retrieved January 28, 2011. 17. ^ Anderson, James A.; Baym, Geoffrey (December 2004). "Philosophies and Philosophic Issues in Communication, 1995-2004". Journal of Communication (Blackwell Publishing Ltd.; International Communication Association) 55: 437448. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2004.tb02647.x. 18. ^ Lindlof, Thomas R.; Taylor, Bryan C. (2002). Qualitative Communication Research Methods (2 ed.). Sage Publications Ltd.. Retrieved January 28, 2011. 19. ^ D'Angelo, Paul (December 2002). "News Framing as a Multiparadigmatic Research Program:A Response to Entman". Journal of Communication (Blackwell Publishing Ltd.; International Communication Association) 52 (4): 870888. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2002.tb02578.x. 20. ^ Jimenez, Leonarda; Guillem, Susana (August 2009). "Does Communication Studies Have an Identity? Setting the Bases for Contemporary Research". Catalan Journal of Communication And Cultural Studies (Intellect Ltd.) 1 (1): 1527. doi:10.1386/cjcs.1.1.15_1. Retrieved January 28, 2011. 21. ^ Anderson, John Arthur (1996). Communication Theory: Epistemological Foundations. Guilford Press. ISBN 1-57230-083-3. Retrieved February 2, 2011. 22. ^ Anderson 1996, pp. 200-201. 23. ^ Craig 1999, pp. 120. 24. ^ Craig 2007, pp. 125. 25. ^ a b Littlejohn, Stephen; Foss, Karen (2008). Theories of Human Communication (9 ed.). Thomson and Wadsworth. Retrieved January 23, 2011. 26. ^ Griffin, Emory A. (2006). An First Look at Communication Theory (6 ed.). McGraw-Hill. Retrieved January 29, 2011.

27. ^ Miller, Katherine (2005). Communication Theories:Perspectives, Processes, and Contexts (2 ed.). McGraw-Hill. Retrieved January 29, 2011. 28. ^ Craig 2006, pp. 13. 29. ^ Penman 2000, pp. 6. 30. ^ Craig, Robert (May 2001). "Minding My Metamodel, Mending Myers". Communication Theory (Blackwell Publishing Ltd.; International Communication Association) 11 (2): 231240. doi:10.1111/j.14682885.2001.tb00241.x. 31. ^ Craig 1999, pp. 132-146. 32. ^ Communication process. Center for Literacy Studies of the University of Tennessee. Retrieved 11.15.2011.

Further reading

Chandler, Daniel. Transmission Model of Communication (1994). Daniel Chandler, 1994. Web. 10 October 2009. Goffman, Erving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York, NY: Anchor/Doubleday, 1959. 73. Lanham, Richard A. Analyzing Prose' 2nd (2003): 7, 10. Littlejohn, S. W.,Theories of human communication. 7th edition, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2002. Emory A Griffin, A first look at communication theory. 3rd edition, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997. ISBN 0-07-022822-1 Miller, K., Communication Theories: Perspectives, processes, and contexts. 2nd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005. Werner, E., "Cooperating Agents: A Unified Theory of Communication and Social Structure", Distributed Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 2, L. Gasser and M. Huhns, eds., Morgan Kaufmann and Pitman Press, 1989. Abstract Werner, E., "Toward a Theory of Communication and Cooperation for Multiagent Planning", Theoretical Aspects of Reasoning About Knowledge: Proceedings of the Second Conference, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, pp. 129 143, 1988. Abstract PDF Robert, Craig T. "Communication." Encyclopedia of Rhetoric (2001): 125. Rothwell, J. Dan. "In the Company of Others: an introduction to communication." 3rd Edition, New York, NY; Oxford University Press, 2010. 11-15. A First Look At Communication Theory by Em Griffin (Published by McGrawHill) Communication Theory: Epistemological Foundations by James A. Anderson Communication Theories: Origins, Methods and Uses in the Mass Media (5th Edition) by Werner J. Severin and James W. Tankard Theories of Human Communication (9th Edition) by Stephen W. Littlejohn and Karen A. Foss Communication: Theories and Applications by Mark V. Redmond Communication Theories: Perspectives, Processes, and Contexts by Katherine Miller Communication Theory: Media, Technology and Society by David Holmes Building Communication Theory by Dominic A. Infante, Andrew S. Rancer, and Deanna F. Womack The Communication Theory Reader by Paul Cobley

Clarifying Communications Theories: A Hands-On Approach by Gerald Stone, Michael Singletary, and Virginia P. Richmond An Introduction to Communication Theory by Don W. Stacks, Sidney R. Hill, and Mark, III Hickson Introducing Communication Theory by Richard West and Lynn H. Turner

External links
Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Communication Theory

American Communication Association Central States Communication Association Eastern Communication Association International Communication Association National Communication Association Southern States Communication Association Western States Communication Association [hide]

v t e

Communication studies

Terms and topics

Biocommunication Broadcasting Business communication Communication Computer-mediated communication Conversation History of communication Information Intercultural communication Interpersonal communication Intrapersonal communication Mass media Meaning Media ecology Models of communication New media Nonverbal communication Speech Symbol Telecommunication Text and conversation theory

Subfields

Communication sciences Communication design Communication theory Crisis communication Cross-cultural communication Development communication Discourse analysis Environmental communication Health communication International communication Mass communication Media studies Mediated cross-border communication Organizational communication Political communication Risk communication Science communication Technical communication Conversation analysis Critical theory Cultural studies Film criticism Journalism Linguistics Philosophy of language Political science Pragmatics Public relations Rhetoric Semiotics Sociolinguistics Sociology of culture Theater Theodor Adorno Roland Barthes Gregory Bateson Walter Benjamin Kenneth Burke Manuel Castells Noam Chomsky Robert T. Craig Walter Fisher George Gerbner Jrgen Habermas Max Horkheimer

Related fields

Key scholars

Harold Innis Roman Jakobson Irving Janis Wendell Johnson D. Lawrence Kincaid Walter Lippman Niklas Luhmann Herbert Marcuse George H. Mead Marshall McLuhan Nick Morgan Walter J. Ong Vance Packard Charles S. Peirce Neil Postman Nora C. Quebral I. A. Richards Everett M. Rogers Wilbur Schramm Deborah Tannen James W. Tankard, Jr.

Category History Journals Organizations Outline Scholars Templates

[show]

v t e

Social sciences
Categories:

Communication Communication theory Human behavior Human communication Linguistics

Category:Sign systems

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Sign systems are systems of communication which use signs and gestures to convey meaning.

Subcategories
This category has the following 4 subcategories, out of 4 total.

Manual alphabet (15 P)

Sign language (7 C, 23 P) Sign languages (11 C, 26 P) Signed oral languages (6 P)

Pages in category "Sign systems"

The following 8 pages are in this category, out of 8 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

H cont.
Military hand and arm signals

S cont.

Home sign

Simultaneous Communication

T
Makaton

Diver communications

Tic-tac

H
Hand signaling (open outcry) Categories:

Sign singing

Communication Semiotics

Category:Information
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search The main article for this category is Information. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Information See also categories: Main topic classifications, Topical indexes, and Categories by topic

Subcategories
This category has the following 21 subcategories, out of 21 total.

K
Asymmetric information (1 C, 19 P)

S cont.
Knowledge (27 C, 105 P)

Information society (3 C, 28 P) Statements (14 C, 42 P)

Information centres (11 P) Communication C (20 C, 250 P)

Memory (14 C, T 113 P, 1 F) Information ministries (2 C, 21 P)

News (3 C, 7 P)

Data (5 C, 29 P) Disclosure (2 C, 8 R P)

Information technology (14 C, 74 P) Information by telephone (3 C, 10 P) I Information theory (13 C, 174 P)

U
Reference (10 C, 32 P)

Identification (7 C, 21 P) Information economy (1 C, 3 P)

Units of information (1 C, 61 P)

Information science (23 C, 192 P)

Information sensitivity (5 C, 25 P)

Wikipedia books on information (1 C)

Categories:

Thought Cognition Fundamental categories Mental content Intention

Hidden categories:

Categories requiring diffusion

Categories:

Mind Cognition Mental processes Mental content

Categories:

Cognitive science Concepts in metaphysics Philosophy of psychology

Category:Cognition
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cognition The main article for this category is Cognition. Cognition is the scientific term for "the process of thought." Its usage varies in different ways in accord with different disciplines: For example, in psychology and cognitive science it refers to an information processing view of an individual's psychological functions. Other interpretations of the meaning of cognition link it to the development of concepts.

Category:Branches of philosophy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This category is intended for the main areas of philosophy studied in modern academia. See also: Philosophy by field. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Branches of philosophy

Subcategories
This category has the following 8 subcategories, out of 8 total.

P cont.

Aesthetics (19 C, 107 P)

Logic (22 C, 136 P)

Political philosophy (47 C, 196 P)

Epistemology (18 C, 146 P) Ethics (13 C, 119 P)

Metaphysics (12 C, 67 P)

S Social philosophy (2

Philosophy by field (30 C, 46 P)

Pages in category "Branches of philosophy"

The following 7 pages are in this category, out of 7 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

L
Aesthetics

S
Logic

Social philosophy

M
Epistemology Ethics

Metaphysics

Political philosophy

Categories:

Subfields by academic discipline Philosophy

Symbolic Interactionism - Importance Of Meanings, Situational Definitions, Selfconcept Formation, Divisions Within Symbolic Interactionism, Symbolic Interactionism And Family Studies

social reality human symbols

Ads by Google

Symbolic interactionism is a sociological perspective on self and society based on the ideas of George H. Mead (1934), Charles H. Cooley (1902), W. I. Thomas (1931), and other pragmatists associated, primarily, with the University of Chicago in the early twentieth century. The central theme of symbolic interactionism is that human life is lived in the symbolic domain. Symbols are culturally derived social objects having shared meanings that are created and maintained in social interaction. Through language and communication, symbols provide the means by which reality is constructed. Reality is primarily a social product, and all that is humanly consequentialself, mind, society, cultureemerges from and is dependent on symbolic interactions for its existence. Even the physical environment is relevant to human conduct mainly as it is interpreted through symbolic systems. Read more: Symbolic Interactionism - Importance Of Meanings, Situational Definitions, Self-concept Formation, Divisions Within Symbolic Interactionism, Symbolic Interactionism And Family Studies - JRank Articles http://family.jrank.org/pages/1679/Symbolic-Interactionism.html#ixzz2NXg6JOyQ

Symbolic Interactionism
International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family | 2003 | Copyright

Symbolic Interactionism

Symbolic interactionism is a sociological perspective on self and society based on the ideas of George H. Mead (1934), Charles H. Cooley (1902), W. I. Thomas (1931), and other pragmatists associated, primarily, with the University of Chicago in the early twentieth century. The central theme of symbolic interactionism is that human life is lived in the symbolic domain. Symbols are culturally derived social objects having shared meanings that are created and maintained in social interaction. Through language and communication, symbols provide the means by which reality is constructed. Reality is primarily a social product, and all that is humanly consequentialself, mind, society, cultureemerges from and is dependent on symbolic interactions for its existence. Even the physical environment is relevant to human conduct mainly as it is interpreted through symbolic systems.

Importance of Meanings
The label symbolic interactionism was coined by Herbert Blumer (1969), one of Mead's students. Blumer, who did much to shape this perspective, specified its three basic premises: (1) Humans act toward things on the basis of the meanings that things have for them; (2) the meanings of things derive from social interaction; and (3) these meanings are dependent on, and modified by, an interpretive process of the people who interact with one another. The focus here is on meaning, which is defined in terms of action and its consequences (reflecting the influence of pragmatism). The meaning of a thing resides in the action that it elicits. For example, the meaning of "grass" is food to a cow, shelter to a fox, and the like. In the case of symbols, meanings also depend on a degree of consensual responses between two or more people. The meaning of the word husband, for example, depends on the consensual responses of those who use it. If most of those who use it agree, the meaning of a symbol is clear; if consensus is low, the meaning is ambiguous, and communication is problematic. Within a culture, a general consensus prevails on the meanings associated with various words or symbols. However, in practice, the meanings of things are highly variable and depend on processes of interpretation and negotiation of the interactants. The interpretive process entails what Blumer refers to as role-taking, the cognitive ability to take the perspective of another. It is a critical process in communication because it enables actors to interpret one another's responses, thereby bringing about greater consensus on the meanings of the symbols used. The determination of meanings also depends on negotiationthat is, on mutual adjustments and accommodations of those who are interacting. In short, meaning is emergent, problematic, and dependent on processes of role-taking and negotiation. Most concepts of symbolic interactionism are related to the concept of meaning.

Situational Definitions
The importance of meanings is reflected in Thomas's (1931) famous dictum: If situations are defined as real, they are real in their consequences. The definition of the situation emphasizes that people act in situations on the basis of how they are defined. Definitions, even when at variance with "objective" reality, have real consequences for people's actions and events.

The definitional process involves the determination of relevant identities and attributes of interactants. If, for example, a teacher defines a student as a slow learner (based on inaccurate information), her discriminatory behavior (e.g., less attention and lower expectations) may have a negative effect on the student's intellectual development, resulting in a self-fulfilling prophecy. This process, in combination with interactionist ideas about self-concept formation, is the basis of the labeling theory of deviance. Labeling theory proposes that a key factor in the development of deviants is the negative label of identity imposed on the person (e.g., "criminal," "pervert") who engages in deviant behavior (Becker 1963). Defining a situation is not a static process. An initial definition, based on past experiences or cultural expectations, may be revised in the course of interaction. Much of the negotiation in social situations entails an attempt to present the self in a favorable light or to defend a valued identity. Erving Goffman's (1959) insightful analyses of impression management and the use of deference and demeanor, as well as Marvin Scott and Stanford Lyman's (1968) examination of the use of excuses, justifications, and accounts, speak to the intricacies involved in situational definitions. Where power or status disparities exist, the dominant interactant's definition of the situation likely prevails.

Self-Concept Formation
Along with symbols, meaning, and interaction, the self is a basic concept in symbolic interactionism. The essential feature of the self is that it is a reflexive phenomenon. Reflexivity enables humans to act toward themselves as objects, or to reflect on themselves, argue with themselves, evaluate themselves, and so forth. This human attribute (al-though dolphins and the great apes show some evidence of a self as well), based on the social character of human language and the ability to role-take, enables individuals to see themselves from the perspective of another and thereby to form a conception of themselves, a self-concept. Two types of others are critical in the development of the self. The significant other refers to people who are important to an individual, whose opinions matter. The generalized other refers to a conception of the community, group, or any organized system of roles (e.g., a baseball team) that are used as a point of reference from which to view the self. The importance of others in the formation of self-concepts is captured in Cooley's (1902) influential concept, the looking-glass self. Cooley proposed that to some extent individuals see themselves as they think others see them. Self-conceptions and selffeelings (e.g., pride or shame) are a consequence of how people imagine others perceive and evaluate them. Within contemporary symbolic interactionism, this process is called reflected appraisals and is the main process emphasized in the development of the self. The self is considered a social product in other ways, too. The content of self-concepts reflects the content and organization of society. This is evident with regard to the roles that are internalized as role-identities (e.g., father, student). Roles, as behavioral expectations associated with a status within a set of relationships, constitute a major link

between social and personal organization. Sheldon Stryker (1980) proposes that differential commitment to various role-identities provides much of the structure and organization of self-concepts. To the extent that individuals are committed to a particular role identity, they are motivated to act according to their conception of the identity and to maintain and protect it, because their role performance implicates their self-esteem. Much of socialization, particularly during childhood, involves learning social roles and associated values, attitudes, and beliefs. Initially this takes place in the family, then in larger arenas (e.g., peer groups, school, work settings) of the individual's social world. The role identities formed early in life, such as gender and filial identities, remain some of the most important throughout life. Yet socialization is lifelong, and individuals assume various role identities throughout their life course. Socialization is not a passive process of learning roles and conforming to other's expectations. The self is highly active and selective, having a major influence on its environment and itself. When people play roles, role-making often is as evident as is learning roles. In role-making, individuals actively construct, interpret, and uniquely express their roles. When they perceive an incongruity between a role imposed on them and some valued aspect of their self-conception, they may distance themselves from a role, which is the disassociation of self from role. A pervasive theme in this literature is that the self actively engages in its own development, a process that may be unpredictable.

Divisions Within Symbolic Interactionism

Symbolic interactionism is not a homogeneous theoretical perspective. Although interactionists agree that humans rely on shared symbols to construct their realities and on the methodological requirement of understanding behavior by "getting inside" the reality of the actor, substantial divisions remain within this perspective. The main division is between those who emphasize process and those who emphasize structure in studying human realities. The former, associated with Blumer (1969) and known as the Chicago School, advocates the use of qualitative methods in studying the process of reality construction within natural social settings. The latter, associated with Manfurd Kuhn (1964) and labeled the Iowa School, advocates the use of quantitative methods in studying the products of social interaction, especially self-concepts. The differences between these two schools of symbolic interactionism reflect the fundamental division in the social sciences between humanistic/interpretive orientations, which align with history and the humanities, and positivistic orientations, which align with the physical sciences. Both of these orientations to symbolic interactionism are evident in marriage and family studies, although the structural orientation predominates.

Symbolic Interactionism and Family Studies

Symbolic interactionism has been an important theoretical perspective in family studies since its early development in the 1920s and 1930s (LaRossa and Reitzes 1993). William Thomas and Florian Znaniecki's (19181920) monumental study, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, was an early application of some of the main themes and concepts of the perspective. This study focused on the adjustments and

transformations in personality and family patterns in the Polish peasant community in the course of immigration to the United States during the early 1900s. Processes of socialization, adaptation, definition formation, role-making, and self-concept development were major themes in their analysis. Ernest Burgess, however, was the first to call for the systematic application of "processual" symbolic interactionism to family studies. He proposed that the family can be viewed as "a unity of inter-acting personalities" (Burgess 1926), a little universe of communication in which roles and selves are shaped and each personality affects every other personality. Unfortunately, few heeded Burgess's call to study the dynamic interactions of whole families (for an exception, see Hess and Handel 1959). It is impractical for most family researchers to study whole family dynamics over time. Burgess's own empirical studies mostly used conventional survey methods and measurements in studying marital adjustment (Burgess and Cottrell 1939), and reflect a more structural interactionism (i.e., emphasis on social structure rather than process) characteristic of the Iowa school. Another pioneer in the symbolic interactionist approach to family research was Willard Waller (1937, 1938). Waller used qualitative methods (e.g., case studies and novels) to study family dynamics, particularly processes of interpersonal conflict, bargaining, and exploitation. His principle of least interest suggests that the person least interested in or committed to the marital or dating relationship has the most power in that relationship and frequently exploits the other. The theme of conflict and exploitation was prominent in his analysis of college dating patterns in the 1930s. Reuben Hill, who shaped much of the contemporary research on the family, reworked Waller's treatise by shifting the focus from a conflict and process orientation to a relatively structured developmental perspective emphasizing family roles and a more harmonious view of family life (Waller and Hill 1951). Much contemporary family research from a symbolic interactionist perspective deals with some type of role analysis, such as how the roles of husband and wife are defined during stages of family life; how gender role conceptions affect the definitions of spousal roles; how the arrival of children and the transition to parental roles change role constellations and interaction patterns; how external events (e.g., parental employment, natural disasters, migration) and internal events (e.g., births, deaths, divorces) affect role definitions, performance, stress, or conflict; and how these role-specific variables affect the attitudes, dispositions, and self-conceptions of family members (Hutter 1985). The concept of role is also important for most of the major sociological perspectives (e.g., structural functionalism, social exchange theory, and even conflict theory). The symbolic interactionist perspective emphasizes the processes of role-making, role definition, role negotiation, and role identity within the family (Hochschild 1989). A large area of symbolic interactionist research deals with socializationthe processes through which personalities and self-concepts are formed, values and attitudes are transmitted, and the culture of one generation is passed to the next. The socialization of children is one of the few remaining (and the most critical) functions of the family in modern societies. It has received considerable attention from researchers. A symbolic interactionist perspective on child socialization encompasses a broad range of processes and outcomes involved in integrating the newborn into its family and society. Most of the socialization research has focused on the development of some aspect of the self

(e.g., self-esteem, gender, and filial identities). The research indicates that positive reflected appraisals from parents along with parental support and the use of inductive control have positive socialization outcomes for the children's self-concept (Gecas and Schwalbe 1986; Peterson and Rollins 1987). The socialization process is highly reciprocal; parents and children affect one anothers' self-concepts. The high levels of reciprocity characteristic of family socialization processes (and a hallmark of symbolic interactionism) are rarely reflected in family research, although researchers are increasingly sensitive to it. A focus on reciprocity is more evident in research where identity negotiation is problematic, as in the case of lesbian motherhood (Hequembourg and Farrell 1999) or in the case of immigrant families where parents and children must renegotiate their roles in unfamiliar cultural contexts (Hyman and Vu 2000). In addition to pursuing traditional interests in family studies, mostly in the United States, symbolic interactionists are increasingly pursuing cross-cultural and international research. In the area of self and identity, for example, Steve Derne (1999) shows how male filmgoers in India use their interpretations of Western films to both maintain and enhance their sense of male privilege. This research demonstrates how, when exposed to cultural perspectives that may threaten their own self-concepts or ethnic identities, people engage in interpretive processes that serve to incorporate these ideas into existing self-structures. Research in Nigeria (Rotini 1986) has shown how car ownership, an influential status symbol, shapes personal interactions among the owners of different types of cars and how the infiltration of new technologies into cultures can alter role-relations in social institutions such as the family, law, and religion. Cross-cultural research also explores how family relations are conducted within specific ethnic domains, and how the cultural contexts in which communication occurs shape family interactions and identity negotiations (Luo and Wiseman 2000). Mzobanzi Mboya (1993), for example, offers a compelling study of the ways that the self-concepts of South African adolescent schoolchildren are related to their perceptions of parental behavior. Simon Cheng's (2000) research on the child socialization mechanisms used by Chinese families who have immigrated to the United States demonstrates how ethnic identities are socially constructed, negotiated, and maintained through parent-child interactions that occur in heterogeneous cultural milieus. Broadly speaking, social movements, national dilemmas, international conflict, and the flow of international immigrants frame the symbolic domains in which families live. Immigrant families and children encountering cultures and lifestyles that are vastly different from their own struggle to realize new opportunities and to maintain their own ethnic identities and integrity (Zhou 1997). Global social movements such as the women's movement offer opportunities for women to reconstruct their identities and, in doing so, to reconstruct the institution of the family itself (Ray and Korteweg 1999).

Conclusion
Many areas of family research reflect symbolic interactionist ideas, often in diffuse and diluted form. For instance, in much of the research on marital satisfaction, marital quality, patterns of dating and mating, and various family-relevant attitudes (e.g., premarital sex, abortion), symbolic interactionist ideas are likely to be implicitly rather

than explicitly stated and tested. Although this may hinder the development and refinement of symbolic interactionism, it can also be viewed as an indication of the success of this theoretical perspectivethat many of its concepts and ideas have become a part of the common wisdom of family studies. The theory's use in family research across cultural domains also points to the broad applicability of its fundamental premises and constructs.

See also:Family Roles; Family Theory; Gender Identity; Relationship TheoriesSelfOther Relationship; Role Theory; Self-Esteem; Socialization; Transition to Parenthood

Bibliography
becker, h. s. (1963). outsiders: studies in the sociology ofdeviance. new york: free press. blumer, h. (1969). symbolic interactionism: perspective and method. englewood cliffs, nj: prentice hall. bohannon, j. r., and blanton, p. w. (1999). "gender role attitudes of american mothers and daughters over time." journal of social psychology 139:173179. burgess, e. w. (1926). "the family as a unity of interacting personalities." family 7:3 9.burgess, e. w., and cottrell, l. s., jr. (1939). predicting success or failure in marriage. new york: prentice hall. charon, j. (1989). symbolic interactionism, 3rd edition.englewood cliffs, nj: prentice hall. cheng, s. h., and w. h. kuo. (2000). "family socialization of ethnic identity among chinese american pre-adolescents." journal of comparative family studies 31:463484. cooley, c. h. (1902). human nature and the socialorder. new york: scribner. derne, s. (1999). "handling ambivalence toward 'western'ways: transnational cultural flows and men's identity in india." studies in symbolic interaction 22:1745. gecas, v., and schwalbe, m. l. (1986). "parental behavior and adolescent self-esteem." journal of marriage and the family 48:3746. goffman, e. (1959). the presentations of self in everydaylife. new york: doubleday. gordon, m. (1977). "kinship boundaries and kinshipknowledge in urban ireland." international journal of sociology of the family. 7:114. hequembourg, a. l., and farrell, m. p. (1999). "lesbianmotherhood: negotiating marginalmainstream identities." gender & society 13:540557.

hess, r. d., and handel, g. (1959). family worlds.chicago: university of chicago press. hochschild, a. r. (1989). the second shift: working parents and the revolution at home. new york: viking. hutter, m. (1985). "symbolic interaction and the study of the family." in foundations of interpretive sociology: studies in symbolic interaction, ed. h. a. farberman and r. s. perinbanayagam. greenwich, ct: jai press. hyman, i.; vu, n.; and beiser, m. "post-migration stresses among southeast asian refugee youth in canada: a research note." journal of comparative family studies 31:281293. kuhn, m. h. (1964). "major trends in symbolic interactiontheory in the past twenty-five years." sociological quarterly 5:6184. larossa, r., and reitzes, d. c. (1993). "symbolic interactionism and family studies." in sourcebook of family theories and methods, ed. p. g. boss; w. j. doherty; r. larossa; w. r. schumm; and s. k. steinmetz. new york: plenum. luo, s. h., and wiseman, r. l. (2000). "ethnic languagemaintenance among chinese immigrant children in the united states." international journal of intercultural relations 24:307324. mboya, m. m. (1993). "parental behavior and african adolescents' self-concepts." school psychology international 14:317326. mead, g. h. (1934). mind, self, and society. chicago: university of chicago press. peterson, g. w., and rollins, b. c. (1987). "parent-childsocialization." in handbook of marriage and the family, ed. m. b. sussman and s. k. steinmetz. new york: plenum. ray, r., and kortweweg, a. c. (1999). "women's movements in the third world: identity, mobilization, and autonomy." annual review of sociology 25:4771. rotini, a. (1986). "retrospective participant observation on driving and car ownership in nigeria." international review of modern sociology 16:395406. scott, m. e., and lyman, s. m. (1968). "accounts." american sociological review 33:46 62. stryker, s. (1980). symbolic interactionism. menlo park,ca: benjamin/cummings. thomas, w. i. (1931). the unadjusted girl. boston: little,brown. thomas, w. i., and znaniecki, f. (19181920). the polish peasant in europe and america, 5 vols. boston: badger. waller, w. (1937). "the rating-dating complex." american sociological review 2:727 734.

waller, w. (1938). the family: a dynamic interpretation.new york: dryden. waller, w., and hill, r. (1951). the family: a dynamicinterpretation, rev. edition. new york: dryden. zhou, m. (1997). "growing up american: the challenge confronting immigrant children and children of immigrants." annual review of sociology 23:6395. VIKTOR GECAS TERESA TSUSHIMA Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. "Symbolic Interactionism." International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (March 14, 2013). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G23406900426.html Learn more about citation styles

Citation styles
Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: Modern Language Association http://www.mla.org/style The Chicago Manual of Style http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html American Psychological Association http://apastyle.apa.org/ Notes:

Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list.

HighBeam Research, Inc. Copyright 2013. All rights reserved. Close this window

Unconscious communication
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Unconscious (or intuitive) communication is the subtle, unintentional, unconscious cues that provide information to another individual. It can be verbal (speech patterns, physical activity while speaking, or the tone of voice of an individual[1][2]) or it can be nonverbal (facial expressions and body language[2]) Some psychologists instead use the term honest signals because such cues are involuntary behaviors that often convey emotion whereas body language can be controlled.[3] Many decisions are based on unconscious communication, which is interpreted and created in the right hemisphere of the brain.[4] The right hemisphere is dominant in perceiving and expressing body language, facial expressions, verbal cues, and other indications that have to do with emotion but it does not exclusively deal with the unconscious.[4] Little is known about the unconscious mind or about how decisions are made based on unconscious communications except for the fact that they are always unintentional. There are two types of unconscious communications: intrapersonal and interpersonal. Research has shown that our conscious attention can attend to 59 items simultaneously. All other information is processed by the unconscious mind. For example, the unconscious mind sometimes picks up on and relates nonverbal cues about an individual based on how he or she has arranged his or her settings such as his or her home or place of work.

Contents

1 Unconscious mind 2 Intrapersonal 3 Interpersonal 4 See also 5 References

Unconscious mind

Not much is known about the unconscious mind but it is believed to contain the biological instincts that we act on every day, such as sex and aggression.[5] A person is completely unaware of what happens within the unconscious mind. Psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud, made the concept of the unconscious popular and based most of his theories on psychoanalysis on the concept. The subconscious mind, according to Freud, rests right below the conscious mind and has easy access to the thoughts and feelings that are kept in this state as opposed to unconscious mind which is impossible to gain access to. Freud believed that we projected our unconscious emotions onto others.[4]

Intrapersonal
Intrapersonal communication is language use or thought internal to the communicator. It includes many mental activities such as thinking, calculating, planning, talking to ones self, internal monologue, day-dreaming.[6] Intrapersonal communication affects how we perceive our self: either in a negative or positive way.[6] Joseph Jordania hypothesized that intrapersonal communication was created to avoid silence because as social creatures we feel uncomfortable with extended periods of silence.[7] Intrapersonal unconscious communication is when dreams, previous experiences, or hypnosis affects a persons choices or experiences unconsciously.[2]

Interpersonal
Interpersonal communication includes message sending and message reception between two or more individuals. This can include all aspects of communication such as listening, persuading, asserting, nonverbal communication, and more. Interpersonal unconscious communication includes unintentional facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, and speech patterns while interacting with another individual that the other individual interprets for their own knowledge.[2] Studies suggest that when presented with an emotional facial expression, participants instinctively react with movement in facial muscles that are mimicking the original facial expression.[8] There are six different reasons for nonverbal communication:[9] 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Complementing: adding extra information to verbal communication Contradicting: our nonverbal messages contradict our verbal messages Repeating: emphasize or clarify the verbal message Regulating: coordinate the verbal dialogue between people Substituting: when a nonverbal message is used in place of a verbal message Accenting: emphasizing a particular point in a verbal message

See also

Rapport Sympathy Hypnosis Telepathy Body language o Eye contact o Facial expression

Human voice Gesture Postures Subliminal message Tacit knowledge Unconscious mind
o o o

References
1. ^ Chandler, David. "Tuning in to unconscious communication". MIT News. Retrieved 27 Feb 2012. 2. ^ a b c d Ejim, Esther. "What is unconscious communication?". wiseGEEK. Conjecture Corporation. Retrieved 27 Feb 2012. 3. ^ Pentland, Alex. "The Impact of Unconscious Communication". Gallup Management Journal. Retrieved 3/3/2012. 4. ^ a b c Schore, Allen. "Projective Identification, Unconscious Communication, and the Right Brain". Courses for Mental Health Professionals. ContinuingEdCourses. Retrieved 3/3/2012. 5. ^ Malandro, Barker, and Barker, Loretta A., Larry L., and Deborah Ann (1989). Nonverbal Communication, 2nd ed. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. 6. ^ a b Gill and Adams, David and Bridget (1989). ABC of Communication Studies. Nelson Thornes Ltd. pp. 9495. ISBN 0-333-46757-4. 7. ^ Jordania, Joseph (2009). Times to Fight and Times to Relax: Singing and Humming at the Beginnings of Human Evolutionary History. pp. 272277. 8. ^ Dimberg, U.; Thunberg, M (2000). "Unconscious facial reactions to emotional facial expressions". Psychological Science 11 (1): 86. 9. ^ Malandro, Barker & Barker (1989). Nonverbal Communication, 2nd ed.. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Categories:

Human communication Unconscious

Nonverbal communication
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Non-verbal communication) Jump to: navigation, search This article is written like a personal reflection or opinion essay rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (December 2012) Nonverbal communication is usually understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless (mostly visual) cues between people. Messages can be communicated through gestures and touch, by body language or posture, by facial expression and eye contact, which are all considered types of

nonverbal communication. Speech contains nonverbal elements known as paralanguage, including voice quality, rate, pitch, volume, and speaking style, as well prosodic features such as rhythm, intonation, and stress. Likewise, written texts have nonverbal elements such as handwriting style, spatial arrangement of words, or the physical layout of a page. However, much of the study of nonverbal communication has focused on face-to-face interaction, where it can be classified into three principal areas: environmental conditions where communication takes place, physical characteristics of the communicators, and behaviors of communicators during interaction.

Contents

1 Importance 2 History 3 First impression 4 Posture 5 Clothing 6 Gestures 7 Engagement 8 Across cultures o 8.1 Indigenous communities o 8.2 Nonverbal actions 9 Genetics 10 Proxemics 11 Movement and body position o 11.1 Kinesics o 11.2 Haptics: touching in communication 12 Functions of nonverbal communication o 12.1 Criticism o 12.2 Interaction of verbal and nonverbal communication 12.2.1 Complementing 12.2.2 Substituting 13 Clinical studies of nonverbal communication o 13.1 Child comprehension o 13.2 Comprehension of nonverbal facial cues 14 See also 15 Footnotes 16 References 17 External links

Importance

SymbolTable for Non-verbal communication with patients Nonverbal communication represents two-thirds of all communication.[1] Nonverbal communication can portray a message both verbally and with the correct body signals. Body signals comprise physical features, conscious and unconscious gestures and signals, and the mediation of personal space.[1] The wrong message can be established if the body language conveyed does not match a verbal message. Nonverbal communication strengthens a first impression in common situations like attracting a partner or in a business interview: impressions are on average formed within the first four seconds of contact.[1] First encounters or interactions with another person strongly affect a person's perception.[2] When the other person or group is absorbing the message they are focused on the entire environment around them, meaning the other person uses all five senses in the interaction: 83% sight, 11% hearing, 3% smell, 2% touch and 1% taste.[3]

History
The first scientific study of nonverbal communication was Charles Darwin's book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.[3] He argued that all mammals reliably show emotion in their faces. Seventy years later Silvan Tomkins (19111991) began his classic studies on human emotions in Affects Imagery Consciousness volumes 1-4. Rudolf Laban (18791958) and Warren Lamb (1923-) raised body movement analysis in the world of dance to a high level. Studies now range across a number of fields, including, linguistics, semiotics and social psychology. Another large influence in nonverbal communication was Ray Birdwhistell, who "pioneered the original study of nonverbal communicationwhat he called 'kinesics.' He estimated that the average person actually speaks words for a total of about ten or eleven minutes a day and that the average sentence takes only about 2.5 seconds. Birdwhistell also estimated we can make and recognize around 250,000 facial expressions."[3]

First impression
Main article: First impression (psychology) A study revealed that students who rated a professor as highly likeable from only a twosecond first impression found the class much more enjoyable throughout the semester versus the students who did not."[1]

Posture
There are many different types of posture, including slouching, towering, legs spread, jaw thrust, shoulders forward, and arm crossing. Posture or a person's bodily stance communicates a variety of messages. Posture can be used to determine a participant's degree of attention or involvement, the difference in status between communicators, and the level of fondness a person has for the other communicator, depending on body "openness".[4] Studies investigating the impact of posture on interpersonal relationships suggest that mirror-image congruent postures, where one person's left side is parallel to the other person's right side, leads to favorable perception of communicators and positive speech; a person who displays a forward lean or decreases a backward lean also signifies positive sentiment during communication.[5] Posture can be situation-relative, that is, people will change their posture depending on the situation they are in.[6]

Clothing
Clothing is one of the most common forms of non-verbal communication. The study of clothing and other objects as a means of non-verbal communication is known as artifactics[7] or objectics.[8] The types of clothing that an individual wears convey nonverbal clues about his or her personality, background and financial status, and how others will respond to them.[3] An individual's clothing style can demonstrate their culture, mood, level of confidence, interests, age, authority, value/beliefs, and their sexual identity. A study, carried out in Vienna, Austria, of the clothing worn by women attending discothques showed that in certain groups of women (especially women who were without their partners), motivation for sex and levels of sexual hormones were correlated with aspects of their clothing, especially the amount of skin displayed and the presence of sheer clothing.[9]

Gestures
Gestures may be made with the hands, arms or body, and also include movements of the head, face and eyes, such as winking, nodding, or rolling one's eyes. Although the study of gesture is still in its infancy, some broad categories of gestures have been identified by researchers. The most familiar are the so-called emblems or quotable gestures. These are conventional, culture-specific gestures that can be used as replacement for words, such as the hand wave used in western cultures for "hello" and "goodbye." A single emblematic gesture can have a very different significance in different cultural contexts, ranging from complimentary to highly offensive.[10] For a list of emblematic gestures, see List of gestures. There are some universal gestures like the shoulder shrug.[3] Gestures can also be categorized as either speech independent or speech related. Speech-independent gestures are dependent upon culturally accepted interpretation and have a direct verbal translation.[4] A wave or a peace sign are examples of speechindependent gestures. Speech-related gestures are used in parallel with verbal speech; this form of nonverbal communication is used to emphasize the message that is being

communicated. Speech-related gestures are intended to provide supplemental information to a verbal message such as pointing to an object of discussion. Facial expressions, more than anything, serve as a practical means of communication. With all the various muscles that precisely control mouth, lips, eyes, nose, forehead,and jaw, human faces are estimated to be capable of more than ten thousand different expressions. This versatility makes non-verbals of the face extremely efficient and honest, unless deliberately manipulated. In addition, many of these emotions, including happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust, shame, anguish and interest are universally recognized.[11] Displays of emotions can generally be categorized into two groups: negative and positive. Negative emotions usually manifest as increased tension in various muscle groups: tightening of jaw muscles, furrowing of forehead, squinting eyes, or lip occlusion (when the lips seemingly disappear). In contrast, positive emotions are revealed by the loosening of the furrowed lines on the forehead, relaxation of the muscles around the mouth, and widening of the eye area. When individuals are truly relaxed and at ease, the head will also tilt to the side, exposing our most vulnerable area, the neck. This is a high-comfort display, often seen during courtship, that is nearly impossible to mimic when tense or suspicious.[12]

Engagement

Information about the relationship and affect of these two skaters is communicated by their body posture, eye gaze and physical contact. Eye contact is when two people look at each other's eyes at the same time; it is the primary nonverbal way we indicate engagement, interest, attention, and involvement. Studies have found that people use their eyes to indicate their interest and not just with

the frequently recognized actions of winking and movements of the eyebrows, but it can indicate social behavior. Men and women have different ways of eye contact. Men stare at the women they are interested in, whereas women tend to always keep their eyes roaming around the room to see who is there. Disinterest is highly noticeable when showing little eye contact in a social setting. Pupils dilate when they are interested in the other person. People, sometimes, even, without consciously doing so, probe each other's eyes and faces for positive or negative mood signs. Generally speaking, the longer the eye contact between two people the greater the intimacy is felt inside[1] According to Eckman, "Eye contact (also called mutual gaze) is another major channel of nonverbal communication. The duration of eye contact is its most meaningful aspect."[13] Gaze comprises the actions of looking while talking and listening. The length of a gaze, the frequency of glances, patterns of fixation, pupil dilation, and blink rate are all important cues in nonverbal communication.[14] "Liking generally increases as mutual gazing increases."[1] Along with the detection of disinterest, deceit can also be observed in a person. Hogan states "when someone is being deceptive their eyes tend to blink a lot more. Eyes act as leading indicator of truth or deception,"[1] Eye aversion is the avoidance of eye contact. Eye contact and facial expressions provide important social and emotional information. Overall, as Pease states, "Give the amount of eye contact that makes everyone feel comfortable. Unless looking at others is a cultural nono, lookers gain more credibility than non-lookers"[3] In concealing deception, nonverbal communication makes it easier to lie without being revealed. This is the conclusion of a study where people watched made-up interviews of persons accused of having stolen a wallet. The interviewees lied in about 50% of the cases. People had access to either written transcript of the interviews, or audio tape recordings, or video recordings. The more clues that were available to those watching, the larger was the trend that interviewees who actually lied were judged to be truthful. That is, people that are clever at lying can use voice tone and face expression to give the impression that they are truthful.[15] However, there are many cited examples of cues to deceit, delivered via nonverbal (Para verbal and visual) communication channels, through which deceivers supposedly unwittingly provide clues to their concealed knowledge or actual opinions.[16] Most studies examining the nonverbal cues to deceit rely upon human coding of video footage (c.f. Vrij, 2008[17]), although a recent study also demonstrated bodily movement differences between truth-tellers and liars using an automated body motion capture system.[18]

Across cultures
Nonverbal communication can have different meanings according to different cultures. Foreigners may even be confused about universal emotions. "In many cultures, such as the Arab and Iranian cultures, people express grief openly. They mourn out loud, while in Asian cultures, the general belief is that it is unacceptable to show emotion openly."[19] Gestures, postures, haptics, clothing, eye contact and proxemics all can be understood differently across the world. One common example in the United States, is the gesture of a finger or hand to indicate "come here please". This is the gesture used to beckon dogs in some cultures. Pointing

with one finger is also considered to be rude in some cultures and Asians typically use their entire hand to point to something.[20] In mainstream Western culture, eye contact is interpreted as attentiveness and honesty. In many cultures, however, including Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Native American, eye contact is thought to be disrespectful or rude, and lack of eye contact does not mean that a person is not paying attention. Women may especially avoid eye contact with men because it can be taken as a sign of sexual interest.[21] The acceptable physical distance is another major difference in the nonverbal communication between cultures. In Latin America and the Middle East the acceptable distance is much shorter than what most Europeans and Americans feel comfortable with. This is why an American or a European might wonder why the other person is invading his or her personal space by standing so close, while the other person might wonder why the American/European is standing so far from him or her.[22]

Indigenous communities
In Indigenous Mayan communities of the Americas, children learn how to partake in adult activities through nonverbal communication. Children are able to learn in this manner due to their exposure to adult activities at a young age. At a young age, children intently observe and listen in on adult activities, and this helps provide them with a running knowledge on how to participate. As a result, when children take on adult activities for themselves the first time they do not need verbal communication in the form of directions from adults.[23] They can learn how to do the adult activity themselves through physically participating in it. In fact, talk acts only as a supplement to engagement in an activity. For instance, when a child engages in adult activities, spoken communication can be used to explore ideas or discuss need-to-know information. Otherwise, caregivers and adults primarily help guide their children through an activity using non-verbal communication such as visual demonstration, gestures, gaze and touch.[24] In Indigenous Mayan communities, when a child needs assistance adults will primarily use illustrative acts in the form of nonverbal communication to guide the child in a successful direction for the activity. For example, a Mayan parent could demonstrate to their child how to hold dough in a manner which allows for smooth flattening when making tortillas. In effect, when the child sees that the dough was flattened from the demonstration, they could try it for themselves and learn first hand how to make it flat. In that sense, by observing a nonverbal demonstration of the activity and trying it firsthand, Mayan children learn how to participate in adult activities.[25] Nonverbal communication is important as a way of learning for children of Indigenous Mayan communities, because it allows for children's autonomy and for horizontal collaboration. Mayan parents do not need to give lots of forceful verbal directives to their children to make sure they are participating effectively. Instead, parents collaborate non verbally with their children to guide them through the activity, and doing so is enough to ensure children do the activity successfully. By communicating nonverbally, parents allow their children to have more individual development during their participation in adult activities.[25] Furthermore, by having nonverbal collaboration, children benefit from the assistance of people who are skillful at the adult practice. The

result is that on top of their initial knowledge of adult activities, children's understanding can be further be strengthened through the nonverbal guidance from adult expertise.[25]

Nonverbal actions
According to Matsumoto and Juang, the nonverbal motions that different people indicate important channels of communication. The author states that nonverbal communication is very important to be aware of, especially if comparing gestures, gaze, and tone of voice amongst different cultures. As Latin American cultures embrace big speech gestures, Middle Eastern cultures are relatively more modest in public and are not expressive. Within cultures, different rules are made about staring or gazing. In some cultures, gaze can be seen as a sign of respect. Voice is a category that changes within cultures. Depending on whether or not the cultures is expressive or non expressive, many variants of the voice can depict different reactions.[26]

Genetics
"In the study of nonverbal communications, the limbic brain is where the action is...because it is the part of the brain that reacts to the world around us reflexively and instantaneously, in real time, and without thought."[27] There is evidence that the nonverbal cues made from person-to-person do not entirely have something to do with environment.[3] Other than gestures, phenotypic traits can also convey certain messages in nonverbal communication, for instance, eye color, hair color and height. Research into height has generally found that taller people are perceived as being more impressive. Melamed and Bozionelos (1992) studied a sample of managers in the United Kingdom and found that height was a key factor in who was promoted. Height can have benefits and depressors too. "While tall people often command more respect than short people, height can also be detrimental to some aspects of one-to-one communication, for instance, where you need to 'talk on the same level' or have an 'eye-to-eye' discussion with another person and do not want to be perceived as too big for your boots."[3]

Proxemics
Proxemics is the study of how people use and perceive the physical space around them. The space between the sender and the receiver of a message influences the way the message is interpreted. In addition, the perception and use of space varies significantly across cultures[28] and different settings within cultures. Space in nonverbal communication may be divided into four main categories: intimate, social, personal, and public space. The term territoriality is used in the study of proxemics to explain human behavior regarding personal space.[29] Hargie & Dickson (2004, p. 69) identify 4 such territories: 1. Primary territory: This refers to an area that is associated with someone who has exclusive use of it. An example is a house that others cannot enter without the owner's permission.

2. Secondary territory: Unlike primary territory, there is no "right" to occupancy of secondary territory, but people may still feel some degree of ownership of such space as they develop the custom of occupying it. For example, someone may sit in the same seat in church every week and feel irritated if someone else sits there. 3. Public territory: this refers to an area that is available to all, but only for a set period, such as a parking space or a seat in a library. Although people have only a limited claim over that space, they often extend that claim. For example, it was found that people take longer to leave a parking space when someone is waiting to take that space. 4. Interaction territory: this is space held by others when they are interacting. For example, when a group is talking to each other on a footpath, others will walk around the group rather than disturb their interaction territory.

Movement and body position

Kinesics
The term "kinesics" was first used (in 1952) by Ray Birdwhistell, an anthropologist who wished to study how people communicate through posture, gesture, stance, and movement. Part of Birdwhistell's work involved making films of people in social situations and analyzing them to show different levels of communication not clearly seen otherwise. Several other anthropologists, including Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, also studied kinesics.

Haptics: touching in communication

Main article: Haptic communication

A high five is an example of communicative touch. Haptics is the study of touching as nonverbal communication, and haptic communication refers to how people and other animals communicate via touching. Touches among humans that can be defined as communication include handshakes, holding hands, kissing (cheek, lips, hand), back slapping, high fives, a pat on the shoulder, and brushing an arm. Touching of oneself may include licking, picking, holding, and scratching.[4] These behaviors are referred to as "adapters" or "tells" and

may send messages that reveal the intentions or feelings of a communicator and a listener. The meaning conveyed from touch is highly dependent upon the culture, the context of the situation, the relationship between communicators, and the manner of touch.[30] Touch is an extremely important sense for humans; as well as providing information about surfaces and textures it is a component of nonverbal communication in interpersonal relationships, and vital in conveying physical intimacy. It can be both sexual (such as kissing) and platonic (such as hugging or tickling). Touch is the earliest sense to develop in the fetus. Human babies have been observed to have enormous difficulty surviving if they do not possess a sense of touch, even if they retain sight and hearing. Babies who can perceive through touch, even without sight and hearing, tend to fare much better. In chimpanzees the sense of touch is highly developed. As newborns they see and hear poorly but cling strongly to their mothers. Harry Harlow conducted a controversial study involving rhesus monkeys and observed that monkeys reared with a "terry cloth mother," wire feeding apparatus wrapped in soft terry cloth that provided a level of tactile stimulation and comfort, were considerably more emotionally stable as adults than those with a mere wire mother.(Harlow,1958) Touching is treated differently from one country to another and socially acceptable levels of touching vary from one culture to another (Remland, 2009). In Thai culture, for example, touching someone's head may be thought rude. Remland and Jones (1995) studied groups of people communicating and found that touching was rare among the English (8%), the French (5%) and the Dutch (4%) compared to Italians (14%) and Greeks (12.5%).[31] Striking, pushing, pulling, pinching, kicking, strangling and hand-tohand fighting are forms of touch in the context of physical abuse.

Functions of nonverbal communication

Argyle (1970)[32] put forward the hypothesis that whereas spoken language is normally used for communicating information about events external to the speakers, non-verbal codes are used to establish and maintain interpersonal relationships. It is considered more polite or nicer to communicate attitudes towards others non-verbally rather than verbally, for instance in order to avoid embarrassing situations.[33] Argyle (1988) concluded there are five primary functions of nonverbal bodily behavior in human communication:[34]

Express emotions Express interpersonal attitudes To accompany speech in managing the cues of interaction between speakers and listeners Self-presentation of one's personality Rituals (greetings)

In regards to expressing interpersonal attitudes, humans communicate interpersonal closeness through a series of nonverbal actions known as immediacy behaviors.

Examples of immediacy behaviors are smiling, touching, open body positions, and eye contact. Cultures that display these immediacy behaviors are considered high-contact cultures.

Criticism
An interesting question is: When two people are communicating face-to-face, how much of the meaning is communicated verbally, and how much is communicated nonverbally? This was investigated by Albert Mehrabian and reported in two papers.[35][36] The latter paper concluded: "It is suggested that the combined effect of simultaneous verbal, vocal, and facial attitude communications is a weighted sum of their independent effects - with coefficients of .07, .38, and .55, respectively." Since then, other studies have analysed the relative contribution of verbal and nonverbal signals under more naturalistic situations. Argyle,[32] using video tapes shown to the subjects, analysed the communication of submissive/dominant attitude and found that non-verbal cues had 4.3 times the effect of verbal cues. The most important effect was that body posture communicated superior status in a very efficient way. On the other hand, a study by Hsee et al.[37] had subjects judge a person on the dimension happy/sad and found that words spoken with minimal variation in intonation had an impact about 4 times larger than face expressions seen in a film without sound. Thus, the relative importance of spoken words and facial expressions may be very different in studies using different set-ups.

Interaction of verbal and nonverbal communication

When communicating, nonverbal messages can interact with verbal messages in six ways: repeating, conflicting, complementing, substituting, regulating and accenting/moderating. Conflicting Verbal and nonverbal messages within the same interaction can sometimes send opposing or conflicting messages. A person verbally expressing a statement of truth while simultaneously fidgeting or avoiding eye contact may convey a mixed message to the receiver in the interaction. Conflicting messages may occur for a variety of reasons often stemming from feelings of uncertainty, ambivalence, or frustration.[23]When mixed messages occur, nonverbal communication becomes the primary tool people use to attain additional information to clarify the situation; great attention is placed on bodily movements and positioning when people perceive mixed messages during interactions Complementing Accurate interpretation of messages is made easier when nonverbal and verbal communication complement each other. Nonverbal cues can be used to elaborate on verbal messages to reinforce the information sent when trying to achieve communicative goals; messages have been shown to be remembered better when nonverbal signals affirm the verbal exchange.[38] Substituting Nonverbal behavior is sometimes used as the sole channel for communication of a message. People learn to identify facial expressions, body movements, and body

positioning as corresponding with specific feelings and intentions. Nonverbal signals can be used without verbal communication to convey messages; when nonverbal behavior does not effectively communicate a message, verbal methods are used to enhance understanding.[39]

Clinical studies of nonverbal communication

From 1977 to 2004, the influence of disease and drugs on receptivity of nonverbal communication was studied by teams at three separate medical schools using a similar paradigm.[40] Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, Yale University and Ohio State University had subjects observe gamblers at a slot machine awaiting payoffs. The amount of this payoff was read by nonverbal transmission prior to reinforcement. This technique was developed by and the studies directed by psychologist, Dr. Robert E. Miller and psychiatrist, Dr. A. James Giannini. These groups reported diminished receptive ability in heroin addicts[41] and phencyclidine abusers[42] was contrasted with increased receptivity in cocaine addicts. Men with major depression[43] manifested significantly decreased ability to read nonverbal cues when compared with euthymic men. In some subjects tested for ability to read nonverbal cues, intuitive paradigms were apparently employed while in others a cause and effect approach was used.[44] Subjects in the former group answered quickly and before reinforcement occurred. They could not give a rationale for their particular responses. Subjects in the latter category delayed their response and could offer reasons for their choice.The level of accuracy between the two groups did not vary nor did handedness.[45] Freitas-Magalhaes studied the effect of smile in the treatment of depression and concluded that depressive states decrease when you smile more often.[46] Obese women[47] and women with premenstrual syndrome[48] were found to also possess diminished abilities to read these cues. In contradistinction, men with bipolar disorder possessed increased abilities.[49] A woman with total paralysis of the nerves of facial expression was found unable to transmit or receive any nonverbal facial cues whatsoever.[50] Because of the changes in levels of accuracy on the levels of nonverbal receptivity, the members of the research team hypothesized a biochemical site in the brain which was operative for reception of nonverbal cues. Because certain drugs enhanced ability while others diminished it, the neurotransmitters dopamine and endorphin were considered to be likely etiological candidate. Based on the available data, however, the primary cause and primary effect could not be sorted out on the basis of the paradigm employed.[51]

Child comprehension
An increased emphasis on gestures exists when intonations or facial expression are used. "Speakers often anticipate how recipients will interpret their utterances. If they wish some other, less obvious interpretation, they may "mark" their utterance (e.g. with special intonations or facial expressions)."[52] This specific emphasis known as 'marking' can be spotted as a learned form of non-verbal communication in toddlers. A groundbreaking study, from the Journal of Child Language has concluded that the act of marking a gesture is recognized by three-year-olds, but not by two-year-olds.

In the study, two and three-year-old toddlers were tested on their recognition of markedness within gestures. The experiment was conducted in a room with an examiner and the test subjects, which for the first study were three-year-olds. The examiner sat across from each child individually, and allowed them to play with various objects including a purse with a sponge in it and a box with a sponge in it. After allowing the child to play with the objects for three minutes, the examiner told the child it was time to clean up and motioned by pointing to the objects. They measured the responses of the children by first pointing and not marking the gesture, to see the child's reaction to the request and if they reached for the objects to clean them up. After observing the child's response, the examiner then asked and pointed again, marking the gesture with facial expression, as to lead the child to believe the objects were supposed to be cleaned up. The results showed that three-year-old children were able to recognize the markedness, by responding to the gesture and cleaning the objects up as opposed to when the gesture was presented without being marked. In the second study in which the same experiment was preformed on two-year-olds, the results were different. For the most part, the children did not recognize the difference between the marked and unmarked gesture by not responding more prevalently to the marked gesture, unlike the results of the three-year-olds. This shows that this sort of nonverbal communication is learned at a young age, and is better recognized in threeyear-old children than two-year-old children, making it easier for us to interpret that the ability to recognize markedness is learned in the early stages of development, somewhere between three and four years of age. Boone and Cunningham conducted a study[53] to determine at which age children begin to recognize emotional meaning (happiness, sadness, anger and fear) in expressive body movements. The study included 29 adults and 79 children divided into age groups of four, five and eight year olds. The children were shows two clips simultaneously and were asked to point to the one that was expressing the target emotion. The results of the study revealed that of the four emotions being tested the 4-year-olds were only able to correctly identify sadness at a rate that was better than chance. The 5-year-olds performed better and were able to identify happiness, sadness and fear at better than chance levels. The 8-year-olds and adults could correctly identify all four emotions and there was very little difference between the scores of the two groups. Between the ages of 4 and 8 nonverbal communication and decoding skills improve dramatically.

Comprehension of nonverbal facial cues

A byproduct of the work of the Pittsburgh/Yale/ Ohio State team was an investigation of the role of nonverbal facial cues in heterosexual nondate rape. Males who were serial rapists of adult women were studied for nonverbal receptive abilities. Their scores were the highest of any subgroup.[54] Rape victims were next tested. It was reported that women who had been raped on at least two occasions by different perpetrators had a highly significant impairment in their abilities to read these cues in either male or female senders.[55] These results were troubling, indicating a predator-prey model. The authors did note that whatever the nature of these preliminary findings the responsibility of the rapist was in no manner or level, diminished. The final target of study for this group was the medical students they taught. Medical students at Ohio State University, Ohio University and Northest Ohio Medical College

were invited to serve as subjects. Students indicating a preference for the specialties of family practice, psychiatry, pediatrics and obstetrics-gynecology achieved significantly higher levels of accuracy than those students who planned to train as surgeons, radiologists, or pathologists. Internal medicine and plastic surgery candidates scored at levels near the mean.[56]

See also

Asemic writing Behavioral communication Chinese number gestures Desmond Morris Doctrine of mental reservation Forgetfulness Intercultural competence Albert Mehrabian Metacommunicative competence Microexpression Joe Navarro Neuro-linguistic programming Nunchi People skills Regulatory Focus Theory Semiotics Ishin-denshin Silent service code The Twilight Language Unconscious communication

Footnotes
1. ^ a b c d e f g Hogan, K., Stubbs, R. (2003). Can't get Through 8 Barriers to Communication. Grenta, LA: Pelican Publishing Company. 2. ^ Demarais,A., White, V. (2004). First Impressions. New York, NY: BanTam Books. 3. ^ a b c d e f g h Pease B., Pease A. (2004). The Definitive Book of Body Language. New York, NY: Bantam Books. 4. ^ a b c Knapp & Hall, 2007, p. 9 5. ^ Bull, P.E. (1987). Posture and gesture. Oxford: Pergamon Press. ISBN 0-08-031332-9. 6. ^ FFast, J. (1970). Body Language- The Essential Secrets of Non-verbal Communication. New York,NY: MJF Book. 7. ^ Yammiyavar, Pradeep; Clemmensen, Torkil; Kumar, Jyoti (2008). "Influence of Cultural Background on Non-verbal Communication in a Usability Testing Situation". International Journal of Design 2 (2): 3140. 8. ^ "Nonverbal Communication: "You'd better smile when you say that, Pilgrim!"". Oklahoma Panhandle University, Communications Department. p. 6. Retrieved 1 October 2012.

9. ^ Grammer, Karl; Renninger, LeeAnn; Fischer, Bettina (February 2004). "Disco Clothing, Female Sexual Motivation, and Relationship Status: Is She Dressed to Impress?". The Journal of Sex Research 41 (1): 6674. 10. ^ Ottenheimer, 2007, p. 130 11. ^ Ekman, P.(2003). Emotions revealed: Recognizing faces and feelings to improve communication and emotional life. New York: Times Books. 12. ^ Navarro, Joe. What Every Body Is Saying. New York: Harper Collins, 2008. 13. ^ Weiten, W., Dunn, D, & Hammer, E. (2009). Psychology Applied to Modern Life. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth 14. ^ Argyle, 1988, pp. 153-155 15. ^ Burgoon, J. K., J. P. Blair & R.E.Strom (2008): Cognitive biases and nonverbal cue availability in detecting deception. Human communication research 34: 572-599. 16. ^ Ekman, P., & Friesen, W.V.: Nonverbal leakage and clues to deception: Psychiatry, vol. 32, pp. 88-106 (1969). 17. ^ Vrij, A. (2008). Detecting lies and deceit: Pitfalls and opportunities. John Wiley & Sons: Chichester. 18. ^ Eapen, N.M., Baron, S., Street, C.N.H., & Richardson, D.C. (2010). The bodily movements of liars. In S. Ohlsson & R. Catrambone (Eds.) Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society 19. ^ Levine and Adelman. (1993). Beyond Language. Prentice Hall. 20. ^ Providers Guide to Quality and Culture. (2012). Management Sciences for Health. 21. ^ Providers Guide to Quality and Culture. (2012). Management Sciences for Health. 22. ^ Stoy, Ada. (2010). Project Communication Tips: Nonverbal Communication in Different Cultures. Link Text 23. ^ Rogoff, Barbara; Paradise, Ruth; Arauz, Rebeca Mejia; CorreaChavez, Maricela; Angelillo, Cathy. (2003). "Firsthand Learning Through Intent Participation". Annual Review of Psychology 54 (1): 175203. 24. ^ Rogoff, Barbara; Paradise, Ruth; Arauz, Rebeca Mejia; CorreaChavez, Maricela; Angelillo, Cathy. (2003). "Firsthand Learning Through Intent Participation". Annual Review of Psychology 54 (1): 175203. 25. ^ a b c Rogoff, Barbara; Mistry, J., Gnc, A., & Mosier, C. (1993). "Guided participation in cultural activity by toddlers and caregivers". Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development. Serial no. 236 58 (8): i-179. 26. ^ Matsumoto, D., & Juang, L. (2008). Culture and psychology. (5th ed., pp. 244-247). Belmont, Ca: Wadsworth. 27. ^ Navarro, J. (2008). What Every Body is Saying. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers. 28. ^ Segerstrale & Molnar, 1997, p.235 29. ^ Knapp & Hall, 2007, p.8 30. ^ Knapp & Hall, 2007, p.10 31. ^ Remland, M.S. & Jones, T.S. (2005). Interpersonal distance, body orientation, and touch: The effect of culture, gender and age. Journal of Social Psychology,135, 281-297

32. ^ a b Argyle, Michael, Veronica Salter, Hilary Nicholson, Marylin Williams & Philip Burgess (1970): The communication of inferior and superior attitudes by verbal and non-verbal signals. British journal of social and clinical psychology 9: 222-231. 33. ^ Rosenthal, Robert & Bella M. DePaulo (1979): Sex differences in accommodation in nonverbal communication. Pp. 68-103 i R. Rosenthal (ed.): Skill in nonverbal communication: Individual differences. Oelgeschlager, Gunn & Hain. 34. ^ Argyle, 1988, p.5 35. ^ Mehrabian, Albert & Morton Wiener (1967): Decoding of inconsistent communications. Journal of personality and social psychology 6(1): 109-114. 36. ^ Mehrabian, Albert & Susan R. Ferris (1967): Inference of attitudes from nonverbal communication in two channels. Journal of consulting psychology 31 (3): 248-252. 37. ^ Christopher K. Hsee, Elaine Hatfield & Claude Chemtob (1992): Assessments of the emotional states of others: Conscious judgments versus emotional contagion. Journal of social and clinical psychology 14 (2): 119-128. 38. ^ Knapp & Hall, 2007, p.14 39. ^ Knapp & Hall, 2007, p.16 40. ^ RE Miller, AJ Giannini, JM Levine. Nonverbal communication in men with a cooperative conditioning task. Journal of Social Psychology. 103:101108, 1977 41. ^ AJ Giannini, BT Jones. Decreased reception of nonverbal cues in heroin addicts. Journal of Psychology. 119(5):455-459, 1985. 42. ^ AJ Giannini. RK Bowman, JD Giannini. Perception of nonverbal facial cues in chronic phencyclidine abusers. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 89:72-76, 1999 43. ^ AJ Giannini, DJ Folts, SM Melemis RH Loiselle. Depressed men's lowered ability to interpret nonverbal cues. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 81:555559, 1995. 44. ^ AJ Giannini, J Daood, MC Giannini, R Boniface, PG Rhodes. Intellect vs Intuition--A dichotomy in the reception of nonverbal communication. Journal of General Psychology. 99:19-24,1977 45. ^ AJ Giannini, ME Barringer,MC Giannini,RH Loiselle. Lack of relationship between handedness and intuitive and intellectual(ratioalistic) modes of information processing. Journal of General Psychology. 111:31-37, 1984 46. ^ Freitas-Magalhes, A., & Castro, E. (2009). Facial Expression: The Effect of the Smile in the Treatment of Depression. Empirical Study with Portuguese Subjects. In A. Freitas-Magalhes (Ed.), Emotional Expression: The Brain and The Face (127-140). Porto: University Fernando Pessoa Press. ISBN 978-989-643-034-4. 47. ^ AJ Giannini, L DiRusso, DJ Folts, G Cerimele. Nonverbal communication in moderately obese females. A pilot study. Annals of Clinical Psychiatry. 2:111-1115, 1990. 48. ^ AJ Giannini, LM Sorger, DM Martin, L Bates. Journal of Psychology. 122:591-594, 1988. 49. ^ AJ Giannini, DJ Folts, L Fiedler. Enhanced encoding of nonverbal cues in male bipolars. Journal of Psychology. 124:557-561, 1990.

50. ^ AJ Giannini,D Tamulonis,MC Giannini, RH Loiselle, G Spirtos,. Defective response to social cues in Mobius syndrome. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders. 172174-175, 1984. 51. ^ AJ Giannini. Suggestions for future studies of nonverbal facial cues. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 81:555-558,1995 52. ^ Carpenter, Malinda; Kristin Liebal and Micheal Tomasello (September 2011). "Young children's understanding of markedness in non-verbal communication". Journal of Child Language 38 (04): 888903. doi:10.1017/S0305000910000383. 53. ^ Boone, R. T., & Cunningham, J. G. (1998). Children's decoding of emotion in expressive body movement: The development of cue attunement. Developmental Psychology, 34, 10071016 54. ^ AJ Giannini,KW Fellows. Enhanced interpretation of nonverbal cues in male rapists. Archives of Sexual Behavior. 15:153-158,1986. 55. ^ AJ Giannini, WA Price, JL Kniepple. Decreased interpretation of nonverbal cues in rape victims. International Journal of Pschiatry in Medicine. 16:389-394,1986. 56. ^ AJ Giannini,JD Giannini, RK Bowman. Measurement of nonverbal receptive abilities in medical students. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 90:11451150, 2000

References

Andersen, Peter. (2007). Nonverbal Communication: Forms and Functions (2nd ed.) Waveland Press. Andersen, Peter. (2004). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Body Language. Alpha Publishing. Argyle, Michael. (1988). Bodily Communication (2nd ed.) Madison: International Universities Press. ISBN 0-416-38140-5 Brehove, Aaron. (2011). Knack Body Language: Techniques on Interpreting Nonverbal Cues in the World and Workplace. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press. [1] Bull, P. E. (1987). Posture and Gesture. Oxford: Pergamon Press. ISBN 0-08031332-9 Burgoon, J. K., Guerrero, L. K., & Floyd, K. (2011), Nonverbal communication, Boston: Allyn & Bacon. [2] Floyd, K., Guerrero, L. K. (2006), Nonverbal communication in close relationships, Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Freitas-Magalhes, A. (2006). The Psychology of Human Smile. Oporto: University Fernando Pessoa Press. ISBN 972-8830-59-9 Givens, D.B. (2000) Body speak: what are you saying? Successful Meetings (October) 51 Grammer, K., Renninger, L., & Fischer, B. (2004). Disco Clothing, Female Sexual Motivation, and Relationship Status: Is She Dressed to Impress? The Journal of Sex Research, 41(1), 66-74. Guerrero, L. K., DeVito, J. A., Hecht, M. L. (Eds.) (1999). The nonverbal communication reader. (2nd ed.), Lone Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press. [3] Gudykunst, W.B. & Ting-Toomey, S. (1988) Culture and Interpersonal Communication. California: Sage Publications Inc.

Hanna, Judith L. (1987). To Dance Is Human: A Theory of Nonverbal Communication. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Hargie, O. & Dickson, D. (2004) Skilled Interpersonal Communication: Research, Theory and Practice. Hove: Routledge. Knapp, Mark L., & Hall, Judith A. (2007) Nonverbal Communication in Human Interaction. (5th ed.) Wadsworth: Thomas Learning. ISBN 0-15-506372-3 Melamed, J. & Bozionelos, N. (1992) Managerial promotion and height. Psychological Reports, 71 pp. 587593. Remland, Martin S. (2009). Nonverbal communication in everyday life. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Ottenheimer, H.J. (2007), The anthropology of language: an introduction to linguistic anthropology, Kansas State: Thomson Wadsworth. Segerstrale, Ullica., & Molnar, Peter (Eds.). (1997). Nonverbal Communication: Where Nature Meets Culture. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN 0-8058-2179-1 Zysk, Wolfgang (2004), Krpersprache - Eine neue Sicht, Doctoral Dissertation 2004, University Duisburg-Essen (Germany). Campbell, S. (2005). Saying What's Real. Tiburon, CA: Publishers Group West. Ekman, P. (2003). Emotions Revealed. New York, NY: Owl Books. Gilbert, M. (2002). Communication Miracles at Work. Berkeley, CA: Publishers Group West. Stubbs, K. H. (2003). Can't Get Through: 8 Barriers to Communication. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Company. Navarro, J. (2008). What Every Body is Saying. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers. Pease B., Pease A. (2004). The Definitive Book of Body Language. New York, NY: Bantam Books. Fast, J. (1970). Body Language- The Essential Secrets of Non-verbal Communication. New York,NY: MJF Book. Bridges, J. (1998). How to be a Gentleman. Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press. Dr. Givens, D. (2005). Love Signals. New York, NY: St. Martins Press. Simpson-Giles, C. (2001). How to Be a Lady. Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press. Driver, J. (2010). You Say More Than You Think. New York, NY: Crown Publishers. Demarais,A., White, V. (2004). First Impressions. New York, NY: BanTam Books. Hogan, K., Stubbs, R. (2003). Can't get Through 8 Barriers to Communication. Grenta, LA: Pelican Publishing Company. Weiten, W., Dunn, D, & Hammer, E. (2009). Psychology Applied to Modern Life. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth

External links

"Credibility, Respect, and Power: Sending the Right Nonverbal Signals" by Debra Stein Online Nonverbal Library with more than 500 free available articles on this topic. The Nonverbal Dictionary of Gestures, Signs & Body Language Cues by David B. Givens

"Psychology Today Nonverbal Communication Blog posts" by Joe Navarro "NVC Portal - A useful portal providing information on Nonverbal Communication" [hide]

v t e

Communication studies

Terms and topics

Biocommunication Broadcasting Business communication Communication Computer-mediated communication Conversation History of communication Information Intercultural communication Interpersonal communication Intrapersonal communication Mass media Meaning Media ecology Models of communication New media Nonverbal communication Speech Symbol Telecommunication Text and conversation theory Communication sciences Communication design Communication theory Crisis communication Cross-cultural communication Development communication Discourse analysis Environmental communication Health communication International communication Mass communication Media studies Mediated cross-border communication Organizational communication Political communication

Subfields

Risk communication Science communication Technical communication Conversation analysis Critical theory Cultural studies Film criticism Journalism Linguistics Philosophy of language Political science Pragmatics Public relations Rhetoric Semiotics Sociolinguistics Sociology of culture Theater Theodor Adorno Roland Barthes Gregory Bateson Walter Benjamin Kenneth Burke Manuel Castells Noam Chomsky Robert T. Craig Walter Fisher George Gerbner Jrgen Habermas Max Horkheimer Harold Innis Roman Jakobson Irving Janis Wendell Johnson D. Lawrence Kincaid Walter Lippman Niklas Luhmann Herbert Marcuse George H. Mead Marshall McLuhan Nick Morgan Walter J. Ong Vance Packard Charles S. Peirce Neil Postman Nora C. Quebral

Related fields

Key scholars

I. A. Richards Everett M. Rogers Wilbur Schramm Deborah Tannen James W. Tankard, Jr.

Category History Journals Organizations Outline Scholars

Templates Categories:

Nonverbal communication

Symbolic system
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008) In the fields of anthropology, sociology, and psychology, symbolic system refers to a system of interconnected symbolic meanings. In particular, the field focuses on the dynamic relationships between various symbols within different task or theoretical contexts. This can be extended to anything concerning humans or computers manipulating symbols in a structured format that produces a higher layer of meaning than the physical message medium. Examples of symbolic systems include natural language, programming languages, mathematical logic, and non-verbal communication. Symbols can also be intuitively generated to represent specific meanings. For complex systems of symbols, the term is preferred to symbolism, which explains the symbolic meaning of a single cultural phenomenon. Formal research in symbolic systems combines paradigms and ideas from cognitive science, artificial intelligence, and human-computer interaction. Note: Symbolic systems are inverse gaussian distribution systems. (limit towards infinity is a gaussian distribution)

See also

Structural anthropology

Symbolic anthropology Symbolic interactionism Claude Lvi-Strauss Symbolic (disambiguation) Symbolism (disambiguation)

External links

Stanford University's Symbolic Systems Homepage

This sociology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Categories:

Anthropology Social systems Symbols Typography Sociology stubs

Philosophy of philosophy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Metaphilosophy) Jump to: navigation, search Philosophy of philosophy (sometimes called "metaphilosophy") is the philosophical study of the nature of philosophy.[1] Some philosophers consider metaphilosophy to be a subject apart from philosophy, above or beyond it,[2] while others object to that idea.[3] Timothy Williamson argues that the philosophy of philosophy is "automatically part of philosophy," as is the philosophy of anything else.[4] Paul Moser writes that typical metaphilosophical discussion includes determining the conditions under which a claim can be said to be a philosophical one.[5] Nicholas Bunnin and Jiyuan Yu write that the separation of first- from second-order study has lost popularity as philosophers find it hard to observe the distinction.[6] As evidenced by these contrasting opinions, debate remains as to whether the evaluation of the nature of philosophy is 'second order philosophy' or simply 'plain philosophy'.

Contents

1 Terminology 2 Metaphilosophical writings 3 Metaphilosophical problems o 3.1 The definition and demarcation of philosophy o 3.2 The aims of philosophy

3.3 The methods of philosophy 3.4 Philosophical progress 4 See also 5 References 6 Texts
o o

7 External links

Terminology
Morris Lazerowitz claims to have created the term "metaphilosophy" around 1940 and used it in print in 1942.[1] Earlier uses have been found in translations from the French.[7] The term is derived from Greek word meta ("after", "beyond", "with") and philosopha ("love of wisdom"). The term is used by some philosophers such as Rescher[8] or Richard Double[9] and specifically rejected by others. For example, Wittgenstein rejected the analogy between metalanguage and a metaphilosophy[10]. Others, such as Williamson, prefer the term 'philosophy of philosophy' as that does not imply a discipline that looks down on philosophy but something which is a part of it[11]. In the analytical tradition, the term "metaphilosophy" is mostly used to tag commenting and research on previous works as opposed to original contributions towards solving philosophical problems.[12]

Metaphilosophical writings
While many philosophers from the Greeks onwards have talked about the nature and purpose of philosophy, the term itself is of recent origin. Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote about the nature of philosophical puzzles and philosophical understanding. He suggested philosophical errors arose from confusions about the nature of philosophical inquiry. In the Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein wrote that there is not a metaphilosophy.[13] C. D. Broad distinguished Critical from Speculative philosophy in his "The Subjectmatter of Philosophy, and its Relations to the special Sciences," in Introduction to Scientific Thought, 1923. Curt Ducasse, in Philosophy as a Science, examines several views of the nature of philosophy, and concludes that philosophy has a distinct subject matter: appraisals. Ducasse's view has been among the first to be described as 'metaphilosophy'.[14] Henri Lefebvre in Metaphilosophie (1965) argued, from a marxian standpoint, in favor of an "ontological break", as a necessary methodological approach for critical social theory (whilst criticizing Louis Althusser's "epistemological break" with subjective marxism, which represented a fundamental theoretical tool for the school of marxist structuralism).

Metaphilosophical problems
The definition and demarcation of philosophy
The word philosophy is of Ancient Greek origin: (philosopha), meaning "love of wisdom."[15][16] Various definitions of Philosophy see it as involving the study of fundamental or general topics; e.g. "the most fundamental and general concepts and principles involved in thought, action and reality",[17] "the most general questions about our universe and our place in it",[18] the "absolutely fundamental reason of everything it investigates", or "the fundamental reasons or causes of all things".[19] The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy says it is the investigation of the most general and abstract features of the world and the categories with which we think, in order to "lay bare their foundations and presuppositions".[20] The question raised by metaphilosophy is if philosophical enquiry is a second order discipline, having concepts, theories and presupposition as its subject matter.[clarification needed] It is "thinking about thinking", of a "generally second-order character".[21] Philosophers study, rather than use, the concepts that structure our thinking. However, the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy warns that "the borderline between such 'secondorder' reflection, and ways of practising the first-order discipline itself, is not always clear: philosophical problems may be tamed by the advance of a discipline, and the conduct of a discipline may be swayed by philosophical reflection". This question gives rise to a series of questions asked by both the advocates of metaphilosophy and its opponents.

The aims of philosophy

What is your aim in philosophy? To show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, 309 Some philosophers (e.g. existentialists, pragmatists) think philosophy is ultimately a practical discipline that should help us lead meaningful lives by showing us who we are, how we relate to the world around us and what we should do.[citation needed] Others (e.g. analytic philosophers) see philosophy as a technical, formal, and entirely theoretical discipline, with goals such as "the disinterested pursuit of knowledge for its own sake". [22] Other proposed goals of philosophy include "discover[ing] the absolutely fundamental reason of everything it investigates",[23] "making explicit the nature and significance of ordinary and scientific beliefs",[24] and unifying and transcending the insights given by science and religion.[25] Others proposed that philosophy is a complex discipline because it has 4 or 6 different dimensions.[26][27]

The methods of philosophy

Main article: Philosophical method Philosophical method (or philosophical methodology) is the study of how to do philosophy. A common view among philosophers is that philosophy is distinguished by the ways that philosophers follow in addressing philosophical questions. There is not just one method that philosophers use to answer philosophical questions.

Philosophical progress
Main article: Philosophical progress A prominent question in metaphilosophy is that of whether or not philosophical progress occurs[citation needed], and more so, whether such progress in philosophy is even possible. It has even been disputed, most notably by Ludwig Wittgenstein, whether genuine philosophical problems actually exist. The opposite has also been claimed, most notably by Karl Popper, who held that such problems do exist, that they are solvable, and that he had actually found definite solutions to some of them.

See also
Philosophy portal Religion portal Science portal Hinduism portal Mythology portal Spirituality portal

Metatheory Meta-knowledge Meta-epistemology Non-philosophy Philosophical progress Unsolved problems in philosophy

References
1. ^ a b Lazerowitz, M. (1970). "A Note on Metaphilosophy, Metaphilosophy, 1(1): 91; see also the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy article by Nicholas Joll: Contemporary Metaphilosophy 2. ^ See for example, Charles L. Griswold Jr. (2010). Platonic Writings/Platonic Readings. Penn State Press. pp. 144-146. ISBN 0271044810. 3. ^ For example, see Martin Heidegger (1956). Was Ist Das--die Philosophie?. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 21. ISBN 0808403192. 4. ^ Timothy Williamson, The Philosophy of Philosophy, John Wiley & Sons, 2008, p. ix. 5. ^ Paul K. Moser (2008). "Metaphilosophy". In Robert Audi, ed. The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (Paperback reprint of 2nd ed.). Paw Prints 2008-06-26. pp. 561562. ISBN 1439503508. "The distinction between philosophy and metaphilosophy has an analogue in the familiar distinction between mathematics and metamathematics." 6. ^ Nicholas Bunnin and Jiyuan Yu (2009). "Metaphilosophy". The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 426427. ISBN 1405191120.

7. ^ e.g. Clemenceau G., In the evening of my thought (Au soir de la pense, Paris: Plon, 1927), Houghton Mifflin company, 1929, Vol. 2, p.498: "this teratological product of metaphilosophy"; Gilson E., Christianity and philosophy, Pub. for the Institute of Mediaeval Studies by Sheed & Ward, 1939, p. 88 8. ^ Rescher N. (2007). "Chapter 1: Philosophical principles". Philosophical Dialectics, an Essay on Metaphilosophy. State University of New York Press. p. 1. ISBN 0791467465. 9. ^ Richard Double (1996). Metaphilosophy and Free Will. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195355415. 10. ^ Wittgenstein L. (1963). "Paragraph 121". Philosophical Investigations. Blackwell. 11. ^ Williamson T. (2007). "Preface". The Philosophy of Philosophy. WileyBlackwell. ISBN 1405133961. 12. ^ e.g.PhilPapers 13. ^ One might think: if philosophy speaks of the use of the word "philosophy" there must be a second-order philosophy. But it is not so; it is, rather, like the case of othography, which deals with the word "orthography" among others without then being second order. Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosophical Investigations Blackwell Oxford 1963 para 121. 14. ^ Dommeyer F., (1961), A Critical Examination of C. J. Ducasse's Metaphilosophy, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 21, (Jun., 1961), No. 4 pp. 439-455 15. ^ Philosophia, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus 16. ^ Online Etymology Dictionary 17. ^ Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy 18. ^ Penguin Encyclopedia 19. ^ Modern Thomistic Philosophy, by R. Phillips 20. ^ Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy 21. ^ Oxford Companion to Philosophy 22. ^ Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy 23. ^ Modern Thomistic Philosophy by R Phillips 24. ^ Collins English Dictionary 25. ^ Mastering Philosophy by Anthony Harrison-Barbet 26. ^ Adler, Mortimer (1993) The Four Dimensions of Philosophy: MetaphysicalMoral-Objective-Categorical 27. ^ Vidal, Clment (2012). "Metaphilosophical Criteria for Worldview Comparison". Metaphilosophy 43 (3): 306347.

Rescher, Nicholas (2001). Philosophical Reasoning. A Study in the Methodology of Philosophizing. Blackwell.

Texts

Wittgenstein L., Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, trans. David Pears and Brian McGuinness (1961), Routledge, hardcover: ISBN 0-7100-3004-5, 1974 paperback: ISBN 0-415-02825-6, 2001 hardcover: ISBN 0-415-25562-7, 2001 paperback: ISBN 0-415-25408-6; ** Philosophische Untersuchungen (1953) or Philosophical Investigations, translated by G.E.M. Anscombe (1953)

Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1953/2001). Philosophical Investigations. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 0-631-23127-7.

Lazerowitz M., (1964) Studies in Metaphilosphy, London:Routledge Double R., (1996) Metaphilosophy and Free Will, Oxford University Press, USA, ISBN 0-19-510762-4, ISBN 978-0-19-510762-3 Rescher N., (2006), Philosophical Dialectics, an Essay on Metaphilosophy, Albany:U of New York Williams T., (2007) The Philosophy of Philosophy, London: Blackwell

External links

Philosophy of philosophy at PhilPapers Contemporary metaphilosophy entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Computational Philosophy of Science - Paul R. Thagard, 1993 Metaphilosophy, Journal published by Blackwell Metaphilosophy Journal- Southern Connecticut State University Metaphilosophy at the Open Directory Project Lvov-Warsaw School, Kazimierz Twardowski, in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Peter Suber: Metaphilosophy Themes and Questions - A Personal List [hide]

v t e

Philosophy
Branches

Metaphysics Epistemology Logic Ethics Aesthetics

Philosophy of

Action Art Being Biology Business Chemistry Computer science Culture Design Dialogue Education

Economics Engineering Environment Film Futility Geography Information Healthcare Hermeneutics History Human nature Humor Justice Language Law Literature Mathematics Mind Music Pain Philosophy Physics Politics Psychology Religion Science Sexuality Social science Space and time Technology War

Schools of thought By era

Ancient Western o Medieval o Renaissance o Modern

o

Contemporary

Ancient

Chinese o Agriculturalism o Confucianism o Legalism o Logicians o Mohism o Chinese naturalism o Neotaoism

Taoism Yangism Zen Greco-Roman o Aristotelianism o Cynicism o Epicureanism o Neoplatonism o Peripatetic o Platonism o Presocratic o Pythagoreanism o Sophism o Stoicism Indian o Buddhist o Crvka o Hindu o Jain Persian o Mazdakism o Zoroastrianism
o o o o

Zurvanism

9th 16th century

Christian Europe o Scholasticism o Renaissance humanism o Thomism East Asian o Korean Confucianism o Rigaku o Neo-Confucianism Indian o Navya-Nyya o Vishishtadvaita o Dvaita Islamic o Averroism o Avicennism o Persian Illuminationism o Kalam o Sufi Jewish
o

Judeo-Islamic

17th 21st century

Absolute idealism Analytic philosophy

Anarchism Behaviorism Cartesianism Classical liberalism Cosmogony Deconstruction Dialectical materialism Eliminativism Epiphenomenalism Egoism Existentialism Feminist Frankfurt School Functionalism Hegelianism Kantianism Kokugaku Kyoto school Legal positivism Logical positivism Marxism Modernism Neo-Kantianism Neo-Thomism Neuroepistemology New Confucianism Ordinary language Phenomenology Postmodernism Post-structuralism Pragmatism Reformed epistemology Structuralism Transcendentalism Utilitarianism Vienna Circle more...

Positions

Certainty o Skepticism o Solipsism o Nihilism Ethics o Consequentialism o Deontology o Virtue Free will o Compatibilism o Determinism

o Libertarianism Metaphysics o Atomism o Dualism o Monism o Naturalism Epistemology o Constructivism o Empiricism o Idealism o Particularism o Rationalism Naturalism Normativity o Absolutism o Particularism o Relativism o Universalism Ontology o Action o Event o Process Reality o Anti-realism o Conceptualism o Idealism o Materialism o Nominalism o

Realism

By region

African Ethiopian Aztec Eastern Chinese Indian Indonesian Iranian Japanese Korean Pakistani Western American British Danish French German Greek

Italian Polish Romanian Russian Slovene Outline Index Years Problems Schools Glossary Philosophers Movements Publications

Lists

Portal Category WikiProject

Changes Categories:

Philosophy by field Metaphilosophy

Non-philosophy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Non-philosophy is a concept developed by French philosopher Franois Laruelle (formerly of the Collge international de philosophie and the University of Paris X: Nanterre). Laruelle argues that all forms of philosophy (from ancient philosophy to analytic philosophy to deconstruction and so on) are structured around a prior decision, and remain constitutively blind to this decision. The 'decision' that Laruelle is concerned with here is the dialectical splitting of the world in order to grasp the world philosophically. Examples from the history of philosophy include Immanuel Kant's distinction between the synthesis of manifold impressions and the faculties of the understanding; Martin Heidegger's split between the ontic and the ontological; and Jacques Derrida's notion of diffrance/presence. The reason Laruelle finds this decision interesting and problematic is because the decision itself cannot be grasped (philosophically grasped, that is) without introducing some further scission.

Laruelle further argues that the decisional structure of philosophy can only be grasped non-philosophically. In this sense, non-philosophy is a science of philosophy. Nonphilosophy is not metaphilosophy because, as Laruelle scholar Ray Brassier notes, "philosophy is already metaphilosophical through its constitutive reflexivity".[1] Brassier also defines non-philosophy as the "theoretical practice of philosophy proceeding by way of transcendental axioms and producing theorems which are philosophically uninterpretable".[1] The reason why the axioms and theorems of non-philosophy are philosophically uninterpretable is because, as explained, philosophy cannot grasp its decisional structure in the way that non-philosophy can. Laruelle's non-philosophy, he claims, should be considered to philosophy what nonEuclidean geometry is to the work of Euclid. It stands in particular opposition to philosophical heirs of Jacques Lacan such as Alain Badiou.

Contents

1 Role of the subject 2 Radical immanence 3 Non-philosophy, Sans-philosophie 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External links

Role of the subject

The decisional structure of philosophy is grasped by the subject of non-philosophy. Laruelle's concept of "the subject" here is not the same as the subject-matter, nor does it have anything to do with the traditional philosophical notion of subjectivity. It is, instead, a function along the same lines as a mathematical function. The concept of performativity (taken from speech act theory) is central to the idea of the subject of non-philosophy. Laruelle believes that both philosophy and non-philosophy are performative. However, philosophy merely performatively legitimates the decisional structure which, as already noted, it is unable to fully grasp, in contrast to nonphilosophy which collapses the distinction (present in philosophy) between theory and action. In this sense, non-philosophy is radically performative because the theorems deployed in accordance with its method constitute fully-fledged scientific actions. Nonphilosophy, then, is conceived as a rigorous and scholarly discipline.

Radical immanence
The radically performative character of the subject of non-philosophy would be meaningless without the concept of radical immanence. The philosophical doctrine of immanence is generally defined as any philosophical belief or argument which resists transcendent separation between the world and some other principle or force (such as a creator deity). According to Laruelle, the decisional character of philosophy makes immanence impossible for it, as some ungraspable splitting is always taking place

within. By contrast, non-philosophy axiomatically deploys immanence as being endlessly conceptualizable by the subject of non-philosophy. This is what Laruelle means by "radical immanence". The actual work of the subject of non-philosophy is to apply its methods to the decisional resistance to radical immanence which is found in philosophy.

Non-philosophy, Sans-philosophie
In A New Presentation of Non-Philosophy (2004), Franois Laruelle states: I see non-philosophers in several different ways. I see them, inevitably, as subjects of the university, as is required by worldly life, but above all as related to three fundamental human types. They are related to the analyst and the political militant, obviously, since non-philosophy is close to psychoanalysis and Marxism it transforms the subject by transforming instances of philosophy. But they are also related to what I would call the spiritual type which it is imperative not to confuse with spiritualist. The spiritual are not spiritualists. They are the great destroyers of the forces of philosophy and the state, which band together in the name of order and conformity. The spiritual haunt the margins of philosophy, Gnosticism, mysticism, and even of institutional religion and politics. The spiritual are not just abstract, quietist mystics; they are for the world. This is why a quiet discipline is not sufficient, because man is implicated in the world as the presupposed that determines it. Thus, nonphilosophy is also related to Gnosticism and science-fiction; it answers their fundamental question which is not at all philosophy's primary concern Should humanity be saved? And how? And it is also close to spiritual revolutionaries such as Mntzer and certain mystics who skirted heresy. When all is said and done, is nonphilosophy anything other than the chance for an effective utopia? [2] Numbered amongst the members or sympathizers of sans-philosophie ("without philosophy") are those included in a collection published in 2005 by LHarmattan:[3] Franois Laruelle, Ray Brassier, Laurent Carraz, Hugues Choplin, Jacques Colette, Nathalie Depraz, Gilles Grelet, Jean-Pierre Faye, Gilbert Hottois, Jean-Luc Rannou,[4] Pierre A. Riffard, and Sandrine Roux.

See also

Adam Karl August von Eschenmayer Flix Ravaisson-Mollien Henology

References
1. ^ a b Ray Brassier, 'Axiomatic Heresy: The Non-Philosophy of Francois Laruelle', Radical Philosophy 121, Sep/Oct 2003. p. 25 2. ^ http://www.onphi.net/texte-a-new-presentation-of-non-philosophy32.html 3. ^ Gilles Grelet (dir.), Thorie-rbellion. Un ultimatum, Paris: LHarmattan, coll. Nous, les sans-philosophie , 2005, p. 159.

4. ^ Jean-Luc Rannou, La non-philosophie, simplement. Une introduction synthtique, 2005, p. 238

Further reading

Ray Brassier, 'Axiomatic Heresy: The Non-Philosophy of Francois Laruelle', Radical Philosophy 121, Sep/Oct 2003. Ray Brassier, 'Behold the Non-Rabbit. Kant, Quine, Laruelle' in Pli: The Warwick Journal of Philosophy. Vol. 12. What is Materialism? 2001. Franois Laruelle, 'A Summary of Non-Philosophy' in Pli: The Warwick Journal of Philosophy. Vol. 8. Philosophies of Nature, 1999. Franois Laruelle, 'Identity and Event' in Pli: The Warwick Journal of Philosophy. Vol. 9. Parallel Processes, 2000.

External links

Controversy over the Possibility of a Science of Philosophy (pdf) a debate between Laruelle and Derrida (from La Dcision Philosophique, No. 5, April 1988, pp. 6276) translated by Robin Mackay Frequently Asked Questions at Organisation Non-Philosophique Internationale (ONPhI) Organisation Non-Philosophique Internationale A New Presentation of Non-Philosophy by Franois Laruelle at Organisation Non-Philosophique Internationale (ONPhI)

Categories:

Philosophical schools and traditions

List of unsolved problems in philosophy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Unsolved problems in philosophy) Jump to: navigation, search This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2011)
Philosophy

Philosophers

Aestheticians

Epistemologists

Ethicists Logicians

Metaphysicians

Social and political philosophers Traditions

Analytic Continental Eastern Islamic Platonic Scholastic

Periods

Ancient Medieval Modern

Contemporary Literature

Aesthetics Epistemology

Ethics Logic Metaphysics

Political philosophy Branches

Aesthetics Epistemology

Ethics Logic

Metaphysics

Political philosophy Social philosophy Lists

Index Outline Years Problems

Publications Theories Glossary Philosophers

Philosophy portal

v t e

This is a list of some of the major unsolved problems in philosophy. Clearly, unsolved philosophical problems exist in the lay sense (e.g. "What is the meaning of life?", "Where did we come from?", "What is reality?", etc.). However, professional philosophers generally accord serious philosophical problems specific names or questions, which indicate a particular method of attack or line of reasoning. As a result, broad and untenable topics become manageable. It would therefore be beyond the scope of this article to categorize "life" (and similar vagaries) as an unsolved philosophical problem.

Contents

1 Aesthetics o 1.1 Essentialism o 1.2 Art objects 2 Epistemology o 2.1 Gettier problem o 2.2 Molyneux problem o 2.3 Infinite regression o 2.4 Mnchhausen Trilemma o 2.5 Qualia 3 Ethics

3.1 Moral luck 4 Philosophy of language o 4.1 Moore's disbelief 5 Philosophy of mathematics o 5.1 Mathematical objects 6 Metaphysics o 6.1 Sorites paradox o 6.2 Counterfactuals o 6.3 Material implication 7 Philosophy of mind o 7.1 Mind-body problem o 7.2 Cognition and AI o 7.3 Hard problem of consciousness 8 Philosophy of science o 8.1 Problem of induction o 8.2 Demarcation problem o 8.3 Realism 9 See also
o

10 References

Aesthetics
Essentialism
Main article: Essentialism This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2011) In art, essentialism is the idea that each medium has its own particular strengths and weaknesses, contingent on its mode of communication. A chase scene, for example, may be appropriate for motion pictures, but poorly realized in poetry, because the essential components of the poetic medium are ill suited to convey the information of a chase scene. This idea may be further refined, and it may be said that the haiku is a poor vehicle for describing a lover's affection, as opposed to the sonnet. Essentialism is attractive to artists, because it not only delineates the role of art and media, but also prescribes a method for evaluating art (quality correlates to the degree of organic form). However, considerable criticism has been leveled at essentialism, which has been unable to formally define organic form or for that matter, medium. What, after all, is the medium of poetry? If it is language, how is this distinct from the medium of prose fiction? Is the distinction really a distinction in medium or genre? Questions about organic form, its definition, and its role in art remain controversial. Generally, working artists accept some form of the concept of organic form, whereas philosophers have tended to regard it as vague and irrelevant.

Art objects

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2011) This problem originally arose from the practice rather than theory of art. Marcel Duchamp, in the 20th century, challenged conventional notions of what "art" is, placing ordinary objects in galleries to prove that the context rather than content of an art piece determines what art is. In music, John Cage followed up on Duchamp's ideas, asserting that the term "music" applied simply to the sounds heard within a fixed interval of time. While it is easy to dismiss these assertions, further investigation[who?] shows that Duchamp and Cage are not so easily disproved. For example, if a pianist plays a Chopin etude, but his finger slips missing one note, is it still the Chopin etude or a new piece of music entirely? Most people would agree that it is still a Chopin etude (albeit with a missing note), which brings into play the Sorites paradox, mentioned below. If one accepts that this is not a fundamentally changed work of music, however, is one implicitly agreeing with Cage that it is merely the duration and context of musical performance, rather than the precise content, which determines what music is? Hence, the question is what the criteria for art objects are and whether these criteria are entirely context-dependent.

Epistemology
Epistemological problems are concerned with the nature, scope and limitations of knowledge. Epistemology may also be described as the study of knowledge.

Gettier problem
Main article: Gettier problem Plato suggests, in his Theaetetus, Meno, and other dialogues, that "knowledge" may be defined as justified true belief. For over two millennia, this definition of knowledge has been reinforced and accepted by subsequent philosophers, who accepted justifiability, truth, and belief as the necessary criteria for information to earn the special designation of being "knowledge." In 1963, however, Edmund Gettier published an article in the periodical Analysis entitled "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?", offering instances of justified true belief that do not conform to the generally understood meaning of "knowledge." Gettier's examples hinged on instances of epistemic luck: cases where a person appears to have sound evidence for a proposition, and that proposition is in fact true, but the apparent evidence is not causally related to the proposition's truth. In response to Gettier's article, numerous philosophers have offered modified criteria for "knowledge." There is no general consensus to adopt any of the modified definitions yet proposed.

Molyneux problem

Main article: Molyneux's problem The Molyneux problem dates back to the following question posed by William Molyneux to John Locke in the 17th century: if a man born blind, and able to distinguish by touch between a cube and a globe, were made to see, could he now tell by sight which was the cube and which the globe, before he touched them? The problem raises fundamental issues in epistemology and the philosophy of mind, and was widely discussed after Locke included it in the second edition of his Essay Concerning Human Understanding.[1] A similar problem was also addressed earlier in the 12th century by Ibn Tufail (Abubacer), in his philosophical novel, Hayy ibn Yaqdhan (Philosophus Autodidactus). His version of the problem, however, dealt mainly with colors rather than shapes.[2][3] Modern science may now have the tools necessary to test this problem in controlled environments. The resolution of this problem is in some sense provided by the study of human subjects who gain vision after extended congenital blindness. One such subject took approximately a year to recognize most household objects purely by sight.[citation needed] This indicates that this may no longer be an unsolved problem in philosophy.

Infinite regression
Overlooking for a moment the complications posed by Gettier problems, philosophy has essentially continued to operate on the principle that knowledge is justified true belief. The obvious question that this definition entails is how one can know whether one's justification is sound. One must therefore provide a justification for the justification. That justification itself requires justification, and the questioning continues interminably. The conclusion is that no one can truly have knowledge of anything, since it is, due to this infinite regression, impossible to satisfy the justification element. In practice, this has caused little concern to philosophers, since the line between a reasonably exhaustive investigation and superfluous investigation is usually clear, while others argue for coherentist systems and others still view an infinite regress as unproblematic due to recent work by Peter D. Klein. Nevertheless, the question remains theoretically interesting.

Mnchhausen Trilemma
The Mnchhausen Trilemma, also called Agrippa's Trilemma, purports that it is impossible to prove any certain truth even in fields such as logic and mathematics. According to this argument, the proof of any theory rests either on circular reasoning, infinite regress, or unproven axioms.

Qualia
See also: Distinguishing blue from green in language This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2012)

The question hinges on whether color is a product of the mind or an inherent property of objects. While most philosophers will agree that color assignment corresponds to light frequency, it is not at all clear whether the particular psychological phenomena of color are imposed on these visual signals by the mind, or whether such qualia are somehow naturally associated with their noumena. Another way to look at this question is to assume two people ("Fred" and "George" for the sake of convenience) see colors differently. That is, when Fred sees the sky, his mind interprets this light signal as blue. He calls the sky "blue." However, when George sees the sky, his mind assigns green to that light frequency. If Fred were able to step into George's mind, he would be amazed that George saw green skies. However, George has learned to associate the word "blue" with what his mind sees as green, and so he calls the sky "blue", because for him the color green has the name "blue." The question is whether blue must be blue for all people, or whether the perception of that particular color is assigned by the mind. This extends to all areas of the physical reality, where the outside world we perceive is merely a representation of what is impressed upon the senses. The objects we see are in truth wave-emitting (or reflecting) objects which the brain shows to the conscious self in various forms and colors. Whether the colors and forms experienced perfectly match between person to person, may never be known. That people can communicate accurately shows that the order and proportionality in which experience is interpreted is generally reliable. Thus one's reality is, at least, compatible to another person's in terms of structure and ratio.

Ethics
This section requires expansion. (January 2012)

Moral luck
Main article: Moral luck The problem of moral luck is that some people are born into, live within, and experience circumstances that seem to change their moral culpability when all other factors remain the same. For instance, a case of circumstantial moral luck: a poor person is born into a poor family, and has no other way to feed himself so he steals his food. Another person, born into a very wealthy family, does very little but has ample food and does not need to steal to get it. Should the poor person be more morally blameworthy than the rich person? After all, it is not his fault that he was born into such circumstances, but a matter of "luck". A related case is resultant moral luck. For instance, two persons behave in a morally culpable way, such as driving carelessly, but end up producing unequal amounts of harm: one strikes a pedestrian and kills him, while the other does not. That one driver caused a death and the other did not is no part of the drivers' intentional actions; yet most observers would likely ascribe greater blame to the driver who killed. (Compare consequentialism.)

The fundamental question of moral luck is how our moral responsibility is changed by factors over which we have no control.

Philosophy of language
Moore's disbelief
Main article: Moore's paradox Although this problem has received relatively little attention, it intrigued philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein when G. E. Moore presented it to the Moral Science Club at Cambridge.[citation needed] The statement "Albany is the capital of New York, but I don't believe it" is not necessarily false, but it seems to be unassertable. The speaker cannot simultaneously assert that Albany is the capital of New York and his disbelief in that statement. (Moore's explanation of what appears to be a contradiction when we assert that a proposition is true but claim not to believe it draws a distinction between what is asserted and what is implied. To claim that the capital of New York is Albany makes an assertion which is either true or false. Someone making this assertion implies that they believe it. When they go on to assert 'but I don't believe it', they contradict not the original assertion but the original implication. Moore realized, however, that it is the contradiction between the assertion and the implication that gives the expression the appearance of nonsense.)

Philosophy of mathematics
Mathematical objects
Main article: Mathematical structure What are numbers, sets, groups, points, etc.? Are they real objects or are they simply relationships that necessarily exist in all structures? Although many disparate views exist regarding what a mathematical object is, the discussion may be roughly partitioned into two opposing schools of thought: platonism, which asserts that mathematical objects are real, and formalism, which asserts that mathematical objects are merely formal constructions. This dispute may be better understood when considering specific examples, such as the "continuum hypothesis". The continuum hypothesis has been proven independent of the ZF axioms of set theory, so according to that system, the proposition can neither be proven true nor proven false. A formalist would therefore say that the continuum hypothesis is neither true nor false, unless you further refine the context of the question. A platonist, however, would assert that there either does or does not exist a transfinite set with a cardinality less than the continuum but greater than any countable set.[citation needed] So, regardless of whether it has been proven unprovable, the platonist would argue that an answer nonetheless does exist.

Metaphysics
Sorites paradox

Main article: Sorites paradox Otherwise known as the "paradox of the heap", the question regards how one defines a "thing." Is a bale of hay still a bale of hay if you remove one straw? If so, is it still a bale of hay if you remove another straw? If you continue this way, you will eventually deplete the entire bale of hay, and the question is: at what point is it no longer a bale of hay? While this may initially seem like a superficial problem, it penetrates to fundamental issues regarding how we define objects. This is similar to Theseus' paradox and the Continuum fallacy.

Counterfactuals
Main article: Counterfactual conditional A counterfactual is a statement that follows this form: "If Joseph Swan had not invented the modern incandescent light bulb, then someone else would have invented it anyway." People use counterfactuals every day; however, its analysis is not so clear. Swan, after all, did invent the modern incandescent light bulb, so how can the statement be true, if it is impossible to examine its correspondence to reality? (See correspondence theory of truth.) Similar statements have the form, "If you don't eat your meat, then you can't have any pudding." This is another clear if-then statement, which is not verifiable (assuming the addressee did eat his/her meat). Two proposed analyses have resulted from this question. First, some philosophers assert that background information is assumed when stating and interpreting counterfactual conditionals. In the case of the Swan statement, certain trends in the history of technology, the utility of artificial light, and the discovery of electricity may all provide evidence for a logically sound argument. However, other philosophers assert that a modal "possible world" theory offers a more accurate description of counterfactual conditionals. According to this analysis, in the Swan example one would consider the closest possible world to the real world in which Swan did not create the modern incandescent light bulb. When a counterfactual is used as an argument to justify an illegal act, it is known as the dirty hands argument. For example, "if I didn't sell him drugs then someone else would have, and those drugs might not have been cut or more harmful."

Material implication
Main article: Material conditional People have a pretty clear idea what if-then means. However, in formal logic, if-then is defined by material implication, which is not consistent with the common understanding of conditionals. In formal logic, the statement "If today is Saturday, then 1+1=2" is true. However, '1+1=2' is true regardless of the content of the antecedent; a causal or meaningful relation is not required. The statement as a whole must be true, because 1+1=2 cannot be false. (If it could, then on a given Saturday, so could the statement). Formal logic has shown itself extremely useful in formalizing argumentation, philosophical reasoning, and mathematics. However, the discrepancy between material implication and the general conception of conditionals is a topic of intense investigation: whether it is an inadequacy in formal logic, an ambiguity of ordinary language, or as championed by H.P. Grice, that there is no discrepancy.

Philosophy of mind
Mind-body problem
The mind-body problem is the problem of determining the relationship between the human body and the human mind. Philosophical positions on this question are generally predicated on either a reduction of one to the other, or a belief in the discrete coexistence of both. This problem is usually exemplified by Descartes, who championed a dualistic picture. The problem therein is to establish how the mind and body communicate in a dualistic framework. Neurobiology and emergence have further complicated the problem by allowing the material functions of the mind to be a representation of some further aspect emerging from the mechanistic properties of the brain. The brain essentially stops generating conscious thought during deep sleep; the ability to restore such a pattern remains a mystery to science and is a subject of current research. (See also neurophilosophy).

Cognition and AI
This problem actually defines a field, however its pursuits are specific and easily stated. Firstly, what are the criteria for intelligence? What are the necessary components for defining consciousness? Secondly, how can an outside observer test for these criteria? The "Turing Test" is often cited as a prototypical test of consciousness, although it is almost universally regarded as insufficient. It involves a series of questions, by which a sentient entity can theoretically provide answers where a machine could not. A well trained machine, however, could theoretically "parrot" its way through the test. This raises the corollary question of whether it is possible to artificially create consciousness (usually in the context of computers or machines), and of how to tell a well trained mimic from a sentient entity. Important thought in this area includes most notably: John Searle's Chinese Room, Hubert Dreyfus' non-cognitivist critique, as well as Hilary Putnam's work on Functionalism. A related field is the ethics of artificial intelligence, which addresses such problems as the existence of moral personhood of AIs, the possibility of moral obligations to AIs (for instance, the right of a possibly sentient computer system to not be turned off), and the question of making AIs that behave ethically towards humans and others.

Hard problem of consciousness

The hard problem of consciousness is the question of what consciousness is and why we have consciousness as opposed to being philosophical zombies. The adjective "hard" is to contrast with the "easy" consciousness problems, which seek to explain the mechanisms of consciousness ("why" versus "how," or final cause versus efficient cause). The hard problem of consciousness is questioning whether all beings undergo an experience of consciousness rather than questioning the neurological makeup of beings.

Philosophy of science

Problem of induction
Main article: Problem of induction Intuitively, it seems to be the case that we know certain things with absolute, complete, utter, unshakable certainty. For example, if you travel to the Arctic and touch an iceberg, you know that it would feel cold. These things that we know from experience are known through induction. The problem of induction in short; (1) any inductive statement (like the sun will rise tomorrow) can only be deductively shown if one assumes that nature is uniform. (2) the only way to show that nature is uniform is by using induction. Thus induction cannot be justified deductively.

Demarcation problem
Main article: Demarcation problem The problem of demarcation is an expression introduced by Karl Popper to refer to the problem of finding a criterion which would enable us to distinguish between the empirical sciences on the one hand, and mathematics and logic as well as "metaphysical" systems on the other. Popper attributes this problem to Kant. Although Popper mentions mathematics and logic, other writers focus on distinguishing science from metaphysics and pseudo-science. Some, including Popper, raise the problem because of an intellectual desire to clarify this distinction. Logical positivists had, in addition, a social and intellectual agenda to discredit non-scientific disciplines.

Realism
Main article: Scientific realism Is there a world independent of human beliefs and representations? Is such a world empirically accessible, or would such a world be forever beyond the bounds of human sense and hence unknowable? Can human activity and agency change the objective structure of the world? These questions continue to receive much attention in the philosophy of science. A clear "yes" to the first question is a hallmark of the scientific realism perspective. Philosophers such as Bas van Fraassen have important and interesting answers to the second question. In addition to the realism vs. empiricism axis of debate, there is a realism vs. social constructivism axis which heats many academic passions. With respect to the third question, Paul Boghossian's "Fear of Knowledge: Against Relativism and Constructivism". Oxford University Press. 2006. is a powerful critique of social constructivism, for instance. Ian Hacking's The Social Construction of What? (Harvard UP, 2000) constitutes a more moderate critique of constructivism, which usefully disambiguates confusing polysemy of the term "constructivism."

See also

List of years in philosophy Thought experiment

References
1. ^ Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book 2, Chapter 9. "I shall here insert a problem of that very ingenious and studious promoter of real knowledge, the learned and worthy Mr. Molyneux, which he was pleased to send me in a letter some months since; and it is this:- "Suppose a man born blind, and now adult, and taught by his touch to distinguish between a cube and a sphere of the same metal, and nighly of the same bigness, so as to tell, when he felt one and the other, which is the cube, which the sphere. Suppose then the cube and sphere placed on a table, and the blind man be made to see: quaere, whether by his sight, before he touched them, he could now distinguish and tell which is the globe, which the cube?" To which the acute and judicious proposer answers, "Not. For, though he has obtained the experience of how a globe, how a cube affects his touch, yet he has not yet obtained the experience, that what affects his touch so or so, must affect his sight so or so; or that a protuberant angle in the cube, that pressed his hand unequally, shall appear to his eye as it does in the cube."- I agree with this thinking gentleman, whom I am proud to call my friend, in his answer to this problem; and am of opinion that the blind man, at first sight, would not be able with certainty to say which was the globe, which the cube, whilst he only saw them; though he could unerringly name them by his touch, and certainly distinguish them by the difference of their figures felt. This I have set down, and leave with my reader, as an occasion for him to consider how much he may be beholden to experience, improvement, and acquired notions, where he thinks he had not the least use of, or help from them. And the rather, because this observing gentleman further adds, that "having, upon the occasion of my book, proposed this to divers very ingenious men, he hardly ever met with one that at first gave the answer to it which he thinks true, till by hearing his reasons they were convinced." 2. ^ Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik Ibn Tufayl and Lon Gauthier (1981), Risalat Hayy ibn Yaqzan, p. 5, Editions de la Mditerrane. "If you want a comparison that will make you clearly grasp the difference between the perception, such as it is understood by that sect [the Sufis] and the perception as others understand it, imagine a person born blind, endowed however with a happy natural temperament, with a lively and firm intelligence, a sure memory, a straight sprite, who grew up from the time he was an infant in a city where he never stopped learning, by means of the senses he did dispose of, to know the inhabitants individually, the numerous species of beings, living as well as non-living, there, the streets and sidestreets, the houses, the steps, in such a manner as to be able to cross the city without a guide, and to recognize immediately those he met; the colors alone would not be known to him except by the names they bore, and by certain definitions that designated them. Suppose that he had arrived at this point and suddenly, his eyes were opened, he recovered his view, and he crosses the entire city, making a tour of it. He would find no object different from the idea he had made of it; he would encounter nothing he didnt recognize, he would find the colors conformable to the descriptions of them that had been given to him; and in this there would only be

two new important things for him, one the consequence of the other: a clarity, a greater brightness, and a great voluptuousness." 3. ^ Lobel, Diana. A Sufi-Jewish Dialogue: Philosophy and Mysticism in Baya Ibn Paqda's Duties of the Heart, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006, p.24. ISBN 0-8122-3953-9 [hide]

v t e

Unsolved problems by discipline

Biology Chemistry Computer science Economics Linguistics Mathematics Neuroscience Philosophy Physics

Statistics Categories:

Lists of unsolved problems Philosophical problems Philosophy-related lists

Metatheory
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search A metatheory or meta-theory is a theory whose subject matter is some theory (of the world or methods for accessing the world). All fields of research share some metatheory, regardless whether this is explicit or correct. Statements made in the metatheory about the theory are called metatheorems. The following is an example of a meta-theoretical statement:[1]

Any physical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only a hypothesis; you can never prove it. No matter how many times the results of experiments agree with some theory, you can never be sure that the next

time the result will not contradict the theory. On the other hand, you can disprove a theory by finding even a single observation that disagrees with the predictions of the theory. Meta-theoretical investigations are part of philosophy of science or metamathematics. Also a metatheory is an object of concern to the area in which the individual theory is conceived. An emerging domain of meta-theories is systemics.

Contents

1 Taxonomy 2 History 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

Taxonomy
Examining groups of related theories, a first finding may be to identify classes of theories, thus specifying a taxonomy of theories. A proof engendered by a metatheory is called a metatheorem.

History
The concept burst upon the scene of 20th-century philosophy as a result of the work of the German mathematician David Hilbert, who in 1905 published a proposal for proof of the consistency of mathematics, creating the field of metamathematics. His hopes for the success of this proof were dashed by the work of Kurt Gdel who in 1931 proved this to be unattainable by his incompleteness theorems. Nevertheless, his program of unsolved mathematical problems, out of which grew this metamathematical proposal, continued to influence the direction of mathematics for the rest of the 20th century. The study of metatheory became widespread during the rest of that century by its application in other fields, notably scientific linguistics and its concept of metalanguage.

See also

Mapterritory relation Meta Meta-knowledge Metalogic Metamathematics Metahistory, a book by Hayden White Philosophy of social science Robert T. Craig (scholar)

References
1. ^ Stephen Hawking in A Brief History of Time

External links

Meta-theoretical Issues (2003), Lyle Flint

Categories:

Metaphilosophy Epistemology Theories Metatheory

Category:Theories
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The main article for this category is Theory. This category is for articles and categories primarily describing theories. A theory is nothing more than a group of true sentences which together support a particular conclusion which explains some object of study. There are theories in many and varied fields of study, including the arts and sciences. Very often theories are named after the person who first formulated the theory (e.g. Luddism). Theories are also named using some description of the application of the theory to the subject matter plus the ending "ism" (e.g. Connectionism). There are also fields of study named "theory" whose basis is some initial set of assumptions describing the field's approach to a subject matter (e.g. set theory, model theory). Pages in this category should be moved to subcategories where applicable. This category may require frequent maintenance to avoid becoming too large. It should directly contain very few, if any, articles and should mainly contain subcategories.

See also

Category:Theorems

Subcategories
This category has the following 12 subcategories, out of 12 total.

F cont.

Theorists (36 C, 9 P)

Fringe theory (5 C, 25 P)

Philosophical theories (20 C, 47 P)

H
Conspiracy theories (17 C, 244 P)

S
Theories of history (9 C, 215 P)

M
Dispositional beliefs (12 C, 26 P)

S Schools of thought (4 C, 6 P) S Scientific theories (19 C, 5 P)

M Media theories (16 P) Metatheory (6 C, 20 P)

Theories of religion (6 C, 3 P)

Formal theories (2 C, 3 P)

Pages in category "Theories"

The following 43 pages are in this category, out of 43 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

I cont.
Absolute theory Arboreal theory

R cont.

Intergovernmentalism Intra-organismic perspective

Risk and actuarial criminology

M
Collective action theory and interorganizational systems Continuum (measurement) Cosmic pluralism Cultural Theory of risk Culture theory

S
Media systems dependency theory Metallum Martis Metatheory

The Nature of the Judicial Process Nemesis (hypothetical star)

Scalar expectancy Scientific management Skopos theory Space charge Spiral of silence Structuralist theory of mythology Supranational union

Digital Taylorism

Obstruction theory

Temporal theory (hearing) Theory Theories of famines Theory of solar cells

List of effects Eunomics Excitation-transfer theory Explanation

Toothpaste tube theory

Peace ecology Philosophical theory Placebo

R
Futures studies

G
Gateway drug theory

Race of the future Regenerative economic theory Relativistic dynamics Principle of relativity

I
Incrementalism Categories:

Concepts Prediction

Hidden categories:

Categories requiring diffusion

Metaknowledge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Meta-knowledge) Jump to: navigation, search Metaknowledge or meta-knowledge is knowledge about a preselected knowledge. For the reason of different definitions of knowledge in the subject matter literature, meta-information is or is not included in meta-knowledge. Detailed cognitive, systemic and epistemic study of human knowledge requires a distinguishing of these concepts. but in the common language knowledge includes information, and, for example, bibliographic data are considered as a meta-knowledge. Meta-knowledge is a fundamental conceptual instrument in such research and scientific domains as, knowledge engineering, knowledge management, and others dealing with study and operations on knowledge, seen as a unified object/entities, abstracted from local conceptualizations and terminologies. Examples of the first-level individual metaknowledge are methods of planning, modeling, tagging, learning and every modification of a domain knowledge. According to the TOGA meta-theory,[1] the procedures, methodologies and strategies of teaching, coordination of e-learning courses are individual meta-meta-knowledge of an intelligent entity (a person, organization or

society). Of course, universal meta-knowledge frameworks have to be valid for the organization of meta-levels of individual meta-knowledge. Metaknowledge may be automatically harvested from electronic publication archives, to reveal patterns in research, relationships between researchers and institutions and to identify contradictory results.[2]

See also

Epistemic logic Knowledge Meta Metaprogramming (in computer science) Metahistory, a book by Hayden White Meta-philosophy Meta-epistemology Metalogic Metamathematics Metaphysics Meta-ethics Meta-ontology Metatheory Metadata

References
1. ^ *Meta-Knowledge Unified Framework (A.M. Gadomski) - the TOGA meta-theory, Italian Research Agency ENEA 2. ^ James A. Evans, et al. 2011. Metaknowledge. Science 331, 721.

External links
Look up metaknowledge in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Knowledge Interchange Format Reference Manual Chapter 7: Metaknowledge, Stanford University A Survey of Cognitive and Agent Architectures: Meta-knowledge, University of Michigan

This philosophy-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Categories:

Knowledge Metaphilosophy

Philosophy stubs

Metamathematics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (September 2010) Metamathematics is the study of mathematics itself using mathematical methods. This study produces metatheories, which are mathematical theories about other mathematical theories. Metamathematical metatheorems about mathematics itself were originally differentiated from ordinary mathematical theorems in the 19th century, to focus on what was then called the foundational crisis of mathematics. Richard's paradox (Richard 1905) concerning certain 'definitions' of real numbers in the English language is an example of the sort of contradictions that can easily occur if one fails to distinguish between mathematics and metamathematics. Something similar can be said around the well-known Russell's paradox (Does the set of all those sets that do not contain themselves contain itself?). The term "metamathematics" is sometimes used as a synonym for certain elementary parts of formal logic, including propositional logic and predicate logic.

Contents

1 History 2 Milestones 3 See also 4 References

History
Metamathematics was intimately connected to mathematical logic, so that the early histories of the two fields, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, largely overlap. More recently, mathematical logic has often included the study of new pure mathematics, such as set theory, recursion theory and pure model theory, which is not directly related to metamathematics. Serious metamathematical reflection began with the work of Gottlob Frege, especially his Begriffsschrift. David Hilbert was the first to invoke the term "metamathematics" with regularity (see Hilbert's program). In his hands, it meant something akin to contemporary proof theory, in which finitary methods are used to study various axiomatized mathematical theorems.

Other prominent figures in the field include Bertrand Russell, Thoralf Skolem, Emil Post, Alonzo Church, Stephen Kleene, Willard Quine, Paul Benacerraf, Hilary Putnam, Gregory Chaitin, Alfred Tarski and Kurt Gdel. In particular, arguably the greatest achievement of metamathematics and the philosophy of mathematics to date is Gdel's incompleteness theorem: proof that given any finite number of axioms for Peano arithmetic, there will be true statements about that arithmetic that cannot be proved from those axioms. Today, metalogic and metamathematics are largely synonymous with each other, and both have been substantially subsumed by mathematical logic in academia.

Milestones

Principia Mathematica (Whitehead and Russell 1925) Gdel's completeness theorem, 1930 Gdel's incompleteness theorem, 1931 Tarski's definition of model-theoretic satisfaction, now called the T-schema The proof of the impossibility of the Entscheidungsproblem, obtained independently in 19361937 by Church and Turing.

See also

Meta Metalogic Model theory Philosophy of mathematics Proof theory

References

W. J. Blok and Don Pigozzi, "Alfred Tarski's Work on General Metamathematics", The Journal of Symbolic Logic, v. 53, No. 1 (Mar., 1988), pp. 3650. I. J. Good. "A Note on Richard's Paradox". Mind, New Series, Vol. 75, No. 299 (Jul., 1966), p. 431. JStor Douglas Hofstadter, 1980. Gdel, Escher, Bach. Vintage Books. Aimed at laypeople. Stephen Cole Kleene, 1952. Introduction to Metamathematics. North Holland. Aimed at mathematicians. Jules Richard, Les Principes des Mathmatiques et le Problme des Ensembles, Revue Gnrale des Sciences Pures et Appliques (1905); translated in Heijenoort J. van (ed.), Source Book in Mathematical Logic 1879-1931 (Cambridge, Mass., 1964). Alfred North Whitehead, and Bertrand Russell. Principia Mathematica, 3 vols, Cambridge University Press, 1910, 1912, and 1913. Second edition, 1925 (Vol. 1), 1927 (Vols 2, 3). Abridged as Principia Mathematica to *56, Cambridge University Press, 1962.

[show]

v t e

Logic
[hide]

v t e

Areas of mathematics

Areas

Arithmetic Algebra o elementary o linear o multilinear o abstract Geometry o discrete o algebraic o differential o finite Calculus/Analysis Set theory Logic Category theory Number theory Combinatorics Graph theory Topology Lie theory Differential equations/Dynamical systems Mathematical physics Numerical analysis Computation Information theory Probability Mathematical Statistics Mathematical Optimization Control theory Game theory Pure mathematics Applied mathematics

Divisions

Discrete mathematics Computational mathematics

Category Mathematics portal Outline

Lists Categories:

Mathematical logic Logic Metatheory

Meta-epistemology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This article has an unclear citation style. (June 2008) This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. (June
2008)

This article is written like a personal reflection or opinion essay rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. (June 2008) This article may contain original research. (June 2008) This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. (June 2008) Meta-epistemology is a metaphilosophical study of the subject, matter, methods and aims of epistemology and of approaches to understanding and structuring our knowledge of knowledge itself. In epistemology, there are two basic meta-epistemological approaches: traditional "normative" epistemology, and naturalized epistemology. Traditional epistemology has been concerned with "justification". According to the classical tripartite model of knowledge, some proposition p is knowledge if and only if 1. some agent X believes p, 2. p is true, and 3) X is justified in believing in p and 3. the third justificatory condition is to be given in non-epistemic terms such as "is deducible from" or "is indubitable." Still, the condition is essentially normative, which makes knowledge itself essentially normative. Since the time of Descartes, who 1) sought to establish the criteria by which true beliefs could be acquired, and 2) sought to determine those beliefs we are in fact justified in believing, the primary epistemological project has been the elucidation of the

justificatory condition in the classic tripartite conception of knowledge (i.e. Justified True Belief). Naturalized epistemology had its beginnings in the twentieth century with W. V. Quine. Quine's proposal, which is commonly called "Replacement Naturalism," is to excise every trace of normativity from the epistemological body. Quine wanted to merge epistemology with empirical psychology such that every epistemological statement would be replaced by a psychological statement.

Contents

1 "Meta-epistemology" means Overview over 'Theories of Knowledge' 2 The Scope of Meta-Epistemology, including a Paradox o 2.1 Normal non-reflexive cases o 2.2 The Paradox of Self-Study o 2.3 Ambiguity: Epistemology as one unified whole, or what? 2.3.1 "Epistemology" as one of several knowledge-mechanism possibilities 2.3.2 "Epistemology" as a general topic-title 2.3.3 The reflexive status of Meta-epistemology 3 Different Schools of Epistemology for Meta-study o 3.1 Orthodox Mainstream Philosophy 3.1.1 Practical testing of "coherence" within that tradition o 3.2 Biologists investigate other (non adult-human) Knowledge-systems 3.2.1 Jean Piaget (1896-1980) 3.2.2 W. R. Ashby (19031972) 4 Four Different Natural Epistemologies, and their common features o 4.1 Immunology o 4.2 Society-as-such (as distinct from its members) o 4.3 Mind/Brain (especially at birth) 5 References & Further reading 6 External links

"Meta-epistemology" means Overview over 'Theories of Knowledge'

"Epistemology" is the Study-or-Theory of Knowledge ("ToK"): What is knowledge? How is-or-should it be acquired, tested, stored, revised, updated, and retrieved? etc. "Meta-" here means "the overview study of...", applied to some "lower-level" study. E.g. metaphilosophy means the "philosophy of philosophy" or effectively "a scrutiny of the assumptions of philosophy itself, (rather than studying whatever else philosophy might normally be looking at)". If that can be done "at arms-length", then so much the better; but that may not always be possible see the paradox below.

Such overviews are well placed to identify inaccurate traditional assumptions, or hitherto-overlooked scope for generalization. Thus (i) whereas epistemology has usually been seen as a branch of philosophy, the discussion below also takes examples from biology which seem equivalent in relevant ways. Also (ii), insofar as philosophy is involved, there may be a case for extending it beyond its traditional domain of wordbased definitions.

[footnote]: Similar overviewing can be expressed by other terms, such as "critique" (in certain contexts) so that Kant's book-title "Critique of Pure Reason" (1781/1787) effectively means "An overview study of the Nature and Properties of Pure Reason". [Incidentally: At first sight, Kant's own word "transcendental" seems to be another such "overview" case, but that is somewhat misleading. In fact it might be more helpful to think of it as expressing an "underview"! some pre-existing axiomatic property or "category" (like space or time) which is so basic and "intuitive" that it (supposedly) does not need to be questioned before applying it universally. Piaget eventually challenged that view, as is obvious from his book-titles which contain words like "space" and "time".]

The Scope of Meta-Epistemology, including a Paradox

Epistemology studies how person-or-system P gains knowledge about a "Subject"system S and that is comparatively straightforward as long as these two entities are different (PS) i.e. as long as P is not studying its own internal workings (reflexively).

Normal non-reflexive cases

Epistemology is the study of knowledge and knowledge-acquisition; and such activity can take many forms. Within philosophy at least, it is usually assumed that the epistemological system (to be studied meta-epistemologically) is the mind/brain of an adult, or a society of such adults and that such processes will all be conscious. However all such assumptions (and others) are at least open to challenge see below.

The Paradox of Self-Study

However it may be seen as possible-and-desirable for the art of epistemology to be applied sometimes to itself (now acting in a "meta-" role) and if it then gains new insights on how to ensure validity in its subject matter (S), it follows that those insights may be call for a revision of its own procedures (in its P role), thus calling into question the exercise just performed! This may be seen as a variant of the infinite regress problem, raised within the epistemology discussion; or compared to a brain-surgeon operating on his/her own brain. In any case, we may see this problem regarding the methodology of Karl Popper, at least in its initial form (1934), in which his methodological (meta-epistemological) rules were essentially laid down by his fiat rules which dictated how scientific investigation (epistemology) was to be performed in a fiat-free environment.

Ambiguity: Epistemology as one unified whole, or what?

One might argue that this is depends on an arbitrary choice of whether-and-where to draw boundaries; but there seems to be a better case for accepting the term "epistemology" in two somewhat different senses:

"Epistemology" as one of several knowledge-mechanism possibilities

E.g. the mind/brain is one, and the immune system is another (see below) so we should perhaps count these as "two different epistemologies".

"Epistemology" as a general topic-title

The term is here seen as collectively covering all such possible cases and systems involved in assembling-or-storing knowledge in all its forms. (Such a distinction is not particularly unusual, so it need not be troublesome if we are clear about it. (Otherwise we had better talk of "sub-epistemologies" versus "the epistemology discipline", or suchlike).

The reflexive status of Meta-epistemology

It purports to handle knowledge concerning each-and-every sub-epistemology, and that seems to mean: (i) that at some stage it must self-study reflexively as discussed above, with the danger of an infinite regress problem; and (ii) by the same token it must be part of its own subject matter, the "epistemology discipline".

Different Schools of Epistemology for Meta-study

Broadly these are of two types: Mainstream philosophy, and Biology-based theories which nevertheless have a background compatible with philosophy. (Here we may exclude those "pure-science" investigations which may have impeccable empirical credentials but lack a coherent concept of the likely overall epistemological processes under study).

Orthodox Mainstream Philosophy

This is in the tradition of Whitehead & Russell (19101913), and both the early and late incarnations of Wittgenstein's ideas described by Piaget as "logisticiens", (1949 Introduction).

Practical testing of "coherence" within that tradition

Professor Paul Thagard (and his philosophy-department team at Waterloo University Canada) developed a computer-based means for assessing the coherence of various scientific theories post hoc; (1992). This offers a practical extension to the mainstream approach.

Biologists investigate other (non adult-human) Knowledge-systems

To tradition-minded philosophers, this may represent an extension of the concept of what "knowledge" is, and hence what can be classed as an epistemological system.

Knowledge can be expressed in language-words. However a horse (or bee!) that knows how to go home, or knows that such-and-such is good food, is clearly not thinking via language as we know it and yet such knowledge is clearly a vital "map", and without it the horse-or-bee has poor survival prospects. Nor is it essential for the horse-or-bee (or even the adult human) to be consciously aware of the knowledge it possesses. Our bodies know how to breathe and digest without our awareness and, as Freud pointed out in the late 1800s, much of our actual thinking goes on at a subconscious level.

Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

He and his colleagues developed a new approach to epistemology. In particular they showed that Kant was wrong in assuming that concepts of space and time were basic, and instead offered a hypothetical set of subconscious procedures involving basic elements of (presumably encoded) action called "schmes", by which the space-andtime concepts could be built up through experience with the real world. Such processes were carried out unconsciously, and moreover similar processes could then build upon these results yielding successive stages of development. From this, the ultimate result could be our well-known but mysterious ability to think abstractly. (Note the combination of philosophical concepts with biological principles, notably the Darwinian concept of trial and error to select amongst the arbitrarily-produced "schemes").

W. R. Ashby (19031972)
Ross Ashby (a psychiatrist, "MD", and mathematician) published Design for a Brain (19521960), proposing formal mechanisms for an advanced mental hierarchy which seems to be compatible with Piaget's "stages" concept. Each level in the hierarchy was envisaged as a homeostat whose parameters could be adjusted by the next-higher level as a correction whenever it judged (by whatever unconscious formula) that the lower level was not performing satisfactorily. Nomenclature for Ashby's hierarchical layers. If one says that the base-level is "L", then the next level is a "meta-level: ML", and the one above that is a "meta-meta-level: MML", and so on. Alternatively (Traill, 1978) it may be more convenient to label these "M0L, M1L, M2L, ...", respectively. It is next convenient to tentatively define M0L as corresponding to Piaget's basic "Sensori-motor" stage (of the new-born infant), and then half-expect that the higher levels will also tend to correspond to Piaget's other named stages, at least in some circumstances.

Four Different Natural Epistemologies, and their common features

The immunologist Niels Jerne (19111994) seems to have been the first to explicitly comment on the formal similarity between different "learning" situations where "learning" is used in a broad sense to include (i) Unconscious natural processes, (such as the immune system learning which proteins etc. are intruders which it should attack), as well as (ii) Learning in the conventional sense. There was arguably some overlap in

the cases suggested by Jerne himself, but Popper (1975) and Traill (1999) independently selected the same short list of four significant cases, as follows below. (Also see the references cited by these two authors). The noteworthy point is that the most basic strategy in all these cases is to depend on Trial and Error to have a large repertoire of "candidate solutions" which have to compete (yes, in a Darwinian way) and not by some process of "writing it all down" like a movie-camera or tape-recorder (the Lamarckian strategy). [Of course tape recorders do get invented and used within our complex society, but they have to be designed by an "outsider" from one of the other domains. They are not sufficiently robust to organize-and-maintain themselves, whereas the four cases below are capable of doing just that.] This task of creating knowledge (knowledge in the broad sense, and perhaps implicit in structure), and doing so ultimately out of nothing-reliable, looks like an impossible task. Hence Traill argued that there is not likely to be more-than-one solution-strategy to this general epistemology problem; so all four domains are likely to be using the same single formal strategy, even if their material embodiments and time-scales are vastly different. (Traill 1999; 2008 Table S)

Immunology
(1) A time-scale of days/weeks; (2) Basic stringlike coding (protein which then forms itself into 3D patterns); (3) Huge repertoire of patterns which will only be replicated if needed; (4) Pseudo-Darwinian selection most codes never used; but of course some are, and these represent the new knowledge.

Society-as-such (as distinct from its members)

(1) A time-scale of weeks/centuries; (2) Basic stringlike coding (spoken and written language, mostly); (3) Huge repertoire of ideas offered by its members; (4) PseudoDarwinian selection most ideas never adopted long-term; but of course a few are, and these represent the new knowledge. [This gives some scope for transcending Darwinian dice-throwing by allowing "interference" from individuals. However such interference is not always welcomed by society-as-such!]

Mind/Brain (especially at birth)

(1) A time-scale of seconds/days; (2) Basic stringlike coding?? (maybe, but that's debatable, see next paragraph); (3) Large repertoire of spontaneous actions-orPiagetian-"schemes" (and perhaps some encoding for these?); (4) Pseudo-Darwinian selection most spontaneous micro-actions yield no satisfaction; but of course some do give pleasing results, and these are accepted as new knowledge at least for the time being. Because of the supposed formal equivalence here, and for various other reasons, it has been argued that the basic memory-encoding (for logical thought at least) must have some sort of stringlike material basis; and by elimination this must probably be ncRNA. (Traill 1976, 1978, 2008). Current thought attributes ncRNA with the role of

biochemical "regulation", though that need not be its only role. But in any case, the whole mind/brain could be seen as just a glorified "regulation" device. (Traill, 2006, abstract). We would expect the adult brain to have some extra properties. This takes us into the Theory of cognitive development, with Piaget's "stages" and the probably-equivalent control-levels of Ross Ashby. From our present viewpoint, these extra "levels" may be seen as semi-foreign domains "interfering" in the lower infantile domains (like humans interfering in genetics). That makes it possible to achieve purposeful design and indeed pseudo-Lamarckian effects such as tape-recording and the construction of taperecorders.

References & Further reading

Ashby, William Ross; (1952/1960) Design for a Brain. Chapman & Hall: London. [ISBN 0-412-20090-2] Beer, Anthony Stafford (1972/1981) Brain of the Firm. Wiley: NY & London. Beth, E.W. and Piaget, Jean (1966) Mathematical Epistemology and Psychology. D.Reidel: Dordrecht. Furth, H.J. (1969) Piaget and knowledge. Prentice-Hall: NJ. Gruber, H.E. and J.J.Vonche (eds) (1977) The Essential Piaget. Routledge & Kegan Paul: London. Hebb, Donald Olding (1949/1964) The organization of behaviour. Wiley: NY & London. Kant, Immanuel (1781 "A" / 1787 "B" / 1993 / 2007) Critique of pure reason. Palgrave Macmillan: Boston; [N. Kemp Smith translation, ISBN 978-0-23001338-4]. Nitsch, F.A. (1796/1977) A View of Professor Kant's Principles of Man, World and the Deity. Yale University facsimile. Piaget, Jean (1923/1926) Language and Thought of the Child. Routledge & Kegan Paul: London. Piaget, Jean (1949/1950) Trait de logique, Armand Collin: Paris. Republished (1972) as Essai de Logique Operatoire, Dunod. Piaget, Jean (1952) "La logistique axiomatique ou 'pure', la logistique operatoire ou psychologique, et les ralits auxelles elles correspondent". Methodos, 4(13), 72-85. Piaget, Jean (1967/1971) Biology and Knowledge. Chicago University Press. Popper, Karl (1934/1959/1972) Logik der Forschung / The Logic of Scientific Discovery. Hutchinson: London. Popper, Karl (1975/1994) "The rationality of scientific revolutions"; (i) in Rom Harr (ed.) (1975) Problems of Scientific Revolution. Scientific Progress and Obstacles to Progress in the Sciences, The Herbert Spencer Lectures 1973, Clarendon Press, Oxford. Also in (ii) M.A.Notturno (ed.)(1994) The Myth of the Framework: In defence of science and rationality; Routledge, London; [ISBN 0-415-11320-2]; pp. 132. Thagard, Paul (1992) Conceptual Revolutions. Princeton University Press [ISBN 0-691-02390-1] Or try his actual "ECHO" software, now accessible online: [1] Traill, R.R. (1978) Thesis [on Piaget and Ashby etc.]. Cybernetics Department, Brunel University. [2] plus collection of related papers (1976/2007) [3]

Traill, R.R. (1999) "Four Learning-system Types (Epistemologies): with a Common Basic Strategy" Chapter 4, within Mind and Micromechanism. Ondwelle, Melbourne. [4] [ISBN 0-9577737-0-6] Traill, R.R. (2006 / 2008) Thinking by molecule, synapse, or both? From Piaget's schema, to the selecting/editing of ncRNA Ondwelle, Melbourne. [5] ["Table S" is in the 2008 Supplement, p. 31.] also available in French / aussi en franais: [6] Whitehead, A.N. and B.Russell (19101913) Principia Mathematica. Cambridge University Press.

External links

Meta-epistemology at PhilPapers

Categories:

Epistemology Metaphilosophy

Metaphysics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Metaphysics (disambiguation).
Philosophy

Philosophers

Aestheticians Epistemologists

Ethicists Logicians

Metaphysicians

Social and political philosophers Traditions

Analytic Continental

Eastern Islamic Platonic Scholastic

Periods

Ancient Medieval Modern

Contemporary Literature

Aesthetics Epistemology

Ethics Logic Metaphysics

Political philosophy Branches

Aesthetics Epistemology

Ethics Logic

Metaphysics

Political philosophy Social philosophy Lists

Index Outline Years Problems

Publications

Theories Glossary Philosophers

Philosophy portal

v t e

Metaphysics is a traditional branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world,[1] although the term is not easily defined.[2] Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:[3] 1. What is there? 2. What is it like? A person who studies metaphysics is called a metaphysicist[4] or a metaphysician.[5] The metaphysician attempts to clarify the fundamental notions by which people understand the world, e.g., existence, objects and their properties, space and time, cause and effect, and possibility. A central branch of metaphysics is ontology, the investigation into the basic categories of being and how they relate to each other. Another central branch of metaphysics is cosmology, the study of the totality of all phenomena within the universe. Prior to the modern history of science, scientific questions were addressed as a part of metaphysics known as natural philosophy. Originally, the term "science" (Latin scientia) simply meant "knowledge". The scientific method, however, transformed natural philosophy into an empirical activity deriving from experiment unlike the rest of philosophy. By the end of the 18th century, it had begun to be called "science" to distinguish it from philosophy. Thereafter, metaphysics denoted philosophical enquiry of a non-empirical character into the nature of existence.[6] Some philosophers of science, such as the neo-positivists, say that natural science rejects the study of metaphysics, while other philosophers of science strongly disagree.

Contents

1 Etymology 2 Origins and nature of metaphysics o 2.1 Aristotle's branching 3 Central questions o 3.1 Being, existence and reality o 3.2 Empirical and conceptual objects 3.2.1 Objects and their properties o 3.3 Cosmology and cosmogony

3.4 Determinism and free will 3.5 Identity and change 3.6 Mind and matter 3.7 Necessity and possibility 3.8 Religion and spirituality 3.9 Space and time 4 Styles and methods of metaphysics 5 History and schools of metaphysics o 5.1 Pre-Socratic metaphysics in Greece o 5.2 Socrates and Plato o 5.3 Aristotle o 5.4 Scholasticism and the Middle Ages o 5.5 Continental rationalism o 5.6 British empiricism o 5.7 Kant o 5.8 Early analytical philosophy and positivism o 5.9 Continental philosophy o 5.10 Later analytical philosophy 6 Rejections of metaphysics 7 Metaphysics in science 8 See also 9 Further reading 10 Notes and references 11 Bibliography
o o o o o o

12 External links

Etymology
The word "metaphysics" derives from the Greek words (met) ("beyond", "upon" or "after") and (physik) ("physics").[7] It was first used as the title for several of Aristotle's works, because they were usually anthologized after the works on physics in complete editions. The prefix meta- ("beyond") indicates that these works come "after" the chapters on physics. However, Aristotle himself did not call the subject of these books "Metaphysics": he referred to it as "first philosophy." The editor of Aristotle's works, Andronicus of Rhodes, is thought to have placed the books on first philosophy right after another work, Physics, and called them (ta meta ta physika biblia) or "the books that come after the [books on] physics". This was misread by Latin scholiasts, who thought it meant "the science of what is beyond the physical". However, once the name was given, the commentators sought to find intrinsic reasons for its appropriateness. For instance, it was understood to mean "the science of the world beyond nature" (phusis in Greek), that is, the science of the immaterial. Again, it was understood to refer to the chronological or pedagogical order among our philosophical studies, so that the "metaphysical sciences" would mean "those that we study after having mastered the sciences that deal with the physical world" (St. Thomas Aquinas, "In Lib, Boeth. de Trin.", V, 1).

There is a widespread use of the term in current popular literature, which replicates this error, i.e. that metaphysical means spiritual non-physical: thus, "metaphysical healing" means healing by means of remedies that are not physical.[8]

Origins and nature of metaphysics

Although the word "metaphysics" goes back to Aristotelean philosophy, Aristotle himself credited earlier philosophers with dealing with metaphysical questions. The first known philosopher, according to Aristotle, is Thales of Miletus, who taught that all things derive from a single first cause or Arche. Scientific questions in ancient Greece were addressed to metaphysicians, but by the 18th century, the skeptics' How do you know? led to a new branch of philosophy called epistemology (how we know) to fill-out the metaphysics (what we know) and this eventually led to science (Latin, knowledge of) and its scientific method. Science, a branch of philosophy based on a standard of comparison, of measurement, leading to a generalized and reasoned conclusion regarding the natural world, with a high rate of reproducibility to support the claim. Skepticism evolved epistemology out of metaphysics. Thereafter, metaphysics denoted philosophical inquiry of a non-empirical character into the nature of existence.[6] Metaphysics as a discipline was a central part of academic inquiry and scholarly education even before the age of Aristotle, who considered it "the Queen of Sciences." Its issues were considered[by whom?] no less important than the other main formal subjects of physical science, medicine, mathematics, poetics and music. Since the beginning of modern philosophy during the seventeenth century, problems that were not originally considered within the bounds of metaphysics have been added to its purview, while other problems considered metaphysical for centuries are now typically subjects of their own separate regions in philosophy, such as philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, philosophy of perception, philosophy of language, and philosophy of science. In some cases, subjects of metaphysical scholarship have been found to be entirely physical and natural, thus making them part of science proper (cf. the theory of Relativity).

Aristotle's branching
Main article: Metaphysics (Aristotle) Aristotle's Metaphysics was divided into three parts, which are now regarded as the proper branches of traditional Western metaphysics: Ontology The study of being and existence; includes the definition and classification of entities, physical or mental, the nature of their properties, and the nature of change. Natural Theology The study of a God or Gods; involves many topics, including among others the nature of religion and the world, existence of the divine, questions about

Creation, and the numerous religious or spiritual issues that concern humankind in general. Universal science The study of first principles, such as the law of noncontradiction (logic), which Aristotle believed were the foundation of all other inquiries. Universal science or first philosophy treats of "being qua being"that is, what is basic to all science before one adds the particular details of any one science. Essentially "being qua being" may be translated as "being insofar as being goes" or as "being in terms of being." This includes topics such as causality, substance, species and elements, as well as the notions of relation, interaction, and finitude.

Central questions
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2011) Most positions that can be taken with regards to any of the following questions are endorsed by one or another notable philosopher. It is often difficult to frame the questions in a non-controversial manner.

Being, existence and reality

The nature of Being is a perennial topic in metaphysics. For instance, Parmenides taught that reality was a single unchanging Being. The 20th century philosopher Heidegger thought previous philosophers have lost sight of the question of Being (qua Being) in favour of the questions of beings (existing things), so that a return to the Parmenidean approach was needed. An ontological catalogue is an attempt to list the fundamental constituents of reality. The question of whether or not existence is a predicate has been discussed since the Early Modern period, not least in relation to the ontological argument for the existence of God. Existence, that something is, has been contrasted with essence, the question of what something is. Reflections on the nature of the connection and distinction between existence and essence dates back to Aristotle's Metaphysics, and it found one of its later most influential interpretations in the ontology of the eleventh century metaphysician Avicenna (Ibn Sina).[9] Since existence without essence seems blank, it is associated with nothingness by philosophers such as Hegel.

Empirical and conceptual objects

Objects and their properties Further information: Problem of universals The world seems to contain many individual things, both physical, like apples, and abstract such as love and the number 3; the former objects are called particulars. Particulars are said to have attributes, e.g. size, shape, color, location and two particulars may have some such attributes in common. Such attributes, are also termed Universals or Properties; the nature of these, and whether they have any real existence

and if so of what kind, is a long-standing issue, realism and nominalism representing opposing views. Metaphysicians concerned with questions about universals or particulars are interested in the nature of objects and their properties, and the relationship between the two. Some, e.g. Plato, argue that properties are abstract objects, existing outside of space and time, to which particular objects bear special relations. David Armstrong holds that universals exist in time and space but only at their instantiation and their discovery is a function of science. Others maintain that particulars are a bundle or collection of properties (specifically, a bundle of properties they have). Biological literature contains abundant references to taxa (singular "taxon"), groups like the mammals or the poppies. Some authors claim (or at least presuppose) that taxa are real entities, that to say that an animal is included in Mammalia (the scientific name for the mammal group) is to say that it bears a certain relation to Mammalia, an abstract object.[10] Advocates of phylogenetic nomenclature, a more nominalistic view, oppose this reading; in their opinion, calling an animal a mammal is a shorthand way of saying that it is descended from the last common ancestor of, say, humans and platypuses.[11]

Cosmology and cosmogony

See also: Cosmology (metaphysics) Metaphysical Cosmology is the branch of metaphysics that deals with the world as the totality of all phenomena in space and time. Historically, it has had quite a broad scope, and in many cases was founded in religion. The ancient Greeks did not draw a distinction between this use and their model for the cosmos. However, in modern times it addresses questions about the Universe which are beyond the scope of the physical sciences. It is distinguished from religious cosmology in that it approaches these questions using philosophical methods (e.g. dialectics). Cosmogony deals specifically with the origin of the universe. Modern metaphysical cosmology and cosmogony try to address questions such as:

What is the origin of the Universe? What is its first cause? Is its existence necessary? (see monism, pantheism, emanationism and creationism) What are the ultimate material components of the Universe? (see mechanism, dynamism, hylomorphism, atomism) What is the ultimate reason for the existence of the Universe? Does the cosmos have a purpose? (see teleology)

Determinism and free will

See also: Determinism and Free will Determinism is the philosophical proposition that every event, including human cognition, decision and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. It holds that no random, spontaneous, stochastic, intrinsically mysterious, or miraculous events occur. The principal consequence of the deterministic claim is that it poses a challenge to the existence of free will.

The problem of free will is the problem of whether rational agents exercise control over their own actions and decisions. Addressing this problem requires understanding the relation between freedom and causation, and determining whether the laws of nature are causally deterministic. Some philosophers, known as Incompatibilists, view determinism and free will as mutually exclusive. If they believe in determinism, they will therefore believe free will to be an illusion, a position known as Hard Determinism. Proponents range from Baruch Spinoza to Ted Honderich. Others, labeled Compatibilists (or "Soft Determinists"), believe that the two ideas can be coherently reconciled. Adherents of this view include Thomas Hobbes and many modern philosophers such as John Martin Fischer. Incompatibilists who accept free will but reject determinism are called Libertarians, a term not to be confused with the political sense. Robert Kane and Alvin Plantinga are modern defenders of this theory.

Identity and change

Main article: Identity and change See also: Identity (philosophy) and Philosophy of space and time The Greeks took some extreme positions on the nature of change: Parmenides denied that change occurs at all, while Heraclitus thought change was ubiquitous: "[Y]ou cannot step into the same river twice." Identity, sometimes called Numerical Identity, is the relation that a "thing" bears to itself, and which no "thing" bears to anything other than itself (cf. sameness). According to Leibniz, if some object x is identical to some object y, then any property that x has, y will have as well. However, it seems, too, that objects can change over time. If one were to look at a tree one day, and the tree later lost a leaf, it would seem that one could still be looking at that same tree. Two rival theories to account for the relationship between change and identity are Perdurantism, which treats the tree as a series of tree-stages, and Endurantism, which maintains that the treethe same treeis present at every stage in its history.

Mind and matter

See also: Matter, Materialism, and Philosophy of mind The nature of matter was a problem in its own right in early philosophy. Aristotle himself introduced the idea of matter in general to the Western world, adapting the term hyle, which originally meant "lumber." Early debates centered on identifying a single underlying principle. Water was claimed by Thales, air by Anaximenes, Apeiron (the Boundless) by Anaximander, fire by Heraclitus. Democritus, in conjunction with his mentor, Leucippus, conceived of an atomic theory many centuries before it was accepted by modern science. It is worth noting, however, that the grounds necessary to ensure validity to the proposed theory's veridical nature were not scientific, but just as philosophical as those traditions espoused by Thales and Anaximander.

The nature of the mind and its relation to the body has been seen as more of a problem as science has progressed in its mechanistic understanding of the brain and body. Proposed solutions often have ramifications about the nature of mind as a whole. Ren Descartes proposed substance dualism, a theory in which mind and body are essentially different, with the mind having some of the attributes traditionally assigned to the soul, in the seventeenth century. This creates a conceptual puzzle about how the two interact (which has received some strange answers, such as occasionalism). Evidence of a close relationship between brain and mind, such as the Phineas Gage case, have made this form of dualism increasingly unpopular. Another proposal discussing the mind-body problem is idealism, in which the material is sweepingly eliminated in favor of the mental. Idealists, such as George Berkeley, claim that material objects do not exist unless perceived and only as perceptions. The "German idealists" such as Fichte, Hegel and Schopenhauer took Kant as their startingpoint, although it is debatable how much of an idealist Kant himself was. Idealism is also a common theme in Eastern philosophy. Related ideas are panpsychism and panexperientialism, which say everything has a mind rather than everything exists in a mind. Alfred North Whitehead was a twentieth-century exponent of this approach. Idealism is a monistic theory which holds that there is a single universal substance or principle. Neutral monism, associated in different forms with Baruch Spinoza and Bertrand Russell, seeks to be less extreme than idealism, and to avoid the problems of substance dualism. It claims that existence consists of a single substance that in itself is neither mental nor physical, but is capable of mental and physical aspects or attributes thus it implies a dual-aspect theory. For the last one hundred years, the dominant metaphysics has without a doubt been materialistic monism. Type identity theory, token identity theory, functionalism, reductive physicalism, nonreductive physicalism, eliminative materialism, anomalous monism, property dualism, epiphenomenalism and emergence are just some of the candidates for a scientifically informed account of the mind. (It should be noted that while many of these positions are dualisms, none of them are substance dualism.) Prominent recent philosophers of mind include David Armstrong, Ned Block, David Chalmers, Patricia and Paul Churchland, Donald Davidson, Daniel Dennett, Fred Dretske, Douglas Hofstadter, Jerry Fodor, David Lewis, Thomas Nagel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, John Smart, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Fred Alan Wolf.

Necessity and possibility

See also: Modal logic and Modal realism Metaphysicians investigate questions about the ways the world could have been. David Lewis, in "On the Plurality of Worlds," endorsed a view called Concrete Modal realism, according to which facts about how things could have been are made true by other concrete worlds, just like ours, in which things are different. Other philosophers, such as Gottfried Leibniz, have dealt with the idea of possible worlds as well. The idea of necessity is that any necessary fact is true across all possible worlds. A possible fact is true in some possible world, even if not in the actual world. For example, it is possible that cats could have had two tails, or that any particular apple could have not existed. By

contrast, certain propositions seem necessarily true, such as analytic propositions, e.g. "All bachelors are unmarried." The particular example of analytic truth being necessary is not universally held among philosophers. A less controversial view might be that selfidentity is necessary, as it seems fundamentally incoherent to claim that for any x, it is not identical to itself; this is known as the law of identity, a putative "first principle". Aristotle describes the principle of non-contradiction, "It is impossible that the same quality should both belong and not belong to the same thing . . . This is the most certain of all principles . . . Wherefore they who demonstrate refer to this as an ultimate opinion. For it is by nature the source of all the other axioms."

Religion and spirituality

Theology is the study of a god or gods and the nature of the divine. Whether there is a god (monotheism), many gods (polytheism) or no gods (atheism), or whether it is unknown or unknowable whether any gods exist (agnosticism; apophatic theology), and whether the Divine intervenes directly in the world (theism), or its sole function is to be the first cause of the universe (deism); these and whether a God or gods and the World are different (as in panentheism and dualism), or are identical (as in pantheism), are some of the primary metaphysical questions concerning philosophy of religion. Within the standard Western philosophical tradition, theology reached its peak under the medieval school of thought known as scholasticism, which focused primarily on the metaphysical aspects of Christianity. The work of the scholastics is still an integral part of modern philosophy,[12] with key figures such as Thomas Aquinas still playing an important role in the philosophy of religion.[13]

Space and time

Further information: Philosophy of space and time In Book XI of the Confessions, Saint Augustine of Hippo asked the fundamental question about the nature of time. A traditional realist position in ontology is that time and space have existence apart from the human mind. Idealists, including Kant, claim that space and time are mental constructs used to organize perceptions, or are otherwise surreal. Suppose that one is sitting at a table, with an apple in front of him or her; the apple exists in space and in time, but what does this statement indicate? Could it be said, for example, that space is like an invisible three-dimensional grid in which the apple is positioned? Suppose the apple, and all physical objects in the universe, were removed from existence entirely. Would space as an "invisible grid" still exist? Ren Descartes and Leibniz believed it would not, arguing that without physical objects, "space" would be meaningless because space is the framework upon which we understand how physical objects are related to each other. Newton, on the other hand, argued for an absolute "container" space. The pendulum swung back to relational space with Einstein and Ernst Mach. While the absolute/relative debate, and the realism debate are equally applicable to time and space, time presents some special problems of its own. The flow of time has been

denied in ancient times by Parmenides and more recently by J. M. E. McTaggart in his paper The Unreality of Time. The direction of time, also known as "time's arrow", is also a puzzle, although physics is now driving the debate rather than philosophy. It appears that fundamental laws are time-reversible and the arrow of time must be an "emergent" phenomenon, perhaps explained by a statistical understanding of thermodynamic entropy. Common-sense tells us that objects persist across time, that there is some sense in which you are the same person you were yesterday, in which the oak is the same as the acorn, in which you perhaps even can step into the same river twice. Philosophers have developed two rival theories for how this happens, called "endurantism" and "perdurantism". Broadly speaking, endurantists hold that a whole object exists at each moment of its history, and the same object exists at each moment. Perdurantists believe that objects are four-dimensional entities made up of a series of temporal parts like the frames of a movie.

Styles and methods of metaphysics

Rational versus empirical. Rationalism is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive" (Bourke 263). Rationalist metaphysicians aim to deduce the nature of reality by armchair, a priori reasoning. Empiricism holds that the senses are the primary source of knowledge about the world. Analytical versus systemic. The "system building" style of metaphysics attempts to answer all the important questions in a comprehensive and coherent way, providing a theory of everything or complete picture of the world. The contrasting approach is to deal with problems piecemeal. Dogmatic versus critical. Under the scholastic approach of the Middle Ages, a number of themes and ideas were not open to be challenged. Kant and others thought this "dogmatism" should be replaced by a critical approach. Individual versus collective. Scholasticism and Analytical philosophy are examples of collaborative approaches to philosophy. Many other philosophers expounded individual visions. Parsimonious versus Adequate. Should a metaphysical system posit as little as possible, or as much as needed? Descriptive versus revisionary. Peter Strawson makes the distinction between descriptive metaphysics, which sets out to investigate our deepest assumptions, and revisionary metaphysics, which sets out to improve or rectify them.[14]

History and schools of metaphysics

Pre-Socratic metaphysics in Greece
The first known philosopher, according to Aristotle, is Thales of Miletus. Rejecting mythological and divine explanations, he sought a single first cause or Arche (origin or beginning) under which all phenomena could be explained, and concluded that this first cause was in fact moisture or water. Thales also taught that the world is harmonious, has a harmonious structure, and thus is intelligible to rational understanding. Other

Miletians, such as Anaximander and Anaximenes, also had a monistic conception of the first cause. Another school was the Eleatics, Italy. The group was founded in the early fifth century BCE by Parmenides, and included Zeno of Elea and Melissus of Samos. Methodologically, the Eleatics were broadly rationalist, and took logical standards of clarity and necessity to be the criteria of truth. Parmenides' chief doctrine was that reality is a single unchanging and universal Being. Zeno used reductio ad absurdum, to demonstrate the illusory nature of change and time in his paradoxes. Heraclitus of Ephesus, in contrast, made change central, teaching that "all things flow". His philosophy, expressed in brief aphorisms, is quite cryptic. For instance, he also taught the unity of opposites. Democritus and his teacher Leucippus, are known for formulating an atomic theory for the cosmos.[15] They are considered forerunners of the scientific method.

Socrates and Plato

Socrates is known for his dialectic or questioning approach to philosophy rather than a positive metaphysical doctrine. His pupil, Plato is famous for his theory of forms (which he confusingly places in the mouth of Socrates in the dialogues he wrote to expound it). Platonic realism (also considered a form of idealism[16]) is considered to be a solution to the problem of universals; i.e., what particular objects have in common is that they share a specific Form which is universal to all others of their respective kind. The theory has a number of other aspects:

Epistemological: knowledge of the Forms is more certain than mere sensory data. Ethical: The Form of the Good sets an objective standard for morality. Time and Change: The world of the Forms is eternal and unchanging. Time and change belong only to the lower sensory world. "Time is a moving image of Eternity". Abstract objects and mathematics: Numbers, geometrical figures, etc., exist mind-independently in the World of Forms.

Platonism developed into Neoplatonism, a philosophy with a monotheistic and mystical flavour that survived well into the early Christian era.

Aristotle
Plato's pupil Aristotle wrote widely on almost every subject, including metaphysics. His solution to the problem of universals contrasts with Plato's. Whereas Platonic Forms exist in a separate realm, and can exist uninstantiated in visible things, Aristotelean essences "indwell" in particulars. Potentiality and Actuality[17] are principles of a dichotomy which Aristotle used throughout his philosophical works to analyze motion, causality and other issues.

The Aristotelean theory of change and causality stretches to four causes: the material, formal, efficient and final. The efficient cause corresponds to what is now known as a cause simpliciter. Final causes are explicitly teleological, a concept now regarded as controversial in science. The Matter/Form dichotomy was to become highly influential in later philosophy as the substance/essence distinction.

Scholasticism and the Middle Ages

Between about 1100 and 1500, philosophy as a discipline took place as part of the Catholic church's teaching system, known as scholasticism. Scholastic philosophy took place within an established framework blending Christian theology with Aristotelean teachings. Although fundamental orthodoxies could not be challenged, there were nonetheless deep metaphysical disagreements, particularly over the problem of universals, which engaged Duns Scotus and Pierre Abelard. William of Ockham is remembered for his principle of ontological parsimony.

Continental rationalism
In the early modern period (17th and 18th centuries), the system-building scope of philosophy is often linked to the rationalist method of philosophy, that is the technique of deducing the nature of the world by pure reason. The scholastic concepts of substance and accident were employed.

Leibniz proposed in his Monadology a plurality of non-interacting substances. Descartes is famous for his Dualism of material and mental substances. Spinoza believed reality was a single substance of God-or-nature.

British empiricism
British empiricism marked something of a reaction to rationalist and system-building philosophy, or speculative metaphysics as it was pejoratively termed. The sceptic David Hume famously declared that most metaphysics should be consigned to the flames (see below). Hume was notorious among his contemporaries as one of the first philosophers to openly doubt religion, but is better known now for his critique of causality. John Stuart Mill, Thomas Reid and John Locke were less sceptical, embracing a more cautious style of metaphysics based on realism, common sense and science. Other philosophers, notably George Berkeley were led from empiricism to idealistic metaphysics.

Kant
Immanuel Kant attempted a grand synthesis and revision of the trends already mentioned: scholastic philosophy, systematic metaphysics, and sceptical empiricism, not to forget the burgeoning science of his day. Like the systems builders, he had an overarching framework in which all questions were to be addressed. Like Hume, who famously woke him from his 'dogmatic slumbers', he was suspicious of metaphysical speculation, and also places much emphasis on the limitations of the human mind. Kant saw rationalist philosophers as aiming for a kind of metaphysical knowledge he defined as the synthetic apriori that is knowledge that does not come from the senses

(it is a priori) but is nonetheless about reality (synthetic). Inasmuch as it is about reality, it is unlike abstract mathematical propositions (which he terms analytical apriori), and being apriori it is distinct from empirical, scientific knowledge (which he terms synthetic aposteriori). The only synthetic apriori knowledge we can have is of how our minds organise the data of the senses; that organising framework is space and time, which for Kant have no mind-independent existence, but nonetheless operate uniformly in all humans. Apriori knowledge of space and time is all that remains of metaphysics as traditionally conceived. There is a reality beyond sensory data or phenomena, which he calls the realm of noumena; however, we cannot know it as it is in itself, but only as it appears to us. He allows himself to speculate that the origins of God, morality, and free will might exist in the noumenal realm, but these possibilities have to be set against its basic unknowability for humans. Although he saw himself as having disposed of metaphysics, in a sense, he has generally been regarded in retrospect, as having a metaphysics of his own. 19th Century philosophy was overwhelmingly influenced by Kant and his successors. Schopenhauer, Schelling, Fichte and Hegel all purveyed their own panoramic versions of German Idealism, Kant's own caution about metaphysical speculation, and refutation of idealism, having fallen by the wayside. The idealistic impulse continued into the early 20th century with British idealists such as F. H. Bradley and J. M. E. McTaggart. Followers of Karl Marx took Hegel's dialectic view of history and re-fashioned it as materialism.

Early analytical philosophy and positivism

During the period when idealism was dominant in philosophy, science had been making great advances. The arrival of a new generation of scientifically minded philosophers led to a sharp decline in the popularity of idealism during the 1920s. Analytical philosophy was spearheaded by Bertrand Russell and G. E. Moore. Russell and William James tried to compromise between idealism and materialism with the theory of neutral monism. The early to mid 20th century philosophy also saw a trend to reject metaphysical questions as meaningless. The driving force behind this tendency was the philosophy of Logical Positivism as espoused by the Vienna Circle. At around the same time, the American pragmatists were steering a middle course between materialism and idealism. System-building metaphysics, with a fresh inspiration from science, was revived by A. N. Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne.

Continental philosophy
The forces that shaped analytical philosophy the break with idealism, and the influence of science were much less significant outside the English speaking world, although there was a shared turn toward language. Continental philosophy continued in a trajectory from post Kantianism.

The phenomenology of Husserl and others was intended as a collaborative project for the investigation of the features and structure of consciousness common to all humans, in line with Kant's basing his synthetic apriori on the uniform operation of consciousness. It was officially neutral with regards to ontology, but was nonetheless to spawn a number of metaphysical systems. Brentano's concept of intentionality would become widely influential, including on analytical philosophy. Heidegger, author of Being and Time, saw himself as re-focusing on Being-qua-being, introducing the novel concept of Dasein in the process. Classing himself an existentialist, Sartre wrote an extensive study of "Being and Nothingness. The speculative realism movement marks a return to full blooded realism.

Later analytical philosophy

While early analytic philosophy tended to reject metaphysical theorizing, under the influence of logical positivism, it was revived in the second half of the twentieth century. Philosophers such as David K. Lewis and David Armstrong developed elaborate theories on a range of topics such as universals, causation, possibility and necessity and abstract objects. However, the focus of analytical philosophy is generally away from the construction of all-encompassing systems and towards close analysis of individual ideas. Among the developments that led to the revival of metaphysical theorizing were Quine's attack on the analytic-synthetic distinction, which was generally taken to undermine Carnap's distinction between existence questions internal to a framework and those external to it.[18] The philosophy of fiction, the problem of empty names, and the debate over existence's status as a property have all risen out of relative obscurity to become central concerns, while perennial issues such as free will, possible worlds, and the philosophy of time have had new life breathed into them.[19][20]

Rejections of metaphysics
A number of individuals have suggested that much of metaphysics should be rejected. In the 18th century, David Hume took an extreme position, arguing that all genuine knowledge involves either mathematics or matters of fact and that metaphysics, which goes beyond these, is worthless. He concludes his Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding with the statement: If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.[21] In the 1930s, A. J. Ayer and Rudolf Carnap endorsed Hume's position; Carnap quoted the passage above.[22] They argued that metaphysical statements are neither true nor

false but meaningless since, according to their verifiability theory of meaning, a statement is meaningful only if there can be empirical evidence for or against it. Thus, while Ayer rejected the monism of Spinoza, noted above, he avoided a commitment to pluralism, the contrary position, by holding both views to be without meaning.[23] Carnap took a similar line with the controversy over the reality of the external world.[24] 33 years after Hume's Enquiry appeared, Immanuel Kant published his Critique of Pure Reason. Though he followed Hume in rejecting much of previous metaphysics, he argued that there was still room for some synthetic a priori knowledge, concerned with matters of fact yet obtainable independent of experience. These included fundamental structures of space, time, and causality. He also argued for the freedom of the will and the existence of "things in themselves", the ultimate (but unknowable) objects of experience.

Metaphysics in science
Much recent work has been devoted to analyzing the role of metaphysics in scientific theorizing. Alexandre Koyr led this movement, declaring in his book Metaphysics and Measurement, "It is not by following experiment, but by outstripping experiment, that the scientific mind makes progress."[25] Imre Lakatos maintained that all scientific theories have a metaphysical "hard core" essential for the generation of hypotheses and theoretical assumptions.[26] Thus, according to Lakatos, "scientific changes are connected with vast cataclysmic metaphysical revolutions."[27] An example from biology of Lakatos' thesis: David Hull has argued that changes in the ontological status of the species concept have been central in the development of biological thought from Aristotle through Cuvier, Lamarck, and Darwin.[28] Darwin's ignorance of metaphysics made it more difficult for him to respond to his critics because he could not readily grasp the ways in which their underlying metaphysical views differed from his own. In physics, new metaphysical ideas have arisen in connection with quantum mechanics, where subatomic particles arguably do not have the same sort of individuality as the particulars with which philosophy has traditionally been concerned.[29] Also, adherence to a deterministic metaphysics in the face of the challenge posed by the quantummechanical uncertainty principle led physicists like Albert Einstein to propose alternative theories that retained determinism.[30] In chemistry, Gilbert Newton Lewis addressed the nature of motion, arguing that an electron should not be said to move when it has none of the properties of motion.[31] Katherine Hawley notes that the metaphysics even of a widely accepted scientific theory may be challenged if it can be argued that the metaphysical presuppositions of the theory make no contribution to its predictive success.[32]

See also
Philosophy portal

Afterlife Alchemy Concerning existence of material things, and real distinction between mind and body (Descartes) Essence Logic Metaethics Mindbody problem Nihilism Parapsychology Personal identity (philosophy) Philosophical logic Philosophical realism Philosophical theology Philosophy of Mathematics Philosophy of physics Pluralism (philosophy of mind) Substance theory Time travel

Further reading

The London Philosophy Study Guide offers many suggestions on what to read, depending on the student's familiarity with the subject: Logic & Metaphysics

Notes and references

1. ^ Geisler, Norman L. "Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics" page 446. Baker Books, 1999. 2. ^ Metaphysics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). 3. ^ What is it (that is, whatever it is that there is) like? Hall, Ned (2012). "David Lewis's Metaphysics". In Edward N. Zalta (ed). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2012 ed.). Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University. Retrieved October 5, 2012. 4. ^ Random House Dictionary Online metaphysicist 5. ^ Random House Dictionary Online metaphysician 6. ^ a b Peter Gay, The Enlightenment, vol. 1 (The Rise of Modern Paganism), Chapter 3, Section II, pp. 132-141. 7. ^ In the English language, the word comes by way of the Medieval Latin metaphysica, the neuter plural of Medieval Greek metaphysika.[1] Various dictionaries trace its first appearance in English to the mid-sixteenth century, although in some cases as early as 1387.[2] 8. ^ "Metaphysics". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. 9. ^ This question is discussed in details in one of the latest publications on this topic, see: Nader El-Bizri, 'Avicenna and Essentialism', Review of Metaphysics 54 (2001), pp. 753-778 10. ^ Muir, John W. (1968). "The definition of taxa". Systematic Biology 17 (3): 345. doi:10.1093/sysbio/17.3.345.

11. ^ "Replacement of an Essentialistic Perspective on Taxonomic Definitions as Exemplified by the Definition of "Mammalia"". Systematic Biology 43 (4): 497510. 1994. doi:10.1093/sysbio/43.4.497. 12. ^ Nicholas Rescher (2006). "Metaphysics: The Key Issues from a Realistic Perspective". ISBN 978-1591023722. Retrieved November 2, 2012. 13. ^ Blum, Paul Richard (2010). Philosophy of the Religion in the Renaissance. Surrey, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited. pp. 89. ISBN 9780-7546-0781-6. 14. ^ Oxford Companion to Philosophy 15. ^ Barnes (1987). 16. ^ As universals were considered by Plato to be ideal forms, this stance is confusingly also called Platonic idealism. This should not be confused with Idealism, as presented by philosophers such as Immanuel Kant: as Platonic abstractions are not spatial, temporal, or mental they are not compatible with the later Idealism's emphasis on mental existence. 17. ^ The words "potentiality" and "actuality" are one set of translations from the original Greek terms of Aristotle. Other translations (including Latin) and alternative Greek terms are sometimes used in scholarly work on the subject. 18. ^ S. Yablo and A. Gallois, Does Ontology Rest on a Mistake?, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volumes, Vol. 72, (1998), pp. 229-261+263-283 first part 19. ^ Everett, Anthony and Thomas Hofweber (eds.) (2000), Empty Names, Fiction and the Puzzles of Non-Existence. 20. ^ Van Inwagen, Peter, and Dean Zimmerman (eds.) (1998), Metaphysics: The Big Questions. 21. ^ Hume, David (1748). An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. 132. 22. ^ Carnap, Rudolf (1935) (excerpt), Philosophy and Logical Syntax, retrieved September 2, 2012 23. ^ Ayer, A. J. (1936). Language, Truth and Logic. Victor Gollantz. p. 22. 24. ^ Carnap, Rudolf (1928). Der Logische Aufbau der Welt. Trans. 1967 by Rolf A. George as The Logical Structure of the World. University of California Press. pp. 333f. ISBN 0-520-01417-0. 25. ^ Koyr, Alexandre (1968). Metaphysics and Measurement. Harvard University Press. p. 80. 26. ^ Brekke, John S. (1986). "Scientific Imperatives in Social Work Research: Pluralism Is Not Skepticism". Social Service Review 60 (4): 538554. 27. ^ Lakatos, Imre (1970). "Science: reason or religion". Section 1 of "Falsification and the methodology of scientific research programs" in Imre Lakatos & Alan Musgrave, Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-07826-1. 28. ^ Hull, David (1967). "The Metaphysics of Evolution". British Journal for the History of Science 3 (4): 309337. 29. ^ Arenhart, Jonas R. B. (2012). "Ontological frameworks for scientific theories". Foundations of Science 17 (4). doi:10.1007/s10699-012-9288-5. 30. ^ Hawking, Stephen (1999). "Does God play dice?". Retrieved September 2, 2012.

31. ^ Rodebush, Worth H. (1929). "The electron theory of valence". Chemical Reviews (American Chemical Society) 5 (4): 509531. doi:10.1021/cr60020a007. 32. ^ Hawley, Katherine (2006). "Science as a Guide to Metaphysics?". Synthese (Springer Netherlands) 149 (3): 451470. doi:10.1007/s11229-0050569-1. ISSN 0039-7857.

Bibliography

Butchvarov, Panayot (1979). Being Qua Being: A Theory of Identity, Existence and Predication. Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press. Harris, E. E. (1965). The Foundations of Metaphysics in Science. London: George Allen and Unwin. Harris, E. E. (2000). The Restitution of Metaphysics. New York: Humanity Books. Kant, I (1781). Critique of Pure Reason. Gale, Richard M. (2002). The Blackwell Guide to Metaphysics. Oxford: Blackwell. Gay, Peter. (1966). The Enlightenment: An Interpretation (2 vols.). New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Lowe, E. J. (2002). A Survey of Metaphysics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Loux, M. J. (2006). Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction (3rd ed.). London: Routledge. Kim, J. and Ernest Sosa Ed. (1999). Metaphysics: An Anthology. Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies. Kim, J. and Ernest Sosa, Ed. (2000). A Companion to Metaphysics. Malden Massachusetts, Blackwell, Publishers. Le Poidevin R. & al. Ed. (2009). The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics. New York, Routledge. Werner Heisenberg (1958), Atomic Physics and Causal Law, from The Physicist's Conception of Nature

External links
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopdia Britannica article Metaphysics. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Metaphysics

Metaphysics at PhilPapers Metaphysics at the Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project Metaphysics entry by Peter van Inwagen in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Metaphysics entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Aristotle's Metaphysics trans. by W. D. Ross Hume's Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: Mirrored at eBooks@Adelaide Aristotle's Metaphysics trans. by Hugh Tredennick (HTML at Perseus)

E-text (The Norman Kemp Smith translation of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason) [show]

Articles related to metaphysics

Categories:

Metaphysics Branches of philosophy

Metadata
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For the page on metadata about Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Metadata. The term metadata is ambiguous, as it is used for two fundamentally different concepts (types). Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about the data because, at design time, the application contains no data. In this case the correct description would be "data about the containers of data". Descriptive metadata, on the other hand, is about individual instances of application data, the data content. In this case, a useful description (resulting in a disambiguating neologism) would be "data about data content" or "content about content" thus metacontent. Descriptive, Guide and the National Information Standards Organization concept of administrative metadata are all subtypes of metacontent.[citation needed] Metadata (metacontent) are traditionally found in the card catalogs of libraries. As information has become increasingly digital, metadata are also used to describe digital data using metadata standards specific to a particular discipline. By describing the contents and context of data files, the quality of the original data/files is greatly increased. For example, a webpage may include metadata specifying what language it is written in, what tools were used to create it, and where to go for more on the subject, allowing browsers to automatically improve the experience of users.

Contents

1 Definition o 1.1 Libraries o 1.2 Photographs o 1.3 Video o 1.4 Web pages o 1.5 Creation of metadata 2 Metadata types 3 Metadata structures o 3.1 Metadata syntax o 3.2 Hierarchical, linear and planar schemata o 3.3 Metadata hypermapping o 3.4 Granularity

4 Metadata standards 5 Metadata usage o 5.1 Data virtualization o 5.2 SVN checkout metadata o 5.3 Statistics and census services o 5.4 Library and information science o 5.5 Metadata and the law 5.5.1 United States o 5.6 Metadata in healthcare o 5.7 Metadata and data warehousing o 5.8 Metadata on the Internet o 5.9 Metadata in the broadcast industry o 5.10 Geospatial metadata o 5.11 Ecological & environmental metadata o 5.12 Digital Music o 5.13 Cloud applications 6 Metadata administration and management o 6.1 Metadata storage o 6.2 Metadata management o 6.3 Database management 7 References 8 External links

Definition
Metadata (metacontent) are defined as the data providing information about one or more aspects of the data, such as:

Means of creation of the data Purpose of the data Time and date of creation Creator or author of the data Location on a computer network where the data were created Standards used

For example, a digital image may include metadata that describe how large the picture is, the color depth, the image resolution, when the image was created, and other data. A text document's metadata may contain information about how long the document is, who the author is, when the document was written, and a short summary of the document. Metadata are data. As such, metadata can be stored and managed in a database, often called a Metadata registry or Metadata repository.[1] However, without context and a point of reference, it might be impossible to identify metadata just by looking at them.[2] For example: by itself, a database containing several numbers, all 13 digits long could be the results of calculations or a list of numbers to plug into an equation - without any other context, the numbers themselves can be perceived as the data. But if given the context that this database is a log of a book collection, those 13-digit numbers may now

be identified as ISBNs - information that refers to the book, but is not itself the information within the book. The term "metadata" was coined in 1968 by Philip Bagley, in his book "Extension of programming language concepts" [3] where it is clear that he uses the term in the ISO 11179 "traditional" sense, which is "structural metadata" i.e. "data about the containers of data"; rather than the alternate sense "content about individual instances of data content" or metacontent, the type of data usually found in library catalogues.[4][5] Since then the fields of information management, information science, information technology, librarianship and GIS have widely adopted the term. In these fields the word metadata is defined as "data about data".[6] While this is the generally accepted definition, various disciplines have adopted their own more specific explanation and uses of the term.

Libraries
Metadata have been used in various forms as a means of cataloging archived information. The Dewey Decimal System employed by libraries for the classification of library materials is an early example of metadata usage. Library catalogues used 3x5 inch cards to display a book's title, author, subject matter, and a brief plot synopsis along with an abbreviated alpha-numeric identification system which indicated the physical location of the book within the library's shelves. Such data help classify, aggregate, identify, and locate a particular book. Another form of older metadata collection is the use by US Census Bureau of what is known as the "Long Form." The Long Form asks questions that are used to create demographic data to find patterns of distribution.[7] For the purposes of this article, an "object" refers to any of the following:

A physical item such as a book, CD, DVD, map, chair, table, flower pot, etc. An electronic file such as a digital image, digital photo, document, program file, database table, etc.

Photographs
Metadata may be written into a digital photo file that will identify who owns it, copyright & contact information, what camera created the file, along with exposure information and descriptive information such as keywords about the photo, making the file searchable on the computer and/or the Internet. Some metadata are written by the camera and some is input by the photographer and/or software after downloading to a computer. However, not all digital cameras enable you to edit metadata;[8] this functionality has been available on most Nikon DSLRs since the Nikon D3 and on most new Canon cameras since the Canon EOS 7D. Photographic Metadata Standards are governed by organizations that develop the following standards. They include, but are not limited to:

IPTC Information Interchange Model IIM (International Press Telecommunications Council), IPTC Core Schema for XMP XMP Extensible Metadata Platform (an ISO standard)

Exif Exchangeable image file format, Maintained by CIPA (Camera & Imaging Products Association) and published by JEITA (Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association) Dublin Core (Dublin Core Metadata Initiative DCMI) PLUS (Picture Licensing Universal System).

Video
Metadata are particularly useful in video, where information about its contents (such as transcripts of conversations and text descriptions of its scenes) are not directly understandable by a computer, but where efficient search is desirable.

Web pages
Web pages often include metadata in the form of meta tags. Description and keywords meta tags are commonly used to describe the Web page's content. Most search engines use these data when adding pages to their search index.

Creation of metadata
Metadata can be created either by automated information processing or by manual work. Elementary metadata captured by computers can include information about when a file was created, who created it, when it was last updated, file size and file extension.

Metadata types
The metadata application is manyfold covering a large variety of fields of application there are nothing but specialised and well accepted models to specify types of metadata. Bretheron & Singley (1994) distinguish between two distinct classes: structural/control metadata and guide metadata.[9] Structural metadata are used to describe the structure of computer systems such as tables, columns and indexes. Guide metadata are used to help humans find specific items and are usually expressed as a set of keywords in a natural language. According to Ralph Kimball metadata can be divided into 2 similar categories: technical metadata and business metadata. Technical metadata correspond to internal metadata, business metadata - to external metadata. Kimball adds a third category named process metadata. On the other hand, NISO distinguishes between three types of metadata: descriptive, structural and administrative.[6] Descriptive metadata are the information used to search and locate an object such as title, author, subjects, keywords, publisher; structural metadata give a description of how the components of the object are organised; and administrative metadata refer to the technical information including file type. Two sub-types of administrative metadata are rights management metadata and preservation metadata.

Metadata structures
Metadata (metacontent), or more correctly, the vocabularies used to assemble metadata (metacontent) statements, are typically structured according to a standardized concept using a well-defined metadata scheme, including: metadata standards and metadata models. Tools such as controlled vocabularies, taxonomies, thesauri, data dictionaries

and metadata registries can be used to apply further standardization to the metadata. Structural metadata commonality is also of paramount importance in data model development and in database design.

Metadata syntax
Metadata (metacontent) syntax refers to the rules created to structure the fields or elements of metadata (metacontent).[10] A single metadata scheme may be expressed in a number of different markup or programming languages, each of which requires a different syntax. For example, Dublin Core may be expressed in plain text, HTML, XML and RDF.[11] A common example of (guide) metacontent is the bibliographic classification, the subject, the Dewey Decimal class number. There is always an implied statement in any "classification" of some object. To classify an object as, for example, Dewey class number 514 (Topology) (i.e. books having the number 514 on their spine) the implied statement is: "<book><subject heading><514>. This is a subject-predicate-object triple, or more importantly, a class-attribute-value triple. The first two elements of the triple (class, attribute) are pieces of some structural metadata having a defined semantic. The third element is a value, preferably from some controlled vocabulary, some reference (master) data. The combination of the metadata and master data elements results in a statement which is a metacontent statement i.e. "metacontent = metadata + master data". All these elements can be thought of as "vocabulary". Both metadata and master data are vocabularies which can be assembled into metacontent statements. There are many sources of these vocabularies, both meta and master data: UML, EDIFACT, XSD, Dewey/UDC/LoC, SKOS, ISO-25964, Pantone, Linnaean Binomial Nomenclature etc. Using controlled vocabularies for the components of metacontent statements, whether for indexing or finding, is endorsed by ISO-25964: "If both the indexer and the searcher are guided to choose the same term for the same concept, then relevant documents will be retrieved." This is particularly relevant when considering that the behemoth of the internet, Google, is simply indexing then matching text strings, there is no intelligence or "inferencing" occurring.

Hierarchical, linear and planar schemata

Metadata schema can be hierarchical in nature where relationships exist between metadata elements and elements are nested so that parent-child relationships exist between the elements. An example of a hierarchical metadata schema is the IEEE LOM schema where metadata elements may belong to a parent metadata element. Metadata schema can also be one-dimensional, or linear, where each element is completely discrete from other elements and classified according to one dimension only. An example of a linear metadata schema is Dublin Core schema which is one dimensional. Metadata schema are often two dimensional, or planar, where each element is completely discrete from other elements but classified according to two orthogonal dimensions.[12]

Metadata hypermapping
In all cases where the metadata schemata exceed the planar depiction, some type of hypermapping is required to enable display and view of metadata according to chosen

aspect and to serve special views. Hypermapping frequently applies to layering of geographical and geological information overlays.[13]

Granularity
The degree to which the data or metadata are structured is referred to as their granularity. Metadata with a high granularity allow for deeper structured information and enable greater levels of technical manipulation however, a lower level of granularity means that metadata can be created for considerably lower costs but will not provide as detailed information. The major impact of granularity is not only on creation and capture, but moreover on maintenance. As soon as the metadata structures get outdated, the access to the referred data will get outdated. Hence granularity shall take into account the effort to create as well as the effort to maintain.

Metadata standards
International standards apply to metadata. Much work is being accomplished in the national and international standards communities, especially ANSI (American National Standards Institute) and ISO (International Organization for Standardization) to reach consensus on standardizing metadata and registries. The core standard is ISO/IEC 11179-1:2004 [14] and subsequent standards (see ISO/IEC 11179). All yet published registrations according to this standard cover just the definition of metadata and do not serve the structuring of metadata storage or retrieval neither any administrative standardisation. It is important to note that this standard refers to metadata as the data about containers of the data and not to metadata (metacontent) as the data about the data contents. It should also be noted that this standard describes itself originally as a "data element" registry, describing disembodied data elements, and explicitly disavows the capability of containing complex structures. Thus the original term "data element" is more applicable than the later applied buzzword "metadata". The Dublin Core metadata terms are a set of vocabulary terms which can be used to describe resources for the purposes of discovery. The original set of 15 classic [2] metadata terms, known as the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set [3] are endorsed in the following standards documents:

IETF RFC 5013 [4] ISO Standard 15836-2009 [5] NISO Standard Z39.85 [6].

Although not a standard, Microformat (also mentionned in the section metadata on the internet below) is a web-based approach to semantic markup which seeks to re-use existing HTML/XHTML tags to convey metadata. Microformat follows XHTML and HTML standards but is not a standard in itself. One advocate of microformats, Tantek elik, characterized a problem with alternative approaches:

Here's a new language we want you to learn, and now you need to output these additional files on your server. It's a hassle. (Microformats) lower the barrier to entry.[15]

Metadata usage
Data virtualization
Main article: Data virtualization Data virtualization has emerged as the new software technology to complete the virtualization stack in the enterprise. Metadata are used in data virtualization servers which are enterprise infrastructure components, alongside database and application servers. Metadata in these servers are saved as persistent repository and describe business objects in various enterprise systems and applications. Structural metadata commonality is also important to support data virtualization.

SVN checkout metadata

SVN maintains .SVN hidden files created in the web root folder which can reveal crucial information of the code repositories.

Statistics and census services

Standardization work has had a large impact on efforts to build metadata systems in the statistical community. Several metadata standards are described, and their importance to statistical agencies is discussed. Applications of the standards at the Census Bureau, Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Statistics Canada, and many others are described. Emphasis is on the impact a metadata registry can have in a statistical agency.

Library and information science

Libraries employ metadata in library catalogues, most commonly as part of an Integrated Library Management System. Metadata are obtained by cataloguing resources such as books, periodicals, DVDs, web pages or digital images. These data are stored in the integrated library management system, ILMS, using the MARC metadata standard. The purpose is to direct patrons to the physical or electronic location of items or areas they seek as well as to provide a description of the item/s in question. More recent and specialized instances of library metadata include the establishment of digital libraries including e-print repositories and digital image libraries. While often based on library principles, the focus on non-librarian use, especially in providing metadata, means they do not follow traditional or common cataloging approaches. Given the custom nature of included materials, metadata fields are often specially created e.g. taxonomic classification fields, location fields, keywords or copyright statement. Standard file information such as file size and format are usually automatically included.[16]

Standardization for library operation has been a key topic in international standardization (ISO) for decades. Standards for metadata in digital libraries include Dublin Core, METS, MODS, DDI, ISO standard Digital Object Identifier (DOI), ISO standard Uniform Resource Name (URN), PREMIS schema, Ecological Metadata Language, and OAI-PMH. Leading libraries in the world give hints on their metadata standards strategies.[17][18]

Metadata and the law

United States
Problems involving metadata in litigation in the United States are becoming widespread.[when?] Courts have looked at various questions involving metadata, including the discoverability of metadata by parties. Although the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure have only specified rules about electronic documents, subsequent case law has elaborated on the requirement of parties to reveal metadata.[19] In October 2009, the Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that metadata records are public record.[20] Document metadata have proven particularly important in legal environments in which litigation has requested metadata, which can include sensitive information detrimental to a party in court. Using metadata removal tools to "clean" documents can mitigate the risks of unwittingly sending sensitive data. This process partially (see Data remanence) protects law firms from potentially damaging leaking of sensitive data through electronic discovery.

Metadata in healthcare
Australian researches in medicine started a lot of metadata definition for applications in health care. That approach offers the first recognized attempt to adhere to international standards in medical sciences instead of defining a proprietary standard under the WHO umbrella first. The medical community yet did not approve the need to follow metadata standards despite respective research.[21]

Metadata and data warehousing

Data warehouse (DW) is a repository of an organization's electronically stored data. Data warehouses are designed to manage and store the data whereas the business intelligence (BI) focuses on the usage of the data to facilitate reporting and analysis.[22] The purpose of a data warehouse is to house standardized, structured, consistent, integrated, correct, cleansed and timely data, extracted from various operational systems in an organization. The extracted data are integrated in the data warehouse environment in order to provide an enterprise wide perspective, one version of the truth. Data are structured in a way to specifically address the reporting and analytic requirements. The design of structural metadata commonality using a data modeling method such as entity

relationship model diagramming is very important in any data warehouse development effort. An essential component of a data warehouse/business intelligence system is the metadata and tools to manage and retrieve the metadata. Ralph Kimball[23] describes metadata as the DNA of the data warehouse as metadata defines the elements of the data warehouse and how they work together. Kimball et al.[24] refers to three main categories of metadata: Technical metadata, business metadata and process metadata. Technical metadata are primarily definitional, while business metadata and process metadata are primarily descriptive. Keep in mind that the categories sometimes overlap.

Technical metadata define the objects and processes in a DW/BI system, as seen from a technical point of view. The technical metadata include the system metadata which define the data structures such as: tables, fields, data types, indexes and partitions in the relational engine, and databases, dimensions, measures, and data mining models. Technical metadata define the data model and the way it is displayed for the users, with the reports, schedules, distribution lists and user security rights. Business metadata are a content from the data warehouse described in more user-friendly terms. The business metadata tell you what data you have, where they come from, what they mean and what is their relationship is to other data in the data warehouse. Business metadata may also serve as a documentation for the DW/BI system. Users who browse the data warehouse are primarily viewing the business metadata. Process metadata are used to describe the results of various operations in the data warehouse. Within the ETL process, all key data from tasks are logged on execution. This includes start time, end time, CPU seconds used, disk reads, disk writes and rows processed. When troubleshooting the ETL or query process, this sort of data becomes valuable. Process metadata are the fact measurement when building and using a DW/BI system. Some organizations make a living out of collecting and selling this sort of data to companies - in that case the process metadata become the business metadata for the fact and dimension tables. Collecting process metadata is in the interest of business people who can use the data to identify the users of their products, which products they are using and what level of service they are receiving.

Metadata on the Internet

The HTML format used to define web pages allows for the inclusion of a variety of types of metadata, from basic descriptive text, dates and keywords to further advanced metadata schemes such as the Dublin Core, e-GMS, and AGLS[25] standards. Pages can also be geotagged with coordinates. Metadata may be included in the page's header or in a separate file. Microformats allow metadata to be added to on-page data in a way that users do not see, but computers can readily access.

Interestingly, many search engines are cautious about using metadata in their ranking algorithms due to exploitation of metadata and the practice of search engine optimization, SEO, to improve rankings. See Meta element article for further discussion. Studies show that search engines respond to web pages with metadata implementations.[26]

Metadata in the broadcast industry

In broadcast industry, metadata are linked to audio and video Broadcast media to:

identify the media: clip or playlist names, duration, timecode, etc. describe the content: notes regarding the quality of video content, rating, description (for example, during a sport event, keywords like goal, red card will be associated to some clips) classify media: metadata allow to sort the media or to easily and quickly find a video content (a TV news could urgently need some archive content for a subject). For example, the BBC have a large subject classification system, Lonclass, a customized version of the more general-purpose Universal Decimal Classification.

These metadata can be linked to the video media thanks to the video servers. All latest broadcasted sport events like FIFA World Cup or Olympic Games use these metadata to distribute their video content to TV stations through keywords. It's often the host broadcaster[27] who is in charge of organizing metadata through its International Broadcast Centre and its video servers. Those metadata are recorded with the images and are entered by metadata operators (loggers) who associate in live metadata available in metadata grids through software (such as Multicam(LSM) or IPDirector used during FIFA World Cup or Olympic Games).[28][29]

Geospatial metadata
Metadata that describe geographic objects (such as datasets, maps, features, or simply documents with a geospatial component) have a history dating back to at least 1994 (refer MIT Library page on FGDC Metadata). This class of metadata is described more fully on the Geospatial metadata page.

Ecological & environmental metadata

Ecological and environmental metadata are intended to document the who, what, when, where, why, and how of data collection for a particular study. Metadata should be generated in a format commonly used by the most relevant science community, such as Darwin Core, Ecological Metadata Language,[30] or Dublin Core. Metadata editing tools exist to facilitate metadata generation (e.g. Metavist,[31] Mercury: Metadata Search System, Morpho[32]). Metadata should describe provenance of the data (where they originated, as well as any transformations the data underwent) and how to give credit for (cite) the data products.

Digital Music

CDs such as recordings of music will carry a layer of metadata about the recordings such as dates, artist, genre, copyright owner, etc. The metadata, not normally displayed by CD players, can be accessed and displayed by specialized music playback and/or editing applications. The metadata for compressed and uncompressed digital music is often encoded in the ID3 tag. Common editors such as TagLib support MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, MPC, Speex, WavPack TrueAudio, WAV, AIFF, MP4 and ASF file formats.

Cloud applications
With the availability of Cloud applications, which include those to add metadata to content, metadata is increasingly available over the Internet.

Metadata administration and management

Metadata storage
This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2010) Metadata can be stored either internally,[33] in the same file as the data, or externally, in a separate file. Metadata that are embedded with content is called embedded metadata. A data repository typically stores the metadata detached from the data. Both ways have advantages and disadvantages:

Internal storage allows transferring metadata together with the data they describe; thus, metadata are always at hand and can be manipulated easily. This method creates high redundancy and does not allow holding metadata together. External storage allows bundling metadata, for example in a database, for more efficient searching. There is no redundancy and metadata can be transferred simultaneously when using streaming. However, as most formats use URIs for that purpose, the method of how the metadata are linked to their data should be treated with care. What if a resource does not have a URI (resources on a local hard disk or web pages that are created on-the-fly using a content management system)? What if the metadata can only be evaluated if there is a connection to the Web, especially when using RDF? How to realize that a resource is replaced by another with the same name but different content?

Moreover, there is the question of data format: storing metadata in a human-readable format such as XML can be useful because users can understand and edit it without specialized tools. On the other hand, these formats are not optimized for storage capacity; it may be useful to store metadata in a binary, non-human-readable format instead to speed up transfer and save memory....

Metadata management

Metadata management is the end-to-end process and governance framework for creating, controlling, enhancing, attributing, defining and managing a metadata schema, model or other structured aggregation, either independently or within a repository and the associated supporting processes (often to enable the management of content). The world Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has identified Governance as a key challenge in the advancement of third generation Web Technologies (Web 3.0, Semantic Web), and a number of research prototypes, such as S3DB, explore the use of semantic modeling to identify practical solutions.

Database management
Each relational database system has its own mechanisms for storing metadata. Examples of relational-database metadata include:

Tables of all tables in a database, their names, sizes and number of rows in each table. Tables of columns in each database, what tables they are used in, and the type of data stored in each column.

In database terminology, this set of metadata is referred to as the catalog. The SQL standard specifies a uniform means to access the catalog, called the information schema, but not all databases implement it, even if they implement other aspects of the SQL standard. For an example of database-specific metadata access methods, see Oracle metadata. Programmatic access to metadata is possible using APIs such as JDBC, or SchemaCrawler.[34]

Agris: International Information System for the Agricultural Sciences and Technology Classification scheme Crosswalk (metadata) DataONE Data Dictionary (aka metadata repository) Dublin Core Folksonomy GEOMS Generic Earth Observation Metadata Standard IPDirector ISO/IEC 11179 Knowledge tag Mercury: Metadata Search System Meta element Metadata Access Point Interface Metadata discovery Metadata facility for Java Metadata from Wikiversity

Metadata publishing Metadata registry METAFOR Common Metadata for Climate Modelling Digital Repositories Microcontent Microformat Multicam(LSM) Ontology (computer science) Official statistics Paratext Preservation Metadata SDMX Semantic Web SGML The Metadata Company Universal Data Element Framework Vocabulary OneSource XSD

References

1. ^ Hner, K.; Otto, B.; sterle, H.: Collaborative management of business metadata, in: International Journal of Information Management, 2011 2. ^ "Metadata Standards And Metadata Registries: An Overview" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-12-23. 3. ^ Extension of programming language concepts, http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/680815.pdf 4. ^ Bagley, Philip (Nov 1968), Extension of programming language concepts, Philadelphia: University City Science Center 5. ^ "The notion of "metadata" introduced by Bagley". Solntseff, N+1; Yezerski, A (1974), A survey of extensible programming languages, Annual Review in Automatic Programming, 7, Elsevier Science Ltd, pp. 267307, doi:10.1016/0066-4138(74)90001-9 6. ^ a b NISO. Understanding Metadata. NISO Press. ISBN 1-880124-62-9. Retrieved 5 January 2010. 7. ^ National Archives of Australia (2002). "AGLS Metadata Element Set Part 2: Usage Guide - A non-technical guide to using AGLS metadata for describing resources". Retrieved 17 March 2010. 8. ^ Rutter, Chris. "What is metadata: copyright photos in 4 steps". Digital Camera Magazine. Future Publishing. 9. ^ Bretherton, F. P.; Singley, P.T. (1994). "Metadata: A User's View, Proceedings of the International Conference on Very Large Data Bases (VLDB)". pp. 10911094. 10. ^ Cathro, Warwick (1997). "Metadata: an overview". Retrieved 6 January 2010. 11. ^ DCMI (5 Oct 2009). "Semantic Recommendations". Retrieved 6 January 2010. 12. ^ "Types of Metadata". University of Melbourne. 15 August 2006. Archived from the original on 2009-10-24. Retrieved 6 January 2010. 13. ^ Kbler, Stefanie; Skala, Wolfdietrich; Voisard, Agns. "THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A GEOLOGIC HYPERMAP PROTOTYPE". 14. ^ "ISO/IEC 11179-1:2004 Information technology - Metadata registries (MDR) - Part 1: Framework". Iso.org. 2009-03-18. Retrieved 2011-12-23. 15. ^ "Whats the Next Big Thing on the Web? It May Be a Small, Simple Thing -- Microformats". Knowledge@Wharton. Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. 2005-07-27. 16. ^ Solodovnik, I. (2011). "Metadata issues in Digital Libraries: key concepts and perspectives". JLIS.It, 2(2). doi:10.4403/jlis.it-4663 17. ^ Library of Congress Network Development and MARC Standards Office (2005-09-08). "Library of Congress Washington DC on metadata". Loc.gov. Retrieved 2011-12-23. 18. ^ "Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt on metadata". 19. ^ Gelzer, Reed D. (February 2008). "Metadata, Law, and the Real World: Slowly, the Three Are Merging". Journal of AHIMA (American Health Information Management Association) 79 (2): 5657, 64. Retrieved 8 January 2010. 20. ^ Walsh, Jim (30 October 2009). "Ariz. Supreme Court rules electronic data is public record". The Arizona Republic (Arizona, United States). Retrieved 8 January 2010.

21. ^ M. Lbe, M. Knuth, R. Mcke TIM: A Semantic Web Application for the Specification of Metadata Items in Clinical Research, CEUR-WS.org, urn:nbn:de:0074-559-9 22. ^ Inmon, W.H. Tech Topic: What is a Data Warehouse? Prism Solutions. Volume 1. 1995. 23. ^ Kimball, Ralph (2008). The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit (Second Edition ed.). New York: Wiley. pp. 10, 115117, 131132, 140, 154155. ISBN 978-0-470-14977-5. 24. ^ Kimball 2008, pp. 116117 25. ^ National Archives of Australia, AGLS Metadata Standard, accessed 7 January 2010, [1] 26. ^ The impact of webpage content characteristics on webpage visibility in search engine results http://web.simmons.edu/~braun/467/part_1.pdf 27. ^ "HBS is the FIFA host broadcaster". Hbs.tv. 2011-08-06. Retrieved 2011-12-23. 28. ^ Host Broadcast Media Server and Related Applications 29. ^ "logs during sport events". Broadcastengineering.com. Retrieved 201112-23. 30. ^ http://knb.ecoinformatics.org/software/eml/eml-2.0.1/index.html 31. ^ "Metavist 2". Metavist.djames.net. Retrieved 2011-12-23. 32. ^ "KNB Data :: Morpho". Knb.ecoinformatics.org. 2009-05-20. Retrieved 2011-12-23. 33. ^ Dan O'Neill. "ID3.org". 34. ^ Sualeh Fatehi. "SchemaCrawler". SourceForge.

External links
Look up metadata in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Mercury: Metadata Management, Data Discovery and Access, managed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center Metacrap: Putting the torch to seven straw-men of the meta-utopia Cory Doctorow's opinion on the limitations of metadata on the Internet, 2001 Retrieving Meta Data from Documents and Pictures Online - AnonWatch Understanding Metadata - NISO, 2004 DataONE Investigator Toolkit Journal of Library Metadata (Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group). ISSN 19375034. http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=journal&issn=1938-6389. Retrieved 8 January 2010. International Journal of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies (IJMSO) (Inderscience Publishers). ISSN 1744-263X. http://www.inderscience.com/ijmso. Retrieved 8 January 2010. AFC2IC Vocabulary OneSource Tool On metadata and metacontentarchiv.org Managing Metadata blog [show]

v t e

Software engineering
[show]

v t e

Data warehouse
Categories:

Data management Knowledge representation Library cataloging and classification Metadata Technical communication Business intelligence

Meta-ontology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Metaontology is the branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature of ontology and ontological questions. The term owes its popularization to Peter van Inwagen's 1998 paper of the same name. However, the subject itself is much older, going back at least to Rudolf Carnap's distinction, introduced in 1950, between internal and external questions. Some basic metaontological questions are:

What are we asking when we ask 'what is there?' Do ontological questions have objective answers? What is the central ontological question? Are the answers deep and difficult, or trivial and obvious? Does everything exist, or are there things that don't exist? Are there different kinds of being, or of existence?

Answers to these questions split up philosophers into different camps.

Carnap and Quine

Ontological questions are questions of the form "Are there Fs?"--for example: "Are there universals?", "Are there electrons?", "Are there gods?", etc. Carnap argued that such questions are ambiguous. They may be understood either from within a given conceptual framework, in which case they are to be answered by appeal to the rules of

the framework, and typically they will have obvious or trivial answers, or else they may be understood from outside a framework, as asking whether there are "really" any such things, granted that they exist within the framework. Carnap, however, argued that this "external" question is tantamount to asking whether one should adopt the framework in question, and this is a question to which there is no objectively correct answer, though there may be pragmatic considerations for or against such an adoption. For example, take the framework of standard arithmetic. In standard arithmetic it is a theorem that there are prime numbers greater than 1000, from which it follows that there are prime numbers, from which it follows that there are numbers. Thus, the question "Are there numbers?" has an obvious answer if intended internallyobviously, there are numbers in standard arithmetic. On the other hand, if we say, "Yes, but are there really such things as numbers?", we are stepping outside the framework of arithmetic and asking a question about that frameworkas Carnap argues, we are asking whether to adopt the framework in question. This is a practical question, a question about what to do, not about the nature of the world. Neither the internal nor the external question can be taken to be a philosophical question about the nature of the world. Hence, if Carnap is right, there are no objective ontological questions for philosophers to investigate, and ontology is an empty discipline. Against this, Quine argued that the internal/external distinction, like the distinction between analytic and synthetic truths, is untenable, and thus ontological questions are not ambiguous in Carnap's sense. On the contrary, he held that there is a single meaning to ontological claims, and this is captured by the backwards-E existential quantifier of formal logic. Consequently, to give the answers to ontological questions, one need only translate the relevant theory (whatever the relevant area of human knowledge is) into the notation of standard logic and see whether a sentence of the relevant form is part of the translated theory.

References

Carnap, Rudolf. 1950. Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology. Reprinted as a supplement to Meaning and Necessity: A Study in Semantics and Modal Logic. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956, pp. 205 21. Quine, W. V. 1951b. On Carnaps views on ontology, Philosophical Studies 2: 65-72. Reprinted in The Ways of Paradox (New York: Random House, 1966): 126-134. Quine, W. V. 1948. On What There Is, Review of Metaphysics 2: 21-38. Reprinted in From A Logical Point of View (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953): 1-19. van Inwagen, Peter. 1998. Meta-Ontology, Erkenntnis 48: 233-250.

External links

Meta-ontology at PhilPapers David Chalmers: Ontological Anti-Realism Cian Dorr: What We Disagree About When We Disagree About Ontology

Categories:

Metaphysics Ontology Metaphilosophy

Meta-ethics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search In philosophy, meta-ethics is the branch of ethics that seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties, statements, attitudes, and judgments. Meta-ethics is one of the three branches of ethics generally recognized by philosophers, the others being normative ethics and applied ethics. While normative ethics addresses such questions as "What should one do?", thus endorsing some ethical evaluations and rejecting others, meta-ethics addresses questions such as "What is goodness?" and "How can we tell what is good from what is bad?", seeking to understand the nature of ethical properties and evaluations. Some theorists argue that a metaphysical account of morality is necessary for the proper evaluation of actual moral theories and for making practical moral decisions; others reason from opposite premises and suggest that we must impart ideas of moral intuition onto proper action before we can give a proper account of morality's metaphysics.

Contents

1 Meta-ethical questions 2 Semantic theories o 2.1 Centralism and non-centralism 3 Substantial theories 4 Justification theories 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

Meta-ethical questions
According to Richard Garner and Bernard Rosen,[1] there are three kinds of meta-ethical problems, or three general questions: 1. What is the meaning of moral terms or judgments? 2. What is the nature of moral judgments? 3. How may moral judgments be supported or defended? A question of the first type might be, "What do the words 'good', 'bad', 'right' and 'wrong' mean?" (see value theory). The second category includes questions of whether moral judgments are universal or relative, of one kind or many kinds, etc. Questions of

the third kind ask, for example, how we can know if something is right or wrong, if at all. Garner and Rosen say that answers to the three basic questions "are not unrelated, and sometimes an answer to one will strongly suggest, or perhaps even entail, an answer to another."[1] A meta-ethical theory, unlike a normative ethical theory, does not attempt to evaluate specific choices as being better, worse, good, bad, or evil; although it may have profound implications as to the validity and meaning of normative ethical claims. An answer to any of the three example questions above would not itself be a normative ethical statement.

Semantic theories
These theories primarily put forward a position on the first of the three questions above, "What is the meaning of moral terms or judgments?" They may however imply or even entail answers to the other two questions as well.

Cognitivist theories hold that evaluative moral sentences express propositions (that is, they are "truth apt" or "truth bearers", capable of being true or false), as opposed to non-cognitivism. o Most forms of cognitivism hold that some such propositions are true, as opposed to error theory, which asserts that all are erroneous. Moral realism (in the robust sense; see moral universalism for the minimalist sense) holds that such propositions are about robust or mind-independent facts, that is, not facts about any person or group's subjective opinion, but about objective features of the world. Meta-ethical theories are commonly categorized as either a form of realism or as one of three forms of "anti-realism" regarding moral facts: ethical subjectivism, error theory, or noncognitivism. Realism comes in two main varieties: Ethical naturalism holds that there are objective moral properties and that these properties are reducible or stand in some metaphysical relation (such as supervenience) to entirely non-ethical properties. Most ethical naturalists hold that we have empirical knowledge of moral truths. Ethical naturalism was implicitly assumed by many modern ethical theorists, particularly utilitarians. Contemporary meta-ethical research continues to debate more recent instantiations of ethical naturalism like the Science of morality. Ethical non-naturalism, as put forward by G.E. Moore, holds that there are objective and irreducible moral properties (such as the property of 'goodness'), and that we sometimes have intuitive or otherwise a priori awareness of moral properties or of moral truths. Moore's open question argument against what he considered the naturalistic fallacy was largely responsible for the birth of meta-ethical research in contemporary analytic philosophy.

Ethical subjectivism is one form of moral anti-realism. It holds that moral statements are made true or false by the attitudes and/or conventions of people, either those of each society, those of each individual, or those of some particular individual. Most forms of ethical subjectivism are relativist, but there are notable forms that are universalist: Ideal observer theory holds that what is right is determined by the attitudes that a hypothetical ideal observer would have. An ideal observer is usually characterized as a being who is perfectly rational, imaginative, and informed, among other things. Though a subjectivist theory due to its reference to a particular (albeit hypothetical) subject, Ideal Observer Theory still purports to provide universal answers to moral questions. Divine command theory holds that for a thing to be right is for a unique being, God, to approve of it, and that what is right for non-God beings is obedience to the divine will. This view was criticized by Plato in the Euthyphro (see the Euthyphro problem) but retains some modern defenders (Robert Adams, Philip Quinn, and others). Like Ideal Observer Theory, Divine Command Theory purports to be universalist despite its subjectivism. o Error theory, another form of moral anti-realism, holds that although ethical claims do express propositions, all such propositions are false. Thus, both the statement "Murder is bad" and the statement "Murder is good" are false, according to an error theory. J. L. Mackie is probably the best-known proponent of this view. Since error theory denies that there are moral truths, error theory entails moral nihilism and, thus, moral skepticism; however, neither moral nihilism nor moral skepticism conversely entails error theory. Non-cognitivist theories hold that ethical sentences are neither true nor false because they do not express genuine propositions. Non-cognitivism is another form of moral anti-realism. Most forms of non-cognitivism are also forms of expressivism, however some such as Mark Timmons and Terrence Horgan distinguish the two and allow the possibility of cognitivist forms of expressivism. o Emotivism, defended by A.J. Ayer and C.L. Stevenson, holds that ethical sentences serve merely to express emotions. So "Killing is wrong" means something like "Boo on killing!" o Quasi-realism, defended by Simon Blackburn, holds that ethical statements behave linguistically like factual claims and can be appropriately called "true" or "false", even though there are no ethical facts for them to correspond to. Projectivism and moral fictionalism are related theories. o Universal prescriptivism, defended by R.M. Hare, holds that moral statements function like universalized imperative sentences. So "Killing is wrong" means something like "Don't kill!" Hare's version of prescriptivism requires that moral prescriptions be universalizable, and hence actually have objective values, in spite of failing to be indicative statements with truth-values per se.

Centralism and non-centralism

Yet another way of categorizing meta-ethical theories is to distinguish between centralist and non-centralist theories. The debate between centralism and noncentralism revolves around the relationship between the so-called "thin" and "thick" concepts of morality. Thin moral concepts are those such as good, bad, right, and wrong; thick moral concepts are those such as courageous, inequitable, just, or dishonest.[2] While both sides agree that the thin concepts are more general and the thick more specific, centralists hold that the thin concepts are antecedent to the thick ones and that the latter are therefore dependent on the former. That is, centralists argue that one must understand words like "right" and "ought" before understanding words like "just" and "unkind." Non-centralism rejects this view, holding that thin and thick concepts are on par with one another and even that the thick concepts are a sufficient starting point for understanding the thin ones.[3][4] Non-centralism has been of particular importance to ethical naturalists in the late 20th and early 21st centuries as part of their argument that normativity is a non-excisable aspect of language and that there is no way of analyzing thick moral concepts into a purely descriptive element attached to a thin moral evaluation, thus undermining any fundamental division between facts and norms. Allan Gibbard, R.M. Hare, and Simon Blackburn have argued in favor of the fact/norm distinction, meanwhile, with Gibbard going so far as to argue that, even if conventional English has only mixed normative terms (that is, terms that are neither purely descriptive nor purely normative), we could develop a nominally English metalanguage that still allowed us to maintain the division between factual descriptions and normative evaluations.[5][6]

Substantial theories
These theories attempt to answer the second of the above questions: "What is the nature of moral judgments?"

Amongst those who believe there to be some standard(s) of morality (as opposed to moral nihilists), there are two divisions: universalists, who hold that the same moral facts or principles apply to everyone everywhere; and relativists, who hold that different moral facts or principles apply to different people or societies. o Moral universalism (or universal morality) is the meta-ethical position that some system of ethics, or a universal ethic, applies universally, that is to all people regardless of culture, race, sex, religion, nationality, sexuality, or other distinguishing feature. The source or justification of this system may be thought to be, for instance, human nature, shared vulnerability to suffering, the demands of universal reason, what is common among existing moral codes, or the common mandates of religion (although it can be argued that the latter is not in fact moral universalism because it may distinguish between Gods and mortals). It is the opposing position to various forms of moral relativism. Universalist theories are generally forms of moral realism, though exceptions exists, such as the subjectivist ideal observer and divine command theories, and the non-cognitivist universal prescriptivism of R.M. Hare. Value monism is the common form of universalism, which holds that all goods are commensurable on a single value scale.

Value pluralism contends that there are two or more genuine scales of value, knowable as such, yet incommensurable, so that any prioritization of these values is either non-cognitive or subjective. A value pluralist might, for example, contend that both a life as a nun and a life as a mother realize genuine values (in a universalist sense), yet they are incompatible (nuns may not have children), and there is no purely rational way to measure which is preferable. A notable proponent of this view is Isaiah Berlin. o Moral relativism maintains that all moral judgments have their origins either in societal or in individual standards, and that no single objective standard exists by which one can assess the truth of a moral proposition. Meta-ethical relativists, in general, believe that the descriptive properties of terms such as "good", "bad", "right", and "wrong" do not stand subject to universal truth conditions, but only to societal convention and personal preference. Given the same set of verifiable facts, some societies or individuals will have a fundamental disagreement about what one ought to do based on societal or individual norms, and one cannot adjudicate these using some independent standard of evaluation. The latter standard will always be societal or personal and not universal, unlike, for example, the scientific standards for assessing temperature or for determining mathematical truths. Some philosophers maintain that moral relativism entails non-cognitivism. Most relativist theories are forms of moral subjectivism, though not all subjectivist theories are relativistic. Moral nihilism, also known as ethical nihilism, is the meta-ethical view that nothing is morally preferable to anything else. For example, a moral nihilist would say that killing someone, for whatever reason, is neither morally right nor morally wrong. Moral nihilism must be distinguished from moral relativism, which does allow for moral statements to be true or false in a non-universal sense, but does not assign any static truth-values to moral statements. Insofar as only true statements can be known, moral nihilists are moral skeptics. Most forms of moral nihilism are non-cognitivist and vice versa, though there are notable exceptions such as universal prescriptivism (which is semantically noncognitive but substantially universal).

Justification theories
These are theories that attempt to answer questions like, "How may moral judgments be supported or defended?" or "Why should I be moral?" If one presupposes a cognitivist interpretation of moral sentences, morality is justified by the moralist's knowledge of moral facts, and the theories to justify moral judgements are epistemological theories.

Most moral epistemologies, of course, posit that moral knowledge is somehow possible, as opposed to moral skepticism. o Amongst them, there are those who hold that moral knowledge is gained inferentially on the basis of some sort of non-moral epistemic process, as opposed to ethical intuitionism.

Empiricism is the doctrine that knowledge is gained primarily through observation and experience. Meta-ethical theories that imply an empirical epistemology include ethical naturalism, which holds moral facts to be reducible to non-moral facts and thus knowable in the same ways; and most common forms of ethical subjectivism, which hold that moral facts reduce to facts about individual opinions or cultural conventions and thus are knowable by observation of those conventions. There are exceptions within subjectivism however, such as ideal observer theory, which implies that moral facts may be known through a rational process, and individualist ethical subjectivism, which holds that moral facts are merely personal opinions and so may be known only through introspection. Empirical arguments for ethics run into the is-ought problem, which assert that the way the world is cannot alone instruct people how they ought to act. Moral rationalism, also called ethical rationalism, is the view according to which moral truths (or at least general moral principles) are knowable a priori, by reason alone. Some prominent figures in the history of philosophy who have defended moral rationalism are Plato and Immanuel Kant. Perhaps the most prominent figures in the history of philosophy who have rejected moral rationalism are David Hume and Friedrich Nietzsche. Recent philosophers who defended moral rationalism include R. M. Hare, Christine Korsgaard, Alan Gewirth, and Michael Smith (1994). A moral rationalist may adhere to any number of different semantic theories as well; moral realism is compatible with rationalism, and the subjectivist ideal observer theory and noncognitivist universal prescriptivism both entail it. o Ethical intuitionism, on the other hand, is the view according to which some moral truths can be known without inference. That is, the view is at its core a foundationalism about moral beliefs. Of course, such an epistemological view implies that there are moral beliefs with propositional contents; so it implies cognitivism. Ethical intuitionism commonly suggests moral realism, the view that there are objective facts of morality and, to be more specific, ethical non-naturalism, the view that these evaluative facts cannot be reduced to natural fact. However, neither moral realism nor ethical non-naturalism is essential to the view; most ethical intuitionists simply happen to hold those views as well. Ethical intuitionism comes in both a "rationalist" variety, and a more "empiricist" variety known as moral sense theory. Moral skepticism is the class of meta-ethical theories all members of which entail that no one has any moral knowledge. Many moral skeptics also make the stronger, modal, claim that moral knowledge is impossible. Forms of moral skepticism include, but are not limited to, error theory and most but not all forms of non-cognitivism.

See also

Isought problem

References
1. ^ a b Garner, Richard T.; Bernard Rosen (1967). Moral Philosophy: A Systematic Introduction to Normative Ethics and Meta-ethics. New York: Macmillan. pp. 215. LOC card number 67-18887. 2. ^ Jackson, Frank "Critical Notice" Australasian Journal of Philosophy Vol. 70, No. 4; December 1992 (pp. 475-488). 3. ^ Hurley, S.L. (1989). Natural Reasons: Personality and Polity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 4. ^ Hurley, S.L. (1985). "Objectivity and Disagreement." in Morality and Objectivity, Ted Honderich (ed.). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 54-97. 5. ^ Couture, Jocelyne and Kai Nielsen (1995). "Introduction: The Ages of Metaethics," in On the Relevance of Metaethics: New Essays in Metaethics, Jocelyne Couture and Kai Nielsen (eds.). Calgary: University of Calgary Press, pp. 1-30. 6. ^ Gibbard, Allan (1993). "Reply to Railton," in Naturalism and Normativity, Enrique Villanueva (ed.). Atascadero, CA: Ridgeview, pp. 52-59.

External links

Metaethics entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy by Geoff SayreMcCord. The Language of Morals (1952) by R.M. Hare. Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals by Immanuel Kant. Metaethics - 1 of the "Ethics" entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy by James Fieser. Essays by philosopher Michael Huemer on meta-ethics, especially intuitionism. Relativity theory of ethics by J.J. Mittler. [hide]

v t e

Ethics
Philosophers

Swami Vivekananda Plato Aristotle Confucius Mencius Mozi Cicero Augustine of Hippo Thomas Aquinas Baruch Spinoza David Hume Immanuel Kant

Georg W. F. Hegel Arthur Schopenhauer Jeremy Bentham John Stuart Mill Sren Kierkegaard Henry Sidgwick Friedrich Nietzsche G. E. Moore Karl Barth Paul Tillich Philippa Foot John Rawls Bernard Williams J. L. Mackie Alasdair MacIntyre Peter Singer Derek Parfit Thomas Nagel more... Consequentialism Deontology Virtue ethics Ethics of care Pragmatic ethics Particularism Role ethics Freedom Autonomy Conscience Good Evil Value Morality Care Justice Principles Virtue Happiness Norm Suffering or Pain Equality Trust Free will Consent Right Wrong

Theories

Concepts

Just War Axiology full index... Applied ethics Descriptive ethics Evolutionary ethics Religious ethics Christian ethics Jewish ethics Islamic ethics Legal ethics Medical ethics Meta-ethics Normative ethics Nursing ethics Professional ethics Sexual ethics

Related articles

Portal Category Task Force Stubs

Discussion Categories:

Meta-ethics

Metaknowledge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Meta-knowledge) Jump to: navigation, search Metaknowledge or meta-knowledge is knowledge about a preselected knowledge. For the reason of different definitions of knowledge in the subject matter literature, meta-information is or is not included in meta-knowledge. Detailed cognitive, systemic and epistemic study of human knowledge requires a distinguishing of these concepts. but in the common language knowledge includes information, and, for example, bibliographic data are considered as a meta-knowledge. Meta-knowledge is a fundamental conceptual instrument in such research and scientific domains as, knowledge engineering, knowledge management, and others dealing with study and operations on knowledge, seen as a unified object/entities, abstracted from local conceptualizations and terminologies. Examples of the first-level individual meta-

knowledge are methods of planning, modeling, tagging, learning and every modification of a domain knowledge. According to the TOGA meta-theory,[1] the procedures, methodologies and strategies of teaching, coordination of e-learning courses are individual meta-meta-knowledge of an intelligent entity (a person, organization or society). Of course, universal meta-knowledge frameworks have to be valid for the organization of meta-levels of individual meta-knowledge. Metaknowledge may be automatically harvested from electronic publication archives, to reveal patterns in research, relationships between researchers and institutions and to identify contradictory results.[2]

See also

Epistemic logic Knowledge Meta Metaprogramming (in computer science) Metahistory, a book by Hayden White Meta-philosophy Meta-epistemology Metalogic Metamathematics Metaphysics Meta-ethics Meta-ontology Metatheory Metadata

References
1. ^ *Meta-Knowledge Unified Framework (A.M. Gadomski) - the TOGA meta-theory, Italian Research Agency ENEA 2. ^ James A. Evans, et al. 2011. Metaknowledge. Science 331, 721.

External links
Look up metaknowledge in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Knowledge Interchange Format Reference Manual Chapter 7: Metaknowledge, Stanford University A Survey of Cognitive and Agent Architectures: Meta-knowledge, University of Michigan

This philosophy-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Categories:

Knowledge Metaphilosophy Philosophy stubs

Philosophy of social science

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search
Philosophy

Philosophers

Aestheticians Epistemologists

Ethicists Logicians

Metaphysicians

Social and political philosophers Traditions

Analytic Continental Eastern Islamic Platonic Scholastic

Periods

Ancient Medieval Modern

Contemporary

Literature

Aesthetics Epistemology

Ethics Logic Metaphysics

Political philosophy Branches

Aesthetics Epistemology

Ethics Logic Metaphysics

Political philosophy Social philosophy Lists

Index Outline Years Problems

Publications Theories Glossary Philosophers

Philosophy portal

v t

e This article needs attention from an expert in Philosophy. Please add a reason or a talk parameter to this template to explain the issue with the article. WikiProject Philosophy or the Philosophy Portal may be able to help recruit an expert. (November 2009)

The philosophy of social science is the study of the logic and method of the social sciences, such as sociology, anthropology, and political science. Philosophers of social science are concerned with the differences and similarities between the social and the natural sciences, causal relationships between social phenomena, the possible existence of social laws, and the ontological significance of structure and agency.

Contents

1 Auguste Comte and positivism 2 Epistemology 3 Ontology 4 See also 5 References 6 Bibliography o 6.1 Journals o 6.2 Conferences o 6.3 Graduate Programs o 6.4 Books 7 External links

Auguste Comte and positivism

Main articles: Auguste Comte and Positivism Comte first described the epistemological perspective of positivism in The Course in Positive Philosophy, a series of texts published between 1830 and 1842. These texts were followed by the 1848 work, A General View of Positivism (published in English in 1865). The first three volumes of the Course dealt chiefly with the physical sciences already in existence (mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology), whereas the latter two emphasised the inevitable coming of social science. Observing the circular dependence of theory and observation in science, and classifying the sciences in this way, Comte may be regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense of the term.[1] For him, the physical sciences had necessarily to arrive first, before humanity could adequately channel its efforts into the most challenging and complex "Queen science" of human society itself. His View of Positivism would therefore set-out to define, in more detail, the empirical goals of sociological method. Comte offered an account of social evolution, proposing that society undergoes three phases in its quest for the truth according to a general 'law of three stages'. The idea bears some similarity to Marx's view that human society would progress toward a communist peak. This is perhaps unsurprising as both were profoundly influenced by the early Utopian socialist, Henri de Saint-Simon, who was at one time Comte's teacher and mentor. Both Comte and Marx intended to develop, scientifically, a new secular ideology in the wake of European secularisation. The early sociology of Herbert Spencer came about broadly as a reaction to Comte; writing after various developments in evolutionary biology, Spencer attempted (in vain)

to reformulate the discipline in what we might now describe as socially Darwinistic terms. (Spencer was in fact a proponent of Lamarckism rather than Darwinism). The modern academic discipline of sociology began with the work of mile Durkheim (18581917). While Durkheim rejected much of the detail of Comte's philosophy, he retained and refined its method, maintaining that the social sciences are a logical continuation of the natural ones into the realm of human activity, and insisting that they may retain the same objectivity, rationalism, and approach to causality.[2] Durkheim set up the first European department of sociology at the University of Bordeaux in 1895, publishing his Rules of the Sociological Method (1895).[3] In this text he argued: "[o]ur main goal is to extend scientific rationalism to human conduct... What has been called our positivism is but a consequence of this rationalism." [4] Durkheim's seminal monograph, Suicide (1897), a case study of suicide rates amongst Catholic and Protestant populations, distinguished sociological analysis from psychology or philosophy. The positivist perspective, however, has been associated with 'scientism'; the view that the methods of the natural sciences may be applied to all areas of investigation, be it philosophical, social scientific, or otherwise. Among most social scientists and historians, orthodox positivism has long since fallen out of favor. Today, practitioners of both social and physical sciences recognize the distorting effect of observer bias and structural limitations. This scepticism has been facilitated by a general weakening of deductivist accounts of science by philosophers such as Thomas Kuhn, and new philosophical movements such as critical realism and neopragmatism. Positivism has also been espoused by 'technocrats' who believe in the inevitability of social progress through science and technology.[5] The philosopher-sociologist Jrgen Habermas has critiqued pure instrumental rationality as meaning that scientific-thinking becomes something akin to ideology itself.[6] Durkheim, Marx, and Weber are more typically cited as the fathers of contemporary social science. In psychology, a positivistic approach has historically been favoured in behaviourism.

Epistemology
In any discipline, there will always be a number of underlying philosophical predispositions in the projects of scientists. Some of these predispositions involve the nature of social knowledge itself, the nature of social reality, and the locus of human control in action.[7] Intellectuals have disagreed about the extent to which the social sciences should mimic the methods used in the natural sciences. The founding positivists of the social sciences argued that social phenomena can and should be studied through conventional scientific methods. This position is closely allied with scientism, naturalism and physicalism; the doctrine that all phenomena are ultimately reducible to physical entities and physical laws. Opponents of naturalism, including advocates of the verstehen method, contended that there is a need for an interpretive approach to the study of human action, a technique radically different to natural science. [8] The fundamental task for the philosophy of social science has thus been to question the extent to which positivism may be characterized as 'scientific' in relation to fundamental epistemological foundations. These debates also rage within contemporary social sciences with regard to subjectivity, objectivity, intersubjectivity and practicality

in the conduct of theory and research. Philosophers of social science examine further epistemologies and methodologies, including realism, critical realism, instrumentalism, functionalism, structuralism, interpretivism, phenomenology, and post-structuralism. Though essentially all major social scientists since the late 19th century have accepted that the discipline faces challenges that are different from those of the natural sciences, the ability to determine causal relationships invokes the same discussions held in science meta-theory. Positivism has sometimes met with caricature as a breed of naive empiricism, yet the word has a rich history of applications stretching from Comte to the work of the Vienna Circle and beyond. By the same token, if positivism is able to identify causality, then it is open to the same critical rationalist non-justificationism presented by Karl Popper, which may itself be disputed through Thomas Kuhn's conception of epistemic paradigm shift. Early German hermeneuticians such as Wilhelm Dilthey pioneered the distinction between natural and social science ('Geisteswissenschaft'). This tradition greatly informed Max Weber and Georg Simmel's antipositivism, and continued with critical theory.[9] Since the 1960s, a general weakening of deductivist accounts of science has grown side-by-side with critiques of "scientism", or 'science as ideology'.[10] Jrgen Habermas argues, in his On the Logic of the Social Sciences (1967), that "the positivist thesis of unified science, which assimilates all the sciences to a natural-scientific model, fails because of the intimate relationship between the social sciences and history, and the fact that they are based on a situation-specific understanding of meaning that can be explicated only hermeneutically access to a symbolically prestructured reality cannot be gained by observation alone." [9] Verstehende social theory has been the concern of phenomenological works, such as Alfred Schtz Phenomenology of the Social World (1932) and Hans-Georg Gadamer's Truth and Method (1960).[11] Phenomenology would later prove influential in the subject-centred theory of the post-structuralists. The mid-20th century linguistic turn led to a rise in highly philosophical sociology, as well as so-called "postmodern" perspectives on the social acquisition of knowledge.[12] One notable critique of social science is found in Peter Winch's Wittgensteinian text The Idea of Social Science and its Relation to Philosophy (1958). Michel Foucault provides a potent critique in his archaeology of the human sciences, though Habermas and Richard Rorty have both argued that Foucault merely replaces one such system of thought with another.[13][14] One underlying problem for the social psychologist is whether studies can or should ultimately be understood in terms of the meaning and consciousness behind social action, as with folk psychology, or whether more objective, natural, materialist, and behavioral facts are to be given exclusive study. This problem is especially important for those within the social sciences who study qualitative mental phenomena, such as consciousness, associative meanings, and mental representations, because a rejection of the study of meanings would lead to the reclassification of such research as nonscientific. Influential traditions like psychodynamic theory and symbolic interactionism may be the first victims of such a paradigm shift. The philosophical issues lying in wait behind these different positions have led to commitments to certain kinds of methodology which have sometimes bordered on the partisan. Still, many researchers have indicated a lack of patience for overly dogmatic proponents of one method or another.[15]

Social research remains extremely common and effective in practise with respect to political institutions and businesses. Michael Burawoy has marked the difference between public sociology, which is focused firmly on practical applications, and academic or professional sociology, which involves dialogue amongst other social scientists and philosophers.

Ontology
Structure and agency forms an enduring debate in social theory: "Do social structures determine an individual's behaviour or does human agency?" In this context 'agency' refers to the capacity of individuals to act independently and make free choices, whereas 'structure' refers to factors which limit or affect the choices and actions of individuals (such as social class, religion, gender, ethnicity, and so on). Discussions over the primacy of structure or agency relate to the very core of social ontology ("What is the social world made of?", "What is a cause in the social world, and what is an effect?"). One attempt to reconcile postmodern critiques with the overarching project of social science has been the development, particularly in Britain, of critical realism. For critical realists such as Roy Bhaskar, traditional positivism commits an 'epistemic fallacy' by failing to address the ontological conditions which make science possible: that is, structure and agency itself.

See also

Antipositivism Intercultural philosophy Philosophy of economics Philosophy of history Philosophy of psychology Political philosophy Positivism Social fact Social philosophy Verstehen

References
1. ^ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/comte/ Stanford Encyclopaedia: Auguste Comte 2. ^ Wacquant, Loic. 1992. "Positivism." In Bottomore, Tom and William Outhwaite, ed., The Blackwell Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Social Thought 3. ^ Gianfranco Poggi (2000). Durkheim. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 4. ^ Durkheim, Emile. 1895. The Rules of the Sociological Method. Cited in Wacquant (1992). 5. ^ Schunk, Learning Theories: An Educational Perspective, 5th, 315 6. ^ Outhwaite, William, 1988 Habermas: Key Contemporary Thinkers, Polity Press (Second Edition 2009), ISBN 978-0-7456-4328-1 p.68 7. ^ Cote, James E. and Levine, Charles G. (2002). Identity formation, Agency, and Culture, Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

8. ^ Robert Audi, ed. (1999). The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (Second ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 704. ISBN 0-52163722-8. 9. ^ a b Outhwaite, William, 1988 Habermas: Key Contemporary Thinkers, Polity Press (Second Edition 2009), ISBN 978-0-7456-4328-1 p.22 10. ^ Outhwaite, William, 1988 Habermas: Key Contemporary Thinkers, Polity Press (Second Edition 2009), ISBN 978-0-7456-4328-1 p.19 11. ^ Outhwaite, William, 1988 Habermas: Key Contemporary Thinkers, Polity Press (Second Edition 2009), ISBN 978-0-7456-4328-1 p.23 12. ^ Giddens, A (2006). Sociology. Oxford, UK: Polity. pp. 714. ISBN 07456-3379-X. 13. ^ Jrgen Habermas. Taking Aim at the Heart of the Present in Hoy, D (eds) 'Foucault: A critical reader' Basil Blackwell. Oxford, 1986. 14. ^ Richard Rorty. Foucault and Epistemology in Hoy, D (eds) 'Foucault: A critical reader' Basil Blackwell. Oxford, 1986. 15. ^ Slife, B.D. and Gantt, E.E. (1999) Methodological pluralism: a framework for psychotherapy research. Journal of clinical psychology, 55(12), pp14531465.

Bibliography

Braybrooke, David (1986). Philosophy of Social Science. Prentice Hall. ISBN 013-663394-3. Hollis, Martin (1994). The Philosophy of Social Science: An Introduction. Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-44780-1. Little, Daniel (1991). Varieties of Social Explanation : An Introduction to the Philosophy of Social Science. Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-0566-7. Rosenberg, Alexander (1995). Philosophy of Social Science. Westview Harper Collins.

Journals

Philosophy of the Social Sciences

Conferences

Philosophy of Social Science Roundtable

Graduate Programs

Master of Science in Philosophy of the Social Sciences at the LSE

Books

Philosophy of Social Science by Alexander Rosenberg The Philosophy of Social Science: An Introduction by Martin Hollis Contemporary Philosophy of Social Science: A Multicultural Approach by Brian Fay

Philosophy of social science: the methods, ideals, and politics of social inquiry by Michael Root

External links

Philosophy of social sciences (Daniel Little's article for the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Philosophy of social sciences (Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Online)

[show]

v t e

Philosophy
[show]

v t e

Philosophy of science
Categories:

Social philosophy Philosophy of science Philosophy by field Philosophy of social science

Metahistory
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the book. For the history and methodology of the discipline of history, see Historiography.

Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in 19thcentury Europe

Author(s) Country Language Genre(s) Publisher Publication date ISBN OCLC Number

Hayden White United States English Historiography Johns Hopkins University 1973 0-8018-1761-7 2438028

Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in 19th-century Europe is a historiography book by Hayden White first published in 1973. On the second page of his Introduction Hayden White stated: My own analysis of the deep structure of the historical imagination of Nineteenth century Europe is intended to provide a new perspective on the current debate over the nature and function of historical knowledge." [1] The theoretical framework is outlined in the first 50 pages of the book which considers in detail eight major figures of 19th-century history and philosophy of history. The larger context of historiography and writing in general is also considered. White's approach uses systematically a fourfold structural schema with two terms mediating between a pair of opposites.

Synopsis
According to White the historian begins his work by constituting a chronicle of events which is to be organized into a coherent story. These are the two preliminary steps before processing the material into a plot which is argumented as to express an ideology. Thus the historical work is "a verbal structure in the form of a narrative prose discourse that purports to be a model, or icon, of past structures and processes in the interest of explaining what they were by representing them".[2] For the typologies of emplotment, argumentation and ideologies White refers to works by Northrop Frye, Stephen Pepper and Karl Mannheim.[3] His four basic emplotments are provided by the archetypical genres of romance, comedy, tragedy and satire. The

modes of argumentation, following Pepper's 'adequate root metaphors' are formist, organist, mechanicist and contextualist. Among the main types of Ideology White adopts anarchy, conservatism, radicalism and liberalism. White affirms that elective affinities link the three different aspects of a work and only four combinations (out of 64) are without internal inconsistencies or 'tensions'. The limitation arises through a general mode of functioning - representation, reduction, integration or negation, which White assimilates to one of the four main tropes: metaphor, metonymy synecdoche and irony. Strucuturalist as Roman Jakobson or Emile Benveniste have used mostly an opposition between the first two of them but White refers to an earlier classification, adopted by Giambattista Vico and contrasts metaphor with irony.[4] The exemplary figures chosen by White present the ideal types of historians and philosophers. Synoptic table of Hayden White's Metahistory Emplotme Philosophe Trope Mode Argument Ideology Historian nt r Representation Metaphor Romance Formist Anarchist Michelet Nietzsche al Tocquevill Metonymy Reductionist Tragedy Mechanicist Radical Marx e Synecdoch Conservativ Integrative Comedy Organicist Ranke Hegel e e Contextuali Burckhard Irony Negational Satire Liberal Croce st t

Reception
Frank Ankersmit has forcefully asserted the importance of Metahistory for the English speaking world.[5] In the view of Ankersmit and like-minded scholars, White's work has made obsolete the view of language as neutral medium in historiography and has provided a way to treat methodological issues at a level higher than elementary propositions and atomic facts. So, with it, "philosophy of history finally, belatedly, underwent its linguistic turn and became part of the contemporary intellectual scene."[6] Norman Levitt has identified White as "the most magisterial spokesman" for relativist and postmodernist historiography, where "[w]hen one particular narrative prevails, the dirty work is invariably done by 'rhetoric', never evidence and logic, which are, in any case, simply sleight-of-language designations for one kind of rhetorical strategy".[7] Be that as it may, it is unclear whether White himself would care to be closely identified with relativist and postmodernist schools of thought, given his sharp critiques of several key figures associated with those schools (not only postmodernism's outspoken official proponent, Jean-Francois Lyotard, but also -- and more directly -- certain unofficial poststructuralist exponents such as Michel Foucault, Roland Barthes and Jacques Derrida, whom White dubbed "absurdist critics").[8] What is clear is that White was, at the very least, stimulated by the ideas of several of these figures, particularly Barthes (whom White honored in The Content of the Form with an epigraph ["Le fait n'a jamais qu'une existence linguistique"] and the rueful remark that Barthes has been "profoundly missed" since his death) and Foucault (with whose work White demonstrates intense engagement in the essay "Foucault's discourse: The Historiography of Anti-

Humanism").[9] Furthermore, White has denied the charge of relativism, averring that the reality of events in the past is not contradicted by literary portrayals of those events. Along similar lines, White may also be regarded as a traditional moralist, inasmuch as he has asked of historical and fictional narrative, "[O]n what other grounds [than moralism] could a narrative of real events possibly conclude? [] What else could narrative closure consist of than the passage from one moral order to another?" [10] For several of the reasons given above, White's ideas are somewhat controversial among academic historians, who have expressed both enthusiasm for and frustration with Metahistory. For instance, Arthur Marwick praised it as "a brilliant analysis of the rhetorical techniques of some famous early 19th-century historians ... [who wrote] well before the emergence of professional history." Yet in the very next breath Marwick complained that "White seems to have made very little acquaintanceship with what historians write today." [11]

References and notes

Hayden White, Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in 19th-century Europe, 1973 ISBN 0-8018-1761-7

1. ^ p.2 2. ^ p.3 3. ^ pp.7, 14 and 22, Frye N., (1957), Anatomy of Criticism, Princeton ; Pepper S., (1942). World Hypotheses: A study of evidence, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, Mannheim K., (1936) Ideology and Utopia, London: Routledge 4. ^ In White's reading the epochs of Vico's Scienza Nuova are not three but four as the last age is followed by an 'ironic' episode of dissolution; he contends also that the same succession of tropes is underlying Foucault's analysis from The Order of Things; see White H., (1973) Foucault Decoded: Notes from Underground in Tropics of Discourse: Essays in Cultural Criticism. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1978. p.241. In 19th century historiography the leading tropes do not follow this strict order but coexist. 5. ^ Ankersmit F., History and Tropology. The Rise and Fall of Metaphor. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1994. 6. ^ Ibid p.67 7. ^ Levitt N.,(2006), The colonization of the past and the archeology of the future in Archaeological fantasies: how pseudoarchaeology misrepresents the past ed. By G. Fagan, p.267; more precisely, Levitt sees him as a spokesman "for this strange mixture of nihilism and sophomoric political enthusiasm" 8. ^ White H., "Foucault Decoded" and "The Absurdist Moment" in Tropics of Discourse: Essays in Cultural Criticism, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1978. pp. 230-282 9. ^ White, Hayden (1987). The Content of the Form: Narrative Discourse and Historical Representation. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 1 (Barthes), 104-141 (Foucault). 10. ^ White H., "The Value of Narrativity in the Representation of Reality", Critical Inquiry, Vol. 7, (Autumn, 1980), No. 1, p. 283.

11. ^ Arthur Marwick, The New Nature of History: Knowledge, Evidence, Language (Houndsmills: Palgrave, 2001) p. 14. Categories:

1973 books Books about historiography Books about tropes Stage theories

Metahistory
Skocz do: nawigacji, wyszukiwania Metahistory. The Historical Imagination In Nineteenth-Century Europe (wyd. 1973) - gonej praca amerykaskiego historyka historiografii Haydena White'a. White odwoujc si do licznych prac z retoryki, literaturoznawstwa i teorii dziejopisarstwa opisuje w niej cztery podstawowe schematy fabularne obecne w pracach znanych europejskich historykw XIX w. (Jules'a Micheleta, Leopolda von Ranke, Alexisa de Tocqueville i Jacoba Burckhardta):

schemat epicki (Romance), schemat satyry (Satire). schemat komedii (Comedy), schemat tragedii (Tragedy),

Spis treci

1 Schemat epicki 2 Schemat satyry 3 Schemat komedii 4 Schemat tragedii 5 Przypisy 6 Bibliografia

Schemat epicki
Opowie epicka to opowie o samopoznaniu (self-identification) bohatera w wiecie, ktry dostarcza mu dowiadcze potrzebnych do obudzenia jego samowiadomoci. Wzorcem dla tego typu narracji s opowieci bohaterskie mwice o triumfie dobra nad zem; czowieka nad wiatem.

Schemat satyry
W ujciu satyrycznym wychodzi si od podobnego obrazu wiata: bohater zmaga si ze wiatem, by poprzez zwycistwo zapanowa nad nim i nad sob. Powyszy schemat

ulega jednak niespodziewanemu odwrceniu. To nie czowiek okazuje si panem wiata, lecz wiat panuje nad czowiekiem, niezdolnym do samorealizacji i wyzwolenia od tego, co wie go w wiecie. Wymowa satyry moe zblia j do komedii bd tragedii.

Schemat komedii
Schemat komedii zakada moliwo rozejmu midzy czowiekiem a wiatem poprzez pogodzenie tego, co naturalne z tym, co kulturowe, oraz midzy ludmi jako reprezentantami rnych wartoci i rnych zbiorowoci. Bohater komediowy przegrywa w walce z wiatem i jego prawami, nie osiga te prawdziwej wiedzy o wiecie ani o sobie, osiga natomiast zgod ze sob i wiatem, w tym zgod na wasn sabo i ignorancj. Komedia mwi o niemoliwoci zrozumienia zoonoci wiata, lecz take o moliwoci pogodzenia wszelkich sprzecznoci.

Schemat tragedii
W schemacie tragedii, chocia rwnie moliwy jest chwilowy przynajmniej stan harmonii midzy czowiekiem a jego wiatem, nie wypywa on jednak z rozejmu, jaki zawiera czowiek ze wiatem, gdy akceptuje wasn sabo i nieadekwatno (jak w schemacie komedii), lecz ze zrozumienia praw rzdzcych wiatem. Zrozumienie, ktre umoliwia bohaterowi samookrelenie w wiecie (w tym punkcie schemat tragiczny spotyka si z schematem epickim), jest jednak okupione cierpieniem. Bohater epicki nie pragnie wiedzy, lecz walki, nieoczekiwanym zwieczeniem walki jest samopoznanie. Natomiast bohater tragiczny nie pragnie walki, lecz pragnie wiedzy; osiga poznanie wiata i samopoznanie, lecz musi okupi je walk i cierpieniem. Tragedia przekazuje prawd o niemonoci pogodzenia sprzecznych wartoci i zwalczajcych si si. Ujawnia te moliwo zrozumienia praw, ktre rzdz powstawaniem i narastaniem sprzecznoci[1].

Przypisy
1. omwienie za: Wiktor Werner, Wok metafory wojny, Pro Libris, Lubuskie Pismo Literacko-Kulturalne, Nr 1(6) 2004. s. 69-82

Bibliografia
1. Hayden White, Metahistory. The Historical Imagination In Nineteenth-Century Europe, Baltimore, London, 1975 2. Hayden White, Poetyka pisarstwa historycznego, Krakw 2000 3. Wiktor Werner, Wok metafory wojny, Pro Libris, Lubuskie Pismo LiterackoKulturalne, Nr 1(6) 2004. s. 69-82 Kategorie:

Historiografia Literaturoznawstwo Ksiki biograficzne

Metalogic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Metalogic is the study of the metatheory of logic. While logic is the study of the manner in which logical systems can be used to construct valid and sound arguments, metalogic studies the properties of the logical systems themselves.[1] While logic concerns itself with the truths that may be derived using a logical system, metalogic concerns itself with the truths which may be derived about the languages, and systems that are used to express truths.[2] The basic objects of study in metalogic are formal languages, formal systems, and their interpretations. The study of interpretation of formal systems is the branch of mathematical logic known as model theory, while the study of deductive systems is the branch known as proof theory.

Contents

1 Overview o 1.1 Formal language o 1.2 Formation rules o 1.3 Formal systems o 1.4 Formal proofs o 1.5 Interpretations 2 Important distinctions in metalogic o 2.1 MetalanguageObject language o 2.2 Syntaxsemantics o 2.3 Usemention o 2.4 Typetoken 3 History 4 Results in metalogic 5 See also 6 References

Overview
Formal language
Main article: Formal language A formal language is an organized set of symbols the essential feature of which is that it can be precisely defined in terms of just the shapes and locations of those symbols. Such a language can be defined, then, without any reference to any meanings of any of its expressions; it can exist before any interpretation is assigned to itthat is, before it has any meaning. First order logic is expressed in some formal language. A formal

grammar determines which symbols and sets of symbols are formulas in a formal language. A formal language can be defined formally as a set A of strings (finite sequences) on a fixed alphabet . Some authors, including Carnap, define the language as the ordered pair <, A>.[3] Carnap also requires that each element of must occur in at least one string in A.

Formation rules
Main article: Formation rule Formation rules (also called formal grammar) are a precise description of the wellformed formulas of a formal language. It is synonymous with the set of strings over the alphabet of the formal language which constitute well formed formulas. However, it does not describe their semantics (i.e. what they mean).

Formal systems
Main article: Formal system A formal system (also called a logical calculus, or a logical system) consists of a formal language together with a deductive apparatus (also called a deductive system). The deductive apparatus may consist of a set of transformation rules (also called inference rules) or a set of axioms, or have both. A formal system is used to derive one expression from one or more other expressions. A formal system can be formally defined as an ordered triple <, , d>, where d is the relation of direct derivability. This relation is understood in a comprehensive sense such that the primitive sentences of the formal system are taken as directly derivable from the empty set of sentences. Direct derivability is a relation between a sentence and a finite, possibly empty set of sentences. Axioms are laid down in such a way that every first place member of d is a member of and every second place member is a finite subset of . It is also possible to define a formal system using only the relation d. In this way we can omit , and in the definitions of interpreted formal language, and interpreted formal system. However, this method can be more difficult to understand and work with.[3]

Formal proofs
Main article: Formal proof A formal proof is a sequence of well-formed formulas of a formal language, the last one of which is a theorem of a formal system. The theorem is a syntactic consequence of all the well formed formulae preceding it in the proof. For a well formed formula to qualify as part of a proof, it must be the result of applying a rule of the deductive apparatus of some formal system to the previous well formed formulae in the proof sequence.

Interpretations
Main articles: Interpretation (logic) and Formal semantics (logic) An interpretation of a formal system is the assignment of meanings, to the symbols, and truth-values to the sentences of the formal system. The study of interpretations is called Formal semantics. Giving an interpretation is synonymous with constructing a model.

Important distinctions in metalogic

MetalanguageObject language
Main articles: Metalanguage and Object language In metalogic, formal languages are sometimes called object languages. The language used to make statements about an object language is called a metalanguage. This distinction is a key difference between logic and metalogic. While logic deals with proofs in a formal system, expressed in some formal language, metalogic deals with proofs about a formal system which are expressed in a metalanguage about some object language.

Syntaxsemantics
Main articles: Syntax (logic) and Formal semantics (logic) In metalogic, 'syntax' has to do with formal languages or formal systems without regard to any interpretation of them, whereas, 'semantics' has to do with interpretations of formal languages. The term 'syntactic' has a slightly wider scope than 'proof-theoretic', since it may be applied to properties of formal languages without any deductive systems, as well as to formal systems. 'Semantic' is synonymous with 'model-theoretic'.

Usemention
Main article: Usemention distinction In metalogic, the words 'use' and 'mention', in both their noun and verb forms, take on a technical sense in order to identify an important distinction.[2] The usemention distinction (sometimes referred to as the words-as-words distinction) is the distinction between using a word (or phrase) and mentioning it. Usually it is indicated that an expression is being mentioned rather than used by enclosing it in quotation marks, printing it in italics, or setting the expression by itself on a line. The enclosing in quotes of an expression gives us the name of an expression, for example: 'Metalogic' is the name of this article. This article is about metalogic.

Typetoken
Main article: Typetoken distinction

The type-token distinction is a distinction in metalogic, that separates an abstract concept from the objects which are particular instances of the concept. For example, the particular bicycle in your garage is a token of the type of thing known as "The bicycle." Whereas, the bicycle in your garage is in a particular place at a particular time, that is not true of "the bicycle" as used in the sentence: "The bicycle has become more popular recently." This distinction is used to clarify the meaning of symbols of formal languages.

History
Metalogical questions have been asked since the time of Aristotle. However, it was only with the rise of formal languages in the late 19th and early 20th century that investigations into the foundations of logic began to flourish. In 1904, David Hilbert observed that in investigating the foundations of mathematics that logical notions are presupposed, and therefore a simultaneous account of metalogical and metamathematical principles was required. Today, metalogic and metamathematics are largely synonymous with each other, and both have been substantially subsumed by mathematical logic in academia.

Results in metalogic
Results in metalogic consist of such things as formal proofs demonstrating the consistency, completeness, and decidability of particular formal systems. Major results in metalogic include:

Proof of the uncountability of the set of all subsets of the set of natural numbers (Cantor's theorem 1891) LwenheimSkolem theorem (Leopold Lwenheim 1915 and Thoralf Skolem 1919) Proof of the consistency of truth-functional propositional logic (Emil Post 1920) Proof of the semantic completeness of truth-functional propositional logic (Paul Bernays 1918),[4] (Emil Post 1920)[2] Proof of the syntactic completeness of truth-functional propositional logic (Emil Post 1920)[2] Proof of the decidability of truth-functional propositional logic (Emil Post 1920)
[2]

Proof of the consistency of first order monadic predicate logic (Leopold Lwenheim 1915) Proof of the semantic completeness of first order monadic predicate logic (Leopold Lwenheim 1915) Proof of the decidability of first order monadic predicate logic (Leopold Lwenheim 1915) Proof of the consistency of first order predicate logic (David Hilbert and Wilhelm Ackermann 1928) Proof of the semantic completeness of first order predicate logic (Gdel's completeness theorem 1930) Proof of the undecidability of first order predicate logic (Church's theorem 1936) Gdel's first incompleteness theorem 1931

Gdel's second incompleteness theorem 1931 Tarski's undefinability theorem (Gdel and Tarski in the 1930s)

See also
Logic portal

Metamathematics

References
1. ^ Harry Gensler, Introduction to Logic, Routledge, 2001, p. 253. 2. ^ a b c d e Hunter, Geoffrey, Metalogic: An Introduction to the Metatheory of Standard First-Order Logic, University of California Press, 1971 3. ^ a b Rudolf Carnap (1958) Introduction to Symbolic Logic and its Applications, p. 102. 4. ^ Hao Wang, Reflections on Kurt Gdel [show]

v t e

Logic
Categories:

Metalogic Mathematical logic