This thesis is an exploration of several themes in the work of Aristotle and Hegel concerning the nature of action and ethics, and discusses the issues raised in relation to modern moral philosophy. The thesis takes as its starting point both Aristotle's and Hegel's conception of rational, purposive human action as being central to ethics and morality. This is carried out in contrast to influential trends in modern moral philosophy regarding the nature of reason and desire. Part one considers Hegel's view of the task of philosophy, i. e. the assimilation and reflection of the particular subject matter of which it speaks, rather than abstract theoretical thinking. The discussion will highlight that many of the problems raised in the rationalist/empiricist debates of the 17th and 18th Centuries are due to the abstract nature of those discussions, and to attempts to assimilate the subject matter to primary assumptions about reason, experience and the individual. In particular, the metaphysics of mind and the epistemology that the debate involved, it will be claimed, draws a hard and fast distinction between reason and desire. This has led to abstract theories of reasoning and motivation. One particular consequence of abstract, theoretical thinking is that the conceptual language of debate becomes divorced from the subject matter under discussion. In particular, the cluster of concepts that form the basis of the philosophy of mind, action, ethics - reason, desire, motive, intention, purpose, etc. - become refined and specialised to a degree that they come to bear only a vague resemblance to the reasons, etc. that are features of actual (as opposed to theoretical) human conduct. In Part Two of the thesis, I will offer a contrasting perspective, discussing Aristotle's and Hegel's treatment of these concepts without the theoretical framework inherited from 17th and 18th Century metaphysics and epistemology.

<p> The main purpose of this study is to depict Nagarjuna's implication on how he redefined the Four Conditions (<i>catv&amacr;rah&dotbelow; pratyay&amacr; </i>) as the cognitive linguistic structure by allocating 32 functional metadata throughout the texts of M&umacr;lamadhyamakak&amacr;rik&amacr; (MMK). Following subtle traces of <i>lokasam&dotbelow;vr&dotbelow;tisatya</i> (the conventional truth) in the text of MMK, the integrated framework of a cognitive linguistic structure can be detected. Nagarjuna did not negate nor degrade the conventional truth in the context of MMK. The Four Conditions conceal their cognitive variations underneath language, yet they can be consolidated as a structure of knowledge that has capacity of preservability, in a sense of linear consistency of unchanging combinational conditions, as well as recognizability, in a sense of circular transition of changing between two combinational conditions. Such an algorithm of cognition as well as communication are possible because one is able to detect the conditional changes when the stream of cognitive process evolves from one cognitive entity to another with a paradigm of <i> prat&imacr;tyasamutp&amacr;da</i> that is described as <i>"imasmim&dotbelow; sati idam&dotbelow; hoti</i> (Because this exists that exists.)" of the Early Buddhism. The Four Conditions and their relevant 32 metadata are the foundational platform that N&amacr;g&amacr;rjuna developed in MMK which mutually interlock and capture the cognitive stream in the structure of language.</p>

Reformed Epistemology is an influential view in contemporary philosophy of religion, according to which theistic beliefs that are the product of our native, non-inferential cognitive faculties often constitute knowledge if God exists. My aim in this thesis is to ascertain whether Reformed Epistemology is viable in light of contemporary scientific explanations of the mechanisms of religious belief- formation, especially the Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR). I argue for a qualified “yes.” To begin with, I attempt to carefully reconstruct and scrutinise some currently popular “debunking arguments” from CSR’s findings, which aim to show that non-inferential religious beliefs are not knowledge, even if true, given the causal origins that CSR ascribes to them. I try to show that in various ways these arguments fail. Subsequently, I attempt to find a better such argument. The strongest debunking argument, I contend, is one that focuses upon the diverse and mutually inconsistent outputs of the religious belief-producing mechanisms described by CSR. However, I go on to argue that even supposing that this argument succeeds in showing that religious beliefs that are partly the product of contingent cultural influences are not knowledge even if true, there remains a body of what I term “core propositions”—propositions concerning the existence of some kind of personal, supernatural creator and moral lawgiver, in which humans are naturally disposed to believe regardless of their particular cultural setting— that can be known if God exists. Finally, I try to show that merely having this core supernaturalistic knowledge would provide someone with the cognitive contact with God that is sufficient for having a personal relationship with God (if God exists), even if only de re relationship. I argue, moreover, that God would have positively good reasons for creating a world in which human beliefs about life’s most important matters, including religious matters, are significantly dependent upon testimony and hence subject to the ebbs and flows of cultural tides.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-21T20:31:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TIAGOEMANEL.pdf: 1699149 bytes, checksum: 70a1d86ddbc0d0874b464153efbdcaf3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-12-07 / This dissertation turns for two trends in Mathematics Education: 1) the Mathematical Modeling and 2) the Ethnomathematics. The choice is justified because these trends, at current time, are focus of discussion and use within the teaching and learning in mathematics and more specifically by being present in the world-life of the researcher, since about four years, from graduation to post-graduation. The generator question of research was: What are the philosophical and epistemological aspects shown in Mathematical Modeling, in Ethnomathematics from the point of view of Mathematics Education? This issue, formulated and reformulated during the research process, guided our look over the trends as they were, in a first time for, posteriorly, from the descriptions about them, we establish interpretations of the philosophical and epistemological aspects. It was studied five authors who work with Mathematical Modeling, with different ways of conceiving it, they were chosen because of their outstanding academic recognition. For Ethnomathematics, it was opted predominantly, by the writings of D'Ambrósio that is considered the main theoretical and founder of this trend. The research outline was in a qualitatively, theoretical and bibliographic way. It was oriented by the Phenomenology, which is a Consciousness Philosophy and a rigorous method of research for the Human Sciences and Education. In Phenomenology is not sought to confirm hypotheses, nor it is chosen a theoretical referential a priori for the interpretations, the phenomenon is focused as he shows, always related to the question. In such case, elapsing phenomenon events, we looked their meaning and significance in Science, History and bibliographies, to allow clarify these senses and meanings. The interpretations, concerning the philosophical and epistemological aspects of the two trends were concreted by means of the development of units of sense, which emerged with some of the following denomination: Mathematical Models; Conception of Knowledge; Conception of Education, Curriculum and others. These invariants were those that repeated in the descriptions of the ways of conceiving Modeling and Ethnomathematics, even those who were idiosyncratic, but considered equal in importance. Thus, it elaborated a triangulation among the invariants of the two trends from the point of view of Mathematics Education. As result of the interpretations of this research, it was shown that there is a tendency for an approximation between Modeling and Ethnomathematics when the ways to conceive Modeling are in accordance with the Epistemological Social Sciences Statute. It unveils a distance when Modeling orients itself by the philosophical and epistemological presupposed of Exact and Natural Sciences. This “unveiling” extends to what refers the construction of models, and to the ways of think the curriculum and other aspects out. / Esta dissertação voltou-se para duas tendências em Educação Matemática: 1) a Modelagem Matemática; e 2) a Etnomatemática. A escolha se justifica por serem, essas tendências, na atualidade, foco de discussão e de utilização no âmbito do ensino e da aprendizagem em Matemática e mais especificamente por estarem presentes no mundo-vida do pesquisador há cerca de quatro anos; da graduação à pós-graduação. A questão geradora da investigação foi: Quais os aspectos filosóficos e epistemológicos se mostram na Modelagem Matemática e na Etnomatemática do ponto de vista da Educação Matemática? Essa questão, formulada e reformulada durante o processo de investigação, orientou o nosso olhar sobre as tendências como elas se mostraram em um primeiro momento para, posteriormente, a partir de descrições sobre elas, efetuarmos as interpretações dos aspectos filosóficos e epistemológicos. Estudaram-se cinco autores que trabalham com Modelagem Matemática, com diferentes formas de concebê-la, escolhidos em virtude de seu reconhecimento acadêmico. Para a Etnomatemática, optou-se, predominantemente, pelos escritos de D’Ambrósio considerado o principal teórico e fundador dessa tendência. O delineamento da investigação foi de cunho qualitativo, teórico e bibliográfico. Orientou-se pela Fenomenologia que se constitui em uma Filosofia da Consciência e em um método de investigação rigoroso para as Ciências Humanas e para a Educação. Na Fenomenologia não se busca confirmar hipóteses, nem é escolhido um referencial teórico, a priori, para as interpretações, o fenômeno é focado como ele se mostra, sempre em relação à pergunta. Sendo assim, decorrente das manifestações do fenômeno é que procuramos o seu sentido e o significado na Ciência, na História e em bibliografias que permitissem esclarecer esses sentidos e significados. As interpretações concernentes aos aspectos filosóficos e epistemológicos das duas tendências se concretizaram mediante a elaboração de unidades de significados, que emergiram com algumas das seguintes denominações: Modelos Matemáticos; Concepção de Conhecimento; Concepção de Educação, de Currículo; e outras. Esses invariantes foram os que se repetiram nas descrições das formas de conceber a Modelagem e a Etnomatemática, ou ainda, aqueles que foram idiossincráticos, mas considerados em igual importância. Assim, elaborou-se uma triangulação entre os invariantes das duas tendências sob o ponto de vista da Educação Matemática. Como resultado das interpretações da investigação, uma tendência à aproximação entre Modelagem e Etnomatemática se mostrou quando as maneiras de conceber a primeira estiverem em acordo com o Estatuto Epistemológico das Ciências Humanas. Desvela-se um distanciamento na medida em que a Modelagem orienta-se pelos pressupostos filosóficos e epistemológicos das Ciências Exatas ou das Ciências Naturais. Esse ‘desvelar-se’ estende-se ao que se refere à construção de modelos, à forma de conceber o currículo e outros aspectos.