David Dennen - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Philosophy of Mind by David Dennen
Behavior and Philosophy, 2022
Edgar A. Singer Jr. is largely forgotten. Yet in the early twentieth century he was one of the mo... more Edgar A. Singer Jr. is largely forgotten. Yet in the early twentieth century he was one of the most persistent proponents for a theory of "mind as behavior." This essay explores Singer's theory of mind as a form of experimentally-definable behavior. This interpretation of mind is derived from Singer's "philosophy of experiment," which delimits the forms of questions that can have meaningful answers. Valid questions, according to Singer's theory, must appeal to phenomena that are public in some sense and which have verifiable effects on our "mechanical images" of nature (which is not to say that such phenomena are themselves solely mechanical). From this perspective, Singer is able to give behavioral criteria for attributing "mind" to organisms and for such "mental faculties" as purpose, sensation, consciousness, and thought. It might be wondered how Singer's experimental concept of mind compares with B. F. Skinner's better-known concept of private events. Although there are difficulties involved in the interpretation of each, it would seem that Singer and Skinner are largely in agreement, although they emphasize different factors in the behavioral interpretation of mind.
Jordan Peterson: Critical Responses, 2022
The philosopher Michael Bratman (2013) has pointed out that we humans have some remarkable capaci... more The philosopher Michael Bratman (2013) has pointed out that we humans have some remarkable capacities: First, we are able to plan out our actions over long stretches of time. Second, we are able to act, not just on our own, but with others to achieve shared goals. And, third, we are, at least some of the time, able to step back from the ongoing rush of experience and make conscious decisions about how to act. As adults, we are all familiar with these capacities. But where do they come from? How do they actually work? These questions are not so easy to answer. What Is Reality? First of all, action always happens somewhere. Action is in and of the world. As living, desiring creatures, we are thrown into the world where we must act toward the satisfaction of our desires. But the world, ultimately, Jordan Peterson argues, is an unknowable, unfathomable "sea of complexity" (2013, 17). To act, we must simplify the world into a set of more or less useful objects. But the ultimate complexity of the world never really disappears. All the objects in our world are systems of relations that can be viewed at many different "levels of resolution." Consider your coffee mug. Most immediately it is a tool for conveying coffee (or other liquids) into your body. But it is many other things besides. It is an object that has existed and will exist for a certain number of years, days, minutes. It was made by a certain person or company. It has a certain weight, a certain diameter, a certain height. It has a certain level of heat and shock resistance. It contains a certain quantity of quartz and feldspar. It has a certain level of toxicity to human beings (hopefully very low). All these properties, and more, put this simple object into complex relations with other objects and events in the universe. We ignore or are unable to see many of these properties and relations. But they are there and sometimes they matter: One day we heat the mug too long in the microwave oven and it cracks; one day we discover that one of the substances of which the mug is made is in fact highly toxic to humans. Anomaly-something unexpected-is then introduced into our world. A broken mug is not the most threatening kind of anomaly one can imagine. Any mature adult should be able to process such an event and get on with his or her day. But discovering that we have for years been drinking out of a toxic cup may indeed make our world a darker, more threatening, more uncertain place.
video version: https://youtu.be/AMtPrnz762k
video version: https://youtu.be/98qieIfGtlM
Video version: https://youtu.be/aADoVaBSX3A
video version: https://youtu.be/HoqT5jOKmHQ
This essay, available here , argues " that there are times when the experience of a passion alone... more This essay, available here , argues " that there are times when the experience of a passion alone gives us overriding confidence in a belief ."
Moral Philosophy by David Dennen
Video version: https://youtu.be/JMZ1ppwIrgg Discusses the progressive ethics of Edgar A. Singer,... more Video version: https://youtu.be/JMZ1ppwIrgg
Discusses the progressive ethics of Edgar A. Singer, Jr.
Kate Manne’s recent book Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny focuses on a topic not often addressed ... more Kate Manne’s recent book Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny focuses on a topic not often addressed by philosophers: misogyny—and more broadly, patriarchy. In the book Manne describes patriarchy as ‘morally objectionable’ and invites her readers to either ‘draw the same conclusion’ or ‘find reasons on which to base a potentially fruitful disagreement’. This essay considers the arguments according to which patriarchy has been judged immoral by Manne and others. Feminist philosophers have commonly relied on one of two philosophical perspectives to argue against patriarchy: contractarianism and what I call distortionism. I examine both perspectives as they appear in Manne’s writings and also in the writings of Susan Dimock and Carol Gilligan. Both perspectives turn out to have significant weaknesses that undercut their ability to inform our judgment about the moral status of patriarchy. Although it seems reasonable to intuit that patriarchy is immoral, contra Manne we are not yet in a position to philosophically support this intuition.
On Morse Peckham by David Dennen
Several years ago I purchased a used copy of Morse Peckham’s Beyond the Tragic Vision (George Bra... more Several years ago I purchased a used copy of Morse Peckham’s Beyond the Tragic Vision (George Braziller, 1962). The book contains rather unusual marginalia, written in pencil, from a previous owner whose name is not recorded. I have always been intrigued by these particular marginalia. However, they are written in a strange writing style which I was unable to easily decipher (perhaps some form of shorthand, though it does not match any examples of shorthands I have found online). One day I decided to have a go at deciphering it.
This book has a dual purpose. It is, on the one hand, simply a study of the writings of Morse Pec... more This book has a dual purpose. It is, on the one hand, simply a study of the writings of Morse Peckham (1914Peckham ( -1993, a largely forgotten scholar of Victorian and Romantic literature (among other things). Peckham, whatever else he may have done with his life, wrote a lot. Although much of what he wrote was published in obscure places, and what is widely available seems not to be much read anymore, I find that his work retains an unusual currency and wide applicability.
The Romanticist and aesthetic theorist Morse Peckham was not normally one to get involved in admi... more The Romanticist and aesthetic theorist Morse Peckham was not normally one to get involved in administrative affairs. There were, however, two periods of his life in which he got drawn into such activities. The first occurred in the early 1950s, when he was asked to oversee a corporation–university partnership between Bell Telephone and the University of Pennsylvania. This program was intended to develop Bell’s corporate leadership by exposing managers to humanistic education. The second occurred in the early 1970s, when Peckham was asked to take on the role of English department chair at the University of South Carolina. He responded to this by circulating a list of (apparently radical) reforms he would have liked to implement. Although both of these administrative involvements ended more or less in failure, they are of interest for at least two reasons. First, they inspired incisive commentary by Peckham on the nature of education and on university–business relations. Second, they bring into focus the difficulties faced by individuals in transforming large, modern organizations.
Morse Peckham seems to be fairly well forgotten at this point in time, for reasons I have attempt... more Morse Peckham seems to be fairly well forgotten at this point in time, for reasons I have attempted to address elsewhere. Suffice to say for now that, like many Romantics, he is most fully appreciated by other Romantics. If you are not sympathetic to the basic Romantic project, a writer like Peckham is liable to seem digressive, abstruse, pedantic, even offensive. If you are of a Romantic spirit, however, I think you will find few critics to be more insightful, lucid, and compassionate.
Philosophy of Science by David Dennen
The philosopher Thomas Nagel has recently criticized ‘materialist neo-Darwinism’ as implausible a... more The philosopher Thomas Nagel has recently criticized ‘materialist neo-Darwinism’ as implausible and insufficient as an explanation of life and mind. He argues that ‘no viable
account’ of how something as complex as a living, reproducing organism could have arisen by physical means alone from a ‘dead environment’ is available. While not dismissing entirely the issue of ‘viability’, I position the recent work of Terrence Deacon as a potential answer to Nagel’s critique. Deacon’s work on the natural, physical origin of life and mind shows how a coherent physicalist explanation of these phenomena can be constructed. Certain implications of this, including the question of whether such an explanation can satisfy our concerns about the purpose and value of existence, are considered in the conclusion.
Cultural History by David Dennen
Ralph Ellison consistently relied on a small set of terms in order to guide his writing practice ... more Ralph Ellison consistently relied on a small set of terms in order to guide his writing practice and his interpretation of literature, history, and society. Following Kenneth Burke, an acquaintance of Ellison, I call this his terministic screen. Perhaps the most important elements of Ellison’s terministic screen are consciousness–conscience and purpose–passion–perception. The first set of terms represents what he saw as our democratic obligations: the pursuit of a progressively clearer consciousness of democratic ideals and a more refined conscientiousness in pursuing these ideals. The second set of terms provided a narrative framework for showing how consciousness and conscience are attained or evaded. This essay analyzes the intellectual history of these terms and how they function in Ellison’s essays and novels. Special attention is given to Ellison’s unfinished second novel.
Behavior and Philosophy, 2022
Edgar A. Singer Jr. is largely forgotten. Yet in the early twentieth century he was one of the mo... more Edgar A. Singer Jr. is largely forgotten. Yet in the early twentieth century he was one of the most persistent proponents for a theory of "mind as behavior." This essay explores Singer's theory of mind as a form of experimentally-definable behavior. This interpretation of mind is derived from Singer's "philosophy of experiment," which delimits the forms of questions that can have meaningful answers. Valid questions, according to Singer's theory, must appeal to phenomena that are public in some sense and which have verifiable effects on our "mechanical images" of nature (which is not to say that such phenomena are themselves solely mechanical). From this perspective, Singer is able to give behavioral criteria for attributing "mind" to organisms and for such "mental faculties" as purpose, sensation, consciousness, and thought. It might be wondered how Singer's experimental concept of mind compares with B. F. Skinner's better-known concept of private events. Although there are difficulties involved in the interpretation of each, it would seem that Singer and Skinner are largely in agreement, although they emphasize different factors in the behavioral interpretation of mind.
Jordan Peterson: Critical Responses, 2022
The philosopher Michael Bratman (2013) has pointed out that we humans have some remarkable capaci... more The philosopher Michael Bratman (2013) has pointed out that we humans have some remarkable capacities: First, we are able to plan out our actions over long stretches of time. Second, we are able to act, not just on our own, but with others to achieve shared goals. And, third, we are, at least some of the time, able to step back from the ongoing rush of experience and make conscious decisions about how to act. As adults, we are all familiar with these capacities. But where do they come from? How do they actually work? These questions are not so easy to answer. What Is Reality? First of all, action always happens somewhere. Action is in and of the world. As living, desiring creatures, we are thrown into the world where we must act toward the satisfaction of our desires. But the world, ultimately, Jordan Peterson argues, is an unknowable, unfathomable "sea of complexity" (2013, 17). To act, we must simplify the world into a set of more or less useful objects. But the ultimate complexity of the world never really disappears. All the objects in our world are systems of relations that can be viewed at many different "levels of resolution." Consider your coffee mug. Most immediately it is a tool for conveying coffee (or other liquids) into your body. But it is many other things besides. It is an object that has existed and will exist for a certain number of years, days, minutes. It was made by a certain person or company. It has a certain weight, a certain diameter, a certain height. It has a certain level of heat and shock resistance. It contains a certain quantity of quartz and feldspar. It has a certain level of toxicity to human beings (hopefully very low). All these properties, and more, put this simple object into complex relations with other objects and events in the universe. We ignore or are unable to see many of these properties and relations. But they are there and sometimes they matter: One day we heat the mug too long in the microwave oven and it cracks; one day we discover that one of the substances of which the mug is made is in fact highly toxic to humans. Anomaly-something unexpected-is then introduced into our world. A broken mug is not the most threatening kind of anomaly one can imagine. Any mature adult should be able to process such an event and get on with his or her day. But discovering that we have for years been drinking out of a toxic cup may indeed make our world a darker, more threatening, more uncertain place.
video version: https://youtu.be/AMtPrnz762k
video version: https://youtu.be/98qieIfGtlM
Video version: https://youtu.be/aADoVaBSX3A
video version: https://youtu.be/HoqT5jOKmHQ
This essay, available here , argues " that there are times when the experience of a passion alone... more This essay, available here , argues " that there are times when the experience of a passion alone gives us overriding confidence in a belief ."
Video version: https://youtu.be/JMZ1ppwIrgg Discusses the progressive ethics of Edgar A. Singer,... more Video version: https://youtu.be/JMZ1ppwIrgg
Discusses the progressive ethics of Edgar A. Singer, Jr.
Kate Manne’s recent book Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny focuses on a topic not often addressed ... more Kate Manne’s recent book Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny focuses on a topic not often addressed by philosophers: misogyny—and more broadly, patriarchy. In the book Manne describes patriarchy as ‘morally objectionable’ and invites her readers to either ‘draw the same conclusion’ or ‘find reasons on which to base a potentially fruitful disagreement’. This essay considers the arguments according to which patriarchy has been judged immoral by Manne and others. Feminist philosophers have commonly relied on one of two philosophical perspectives to argue against patriarchy: contractarianism and what I call distortionism. I examine both perspectives as they appear in Manne’s writings and also in the writings of Susan Dimock and Carol Gilligan. Both perspectives turn out to have significant weaknesses that undercut their ability to inform our judgment about the moral status of patriarchy. Although it seems reasonable to intuit that patriarchy is immoral, contra Manne we are not yet in a position to philosophically support this intuition.
Several years ago I purchased a used copy of Morse Peckham’s Beyond the Tragic Vision (George Bra... more Several years ago I purchased a used copy of Morse Peckham’s Beyond the Tragic Vision (George Braziller, 1962). The book contains rather unusual marginalia, written in pencil, from a previous owner whose name is not recorded. I have always been intrigued by these particular marginalia. However, they are written in a strange writing style which I was unable to easily decipher (perhaps some form of shorthand, though it does not match any examples of shorthands I have found online). One day I decided to have a go at deciphering it.
This book has a dual purpose. It is, on the one hand, simply a study of the writings of Morse Pec... more This book has a dual purpose. It is, on the one hand, simply a study of the writings of Morse Peckham (1914Peckham ( -1993, a largely forgotten scholar of Victorian and Romantic literature (among other things). Peckham, whatever else he may have done with his life, wrote a lot. Although much of what he wrote was published in obscure places, and what is widely available seems not to be much read anymore, I find that his work retains an unusual currency and wide applicability.
The Romanticist and aesthetic theorist Morse Peckham was not normally one to get involved in admi... more The Romanticist and aesthetic theorist Morse Peckham was not normally one to get involved in administrative affairs. There were, however, two periods of his life in which he got drawn into such activities. The first occurred in the early 1950s, when he was asked to oversee a corporation–university partnership between Bell Telephone and the University of Pennsylvania. This program was intended to develop Bell’s corporate leadership by exposing managers to humanistic education. The second occurred in the early 1970s, when Peckham was asked to take on the role of English department chair at the University of South Carolina. He responded to this by circulating a list of (apparently radical) reforms he would have liked to implement. Although both of these administrative involvements ended more or less in failure, they are of interest for at least two reasons. First, they inspired incisive commentary by Peckham on the nature of education and on university–business relations. Second, they bring into focus the difficulties faced by individuals in transforming large, modern organizations.
Morse Peckham seems to be fairly well forgotten at this point in time, for reasons I have attempt... more Morse Peckham seems to be fairly well forgotten at this point in time, for reasons I have attempted to address elsewhere. Suffice to say for now that, like many Romantics, he is most fully appreciated by other Romantics. If you are not sympathetic to the basic Romantic project, a writer like Peckham is liable to seem digressive, abstruse, pedantic, even offensive. If you are of a Romantic spirit, however, I think you will find few critics to be more insightful, lucid, and compassionate.
The philosopher Thomas Nagel has recently criticized ‘materialist neo-Darwinism’ as implausible a... more The philosopher Thomas Nagel has recently criticized ‘materialist neo-Darwinism’ as implausible and insufficient as an explanation of life and mind. He argues that ‘no viable
account’ of how something as complex as a living, reproducing organism could have arisen by physical means alone from a ‘dead environment’ is available. While not dismissing entirely the issue of ‘viability’, I position the recent work of Terrence Deacon as a potential answer to Nagel’s critique. Deacon’s work on the natural, physical origin of life and mind shows how a coherent physicalist explanation of these phenomena can be constructed. Certain implications of this, including the question of whether such an explanation can satisfy our concerns about the purpose and value of existence, are considered in the conclusion.
Ralph Ellison consistently relied on a small set of terms in order to guide his writing practice ... more Ralph Ellison consistently relied on a small set of terms in order to guide his writing practice and his interpretation of literature, history, and society. Following Kenneth Burke, an acquaintance of Ellison, I call this his terministic screen. Perhaps the most important elements of Ellison’s terministic screen are consciousness–conscience and purpose–passion–perception. The first set of terms represents what he saw as our democratic obligations: the pursuit of a progressively clearer consciousness of democratic ideals and a more refined conscientiousness in pursuing these ideals. The second set of terms provided a narrative framework for showing how consciousness and conscience are attained or evaded. This essay analyzes the intellectual history of these terms and how they function in Ellison’s essays and novels. Special attention is given to Ellison’s unfinished second novel.
Dreaming, 2021
Novelist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston experienced a recurrent dream throughout her life,... more Novelist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston experienced a recurrent dream throughout her life, beginning in childhood. The dream consisted of about twelve "scenes" which she understood as prophesying important moments of her life. In this article I consider the origin of the dream, its function in her life, the apparent relation of the dream contents to her waking life, and alternate versions of the important final scene of the dream. Hurston's dream likely originated out of the tension between the young Hurston's high intelligence, imaginativeness, and ambition, on the one hand, and the highly restrictive environment in which she lived, on the other. The dream seems to have functioned as a personal mythical narrative, which gave an overall sense of value and heroic purpose to Hurston's life.
American Studies Journal, 2019
One person’s prophet has always been another’s crackpot. Nowhere is this more obvious currently t... more One person’s prophet has always been another’s crackpot. Nowhere is this more obvious currently than with psychology professor turned public intellectual Jordan B. Peterson. Peterson has attained a large following online and is esteemed by centrist members of the American media. Yet few intellectuals are currently so reviled by younger leftists. This article argues for some conceptual and cultural-historical clarification of Peterson’s work. I suggest that Peterson and some (not all) of his leftist critics are actually on the same side of an effort to preserve the open-access order (the basic political-economic organization of the Western democracies). However, they focus on different problems endemic to such orders. While his critics focus on power imbalances and material inequalities, Peterson is a manifestation of the need to manage spiritual crisis while at the same time maintaining relative openness of access to political and economic institutions. Recurrent spiritual crisis, I argue, inheres in open-access orders. Because these orders depend on impersonality and value relativism, they provide no spiritual grounding for individuals. In open-access societies, spiritual crises get temporarily resolved by the development of ‘secular theodicies,’ modes of making sense of suffering in a world in which God is dead. Peterson is a purveyor of a secular theodicy, the contours and context of which are shown through consideration of Peterson’s writings and online videos.
Thomas Carlyle’s Sartor Resartus (1833–34) explores a fundamental problem of the modern world and... more Thomas Carlyle’s Sartor Resartus (1833–34) explores a fundamental problem of the modern world and models a solution to that problem. The problem is one of adapting to an "anomic" (normless) environment and the sufferings that result from hindrances to successful adaptation. The solution it models is one of "revolutionary biodicy." This way of resolving individual suffering occurs when society does not offer a life-pattern suitable for the sovereign, individualized self. A new pattern must then be invented. Sartor, as this essay will show, explores the psychology of this process. But it also provides something of a cultural history of this situation, with special emphasis on the figures of Goethe and Lord Byron. Sartor, then, provides a way of understanding modernity from a combined psychological and cultural-historical perspective.
I Culture is increasingly mediated by digital technology; culture is even, for many people nowada... more I Culture is increasingly mediated by digital technology; culture is even, for many people nowadays, primarily experienced through digital technology; and many cultural forms are increasingly beholden to, or entirely dependent on, this technology. Different cultural forms have diverged in the extent of their adaptability to digital technology. Certain pre-digital forms have shown a high degree of adaptation (recorded music, literary forms, film and video, television).
Once asked about the meaning of life, the historian of consciousness Julian Jaynes responded:
Before printing became widespread in Odisha (a region of eastern India), Odia-language poetic com... more Before printing became widespread in Odisha (a region of eastern India), Odia-language poetic compositions were inscribed on palm-leaf manuscripts. At the beginning of most compositions, be they individual songs or sections (chāndas) of long-form poetic works (kāvyas), one usually finds written the name of a rāga. 1 A modern reader at least passingly familiar with music in India might assume that this indicated the type of melody in which the composition should be performed. If so they might be surprised to read the opinion of the eminent scholar of Odia literature, Gaurīkumāra Brahmā. He wrote in 1967:
Ravenshaw Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies (vol. 3), 2013
The Odishan: A Magazine on Culture of Odisha (vol. 1, no. 2), 2012
Asian Music (vol. 41, no. 2), 2010
Last year Aparṇṇā Pāṇigrāhī, having recorded a song on gramophone record in Kolkata, was returnin... more Last year Aparṇṇā Pāṇigrāhī, having recorded a song on gramophone record in Kolkata, was returning to Paralakhemundi. 1 On the train he had a fever, and arriving at home he died.
kara sādhujanamāne manaku eka / kara dhīre dhyāna nīḷācaḷa nāyaka /1/ kamanīya śrīmukha candraru ... more kara sādhujanamāne manaku eka / kara dhīre dhyāna nīḷācaḷa nāyaka /1/ kamanīya śrīmukha candraru adhika / kale darśana na rahe saṁsāra śoka /2/ kamaḷa-nayana koṭi sukha-dāyaka / kaḷā ḍoḷā bhramara cumbilā prāyaka /3/ kapāḷe subarṇṇa rāhurekhā jhalaka / kaũ loka aṅga na karāi pulaka /4/ kahi nohai suraṅga adhara ṭeka / kabi jaṛa hoe ẏāhā kari biloka /5/ karṇṇe makara-kuṇḍaḷa bhāle tiḷaka / kare kacaṭi bāhuṭi hr̥ de padaka /6/ kumbu-kaṇṭhe kaustubha maṇi nāyaka / kaḷuṣa andhakāraku dina nāyaka /7/ kaḷita laḷita phulamāḷa aneka / karai baśa abaśya trailokya-ẏāka /8/ kaḷpabr̥ kṣe nānā ratna phaḷa prāyeka / kaḷāpī-kaḷāpe śobhā śrīaṅga-ẏāka /9/ Like the various jewel-fruits on the Kaḷpabr̥ kṣa, 6 Peacock plumage beautifies the Lord's body. At your arm the conch and the discus that kill sorrow and wicked people [respectively], [Your form] of camphor and sandalwood is the cause of joy. Bearing the gold kaṅkiṇi 7 and the yellow cloth, Protecting gods and humans with a compassionate glance. A citizen [nāgara] of the conch region, 8 A delighter [rasika] in matters of amusement. Husband of the lotus-eyed Kamaḷā, 9 Often sporting on the Blue Hill. Resolved to be remembered as the destroyer of Kaṁsa, 10 Lessening so much the burden of the earth. By pretense becoming the son of Nanda in Braja, 11 In play being known as a cowherd.
Ethnomusicology, Sep 17, 2011
... Debashish Bhattacharya (b. 1963) provides a case in point. ... The liner notes mention only t... more ... Debashish Bhattacharya (b. 1963) provides a case in point. ... The liner notes mention only that the rāga expresses “peace, ecstasy and joy.” Interestingly, Basant Mukhari, as Deepak Raja (2010) has pointed out, seems to be a Hindustani adaptation of the Karnatak rāga ...