Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 16, No. 339.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
Submit to: humanist@princeton.edu
[1] From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk> (48)
Subject: possibly relevant book on epistemology in science
[2] From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi (21)
<tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
Subject: Shattered embodiment & technology of Cyberspace
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2002 06:56:32 +0000
From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk>
Subject: possibly relevant book on epistemology in science
Kluwer is pleased to announce the publication of the following title:
Quantum Mechanics, Mathematics, Cognition and Action
Proposals for a Formalized Epistemology
edited by
Mioara Mugur-Schchter
Centre pour la Synthse d'une pistmologie formalise, Paris, France
Alwyn van der Merwe
Dept. of Physics, University of Denver, CO, USA
FUNDAMENTAL THEORIES OF PHYSICS -- 129
The purpose of this book is to initiate a new discipline, namely a
formalized epistemological method drawn from the cognitive strategies
practised in the most effective among the modem scientific disciplines, as
well as from general philosophical thinking. Indeed, what is lacking in
order to improve our knowledge and our domination of the modes which
nowadays are available for the generation and communication of knowledge,
thoroughly and rapidly and with precision and detail? It is a systematic
explication of the epistemological essence encrypted in the specialized
languages and algorithms of the major modern scientific approaches, a
systematic cross-referencing of the explicated results, and a final
elaboration of a new coherent whole.
Quantum mechanics, like a diver, can take us down to the level of the very
first actions of our conceptualization of reality. And starting from there,
it can induce an explicit understanding of certain fundamental features of
the new scientific thinking.
A formalized epistemology should not be mistaken for a crossdisciplinary or
a multidisciplinary project. The latter projects are designed to offer to
nonspecialists access to information, to results obtained inside
specialized disciplines, as well as a certain understanding of these
results; whereas a formalized epistemology should equip anyone with a
framework for conceptualizing himself in whatever domain and direction he
or she might choose. A formalized epistemology should not be mistaken
either for an approach belonging to the modern cognitive sciences. These
try to establish as neutrally as possible descriptions of how the human
body-and-mind work spontaneously when knowledge is generated; whereas a
method of conceptualization should establish what conceptual-operational
deliberate procedures have to be applied in order to represent and to
achieve processes of generation of knowledge optimized accordingly to any
definite aims.
This book addresses philosophers of science, physicists, mathematicians,
logicians, computer scientists, researchers in cognitive sciences, and
biologists, as well as any intellectual who is interested in scientific and
philosophical thinking.
Hardbound ISBN: 1-4020-1120-2 Date: December 2002 Pages: 504 pp.
EURO 195.00 / USD 191.00 / GBP 123.00
Dr Willard McCarty | Senior Lecturer | Centre for Computing in the
Humanities | King's College London | Strand | London WC2R 2LS || +44 (0)20
7848-2784 fax: -2980 || willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk
www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/wlm/
--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2002 06:55:28 +0000
From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi
<tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
Subject: Shattered embodiment & technology of Cyberspace
Recently during my (re)search of "Embodiment and Cyberspace" I
found an article on "Shattered embodiment, Cyberspace as Cartesian
Project" by Dr. Elke Mueller -which I thought might interest to humanist
scholars..
In the Western world, we are still proceeding from a Cartesian worldview.
In the paper "Shattered embodiment: Cyberspace as Cartesian Project" Dr.
Mueller first illustrates that this dualistic worldview is objectified in
Virtual Reality technologies. In order to illustrate this, she first
explains the main ideas of Descartes 'Optics with respect to his vision on
sense perception, space and the body. Secondly, she compares the described
topics of Descartes' philosophy with the phenomenological critique and
alternative of Merleau-Ponty.
These elaborations will serve as a background for my illustration. She
distinguishes three kinds of virtual spaces, of which the CAVE seems to
arouse the strongest kind of Cartesian ruptures, which later she will
refer to as experiences of "shattered embodiment."
PS: If anybody wants to read the entire article, then please contact Arun
Tripathi at <tripathi@mail.waoe.org>
Any thoughts are most welcome!!
Sincerely yours,
Arun Tripathi
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