Is it Real? Structuring Reality by Means of Signs
Is it Real? Structuring Reality by Means of Signs

Author: Zeynep Onur

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2016-09-23

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 1443812919

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Is it Real? is a collection of twenty-eight papers on the most challenging, provocative – and profound – topics related to the quest for real and virtual realities of vision and other senses, and realities that are either constructed or imagined. There was no school, no theory, no methodology, nor any empirical approach in semiotics which was not forced to take a position, whether implicitly or explicitly, in attempting to discuss this issue. Semiotics is a discipline dealing with signs, and, thus, it is commonly thought that if we say of something that it is a “sign”, then it is something “less” real than the thing itself to which it refers. As such, the field of problems which opens from the theme “Is it Real?” is almost endless – but also relevant. This volume presents interactive dialogue related to this question structured under six different headings: five papers on the topic of “Visual Realities”; six on “What is Real?”; five on “Textual Realities”, concentrating on realities revealed from literature or the written language through texts; five on “Constructed Realities”; three on “Virtual Realities”; and, finally, four papers on “Imagery Realities”.

The Conceptual Structure of Reality
The Conceptual Structure of Reality

Author: Gal Yehezkel

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2014-05-22

Total Pages: 143

ISBN-13: 3319071858

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This book describes a novel conception of reality, one that uniquely incorporates an idealistic view of existence with an account of objectivity. It introduces a general model of conceptual analysis and demonstrates its effectiveness in exposing and establishing the existence of conceptual ties. The book begins by introducing the tools and principles needed for the conceptual analysis undertaken in chapters that follow. Next, it presents a detailed examination into existence, contingency, idealism, self-consciousness and natural laws. In the process, the author critically examines the conceptions of existence held by Kant, Frege and Russell; argues that the determinations of past, present and future are subjective in the sense that they imply the existence of consciousness in relation to which they are fixed; shows that every possible reality includes sufficient conditions for self-consciousness; and confronts the question of the "uniformity of nature," which states that reality is subject to natural laws. In the end, the idealistic conception of reality developed in this book implies that existence is relative, rather than absolute, in the sense that it is determined in relation to a point of view internal to reality. This view of existence implies that reality necessarily exists.

The Social Construction of Reality
The Social Construction of Reality

Author: Peter L. Berger

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2011-04-26

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 1453215468

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A watershed event in the field of sociology, this text introduced “a major breakthrough in the sociology of knowledge and sociological theory generally” (George Simpson, American Sociological Review). In this seminal book, Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann examine how knowledge forms and how it is preserved and altered within a society. Unlike earlier theorists and philosophers, Berger and Luckmann go beyond intellectual history and focus on commonsense, everyday knowledge—the proverbs, morals, values, and beliefs shared among ordinary people. When first published in 1966, this systematic, theoretical treatise introduced the term social construction,effectively creating a new thought and transforming Western philosophy.

The Communicative Construction of Reality
The Communicative Construction of Reality

Author: Hubert Knoblauch

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-12-06

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 0429775334

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This volume advocates a shift from the social constructivism found in the work of Thomas Luckmann and Peter Berger, to a communicative constructivism that acknowledges communication as an embodied form of action in its own right, according to which social actors, in engaging in communicative action, construct a material social reality that guides, delimits, and enables actions. A study of the importance of understanding the role of communication in an age in which digitization and mediatization have extended the reach of communication to a global level and brought about the emergence of the communication society, The Communicative Construction of Reality shows how communication society does not merely replace modern society and its hierarchical institutions, but complements it in a manner that continually results in conflicts leading to the refiguration of society. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology with interests in the sociology of knowledge, communication, and social theory.

Boston Confucianism
Boston Confucianism

Author: Robert C. Neville

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 2000-09-28

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 9780791447178

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Argues that Confucianism can be important to the contemporary, global conversation of philosophy and should not be confined to an East Asian context.

The Nature of Consciousness, the Structure of Reality
The Nature of Consciousness, the Structure of Reality

Author: Jerry Davidson Wheatley

Publisher:

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 810

ISBN-13: 9780970316103

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This book describes how understanding the structure of reality leads to the Theory of Everything Equation. The equation unifies the forces of nature and enables the merging of relativity with quantum theory. The book explains the big bang theory and everything else.

A New Foundation of Physical Theories
A New Foundation of Physical Theories

Author: Günther Ludwig

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2007-12-11

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 3540308326

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Written in the tradition of G. Ludwig’s groundbreaking works, this book aims to clarify and formulate more precisely the fundamental ideas of physical theories. By introducing a basic descriptive language of simple form, in which it is possible to formulate recorded facts, ambiguities of physical theories are avoided as much as possible. In this approach the field of physics that should be described by a theory is determined by basic concepts only, i.e. concepts that can be explained without a theory. In this context the authors introduce a new concept of idealization and review the process of discovering new concepts. They believe that, when the theories are formulated within an axiomatic basis, solutions can be found to many difficult problems such as the interpretation of physical theories, the relations between theories as well as the introduction of physical concepts. The book addresses both physicists and philosophers of science and should encourage the reader to contribute to the understanding of the lasting core of physical knowledge about the real structures of the world.

Unconscious Networks
Unconscious Networks

Author: Luca M. Possati

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-12-09

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 1000806073

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This book develops an original theoretical framework for understanding human-technology relations. The author’s approach, which he calls technoanalysis, analyzes artificial intelligence based on Freudian psychoanalysis, biosemiotics, and Latour’s actor-network theory. How can we communicate with AI to determine shared values and objectives? And what, ultimately, do we want from machines? These are crucial questions in our world, where the influence of AI-based technologies is rapidly growing. Unconscious dynamics influence AI and digital technology and understanding them is essential to better controlling AI systems. This book’s unique methodology— which combines psychoanalysis, biosemiotics, and actor-network theory—reveals a radical reformulation of the problem of the human mind. Technoanalysis views the mind as a hybrid network of humans and nonhuman actants in constant interaction with one another. The author argues that human unconscious dynamics influence and shape technology, just as technology influences and shapes human unconscious dynamics. He proceeds to show how this conception of the relationship between the unconscious and technology can be applied to social robotics and AI. Unconscious Networks will appeal to scholars and advanced students interested in philosophy of technology, philosophy of artificial intelligence, psychoanalysis, and science and technology studies.

The Structure of the Literary Process
The Structure of the Literary Process

Author: P. Steiner

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 1982-01-01

Total Pages: 623

ISBN-13: 9027280649

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These papers on the structure of the literary process were brought together in memory of Felix Vodička (1909–1974). Contributions by: Jacek Baluch, Miroslav Červenka, Květoslav Chvatík, E.M. van Dam-Havelková, Sergej Davydov, Lubomir Doležel, Miroslav Drozda, Jan van der Eng, F.W. Galan, Mojmír Grygar, Wolfgang Iser, Milan Jankovič, Hans Robert Jauss, Renate Lachmann, Gail Lenhoff, Ladislav Matějka, Tone Pretnar, Lucylla Pszczołowska, Janice A. Radway, Charles Eric Reeves, Herta Schmid, Miloš Sedmidubský, Peter Steiner, Wendy Steiner, Oleg Sus, Ronald Vroon.