USB Journals (Univ. Köln)
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A Transcendental Philosophy of Large Language Models
Get PDFIn this article, M. Beatrice Fazi responds to Shane Denson’s commentary on her paper “The Computational Search for Unity: Synthesis in Generative AI,” published in the Journal of Continental Philosophy in 2024. The article develops Fazi’s transcendental argument about large language models (LLMs). While Denson raises questions about conceptual relativism through Donald Davidson’s critique of conceptual schemes, Fazi maintains her position that LLMs construct “a representational world within” rather than referring to “the world.” Responding to Denson’s proposal for a model of synthesis based on the phenomenology of Jean-Paul Sartre, Fazi argues that a structuralist reinterpretation of Kantian synthesis better accounts for the operations of LLMs, where unity is that of a structure, not a self, and representation is technically central to synthetic activity. These distinctions preserve the functional aspects of Kantian synthesis without anthropomorphizing artificial intelligence, thus strengthening Fazi’s original position that LLMs create their own internal representational reality
Review: Gender and Race Debat(tl)ed on the London Stage
No full textIn lieu of an abstract, here is the first paragraph of the review:
Within a week, two new plays opened at the Royal Court Theatre in London that are both plot-based and dedicated to naturalism, if not social realism. Whereas Mick Mahoney\u27s Food Chain on the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs investigates family values and materialism, Roy Williams\u27 Fallout at the main stage downstairs centres on the investigation of a murder on the streets of London\u27s black neighbourhood. The play deals with questions of race, deprivation, sexual and social rivalry, and street loyalty.
The narrative of male violence on women\u27s bodies
No full textThe term narrative, according to the New Oxford English Dictionary means a \u27written account of connected events.\u27 With reference to male violence against women\u27s bodies, it seems to me to be clear that women\u27s bodies are the surface upon which male violence writes its narrative. While this is not an entirely new concept in the realms of feminist studies, it appears to have lost some of its force in the abstraction of much theoretical work and the notion that women allegedly have gained the equality second wave feminism focussed on. In order to deconstruct the many instances of violence against women\u27s bodies, one needs to survey both the superficial level i.e. the one which we see clearly on a day to day basis, but also the more profound invisible structures that perpetuate male violence and leave the integrity of women\u27s bodies constantly in danger of being violated
Review: Karin Rosa Ikas: Chicana Ways: Conversations with Ten Chicana Writers.
No full textIn lieu of an abstract, here is the first paragraph of the review:
Based on ten in-depth interviews with female Mexican American writers, Karin R. Ikas\u27s Chicana Ways pays tribute to the consolidation and dynamics of Chicana literary discourse over the past thirty years. Focusing on women of Mexican American descent - or Chicanas, to use the politically and culturally more biased self-denomination that also allows for gender inflection -, the book draws innovatory strength from its specific outlook: "It is the first collection of interviews exclusively with female writers of the fastest-growing minority group in the United States," as Ikas points out in her introduction (XVI). There is another peculiar feature of the conversations assembled in this book: With a young German scholar acting as interlocutor and editor, Chicana Ways appears as a particularly interesting instance of inquiry and dialogue in an intercultural context
The "Feminine Principle" in Butoh: A Methodology that Spans History, Cultures, and Disciplines? or Developing a "Feminine" Body-Space on a Sunday?
Get PDFI am concerned with gendered body-space, and whether the aspiration for a notion such as \u27feminine principle\u27 is or can remain valuable in con-temporary-space. In an earlier article, a tantric interpretation of the dance work Kagemi, choreographed by Ushio Amagatsu, I introduced the notion of supposed interaction between \u27male and female,\u27 known and defined in various ways in Japan as in-yo-do, in China as yin-yang, in Tibet as yab-yum. In South Asia the notion of male and female body-space, although found in Taoism, Buddhism and Hinduism, is central to the way of Tantra. Unlike notions of female body-space found in Japan, or China, in South Asia, in Tantra the notion of the \u27feminine principle\u27 considered the female aspect as active and the male aspect as passive. I am reflecting on whether the positing of ancient notions of the \u27feminine principle\u27 are effective in contemporary-space; whether a significant re-conception of body-space is possible, and for whom; and if the pursuit of such an aspiration may need a jettisoning of the historic insights altogether
Review: Helma Järviluoma, Pirkko Moisala & Anni Vilkko: Gender and Qualitative Methods.
No full textIn lieu of an abstract, here is the first paragraph of the review:
Gender and Qualitative Methods forms part of a series entitled "Introducing Qualitative Methods", which, it is stated, has an "interdisciplinary and international" (p. 2) approach. The volume under consideration here clearly ties in with this scope. The series is aimed at the student and beginning researcher, providing an accessible yet informative introduction to the consideration of gender within qualitative research. The authors illustrate how gender can be approached, seen, and researched in a variety of settings through the use of their personal research experience, case study examples, and thorough discussions of theories and positions. Each chapter is a theoretical introduction to a particular method, illustrated with practical and real examples of the research method. The case study examples are diverse in nature, showing the richness and possibilities within gender studies. Each of the three authors has her own research expertise, and this is evident in the varied chapters and research methods chosen. Their aim is to "introduce different methods for recognizing gender/ing in qualitative research" (p.7)
Review of Oyèrónké Oyewùmí, ed.: African Gender Studies: A Reader.
No full textIn lieu of an abstract, here is the first paragraph of the interview:
With the performative turn\u27s emphasis on the discursive construction of gender categories, a growing awareness has emerged within the interdisciplinary field of gender studies that "insistence on coherence and unity of the category [woman, SA] refuse[s] the multiplicity of cultural, social and political intersections in which the concrete array of \u27women\u27 are constructed" (Butler 1990: 14). Hence, the project of countering the internal structure of white hegemony in the field of gender studies - although well under way for considerable time - has gained added momentum and amplified scope. One of its latest additions is Oyèrónké Oyewùmí\u27s anthology African Gender Studies. A Reader (2005). Bringing together a wide range of voices and disciplinary perspectives of African scholars, the collection interrogates some well-established concepts and ideas of (Western) gender studies so as to "correct the longstanding problem of Western dominance in the interpretation of African realities" (xiv) and to re-define "gender" as an analytical tool applicable to African contexts