Human Minds and Cultures

✍ Scribed by Sanjit Chakraborty (editor)

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2024
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 201
• Edition: 2024
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book puts forward a harmonious analysis of similarities and differences between two concepts―human minds and cultures―and strives for a multicultural spectrum of philosophical explorations that could assist them in pondering the striking pursuit of envisaging human minds and cultures as an essential appraisal of philosophy and the social sciences. The book hinges on a theoretical understanding of the indispensable liaison between the dichotomy of minds and objectivity residing in semantic-ontological conjectures.

The ethnographic sense of cultures confines the scope of cultural scientism, an evolutionary paradigm on the functionalist turn, where one could enthral the cultural phenomenon from the contentment of the conflict of scientific quandaries. Hence, cultural relativism concedes that cultures have some descriptive contents, like customs, beliefs, moral codes, other minds, etc., that are followed by an individual or a group of people. However, the notion of societalsemiotics embarks on the ‘semiotic conception of culture’ that deploys modernity and values centred on ethical conjectures.

Human Minds and Cultures conspicuously attune the cultural edifice of moral minds and cope with the enduring prospects of ethics, genders, laws, and socio-political affairs. Essential reading for anyone with a sparkling interest in human minds and cultures.

✦ Table of Contents

Preface
Contents
Contributors
Human Minds and Cultures: An Introduction
Synchronizing Mind and Content
Reviving Cultures
References
Thoughts on Morality and Culture
References
Values and Cultures
Pretending to Defend Cultural Relativism
Problems with Cultural Relativism
Cultural Differences
Product of Culture
No Neutral Standpoint
Logic, Cultural Values, and Consistency
Logic, Cultural Values, and Reasoning
A Broader Consistency Norm
The Golden Rule
Three Technical GR Distinctions
Practical Reason and Biology
Metaethics and Objectivity
Religion, Ethics, and GR
My Ethics Teaching in America and China
References
Clashes of Culture
References
Hatred: Why Do Such Nice People Do Such Awful Things?
Killer Apes
Prejudice
Hunter-Gatherers: War
Hunter-Gatherers: Prejudice
Reversal? War
Reversal? Prejudice
Envoi
References
Neoliberalism, Globalization and Discrimination in the Twenty-First Century: Issues, Challenges and Limitations of Habermas’ Reason-Based Theory of Liberal Democracy in Current Times
Introduction
The Nature of Discrimination
Discrimination Against Groups Who Claim Substantive Equality with Dominant Groups in Society
Discrimination Against Groups Who Claim Equal but Different Status
Discrimination: Slippery Slopes or Distinct Forms of Arbitrary Bias or Discrimination
Habermas’ Theory of Deliberative Democracy
Communication, Equality, Understanding (of Self and Others), Adjudication and Validity Claims
Limitations of the Theory
The Mobs
The Issue with Globalization, Neoliberalism and the Mobs
Other Forms of Discrimination and Habermas’ Theory
Conclusion
References
Legal Emotions: Why Affect Matters for Law
Introduction
Legal Theory: From Sanction to Obligation
A Global Puzzle: Legal Transplantation
Sticky Institutions: An Affective Phenomenon?
Taking Affect Seriously
An Emerging Field?
References
The Epistemic Argument for Hedonism
The Argument from Disagreement [1]
There Is Widespread Moral Disagreement [2]
If There Is Widespread Error About a Topic, We Should Retain Only Those Beliefs About It Formed Through Reliable Processes [3]
If There Is Widespread Error About Morality, There Are No Actual Reliable Processes for Forming Moral Beliefs [4]
Phenomenal Introspection Reveals Pleasure’s Goodness [5]
Pleasure’s Goodness Is Moral Value [6]
Conclusion [7]
References
The Interpreting Mind and Meaning-Formation: A Relational Critique of Lyotard and Ricœur
Prelude
The Order of Jouissance
Relational Understanding
References
Recurring Dilemmas on Other Minds
Triggering Mind
An Omnibus of Other Minds
Dilemmas and Way Out
References
References