The research focuses on the frontispieces from René Descartes' Opera philosophica, printed in 1664 in Amsterdam by Janssonius & Weyerstraten, addressing the role that images play in the...Show moreThe research focuses on the frontispieces from René Descartes' Opera philosophica, printed in 1664 in Amsterdam by Janssonius & Weyerstraten, addressing the role that images play in the understanding of a philosophical text. The first part offers a visual analysis and identification of the two prints, attributing them to artist Cornelis Hellemans. A brief account of the circulation and reprinting of these engravings is also given. The second part looks at the two prints from an embodied cognition perspective, investigating a deeper layer of visual understanding through bodily metaphors. The gestures and countenance of the figures are analyzed in depth through the theories of Lakoff & Johnson. Lastly, the third part investigates the role that images play in reading comprehension through contemporary accounts and studies, especially those pioneered by Glenberg. The possibilities and limits of the embodied cognition framework for art historical research are also taken into consideration here.Show less
Deze scriptie is gedreven door een vertwijfeling over de plaats van de filosoof. Steeds meer is namelijk de filosofie door de wetenschap in het nauw gedreven. Kant stond stil bij het onderscheid...Show moreDeze scriptie is gedreven door een vertwijfeling over de plaats van de filosoof. Steeds meer is namelijk de filosofie door de wetenschap in het nauw gedreven. Kant stond stil bij het onderscheid tussen filosofie en wetenschap. Overduidelijk meet hij de filosofie reeds aan de wetenschap. Hegel streefde ernaar de filosofie van haar verlangen te ontdoen en haar tot wetenschap te maken. Max Planck stelde vast dat ‘alleen wat meetbaar is werkelijk is’. De wetenschapper verhoudt zich als subject tot de objecten. Maar hoe zit het met de filosoof? Verhoudt deze zich ook als subject tot de objecten? Is hij dan niet ook een wetenschapper? Dit is een fundamentele vraag, die aan ieder filosoferen voorafgaat. Ik spits deze vraag in deze scriptie toe op Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900), op wat er bij hem gebeurt met het subject – om precies te zijn: met het Ego cogito van Descartes, want hier, zo zal blijken, wortelt het subject. Mijn these is: bij de late Nietzsche kan Umwertung gelezen worden als methodische aanwijzing voor een filosofische toegang tot het Ego cogito.Show less
The conception of man as master and possessor of nature was introduced by Descartes and this view dominated ever since. Humanity has become extremely smug with his own intelligence and superiority...Show moreThe conception of man as master and possessor of nature was introduced by Descartes and this view dominated ever since. Humanity has become extremely smug with his own intelligence and superiority over nature. When we consider science and technology as parts of nature, they also subordinate to humanity. Heidegger believes that because man is so captured by this conception of himself as master and possessor, he is in fact enslaved by technology, and thereby disconnected from his own essence and from truth. These ideas are highly applicable to the case of artificial intelligence and they can explain the anxiety towards Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. This will be demonstrated through this paper. It is an attempt to show that the origin of the anxiety of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics lies in man’s attachment to his self-image as master and possessor of nature.Show less
Our modern way of life is shaped by modern science and its promise of progress and the control of nature through technology. This way of life generates side effects like the destruction of natural...Show moreOur modern way of life is shaped by modern science and its promise of progress and the control of nature through technology. This way of life generates side effects like the destruction of natural resources and of cultural and biodiversity provoking further progression of science and technology to solve these problems and keep the illusion of progress and the control of nature alive. But every technological intervention generates new side effects leading to a vicious circle in which we are held captive. This leads to the emergence of a paradox in our conception of human identity as the master and possessor of nature and as such it is philosophically relevant. Our way of life became fully fledged due to the Scientific Revolution, which philosophical focal point is Descartes as the one who explicitly conceives of the method, nature and human identity. This MA-thesis offers an interpretation of Descartes’ thought as originating from his uncanny experience of nature as an infinite micro and macrocosmos leading to an epistemic gap which Descartes tries to bridge by his method which is interpreted as an algebraisation of thought and the concomitant mechanisation of nature which he conceives of as a cultivation of the divine seeds of knowledge in the inborn natural constitution of the human being (ingenium). This cultivation is interpreted as a philosophical Neolithic Revolution. This MA-thesis demonstrates this to be an instance of nature dictating what human identity is, demonstrating the human being to be already a part of the semantic whole that nature is and already being borne by this whole, thus rendering the promise of the control of nature a mirage. This has far reaching consequences for our way of life and our conception of our own identity, though it is the question whether we can experience it as such. It seems to call for a radical new way of thinking.Show less
