As physicalisms of various kinds have faced difficulties in recent years, the time has come to explore possible alternatives, one of which is yinyang ontology. A yinyang theorist is expected to provide a plausible acc...As physicalisms of various kinds have faced difficulties in recent years, the time has come to explore possible alternatives, one of which is yinyang ontology. A yinyang theorist is expected to provide a plausible account of causation to replace the traditional notion of causation. The present paper is critical of the Humean tradition, which understands the relata of causal relations in terms of passive materiality so that humans use referential terms to describe causal relations constructively. But an alternative notion of reference is available according to which causal relata are active processors of the information with which they interact. On this latter view, humans use referential language to describe the structure in which the relata interrelate themselves so that the structure can be understood hermeneutically. Reference on this view is naturalized. In this article, I advance two arguments for this thesis, one concerning the informationality of states and the other related to the essentiality of properties.展开更多
In response to the tricky problem, raised by Hume, of the relationship between causality and freedom, Kant came up with the concept of two kinds of causality： causality of nature and causality of freedom. While the f...In response to the tricky problem, raised by Hume, of the relationship between causality and freedom, Kant came up with the concept of two kinds of causality： causality of nature and causality of freedom. While the former belongs in the phenomenal realm in the context of speculative reason, the latter, no more than a negative notion in the transcendental realm of things-in-themselves, nevertheless acquires actual objectivity in the context of practical reason. What causality of freedom confirms is freedom in the transcendental rather than the psychological sense. As Kant saw it, these two kinds of causality coexist in divided form in man, who is an existing being both in the realm of phenomena and in that of things-in-themselves. After Kant, it was Marx who, critically synthesizing the contributions of Hegel and Sehopenhauer, succeeded in revealing the hidden answer to the question of Kant＇s concept of two kinds of causality. That is productive labor, which implies both the dimension of goals and the causality of freedom and that of the causality of nature and historical causality. In the context of Marx＇s historical materialism, productive labor emerges as a kingdom of necessity at the very basis of the kingdom of freedom.展开更多
文摘As physicalisms of various kinds have faced difficulties in recent years, the time has come to explore possible alternatives, one of which is yinyang ontology. A yinyang theorist is expected to provide a plausible account of causation to replace the traditional notion of causation. The present paper is critical of the Humean tradition, which understands the relata of causal relations in terms of passive materiality so that humans use referential terms to describe causal relations constructively. But an alternative notion of reference is available according to which causal relata are active processors of the information with which they interact. On this latter view, humans use referential language to describe the structure in which the relata interrelate themselves so that the structure can be understood hermeneutically. Reference on this view is naturalized. In this article, I advance two arguments for this thesis, one concerning the informationality of states and the other related to the essentiality of properties.
文摘In response to the tricky problem, raised by Hume, of the relationship between causality and freedom, Kant came up with the concept of two kinds of causality： causality of nature and causality of freedom. While the former belongs in the phenomenal realm in the context of speculative reason, the latter, no more than a negative notion in the transcendental realm of things-in-themselves, nevertheless acquires actual objectivity in the context of practical reason. What causality of freedom confirms is freedom in the transcendental rather than the psychological sense. As Kant saw it, these two kinds of causality coexist in divided form in man, who is an existing being both in the realm of phenomena and in that of things-in-themselves. After Kant, it was Marx who, critically synthesizing the contributions of Hegel and Sehopenhauer, succeeded in revealing the hidden answer to the question of Kant＇s concept of two kinds of causality. That is productive labor, which implies both the dimension of goals and the causality of freedom and that of the causality of nature and historical causality. In the context of Marx＇s historical materialism, productive labor emerges as a kingdom of necessity at the very basis of the kingdom of freedom.
