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The Philosopher EDITOR Alan Brown REVIEWS EDITOR Zenon Stravrinides COVER IMAGE Alan Brown Volume CIII, No.2, Autumn 2015 The Philosopher _________________________________ 1913–2013 VOLUME CIII, NO. 2 CONTENTS 2 Editorial 3 Phenomenology of Listening and the Challenge of Writing Sound Adam Potts 10 Musicalists and Lingualists Michael Bavidge 13 Epistemology after Roy Harris Zenon Stavrinides 18 Review: Self and Other, Dan Zahavi Alan Brown 21 Reply to Norman Bacrac John Griffiths 23 Books Received 24 Local News - 1
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Volume CIII, No.2, Autumn 2015 Editorial The two principal articles in this edition, by Adam Potts and Zenon Stavrinides, are about different topics and are written in very different philosophical idioms. Yet there is an underlying common theme: they are both concerned with our active engagement with the world and they argue that this engagement cannot be understood simply in terms of representing the world in language. Both discussions raise questions about how we are domiciled in the world and how we relate to each other. Both suggest that we cannot argue our way into the world. Nor could we argue our way out as Descartes requires - through some sort of rational austerity. Adam Potts in 'Phenomenology of Listening and the Challenge of Writing Sound' discusses the complex ways in which writing and listening can be brought together: 'the listening subject and the identity which listening might be said to give us, is fragmented, constituted by an interconnectivity of feelings, memory, conceptuality and potential'. Not just an 'I think' at the beginning of philosophy, but an 'I listen'. Adam read his paper at the Society's Alnmouth Workshop in September this year. Michael Bavidge's discussion of the Musicalists and the Lingualists was part of his contribution at the same meeting. He discussed the idea that there could be a tribe of humans who have no language, but live in an en-music-ed world. Their Lebenswelt would be shaped through music as closely as our experience of the world is shaped by language. Zenon Stavrinides in his critical study of Roy Harris' work on 'Integrationism' which argues that 'the linguistic sign alone cannot function as the basis of an independent, self-sufficient form of communication, but depends for effectiveness on its integration with nonverbal activities of many different kinds'. Talking about different topics - the phenomenology of listening and epistemology - in different tones of voice, both articles develop the idea that we are not spectators parachuted into the world; we are social animals embedded in a cultural environment which is the precondition of all our reflective and scientific inquiries. At least some contemporary philosophy is focusing on the richness and complexity of this engagement. In doing so, it is producing a more generous idea of the subject matter and the acceptable methodologies of philosophy and, on the way, discovering a genuine affinity between traditions of philosophy that have thought themselves opposed or mutually incomprehensible. Things are looking up. AGM and Talk The Society's AGM Saturday, 5th December, 2015 1 pm Tavistock Room, Monticello House 45 Russell Square London WC1B 4JP It will be followed at 2 pm by a talk by Guy Longworth of Warwick University: Expressing oneself For more details see p. 20 - 2

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Volume CIII, No.2, Autumn 2015

Editorial The two principal articles in this edition, by Adam Potts and Zenon Stavrinides, are about different topics and are written in very different philosophical idioms. Yet there is an underlying common theme: they are both concerned with our active engagement with the world and they argue that this engagement cannot be understood simply in terms of representing the world in language. Both discussions raise questions about how we are domiciled in the world and how we relate to each other. Both suggest that we cannot argue our way into the world. Nor could we argue our way out as Descartes requires - through some sort of rational austerity. Adam Potts in 'Phenomenology of Listening and the Challenge of Writing Sound' discusses the complex ways in which writing and listening can be brought together: 'the listening subject and the identity which listening might be said to give us, is fragmented, constituted by an interconnectivity of feelings, memory, conceptuality and potential'. Not just an 'I think' at the beginning of philosophy, but an 'I listen'. Adam read his paper at the Society's Alnmouth Workshop in September this year. Michael Bavidge's discussion of the Musicalists and the Lingualists was part of his contribution at the same meeting. He discussed the idea that there could be a tribe of humans who have no language, but live in an en-music-ed world. Their Lebenswelt would be shaped through music as closely as our experience of the world is shaped by language. Zenon Stavrinides in his critical study of Roy Harris' work on 'Integrationism' which argues that 'the linguistic sign alone cannot function as the basis of an independent, self-sufficient form of communication, but depends for effectiveness on its integration with nonverbal activities of many different kinds'. Talking about different topics - the phenomenology of listening and epistemology - in different tones of voice, both articles develop the idea that we are not spectators parachuted into the world; we are social animals embedded in a cultural environment which is the precondition of all our reflective and scientific inquiries. At least some contemporary philosophy is focusing on the richness and complexity of this engagement. In doing so, it is producing a more generous idea of the subject matter and the acceptable methodologies of philosophy and, on the way, discovering a genuine affinity between traditions of philosophy that have thought themselves opposed or mutually incomprehensible. Things are looking up.

AGM and Talk

The Society's AGM Saturday, 5th December, 2015

1 pm

Tavistock Room, Monticello House

45 Russell Square London WC1B 4JP

It will be followed at 2 pm by a talk by Guy Longworth of Warwick University:

Expressing oneself

For more details see p. 20

- 2

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