P H I L O S O P H Y P A T H W A Y S ISSN 2043-0728 http://philosophypathways.com/newsletter/ Issue No. 216 3rd October 2017 CONTENTS Edited by Deji Adesoye I. 'Elaborating Aquinas' Epistemology: from Being to Knowledge' by Nicholas Anakwue II. 'On Minds in a Physical World: Frank Jackson's Mary-Argument and Mental Causation' by Jani Koskela III. 'From Quintessence to Spookiness: Evolution of Supernatural in Physicist Mind' by Hossien Hossieni, J.M.A. Fatah, Said Kaki and Kawan Kamal IV. 'African Socialism in Nkrumah and Nyerere' by Deji Adesoye -=- EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION Readers, you are welcome to Issue 216 of Philosophy Pathways. This issue of Philosophy Pathways features four critical essays by practitioners, each from one of the fields of epistemology, philosophy of mind, history and philosophy of science, and political philosophy. These are works that share the value of opening up usefully new interpretations of some core philosophical issues they address [...] Read more... http://philosophypathways.com/articles/Deji_Adesoye_Philosophy_ Pathways_Issue_216_Introduction.pdf (c) Ayodeji Adesoye 2017 Email: adesodeji@yahoo.com About the editor: http://philosophypathways.com/newsletter/editor.html#adesoye -=- I. 'ELABORATING AQUINAS' EPISTEMOLOGY: FROM BEING TO KNOWLEDGE' BY NICHOLAS ANAKWUE Aquinas is largely apathetic to the modern epistemological controversy of which of epistemology or metaphysics is to be honoured as first philosophy. Yet though, Aquinas may be averse to tackling this concern, "he does not build his philosophical system around a theory of knowledge", rather, he founds it on the "basis provided by the other parts of his system, in particular, his metaphysics and psychology". Consequently, building significantly on his concepts of psychology and metaphysics, Aquinas exposes the concept of knowledge through the thematic headings of Sense perception, Cognition, Scientia, and the Foundationalist agenda of justification [...] Read more... http://philosophypathways.com/articles/Nicholas_Anakwue_Elaborating_ Aquinas_Epistemology_from_Being_to_Knowledge.pdf (c) Nicholas Anakwue 2017 Email: nikibertx@gmail.com -=- II. 'ON MINDS IN A PHYSICAL WORLD: FRANK JACKSON'S MARY-ARGUMENT AND MENTAL CAUSATION' BY JANI KOSKELA We seem to have introspective access to propositional contents and qualia. If someone asks whether one believes something, there is only one way for a person to find an answer to the question, by introspectively surveying the contents of ones beliefs. Also, it seems intuitively unreasonable to question the immediacy of subjective experiences, which entail qualia: those experiences feel like and are of something and therefore distinguish themselves from other objective relations to the world. Therefore, even if those contents and experiences were causally inert, there would still be reason to think they existed. But also, I think there is a case to be made for mental states being causally efficacious [...] Read more... http://philosophypathways.com/articles/Jani_Koskela_On_Minds_in_a_ Physical_World_Frank_Jacksons_Mary_Argument_and_Mental_Causation.pdf (c) Jani Koskela 2017 Email: jani.koskela@helsinki.fi -=- III. 'FROM QUINTESSENCE TO SPOOKINESS: EVOLUTION OF SUPERNATURAL IN PHYSICIST MIND' BY HOSSIEN HOSSIENI, J.M.A. FATAH, SAID KAKI AND KAWAN KAMAL In this research we try to find answers for why, how and where great physicists used supernatural concepts in physical theories. We start from Aristotle and end up with Stephen Hawking. Physicists use supernatural concepts in their theories to describe nature. There is a big change in the concept of supernatural in physicists' minds. For instance, supernatural in Aristotle mind is a philosophical God, to Newton it is a personal God, while to Maxwell it is a demon, and according to Einstein, it fluctuates between Spinoza the philosophical God and spookiness to explain entanglement phenomena in quantum mechanics [...] Read more... http://philosophypathways.com/articles/Hossien_Hossieni_et_al_From_ Quintessence_to_Spookiness_Evolution_of_Supernatural_in_Physicist_ Mind.pdf (c) Hossien Hossieni, J.M.A. Fatah, Said Kaki, Kawan Kamal 2017 Email: hossien.hossieni@univsul.edu.iq -=- IV. 'AFRICAN SOCIALISM IN NKRUMAH AND NYERERE' BY DEJI ADESOYE African historical experience is interesting. It is so because there are events that happened in the African past which have been seen to be largely responsible for the present deplorable conditions of African societies. Events that are slavery and colonization became at different points the daily bread of the African people, who, in the course of those processes, had the bitter taste of dehumanization in the hands of their foreign masters. Colonial rule caused a huge structural change in the cultural and value systems of African people. Africans, it is claimed, used to have grand culture which was the bond between them and which they cherished and respected so much [...] Read more... http://philosophypathways.com/articles/Deji_Adesoye_African_ Socialism_in_Nkrumah_and_Nyerere.pdf (c) Ayodeji Adesoye 2017 Email: adesodeji@yahoo.com -=- Philosophy Pathways is the electronic newsletter for the Pathways to Philosophy distance learning program To subscribe or cancel your subscription please email your request to philosophypathways@fastmail.net or go online at https://lists.shef.ac.uk/sympa/info/philosophypathways Please send contributions, suggestions or comments to the List Manager Geoffrey Klempner klempner@fastmail.net The views expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect those of the Editors.