week 5 Flashcards
what is the theoretical problem of diversity
the problem that many different criteria may be valuable for the assessment of a theory
what is the problem of incommensurability
criteria of evaluating theories of personhood specify goods that cannot be compared, reduced, or simplified
why can’t the adoption of truth as the sole criterion fix the problems of diversity and incommensurability
truth cannot serve as the sole criterion to fix these problems because it is too demanding- we want truth worth caring about, and truth doesn’t come in degrees so using truth as a single criterion takes us back to the problem of multiple criteria, since it is generally the case that what is important depends on many things.
verisimilitude
truth likeness- closeness to truth
what two problems arise as a consequence of using verisimilitude
two problems of idealization arise
1. A theory idealizes when its claims are “close to truth”- theories of personhood cannot really come close to truth because you can’t measure distance from truth with these kinds of theories
2. A theory ignores some factors that are sometimes significant, and would get things pretty much right if those factors were taken into account. This basically asks the question again of what is a valuable criterion.
One theory can be closer in its predictions in some areas and the other is closer in others, and we do not know how to decide which area matters more. This takes us back to the problem concerning how we know what a valuable criterion is.
nipadua
body
mogya
the blood of the mother
abusa/bogya
maternal clan
sunsum
an individual spirit- from the father at conception- main bearer of one’s personality
okra
life force- sent at birth by the high god
using the terms describe how, according to Appiah, one is a person within the Asante matrilineal structure
The Asante are an Akan ethnic group and are a matrilineal culture, meaning that children belong to the families of their mothers. The maternal clan is called the abusua or bogya and is wider than the matrilineal family. The asante theory of person sees that a person consists of three components, nipadua, sunsum, and okra. The body (nipadua) is made from the blood of the mother (mogya) and constitutes membership in the maternal clan. The individual’s spirit (sunsum) is from the father at conception and is the main bearer of one’s personality. The final component of personhood is okra, or life force, which is sent to a person at birth from Nyame, the high god, and departs the body only at the person’s last breath.
what are the differences between a person’s sunsum and okra
The sunsum, unlike the okra, may leave the body during life and does so, for example, in sleep, dreams being thought to be the perceptions of a person’s sunsum on its nightly excursion- essentially you are responsible for the things you do in your dreams. The okra on the other hand departs the body only at the person’s last breath.
similarity between sunsum and okra
- They entail the existence of different states and entities
- They make different predictions about behavior
- They share the concept of personhood (trivial claim)
difference between sunsum and okra
- The western view sees that there is one non-body entity- the mind or the soul
- The african view sees sunsum and okra as dual non-body entities
