Communication in Theory and Research on Transactive Memory Systems: A Literature Review.Vesa Peltokorpi &Anthony C. Hood -2019 -Topics in Cognitive Science 11 (4):644-667.detailsPeltokorpi and Hood provide a systematic review of theory and research examining the ways communication and conversations help dyads, groups, and teams form and maintain transactive memory systems (TMS; Wegner, Erber, & Raymond, 1991) through overlapping encoding, storage, and retrieval processes. Peltokorpi and Hood organized their systematic review of 34 articles published in psychology, communication and organization research and management into four main themes: i) communication frequency and quality; ii) communication medium and group development, iii) communication styles, and iv) communication (...) networks. (shrink)
Ontologism in Soviet Philosophy: Some Remarks.Vesa Oittinen -2020 -Studies in East European Thought 73 (2):205-217.detailsThis paper deals with the ontological foundations of the Soviet interpretation of dialectical materialism as exemplified by one of its “founding fathers,” Abram Deborin, in his works of the late 1920s. It has been claimed that the “ontologizing” tendency in Soviet philosophy is due to the influence of Friedrich Engels and his ideas pertaining to the dialectics of nature. However, a more plausible interpretation is that the ontologism of Soviet philosophy is connected with the rejection of the Kantian Copernican turn (...) in philosophy and the idea of the primacy of gnoseology it implies. In this article, I argue in favor of the latter thesis. Ontologism, i.e., the tendency to give priority in philosophy to questions concerning Being, and anti-Kantianism are but two sides of the same coin. (shrink)
William Ockham on the Psychology of Christ.Vesa Hirvonen -2015 -Quaestio 15:699-710.detailsWilliam Ockham joins the general view that in its natural capacities, the intellectual soul of Christ is nobler than any other human being’s soul, but he does not think that Christ is omniscient or omnipotent in his human nature. Despite this, Ockham genuinely believes that Christ did not sin during his earthly life. He did not have any intrinsically sinful acts which are acts of the will, nor even acts that can be extrinsically sinful, such as acts of the sensory (...) appetite like the desire to fornicate. Furthermore, Christ did not have the tinder of sin which inclines ordinary human beings to commit sinful acts. Christ had, instead, a kind of inner rebellion against reason and will. His sensory acts, such as feeling hungry, thirsty, and tired were not always in accordance with his reason and will. As viator, Christ had the greatest possible amount of delight. Since God miraculously prevented the sadness-excluding effect of beatitude and delight in his soul, there was at the same time sadness in him. In hea... (shrink)
Luottamus ja epäilys: painopisteen muutos harmonisesta traagiseen Miguel de Unamunon uskonkäsityksessä.Vesa Nuorva -1997 - Helsinki: [Suomalainen Teologinen Kirjallisuusseura].detailsEnglish summary: Confidence and doubt : change of emphasis from harmony to tragedy in Miguel de Unamuno's understanding of faith.
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On the Possibility of a Paratelic Initiation of Organizational Wrongdoing.MikkoVesa,Frank den Hond &J. Tuomas Harviainen -2019 -Journal of Business Ethics 160 (1):1-15.detailsIn terms of reversal theory, both dominant and alternative explanations of the initiation of organizational wrongdoing assume that its perpetrators act in a telic state of mind. This leaves us with explanations of organizational wrongdoing that are insufficiently appreciative of the agent’s experience. The human mind can be creative and imaginative, too, and people can fully immerse in their activity. We suggest that the paratelic state of mind is relevant for the phenomenological understanding of the initiation of original, creative, daring (...) courses of action, and that the paratelic state of mind may originate courses of action that social control agents, at a later moment in time, may label as organizational wrongdoing. Our proposal is especially relevant when organizational agents are on a course of exploration, facing uncertainty, complexity, and unavailability of information. (shrink)
Vygotsky and Spinoza.Vesa Oittinen -2021 -Studies in East European Thought 74 (3):359-381.detailsThe article analyzes Lev Vygotsky’s attempts to utilize Spinoza’s philosophical ideas in solving the methodological crisis of psychology in the 1920s and 1930s. Vygotsky had a manuscript, Uchenie ob emocijakh, where he scrutinized the doctrines of the effects on Descartes and Spinoza. Whilst Descartes’ doctrine built on a dualistic soul versus body premise, Spinoza’s starting point was monistic. Despite his clear sympathies for Spinoza’s solution, which according to him was more compatible with Marxism, too, Vygotsky did not manage to finish (...) his study. One may, indeed, doubt whether Spinoza was able to deliver the decisive key for the solution of the dualism problem, since his philosophy built on metaphysical postulates that were unacceptable to Vygotsky. (shrink)
Structure and characterization of a novel chicken biotin-binding protein A (BBP-A).Vesa P. Hytönen,Juha A. E. Määttä,Einari A. Niskanen,Juhani Huuskonen,Kaisa J. Helttunen,Katrin K. Halling,Henri R. Nordlund,Kari Rissanen,Mark S. Johnson,Tiina A. Salminen,Markku S. Kulomaa,Olli H. Laitinen &Tomi T. Airenne -unknowndetailsBackground. The chicken genome contains a BBP-A gene showing similar characteristics to avidin family genes. In a previous study we reported that the BBP-A gene may encode a biotin-binding protein due to the high sequence similarity with chicken avidin, especially at regions encoding residues known to be located at the ligand-binding site of avidin. Results. Here, we expand the repertoire of known macromolecular biotin binders by reporting a novel biotin-binding protein A (BBP-A) from chicken. The BBP-A recombinant protein was expressed (...) using two different expression systems and purified with affinity chromatography, biochemically characterized and two X-ray structures were solved – in complex with D-biotin (BTN) and in complex with D-biotin D-sulfoxide (BSO). The BBP-A protein binds free biotin with high, "streptavidin-like" affinity (Kd ~ 10-¹³ M), which is about 50 times lower than that of chicken avidin. Surprisingly, the affinity of BBP-A for BSO is even higher than the affinity for BTN. Furthermore, the solved structures of the BBP-A – BTN and BBP-A – BSO complexes, which share the fold with the members of the avidin and lipocalin protein families, are extremely similar to each other. Conclusion. BBP-A is an avidin-like protein having a β-barrel fold and high affinity towards BTN. However, BBP-A differs from the other known members of the avidin protein family in thermal stability and immunological properties. BBP-A also has a unique ligand-binding property, the ability to bind BTN and BSO at comparable affinities. BBP-A may have use as a novel material in, e.g. modern bio(nano)technological applications. (shrink)
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A Bayesian Baseline for Belief in Uncommon Events.Vesa Palonen -2017 -European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 9 (3):159-175.detailsThe plausibility of uncommon events and miracles based on testimony of such an event has been much discussed. When analyzing the probabilities involved, it has mostly been assumed that the common events can be taken as data in the calculations. However, we usually have only testimonies for the common events. While this difference does not have a significant effect on the inductive part of the inference, it has a large influence on how one should view the reliability of testimonies. In (...) this work, a full Bayesian solution is given for the more realistic case, where one has a large number of testimonies for a common event and one testimony for an uncommon event. A free-running parameter is given for the unreliability of testimony, to be determined from data. It is seen that, in order for there to be a large amount of testimonies for a common event, the testimonies will probably be quite reliable. For this reason, because the testimonies are quite reliable based on the testimonies for the common events, the probability for the uncommon event, given a testimony for it, is also higher. Perhaps surprisingly, in the simple case, the increase in plausibility from testimony for the uncommon events is of the same magnitude as the decrease in plausibility from induction. In summary, one should be more open-minded when considering the plausibility of uncommon events. (shrink)
Neo-nationalism in the 2010s.MarjaVuorinen -2019 -Approaching Religion 9 (1–2).detailsThe conflict between Christianity and Islam is a core issue for all varieties of European neo-nationalist and nativist right-wing ideological organisation, from populist and far-right parties to extra-parliamentary groups and individuals. As a mundane political-social critique, this defensive and nationalistic form of anti-Islamism focuses on the downsides of mass immigration from Northern Africa and the Middle East, stressing the incompatibility of gross gender inequality, sexual intolerance and religiously motivated Islamist terrorism as well as the theocratic sharia system of laws with (...) the secular European model of society. Antisemitism makes an appearance in the guise of the old Nazi concept which portrays ‘World Jewry’ as a community of international financial exploiters, allegedly inspired in their misdeeds by their religion. However, this notion is being countered by a stronger, prosemitic ideology, portraying the state of Israel as an ally in the struggle against Islam. As ‘traditional’ European religions, Christianity and the different historical and local varieties of paganism serve as important points of positive identification. (shrink)
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Evald Ilyenkov's philosophy revisited.Vesa Oittinen (ed.) -2000 - Helsinki: Aleksanteri-instituutti.detailsEvald Ilyenkov (1924-1979) was an outstanding philosopher, whose ideas not only influenced profoundly the Soviet philosophy, but even left their mark on the discussions concerning the role of the dialectical method, the theoretical foundations of psychology and the philosophy of Marxism in general. This volume is based on the selected materials presented twenty years after the death of Ilyenkov at an international congress in Helsinki. The contributions focus on several areas of Ilyenkov's influence: on psychology, on semiotics, on the logic (...) of Marx's Capital. The volume also includes a previously unpublished foreword by Ilyenkov to the Russian edition of Hegel's Science of Logic. (shrink)
Solov'ëvs letzte Philosophie – eine Annäherung an Kant?Vesa Oittinen -2003 -Studies in East European Thought 55 (2):97-114.detailsIn his last, uncompleted essay Teoreticheskaja filosofija (1897–1899) Vladimir Solov'ëv seems to acknowledge thecentral statements of Kant's epistemology andphilosophy of subjectivity in a manner whichhas lead many interpretators to think that hewanted to revise substantially his earlierphilosophy. A closer look at Solov'ëv'sarguments show, however, that this is not thecase: his critique of the Cartesian concept ofsubjectivity does not allow him to embraceKantianism, either. So it must be stated thateven Solov'ëv does not, in the last instance,abandon the primarily Anti-Kantian positions ofRussian (...) idealism. (shrink)
Philosophical Review of Pragmatism as a Basis for Learning by Developing Pedagogy.Vesa Taatila &Katariina Raij -2012 -Educational Philosophy and Theory 44 (8):831-844.detailsThis article discusses the use of a pragmatic approach as the philosophical foundation of pedagogy in Finnish universities of applied sciences. It is presented that the mission of the universities of applied sciences falls into the interpretive paradigm of social sciences. This view is used as a starting point for a discussion about pragmatism in higher education. The Learning by Developing (LbD) action model is introduced, analyzed and compared to pragmatism. The paper concludes that, at least in practice-oriented academic subjects, (...) a pragmatic approach to pedagogy, as well as the LbD action model, is effective and could be considered in several universities as the basis of philosophy of pedagogy. (shrink)
Eine “kantianische utopie” in Russland: Erich Solov’ëv.Vesa Oittinen -2011 -Studies in East European Thought 63 (1):75-86.detailsA Kantian Utopia in Russia: Erikh Solov'ëv. The article deals with Erikh Solov'ëv, a historian of philosophy who is one of the best Soviet and post-Soviet exponents of Kant. In several of his works and articles, published in the 1990s, Solov'ëv has attempted to apply the ideas of Kant's social philosophy to post-Soviet realities. Kant is important above all as a theoretician of a free subjectivity, human rights, and a critic of paternalism in social life. Several Kantian motives came to (...) the fore during the perestrojka when the Marxist "class approach" was abandoned and "all-human" values entered into the discussion. Later, Solov'ëv attempted to develop Kantian guidelines for a post-Soviet society, including moral norms for businessmen in the new Russia, but these attempts bore the distinct hallmark of social utopianism. (shrink)
Evald Il’enkov as an Interpreter of Spinoza.Vesa Oittinen -2005 -Studies in East European Thought 57 (3-4):319-338.detailsE. V. Il'enkov is regarded as perhaps the most "Spinozist" of Soviet philosophers. He used Spinoza's ideas extensively, especially in developing his concept of the ideal and in his attempts to give a more precise philosophical formulation to the "activity approach" of the cultural-historical school of Soviet psychology. A more detailed analysis reveals, however, that Il'enkov's reception of Spinoza was highly selective, and that there are substantial differences between them.
Ethical codes in the digital world: Comparisons of the proprietary, the open/free and the cracker system. [REVIEW]JukkaVuorinen -2007 -Ethics and Information Technology 9 (1):27-38.detailsThe digital world provides various ethical frames for individuals to become ethical subjects. In this paper I examine – in a Foucauldian and Luhmannian way – the differences between three systems of communication: the proprietary, the open/free and the cracker system. It is argued that all three systems provide a different set of ethical codes which one can be subjected to. The language of each system is restricted and they cannot understand each other, they merely consider each other as the (...) environment. The systems generate a diversity of ethical codes as they give different shapes to digital objects. To proprietary software companies digital objects are an instrument of financial profit. The free software/open source movement emphasises transparency; the end user must be able to view and alter the source code. The cracker scene sees digital objects in a different way. For this particular system, only copy-protected digital objects are appealing. Copy protection binds its target to the world of matter. Breaking the protection is the ultimate challenge and a way to gain honour and status inside the cracker scene. A copy-protected digital object is simultaneously an utmost example of the hidden source code (the open/free system), a perfect artefact that can be owned and sold (the proprietary system) and a challenge to be cracked (the cracker system). (shrink)
Urban Places as Aesthetic Phenomena: Framework for a Place-Based Ontology of Urban Lifeworld.Vesa Vihanninjoki -2019 -Topoi 40 (2):461-470.detailsUrban places are of central significance for cities both as built structures and as centers of everyday life. Due to the emergence of various design-led place-making policies and practices, “urban place” has largely become a marketed and branded product. Aesthetics plays a major role in this project of place-making, and the related interpretation of “commodified aesthetics of place” emphasizes certain experiential and qualitative place-attributes—such as authenticity—despite apparent conceptual confusions and controversies. A thorough reconsideration of central place-concepts is required to shed (...) light on this problematic sphere. This article provides an alternative reading of urban places and the related aesthetic dimensions, based primarily on a Heideggerian account of human existence as placed being in the world. Such an approach emphasizes the decisive difference between an object-based and a contextual interpretation of place, providing also a framework for understanding the aesthetics of place and its fundamental lifeworld-constituting role anew. (shrink)
Hegel’s spirit, Marxist aesthetics and Stalinist restoration: the tragic philosophy of history of Mikhail Lifshits.Vesa Oittinen -2016 -Studies in East European Thought 68 (4):331-342.detailsThe article focuses on one highly idiosyncratic trait of Lifshits’ reading of Hegel, namely his assertion that the epoch of Restoration during which Hegel produced his main works was analogous to the period of the 1930s in the USSR. In both cases, “constructive” tasks came to the fore as the fermentation of the revolutionary era waned. On this assumption, Lifshits built up his idea of a Restauratio magna, which should serve as the guiding star of cultural politics. In fact, Lifshits (...) came very near to rehabilitating of Edmund Burke’s views about the conservation of cultural heritage, which is highly problematic in light of his initial Marxist convictions. (shrink)
Design Discourse: A Way Forward for Theistic Evolutionism?ErkkiVesa Rope Kojonen -2018 -Neue Zeitschrift für Systematicsche Theologie Und Religionsphilosophie 60 (3):435-451.detailsSummary It is usually supposed that biological design arguments are made obsolete by Darwinian evolutionary theory. However, philosopher Alvin Plantinga and others have defended the continued possibility of a rational “design discourse”, in which biological order is taken as a sign of God’s purposeful action. In this article, I consider two objections to design discourse: a theological objection to biological design based on the problem of natural evil, and the evolutionary objection, according to which evolutionary theory removes the justification for (...) any biological design perception. Whereas Plantinga’s own response utilizes the arguments of the Intelligent Design movement, I argue in favor of utilizing “design discourse” as part of a theistic evolutionist view. (shrink)
The Practical Essence of Man: The 'Activity Approach' in Late Soviet Philosophy.Andrey Maidansky &Vesa Oittinen (eds.) -2015 - Boston: Brill.detailsThis edited collection of original research represents the first substantial English-language overview of the current in late Soviet philosophy known as the 'activity approach'.
Aesthetic Perspectives on Urban Technologies: Conceptualizing and Evaluating the Technology-Driven Changes in the Urban Everyday Experience.Sanna Lehtinen &Vesa Vihanninjoki -2021 - In Michael Nagenborg, Taylor Stone, Margoth González Woge & Pieter E. Vermaas,Technology and the City: Towards a Philosophy of Urban Technologies. Springer Verlag. pp. 13-35.detailsThe pervasiveness of technology has changed the way urban everyday is structured and experienced. An understanding of the deep impact of this development on everyday experience and its foundational aesthetic components is necessary in order to determine how skills and capacities can be improved in coping with such change, as well as managing it. Urban technology solutions—how they are defined, applied and used—are changing the sphere of everyday experience for urban dwellers. Philosophical and applied approaches to urban aesthetics offer perspectives (...) on understanding technologically mediated sensory experiences within the urban realm. This chapter shows how new urban technologies act as an agent of change within the familiar urban environment. We outline how the perspective of philosophical aesthetics can be used to understand urban technologies and their role in the constitution of everyday urban lifeworlds. (shrink)
Tensions in intelligent design's critique of theistic evolutionism.ErkkiVesa Rope Kojonen -2013 -Zygon 48 (2):251-273.details“Intelligent Design” (ID) is a contemporary intellectual movement arguing that there is scientific evidence for the existence of some sort of creator. Its proponents see ID as a scientific research program and as a way to build a bridge between science and theology, while many critics see it merely as a repackaged form of religiously motivated creationism: both bad science and bad theology. In this article, I offer a close reading of the ID movement's critique of theistic evolutionism and argue (...) that this critique is ultimately in tension with the movement's broader thought. (shrink)
Methodological naturalism and the truth seeking objection.ErkkiVesa Rope Kojonen -2017 -International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 81 (3):335-355.detailsMethodological naturalism, the exclusion of the supernatural from the natural sciences, has drawn critique from both proponents of Intelligent Design and some philosophical naturalists who argue that the methods of science can also be used to evaluate supernatural claims. One principal objection to methodological naturalism has been what I call the truth seeking objection. In this article I develop an understanding of methodological naturalism capable of answering the truth seeking objection. I further also argue that methodological naturalism as a convention (...) of science can be best defended by abandoning scientism. In this way methodological naturalism can be reconnected to the original theistic context in which it was first developed. (shrink)
Epistemic Egoism and the Protestant Uses of Tradition.ErkkiVesa Rope Kojonen -2024 -TheoLogica: An International Journal for Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology 9 (1).detailsAlthough ecumenical dialogue has highlighted many commonalities between Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox, many issues still remain contentious. One often recurring suspicion is that the Protestant idea of sola scriptura inevitably leads to an individualistic religiosity, neglecting the importance of the divinely guided Christian tradition and Christian church teaching for understanding the Bible. In this article, I relate this critique to the idea of “epistemic egoism”, as defined by Linda Zagzebski, and develop an alternative Protestant social epistemology based on tradition as (...) the “democracy of the dead”, error-corrected by sola scriptura. I test this Protestant theological epistemology against two recent criticisms: (1) the “Conciliar Argument Against Protestantism” (CAAP), arguing that Protestantism fails to provide consistent criteria for valuing conciliar authority as a guide to biblical interpretation, and (2) the “Scriptural Argument Against Dogmatic Protestantism”, arguing that sola scriptura, when understood in light of theological disagreement, ultimately becomes self-refuting in the absence of properly guiding theological authority. I argue, however, that sola scriptura is compatible with assigning an important epistemic role to both tradition and community, and that Protestant principles of theological reasoning can be defended further using recent theories in social epistemology. (shrink)
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