'New Thoughts on Conceptual Engineering' - Introduction to special issue

 Abstract

Conceptual engineering has emerged in recent times as a significant topic in current philosophical literature. The now vast list of references includes works on more general or conceptual issues, such as describing the nature of conceptual engineering, how we may respond to the different objections to it, how it is related to philosophical analysis or empirical philosophy, or toward which target conceptual engineering should be directed, among others. But research on the topic also includes applications of conceptual engineering to many different areas. This Introduction opens with a short overview of the state of the art on conceptual engineering, aiming to clarify the most important features associated with it. The Introduction moves on to introduce and discuss the eight articles collected here, whose topics range from the nature and the functionality of conceptual engineering to reconstructing the entire conceptual engineering practice. Taken as a whole, this special issue is meant to provide enlightening, informative, and thought-provoking views on the topic, its functions, targets, and challenges.

de Donato-Rodríguez, Xavier. 2025. “ Introduction to the Special Issue New Thoughts on Conceptual Engineering.” Metaphilosophy 56(3-4): 283–293. https://doi.org/10.1111/meta.70007

Will it? Won't it? Artificial general intelligence - AGI

In the media - notably the financial press (radio, TV, Times, FT here) there have been recent questions raised about whether the generative AI bubble is about to burst. The latest releases of GAI are not the step-change that might have been expected. Artificial General Intelligence may not be quite in-sight. As a result I've been reminded of Prof. Peter Gärdenfors work on 'Conceptual Spaces':

'Within cognitive science, two approaches currently dominate the problem of modeling representations. 

1. The symbolic approach views cognition as computation involving symbolic manipulation. 

2. Connectionism, a special case of associationism, models associations using artificial neuron networks. 

Peter Gärdenfors offers his theory of conceptual representations as a bridge between the symbolic and connectionist approaches.' MIT Press.

Hodges'model facilitates a hybrid response to situations, as needed.

A further prompt is the programme for November's AI Health 2025:

https://www.bcs-sgai.org/health2025/?u=programme

Peter Gärdenfors. (2000) Conceptual Spaces: The Geometry of Thought. MIT Press.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/2076.001.0001

https://direct.mit.edu/books/monograph/2532/Conceptual-SpacesThe-Geometry-of-Thought

'Critical Notes on the Nature of Sociology as a Science'

4Ps

As a model of care (education, management, safety, systems, ...)*, or a conceptual model, conceptual framework, or however described, Hodges' model, as with its many peers is idealised.

You quickly 'see' that the 4Ps I've associated with the knowledge - care domains of Hodges' model are far specific, or limited to that domain alone.

In our dialogues, media and literature it becomes obvious that in addition to physical, sequential, and  natural (scientific) processes, there are also political,  sociological, and psychological, or mental  (interpersonal) processes.

I've always been drawn to the diagonal distances between the interpersonal-political domains; and that between the sociological-scientific. The latter I think about often as it makes the news regularly, when education is raised, literacy, the state of our schools, colleges, universities and (globally) the public's understanding of the sciences. So finding a paper heading for its centennial birthday caught my attention. Not just that, but the journal - Social Forces is (very much!) still with us aged 103 this year. Unsurprisingly, I like the way Woodard contrasts the mechanistic and humanistic:

Hodges' model

'For there is a further distinction to be made among evaluations of functional appropriateness. I may analyze the functional appropriateness of the gears and pulleys of a machine. That is applied mechanics, not the pure science of mechanics. For the function of the machine is tacked on to it arbitrarily and does not emerge from the data of the science of mechanics. But the same may not be said of hearts and lungs, of mental and emotional processes, or of social structures, functions, and processes. Here the functions are not extraneously tacked onto an arbitrarily assembled collation. They are inescapable emergents from the process of scientific analysis and are warp and woof of our data as it confronts us, in situ, in the natural universe. They are not in any sense superimposed.' p.32.

Interesting point regarding 'hearts and lungs' - to possibly return to? Also, as a template Hodges' model provides a 'warp and woof' for data gathering - a foundation.

Woodard, J. W. (1932). Critical Notes on the Nature of Sociology as a Science. Social Forces, 11(1), 28–43. https://doi.org/10.2307/2569615 

*Please give it a try whatever your field, and let me know your thoughts. ... h2cmng AT yahoo.co.uk

Instrumental Person-a

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic --------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

Agency?	Object?
Orimo and her “cyborg” prosthetic, which she plays onstage with her punk band, Shampoo	Subject?

My source: Fitzpatrick, M. (2014). FIRST PERSON Masami Orimo, 'My artificial leg doubles as a musical instrument', FT.COM / Magazine, 22-23 February, p.8.

Image: Pinterest

Anti-Dwelling Box (or Boxes?)

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic --------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

HOUSING	HOUSING
HOUSING	Anti-Dwelling Box (1972) by Kiko Mozuna

"There are postmodernist houses and sci-fi houses - I particularly like Kiko Mozuna's bright yellow Anti-Dwelling Box (1972), in which nests of boxes sit inside each other like a surreal puzzle." p.13.

The Japanese House: Architecture and Life after 1945: Barbican, March 23-June 25 2017.

My source:
Heathcote, E. (2017) The home reinvented, FT Weekend, House&Home, 18-19 March, pp.12-13.

Photo c/o: http://erinwilliamsondesign.com/design-crisis/the-antidwelling-box

Individual Gravitas

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic -------------------------------------------  mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group-population

	Trisha Brown: Man Walking Down the Side of a Building (1970)

Trisha Brown: http://www.trishabrowncompany.org/?page=view&nr=1187

My source: The Moderna Museet, Stockholm 24 August 2016.

Image source:
http://alfa-img.com/show/trisha-brown-man-walking-down.html

Rare Disease Day, 29 February 2016

individual
|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic ---------------------------------------  mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL
|
group

What does 'rare' mean here, ...	... here
	and here?

Domain-specific vignette development in polyarthitis: Arends, et al. (2015)

This paper by Arends et al. (2015) sheds further light on the use of vignettes and the difficulties (for me) in categorising care phenomena. There is a great deal of overlap in the three domains that the authors apply to patients with arthritis. Their domain-specific focus is also of interest.

Independent functioning extends across the interpersonal and sciences domains of Hodges' model as mental functioning and physical. Sports, holidays, hobbies and other activities while usually social in nature can be solitary pursuits. In this example even if the context is social as per the domain, it is the impact upon the individual that the researcher's note:

"Changes in life domains caused by a chronic disease can have psychological and social consequences for patients and can affect their identity"... (p.1896)

In the quote below, copied across the domains of Hodges' model, volunteering is political in nature, but the reward in this instance - voluntary work in a nursing home - could be intrapersonal, derived from the interaction with and making a difference to the residents, staff and visitors.

So, it is vital to capture - or freeze the context in some way, vignettes it appears are one way to achieve this.

"The 11 vignettes all have a main character that is diagnosed with RA. In each situation, the impact of the disease on daily life is described as the main character always encounters a limitation or difficulty. The stories are set in three different domains:

the social domain,

the leisure activities domain,

and the independent functioning domain...

individual
|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic ---------------------------------------  mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL
|
group

In the independent ... psyche        identity	functioning domain, the topics are gardening, household tasks, and running errands.
Topics of the vignettes in the social domain are activities with partner, children, family, and friends. In the leisure activities domain, the topics are sports, holidays, hobby,	and volunteering." (p.1900)

Reference:
Arends, R., Bode, Y., Taal, C., & Laar, E. (2015). Exploring preferences for domain-specific goal management in patients with polyarthritis: What to do when an important goal becomes threatened? Rheumatology International, 35(11), 1895-1907. DOI: 10.1007/s00296-015-3336-8 

"Values in Advanced Directives" mapped to Hodges' model

Hechter, et al. (1999) consider values in respect of advanced directives and medical treatment. The authors discuss an old debate in social science that still divides objectivists and subjectivists. Below, with my emphasis the four designated values are mapped to Hodge' model:

individual
|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic ---------------------------------------  mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL
|
group

(ii) self-concept values involving feelings of dignity, self-control, and/or physical capacity (designated as function);	(i) hedonic values about pain, aversive physical states, chances for recovery to some minimally satisfactory level, and so forth (designated hereafter as pain);
(iii) allocentric values referring to concerns with creating an emotional burden for family and/or loved ones (designated as burden)	(iv) financial considerations (designated as cost) (p.409).

Since 1999 and considering the above I have added the following additions to reflect elements of change and a more generic view:

identity, self-expression (of needs), consistency in expressed wishes, intentionality, mood, alternative-adaptive forms of communication, time - active listening	distance, logistics (family, friends), what telecare might offer in terms of communication, evidence-based interventions, measures, assessment
independent advocacy, standards of social care, 'appropriate' placement for ongoing care, social - life history;	legislation - mental capacity, advocacy, evidence-based care - policy, pension, safeguarding;

While the focus of Hechter, et al. is specific these values also apply in a more generic sense. As students and lifelong learners engage with patients, carers and public they must learn to have due regard for the totality of values that might be encountered.

Hechter, M., Ranger-Moore, J., Jasso, G., & Horne, C. (1999). Do Values Matter? An Analysis of Advance Directives for Medical Treatment. European Sociological Review, 15(4), 405-430. 
 

Sensory Deprivation

individual
|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic ---------------------------------------  mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL
|
group

	Sensory Deprivation Skull chair by Atelier Van Lieshout, 2007

My source:
Heathcote, E. (2016) What is good design? A look at the many definitions of quality, FT Weekend, House&Home, 16-17 January. p.1 and 13.

Photo:
http://www.curbly.com/users/diy-maven/posts/5174-sensory-deprivation-skull

Memory rug

individual
|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic --------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL
|

group

Source: Baker, H. (2015) A look worth cultivating, Interiors, FTWeekend, 4-5 April. p.9.
Caption: Shelter for Memory rug, price on request, alexkeha.com

Above image original source alexkeha.com

Book Review: Illness

Illness

As mentioned on W2tQ before this book has been feigning illness for over a year, sitting static on the bookshelf. Brushing it off has brought great reward that was quickly delivered as the book is just 160 pages plus references and index. My review copy is the revised edition from 2013.

The book is well structured with five chapters, that tread a consistent path through what is a very objective-subjective landscape. The author's aim and orientation is clear from the beginning. Each chapter provides a phenomenological account of how illness affects the life of individual. The shadow that is death is also an important thread throughout the book, culminating in the final chapter. Havi Carel describes the book as neither a personal story nor a purely philosophical reflection on illness. It is both, we are told (p.15).

The introduction lays out the disciplinary, experiential and perspectival divide that the book seeks to address, broadly normativist and naturalistic approaches to health and illness [presented using h2cm]. I say consistent above as you can see the personal story and philosophical aspects, but amid this 'illness' Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) a balanced gait between the personal account and philosophical dimensions is maintained. According to the text and Foundation: LAM is a progressive lung disease that usually strikes women during their childbearing years. The introduction and chapter 1 provides the narrative to the discovery of having LAM. This demonstrates the rather frequently haphazard, deferred, denial-oriented way in which people seek medical help. Given the apparent severity of the symptoms you might expect that help was sought sooner. I thought that was a male phenomena? This is one of several 'what ifs'... Havi expresses later.

Others reviews (yes I read one) remark on Carel's candidness and honesty. The book is courageous too, engaging the reader as an interviwer-interviewee; some questions are answered in the next paragraph, others left for the reader. Yet privacy, dignity and self-respect of the author foremost and people (family, friends, professionals) involved is preserved.

The philosophical discussion is not very technical, accessible it draws upon ancient Greek philosophers, notably Epicurus and the phenomenological school of Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty. Further reading is listed and related to the book's themes. Critics of the book as Mikey Burley describes, see too many emotion-laden autobiographical anecdotes. The appeal for me of this book and the achievement of the author is to stress how the humanistic is still so frequently lost. The mechanistic stamps on communication, compassion, effective and person-centred care. Recourse to anecdotes is inevitable if we are to integrate an individual's experience and what the sciences can offer. Not just knowledge in all its forms, but seeking 'truth' - or its best approximation. Is the battle the individual Vs. the disciplines? Psychology is well established as a discipline and yet its early beginnings in Wundtian introspection were found wanting. We are still seeking balance.

The book is neither a treatise nor a tractatus, but it does seek to gain traction on meaning within health theory, practice. This is not armchair philosophy, it is everyday philosophy as might now be found in some pubs (public houses), it is trying to move towards philosophical therapy. Havi Carel addresses the way that health is taken for granted: we notice when there is a problem, functionality is curtailed. Contemplation of decline, mortality and death is not for the everyday, it is for the aged, Havi's students: Havi and many others who are touched by illness.

The body and mind feature large as would be expected, embodiment and agency. "We are our bodies; consciousness is not separate from the body" (p.16). What stands out for me is Havi Carel's call for a deeper conceptual shift since physiological accounts are insufficient to represent the personhood of illness. Actually, I know we keep saying 'deeper' but taken literally that might be reduction's way. The dichotomies here: objective-subjective, physical-mental health, internal-external (p.70), social model-medical model, self-other, health-disease and others ... seem to demand conceptual outreach. 'Meta' is everywhere these days, is this the case as Carel writes, with habit or pre-reflective: something for me to explore (p.27)?

Carel states what we know, but needs to be flagged. What does a walking stick represent, a zimmer frame, a wheelchair? In the same way that time can be compressed and extended so too can distance: it is not objective (p.16). As a former cross country runner that lesson was learnt quite a while ago, running diagonally across a ploughed field on a hill in February: oxygen debt. Once paid I recovered, but with a diagnosis like LAM and other rare diseases. I realise another definition of the individual-group axes within Hodges' model: a small group can become and act as one through activism.

Havi writes of mentally recording things, to remember abilities that will be lost, as adaptation and adjustment blur past and present. Experience of nursing people with dementia has prompted me to try to do this. Carel's hiking, swimming desire to push the envelope is universal. I can still remember the path running through Crompton's Woods, the trees, the turns the ups and downs. Reading Illness I recalled my brother vaulting over the back fence, we would land already halfway down the embankment the dust caught in the summer sun. We flew then. The woods for decades now a housing estate. Remember.

While reading was there was a coincidence in the media, the news of disease, cancer, life choices and bad luck (p.37). I suppose it is down to luck who deals with us a patient-client. I've always viewed an accepting, positive, open and caring attitude as fundamental for health and social care practitioners. Carel encounters care professionals who should be doing other things. Chapter two 'The social world of illness' begins with a single word: empathy. Regardless of ongoing austerity - Carel's story begins in 2004-2006 - empathy is the emotion in shortest supply. This really hurts. I am still trying to find a name for the professional who fails to be human, preoccupied with the mechanics of illness (p.47).

We have digital humanities and as noted in W2tQ medical sociology boasts an established literature. The medical humanities and philosophy of medicine are seeing to extend our understanding of health and illness (p.51). I am encouraged in the need for holistic views and approaches, conceptual and cultural frameworks (p.53). The counterpoint to unprofessional, negligent, disrespectful professionals is the need to learn to be rude, in order to cope generally (p.55). Some sentences are definitive. On well-being: "Well-being is the invisible context enabling us to pursue possibilities and engage in projects" (p.64). If I ever write another paper on information I will reference page 70, as I continue to reflect. Is technology, data - big and small and the quantified self the whole answer to healthcare's challenges?

Page 80 invites a philosophical discussion on personal identity, dementia and existence, to which we could also add sense-making and grief. The impact of illness is well made, as is the explanatory power of Heidegger. There is a mental exercise - imagining health within illness. I can extend this:

• Apply the concept of health to the domains of Hodges' model?
• Apply the concept of illness to the domains of Hodges' model?
• Apply the concept of health within illness to the domains of Hodges' model?

Page 81's focus on being, ability and dichotomies is very supportive of my studies. I'm not sure if the irony in mention of Stephen Hawking and a contracted horizon is intentional, but it made me smile. Page 87 reminded me of my hackneyed thoughts about cogeography - a cognitive geography of concepts for healthcare (and more); something beyond a classification system or nomenclature. An architecture that encompasses the dichotomies, disciplines and experiences mentioned above and in the book. Page 90's note of the apparent deficit perspective of medicine towards the lived body, might also emphasize the assumption of deficit in knowledge and the rise of the expert patient, student-centered learning also.

I have many more notes from chapters 4-5 and at least one more blog post to follow. Other questions arose from chapter 5. Will people be referred to mental health services in future because they are deemed suicidal as they decline their personalised genomic treatment (Kim Stanley Robinson's, Red Mars)? Chapter 5 Living in the Present had me thinking about Plato's Philosopher Kings (p.148). At the end of the day we must rule ourselves even in the darkest of circumstances, but this takes wisdom and philosophy. This is a much needed book and I have only scratched the surface. I will let you learn of the book's full title and the significance of the same. A great read, despite the subject.

BURLEY, M. (2011), EMOTION AND ANECDOTE IN PHILOSOPHICAL ARGUMENT: THE CASE OF HAVI CAREL'S ILLNESS. Metaphilosophy, 42: 33–48. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9973.2010.01675.x

Many thanks to Katharine Green, Editorial Assistant, Acumen Publishing for my copy.

Additional link:
BBC Radio 4: In Our Time, Phenomenology 

Reading 'Illness'

Over the UK holiday period in-between searching the literature (pre-reading list) for the next module I've been catching up with very overdue book reviews.

Havi Carel's book Illness (2013) [2nd edition] was received December 2013 and is thankfully short and very readable. The review's still to follow as I am just halfway through, but there is a point in the preface (xvi) that cascades down each side of Hodges' model as Prof. Carel identifies two approaches to how illness is approached:

individual
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

group

NORMATIVIST approach sees disease as a value-laden term.	NATURALISTIC approach sees disease as a value-free concept, as biological dysfunction.
SUBJECTIVE stigma, communication, friends, compasssion...	OBJECTIVE matters of fact, procedure, targets...

What is clear already from the text is that it is probably more accurate to say that the normativist approach springs from within the sociological domain. Our attitudes to disability and illness are informed by our upbringing, family, friends, education - our formative experience. Then we are socialised into our respective health and social care roles.

Prof. Carel makes clear (up to page 72 at least) the impact (see the domains above!) of an illness upon the individual that can then be compounded by others and by the health care systems that should holistically care before it treats or palliates.

More to follow...

Many thanks to Katharine Green, Editorial Assistant, Acumen Publishing for my copy.

Call for papers: Social Robots: Form, Content, Critique - International Journal of Social Robotics

Dear Humanists,

With the usual apologies for duplications and request for cross-posting to suitable lists and potentially interested colleagues - on behalf of my co-editors:

Call for Papers: Social Robots: Form, Content, Critique
special issue of The International Journal of Social Robotics

Co-editors: Michaela Pfadenhauer (Karlsruhe University / Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), Satomi Sugiyama (Franklin College, Switzerland), Charles Ess (University of Oslo).

We invite papers from scholars and researchers across the disciplines (including philosophy, robot ethics, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, media/sociology, information science, art history) that examine and explore social robots through three distinct but inextricably interwoven frameworks:

• Form/appearance (e.g., human/animal likeness in appearance; everyday media forms and robotic functions; cultural attitudes toward robot forms, etc.)
• Content/AI/applications (e.g., implications of artificial intelligence in everyday human experiences such as memories, relationships, and conceptions of the self and self-understanding;  applications that shape human-robot interactions; applications of mobile media and their implications in human's robotic experiences, etc.)
• Critical issues that undergird the above, including; ethics, intimacy, emotions, authenticity, etc.

Paper submission deadline: 1 January 2014
Notification to authors: 1 March 2014
Submission of authors' revised papers: 1 May 2014
Final acceptance: 1 June 2014
(accepted papers will be immediately published at the IJSR webpage with a Digital Object Identifier for citation purposes)
Publication: August, 2014

The call is an outcome of the COST Strategic Workshop on Social Robotic and Sustainability that took place in Brussels, Belgium, on 10-13 June 2013.
http://www.cost.eu/events/socialrobotics
http://www.cost.eu/

...
Authors are required to register on the website and to follow the Journal's Instructions for Authors' as provided there.

Many thanks in advance,

- Charles Ess
Professor in Media Studies
Department of Media and Communication
Director, Centre for Research on Media Innovations
http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/research/center/media-innovations/

University of Oslo
P.O. Box 1093 Blindern
NO-0317
Oslo Norway
email: charles.ess AT media.uio.no

My source: http://digitalhumanities.org/humanist

Drupalcon Portland session: Collaborative Learning Systems in Drupal & tpm

I'm still following Drupal here in NW England and around Europe since version 4.7. The next Drupalcon is in Prague next month and I'm all set. As what seems a lifelong learner of Drupal there are usually many sessions of relevance to me. There's repetition creeping in too (at Munich last year), which is a good sign for me. Perhaps it's a sign of Drupal's maturing but there are sessions of specific interest in health and education. This week the program for Drupalcon Prague starts to really emerge.

Until the 13th when the program appears, there was an educational-learning example from Portland in May 2013 embedded below, by Avram Sand and Fabian Franz. The introduction for which begins...

How can you use Drupal to add value to a Learning Management System? In this case study we will show how Trellon helped Population Services International (PSI), a leading global health organization, build a collaborative learning environment using common Drupal modules.

There are some great pointers in this session, modules to consider and insights into functionality.  Whatever TLA is employed - LMS (learning management system), VLE (virtual learning environment), TEL (technology enhanced learning) ... the lessons are transferable.

In the latest edition of the philosopher's magazine tpm 3rd Quarter there's a paper on TEL by David Mossley and Clare Saunders: A revolution in philosophy teaching? (pp. 40-45). Mossley and Saunders argue the case for tempering our expectations of TEL, framing their article around constructivism:

... TEL, presents entirely new and exciting learning environments which students can engage with in more ways, with greater self-motivation, and with more creative possibilities than ever before. If constructivist pedagogy is right, the more "engagement" with a perfectly modelled environment of ideas in a virtual space a student can enjoy, the higher the quality of their learning experience will be; for they will be presented with just the "optimal" set of experiences needed to create their won meanings appropriately. However, once we start to analyse what the word "appropriately" might mean in this context, we suggest this starts to point us toward a different way of thinking about epistemology and pedagogy. p.42

More positively, they conclude that technology enhanced learning:

... can and does furnish new spaces and opportunities for social learning - it opens up new avenues for us both to practise and enhance further our philosophical knowledge and capabilities and (thereby) to co-create the future of philosophy and of knowledge more broadly. p.45.

Mossley and Saunders also refer to Hegel's idea of Bildung:

describing education as the bringing into harmony of all one's thoughts, experiences, activities and practices in existing contexts; that is, education as shared approaches to ways of making meanings, of gaining competence, based on the meanings explored by others before us. p.43.

Here is another avenue to support the role of Hodges' model in education and practice.