Short thoughts coming from a call for papers. Most of the questions I ask in it are rhetorical: I know the answers.
Philosophy. Neurodivergent philosophy:
Yeah I have no clue what that means. My experience of philosophy is things like, "I think, therefore, I am," and the question "If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?" And as the science-minded person I am, I say, "Of course it does! The impact still causes a disturbance in the air, which is the sound."
I mean, I can think about philisophical things, and I often do (never in the fancy words the scholars in those fields use.) Mixing metaphors with life:
If a disabled person thinks and no one else knows (or maybe they're ignoring it...), are they still? Of course: Like the tree, in the forest, we make a sound even if no one else hears. (Unlike the tree, we are our own observers, but since we're often ignored as our own observers I think the metaphor is still semi-workable. Not as a description of our reality, but to explain to those outside us.) Even if no one else recognizes our thoughts, our minds as useful or valid or real, we're still having them. So if "I think, therefore, I am" is taken as truth (I'm not getting into that right now, just mixing metaphors and applying them to a rhetorical question about disabled lives) then even if no one else knows that the disabled person is thinking, we still think and therefore still are.
And YES, patterns and pictures and other ways of thinking that may or may not involve language totally count. That shouldn't even be in question, but yes: All ways for thought to happen are fine. All minds are fine. Not in terms of they're all neurotypical, because that's kind of obviously not the case, but in terms of they're all minds and they all exist and they're going to exist regardless as part of human diversity so they're fine.
Since the call is still open, here it is if anyone wants it. I think I understand the call, but since I'm not familiar with any of the schools of philosophy I'm not submitting.
Philosophy. Neurodivergent philosophy:
Yeah I have no clue what that means. My experience of philosophy is things like, "I think, therefore, I am," and the question "If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?" And as the science-minded person I am, I say, "Of course it does! The impact still causes a disturbance in the air, which is the sound."
I mean, I can think about philisophical things, and I often do (never in the fancy words the scholars in those fields use.) Mixing metaphors with life:
If a disabled person thinks and no one else knows (or maybe they're ignoring it...), are they still? Of course: Like the tree, in the forest, we make a sound even if no one else hears. (Unlike the tree, we are our own observers, but since we're often ignored as our own observers I think the metaphor is still semi-workable. Not as a description of our reality, but to explain to those outside us.) Even if no one else recognizes our thoughts, our minds as useful or valid or real, we're still having them. So if "I think, therefore, I am" is taken as truth (I'm not getting into that right now, just mixing metaphors and applying them to a rhetorical question about disabled lives) then even if no one else knows that the disabled person is thinking, we still think and therefore still are.
And YES, patterns and pictures and other ways of thinking that may or may not involve language totally count. That shouldn't even be in question, but yes: All ways for thought to happen are fine. All minds are fine. Not in terms of they're all neurotypical, because that's kind of obviously not the case, but in terms of they're all minds and they all exist and they're going to exist regardless as part of human diversity so they're fine.
Since the call is still open, here it is if anyone wants it. I think I understand the call, but since I'm not familiar with any of the schools of philosophy I'm not submitting.
Call for Papers Philosophy of Disability: Unflinching Approaches to Ways of Living The most common area of intersection between philosophy and disability studies has been in the field of ethics. This anthology takes a broader approach by seeking to examine both the meanings of disability and the ways in which disability shapes and informs meaningful lives. A guiding consideration for this text is that disability ought not be conceived merely as something to manage or cope with or heroically overcome for the edification of the non-disabled. Instead, contributions should focus on how disability fundamentally challenges us to think anew about topics such as: - history and progress- power, politics, justice, and law- social pressure and activism- community and collective planning and design- embodiment, phenomenology, modality, and spatiality- positive adaptation to chronic pain, loss, and aging- sexuality and family- disability in art and public discourse- professional research methods and questions- new technologies and testing- intersections with other issues, such as inequality, race, and class- mental, physical, and social health- aspirational ideals and visions of the future Submissions from all philosophical traditions are encouraged and will be subject to peer review. Full consideration will be given to abstracts (500-700 words) submitted before May 15, 2014. These will be used to formulate an anthology proposal to an academic press during summer 2014. Authors should also be aware that every effort will be made, with their help, to make the entire collection genuinely accessible. Questions and proposals should be submitted directly to Julie.Piering@nau.edu.
Interesitng thoughts. As a person who often employed an Idealist philosophy that said that reality does not exist outside of our own perceptions, for a long time I viewed an idea that it does as ableist, for it connotes that perceptions of reality can be right or wrong. Your thoughts make me rethink this, because as you say, disabled people are ofoten discredited as observers of thei rown processes.
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