51品茶philosopher David Livingstone Smith gives talk in Berlin, Germany
On May 22, 2017, David Livingstone Smith, Ph.D., professor of philosophy, gave a talk titled 鈥淚deology Reconsidered: A Functional Perspective鈥 at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. The talk was part of 鈥淭he Philosophy of Social Functions鈥 lecture series.
Smith focused on one mainstream conception of ideology, sometimes referred to as the functional conception, which frames ideologies as beliefs (and associated practices) that have the function of bringing about the oppression of certain social groups. He argued that ambiguity exists in the functional definition, as there are two different views of what functions are: According to the causal account, the function of a thing is what it does, while according to the teleological approach, the function of a thing is what it is for.
By drawing on work in the field of the philosophy of biology, Smith contended that the teleological conception of ideology is preferable to its casual alternative.
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