A logos of difference: the Kantian roots of Derrida's deconstructive thinking
- Authors: Hurst, Andrea Margaret
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Derrida, Jacques -- Philosophy , Deconstruction , Philosophy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:11003 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1015554
- Description: This study concerns a contemporary articulation of the age-old limit/possibility (truth/scepticism) contest in Western metaphysics. Traditional `either/or' logic advises that scepticism is a necessary consequence of the assailability of truth; hence the concerted effort in the history of philosophy to preserve the possibility of truth against any flicker of uncertainty. Here, it is argued that contemporary thinking sees the possibility of `absolute' truth lose its ground. However, a concomitant shift to a `logos of difference' averts the consequence of scepticism. Thus, the justification for this study could be articulated in terms of the imperative, if a cardinal moment in contemporary thought is to be sustained, to understand this shift in logos, work through its implications and learn to live with its effects. In this respect, an attempt is made throughout to situate and interpret Derrida's `deconstructive thinking' as exemplar. Derrida's thinking finds roots (not without signs of insurrection) in Kant's `Copernican revolution,' construed as the first shift towards the contemporary logos in question. Here, Kant refuted the postulate of an independent `world' by demonstrating that `reality' was the result of a cognitive order imposed on what `exists' by the rational subject. Knowledge, therefore, depended not on matching statements with pre-existing `things,' but on knowing the `rules' that determined how an object had to be if it was to be known at all. Kant maintained that certain, objective knowledge was possible, due to the completeness and universality of the forms of intuition and the categories of the understanding. Kant's `Copernican revolution' provided the opening for a second shift inaugurated by the so- called `linguistic turn.' Here, thinkers contested what Kant took for granted; namely that `constitutive interpretations' (cognitions/concepts) formed a `reality' independently of language. The basic premise underpinning the `linguistic turn,' therefore, is that language (signification) and `reality' are inseparable. Henceforth, the possibility of final, enduring `constitutive interpretations' whose `truth,' in principle, is discoverable, depends on whether or not the language which mediates human rationality can form a complete and universal system. This question resurrects the very limit/possibility debate (in the form of a structuralism/postmodernism stand-off) that Kant thought he had resolved in mediating between rationalist and empiricist extremes. In contemporary terms, philosophers who, bound by either/or logic, wish to avoid the sceptical trap of `anything goes' postmodernism, must assume that language (signification) can form a complete and universal system. However, in his deconstructive readings of Husserl, Saussure and `structuralism,' Derrida demonstrates the untenability of this assumption. At the same time, he shows that the sceptical `alternative' may be avoided by recognising the limitations of `either/or' logic. Again, Derrida's thinking may be traced to Kant's; this time to his analysis of the `first antinomy.' In accordance with Kant's analysis here of what is ultimately the logic of `complex systems' (Cilliers), Derrida offers a `logos of difference,' which skirts the strictures of structuralism while avoiding the trap of postmodern scepticism by accommodating both moments of limit and possibility in an indissoluble interplay.
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- Date Issued: 1999
A comparative study of acute responses to running in elite black and white marathon athletes
- Authors: Bosch, Andrew Norman
- Date: 1985
- Subjects: Athletics , Sports -- Physiological aspects , Running races , Marathon running , Marathon running -- Physiological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5099 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001839 , Athletics , Sports -- Physiological aspects , Running races , Marathon running , Marathon running -- Physiological aspects
- Description: Experienced male marathon runners, 9 black and 10 white, with marathon times of 2 hours 45 minutes or faster, acted as subjects for the study, the purpose of which was to determine whether black runners are better suited to marathon running than whites. Body composition was determined by anthropometry. Maximal oxygen uptake (VO₂ max) and other physiological variables were measured during a continuous, speed-incremented treadmill protocol using a computer-aided data acquisition system. Subjects also ran a simulated marathon at 92.5% of the running speed at which the ventilatory threshold (VT) occurred. Physiological, gait and RPE variables were measured at 10 minute intervals during the marathon. Major findings are detailed below:- The VO₂, max averaged 60.4 ∓ 6.5 and 63.2 ∓ 2.9 mI. kg⁻¹.min⁻¹ in the black and white runners respectively and was highly correlated with best marathon race time (r = 0.86 and 0.85 respectively) and VT (r = 0.84 and 0.60 respectively) (p < 0.05). No significant differences existed between the groups in submaximal oxygen uptake (VO₂,) or % VO₂ max utilised at 16 km.hr⁻¹, but the estimated % VO₂ max utilised during a marathon race was higher in the black (89.0 ∓ 5.5%) than the white runners (81. 5 ∓ 3.1%) {p .( 0.05). The % VO₂ max utilised at 16 km.hr⁻¹ (84.8 ∓ 9.1 and 78.6 ∓ 5.8% in the black and white runners respectively) was significantly correlated with the % VO₂, max utilised while racing in the white (81.5 ∓ 3.1%) (r = 0.70) (p < 0.05), but not the black runners (89.0 ∓ 5.5%). The VT occurred at 82.7 ∓ 7.7 and 75.6 :∓ 6.2% VO₂; max in the black and white groups respectively (p < 0.05). Post-marathon blood lactic acid levels were lower in the black (1.30 ∓ 0.26 mmo1.l⁻¹) than the white runners (1.59 ∓ 0.20 mmol.l⁻¹). The respiratory exchange ratio (R) was higher in the blacks than whites when running at 16 km.hr ⁻¹ (1.03 ∓ 0.07 and 0.98 ∓ 0.03 respectively) and during the marathon (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in pulmonary minute ventilation (Vı) between the groups, but breathing frequency (f) was higher in the black (59 ∓ 12 breaths.min⁻¹) than the white runners (45 ∓ 8 breaths. min⁻¹ ) and tidal volume (V⊤) lower in the black ( 1.33 ∓ 0.16 l.breath⁻¹) than the white runners (1.75 ∓ 0.36 I.breath⁻¹) during submaximal running at 16 km. hr⁻¹ (p < 0.05). The same trend was observed during the marathon run. During the time-course of the marathon f increased and V⊤ decreased In both groups (p < 0.05). Stroke volume decreased and heart rate increased In both groups during the time-course of the marathon (p< 0.05). Cardiac output was therefore maintained. Thermal responses were similar in the two groups. A significant increase in rectal temperature coincided with a decrease in skin temperature and may have been related to an increase in f (r = 0.86 and 0.67 in the blacks and whites respectively), H/R (r = 0.70 and 0.67 respectively) and "local" (leg) RPE (r = 0.84 and 0.82 respectively). It was concluded that black runners were able to run marathon races at a higher % VO₂ more than whites due to the blacks having lower blood lactic acid levels when running at a similar % VO₂ max. Given similar maximal oxygen uptakes, this would enable blacks to run faster. Cardiopulmonary adjustments occur during the time-course of a marathon which maintains Q and Vı
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- Date Issued: 1985