The integration of biomedical terminologies is indispensable to the process of information integration. When terminologies are linked merely through the alignment of their leaf terms, however, differences in context and ontological structure are ignored. Making use of the SNAP and SPAN ontologies, we show how three reference domain ontologies can be integrated at a higher level, through what we shall call the OBR framework (for: Ontology of Biomedical Reality). OBR is designed to facilitate inference across the boundaries of domain ontologies (...) in anatomy, physiology and pathology. (shrink)

This posthumous book represents the first publication of one of the seminars of Cornelius Castoriadis, a renowned and influential figure in twentieth-century thought. A close reading of Plato’s Statesman, it is an exemplary instance of Castoriadis’s pragmatic, pertinent, and discriminating approach to thinking and reading a great work: “I mean really reading it, by respecting it without respecting it, by going into the recesses and details without having decided in advance that everything it contains is coherent, homogeneous, makes sense, (...) and is true.” Castoriadis brings out what he calls The Statesman’s “quirky structure,” with its three digressions, its eight incidental points, and its two definitions, neither of which is deemed good. He does not hesitate to differ with the text, to show that what is, in appearance, secondary is really essential, and that the denunciation of the Sophists accommodates itself quite well to the use of sophistical procedures. Castoriadis shows how The Statesman takes us into the heart of what is distinctive in the late Plato: blending, acceptance of the mixed, of the intermediate. These transcriptions of Cornelius’s afford the reader an opportunity to discover his trenchant, convincing, energetic, provocative, and often droll voice. Here is a hitherto unknown Castoriadis, who reflects as he speaks, collects himself, corrects himself, and doesn’t hesitate to revisit key points. In short, this is Castoriadis’s thinking in action. (shrink)

T. 1. Beim jungen Augustinus.--T. 2. Die antimanichäische Epoche.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:BOOK REVIEWS 379 the minister of a very influential and liberal congregation. In 1860 he began publication in Cincinnati of The Dial, successor to the New England transcendentalist journal, and used its pages to promote religious liberalism, philosophical transcendentalism, and social reform. In 1863 he went to London where he became the head of the Ethical Society. Under the influence of Feuerbach and "left-Hegelians" he travelled widely in the (...) interests of "free thought." The most amazing of these four, however, is August Willich: an East Prussian soldier, ready to fight again to restore the 1848 revolution in Germany, discouraged by Marx from doing so, emigrating to Cincinnati to raise funds among the German 1848 refugees there and urging them to continue the lost cause in Germany, then wholeheartedly fighting for the Union Cause as a General in the Civil War, and finally joining the Populist revolt. As Easton points out, these four all illustrate the close relation between Hegel and the spirit of 1848. In addition to the stories of these men and their ideals, the volume contains a hundred pages of excellent specimens of their writngs, and copious references to obscure source-materials. The book is both a valuable reference work and an entertaining set of short stories. I--IERBERTW. SCHNEIDER Claremont, CaliJornia Theory of. Man. By Francisco Romero. Translated from the Spanish by William F. Cooper, with an Introduction by William J. Kflgore. (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1964. Pp. xxix + 324. $8.00.) The late Argentinian philosopher Francisco Romero, who died unexpectedly in 1962 after a brilliant career of more than thirty years of teaching and writing, was by common acclaim of his fellow-philosophers in Latin America their most distinguished philosopher in recent years. He received many honors and distinctions both at home and abroad, including the grand award of honor of the Argentinian Society of Writers. The most eminent philosophers in Latin American prepared a notable Festschri]t in honor of his 70th birthday, whose publication was unfortunately delayed and, therefore, could not be presented to him personally in his life time.1 Franci~o Romero was in fact as well as in acclaim the "Dean of Latin American Philosophy." It was high time that his central work Teorga del Hombre 2 should be translated. It is his magnum opus and represents the most comprehensive and systematic development of his philosophy. Romero was fortunate in having as his translator William F. Cooper who knew Romero personally, and was intimately acquainted with his philosophy. In addition, he had the unusual privilege of doing much of the translation in Romero's own library in Buenos Aires. In short, the translation is a labor of love and esteem.8 I myself had the privilege of coming to know Professor Romero in 1943, when as secretarygeneral of our Philosophical Association I was commissioned to make contact with our Latin American fellow-philosophers with a view to exploring the possibility of organizing InterAmerican congresses of philosophy and of forming an Inter-American society of philosophy, both of which projects, in due season, were accomplished. Romero welcomed these undertakings with characteristic enthusiasm and offered his fullest cooperation and support. He had always been a most active and indefatigable promoter of better understanding between North and South America and, especially, of closer cooperation between the philosophers of 1Homenaje a Francisco Romero, Faculdad de Filosofia y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Editorial Losada, Buenos Aires, 1952. 8In further attestation of Professor Cooper's special qualification for this translation it should be mentioned that he prepared for the Homenaje, already referred to, the most complete, up-to-date bibliography of Romero's extensive publications as well as an inventory of Romero's many works still in progress at the time of his death. 380 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY the two Americas. All members of our association who came to know him in Buenos Aires were warmly welcomed, and no doubt also experienced, as I did, the warm and generous hospitality of Professor Romero and his wife in their home in Martinez. Francisco Romero was not only professor of philosophy at the Universities of Buenos Aires and La Plato, but was also... (shrink)

T. 1. Beim jungen Augustinus.--T. 2. Die antimanichäische Epoche.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:BOOK REVIEWS 379 the minister of a very influential and liberal congregation. In 1860 he began publication in Cincinnati of The Dial, successor to the New England transcendentalist journal, and used its pages to promote religious liberalism, philosophical transcendentalism, and social reform. In 1863 he went to London where he became the head of the Ethical Society. Under the influence of Feuerbach and "left-Hegelians" he travelled widely in the (...) interests of "free thought." The most amazing of these four, however, is August Willich: an East Prussian soldier, ready to fight again to restore the 1848 revolution in Germany, discouraged by Marx from doing so, emigrating to Cincinnati to raise funds among the German 1848 refugees there and urging them to continue the lost cause in Germany, then wholeheartedly fighting for the Union Cause as a General in the Civil War, and finally joining the Populist revolt. As Easton points out, these four all illustrate the close relation between Hegel and the spirit of 1848. In addition to the stories of these men and their ideals, the volume contains a hundred pages of excellent specimens of their writngs, and copious references to obscure source-materials. The book is both a valuable reference work and an entertaining set of short stories. I--IERBERTW. SCHNEIDER Claremont, CaliJornia Theory of. Man. By Francisco Romero. Translated from the Spanish by William F. Cooper, with an Introduction by William J. Kflgore. (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1964. Pp. xxix + 324. $8.00.) The late Argentinian philosopher Francisco Romero, who died unexpectedly in 1962 after a brilliant career of more than thirty years of teaching and writing, was by common acclaim of his fellow-philosophers in Latin America their most distinguished philosopher in recent years. He received many honors and distinctions both at home and abroad, including the grand award of honor of the Argentinian Society of Writers. The most eminent philosophers in Latin American prepared a notable Festschri]t in honor of his 70th birthday, whose publication was unfortunately delayed and, therefore, could not be presented to him personally in his life time.1 Franci~o Romero was in fact as well as in acclaim the "Dean of Latin American Philosophy." It was high time that his central work Teorga del Hombre 2 should be translated. It is his magnum opus and represents the most comprehensive and systematic development of his philosophy. Romero was fortunate in having as his translator William F. Cooper who knew Romero personally, and was intimately acquainted with his philosophy. In addition, he had the unusual privilege of doing much of the translation in Romero's own library in Buenos Aires. In short, the translation is a labor of love and esteem.8 I myself had the privilege of coming to know Professor Romero in 1943, when as secretarygeneral of our Philosophical Association I was commissioned to make contact with our Latin American fellow-philosophers with a view to exploring the possibility of organizing InterAmerican congresses of philosophy and of forming an Inter-American society of philosophy, both of which projects, in due season, were accomplished. Romero welcomed these undertakings with characteristic enthusiasm and offered his fullest cooperation and support. He had always been a most active and indefatigable promoter of better understanding between North and South America and, especially, of closer cooperation between the philosophers of 1Homenaje a Francisco Romero, Faculdad de Filosofia y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Editorial Losada, Buenos Aires, 1952. 8In further attestation of Professor Cooper's special qualification for this translation it should be mentioned that he prepared for the Homenaje, already referred to, the most complete, up-to-date bibliography of Romero's extensive publications as well as an inventory of Romero's many works still in progress at the time of his death. 380 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY the two Americas. All members of our association who came to know him in Buenos Aires were warmly welcomed, and no doubt also experienced, as I did, the warm and generous hospitality of Professor Romero and his wife in their home in Martinez. Francisco Romero was not only professor of philosophy at the Universities of Buenos Aires and La Plato, but was also... (shrink)

In Time Reborn and elsewhere physicist Lee Smolin identifies Peirce as a precursor to his view that natural laws evolved, a view that runs counter the received opinion within physics that time isn’t real. After discussing Smolin’s arguments for the reality of time, two approaches advoacated by Smolin –cosmological natural selection and Quantum Energetic Causal Set Theory– are discussed in the context of Peirce’s cosmology. It is shown that Peirce’s approach provides a possible ground for a physical theory like Quantum (...) Energetic Causal Set Theory, opening the way for a full-fledged cosmology that does justice to contemporary physics. (shrink)

Macht ist allgegenwärtig; sie kann soziale, wirtschaftliche oder politische Formen annehmen und wirkt zu jeder Zeit in und um uns. Die Beschäftigung mit Macht und Ohnmacht ist daher auch keineswegs neu - seit Jahrtausenden steht sie im Mittelpunkt des Denkens berühmter Philosophen wie Thukydides, Machiavelli oder Thomas Hobbes. Was aber heißt und ist Macht eigentlich? Wie entsteht und vergeht sie? Was bewirkt sie? Was macht mächtig? Können Recht, Ethik oder Religion ihr Grenzen setzen? Diesen Fragen geht der Rechts-, Politik- und (...) Kulturwissenschaftler Peter Cornelius Mayer-Tasch nach. Facettenreich und kurzweilig führt er die verschiedenen Phänomene und Ausprägungen von Macht in diesem Band zusammen: Angefangen beim Begriff der Macht über die Anbetung von Macht - etwa in Religion oder Politik - schlägt Mayer-Tasch den Bogen bis hin zur Dialektik von Segen und Fluch der Macht und der Utopie von Verzicht auf Macht. Peter Cornelius Mayer-Tasch untersucht eines der bedeutsamsten Phänomene des sozialen Lebens: Was ist Macht und was macht mächtig? Kann man Macht Grenzen setzen? Geschickt verknüpft Mayer-Tasch die philosophisch-historischen Hintergründe von Macht mit ihren unerwarteten, alltäglichen Ausprägungen - oder hätten Sie Macht mit Liebe, Schönheit oder Gartengestaltung in Verbindung gebracht? (shrink)

On reconnait en Castoriadis l'un des principaux penseurs politiques alternatifs contemporains, toujours actuel. Mais on connaît sans doute moins le lien étroit qui existe entre ses analyses politiques et ses prises de position philosophiques. Or, elles s'éclairent réciproquement. Le refus de subordonner la raison pratique à la raison théorique permet à Castoriadis de penser l'idée de création. Sa rupture avec Marx, auquel il reproche son ontologie déterministe, l'amène à repenser l'émancipation politique et sociale à partir de la notion d'imaginaire créateur. (...) Pour bien comprendre cette notion, il faut la confronter avec les conceptions de l'imagination défendues notamment par la phénoménologie, particulièrement Sartre et Husserl. Elle débouche sur le concept de chaos, dont il ressort que l'action humaine repose sur un désordre pour une part irréductible, ce qui explique qu'on ne puisse fonder celle-ci, pas plus que la démocratie, en référence à une légitimité indiscutable. Cherchant à tisser un lien entre la pensée, l'oeuvre et la vie d'un homme engagé dans son temps, ce livre trace un parcours à travers les thèmes centraux de la pensée philosophique et politique de Castoriadis, qu'il met en rapport avec d'autres approches contemporaines : Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Claude Lefort, Richard Rorty, Vincent Descombes, ou encore Michel Foucault à propos de l'éthique du sujet. Un chapitre est également consacré à la place de l'exil dans la vie et la pensée de Castoriadis. (shrink)

Leslie, E. A. Albert Cornelius Knudson, the man.--McConnell, F. J. Bowne and personalism.--Brightman, E. S. Personality as a metaphysical principle.--Hildebrand, C. D. Personalism and nature.--Ramsdell, E. T. The cultural integration of science and religion.--Ensley, F. G. The personality of God.--Harkness, G. Divine sovereignity and human freedom.--Pfeiffer, R. H. Personalistic elements in the Old Testament.--Flewelling, R. T. Personalism and the trend of history.--Muelder, W. G. Personality and Christian ethics.--King, W. J. Personalism and race.--Marlatt, E. B. Personalism and religious education.

These remarkable essays include Cornelius Castoriadis's latest contributions to philosophy, political and social theory, classical studies, development theory, cultural criticism, science, and ecology. Examining the "co-birth" in ancient Greece of philosophy and politics, Castoriadis shows how the Greeks' radical questioning of established ideas and institutions gave rise to the "project of autonomy". The "end of philosophy" proclaimed by Postmodernism would mean the end of this project. That end is now hastened by the lethal expansion of technoscience, the waning of (...) political and social conflict, and the resignation of intellectuals who blindly defend Western culture as it is or who merely denounce or "deconstruct" it as it has been. Discussing and criticizing Plato, Aristotle, Leibniz, Kant, Hegel, Weber, Heidegger, and Habermas, the author of The Imaginary Institution of Society and Crossroads in the Labyrinth poses a radical challenge to our inherited philosophy. (shrink)

The project of autonomy is not a utopia (1992) -- Why I am no longer a Marxist (1974) -- Imaginary significations (1982) -- Response to Richard Rorty (1995) -- On wars in Europe (1992) -- On the possibility of creating g new form of society (1977) -- What political parties cannot do (1979) -- Present issues for democracy (1986) -- These are bad times (1986) -- Do vanguards exist? (1987) -- What revolution is (1987) -- Neither a historical necessity nor (...) simply an "ethical" exigency: a political and human exigency (1988) -- When the east swings to the west (1989) -- The market, capitalism, and democracy (1990) -- "Democracy" without citizens' participation (1991) -- The Gulf War: setting things straight (1991) -- Gorbachev: neither reform no backtracking (1991) -- On war, religion, and politics (1991) -- Communism, fascism, and emancipation (1991) -- Ecology against the merchants (1992) -- The revolutionary potency of ecology (1992) -- A society adrift (1993) -- On political judgment (1995) -- Neither resignation nor archaism (1995) -- A rising tide of significany? (1996) -- A singular trajectory (1992). (shrink)

As a work of social theory, I would argue that it belongs in a class with the writings of Habermas and Arendt". -- Jay Bernstein, University of Essex This is one of the most original and important works of contemporary European thought.

In this article, we contend that due to their size and emphasis upon addressing external social concerns, the corporate relationship between social enterprises, social awareness and action is more complex than whether or not these organisations engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR). This includes organisations that place less emphasis on CSR as well as other organisations that may be very proficient in CSR initiatives, but are less successful in recording practices. In this context, we identify a number of internal CSR (...) markers that may be applied to measuring the extent to which internal CSR practices are being observed. These considerations may be contrasted with the evidence that community based CSR activities is often well developed in private sector small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) (Observatory of European SMEs, 2002), a situation which may be replicated in social enterprises especially those that have grown from micro-enterprises embedded in local communities. We place particular emphasis upon the implications for employee management. Underpinning our position is the Aristotelian-informed capabilities approach, a theory of human development and quality of life, developed by Sen (1992; 1999) and Nussbaum (1999) which has been developed further, in an organisational context, (e.g., Cornelius, 2002); Cornelius and Gagnon, 2004; Gagnon and Cornelius, 1999; Vogt, 2005. We contend that the capabilities approach offers additional insights into CSR in social enterprises in general and internal CSR activity in particular. Our article concludes with proposals for future research initiatives and reflections upon social enterprise development from a capabilities perspective. (shrink)

This collection presents a broad and compelling overview of the most recent work by a world-renowned figure in contemporary thought. The book is in four parts: Koinonia, Polis, Psyche, Logos. The opening section begins with a general introduction to the author's views on being, time, creation, and the imaginary institution of society and continues with reflections on the role of the individual psyche in racist thinking and acting. The second part is a critique of those who now belittle and distort (...) the meaning of May 1968 and other movements of the sixties as well as the French Revolution. In part three, Castoriadis shows how psychoanalysis, like politics, can contribute to the project of individual and collective autonomy and challenges Lacan, Foucault, and Derrida, and others in his report on 'The State and Subject Today'. Finally he examines how Aristotle's original aporetic discovery and cover-up of the imagination were repeated by Kant, Freud, Heidegger, and even Merleau-Ponty. (shrink)

In the intellectual confusion prevailing since the demise of Marxism and “marxism”, the attempt is made to define democracy as a matter of pure procedure, explicitly avoiding and condemning any reference to substantive objectives. It can easily be shown, however, that the idea of a purely procedural “democracy” is incoherent and self‐contradictory. No legal system whatsoever and no government can exist in the absence of substantive conditions which cannot be left to chance or to the workings of the “market” but (...) must be posited as objectives of political activity. The confusion results from a deficient understanding of what makes a society and an empty idea of “freedom”. The objective of politics is not happiness, an affair to be left to the individuals, but it certainly is liberty understood as participation in the governance of the polity; it is also the pursuit of the common good, defined as the sum of the prerequisites and facilitations of individual autonomy depending on collective action, and as the realization of commonly agreed collective goals. (shrink)

Ein Adorno und Castoriadis gemeinsames Verständnis von Freiheit und emanzipierter Subjektivität verbindet Motive, die oft in einander entgegengesetzten Diskursen vorkommen. Man stößt auf ein naturalistisch-spontaneistisches Freiheitsmotiv, einen stark ausgeprägten Diskurs über subjektive Autonomie sowie ein differenztheoretisches Motiv, das um das „Unbestimmte” oder „Nichtidentische” kreist. Der Aufsatz entwickelt Ansätze eines Begriffs dreidimensionaler Freiheit und einer darauf beruhenden Ethik des freien Lebens. Das Resultat wird schließlich mit dem ethisch bescheideneren, negativen Freiheitsbegriff des politischen Liberalismus konfrontiert.

Improvements in the health capital of citizens are central to the development of countries. By exploiting steep decreases in antiretroviral drug prices and the subsequent increases in antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage, we test whether the resulting improvements in the health of the population are associated with the prevalence of entrepreneurial activity and whether entrepreneurial activity strengthens the relationship between ART coverage and a country’s development. Drawing on a sample of 87 low- and middle-income countries (2006–2019), we find that a 1% (...) increase in ART coverage is associated with a 1.5% increase in the number of newly registered limited liability firms; however, there is no significant relationship with (male or female) self-employment. Higher ART coverage is particularly associated with development—as proxied by gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and the Human Development Index—in countries with low levels of new business formation and high proportions of self-employment. (shrink)

Recent events have raised concerns about the ethical standards of public and private organisations, with some attention falling on business schools as providers of education and training to managers and senior executives. This paper investigates the nature of, motivation and commitment to, ethics tuition provided by the business schools. Using content analysis of their institutional and home websites, we appraise their corporate identity, level of engagement in socially responsible programmes, degree of social inclusion, and the relationship to their ethics teaching. (...) Based on published research, a schema is developed with corporate identity forming an integral part, to represent the macro-environment, parent institution, the business school and their relationships to ethics education provision. This is validated by our findings. (shrink)

The continuing relevance of Ludwik Fleck’s work, above its status as a classic in science studies, lies in his reflexive conceptualisation of an open epistemology. As early as 1929, in the midst of a broad debate about a ‘crisis’ of science, Fleck offered a socio-historical analysis of the widely assumed crisis in form of an epistemology. He presented his argument, which was in itself an interrogation of the metaphysical foundations of science, as a reflexive and political intervention to this debate. (...) His book of 1935, Genesis and development of a scientific fact, in which he developed the notion of the thought collective, can be read in a similar vein as a functional analysis of science under National Socialism. His traumatic experiences during this period fostered his drive for science, democracy and epistemology. When he returned to the epistemological debate in 1946, he sharpened the presentation of his argument, presenting it rhetorically as an ironic political dialogue. This surprising text unfolds as an epistemological intervention by a participant observer. In this respect, Fleck’s epistemology, combining the historical analysis with reflexive intervention, is still a message in a bottle. (shrink)

This article examines the construction of image recognition algorithms for the classification of plant pathology problems. Rooted in science and technology studies research on the effects of agricultural big data and agricultural algorithms, the study ethnographically examines how algorithms for the recognition of plant pathology are made. To do this, the article looks at the case of a German agtech startup developing image recognition algorithms for an app that aims to help small-scale farmers diagnose plant damages based on digital images (...) of their symptoms. The study posits that the construction of these algorithms can be grasped as a succession of layers, at each of which the startup’s employees carry out different selection practices. It is argued that these practices gradually inscribe a selective recognition of the phenomenon of plant pathology into the algorithms of the app. This selective recognition is reflected in the fact that the emerging algorithms are effective in identifying isolated plant damages on isolated crops, while ignoring most agroecosystem-related actors and relations through which plant damages arise. The article concludes that the app’s selective recognition of plant pathology is likely to perpetuate or even exacerbate the pesticide use of its users. This is because the app’s view of plant pathology as a phenomenon comprised of isolated plant damages on isolated crops is more compatible with the use of chemical pesticides than with approaches to crop protection that strive for a more moderate use of these substances (e.g., integrated pest management, agroecology, organic agriculture). (shrink)

In this posthumous collection of writings, Cornelius Castoriadis (1922-1997) pursues his incisive analysis of modern society, the philosophical basis of our ability to change it, and the points of intersection between his many approaches to this theme. His main philosophical postulate, that the human subject and society are not predetermined, asserts the primacy of creation and the possibility of creative, autonomous activity in every domain. This argument is combined with penetrating political and social criticism, opening numerous avenues of critical (...) thought and action. The book’s wide-ranging topics include the core worldview of ancient Athens, where the idea of self-creation and self-limitation made democracy possible; the wealth of poetic resources; a deconstruction of the so-called rationality of capitalism and of the current conception of democracy, along with a discussion of what a radical, revolutionary project means today; the role of what he calls the radical imagination in the creation of both societal institutions and history; the roots of hate; a psychoanalytic view of human development torn between heteronomy and autonomy; the role of education in forming autonomous individuals; and notions of chaos, space, and number. (shrink)

Cornelius Castoriadis is a fascinating figure, not only because of his personal and intellectual background, but because of the extraordinary breadth of his interests and his ability to play the brilliant intellectual jester - all characteristics in abundant evidence in this collection of essays. In them, Castoriadis goes to the heart of deep philosophical issues raised but not answered by modern thought.The book presents his concerns with the development of analytical theories of psychology, language, and politics, all commonly rooted (...) in the social and historical aspects of human creativity. It examines figures as diverse as Aristotle, Heidegger, Lacan, Marx, and Merleau-Ponty.Cornelius Castoriadis was for a long time a professional economist and is now a practicing psychoanalyst in Paris. He founded and became the main theoretician for the independent journal of the left, Socialisme ou Barbarie. (shrink)

The Foundational Model of Anatomy (FMA) symbolically represents the structural organization of the human body from the macromolecular to the macroscopic levels, with the goal of providing a robust and consistent scheme for classifying anatomical entities that is designed to serve as a reference ontology in biomedical informatics. Here we articulate the need for formally clarifying the is-a and part-of relations in the FMA and similar ontology and terminology systems. We diagnose certain characteristic errors in the treatment of these relations (...) and show how these errors can be avoided through adoption of the formalism we describe. We then illustrate how a consistently applied formal treatment of taxonomy and partonomy can support the alignment of ontologies. (shrink)