Zusammenfassung Die „romantische Liebe“ bildet unter modernen Bedingungen eine zentrale Quelle sozialer Anerkennung. Ihr nicht selten durch die Verwendung religiöser Semantik signalisierter Bedeutungszuwachs sorgt aber zugleich für eine Steigerung der Verletzlichkeit des einzelnen. Der damit beschriebenen spannungsvollen Eigenart, die der Anerkennungssphäre der Liebe unter modernen Bedingungen zukommt, wird in diesem Text nachgegangen. Dabei stehen zwei Autorinnen der Gegenwart, die sich mit den Ambivalenzen heutiger Liebesbeziehungen besonders eindrücklich auseinandergesetzt haben, im Fokus: die Kultursoziologin Eva Illouz und die Schriftstellerin Sally Rooney. Nach (...) einem einführenden Blick auf die den beiden Autorinnen gemeinsame Thematik, geht es um spezifische Unsicherheitserfahrungen, die sich mit dem Aufstieg der Liebe zu einer zentralen Anerkennungssphäre verbinden. Dann wird die für romantische Beziehungen ebenfalls charakteristische Spannung zwischen Anerkennung und Autonomie ins Auge gefasst. Es folgen schließlich theologische Überlegungen, die an Illouz‘ eigene Ausführungen zur religiösen Dimension der Liebe anknüpfen. (shrink)

Zusammenfassung Am Beispiel der häufig zum Symptom eines narzisstischen Zeitalters erklärten Selfie-Praxis wird in diesem Text das Verhältnis von Selbstdarstellung und Verkündigung bedacht. Das in den Sozialen Medien verbreitete Phänomen, sich selbst zum Bild zu machen und anderen Bilder von sich selbst zu präsentieren, tritt dabei als ein religiös grundiertes Unterfangen vor Augen. Eine Sehnsucht nach unvergänglicher Gegenwart lässt sich in der Selfie-Praxis ebenso artikuliert finden wie ein Bewusstsein für die undarstellbare Dimension des individuellen Selbst. Beide Aspekten werden zudem als (...) Versuch eines produktiven Umgangs mit herausfordernden Entwicklungen der Moderne verstanden: mit der durch den sozialen Beschleunigungsdruck hervorgerufenen Gegenwartsschrumpfung auf der einen und dem Zwang zur digitalen Selbstpräsentation auf der anderen Seite. Mithin lässt sich das im Selfie zum Ausdruck kommende Bewusstsein auf die Rede von Gott beziehen: auf Gott als Korrelat jener Sehnsucht nach unvergänglicher Gegenwart und als Inbegriff einer dem menschlichen Selbst unsichtbar eingeschriebenen Lebendigkeit. In dieser ihm innewohnenden Verweisstruktur lässt sich das Selfie selbst als verkündigungsförmig ansehen, was den auch in der Theologie verbreiteten Narzissmusvorwurf gegenüber religiösen Selbstdarstellungspraktiken nicht nur in der Predigtarbeit entkräften sollte. (shrink)

The basic theme of Popper's philosophy--that something can come from nothing--is related to the present situation in physical theory. Popper carries his investigation right to the center of current debate in quantum physics. He proposes an interpretation of physics--and indeed an entire cosmology--which is realist, conjectural, deductivist and objectivist, anti-positivist, and anti-instrumentalist. He stresses understanding, reminding us that our ignorance grows faster than our conjectural knowledge.

Dieses Buch ist die erfolgreichste Einführung in die Philosophie der Nachkriegszeit. Ein klassischer Text eines bedeutenden Philosophen dieses Jahrhunderts. Ausgehend von der Strittigkeit der Philosophie werden in 12 Vorträgen Grundlagen und Bedingungen des Philosophierens entfaltet. Im Anhang werden Lektürevorschläge zum eigenen philosophischen Studium gegeben. (Ec).

This classic remains one of Karl Popper's most wide-ranging and popular works, notable not only for its acute insight into the way scientific knowledge grows, but also for applying those insights to politics and to history.

Die frühen, erstmals 1932 aus dem Nachlaß publizierten "Ökonomisch-philosophischen Manuskripte" bieten einen Schlüsseltext für das philosophische Verständnis des Marxschen Gesamtwerks, der Antrieb und Zielpunkt seines Denkens offenlegt, also das benennt, was in den ökonomischen Analysen der späteren Zeit vorausgesetzt, aber nicht mehr ausgesprochen wird.

Described by the philosopher A.J. Ayer as a work of 'great originality and power', this book revolutionized contemporary thinking on science and knowledge. Ideas such as the now legendary doctrine of 'falsificationism' electrified the scientific community, influencing even working scientists, as well as post-war philosophy. This astonishing work ranks alongside The Open Society and Its Enemies as one of Popper's most enduring books and contains insights and arguments that demand to be read to this day.

Popper formulates and explains his non-justificationist theory of knowledge. Science--empirical science--aims at true explanatory theories, yet it can never prove, finally establish, or justify any of its theories as true, not even if it is in fact a true theory. Science must continue to question and criticize all its theories, even those which happen to be true.

Kant's Reason develops a novel interpretation of Kant’s conception of reason and its philosophical significance, focusing on two claims. First, it argues that Kant presents a powerful model for understanding the unity of theoretical and practical reason as two manifestations of a unified capacity for theoretical and practical understanding (or “comprehension”). This model allows us to do justice to the deep commonalities between theoretical and practical rationality, without reducing either to the other. In particular, through it, we see why the (...) activities of both theoretical and practical reason are governed by a version of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, while also seeing why reason is essentially autonomous. At the same time, Kant's Reason also reads Kant as presenting us with a compelling picture of the role that reason (as a capacity or power) should play in a systematic approach to foundational philosophical questions. In doing so, it argues for an account of the fundamental norms that apply to rational beings that treats as fundamental neither substantive reasons or values nor merely structural rationality, but instead a robust conception of reason as a power or capacity — namely, the capacity for theoretical and practical understanding. The result is a form of “rational constitutivism” – one which contrasts both with the forms of “reasons fundamentalism” that are currently fashionable and the forms of “agency-first constitutivism” that have dominated much of Kantian metaethics. In this sense, the aim of the book is to vindicate Kant’s insistence that his philosophy represents nothing more or less than reason’s implicit self-understanding coming to explicit and systematic self-consciousness. (shrink)

First published in French, Marx's The Poverty of Philosophy (1847) was composed during his years in Brussels, when he was developing his economic views and, through confrontations with the chief leaders of the working-class movement, establishing his intellectual standing. In this classic work, which laid the foundation of ideas later developed in Capital, Marx polemicized against then premier French socialist, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. Proudhon wanted to unite the best features of such contraries as competition and monopoly. He hoped to save the (...) good features of economic institutions while eliminating the bad. Marx, however, declared that no equilibrium was possible between the antagonisms in any given economic system. Social structures were transient historical forms determined by the productive forces: "The handmill gives you society with the feudal lord; the stream mill, society with the industrial capitalist.". (shrink)

First published in French, Marx's The Poverty of Philosophy (1847) was composed during his years in Brussels, when he was developing his economic views and, through confrontations with the chief leaders of the working-class movement, establishing his intellectual standing. In this classic work, which laid the foundation of ideas later developed in Capital, Marx polemicized against then premier French socialist, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. Proudhon wanted to unite the best features of such contraries as competition and monopoly. He hoped to save the (...) good features of economic institutions while eliminating the bad. Marx, however, declared that no equilibrium was possible between the antagonisms in any given economic system. Social structures were transient historical forms determined by the productive forces: "The handmill gives you society with the feudal lord; the stream mill, society with the industrial capitalist.". (shrink)

Marx and Engels's Communist Manifesto has become one of the world’s most influential political tracts since its original 1848 publication. Part of the Rethinking the Western Tradition series, this edition of the Manifesto features an extensive introduction by Jeffrey C. Isaac, and essays by Vladimir Tismaneanu, Steven Lukes, Saskia Sassen, and Stephen Eric Bronner, each well known for their writing on questions central to the Manifesto and the history of Marxism. These essays address the Manifesto's historical background, its impact on (...) the development of twentieth-century Communism, its strengths and weaknesses as a form of ethical critique, and its relevance in the post-1989, post-Cold War world. This edition also includes much ancillary material, including the many Prefaces published in the lifetimes of Marx and Engels, and Engels's "Principles of Communism.". (shrink)

Karl Pfeifer attempts to present a coherent view of panentheism that eschews Pickwickian senses of “in” and aligns itself with, and builds upon, familiar diagrammed portrayals of panentheism. The account is accordingly spatial-locative and moreover accepts the proposal of R.T. Mullins that absolute space and time be regarded as attributes of God. In addition, however, it argues that a substantive parthood relation between the world and God is required. Pfeifer’s preferred version of panpsychism, viz. panintentionalism, is thrown into the (...) mix as an optional add-on. On this account, God is conceived of as a “spiritual field” whose nature can be made more intelligible by regarding “God” as having a mass-noun sense in some contexts. Pfeifer closes with the suggestion that we look to topology and mereology for further development of the position outlined in his paper. (shrink)

On its publication in 1957, _The Poverty of Historicism_ was hailed by Arthur Koestler as 'probably the only book published this year which will outlive the century.' A devastating criticism of fixed and predictable laws in history, Popper dedicated the book to all those 'who fell victim to the fascist and communist belief in Inexorable Laws of Historical Destiny.' Short and beautifully written, it has inspired generations of readers, intellectuals and policy makers. One of the most important books on the (...) social sciences since the Second World War, it is a searing insight into the ideas of this great thinker. (shrink)

First published in 1986. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

A number of logicians and philosophers have turned their attention in recent years to the problem of developing a logic of interrogatives. Their work has thrown a great deal of light on the formal properties of questions and question-sentences and has led also to interesting innovations in our understanding of the structures of performatives in general and, for example, in the theory of presuppositions. When, however, we examine the attempts of logicians such as Belnap or Åqvist to specify what, precisely, (...) a question is, or what it is to ask or raise a question, then what we are offered is somewhat less illuminating. Two alternative reductionist accounts seem in particular to have gained most favor: questions are identified either as special sorts of statements, or as special sorts of requests. As we hope will become clear in what follows, neither of these accounts is even nearly adequate; and matters are not improved if questions are identified, by force majeure, as combinations of statements and requests. (shrink)

‘If in this book harsh words are spoken about some of the greatest among the intellectual leaders of mankind, my motive is not, I hope, to belittle them. It springs rather from my conviction that, if our civilization is to survive, we must break with the habit of deference to great men.’ - Karl Popper, from the Preface Written in political exile during the Second World War and first published in two volumes in 1945, Karl Popper’s _The Open (...) Society and Its Enemies _is one of the most influential books of all time. Hailed by Bertrand Russell as a ‘vigorous and profound defence of democracy’, its now legendary attack on the philosophies of Plato, Hegel and Marx exposed the dangers inherent in centrally planned political systems and through underground editions become an inspiration to lovers of freedom living under communism in Eastern Europe. Popper’s highly accessible style, his erudite and lucid explanations of the thoughts of great philosophers and the recent resurgence of totalitarian regimes around the world are just three of the reasons for the enduring popularity of _The Open Society and Its Enemies_ and why it demands to be read today and in years to come. (shrink)

Karl Jaspers gehört zu den Ziehvätern der Psychopathologie, einer der Grundlagenwissenschaften der Psychiatrie. In diesem Zusammenhang wird gemeinhin auf sein systematisches Lehrbuch verwiesen, die Allgemeine Psychopathologie von 1913. Die wesentlichen Züge seiner Methodologie und den Gegenstand der neuen Wissenschaft fixierte Jaspers jedoch schon in den hier versammelten Arbeiten, die zwischen 1909 und 1913 erschienen: Seine Kritik am dominanten Reduktionismus und an der damals noch jungen Psychoanalyse sind in diesen Texten bereits gültig formuliert, ebenso - und nicht zuletzt - die (...) Dichotomie zwischen Erklären und Verstehen. Neben der Dissertation “Heimweh und Verbrechen” enthält der vorliegende Band unter anderem den bahnbrechenden und wirkungsvollen Aufsatz “Die phänomenologische Forschungsrichtung in der Psychiatrie” sowie die bis heute kontrovers diskutierte Abhandlung “Kausale und 'verständliche' Zusammenhänge zwischen Schicksal und Psychose bei der Dementia praecox (Schizophrenie)”. Der Kommentar verortet die einzelnen Beiträge sowohl im wissenschaftshistorischen als auch im werkgeschichtlichen Kontext. (Quelle: buchhandel.de). (shrink)

Marxism and philosophy [1923].--The present state of the problem of 'Marxism and philosophy' [1930].--Introduction to the Critique of the Gotha Programme [1922].--The Marxism of the First International [1924].

This volume contains a selection of Karl Marx's most important writings, organized thematically under eight headings: methodology, alienation, economics, exploitation, historical materialism, classes, politics, and ideology. Jon Elster provides a brief introduction to each selection to explain its context and its place in Marx's argument. The volume is designed as a companion to Elster's An Introduction to Karl Marx and the thematic structure of each book is the same. But the Reader can also stand on its own and (...) offers the student a substantial and revealingly organized selection of the crucial texts needed to understand and assess Marx's views. (shrink)

This paper presents three interpretations of the infamous “sailor / ship” sentence that concludes Aristotle’s De Anima II.1. The first two interpretations represent the ones most popular in contemporary scholarship; the final is the author’s original. The interpretations are then evaluated with respect to grammatical plausibility and explanatory strength. The paper makes a case that the new reading answers to both points of evaluation and contributes to an interpretive approach to Aristotle that values the coherence and cogency of his De (...) Anima as a whole. (shrink)

Das Verhältnis von westdeutscher Außenwirtschaftspolitik und Wirtschaftsbeziehungen mit Indien veränderte sich ab den frühen 1950ern auf besondere Weise. Nach einem kräftigen Wirtschaftswachstum sahen deutsche Politiker und Unternehmer den Handel mit Schwellen- und Entwicklungsländern als Unterstützung für einen anhaltenden Wirtschaftsaufschwung. In einer programmatischen Schrift trug Wirtschaftsminister Ludwig Erhard 1953 diesem Gedanken mit Bezug zum währungspolitisch wichtigen Sterling-Raum und Indien als seinem größten Wirtschaftsblock Rechnung. In ordnungspolitischer Tradition sollte der Export deutscher technischer Hilfe und Kapitalgüter die indische Wirtschaftskraft erhöhen und so langfristig (...) einen neuen Markt für deutsche Konsumgüter erschließen. Dieses neue Verständnis von Außenwirtschaftspolitik war gewissermaßen symptomatisch für die Zeit, stand aber auch der späteren Herausbildung einer Entwicklungshilfepolitik nicht entgegen. Auswirkungen dieser Politik fanden sich nicht nur im deutschen Handelsregelwerk für Indien, sondern vor allem in der staatlichen Durchsetzung privatwirtschaftlicher Initiativen in Indien. Hilfeleistungen und Investitionen etablierten die BRD als führende Wirtschaftsnation in Indien. Allerdings war das westdeutsche Ringen um neue Märkte in blockfreien Staaten wie Indien vornehmlich Ausdruck wachsender politischer Konkurrenz mit Ländern des Ostblocks. Für die BRD war Indien aufgrund des Alleinvertretungsanspruchs gegenüber der DDR und aufgrund des Ost-West-Konflikts gegenüber anderen Ostblock-Staaten wichtig. -/- Trotz dieser prägnanten Entwicklung im deutsch-indischen Wirtschaftsaustausch in der Frühzeit des Kalten Krieges gibt es wenige historische Betrachtungen über das Gesamtbild und über einzelne Unternehmensinitiativen. Bisherige Arbeiten behandeln die Entwicklung der bundesdeutschen Südasienpolitik und die von Wirtschaftsinteressen geleiteten Grundlagen westdeutscher Entwicklungshilfe in Indien. Überblicksbetrachtungen thematisieren beide Aspekte selten zusammen. Zudem benennen die genannten Arbeiten bundesdeutsche und privatwirtschaftliche Initiativen, diskutieren dann aber hauptsächlich staatliche Interessen. Für das deutsch-indische Wirtschaftsgeschehen war aber gerade das Verhältnis von Akteuren und Institutionen der deutschen Politik und Wirtschaft relevant. Gab es hier ein Ungleichgewicht der Kräfte oder traten gar Konflikte auf? Für andere Weltregionen streicht die Literatur beispielsweise besondere Fürsprecher innerhalb der deutschen Industrie heraus. Gab es auch einen direkten Fürsprecher für Indien? Obwohl die indische Wirtschaft nach 1947 neuerdings als dynamischer und offener betrachtet wird, gehen lokale und globale Wirtschaftsentwicklungen und der Einfluss ausländischer Politik- und Wirtschaftsinteressen auf die indische Wirtschaftsentwicklung bisher kaum in die Analysen ein. -/- Diese Forschungslücken nimmt der vorliegende Beitrag zum Anlass, die Entwicklung deutsch-indischer Wirtschaftsbeziehungen in der Frühzeit des Kalten Krieges genauer zu untersuchen. Dabei wird insbesondere gefragt, wie sich westdeutsche Wirtschaftsbeziehungen mit Indien zwischen den 1950er und 1970er Jahren unter dem Einfluss außenwirtschaftspolitischer Maßgaben veränderten. Wie einleitend erwähnt, waren diese Wirtschaftsbeziehungen das Resultat einer dynamischen Beziehung von Außenwirtschaftspolitik und Wirtschaftsinteressen während des Ost-West-Konflikts. Da sich politische und wirtschaftliche Umstände auf besondere Weise in der Förderung dieses Wirtschaftsaustausches niederschlugen, fokussiert der Artikel vor allem auf die Verschränkung verschiedener für den Wirtschaftsaustausch wichtiger Themen und Akteure auf der höheren Ebene von Politik und Wirtschaft als auch auf der Mikroebene bestimmter Unternehmensinitiativen. -/- Der Artikel gliedert sich in zwei Teile. Der erste Teil betrachtet den größeren politischen und wirtschaftlichen Rahmen deutsch-indischer Wirtschaftsbeziehungen vor dem Hintergrund neuer lokaler, globaler und transnationaler Verschiebungen. Dabei wird Entwicklungshilfe als Kristallisationspunkt von westdeutscher Außenwirtschaftspolitik und Wirtschaftsbeziehungen mit Indien verstanden. Im zweiten Teil fokussiert der Artikel auf das damals größte westdeutsche Industrieprojekt in Indien – den Aufbau des Hüttenwerks in Rourkela. An diesem Beispiel wird sowohl das steigende deutsche Interesse an Indien als auch die Veränderungen außenwirtschaftspolitischer Leitlinien und wirtschaftlicher Interessen behandelt. (shrink)

Infrastructure-making in interwar India was a dynamic, multilayered process involving roads and vehicles in urban and rural sites. One of their strongest playgrounds was Bombay Presidency and the Central Provinces in central and western India. Focusing on this region in the interwar period, this paper analyzes the varied relationship between peasant households and town-centred modernizing agents in the making of road transport infrastructures. The central argument of this paper is about the persistence of bullock carts over motor cars in the (...) region. This persistence was grounded in the specific regional environment, the effects of the 1930s economic depression, and the priorities of social classes. Pinpointing these connections, the paper highlights that “modernization” of infrastructure was not a simple, linear process of progressivist change, nor did it mean the survival of apparently “old” technologies in the modern era. Instead, the paper pays attention to conflicting social complexities, implications, and meanings of the connection between infrastructure and modernity that modernization assumptions often overlook. Here, the paper shows how technological change occurred as a result of real, material class interests pulling infrastructural technology in different directions. This was where and why arguments of road-motor lobbyists and cart advocates eventually clashed, and Gandhian social workers resisted motor transport in defense of peasant interests. (shrink)

In an attempt to precisely model Foucault's concept of heterotopy in the context of literary studies, this book describes its application to the paradigm of textuality. Drawing on Roman Jakobson's two-aspects theory, it reveals the cross-epochal process of heterotopy as paradigmatic deviation, and shows epoch-specific variations in the example of romantic-metaphoric versus realistic-metonymic logics of space.

We distinguish the question whether only human minds are equipped with a language of thought (LoT) from the question whether human minds employ a single uniquely human learning mechanism. Thus separated, our answer to both questions is negative. Even very simple minds employ a LoT. And the comparative data reviewed by Penn et al. actually suggest that there are many distinctively human learning mechanisms.

At the end of Book III, chapter 4 of Aristotle’s Politics, Aristotle identifies the virtue peculiar to the excellent ruler as prudence. The ruled’s complementary virtue is true opinion. All the other virtues are held in common, albeit in different forms. Why these habits? The answer to this question lies in Aristotle’s discussion of the good man and the serious citizen in III.4, and of the rule of law in III.16.

Enth.: Pars posterior, secundam editionem et indices continens.

Teleosemantics has an indeterminacy problem. In an earlier publication, I argued that teleosemanticists may afford to be realists about indeterminacy, pointing to the phenomenon of vagueness as a case of really-existing semantic indeterminacy. Here, I continue that project by proposing two criteria of adequacy that a semantically indeterminate theory should meet: a criterion of theoretical adequacy and a criterion of extensional adequacy. I present reasons to think that indeterminate versions of teleosemantics can meet these criteria. I end by discussing vagueness, (...) concluding that it most likely is not the same kind of phenomenon as the semantic indeterminacy afflicting teleosemantics. (shrink)

Nietzsche claimed to be a philosopher of the future, but he was appropriated as a philosopher of Nazism. His work inspired a long study by Martin Heidegger and essays by a host of lesser disciples attached to the Third Reich. In 1935, however, Karl Jaspers set out to "marshall against the National Socialists the world of thought of the man they had proclaimed as their own philosopher." The year after publishing Nietzsche , Jaspers was discharged from his professorship at (...) Heidelberg University by order of the Nazi leadership. Jaspers does not fall into the same trap as idealogues do, citing bits and pieces from Nietzsche's work to reinforce already held opinions. Instead, he openly shows the wide range of Nietzsche's views, including his endorsement of wars and warriors, his prophecies of world struggle and "new masters," and the cruel arrogance of the supermen. Yet Jaspers finds Nietzsche's philosophy to be extraordinary not only because he foresaw all the monstrosities of the twentieth century, but also because he saw through them. "The appearance which Nietzsche's work presents can be expressed figuratively: it is as though a mountain wall had been dynamited the rock, already more or less shaped, conveys the idea of a whole. But the building for the sake of which the dynamiting seems to have been done has not been erected. However, the fact that the work lies about like a heap of ruins does not appear to conceal its spirit from the one who happens to have found the key to the possibilities of construction for him, many fragments fit together. But not unambiguously many functionally suitable pieces are present in numerous, only slightly varied repetitions, others reveal themselves as precious and unique forms, as though each were meant to furnish a cornerstone somewhere or a keystone for an arch." -- Karl Jaspers, from the introduction. (shrink)

The teleosemantic indeterminacy problem has generated much discussion but no consensus. One possible solution is to accept indeterminacy as a real feature of some representations. I call this view “indeterminacy realism.” In this paper, I argue that indeterminacy realism should be treated as a serious option. By drawing an analogy with vagueness, I try to show that accepting the reality of indeterminacy would not be catastrophic for teleosemantics. I further argue that there are positive reasons to endorse indeterminacy realism. I (...) end the paper by arguing that indeterminacy realism need not generalize viciously to the case of propositional attitudes. (shrink)

'I want to begin by declaring that I regard scientific knowledge as the most important kind of knowledge we have', writes Sir Karl Popper in the opening essay of this book, which collects his meditations on the real improvements science has wrought in society, in politics and in the arts in the course of the twentieth century. His subjects range from the beginnings of scientific speculation in classical Greece to the destructive effects of twentieth century totalitarianism, from major figures (...) of the Enlightenment such as Kant and Voltaire to the role of science and self-criticism in the arts. The essays offer striking new insights into the mind of one of the greatest twentieth century philosophers. (shrink)

Beginning with an examination of the relationship between Hegel and Goethe, Löwith discusses how Hegel's students, particularly Marx and Kierkegaard, interpreted--or reinterpreted--their master's thought, and proceeds with an in-depth assessment of the other important philosophers, from Feuerbach, Stirner, and Schelling to Nietzsche.

A brief account of karma and transmigration is followed by an introduction to Indian ways of assessing arguments. The body of the work canvasses the systems of Nyaya Vaisesika, Buddhism, Jainism, Samkhya and Advaita Vedanta.

Geoffrey Marnell presents philosophical arguments favoring grammatical descriptivism over grammatical prescriptivism. I argue that his explanation and defence of descriptivism reveal that his descriptivism is itself prescriptivist.

In recent years, several philosophers - including Joshua Gert, Douglas Portmore, and Elizabeth Harman - have argued that there is a sense in which morality itself does not treat moral reasons as consistently overriding.2 My aim in the present essay is to develop and extend this idea from a somewhat different perspective. In doing so, I offer an alternative way of formalizing the idea that morality is modest about the weight of moral reasons in this way, thereby making more explicit (...) the connections between this thesis and similar issues in the epistemic sphere. In addition, I discuss how these ideas can transform our thinking about familiar questions in ethics such as the nature of self-effacement, the significance of reflective endorsement, the weight that moral reasons ought to be given in all things consideration, and the plausibility of “indirect” moral theories. Finally, I show that these ideas are compatible even with pictures of morality – such as Kant’s – on which morality might seem to anything but modest about its own importance. In doing so, I stress that it is possible to see morality as modest about the weight of specifically moral reasons, while also seeing all practical reasons as grounded in morality more indirectly – namely, by seeing morality as determining the weight that both moral and non-moral considerations deserve to have in all things considered deliberation. (shrink)

Aus dem Inhalt: J. Rupke, Religion und Wissenschaft - religionswissenschaftliche PerspektivenR. Elior, Enoch Son of Jared and the Solar Calendar of the Priesthood in QumranM. Fishbane, The Song of Songs and Ancient Jewish Religiosity: Between Eros and HistoryR. Goetschel, Les trois piliers du monde d'apres le Maharal de PragueW. Frey, Ein geborner Jud von Jerusalem. Uberlegungen zur Entstehung der Ahasver-FigurD. Krochmalnik, Kynisches in der rabbinischen LiteraturM. Voigts, Unterirdisch - oberirdisch. Verstreute Gedanken zu einem verbreiteten ToposH.O. Horch, Die Neugier des Satirikers. (...) Zum Judenbild des Hans Jacob Christoffel von GrimmelshausenS. Gilman, A Dream of Jewishness on the Frontier: Kafka's Tumor and "The Country Doctor"u.v.a. (shrink)

Reinhold's Letters on the Kantian Philosophy is arguably the most influential book ever written concerning Kant. It provides a helpful introduction to Kant's philosophy and a valuable explanation of how that philosophy can be understood as an appropriate Enlightenment solution to the 'pantheism dispute' which dominated thought in the era of German Idealism. The first edition of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason was slow in gaining a positive reception, but after Reinhold's Letters appeared Kant's Critical Philosophy suddenly attained the central (...) position which it has held to this day. The Letters also brought fame to Reinhold, who developed his own influential 'Elementary Philosophy' and was succeeded by the leading figures of German Idealism: Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. This English edition of Reinhold's work includes the original 1786–7 version as well as all the major additions and changes from the 1790 edition. (shrink)

This work offers a selection of the philosophical writings of Karl Jaspers.