Many scholars claim that Frege's theory of colouring is committed to a radical form of subjectivism or emotivism. Some other scholars claim that Frege's concept of colouring is a precursor to Grice's notion of conventional implicature. I argue that both of these claims are mistaken. Finally, I propose a taxonomy of Fregean colourings: for Frege, there are purely aesthetic colourings, communicative colourings or hints, non-communicative colourings.

In vision research metacontrast masking is a widely used technique to reduce the visibility of a stimulus. Typically, studies attempt to reveal general principles that apply to a large majority of participants and tend to omit possible individual differences. The neural plasticity of the visual system, however, entails the potential capability for individual differences in the way observers perform perceptual tasks. We report a case of perceptual learning in a metacontrast masking task that leads to the enhancement of two types (...) of adult human observers despite identical learning conditions. In a priming task both types of observers exhibited the same priming effects, which were insensitive to learning. Findings suggest that visual processing of target stimuli in the metacontrast masking task is based on neural levels with sufficient plasticity to enable the development of two types of observers, which do not contribute to processing of target stimuli in the priming task. (shrink)

A syntactic formalism for the modeling of belief revision in perfect information games is presented that allows to define the rationality of a player's choice of moves relative to the beliefs he holds as his respective decision nodes have been reached. In this setting, true common belief in the structure of the game and rationality held before the start of the game does not imply that backward induction will be played. To derive backward induction, a “forward belief” condition is formulated (...) in terms of revised rather than initial beliefs. Alternative notions of rationality as well as the use of knowledge instead of belief are also studied within this framework. Footnotes1 I would like to thank Wlodek Rabinowicz and three anonymous referees for very helpful comments. (shrink)

Expressive-Assertivism, a metaethical theory championed by Daniel Boisvert, is sometimes considered to be a particularly promising form of hybrid expressivism. One of the main virtues of Expressive-Assertivism is that it seems to offer a simple solution to the Frege-Geach problem. I argue, in contrast, that Expressive-Assertivism faces much the same challenges as pure expressivism.

In this paper, we apply imprinting theory to examine how institutional transformation substantially influences perceptions of corruption that we argue to be incorporated to a varying extent in organizations founded in that period. For this purpose, we compare the effect of a sudden shock (dissolution of the Soviet Union) on the managers' present perceptions to that of a steady transition (EU accession). We consult the 5th round of the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey from 2012 to 2014 analyzing 4715 (...) interviews with managers of organizations from twelve Central and Eastern European countries. Our results reveal striking differences in the present perception of corruption for organizations founded immediately before and immediately after these institutional transitions. The study's results contribute to the research on imprinting theory regarding the relationship between organizations and institutional conditions that constitutes a lasting effect on organizational structures. Thus, applying an institutional perspective that considers less stable periods for organizations yields a promising avenue in research on organizational behavior. (shrink)

In metacontrast masking target visibility is modulated by the time until a masking stimulus appears. The effect of this temporal delay differs across participants in such a way that individual human observers’ performance shows distinguishable types of masking functions which remain largely unchanged for months. Here we examined whether individual differences in masking functions depend on different response criteria in addition to differences in discrimination sensitivity. To this end we reanalyzed previously published data and conducted a new experiment for further (...) data analyses. Our analyses demonstrate that a distinction of masking functions based on the type of masking stimulus is superior to a distinction based on the target–mask congruency. Individually different masking functions are based on individual differences in discrimination sensitivities and in response criteria. Results suggest that individual differences in metacontrast masking result from individually different criterion contents. (shrink)

ABSTRACTDepression is marked by rigid thinking and the inability to generate different and more positive views on the self. The current study conceptualises this a perspective-taking deficit, which is defined as a deficit in the ability to overcome one’s egocentrism. Previous research has demonstrated that individuals with depression are impaired in Theory of Mind reasoning and empathy – two social cognitions that involve cognitive and affective perspective-taking. Here, it was investigated whether these deficits generalise to visuo-spatial perspective-taking. To test this, (...) a convenience sample completed a test-battery including measures of cognitive and visuo-spatial perspective-taking and closely matched cognitive and visuo-spatial control tasks. The results showed that individuals exhibiting high levels of depressive symptoms were specifically impaired on both perspective-taking tasks but performed equally well on the cont... (shrink)

In this issue of Consciousness and Cognition, Bachmann comments on our study , which revealed two groups of observers with qualitative individual differences in metacontrast masking that are enhanced by perceptual learning. We are pleased that our study receives this attention and even more about Bachmann’s extremely positive comments. In this invited reply we argue that observers seem to be similar only at the beginning of the experiment but they have no choice as to which group to join. Findings strongly (...) recommend to look at the data of individual subjects. (shrink)

To analyze the role of automatic processes in the fulfilment of delayed intentions, we extended a typical prospective memory setting with a context signal to indicate whether the intended action is to be carried out or not. Building on dual-process models of cognition, we hypothesized that automatic and controlled processes are in opposition when the action is to be suppressed, because automatic processes trigger the associated response whereas controlled processes exert inhibition. Experiment 1 demonstrates the occurrence of false prospective memory (...) responses to cues with the “suppress” signal. Experiment 2 shows that the rate of false prospective memory responses is sensitive to a manipulation that strengthens the role of automatic processes in prospective memory. The findings support the use of false prospective memory responses for the study of automatic processes in the execution of delayed intentions. (shrink)

The problem of finding sufficient doxastic conditions for backward induction in games of perfect information is analyzed in a syntactic framework with subjunctive conditionals. This allows to describe the structure of the game by a logical formula and consequently to treat beliefs about this structure in the same way as beliefs about rationality. A backward induction and a non-Nash equilibrium result based on higher level belief in rationality and the structure of the game are derived.

In this paper, I develop a syntactic framework for the analysis ofstrategic form games that is based on a straightforward combination ofstandard systems of doxastic, probabilistic and conditionalpropositional logic. In particular, for the probabilistic part I makeuse of the axiomatization provided in Fagin and Halpern (1994). The use ofconditionals allows to represent a strategic form game by a logicalformula in a very natural way. Also expected utility maximization can benaturally captured. I use this framework to prove a version of a (...) resulton Nash equilibrium conjectures first presented in Aumann and Brandenburger (1995). (shrink)

Mathematicians often consider Zermelo-Fraenkel Set Theory with Choice (ZFC) as the only foundation of Mathematics, and frequently don’t actually want to think much about foundations. We argue here that modern Type Theory, i.e. Homotopy Type Theory (HoTT), is a preferable and should be considered as an alternative.

This paper offers a detailed reconstruction of Frege’s theory of side-thoughts and its relation to other parts of his pragmatics, most notably to the notion of colouring, to the notion of presupposition, and to his implicit notion of multi-propositionality. I also highlight some important differences between the subsemantic categories employed by Frege and those used in contemporary pragmatics.

This paper is partly exegetical, partly systematic. I argue that Frege's account of what he called “colouring” contains some important insights on how communication is related to mental states such as mental images or emotions. I also show that the Fregean perspective is supported by current research in psycholinguistics and that a full understanding of some linguistic phenomena that scholars have accounted for in terms of either semantics or pragmatics need involve psycholinguistic elements.

_Parasite_ presents the ethico-biological problem of parasitism in a metaphorical and artistic fashion. In this book, philosophers explore the film using sources such as the ancient satirist Lucian’s _De Parasito_, Nietzsche’s “the vengeance of the weak,” Dostoyevsky’s “Underground,” or Marxism, among others.

The author argues that there is no such thing as a unique and general taxonomy of non-at-issue contents. Accordingly, we ought to shun large categories such as “conventional implicature”, “F-implicature”, “CI”, “Class B” or the like. As an alternative, we may, first, describe the “semantic profile” of linguistic devices as accurately as possible. Second, we may explicitly tailor our categories to particular theoretical purposes.

Common symptoms of multiple sclerosis include motor impairments of the lower extremities, particularly gait disturbances. Loss of balance and muscle weakness, representing some peripheral effects, have been shown to influence these symptoms, however, the individual role of cortical and subcortical structures in the central nervous system is still to be understood. Assessing [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose uptake in the CNS can assess brain activity and is directly associated with regional neuronal activity. One potential modality to increase cortical excitability and improve motor function in (...) patients with MS is transcranial direct current stimulation. However, tDCS group outcomes may not mirror individual subject responses, which impedes our knowledge of the pathophysiology and management of diseases like MS. Three PwMS randomly received both 3 mA tDCS and SHAM targeting the motor cortex that controls the more-affected leg for 20 min on separate days before walking on a treadmill. The radiotracer, FDG, was injected at minute two of the 20 min walk and the subjects underwent a Positron emission tomography scan immediately after the task. Differences in relative regional metabolism of areas under the tDCS anode and the basal ganglia were calculated and investigated. The results indicated diverse and individualized responses in regions under the anode and consistent increases in some basal ganglia areas. Thus, anodal tDCS targeting the M1 that controls the more-affected leg of PwMS might be capable of affecting remote subcortical regions and modulating the activity of the circuitry connected to these regions. (shrink)

In Institutio oratoria 1,7,23 and 9,4,39 Quintilian quotes a somewhat idiosyncratic Catonian spelling for dicam and faciam. The manuscripts offer for the first passage both dicae / faciae and dice / facie as variants, whereas the second passage is corrupt, but in all probability has to be emended according to 1,7,23. Recently James Bradford Churchill and Wolfram Ax have advocated the spellings with -e. In contrast, this paper first argues on the basis of a thorough analysis of the two passages (...) for the readings dicae and faciae, which Quintilian believed Cato the elder to have written; secondly it is likely that Cato indeed had used these forms to render the weakened pronunciation of m, which sounded (as we may presume) like a weak e (something like a schwa) to him. Obviously, the exact pronunciation must remain uncertain. (shrink)

The relation between conscious recollection and source memory for perceptual details was investigated in three experiments that combined the remember–know paradigm with a multidimensional source monitoring test. Experiment 1 replicated that source memory for perceptual details is better in the case of “remember” than “know” judgments. Experiment 2 showed that the relation between “remember” judgments and source memory for perceptual details is diminished by a semantic orienting task during encoding. Experiment 3 demonstrated that “remember” judgments are related to enhanced source (...) memory for specific and unique kinds of perceptual source information, whereas memory for incomplete and global perceptual source information does not differentiate between “remember” and “know” judgments. The results show that the attentional focus during encoding and the specificity of retrieved source information form boundary conditions for the use of source memory for perceptual details as a basis of “remember” judgments. (shrink)

What, exactly, is the difference between words such as ‘dead’ and ‘deceased’? In this paper, I argue that such differences in register, or style, ought to be construed as genuine differences in non-truth-conditional meaning. I also show that register cannot plausibly accounted for in terms of either presupposition or conventional implicature. Register is, rather, an instance of what I call pure use-conditional meaning. In the case of register, a difference in meaning does not correspond to a difference in the contents (...) speakers intend to convey. (shrink)

Frege's mature writings apparently contain two different criteria of sense identity. While in "Über Sinn und Bedeutung" (1892) and in "Kurze Übersicht meiner logischen Lehren" (1906?) he seems to advocate a psychological criterion, his letter to Husserl of December 12, 1906 offers a thoroughly logical criterion of sense identity. It is argued that the latter proposal is not a "momentary aberration", but rather Frege's official criterion; his psychological criteria only serve as a way of illustrating questions of sense identity by (...) appealing to the thoughts of completely rational thinkers. (shrink)

Since Arthur Schopenhauer’s conceptual differentiation between the two modes of givenness regarding the own body, theoretical philosophy is confronted with another serious problem, which is distinct from the problem about the relation of mind and brain. In German language there are two terms to mark the two relata: Körper (living body) and Leib (~ the felt body). But both the ontological mode of Leib and body and their relation are still obscure. In this paper I propose a solution of the (...) Body-Leib-Problem by analyzing the relation between Leib and body, Leib and consciousness, and Leib and world. My essential thesis is that the living body is the representation of the Leib in the world. And this implies that Leib and body are neither identical nor completely different entities. And most notably: the Leib isn’t the mental representation of the own body. (shrink)

Why did Frege offer only proper names as examples of presupposition triggers? Some scholars claim that Frege simply did not care about the full range of presuppositional phenomena. This paper argues, in contrast, that he had good reasons for employing an extremely narrow notion of ‘Voraussetzung’. On Frege’s view, many devices that are now construed as presupposition triggers either express several thoughts at once or merely ‘illuminate’ a thought in a particular way. Fregean presuppositions, in contrast, are essentially tied to (...) names. (shrink)

What role can philosophy play in a world dominated by neoliberalism and globalization? Must it join universalist ideologies as it has in past centuries? Or might it turn to ethnophilosophy and postmodern fragmentation? Universalist cosmopolitanism and egocentric culturalism are not the only alternatives.

L’objectif de cet article est de distinguer les points forts et les points faibles du principal ouvrage théorique d’Ernst Jünger, Der Arbeiter. Herrschaft und Gestalt . Partant de la récapitulation de sa pensée, apparaît comme faiblesse une autoréflexion insuffisante de l’instance d’auteur dans l’essai de Jünger tout comme une autoréflexion insuffisante concernant son rapport à la tradition historicométaphysique. En conclusion, un point fort en ce qui concerne le contenu est relevé, ce qui fait de la lecture de l’ouvrage de Jünger, (...) tout juste à l’aube du XXIème siècle et en dépit de toutes les réserves, une proposition qui vaut la peine : sa pertinence diagnostique à l’époque des « guerres contre le terrorisme international ». (shrink)

Neuerdings ist dem Begriff der Langeweile viel philosophische Aufmerksamkeit gewidmet worden. Dieser Beitrag zeigt, wie stringent sich seine anthropologischen, ontologischen und theologischen Implikationen nachzeichnen lassen, wenn man von dem wohlbekannten Augustinus-Diktum ausgeht, ruhelos sei unser Herz, bis dass es ruhe in Gott. Das menschliche Personsein wird hier aufgrund der Erbsünde als unzufrieden oder auch gelangweilt dargestellt, und diese Darstellung radikalisiert sich durch die späteren Theorien der acedia als Unzufriedenheit oder Langeweile angesichts des bonum divinum selbst. Die neuzeitliche philosophische Rede von (...) ennui, Langeweile usw. übernimmt die wesentlichen Implikationen von inquietudo cordis und acedia auch dort, wo sie diese am entschiedensten verkehrt - mit Pascal beginnend über den deutschen Idealismus bis zur Quasi-Gnosis von Cioran und Heideggers Versuch, das Herz des Menschen als auf dessen endgültige Ruhe im „letzten Gott" hin ausgerichtet zu verstehen. In the past decades, the concept of boredom has been attracting much philosophical attention. The aim of this article is to show how concisely a summary of its anthropological, ontological and theological implications can be drawn if one starts from the famous phrase in St. Augustine's "Confessions" that our heart is restless until it rests in God. Human personal being is conceived of here as dissatisfied or bored because of the original sin, and this conception sees its radicalization in the theory of the acedia as a being dissatisfied or bored by the bonum divinum itself. The modern philosophical discourse on ennui, Langeweile and the like inherits very truly the basic implications of inquietudo cordis and acedia even where they are the most decisively inverted, as is shown beginning with Pascal, across the very centre of German Idealist philosophy, until Cioran's quasi-Gnostic turn and Heidegger's attempt to understand the heart of man as directed towards its ultimate rest in the "last God". (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to distinguish between weak and strong points of Ernst Jünger’s main theoretical work Der Arbeiter. Herrschaft und Gestalt . Starting from recapitulation of his thought, as a weakness appears the insufficient selfreflection of author’s instance in Jünger’s essay together with the insufficient selfreflection regarding his relation towards the historicalmetaphysical tradition. In conclusion, a substantive strength is shown which turns reading of Jünger’s work, right at the dawn of the 21st century and with all due (...) reservations, in a worthwhile suggestion – namely, its diagnostic relevance in the era of “wars against international terrorism”. (shrink)

“Prizeworthy Research?” Wilhelm Roux and His Program of Developmental Mechanics. The Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine is awarded annually to a maximum of three laureates. Not surprisingly, the number of nominees is much larger. Drawing on Nobel Prize nominations in the Nobel archives in Sweden, the core of this paper deals with the nomination letters for the physiologist Wilhelm Roux to discuss competition and some controversies among German physiologists around 1900 in this particular context. The paper elucidates the arguments (...) brought forward to portray Roux as a scientist who had conferred “the greatest benefit to mankind” in the field of physiology or medicine ; examines some other runners-up, and reconstructs why Roux as well as some of his peers were not awarded the Nobel Prize. On a more general level, we argue that an analysis of Nobel Prize nominations contributes to a broader history of excellence in science and medicine in the twentieth century. (shrink)

For a long time, the dominant approach to studying decision making under risk has been to use psychoeconomic functions to account for how behavior deviates from the normative prescriptions of expected value maximization. While this neo-Bernoullian tradition has advanced the field in various ways—such as identifying seminal phenomena of risky choice —it contains a major shortcoming: Psychoeconomic curves are mute with regard to the cognitive mechanisms underlying risky choice. This neglect of the mechanisms both limits the explanatory value of neo-Bernoullian (...) models and fails to provide guidance for designing effective interventions to improve decision making. Here we showcase a recent “attentional turn” in research on risk choice that elaborates how deviations from normative prescriptions can result from imbalances in attention allocation and that thus promises to overcome the challenges of the neo-Bernoullian tradition. We argue that a comprehensive understanding of preference formation in risky choice must provide an account on a mechanistic level, and we delineate directions in which existing theories that rely on attentional processes may be extended to achieve this objective. (shrink)

According to judgment internalism, there is a conceptual connection between moral judgment and motivation. This paper offers an argument against that kind of internalism that does not involve counterexamples of the amoralist sort. Instead, it is argued that these forms of judgment internalism fall prey to a Frege-Geach type argument.

Als Erkenntnistheorie der phänomenologischen Erkenntnis versteht sich die folgende Untersuchung als ein zentrales Stück der von Husserl geforderten Selbstkritik der phänomenologischen Erkenntnis. Ausgehend vom normalsprachlichen Wahrheitsbegriff und dessen Explikation soll die prinzipielle Möglichkeit wahrer phänomenologischer Beschreibungen durch Rückgang auf das Phänomen der Wahrheit ausgewiesen werden. Im Anschluss an Husserls Analysen der vorprädikativen Erfahrung wird die explizierende Betrachtung (in Abgrenzung zum prädikativen Urteil) als die eigentlich erkennende, nämlich die kategorialen Strukturen der Phänomene erfassende und offenlegende Leistung exponiert, die einerseits anschaulich begründete (...) prädikative Urteile allererst ermöglicht und andererseits diese bewahrheitet. Die vorprädikative Erfassung liegt dabei auch der kategorialen Anschauung als einer bereits prädikativen Leistung konstitutiv zugrunde. (shrink)

Columella’s work De re rustica, written in the first century A. D., is the most comprehensive treatise on agriculture extant from Graeco-Roman antiquity. An important part of his work is the treatment of animals, ranging from larger ones such as oxen, cows, horses and mules (dealt with in Book 6) to smaller ones such as sheep, goats, swine and dogs (discussed in Book 7). He devotes special sections to various types of birds, in particular chickens, and to fishes (Book 8) (...) as well as wild animals and bees (Book 9). The aim of this article is to analyse the roles and functions of animals for the ideal farmer (perfectus agricola) as outlined by Columella. While economic concerns are indeed important to him, he also takes into account numerous other aspects such as the emotional dimension between animal and farmer. The paper further highlights instances in the text where the author attributes a certain aesthetic value to animals. The final section attempts a brief comparison with Varro’s De re rustica. (shrink)

This article is mainly concerned with Statius' Silvae 3. 5, addressed to his wife Claudia. It intends to demonstrate how exemplarity and praise, features familiar from other Silvae, are intertwined in this poem with the question of gender roles. At the same time, it will be argued that the praise of other people as well as of places in this poem is closely connected with the persona of the author and that it amounts to a proud portrayal of himself and (...) his art. Statius' Silvae 3. 5 will then be compared briefly, first, with Silvae 2. 7, a genethliacon written to honour the deceased poet Lucan and his wife Polla; second, with some of Ovid's poems from exile that are addressed to his wife and to the poetess Perilla ; and third, with a letter by Pliny the Younger concerning his wife Calpurnia and her virtues. (shrink)

This article explores the question of how to understand social media following the Habermasian theory of the structural transformation of the public sphere. We argue for a return to political-economic fundamentals as the basis for analysing the public sphere and seek to establish a characteristic connection between digital-behavioural control and singularised audiences in the context of proprietary markets. In the digital constellation, it is less a matter of immobilising the citizen as a consumer but rather of their political activation – (...) albeit in conditions under which commercial interests have primacy: privatisation without privatism. (shrink)

Neutron Therapy: An Experimental System in Radiooncology. The history of the use of neutrons in radiotherapy will be revisited by focusing on the ideas, theories and experiments that led to first clinical studies. For addressing epistemological questions regarding biological effects of fast neutrons, the notion of an “experimental system” is employed and its evolution over time discussed. Taking up the analytical framework of Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, biological effects and the physical instrument “cyclotron” are conceptualized in terms of epistemic and technical objects. (...) It is shown that the epistemic object “biological effects of neutrons” could never reach the status of a technical object and – more strikingly – that the cyclotron itself returned to being an epistemic object in the context of medicine. So there is a misunderstanding of the different roles epistemic and technical objects have to play in the framework of an experimental system. This misunderstanding led to today's highly controversial discussions about the application of neutrons in radiotherapy. (shrink)

The institutionalization of cancer research in the German context was initiated by formation of the “Comité für Krebsforschung” (Committee for Cancer Research) in February 1900. One of the main actors in this connection was Ernst von Leyden (1832–1910), physician, clinician and head of the First Clinic of the Berliner Charité. This article investigates the essential conditions for the process of institutionalization and its further development in time. For this purpose, the concept of “resources” and a multi-level model of the public (...) are applied. It becomes apparent that bacteriology as well as statistics and tuberculosis research were not deployed as scientific resources, but rather as instruments of science policy. The period of investigation comprises the later publications of Leyden, concerning the etiology of cancer, the foundation of the “Comité” and its expansion right up to the participation of its members in exhibitions, namely the “Internationale Hygiene-Ausstellung” (International Hygiene Exhibition) in Dresden 1911. (shrink)

Following Hans-Jörg Rheinberger’s epistemological concept we show how a generic element of synthetic biology, the “biological switch”, can be integrated into an experimental system. Here synthetic biology is assumed to be a technoscience. Hence, the biological switch becomes a technoscientific research object. Consequently, the experimental system has to be analyzed in a technoscientific experimental setting, showing differences in comparison with the former. To work out the specific properties of the technoscientific experimental system, biological switching behavior is compared with the scientific (...) research object laser light in its classical setting. For the analyses, both the laser light and bistability, enabling a biological switch, are considered as epistemic things connected by the same theoretical concept of phase transitions. The so-called Schlögl model is used to model both biological switching behavior and induced emission of radiation and becomes an epistemic thing in itself. It becomes clear that the answer, whether one is dealing with the emission of laser light or with bistable switching behavior, is linked to the perspective taken. The technoscientific orientation towards applications and the development of basic scientific theories require different perspectives on one and the same epistemic thing, here also represented by the model. The research objects of synthetic biology as a technoscience thus also enter into the corresponding experimental systems as techno-epistemic objects. Their analysis leads to a more complete understanding of what constitutes synthetic biology. (shrink)

This essay compares decade-long commemorations between American and Japanese veterans of Pearl Harbor, and the ancient kabuki legend of “Treading the Tiger's Tail”, which also concerns enemies who come to appreciate their commonalities. The “danger zones” in the joint Pearl Harbor reunions had less to do with enemies still fighting an old war, than with each nation's internally unresolved tensions and with sensitivities across a broader, more complex constellation of postures toward war memory. Hawai'i played a significant role in providing (...) a more culturally porous milieu for the veterans to meet, away from the mainstream tensions in each of their respective nations. (shrink)

This is a book about space. On a first level, it reflects traditional Japanese ideas of space against various “items” of Western culture. Among these items are Bakhtin's “dialogicity”, Wittgenstein’s Lebensform, and “virtual space” or “globalized” space as representatives of the latest development of an “alienated”, modern spatial experience. Some of the Western concepts of space appear as negative counter examples to “basho-like”, Japanese places; others turn out to be compatible with the Japanese idea of space. On a second level, (...) the book attempts to synthesize, by constantly transgressing the limits of a purely comparative activity, a quantity which the author believes to be existent in Japanese culture that is called “the virtual”. Be it Kuki Shûzô's hermeneutics of non-foundation or his ontology of dream, Nishida Kitarô’s virtual definition of the body of state, or Kimura Bin's notion of “in-between” (aida) that is so closely associated with the “virtual space” of Noh plays: what all these conceptions have in common is that they aim to transcend a flat notion of “reality” by developing “the virtual” as a complex ontological unity. (shrink)

The predominance and global expansion of homogenizing modes of production, consumption and information risks alienating non-Western and Western people alike from the intellectual and moral resources embedded in their own distinctive cultural traditions. In reaction to the erosion of traditional cultures and civilizations, we seem to be witnessing the re-emergence of a tendency to “re-ethnicize the mind” through renewed and more or less systematic cultural revivals worldwide (e.g., “hinduization,” “ivoirization,” “sinofication,” “islamicization,” “indigenization,” etc.). How do and should _philosophers_ understand and (...) assess the significance and impact of this phenomenon? Authors acquainted with the contemporary situation in Africa, Asia, the Middle-East, South-America, and Europe try to answer this question. In the final analysis, the authors of this original and groundbreaking collection of essays plead for a full critical engagement with one’s own particularity while at the same time rejecting any form of cultural, national or regional chauvinism. They consider various ways in which local and global conceptions as well as practices can and already do judiciously inform and positively fertilize each other. At this juncture of history, they argue, societies and peoples must articulate their self-identity by looking critically at their respective cultural resources, and beyond them at the same time. (shrink)