Semiotics, the age-old investigation of signs, is still striving for acknowledgement as a scientific discipline. Though the ‘linguistic turn’ in the philosophical disciplines seemed to be followed by a ‘semiotic turn’ in many sciences during the 1970s, efforts were not crowned by great success. When seen from a certain distance, a definition of semiotics as a discipline can only be obtained from its history. Research into the sources of the human pre-occupation with signs, and with concepts or conceptions of signs, (...) is really desirable and even necessary when a field of considerable scientific interest at the brink of being awarded the rank of a discipline runs the risk of getting lost between the unificationism of the Morris-type and the elegance of pseudo-mathematical empty classificationism on the one side, and profitable exploitation of the sign's popularized design qualities on the other. (shrink)

Moral latitude is only ever a matter of coincidence on the most popular decision procedure in the literature on moral uncertainty. In all possible choice situations other than those in which two or more options happen to be tied for maximal expected choiceworthiness, Maximize Expected Choiceworthiness implies that only one possible option is uniquely appropriate. A better theory of appropriateness would be more sensitive to the decision maker’s credence in theories that endorse agent-centred prerogatives. In this paper, we will develop (...) and defend a modified version of this view that allows for agent-centred prerogatives and supererogation as part of its verdicts about appropriateness. (shrink)

As we move towards a world that is using machine learning and nascent artificial intelligence to analyse and, in many ways, guide most aspects of our lives, new forms of heterogeneous collaborative teams that include human/intelligent machine agents will become not just possible, but an inevitable part of our shared world. The conscious participation of the arts in the conversation about, and development and implementation of, these new collaborative possibilities is crucial, as the arts serve as our best lens through (...) which we can explore the full spectrum of potential possibilities and futures. Through the complex relationships formed through heterogeneous human/intelligent agent collaboration, we are given the opportunity to re-examine some of our assumptions and suppositions of teamwork and forms of relating and thinking within a group environment. (shrink)

The article reviews the book Hannah Arendt: An Intellectual Biography, by Michelle-Irene Brudny.

The article reviews the book Hannah Arendt: An Intellectual Biography, by Michelle-Irene Brudny.

In this article I want to continue the characteristics of philosophical methods specific to analytical philosophy, which were and are important for Professor Jan Woleński. So I refer to his work on the methods of analytical philosophy, but I also point out a few new methods that have grown up in the climate of studies of philosophers, especially analytical ontologists. I will therefore describe the following methods: generalization, specialization, formalization, de-formalization and topological hermeneutics. Instead of the term “method” I use (...) interchangeably the terms “operation” or “procedure”. I will show that each of these operations makes an important contribution to ontological investigations, and, in particular, to formal ontology. (shrink)

The subject of this article in an analysis of the globalisation process in economic and social areas. The author describes the main spheres of globalisation such as economic and political integration, the declining role of nation states, cultural homogenisation and the increasing significance of transnational corporations. The advantages and disadvantages of globalisation are discussed. The author also indicates differences between regions that benefit from globalisation. The article tries to answer questions whether globalisation is a desirable process and what it should (...) be like to bring more benefits than losses. (shrink)

Classical spinning particles are interpreted in terms of an underlying geometric theory. They are described by trajectories on the Poincaré group. Upon quantization an eleven-dimensional Kaluza-Klein type theory is obtained which incorporates spin and isospin in a local SL(2, C)×U(1)×SU(2) gauge theory, unifying gravity and the pre-Higgs standard model. The relation to parametrized relativistic quantum theory is discussed.

Das Ziel des Bandes besteht darin, einen Überblick über die Grundfragen, Kernthemen und Handlungsfelder der praktischen Wirtschaftsphilosophie zu geben. Zu diesem Zweck befasst sich Teil I einführend mit dem Verhältnis von Ökonomie und Ethik, der Verbindung zwischen Wirtschaft, Gesellschaft und Politik sowie dem Zusammenhang von Globalisierung, Transnationalisierung und Interkulturalität. Teil II setzt sich mit den Kernthemen der praktischen Wirtschaftsphilosophie auseinander. Es werden Begriffe und Themen vorgestellt, die sowohl für die ökonomische Wissenschaft als auch für die Realökonomie relevant sind. Hierzu zählen (...) systematische und normative Begriffe wie Präferenzen, Rationalität oder Regeln, Grundlagenthemen wie Freiheit, Verantwortung oder Gerechtigkeit und operative Themenfelder wie Handel, Markt, Kooperation oder Digitalisierung. Teil III beschäftigt sich abschließend aus wirtschaftsphilosophischer Perspektive mit zentralen Praxisfeldern der Ökonomie. Dazu gehören das Verhältnis von Unternehmens- und Konsumentenverantwortung, die Rolle von Stakeholder-Beziehungen, Shared Value-Ansätze, die Verbindung von Governance und Institutionen sowie alternative Wirtschaftsformen und die Wirtschaftspolitik. Das Handbuch Wirtschaftsphilosophie verbindet in interdisziplinärer Perspektive philosophische Grundlagenreflexion mit theoretischer und praktischer Erschließung des ökonomischen Handelns. Methodisch werden dabei wissenschaftstheoretische, normative, kulturbezogene und historische Aspekte miteinander verbunden. (shrink)

Die Vertreibung jüdischer Psychoanalytiker aus NS-Deutschland ging damit einher, dass sie von ihren eigenen Kollegen aus der DPG gedrängt wurden. Dieser Bruch hat die Wiederanknüpfung echter Beziehungen zwischen beiden Gruppen nach dem Zusammenbruch des NS-Regimes und der deutschen Niederlage im Zweiten Weltkrieg erheblich belastet. Anhand erhaltener Korrespondenzen wird diese gestörte Nachkriegskommunikation rekonstruiert und auf ihre Langzeitfolgen geprüft.

Die Aufzeichnungen, die Ludger Kühnhardt in 235 Ländern und Territorien der Erde verfasst hat, lassen ein faszinierendes Panorama entstehen, gespiegelt in persönlichen Eindrücken, Begegnungen und Erfahrungen eines in aller Welt tätigen Politikwissenschaftlers und Publizisten. Das Buch rekonstruiert die Verknüpfungen zwischen den Transformationen Europas und dem entstehenden globalen Zeitalter während sechs Jahrzehnten ab 1960 bis zur Schwelle der post-Corona-Welt 2020.

_Religion, War and the Crisis of Modernity: A Special Issue Dedicated to the Philosophy of Jan Patočka_ _The New Yearbook for Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy_ provides an annual international forum for phenomenological research in the spirit of Husserl's groundbreaking work and the extension of this work by such figures as Scheler, Heidegger, Sartre, Levinas, Merleau-Ponty and Gadamer. Contributors: Ivan Chvatík, Nicolas de Warren, James Dodd, Eddo Evink, Ludger Hagedorn, Jean-Luc Marion, Claire Perryman-Holt, Marcia Sá Cavalcante Schuback, Michael Staudigl, Christian (...) Sternad, and Ľubica Učník. (shrink)

In cognitive science, long-term anticipation, such as when planning to do something next year, is typically seen as a form of ‘higher’ cognition, requiring a different account than the more basic activities that can be understood in terms of responsiveness to ‘affordances,’ i.e. to possibilities for action. Starting from architects that anticipate the possibility to make an architectural installation over the course of many months, in this paper we develop a process-based account of affordances that includes long-term anticipation within its (...) scope. We present a framework in which situations and their affordances unfold, and can be thought of as continuing a history of practices into a current situational activity. In this activity affordances invite skilled participants to act further. Via these invitations one situation develops into the other; an unfolding process that sets up the conditions for its own continuation. Central to our process account of affordances is the idea that engaged individuals can be responsive to the direction of the process to which their actions contribute. Anticipation, at any temporal scale, is then part and parcel of keeping attuned to the movement of the unfolding situations to which an individual contributes. We concretize our account by returning to the example of anticipation observed in architectural practice. This account of anticipation opens the door to considering a wide array of human activities traditionally characterized as ‘higher’ cognition in terms of engaging with affordances. (shrink)

Band 1. Paradigmen personaler Identität -- Band 2. Soziale Gruppen und Identitätspraktiken.

The "immeasurable lightness and fragility of the human fact." Jan Patočka and the Crisis of HumanismThe article addresses Jan Patočka’s writings in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. The paper’s title – "The Immense Lightness and Fragility of the Human Fact" – is taken from a short, yet immensely crucial 1946 text of his that formulates a severe criticism of ideology/ideologies and eventually offers a profound questioning of humanist ideals. Accentuating his critique against the backdrop of Sartre's and (...) Heidegger's contemporaneous challenges to humanism, the paper argues that Patočka debunks a misconceived "cult of the human being" and ideologies of progress while insisting on the integrity of a human life in confrontation with its inherent weakness and fragility. (shrink)

This article examines the use of mathematical concepts in philosophy, focusing on topology, which may be viewed as a modern supplement to geometry. We show that Plato and Parmenides were already employing geometric ideas in their research, and discuss three examples of the application of topology to philosophical problems: the first concerns the analysis of the Cartesian distinction between res extensa and res cogitans, the second the ontology of possible worlds of Wittgenstein's Tractatus, and the third Leibniz's monadology. We also (...) consider the role of topology in mathematical explanations of the sort found in science, arguing that it can perform a role in philosophy that is of comparable importance. (shrink)

Imagination is often considered the pinnacle of representational cognition. Looking at the concrete details of imagining in context, this paper aims to contribute to the emerging literature that is challenging this representational view by offering a relational and radically situated alternative. On the basis of observing architects in the process of making an architectural art installation, we show how to consider imagination not as de-contextualized achievement by an individual but as an opening up to larger-scale “affordances,” i.e. the unfolding possibilities (...) for action. We show how the architects coordinate the enactment of multiple affordances across different timescales, from small-scale affordances of picking up a mobile phone to the large-scale affordance of making the installation that takes months to unfold. These affordances get co-determined as they are jointly enacted. It is within this determining process that imagination too finds its place. On our view it is the indeterminacy of multiple affordances unfolding in action simultaneously that can be experienced as imaginative. The indeterminate character of this coordinative process allows activities to widen and open up, letting new possibilities for action enter into them. (shrink)

In der Geschichte der Philosophie waren Bilder oft dem Verdacht des Lügens ausgesetzt. Doch wenn sie lügen können, können sie dann auch die Wahrheit sagen?0Der Vorwurf des Lügens unterstellt nicht, dass jemand beim Gebrauch eines Bildes die Unwahrheit sagt, sondern dass Bilder selbst agieren. Viele Kulturtechniken unterstellen Bildern eine Wahrheitsfähigkeit, ein Potenzial der Verifizierung und Bezeugung. In Bildern wird etwas anschaulich, auf das sich die visuelle Wahrheitsgewinnung stützen kann. Das vorliegende Buch versucht eine systematische Bestimmung dieser »pikturalen Evidenz±: Bilder »sagen± (...) die Wahrheit nicht, aber sie können Sachverhalte überprüfbar präsentieren. Sie können Aspekte der Wirklichkeit erhellen, die außerhalb des pikturalen Objekts nicht wahrnehmbar sind. Um diese Wahrheitsfähigkeit präzise zu erfassen, gilt es, Gestaltungseigenschaften von Bildern sowie Funktionen und Wirkungsweisen ins Zentrum der Analyse zu stellen. Es zeigt sich, dass die pikturale Evidenz weniger aus der Bezugnahme auf ein Vorbild herrührt, noch aus den ästhetischen Qualitäten der Abbildung, sondern aus einer Anschaulichkeit, die nur das Bild als ein gestaltetes Ding eröffnet. (shrink)

Ludwig Wittgenstein found the conception of aesthetics as science of beauty ridiculous, because if that were the case, it would also have to explain which sort of coffee tastes well. This conception returns in the new aesthetics of the everyday, tuned up with eco-chic. My paper tries to explain how the concept of the everyday and that of a science of beauty are related; second, it intends to limit the claims of this dominant conception of aesthetics by arguments derived from (...) the philosophy of art; and third, it wants to turn the attention to ways of production of the everyday, in which aesthetics is necessary to provide legitimacy. What is the function of aesthetics in the production of the everyday? (shrink)

The architecture of cities provides infrastructures for thousands of people. Yet if it seems that the primary task of this architecture is to make the administration of many people, their living together, their work, their leisure, possible on a rational and dense basis, we ought not oversee that the fulfillment of these functions is not a sufficient condition of what makes a city. Important characteristics of urbanity rather enable the meeting of a multitude of people. Cities count among the conditions (...) for social events insofar as they assemble. In my paper, I propose to analyze this architectural condition as the decisive difference between »Being With« in contrast to just »Being next to«. (shrink)

The architecture of cities provides infrastructures for thousands of people.Yet if it seems that the primary task of this architecture is to make the administration of many people, their living together, their work, their leisure, possible on a rational and dense basis, we ought not oversee that the fulfillment of these functions is not a sufficient condition of what makes a city. Important characteristics of urbanity rather enable the meeting of a multitude of people. Cities count among the conditions for (...) social events insofar as they assemble. In my paper, I propose to analyze this architectural condition as the decisive difference between »Being With« in contrast to just »Being next to«. (shrink)

After a short sketch of Lowe’s account of his four basic categories, I discuss his theory of formal ontological relations and how Lowe wants to account for dispositional predications. I argue that on the ontic level Lowe is a pan-categoricalist, while he is a language dualist and an exemplification dualist with regard to the dispositional/categorical distinction. I argue that Lowe does not present an adequate account of disposition. From an Aristotelian point of view, Lowe conflates dispositional predication with hôs epi (...) to poly statements about what is normally or mostly the case. (shrink)

As well as disagreeing about how much one should donate to charity, moral theories also disagree about where one should donate. In light of this disagreement, how should the morally uncertain philanthropist allocate her donations? In many cases, one intuitively attractive option is for the philanthropist to split her donations across all of the charities that are recommended by moral views in which she has positive credence, with each charity’s share being proportional to her credence in the moral theories that (...) recommend that particular charity. Despite the fact that something like this approach is already being used by real-world philanthropists to distribute billions of dollars of donations, it is not supported by any of the approaches to moral uncertainty that have been proposed thus-far in the philosophical literature. In this paper, we will develop a bargaining-based approach to moral uncertainty that honors the proportionality intuition in favor of splitting one’s donations. We also show how this bargaining-based approach has several further advantages over the best alternative proposals. (shrink)