Einleitung - S. Peetz: Subjekt und Freiheit. Antike Grundlagen moderner Konzeptionen der Willensfreiheit - G. Schmidt: Die Paradoxie des Subjekts - A. Friedrich Koch: Die Logik des Scheinens und der Sinn von "ich" - B. Tuschling: Epochen, Stufen und Dimensionen von Subjektivität und Transzendentalität bei Kant: 1770, 1781/87, 1790, 1799/1800 - M. Baum: Person und Persönlichkeit bei Kant - S. Sedgwick: Die Leerheit des 'Ich': Kants Transzendentale Deduktion in "Glauben und Wissen" - E. Düsing: Subjektivität und göttliches Sein bei Fichte (...) - mit Ausblicken auf Kierkegaard - J. Engfer: Kants Konzeption der menschlichen Vernunft und Plessners Begriff der Exzentrizität - T. Nenon: Freiheit, Verantwortung und Selbstbewusstsein bei Husserl - R. Cristin: Die Abenteuer des Bewusstseins. Zum Subjektbegriff bei Husserl und Heidegger - C.-A. Scheier: Über logische und andere Subjekte. (shrink)

We present the Italian translation of a well-known contribution of Dieter Lohmar on the problem of phenomenological reduction which first appeared in German under the title Die Idee der Reduktion. Husserls Reduktionen und ihr gemeinsamer, methodischer Sinn. The different reductive strategies in the Husserlian works are traced back to a common model that shows continuity and progress of the phenomenological method from what Lohmar identifies as a reduction to the reeller Bestand up to the transcendental, primordial, life-worldly forms (...) of reduction. (shrink)

In the first edition of Husserl’s 5th Logical Investigation we find a relatively unknown reductive method, which Husserl identifies retrospectively in the second edition as a ,Reduktion auf den reellen Bestand‘. In the 1913 version of the Logical Investigations the descriptions of this first reduction are nearly completely obscured by Husserl’s tendency to see them as tentative hints to his transcendental reduction. In this paper I will delineate the aims and the methodical context, but also the shortcomings, of Husserl’s first (...) attempt at a reduction, taking into account also the problems of the sense and the motivation of transcendental reduction. This first reduction seems strongly steeped in the methods and presuppositions of empiricism, a stance that was highly problematic already in the phenomenology of the first edition. Thus the present investigation opens up some new ways of understanding the formation of the method of reduction in phenomenology. (shrink)

In this paper, the author presents Husserl’s method of eidetic varition. He starts with an analysis of how the method works in the case of empirical types corresponding to objects of everyday life, and he stress the results of its application, namely the gathering of a priori, apodictic knowledge about essences. The author examines the way this method can be applied to what Husserl called the material mathematics, for instance, Euclidean geometry. Finally, he addresses the main question regarding the possibility (...) of using eidetic variation, and eidetic intuition, in formal mathematics. Análysing one example of a formal proof, he concludes that eideitic variation procedures are still at work in this realm. Precisely in the “implicit variation” that allows the mathematician to reason about any number whatsoever when developing is formal proofs, for instance, about any concrete natural number, when proving a theorem about N. (shrink)

Während es im moralisch-politischen Diskurs geradezu unkontrovers ist, dass Toleranz eine eminent wichtige Rolle für ein friedliches Zusammenleben von Menschen in pluralistischen Gesellschaften spielt, ist es alles andere als klar, was Toleranz überhaupt ist. Insbesondere die häufig anzutreffende Auffassung, dass es ‚Paradoxien‘ der Toleranz gäbe, sowie die in der Literatur immer von Neuem auftauchende Vexierfrage, ob Toleranz auch den Feinden der Toleranz gelten kann oder muss, sind deutliche Anzeichen dafür, dass es kein stabiles Verständnis der Natur dieser Einstellung gibt. Das (...) Problem ist nicht zuletzt ein methodologisches. Ich stelle zunächst einige Adäquatheitsbedingungen für eine Theorie der Toleranz auf, und argumentiere dann, dass eine Theorie der Toleranz als eine moralpsychologische Theorie vom normativen Begriff der Tolerierbarkeit frei zu halten ist. Nach der hier vorgeschlagenen Theorie besteht das Herzstück der Toleranz in einer verhaltenswirksamen Kontrolle moralischer Aversionen. Diese Theorie erfüllt die Adäquatheitsbedingungen für Theorien der Toleranz und wird von ihnen sogar erzwungen. Auf der Grundlage der erzielten Ergebnisse, erläutere ich dann Sinn und Rechtfertigung der Toleranzforderung und skizziere ihren Ort innerhalb der Ethik. (shrink)

A substantial guide providing an overview of both physicalism and metaphysical naturalism, reviewing both questions of formulation and justification for both doctrines. Includes a diagnostic strategy for understanding talk of naturalism as a metaphysical thesis.

Husserl is known to have oriented many aspects of his extensive analyses of phantasy around a contrast to perception: what phantasy and perception have in common, for example, is their intuitiveness; yet, while in perception something is encountered ‘in the flesh,’ in phantasy this experience is modified by its ‘as if in the flesh’ character. However, both in the majority of Husserl’s reflections on phantasy and in much of the secondary literature on the topic, we find few further details concerning (...) the difference between both modes of intuitiveness: ‘in the flesh’ and ‘as if in the flesh.’ In this paper, I draw on sources from Husserl’s later work in order to get clarification on at least one important point of difference, namely the ways in which individuation and identity, that is, constitutions of individual and identical objects, clearly set apart phantasy from perception. As we will see, this requires an understanding of Husserl’s account of objective time, and of the constitution of individual identical objects with their unique positions in objective time. After an introductory discussion of the meaning and the conditions of individuation in the methodical framework of phenomenology, I will lay out the different levels of the constitution of objective time. In the second part of the paper, I will try to follow and explore one of Husserl’s arguments that contrasts the constitutional performances involved in the constitution of phantasy objects with the individuation of real objects in objective time. The textual basis for this discussion is to be found in Husserl’s last book, Experience and Judgement. In what follows, I will begin with a short discussion of the concepts of individuality, individuation, uniqueness and identity, and also ask why these issues may be of special interest for a phenomenologist who is investigating the phenomenon of phantasy. (shrink)

In diesem Aufsatz diskutiere ich die radikale und anspruchsvolle These, dass es intrinsisch unmoralisch und absolut verboten ist, sich selbst das Leben zu nehmen. Diese These verdient Interesse, insofern sie konstitutiv mit einer besonderen Auffassung über Wesen und Sinn der Moral verbunden ist. So behauptete Wittgenstein, dass alles erlaubt ist, wenn der Suizid erlaubt ist. Wie in der christlichen Tradition wird der Suizid damit als ein nihilistischer Akt interpretiert, welcher in Opposition zur Moral als solcher steht. Entsprechend gehört es dann (...) zum Sinn der Moral selbst, dass niemand sich selbst das Leben nehmen darf. Zur Begründung des absoluten Verbotenseins des Suizids kann eine säkulare Ethik entweder zu zeigen versuchen, dass die Unverfügbarkeit des eigenen Lebens aus dem Begriff der Moral folgt; oder sie kann zu zeigen versuchen, dass sie aus dem Sinn der eigenen sittlichen Existenz folgt. Ich zeige im Detail, warum alle beide dieser von Kant beschrittenen Wege scheitern, und ent­wickle schließlich Konsequenzen, die sich aus dieser Zurückweisung für einige grundlegende Fragen der Ethik ergeben. (shrink)

According to Humeanism, actions cannot be adequately explained without reference to the desires of an agent. Desires are viewed as sources of motivation or as motivating states and thus as having an indispensable role to play in the explanation of actions. One of the main rivals of Humeanism is pure cognitivsm. According to this view, actions are to be explained exclusively by beliefs. The present paper's focus is on arguments Jonathan Dancy has put forward in favor of this pure cognitivist (...) picture. His main line of argument tries to convince us of the claim that desires have no explanatory value at all as regards the explantion of an agent's actions. I argue that none of Dancy's arguments against Humeanism is successful, and moreover that the pure cognitivists position fails on its own terms because pure cognitivism is unable to provide an account of desires that makes intelligible their role in the mental economy of agents. (shrink)

There is widespread belief among realists that it is consistent to think of the world as a totality of absolute facts and of our representation of the world as perspectival. As a pluralist Michael Lynch has challenged this view by arguing that relativism about representational content en tails relativism about facts. Lynch's 'T-argument' is presented and discussed in detail. It is argued not only that the 'T-argument' fails and that content relativism and fact absolutism are compatible, but also that content (...) absolutism entails fact absolutism. These two points add up to a serious challenge of pluralists in committing them to the view that there are many actual worlds. (shrink)

We perceive smells as perduring complex entities within a distal array that might be conceived of as smellscapes. However, the philosophical orthodoxy of Odor Theories has been to deny that smells are perceived as having a distal location. Recent challenges have been mounted to Odor Theories’ veracity in handling the timescale of olfactory perception, how it individuates odors as a distal entities, and their claim that olfactory perception is not spatial. The paper does not aim to dispute these criticisms. Rather, (...) what will be shown is that Molecular Structure Theory, a refinement of Odor Theory, can be further developed to handle these challenges. The theory is further refined by focusing on distal perception that requires considering the perceptual object as mereologically complex persisting odor against a background scene conceived of as a smellscape. What will be offered is an expansion of Molecular Structure Theory to account for distal smell perception within natural environments. (shrink)

Inside What Would Plato Do?, you'll find the basics of philosophy, written in an easy, digestible way we can all understand, along with questions to help you apply these important theories to your own life. So, after you've learned about a philosophical concept, you'll then be challenged to test yourself and see how the results can impact your daily life. For instance, after learning about Kant's theory of morality and the importance of intention you're challenged with questions like: Can good (...) people do bad things? Was there a time when you intended to do something helpful that ended up being hurtful? Does that make you a good person (because you intended to do good) or a bad person (because the results were bad)? What Would Plato Do? will not only help you better understand some of the greatest thinkers ever but will also help you think of the world around you in a whole new way! (shrink)

Was Interkulturelle Philosophie ist, und worin ihr besonderer Beitrag zur Philosophie im ganzen bestehen kann, das kann sich allein in konkreten Ausarbeitungen erweisen. Der vorliegende Band repräsentiert eine breitgefächerte Auswahl sowohl der unterschiedlichen Ansatzpunkte, von denen interkulturelles Philosophieren ausgeht, als auch der diversen Forschungsgebiete innerhalb der Philosophie, die durch interkulturelle Fragestellungen angesprochen sind. Die Vielfalt der historischen und systematischen Zugangsweisen reflektiert die Überzeugung, daß Interkulturelle Philosophie kein in sich geschlossenes Lehrgebäude ist und ein solches auch nicht werden kann, sondern interkulturelles (...) Philosophieren eine bestimmte Einstellung und eine Haltung darbietet, die auf der grundlegenden Annahme beruht, daß die letzte philosophische Einsicht, _die_ Wahrheit im Singular, von niemandem allein erlangt worden ist und auch nicht erlangt werden kann. (shrink)

The neurological discovery of mirror neurons is of eminent importance for the phenomenological theory of intersubjectivity. G. Rizzolatti and V. Gallese found in experiments with primates that a set of neurons in the premotor cortex represents the visually registered movements of another animal. The activity of these mirror neurons presents exactly the same pattern of activity as appears in the movement of one's own body. These findings may be extended to other cognitive and emotive functions in humans. I show how (...) these neurological findings might be “translated” phenomenologically into our own experienced sensations, feelings and volitions. (shrink)

We are immersed within an odorous sea of chemical currents that we parse into individual odors with complex structures. Odors have been posited as determined by the structural relation between the molecules that compose the chemical compounds and their interactions with the receptor site. But, naturally occurring smells are parsed from gaseous odor plumes. To give a comprehensive account of the nature of odors the chemosciences must account for these large distributed entities as well. We offer a focused review of (...) what is known about the perception of odor plumes for olfactory navigation and tracking, which we then connect to what is known about the role odorants play as properties of the plume in determining odor identity with respect to odor quality. We end by motivating our central claim that more research needs to be conducted on the role that odorants play within the odor plume in determining odor identity. (shrink)

Moral expertise requires a level of reliability in moral matters that is significantly higher than that of the average person. The author argues that this requirement of epistemic superiority in moral matters is sometimes fulfilled by our future selves and generally fulfilled by present moral philosophers. Our future selves are more reliable in answering moral questions than we are, when they have been prepared to answer those questions by various epistemic activities. But if our future selves are our epistemic superiors (...) in such cases, moral philosophers are epistemic superiors in moral matters more generally since their epistemic advantages are even more significant. The author concludes by arguing that moral philosophers plausibly even qualify as moral experts. (shrink)

Dieses Buch zeigt die konkrete Ausformung und die Arbeitsprozesse des nicht-sprachlichen Denkens. Es untersucht die Funktionen des szenisch-phantasmatischen Systems in seinen grundlegenden Arten und Komponenten sowie dessen konkretes Arbeiten anhand zentraler Themen. Methodische Grundlage ist die deskriptive Phänomenologie Husserls. Als normale und entwickelte Menschen denken wir zwar für gewöhnlich im Modus der Sprache, aber das ist nicht unsere einzige Weise zu denken. Es gibt nicht nur prinzipiell, sondern auch faktisch funktionierende Alternativen: Ein System der nicht-sprachlichen Repräsentation kognitiver Inhalte im menschlichen (...) Bewusstsein. Dieses System kann zur Darstellung und Manipulation vorgestellter Sachverhalte eingesetzt werden, sodass Folgerungen, Handlungsalternativen und die Planung der Zukunft auf der Grundlage vorangegangener Erfahrung möglich werden. Für dieses nicht-sprachliche Denken ist das szenisch-phantasmatische System zentral, das auf der Grundlage von kurzfristigen Phantasmen arbeitet, die uns wie wirklich gesehene Tatsachen, Situationen und Szenen erscheinen, obwohl sie aus der Imagination stammen. Das nicht-sprachliche System lässt sich als ein noch funktionierendes Überbleibsel eines Systems interpretieren, das wir mit den Hominiden und vielen Tieren gemeinsam haben. Diese Hypothese, bestärkt durch viele eindrucksvolle Beispiele intelligenten Verhaltens bei Tieren, wird in einigen Aspekten bereits von der neurologischen Forschung bestätigt. Das Buch bietet eine systematische und umfassende Behandlung des Themas, indem es die eidetische Phänomenologie des Denkens mit der empirischen und vergleichenden Psychologie, mit Neurologie, Evolutionstheorie, Primatologie und auch einigen herausfordernden Einsichten angewandter Disziplinen in eine fruchtbare Diskussion bringt. (shrink)

Reflection Principles are commonly thought to produce only strong axioms of infinity consistent with V = L. It would be desirable to have some notion of strong reflection to remedy this, and we have proposed Global Reflection Principles based on a somewhat Cantorian view of the universe. Such principles justify the kind of cardinals needed for, inter alia , Woodin’s Ω-Logic.

When it originated in the late 19th century, psychometrics was a field with both a scientific and a social mission: psychometrics provided new methods for research into individual differences, and at the same time, these psychometric instruments were considered a means to create a new social order. In contrast, contemporary psychometrics - due to its highly technical nature and its limited involvement in substantive psychological research - has created the impression of being a value-free discipline. In this article, we develop (...) a contrasting characterization of contemporary psychometrics as a value-laden discipline. We expose four such values: that individual differences are quantitative (rather than qualitative), that measurement should be objective in a specific sense, that test items should be fair, and that utility of a model is more important than its truth. Our goal is not to criticize psychometrics for employing these values, but rather to bring them into the open and to show that these values are not inevitable and are in need of systematic evaluation. (shrink)

My contribution tries to outline some of the motives that lead Husserl to genetic phenomenology. The starting point are the analyses he wrote to include in Ideas I and Ideas II, which are dedicated to the founding of human sciences during the period 1910–1916. Here we find an intertwinement of investigations concerned with an understanding of others and their contribution to the constitution of objectivity, and new research of the genesis of the way in which individual experience shapes our access (...) to the world. My main interest is to point out systematic connections between these two directions of research which are general characteristics of genetic phenomenology. (shrink)

Was Interkulturelle Philosophie ist, und worin ihr besonderer Beitrag zur Philosophie im ganzen bestehen kann, das kann sich allein in konkreten Ausarbeitungen erweisen. Der vorliegende Band repräsentiert eine breitgefächerte Auswahl sowohl der unterschiedlichen Ansatzpunkte, von denen interkulturelles Philosophieren ausgeht, als auch der diversen Forschungsgebiete innerhalb der Philosophie, die durch interkulturelle Fragestellungen angesprochen sind. Die Vielfalt der historischen und systematischen Zugangsweisen reflektiert die Überzeugung, daß Interkulturelle Philosophie kein in sich geschlossenes Lehrgebäude ist und ein solches auch nicht werden kann, sondern interkulturelles (...) Philosophieren eine bestimmte Einstellung und eine Haltung darbietet, die auf der grundlegenden Annahme beruht, daß die letzte philosophische Einsicht, _die_ Wahrheit im Singular, von niemandem allein erlangt worden ist und auch nicht erlangt werden kann. (shrink)