Naturalism and Democracy, first published in German in 2014, presents a long-awaited commentary on Spinoza’s Political Treatise (Tractatus politicus). It gives a detailed analysis of Spinoza’s latest theory of State and Law, with special attention to his democratic approach.

English summary: A commentary on Spinoza's final work, Tractatus Politicus has until recently remained a desideratum. In contrast to his metaphysics and his philosophy of religion, Spinoza's theories on politics, the state and law have received little attention in the German-speaking countries. It's only recently that Spinoza's political philosophy again become widely discussed in Germany. Having established the role of political philosophy and working always within the context of Spinoza's complete work, this volume comments firstly on Spinoza's theory on the (...) natural genesis of law and the state, including the foundations of political philosophy, the relationship between natural and national law and the theory of sovereignty and international relations. Continuing on this basis it moves on to his concept for the optimization of the system of political and legal institutions in all three forms of government. Finally, there is an analysis of the current relevance of Spinoza's thought and its impact on current debate. The work includes contributions by Tilman Altwicker, Wolfgang Bartuschat, Tobias Herbst, Gunnar Hindrichs, Rainer Keil, Stephan Kirste, Martin Leiner, Oliver W. Lembcke, Tilman Reitz and Manfred Walther. German description: Ein Kommentar zu Spinozas letztem Werk Tractatus politicus war bislang ein Desiderat. Spinozas Theorie der Politik, des Staates und des Rechts ist anders als seine Metaphysik und seine Religionsphilosophie im deutschsprachigen Bereich lange wenig beachtet worden. Erst in jungerer Zeit ist die Beschaftigung mit Spinozas politischer Philosophie auch in Deutschland wieder intensiver geworden. Nach einer Bestimmung des Ortes der Politischen Philosophie und stets im Kontext von Spinozas Gesamtwerk kommentiert der Band zunachst Spinozas Theorie der naturlichen Genese von Recht und Staat, so die Grundlagen der politischen Philosophie, das Verhaltnis von naturlichem und staatlichem Recht, die Theorie der Souveranitat und der internationalen Beziehungen. Auf dieser Grundlage folgt dann seine Konzeption einer Optimierung des Systems politisch-rechtlicher Institutionen fur alle drei Regierungsformen. Abschliessend werden die Aktualitat des Denkens Spinozas und sein Einfluss auf gegenwartige Debatten analysiert. Mit Beitragen von: Tilman Altwicker, Wolfgang Bartuschat, Tobias Herbst, G unnar Hindrichs, Rainer Keil, Stephan Kirste, Martin Leiner, Oliver W. Lembcke, Tilman Reitz, Manfred Walther. (shrink)

_Naturalism and Democracy_, first published in German in 2014, presents a long-awaited commentary on Spinoza’s _Political Treatise _. It gives a detailed analysis of Spinoza’s latest theory of State and Law, with special attention to his democratic approach.

Bd. 1. Lebensbeschreibungen und Dokumente -- Bd. 2. Kommentar.

Dieser Band dokumentiert alle bis heute bekannt gewordenen und nachgewiesenen Spinoza-Briefe. Die dritte Auflage bietet darüber hinaus das zur Zeit wohl umfassendste Verzeichnis der Literatur zum Briefwechsel.

In a period of over 50 years, Peter Mittelstaedt has made substantial and lasting contributions to several fields in theoretical physics as well as the foundations and philosophy of physics. Here we present an overview of his achievements in physics and its foundations which may serve as a guide to the bibliography (printed in this Festschrift) of his publications. An appraisal of Peter Mittelstaedt’s work in the philosophy of physics is given in a separate contribution by B. Falkenburg.

This article takes stock of the basic notions of Information Structure (IS). It first provides a general characterization of IS following Chafe (1976) within a communicative model of Common Ground (CG), which distinguishes between CG content and CG management. IS is concerned with those features of language that concern the local CG. It then defines and discusses the notions of Focus (as indicating alternatives) and its various uses, Givenness (as indicating that a denotation is already present in the CG), and (...) Topic (as specifying what an statement is about). It also proposes a new notion, Delimitation, which comprises contrastive topics and frame setters, and indicates that the current conversational move does not satisfy the local communicative needs totally. It also points out that the rhetorical structuring partly belongs to IS. (shrink)

The studies in this 1996 volume consider Hegel's mature views on ethics and politics and relate them to the classical tradition of Western political thought. Manfred Tiedel brings to the analysis of Hegel's views a high level of scholarship and a thorough knowledge of earlier thinkers. Concentrating on the Philosophy of Right, he reveals connections which clarify Hegel's understanding of his relationship with his predecessors and of the transformation of political philosophy which Hegel wanted to effect. In doing so, (...) he throws much needed light on the structure of Hegel's work and on many of its more obscure doctrines concerning natural law, political economy, civil society and the state. Professor Riedel's work is highly regarded in Germany. The translation of these essays will provide a valuable counterpart to the approach of most English-speaking scholars and will help significantly to extend the understanding and appreciation of Hegel's political philosophy. (shrink)

Als »Subjektphilosophie« hat man das neuzeitliche Denken insgesamt charakterisiert. Diese Auszeichnung verdankt das Subjekt der verwegenen Hoffnung, es eigne sich zum ultimativen Prinzip der Wissensbegründung. Das Interesse an einer Aufklärung seiner Struktur wurde dadurch jedoch in den Hintergrund gedrängt. Diese Struktur steht im Zentrum von Manfred Franks jüngstem Buch, das einen Blick auf die moderne Geschichte der Subjekttheorien mit Analysen der inneren Beschaffenheit und der Zeitlichkeit des Subjekts sowie seines Verhältnisses zur Intersubjektivität und einer Auseinandersetzung mit klassischen und neuesten (...) analytischen Theoriebildungen verbindet. Dem Begriff der Präreflexivität kommt dabei die Schlüsselrolle zu. (shrink)

Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--Freie Universitèat Berlin.

Using game theory and examples of actual games people play, Nobel laureate Manfred Eigen and Ruthild Winkler show how the elements of chance and rules underlie ...