I shall distinguish between two periods of analytic ontology, one semi-idealistic, the other post-idealistic. The former fostered the very idea of a conceptual scheme within which questions of ontology could be formulated and answered in the first place; the latter rejected this idea in favour of the view that ontological inquiry neither presupposes a framework, nor provides the framework for science or everyday speech. Since then, ontology is what it always have been, the systematic study of the most fundamental categories (...) of being, not of thought. Unfortunately, such a category theory becomes aporetic in its search for a solution of the problem of the “temporary intrinsic”. Experience cannot tell us, whether entities persist by “perduring” or by “enduring.” One can take an alternative route and seek to broaden the conceptual basis of ontology by focussing on “Being” in contrast to entities, or being. The controversy on perdurantism and endurantism emerges as a dispute over two conflicting ways of being in time, not of Being itself. (shrink)

I shall distinguish between two periods of analytic ontology, one semi-idealistic, the other post-idealistic. The former fostered the very idea of a conceptual scheme within which questions of ontology could be formulated and answered in the first place; the latter rejected this idea in favour of the view that ontological inquiry neither presupposes a framework, nor provides the framework for science or everyday speech. Since then, ontology is what it always have been, the systematic study of the most fundamental categories (...) of being, not of thought. Unfortunately, such a category theory becomes aporetic in its search for a solution of the problem of the “temporary intrinsic”. Experience cannot tell us, whether entities persist by “perduring” or by “enduring.” One can take an alternative route and seek to broaden the conceptual basis of ontology by focussing on “Being” in contrast to entities, or being. The controversy on perdurantism and endurantism emerges as a dispute over two conflicting ways of being in time, not of Being itself. (shrink)

The conviction that philosophical problems are "problems of language" (Rorty) which may be solved, or dissolved, either by reforming language or by understanding more about the language we actually speak, forms the common ground of otherwise conflicting camps within 20th century analytic philosophy. The refusal of ordinary language philosophers to construct ideal languages stems from the prejudice that ordinary English satisfies all requirements for being an ideal language. If traditional philosophers would use words as ordinary speakers of English do they (...) would not be able to formulate questions, and theses, they are apt to do. They are "misusing language" and "transgressing the bounds of sense" (Hacker). However, ordinary language philosophers like Austin have no theory of the origin of the "metaphysical", that means, the "human restlessness in the ordinary" (Cavell) and the drive to speak outside language-games. Wittgenstein can be said to have such a theory. The vision of language he sketches out in the Investigations reveals that skepticism is a permanent threat of communication and thought. A direct (flat) repudiation of traditional themes and modes of thinking is, properly speaking, beyond the reach of linguistic procedures, as Wittgenstein would understand them. /// A convicção de que os problemas filosoficos são "problemas de linguagem" (Rorty) passiveis de serem solucionados, ou dissolvidos, seja mediante a reforma da linguagem ou mediante uma melhor compreensão da linguagem que na realidade falamos, constitui a plataforma comum a vários compos, de outra forma em competição uns com os outros, dentro da corrente analítica defilosofia no século XX. A recusa por parte dos filósofos da linguagem ordinária em construir uma linguagem ideal deriva do preconceito segundo o qual a linguagem comum satisfaz todos os requisitos de uma linguagem ideal. Se os filósofos tradicionais usassem as palavras como os falantes ordinários da língua inglesa (ou outra) fazem não seriam capazes deformular questões, e teses, ted como se sentem capazes de fazer. Eles estão simplesmente a abusar da linguagem e a "transgredir as fronteiras do sentido" (Hacker). Apesardisso, osfilosofos da linguagem ordindria, tais como Austin, naopossuem uma teoria acerca da origem do "metafísico", ou seja, da "inquietude humana no ordinário" (Cavell) e do impulso a falar fora dosjogos linguisticos. O artigo defende que uma tal teoria se encontra precisamente em Wittgenstein. A sua visão da linguagem nas Investigações revela que o cepticismo constitui uma ameaca permanente a comunicação e ao pensamento. Assim sendo, uma repudiação directa dos temas e dos modos de pensar tradicionais é algo que está para aélm do alcance dos procedimentos linguisticos, tal como Wittgenstein os entende. (shrink)

Der Transhumanismus versteht sich als kulturelle Bewegung und als interdisziplinärer Forschungsansatz mit dem Ziel der umfassenden Verbesserung des Menschen, d.h. seiner kognitiven, emotionalen und moralischen Fähigkeiten, mit technischen Mitteln. Der Transhumanismus stellt lebensweltlich grundlegende Grenzziehungen in Frage, z.B. der Grenze zwischen Natur und Technik, Mensch und Tier, Mensch und Maschine, Personen und Sachen, Wachsen und Eingreifen, Therapie und enhancement. Primäres Ziel dieses Bandes ist eine Kritik des Transhumanismus. Die Beiträge diskutieren seine impliziten Metaphysik, Anthropologie und Ethik: Ist das vom Transhumanismus (...) anvisierte Ziel metaphysisch möglich und auch technisch realisierbar? Ist die von ihm geforderte umfassende Technisierung der menschlichen Natur moralisch legitim und sozialethisch vertretbar? Ist die Selbstverbesserung des Menschen durch Überwindung seiner conditio humana überhaupt rational wünschenswert? Von der kritischen Durchleuchtung transhumanistischer Positionen soll eine aufklärerische Wirkung auf eine technikbegeisterte intellektuelle Öffentlichkeit ausgehen. (shrink)

W liście do B. Russella z 19 VIII 1919 r. L. Wittgenstein pisze: „Zasadniczy sprawy jest teoria o tym, co można wypowiedzieć w zdaniach - to znaczy za pomocy języka -, a czego nie można wyrazić w zdaniach lecz tylko pokazać. Jest to, moim zdaniem, główny problem filozofii." Tym właśnie problemem zajmuje się w swojej pracy H. Watzka, wykładowcy historii filozofii w Wyższej Szkole Filozoficzno-Teologicznej Sankt Georgen we Frankfurcie nad Menem. Omawiana książka jest skróconą wersją rozprawy doktorskiej: Logik und (...) Metaphysik. Zur Statusbestimmung der Philosophie bei Wittgensein, obronionej przez Autora w 1997 roku w Uniwersytecie Humboldta w Berlinie. (shrink)

Heinrich Rickert (1863-1936) war einer der bedeutendsten deutschen Philosophen vor dem Zweiten Weltkrieg und gilt neben Wilhelm Windelband als einer der Hauptvertreter der südwestdeutschen Schule des Neukantianismus. Seine auch heute noch anregende Philosophie hatte großen, interdisziplinären wie internationalen Einfluss. Die philologisch-kritische Ausgabe macht die Schriften endlich wieder verfügbar.

In this paper non-normal worlds semantics is presented as a basic, general, and unifying approach to epistemic logic. The semantical framework of non-normal worlds is compared to the model theories of several logics for knowledge and belief that were recently developed in Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is shown that every model for implicit and explicit belief (Levesque), for awareness, general awareness, and local reasoning (Fagin and Halpern), and for awareness and principles (van der Hoek and Meyer) induces a non-normal worlds (...) model validating precisely the same formulas (of the language in question). (shrink)

Einleitung.--Die begriffliche Erkenntniss der Körperwelt.--Natur und Geist.--Natur und Geschichte.--Die historische Begriffsbildung.--Naturphilosophie und Geschichts-Philosophie.

In Phenomena of Power, one of the leading figures of postwar German sociology reflects on the nature, and many forms of, power. For Heinrich Popitz, power is rooted in the human condition and is therefore part of all social relations. Drawing on philosophical anthropology, he identifies the elementary forms of power to provide detailed insight into how individuals gain and perpetuate control over others. Instead of striving for a power-free society, Popitz argues, humanity should try to impose limits on (...) power where possible and establish counterpower where necessary. Phenomena of Power delves into the sociohistorical manifestations of power and breaks through to its general structures. Popitz distinguishes the forms of the enforcement of power as well as of its stabilization and institutionalization, clearly articulating how the mechanisms of power work and how to track them in the social world. Philosophically trained, historically informed, and endowed with keen observation, Popitz uses examples ranging from the way passengers on a ship organize deck chairs to how prisoners of war share property to illustrate his theory. Long influential in German sociology, Phenomena of Power offers a challenging reworking of one of the essential concepts of the social sciences. (shrink)

This book is the culmination of Heinrich Meier's acclaimed analyses of the controversial thought of Carl Schmitt. Meier identifies the core of Schmitt's thought as political theology--that is, political theorizing that claims to have its ultimate ground in the revelation of a mysterious or supra-rational God. This radical, but half-hidden, theological foundation unifies the whole of Schmitt's often difficult and complex oeuvre, cutting through the intentional deceptions and unintentional obfuscations that have eluded previous commentators. Relating this religious dimension to (...) Schmitt's support for National Socialism and his continuing anti-Semitism, Meier compels the reader to come to terms with the irreconcilable differences between political theology and political philosophy. His book will give pause to those who have tended to gloss over the troubling aspects of some of Schmitt's ideas. With editions in German, French, Italian, and now English, Meier's two books on Schmitt have dramatically reoriented the international debate about Carl Schmitt and his significance for twentieth-century political thought. "Standing far above the rest . . . is Heinrich Meier's new study, Die Lehre Carl Schmitts , which covers all of Schmitt's writings. . . . Meier's work has forced everyone to take a second look at the assumptions underlying Schmitt's better-known writings and reconsider some that have been ignored."--Mark Lilla, reviewing the German edition in The New York Review of Books. (shrink)

Examines the diverse cultural influences which have shaped the basic philosophical traditions of India "Indian philosophy was at the heart of Zimmer's interest..

This book, by one of the most prominent interpreters of Leo Strauss's thought, was the first to address the problem that Leo Strauss himself said was the theme of his studies: the theologico-political problem or the confrontation with the theological and the political alternative to philosophy as a way of life. In his theologico-political treatise, which comprises four parts and an appendix, Heinrich Meier clarifies the distinction between political theology and political philosophy and reappraises the unifying center of Strauss's (...) philosophical enterprise. The book is the culmination of Meier's work on the theologico-political problem. It will interest anyone who seeks to understand both the problem caused by revelation for philosophy and the challenge posed by political-religious radicalism. The appendix makes available for the first time two lectures by Strauss that are immediately relevant to the subject of this book and that will open the way for future research and debate on the legacy of Strauss. (shrink)

Although Schmitt never answered Strauss publicly, in the third edition of his book he changed a number of passages in response to Strauss’s criticisms.

Heinrich Rickert (1863-1936) fut, avec Windelband et Lask, l'un des principaux representants de l'ecole neokantienne de Heidelberg, qui se differencie essentiellement de l'ecole de Marbourg par la facon dont elle redefinit l'idealisme transcendantal a partir de la problematique de la validite, heritee notamment de la philosophie de Lotze. Les six articles reunis ici, publies par Rickert dans la revue Logos entre 1911 et 1932, dessinent les grandes lignes d'une philosophie systematique des valeurs qui ne se veut pas seulement une (...) theorie transcendantale du valoir dans son opposition a l'etre, mais aussi, en tant que doctrine des visions du monde, l'elaboration d'une reponse philosophique a la question du sens de la vie. A cote de recherches architectoniques portant sur la determination et l'articulation des differents domaines axiologiques, mais aussi sur les problemes generaux lies a la definition de la philosophie comme doctrine des valeurs, ces articles entretiennent une constante polemique a l'endroit de tout intuitionnisme et de toute philosophie de la vie. Contre le biologisme qui fait du vivant la valeur absolue et contre la denonciation intuitionniste de la science comme intellectualisme, l'affirmation de la transcendance des valeurs garantit pour Rickert le droit d'une philosophie scientifique et critique de la culture, qui en apprehende la vie propre en rendant compte de l'articulation des valeurs et de l'effectivite empirique au sein d'un systeme des valeurs qui reste ouvert sur l'infinie nouveaute et l'inepuisable richesse du monde historique. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain (...) in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

The topic of identity of proofs was put on the agenda of general (or structural) proof theory at an early stage. The relevant question is: When are the differences between two distinct proofs (understood as linguistic entities, proof figures) of one and the same formula so inessential that it is justified to identify the two proofs? The paper addresses another question: When are the differences between two distinct formulas so inessential that these formulas admit of identical proofs? The question appears (...) to be especially natural if the idea of working with more than one kind of derivations is taken seriously. If a distinction is drawn between proofs and disproofs (or refutations) as primitive entities, it is quite conceivable that a proof of one formula amounts to a disproof of another formula, and vice versa. A notion of inherited identity of derivations is introduced for derivations in a cut-free sequent system for Almukdad and Nelson’s constructive paraconsistent logic N4 with strong negation. The notion is obtained by identifying sequent rules the application of which has no effect on the identity of derivations. Then the notion of inherited identity is used to define a bilateralist notion of synonymy between formulas, which is a relation drawing more fine-grained distinctions between formulas than strong equivalence. (shrink)

Originally published in 1973. The volume is divided into four sections: The introduction places the position of the Buddhist Tantras within Mahayana Buddhism and recalls their early literary history, especially the Guhyasamahatantra; the section also covers Buddhist Genesis and the Tantric tradition. The foundations of the Buddhist Tantras are discussed and the Tantric presentation of divinity; the preparation of disciples and the meaning of initiation; symbolism of the mandala-palace Tantric ritual and the twilight language. This section explores the Tantric teachings (...) of the inner Zodiac and the fivefold ritual symbolism of passion. The bibliographical research contains an analysis of the Tantric section of the Kanjur exegesis and a selected Western Bibliography of the Buddhist Tantras with comments. (shrink)

Unter welchen Bedingungen kann es als ethisch vertretbar gelten, Menschen in biomedizinischen Experimenten als Probanden einzusetzen? Bert Heinrichs unternimmt es, die Ethik der Forschung am Menschen grundlegend und systematisch zu erschließen. Seine ethische Rahmentheorie wird im Hinblick auf drei kontrovers diskutierte Problemkomplexe ausgewertet, nämlich die Forschung mit Minderjährigen, randomisierte klinische Studien und Forschung in Entwicklungsländern. Sie soll helfen, wesentliche Orientierung bei der konkreten Problemlösung zu geben.

Reprint. Originally published: T'ubingen: C.F. Osiander, 1822.