Philosophy of physics is a small but thriving research field situated at the intersection between the natural sciences and the humanities. However, what exactly distinguishes philosophy of physics from physics is rarely made explicit in much depth. We provide a detailed analysis in the form of eleven theses, delineating both the nature of the questions asked in philosophy of physics and the methodology with which they are addressed.

Transcendental pragmatics is the attempt to make Kants transcendental philosophy philosophically defensible by means of a reconstruction in terms of semiotics and the theory of communication. The central theses of transcendental pragmatics are: philosophical final justification is possible. The claim of radical fallibilism: "all propositions are fallible, therefore final justification is impossible" is false. Both theses are defended against H. Keuths critique, recently published in this journal. Radical fallibilism, which admits the application of the principle of fallibility to itself entangles (...) itself pecisely for this reason in a whole raw of contradictions. Keuths objections rest upon a misunderstanding. His critique does not demonstrate the invalidity of reflexive final justification arguments because he misses the essential feature of such arguments namely that they are intended as strictly reflexive arguments. (shrink)

Neste artigo o autor procura mostrar por que o princípio de universalização de Habermas não pode ser fundamentado reflexivamente, como o autor da Teoria do agir comunicativo sugere, bem pode ser considerado como um princípio central de uma filosofia moral.

Die philosophiegeschichtlichen, sprachphilosophischen, rationalitäts- und wissenschaftstheoretischen Versuche einer Transformation der Philosophie, der Karl-Otto Apels Lebenswerk gilt, bezeichnet Apel deshalb als »Transzendentalpragmatik«, weil sie ihren Einheitssinn in dem Gedanken finden, daß nichts außer der menschlichen Praxis des Argumentierens die kontexttranszendierende Gültigkeit unserer Meinungen über Tatsachen und Normen ermöglicht. Die einzelnen Beiträge beleuchten Konsequenzen und Probleme des transzendentalpragmatischen Programms in einem breiten Spektrum gegenwärtiger philosophischer Diskussionen, das von theoretischen Fragen der Bedeutungstheorie bis zu praktischen Fragen eines modernitätskritischen Dialogs zwischen »Erster« und »Dritter« (...) Welt reicht. (shrink)

Quantum Field Theory (QFT) is the mathematical and conceptual framework for contemporary elementary particle physics. In a rather informal sense QFT is the extension of quantum mechanics (QM), dealing with particles, over to fields, i.e. systems with an infinite number of degrees of freedom. (See the entry on quantum mechanics.) In the last few years QFT has become a more widely discussed topic in philosophy of science, with questions ranging from methodology and semantics to ontology. QFT taken seriously in its (...) metaphysical implications seems to give a picture of the world which is at variance with central classical conceptions of particles and fields, and even with some features of QM. -/- The following sketches how QFT describes fundamental physics and what the status of QFT is among other theories of physics. Since there is a strong emphasis on those aspects of the theory that are particularly important for interpretive inquiries, it does not replace an introduction to QFT as such. One main group of target readers are philosophers who want to get a first impression of some issues that may be of interest for their own work, another target group are physicists who are interested in a philosophical view upon QFT. (shrink)

Our studies of aesthetics and knowledge have long tended to privilege the visual - at the expense, Wolfgang Ernst argues, of the aural. 'Sonic Time Machines' aims to correct that, presenting a striking new approach to theorising sound that investigates its split existence: as a temporal effect in a techno-cultural context and as a source of knowledge and information. Ernst creates a new term for the concept at the heart of the book, "sonicity," a flexible and powerful term that (...) allows him to consider sound with all its many physical, philosophical, and cultural valences."--Page 4 de la couverture. (shrink)

In einem auf drei Bände angelegten Dokumentationswerk werden Entstehung und Ausbreitung des Paracelsismus in den kontroversen Verflechtungen der Wissenschafts-, Literatur- und Sozialgeschichte des späten 16. Jahrhunderts verankert. Die kritische Edition aufschlußreicher, oft in unbekanntes Terrain führender Texte ist begleitet von umfangreichen Kommentaren sowie von biographischen Darstellungen der Urheber, Adressaten, Gegner bzw. Sympathisanten der paracelsistischen Reform und Protestbewegung. Der zweite Band des »Corpus Paracelsisticum« erschließt das weitläufige Oeuvre von Michael Toxites und Gerhard Dorn, wirkmächtige Gründergestalten des oberrheinischen Paracelsismus. Von da aus (...) fällt der Blick quer über die Konfessionsgrenzen auf andere kulturelle Zentren in Bayern, Sachsen, Schlesien, Böhmen und am Niederrhein. Mit Verfassern wie G. Fedro, M. Ambrosius, L. Span, B. Flöter, G. Etschenreutter, B. Scultetus, P. Perna, Th. Zwinger und J. Albrecht eröffnet sich ein epochaler, äußerst weitläufiger Diskurszusammenhang. In ihm lassen sich doxographische, methodische, hermeneutische, sprachtheoretische und überlieferungsspezifische Auseinandersetzungen ebenso beobachten wie Tendenzen einer theosophischen Spiritualisierung und heterodoxen Aufladung der in Paracelsus' Namen entwickelten Anthropologie und Kosmologie. Direkte Verbindungen ergeben sich unter anderem zu führenden Vertretern der sogenannten Schwenckfelder, damit auch zu Fraktionen aktiver protestantischer Dissidenten. Der Band wird neben dem weiterführenden Kommentar begleitet von einer ausführlichen Einleitung und erschlossen nicht nur durch mehrere Register, sondern auch durch wissenschaftshistorische Zusammenfassungen zu jedem Autorcorpus. (shrink)

Ciceros Philosophie vermittelte im Rom der ausgehenden Republik vielfältige innovative Impulse - insbesondere zu Fragen der Bildung und Religion. Im vorliegenden Band werden besonders Aspekte griechischer und römischer Bildung in Ciceros Werk aus verschiedenen altertumswissenschaftlichen Perspektiven beleuchtet"--Page 4 of cover.

Excerpt from Der Gesetzesbegriff Beim Hl; Thomas von Aquin im Lichte des Rechtsstudiums Seiner Zeit Es war der Name des hl. Thomas von Aquin, der da von Juristen öfters wegen seiner Bedeutung für die juridische Wissenschaft zitiert wurde. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst (...) repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. (shrink)

Despite a strong sensitization to the corruption problem and a large body of interdisciplinary research, scientists have only rarely investigated which motivational, volitional, emotional, and cognitive components make decision makers in companies act corruptly. Thus, we examined how their interrelation leads to corruption by proposing an action model. We tested the model using a business simulation game with students as participants. Results of the PLS structural equation modeling showed that both an attitude and subjective norm favoring corruption led to a (...) desire to act corruptly. Given high perceived behavioral control, this desire was transformed into an intention that finally resulted in corrupt action. Components related to general private and professional goals did not allow for any prediction. Based on these results, we discuss preventative measures and methods for combating intra- and inter-organizational corruption. (shrink)

This paper is about time preferences, the phenomenon that the very same things are usually considered the less valuable the farther in the future they are obtained. The utilities of those things are discounted at a certain rate. The paper presents a novel normative argument for exponential discount rates, whatever their empirical adequacy. It proposes to take indexical utility seriously, i.e. utilities referring to indexical propositions (that speak of ‘I’, ‘now’, etc.) as opposed to non-indexical propositions. Economic focus is only (...) on the latter, while the former are neglected. The potential ignorance of when is now generates a difference between indexical and non-indexical utility that can be exploited for a novel argument in favour of exponential discount rates. (shrink)

Der Unterricht in Medizinethik soll Medizinstudierenden die Grundlagen dafür vermitteln, in ihrer zukünftigen ärztlichen Tätigkeit gute Entscheidungen treffen zu können. Im Rahmen einer Panelstudie wird derzeit die Entwicklung moralischer Positionen, medizinethischer Kenntnisse und Motivationen von Medizinstudierenden der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München über den Verlauf des Studiums untersucht. Für die Datenerhebung wurde ein Fragebogen entwickelt, der medizinethische Positionen und Kenntnisse sowie Motivationen erfasst. Im Wintersemester 2009/10 wurde die erste Querschnittsuntersuchung mit Studierenden im 1., 3. und 8. Semester sowie im Praktischen Jahr durchgeführt. Die (...) Mehrzahl der Befragten verfügte über einen geringen Kenntnisstand in verschiedenen Themenbereichen des Unterrichtsfachs GTE. Rechtliche Grundlagen und praktische Umsetzung von Therapiebegrenzungsmaßnahmen waren bis ins PJ-Semester vielen Studierenden nicht bekannt. Im Verlauf des Studiums veränderten sich die Motivationen weg von der Motivation, Menschen helfen zu wollen, hin zu Wissenserwerb und dem Ergreifen eines sicheren Berufs. Obwohl viele Befragte ein hohes Interesse an medizinethischen Fragestellungen und Unterricht im Bereich GTE angaben, zeigte sich kein nachhaltiger Zuwachs an medizinethischen Kenntnissen im Laufe des Studiums. In der Zusammenschau werfen die Ergebnisse die Frage auf, inwieweit verschiedene Ausbildungskonzepte Einfluss auf die individuelle ethische Entwicklung Medizinstudierender nehmen können. Eine Untersuchung dieser Fragestellung bleibt Gegenstand weitergehender Forschung. (shrink)

Quantentheorie und Relativitätstheorie haben das Weltbild der Physik revolutioniert. Beide Theorien gelten jedoch als unanschaulich und schwer verständlich. Dieses Sachbuch schafft neue Zugänge und lädt zum Mitdenken ein. Renommierte Experten aus Physik und Philosophie erläutern Grundbegriffe, Erkenntnisfortschritte und Deutungsfragen zu Raum, Zeit und Materie. Dabei kommen typische Themen aus der Philosophie der Physik zur Sprache, wie etwa die Interpretationsdebatte der Quantentheorie oder Modellbildungen in der Kosmologie. Weltbildrelevante Fragen nach dem Verhältnis von Mathematik, Empirie und Anschauung oder nach der Verlässlichkeit physikalischer (...) Erkenntnis erfordern die Verbindung von Physik und Philosophie, von fachwissenschaftlicher Grundlagenforschung und methodenkritischer Reflexion. Der thematische Bogen geht zurück auf ein hochkarätig besetztes Symposium mit populärwissenschaftlicher Ausrichtung. Das Buch enthält Beiträge von Andreas Bartels, Robert Harlander, Paul Hoyningen-Huene, Gert-Ludwig Ingold, Claus Kiefer, Meinard Kuhlmann, Klaus Mainzer, Oliver Passon, Manfred Stöckler, Rüdiger Vaas und Reinhard Werner. (shrink)

Bd. I/1. Marquard Freher -- Bd. 1/2. Janus Gruter -- Bd. II. David Pareus, Johann Philipp Pareus und Daniel Pareus -- Bd. III. Jacobus Micyllus, Johannes Posthius, Johannes Opsopoeus und Abraham Scultetus.

We propose a new masking technique for masking word stimuli. Drawing on the phenomena of metacontrast and paracontrast, we alternately presented two prime displays of the same word with the background color in one display matching the font color in the other display and vice versa. The sequence of twenty alterations was sandwich-masked by structure masks. Using this masking technique, we conducted evaluative priming experiments with positive and negative target and prime words. Significant priming effects were found – for primes (...) and targets drawn from the same as well as from different word sets. Priming effects were independent of prime discrimination performance in direct tests and they were still significant after the sample was restricted to those participants who showed random responding in the direct test. (shrink)

And this paper is an attempt to say precisely how, thus addressing a philosophical problem which is commonly taken to be a serious one. It does so, however, in quite an idiosyncratic way. It is based on the account of inductive schemes I have given in (1988) and (1990a) and on the conception of causation I have presented in (1980), (1983), and (1990b), and it intends to fill one of many gaps which have been left by these papers. Still, I (...) have tried to make this paper self-contained. Section 1 explains the philosophical question this paper is about; in more general terms it asks what might be meant by objectifying epistemic states or features of them and to which extent epistemic states can be objectified. The next sections introduce the basis I rely on with formal precision and some explanation; section 2 deals with induction and section 3 with causation. Within these confines, section 4 attempts to give an explication of the relevant sense of objectification and section 5 investigates the extent to which various features of epistemic states are objectifiable. The two most salient results are roughly that the relation "A is a reason for B" cannot be objectified at all and that the relation "A is a cause of B" can be objectified only under substantial, though reasonable restrictions. What has all of this to do with probability? A lot. The paper trades on a pervasive duality between probabilistic and deterministic epistemology, between a probabilistic representation of epistemic states together with a theory of probabilistic causation and another representation of epistemic states which I call deterministic because it lends itself, in a perfectly parallel fashion, to a theory of deterministic causation. Here I explicitly deal only with the deterministic side, but the duality should pave the way for further conclusions concerning objective probabilities and statistical laws. This outlook is briefly expanded in the final section 6. (shrink)

Concentrating upon applications that are most relevant to modern physics, this valuable book surveys variational principles and examines their relationship to dynamics and quantum theory. Stressing the history and theory of these mathematical concepts rather than the mechanics, the authors provide many insights into the development of quantum mechanics and present much hard-to-find material in a remarkably lucid, compact form. After summarizing the historical background from Pythagoras to Francis Bacon, Professors Yourgrau and Mandelstram cover Fermat's principle of least time, the (...) principle of least action of Maupertuis, development of this principle by Euler and Lagrange, and the equations of Lagrange and Hamilton. Equipped by this thorough preparation to treat variational principles in general, they proceed to derive Hamilton's principle, the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, and Hamilton's canonical equations. An investigation of electrodynamics in Hamiltonian form covers next, followed by a resume of variational principles in classical dynamics. The authors then launch into an analysis of their most significant topics: the relation between variational principles and wave mechanics, and the principles of Feynman and Schwinger in quantum mechanics. Two concluding chapters extend the discussion to hydrodynamics and natural philosophy. Professional physicists, mathematicians, and advanced students with a strong mathematical background will find this stimulating volume invaluable reading. Extremely popular in its hardcover edition, this volume will find even wider appreciation in its first fine inexpensive paperbound edition. (shrink)

"A Survey of Ranking Theory": The paper gives an up-to-date survey of ranking theory. It carefully explains the basics. It elaborates on the ranking theoretic explication of reasons and their balance. It explains the dynamics of belief statable in ranking terms and indicates how the ranks can thereby be measured. It suggests how the theory of Bayesian nets can be carried over to ranking theory. It indicates what it might mean to objectify ranks. It discusses the formal and the philosophical (...) aspects of the tight relation and the complementarity of ranks and probabilities. It closes with comparative remarks on predecessors and other philosophical proposals as well as formal models developed in AI. (shrink)

Eventually, Kuhlmann proposes a dispositional trope ontology, according to which particularized properties and not things are the most basic entities.

Wolfgang Rudzio ist als Politikwissenschaftler bekannt, der eines der wichtigsten und erfolgreichsten Lehrbücher zur Politik in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland geschrieben hat. In seinen Erinnerungen gibt er uns einen spannenden Einblick in sein wissenschaftliches, politisches und privates Leben, seine Kindheit in Ostpreußen und seine Familie. Es waren Flucht, Nachkriegszeit, Studentenbewegung, eigenes linkes Polit-Engagement und die Herausforderung des Kommunismus, die das Leben des Autors prägten. Zeitweilig für bekannte Politiker wie Carlo Schmid und Hans Matthöfer arbeitend, entschied er sich nach Mathematik-Examen und (...) Promotion in Geschichte nicht für Politik, sondern Politikwissenschaft. Manche seiner Forschungen knüpften an Lebenserfahrungen an. (shrink)

Research Integrity (RI) is high on the agenda of both institutions and science policy. The European Union as well as national ministries of science have launched ambitious initiatives to combat misconduct and breaches of research integrity. Often, such initiatives entail attempts to regulate scientific behavior through guidelines that institutions and academic communities can use to more easily identify and deal with cases of misconduct. Rather than framing misconduct as a result of an information deficit, we instead conceptualize Questionable Research Practices (...) (QRPs) as attempts by researchers to reconcile epistemic and social forms of uncertainty in knowledge production. Drawing on previous literature, we define epistemic uncertainty as the inherent intellectual unpredictability of scientific inquiry, while social uncertainty arises from the human-made conditions for scientific work. Our core argument—developed on the basis of 30 focus group interviews with researchers across different fields and European countries—is that breaches of research integrity can be understood as attempts to loosen overly tight coupling between the two forms of uncertainty. Our analytical approach is not meant to relativize or excuse misconduct, but rather to offer a more fine-grained perspective on what exactly it is that researchers want to accomplish by engaging in it. Based on the analysis, we conclude by proposing some concrete ways in which institutions and academic communities could try to reconcile epistemic and social uncertainties on a more collective level, thereby reducing incentives for researchers to engage in misconduct. (shrink)

Seit seiner Jugend kritisierte Wolfgang Harich die Philosophie Nietzsches. In den funfziger Jahren verfestigte sich dann ein dezidiert marxistisches Nietzsche-Bild, das er Zeit seines Lebens verteidigte. Nietzsche war fur ihn der Wegbereiter, ja, Begrunder der faschistischen Ideologie. Indem Harich am sozialistischen und humanistischen Erbe des originaren Marxismus festhielt, loste er in den achtziger Jahren die Nietzsche-Debatte der DDR aus, die ihn im kulturellen und wissenschaftlichen Leben der DDR endgultig isolierte. Band 12 der Reihe prasentiert Harichs letztes grosses Werk, den (...) Dialog "Nietzsche und seine Bruder", sowie zahlreiche Dokumente, darunter auch Briefe an Erich Honecker, Willy Stoph, Kurt Hager oder Stephan Hermlin. (shrink)