In 1903 Rabbi Philipp Bloch, of Posen, published a unique Ashkenazic sixteenth-century polemical pamphlet which attested, so it seemed, to a heated controversy in yeshivah circles in the larger cities of the Ashkenazi cultural sphere in the late 1550s. Revolving around the place of philosophy in Judaism, the dispute reached one of its peaks in Prague some time before April 1559, probably in a public debate before a yeshivah audience, basically similar to the Disputationes then popular in European universities. The (...) disputants were two young scholars, one of whom, the writer of the pamphlet, enthusiastically supported the teaching of classical philosophical texts in Ashkenazi yeshivot, while the other fiercely opposed what he called “philosophy.” He accused Maimonides of heresy and unbelief, as he did anything that he associated with either “philosophy” or Maimonides. The resolution adopted by the yeshivah audience — at least, so we read in the pamphlet, our only source for the event — was unequivocal: the opponent of Maimonides and philosophy was forbidden, from that time on, to broadcast his views. (shrink)

This is not a work of mine. For some reason, I am unable to remove it from my page. It is a list of Dr. Reiner Schürmann's lecture notes for courses that he taught at the New School for Social Research (aka The New School).

Ecologists use a remarkable range of methods and techniques to understand complex, inherently variable, and functionally diverse entities and processes across a staggering range of spatial, temporal and interactive scales. These multiple perspectives make ecology very different to the exemplar of science often presented by philosophers. In Philosophical Foundations for the Practices of Ecology, designed for graduate students and researchers, ecology is put into a new philosophical framework that engages with this inherent pluralism while still placing constraints on the ways (...) that we can investigate and understand nature. The authors begin by exploring the sources of variety in the practice of ecology and how these have led to the current conceptual confusion. They argue that the solution is to adopt the approach of constrained perspectivism and go on to explore the ontological, metaphysical, and epistemological aspects of this position and how it can be used in ecological research and teaching"--Provided by publisher. (shrink)

It is often said that knowledge is power, but more often than not relevant knowledge is not used when political decisions are made. This book examines how political decisions relate to scientific knowledge and what factors determine the success of scientific research in influencing policy. The authors take a comparative and historical perspective and refer to well-known theoretical frameworks, but the focus of the book is on three case studies: the discourse of racism, Keynesianism, and climate change. These cases cover (...) a number of countries and different time periods. In all three the authors see a close link between 'knowledge producers' and political decision makers, but show that the effectiveness of the policies varies dramatically. This book will be of interest to scientists, decision makers and scholars alike. (shrink)

The article presents the sociology of knowledge approach to discourse (SKAD). SKAD, which has been in the process of development since the middle of the 1990s, is now a widely used framework among social scientists in discourse research in the German-speaking area. It links arguments from the social constructionist tradition, following Berger and Luckmann, with assumptions based in symbolic interactionism, hermeneutic sociology of knowledge, and the concepts of Michel Foucault. It argues thereby for a consistent theoretical and methodological grounding of (...) a genuine social sciences perspective on discourse interested in the social production, circulation and transformation of knowledge, that is in social relations and politics of knowledge in the so-called ‘knowledge societies’. Distancing itself from Critical Discourse Analysis, Linguistics, Ethnomethodology inspired discourse analysis and the Analysis of Hegemonies, following Laclau and Mouffe, SKAD’s framework has been built up around research questions and concerns located in the social sciences, referring to public discourse and arenas as well as to more specific fields of (scientific, religious, etc.) discursive struggles and controversies around problematizations (Foucault). (shrink)

With great sympathy for Roman Ingarden and his work, Edith Stein edited his book project The Literary Work Of Art. In the letters she exchanges with him shereflects on relationship between reality and ideality: she writes that those who do not see the world as a reality must be fools. The political events in the 1930s had an impact on phenomenology. While Edmund Husserl dissociates himself from his protégé Martin Heidegger with regard to the content of his philosophy as well (...) as with regard to his ideology, Edith Stein distances herself more and more from the phenomenological method, seeing it as removed from reality, and she eventually become a Carmelite nun. Roman Ingarden, on the other hand, reconsiders interpreting phenomenology as aesthetic theory. Literature and film are being re-analysed in terms of phenomenological mediality and as factors of human communication. (shrink)

Keine ausführliche Beschreibung für "Reflexion und Gefühl" verfügbar.

Mehr noch als bei einem anderen Text mag für ein Vorwort gelten, daß die Schwierigkeit darin besteht, alles das, was einem nach Fertigstellung eines Buches zunächst dazu einfällt - und am liebsten würde man nur darüber schreiben! - wegzulassen, um dann dennoch auf einige wenige Punkte zurückzukommen, die der Autor als für das Lesepublikum wichtig erachtet. Mein Interesse für Hellerentstand aus einem universitären Rahmen heraus. Ich kam an der FU Berlin Anfang der 80er Jahre über Svetozar Stojanovic, der einige Gastvorträge (...) am Otto-Suhr-Institut hielt, mit der Philosophie der jugoslawischen "Praxis-Gruppe" in Kontakt, deren Grundlegung eines Hu manistischen Marxismus mich interessierte: Praxis als Schlüsselbegriff, Selbsterschaffung des Menschen, Verbindung von mittelbarer und unmittel barer Demokratie, auch die -wenn auch skeptische -Handhabung solcher wertgeladenen Begriffe wie Entfremdung und deren mögliche Überwindung, das waren, so empfand ich damals, Fingerzeige für einen neuen Dritten Weg zwischen Ost und West, denn die "Praxis-Gruppe" kritisierte mit existentiellem Einsatz den damals bestehenden Sozialismus, ohne das westliche Gesellschaftsmodell zu glorifizieren. Die Ideen der "Praxis-Gruppe" waren nicht eigentlich falsch; aber wahr scheinlich ist es mit Theorien wie mit Lebensaltern: sie haben ihre Phase, dann kommt etwas Neues. Nur daß bei der "Praxis-Gruppe" theoretisch nichts wesentlich Neues mehrkam. Für den an Theorie Interessierten glänztejedoch, aus dem Spektrum des Humanistischen Marxismus hervorkommend, schon bald ein neuer Name, nämlich derjenige von Agnes Heller. (shrink)

This paper puts forward a theoretical framework for the analysis of expertise and experts in contemporary societies. It argues that while prevailing approaches have come to see expertise in various forms and functions, they tend to neglect the broader historical and societal context, and importantly the relational aspect of expertise. This will be discussed with regard to influential theoretical frameworks, such as laboratory studies, regulatory science, lay expertise, post-normal science, and honest brokers. An alternative framework of expertise is introduced, showing (...) the limitations of existing frameworks and emphasizing one crucial element of all expertise, which is their role in guiding action. (shrink)

Der Autor: Reiner Ruffing ist promovierter Philosoph, gibt in der Erwachsenenbildung und an Universitäten Lehrveranstaltungen und ist seit mehr als 20 Jahren Lehrer.

Am Leitfaden des Begriffs Malum oeconomicum fuhrt das Buch seine Leser in einen Dialog mit klassischen und zeitgenossischen Denkern uber die abgrundigen Seiten der Wirtschaft und ihre Spiegelungen in der Seele. In der Wirtschaft erscheinen Menschen tendenziell fureinander als blosse Werkzeuge ihrer Bedurfnisbefriedigung, andererseits wird wirtschaftliche Leistung mit Bedeutungen aufgeladen, die an das Heil in der religiosen Sphare gemahnen. Im Kapitalismus der Moderne entfaltet sich aus der Wechselwirkung zwischen einer entfesselten Produktion und den Antrieben des Innenlebens eine zuvor unbekannte Dynamik. (...) Ist diese in liberalen Theorien ein Anlass, das Malum oeconomicum fur verschwunden zu erklaren, so machen Fundamentalkritiker des globalen Kapitalismus geltend, dass dieser illusionare Bedurfnisse weckt und unversohnliche Gegensatze zwischen Arm und Reich hervorruft, deren Sprengkraft jeden sozialen Zusammenhalt gefahrdet. Aus der Lekture von Platon, Aristoteles, Thomas Hobbes, Bernard Mandeville, Adam Smith, Thomas Robert Malthus, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Georg Simmel, John Maynard Keynes, Martin Heidegger, Herbert Marcuse, John Rawls und Amartya Sen ergeben sich Aussichten auf das Wirtschaftsgeschehen, die uber die Engfuhrungen heutiger Debatten weit hinausweisen. (shrink)

Nietzsches Aufforderung Bleibt der Erde treu! aus dem Zarathustra wollte er als eine Art Arznei gegen den drohenden Werteverfall in Europa verstanden wissen. Wie ein Arzt die korperlichen, so versuchte Nietzsche die Ursachen fur die geistigen Leiden in unserer Kultur aufzuspuren. Uberdruss und Langeweile, obwohl es den meisten Menschen in der westlichen Zivilisation nicht schlecht gehe, kamen ihm wie ein Frevel am Sinn der Erde vor. Mit seiner dionysischen Philosophie glaubte Nietzsche das Grundproblem seines Lebens losen zu konnen: wie es (...) namlich moglich sei, trotz der pessimistischen Einsicht in den leidvollen und letztlich unergrundlichen Charakter des Daseins einen praktischen Optimismus zu entwickeln. Im Fokus des Buches stehen so erkenntnistheoretische Aspekte und ihre Bedeutung fur Fragen der Lebensfuhrung. Nach einem Uberblick uber Leben und Werk orientiert sich der Aufbau des Bandes an Nietzsches Hauptbegriffen. Vergleiche mit anderen Autoren machen Nietzsches Philosophie aus dem Kontext heraus besser verstandlich, ein Glossar schlusselt zentrale Begriffe auf. (shrink)

Pathogenic variants occurring in protein‐coding regions underlie human genetic disease through various mechanisms. They can lead to a loss of function (LOF) such as in recessive conditions or in dominant conditions due to haploinsufficiency. Dominant‐negative (DN) effects, counteracting the activity of the normal gene‐product, and gain of function (GOF) are also mechanisms driving dominance. Here, I discuss a few papers on these specific mechanisms. In short, there is accumulating evidence pointing to differences between LOF versus non‐LOF variants (DN and GOF). (...) The latter are thought to have milder effects on protein structure and, as expected, DN variants are enriched at protein interfaces. This tendency to cluster in 3D space can help improve the ability of computational tools to predict the pathogenicity of DN variants, which is currently a challenging issue. More recent results support the hypothesis whereby cotranslational assembly of macromolecular complexes can buffer deleterious consequences of variants that would otherwise lead to DN effects (DNEs). Indeed, subunits the variants of which are responsible for DNEs tend to elude cotranslational assembly, thus poisoning complexes involving wild‐type subunits. The constraints explaining why the buffering of DNEs is not universal require further investigation. (shrink)

Testis determination in most mammals is regulated by a genetic hierarchy initiated by the SRY gene. Early ovarian development has long been thought of as a default pathway switched on passively by the absence of SRY. Recent studies challenge this view and show that the ovary constantly represses male‐specific genes, from embryonic stages to adulthood. Notably, the absence of the crucial ovarian transcription factor FOXL2 (alone or in combination with other factors) induces a derepression of male‐specific genes during development, postnatally (...) and, even more interestingly, during adulthood. Strikingly, in the adult, targeted ablation of Foxl2 leads to a molecular transdifferentiation of the supporting cells of the ovary, which acquire cytological and transcriptomic characteristics of the supporting cells of the testes. These studies bring many answers to the field of gonadal determination, differentiation and maintenance, but also open many questions. (shrink)

Expression of most genes is regulated by the interaction of multiple transcription factors with cis‐regulatory sequences. Many studies have focused on how changes in promoters and enhancers alter gene expression and phenotype. Recently, Hare et al., using elegant wet and computational approaches uncovered a series of enhancers driving the expression of the even‐skipped gene in scavenger flies (Sepsidae).1 Despite the strong sequence divergence between the enhancers in sepsids and drosophilids, they lead to remarkably similar patterns of gene expression in transgenic (...) Drosophila embryos. This can be explained by the existence of intra‐enhancer compensatory mutations and the presence of overlapping/near binding sites for activators and repressors. BioEssays 30:1052–1057, 2008. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Speaking about the influence Husserl had on his early thinking Heidegger later on always referred to Husserl's 'Logische Untersuchungen', emphasizing the attitude of critical distance he had towards the "Ideen zu einer reinen Phänomenologie und phänomenologischen Philosophie" and Husserl's transcendental phenomenology pointed out there. Nevertheless, as shown in this paper, it is evident that in 'Being an Time' Heidegger took over some essential issues from Husserl's later work. But it is also clear that he was also essentially changing their character.

Today political competition and thus the politicians’ incentives to cater for the citizens’ preferences are weakened by protectionist regulations aiming at the politicians’ origin, their incomes and the ‘production process of politics’. This paper suggests abolishing these regulations and institutionalizing an open, international market for politics. Foreign as well as profit-seeking ‘policy producers’ should be allowed to run directly for office without nominating specific individuals. This enables a policy supplier to become active in several countries and jurisdictions and thus to (...) build up an international reputation for being credible, i.e. of sticking to his promises and not exploiting the voters after election. The deregulation programme strengthens the influence of the weakly organized social groups and the governments' incentives to pursue what is of general interest. (shrink)

Cooperative discourse procedures produce consensual siting proposals for NIMBY-projects-but only if these proposals do not affect the final siting decision. Then, the members of the discourse commissions stay independent and face few incentives to pursue consequentialist interests. However, the more influential discourse procedures become, the stronger the interest groups’ incentives are to take advantage of them. Thus, cooperative discourses turn into competitive, interest-centred procedures whose outcome is rejected by the less influential groups. The evolution of discourse procedures into functionally specialized (...) parliaments or even into FOCJ (Functional, Overlapping, Competing Jurisdictions) seems worth pursuing. (shrink)

Mediante esta reflexión sobre las teorías de justicia global, el autor introduce un fundamento normativo de una teoría realista y crítica. Considera que ciertos planteamientos morales sobre el problema de la pobreza severa y el subdesarrollo fallan en la cuestión normativa que ellos necesitan enfocar. Pues, ellos consideran la realidad institucional, económica y política de las injusticias en el contexto global. El autor introduce el principio racional de justificación, para establecer el fundamento normativo de una teoría realista y crítica.

On Heidegger's Being and Time is an outstanding exploration of Heidegger's most important work by two major philosophers. Simon Critchley argues that we must see Being and Time as a radicalization of Husserl's phenomenology, particularly his theories of intentionality, categorial intuition, and the phenomenological concept of the a priori. This leads to a reappraisal and defense of Heidegger's conception of phenomenology. In contrast, Reiner Schürmann urges us to read Heidegger 'backward', arguing that his later work is the key to (...) unravelling Being and Time . Through a close reading of Being and Time Schürmann demonstrates that this work is ultimately aporetic because the notion of Being elaborated in his later work is already at play within it. This is the first time that Schürmann's renowned lectures on Heidegger have been published. The book concludes with Critchley's reinterpretation of the importance of authenticity in Being and Time . Arguing for what he calls an 'originary inauthenticity', Critchley proposes a relational understanding of the key concepts of the second part of Being and Time : death, conscience and temporality. (shrink)