English summary: This volume contains controversial views and discussions on the purpose, function, analysis and justification of value judgments and norms in the social sciences and humanities.

In this book the author gives a broad overview of different areas of research in nonmonotonic reasoning, and presents some new results and ideas based on his research. The guiding principles are: clarification of the different research activities in the area, which have sometimes been undertaken independently of each other; and appreciation of the fact that these research activities often represent different means to the same ends, namely sound theoretical foundations and efficient computation. The book begins with a discussion of (...) the various types of nonmonotonic reasoning, their applications and their logics. Theorem proving techniques for these logics are also described. The following chapters deal with formulations of nonmonotonic inheritance, and nonmonotonic reasoning based on nonmonotonic rules. The final chapter discusses the achievements in the field in the light of the Yale shooting example. The book will be welcomed by researchers in theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. (shrink)

Der Titel Eudämonie verspricht Schönes, Angenehmes, Erbauliches, und alles das will und soll dieses Buch auch leisten. Wer von uns wünschte sich nicht ein gutes und gelingendes Leben, ohne allerdings so mir nichts, dir nichts sagen zu können, woraus denn dieses Gute, Schöne und Wahre besteht. Wer von uns kennt nicht den intensiven Wunsch nach Glück und Zufriedenheit, und wem begegneten bei seiner oder ihrer Suche nach Glück und Zufriedenheit aber nicht schon Hürden und Herausforderungen aller Art, die uns bisweilen (...) rat- und hilflos haben werden lassen? Allein schon aufgrund dieser persönlichen Kalamitäten, die jeder von uns oftmals zu gewärtigen hat, scheint es gerechtfertigt, über Eudämonie und damit über die Möglichkeiten eines gelingenden Lebens nachzudenken. Leben zwischen... Kunst und Spiel / Ich und Du / verbaler Sprache und beredtem Leib / Vergangenheit und Zukunft / Kontemplation und Tat / Sinnlichkeit und Form. Der Autor Gerhard Danzer ist Facharzt für Innere Medizin, Facharzt für Psychosomatik und Psychotherapie (Tiefenpsychologie) sowie Diplompsychologe. Jahrzehntelang war er als Professor an der Charité und an der Medizinischen Hochschule Brandenburg (MHB) sowie als Honorarprofessor an der Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt (Psychologie) und an der Universität Potsdam (Philosophie) tätig. 2019 wurde ihm der renommierte Preis der Dr. Margrit Egnér-Stiftung (Zürich) für sein bisheriges literarisches Oeuvre verliehen. Seine jüngsten Buchpublikationen bei Springer sind Wie wäre es, ein Mensch zu sein? (2020), Personale Medizin (2021) und Shakespeare auf der Couch (2021) sowie Tief ist der Brunnen der Vergangenheit - Mythos, Logos und Person (2022). (shrink)

Zusammenfassung In Deutschland verlangt das Transplantationsgesetz die Zuteilung von postmortal gespendeten Organen nach den Kriterien der Dringlichkeit und der Erfolgsaussicht. Der herrschenden Auffassung zufolge darf die Erfolgsaussicht hierbei jedoch lediglich den Charakter einer Minimalnutzenschwelle annehmen. Eine darüber hinausgehende Gewichtung von Erfolgsaussichten soll zudem nicht mit der Lebenswertindifferenzkonzeption des Bundesverfassungsgerichts zu vereinbaren sein, die aus dem Gleichheitsgrundsatz sowie aus der Menschenwürde abgeleitet wird. Gerhard Dannecker argumentiert, diese im juristischen Schrifttum überwiegend vertretene Auffassung sei weniger zwingend, als es auf den ersten (...) Blick scheinen mag. Seiner Auffassung zufolge lässt sich aus der Lebensschutzgarantie in Artikel 2 der Verfassung eine Pflicht ableiten, die vorhandenen Ressourcen möglichst effektiv einzusetzen. Zwar dürfe Effizienz hier tatsächlich nicht bedeuten, dass die Funktionsdauer der vorhandenen Organe über das Gesamtkollektiv aller Patienten hinweg utilitaristisch zu maximieren sei - eine Pflicht zur Rettung einer möglichst großen Anzahl an Menschen lässt sich ihres Erachtens jedoch durchaus rechtfertigen. (shrink)

Human beings need communication. During the development of mankind, a multitude of communication technologies have been invented and used. Some of them had a dramatic impact on society in general and on the way scientific knowledge was disseminated. In this article we discuss some of the effects of each of these changes to teaching as a way of disseminating scientific knowledge. We discuss some of the potential effects caused by the new revolution of communication due to the World Wide Web (...) and the potential of ubiquitous computing. We discuss the evolution of communication technology followed by a discussion of the achievements of each technology. Next, the effects of these achievements on teaching are discussed. Finally, we set these considerations into a broader context and discuss the effects on two important parameters: lead time of the teacher and verifiability of the teacher's claims. (shrink)

Nonmonotonic reasoning in its broadest sense is reasoning to conclusions on the basis of incomplete information. Given more information, previously drawn inferences may be retracted. Commonsense reasoning has a nonmonotonic component; it has been argued that almost all commonsense inferences are of this sort. From the end of the 1980s to the present there has been an explosion in research in nonmonotonic reasoning. It is now possible to understand more clearly the properties of the major formalisms from a metatheoretical point (...) of view, the relationships among the formalisms and their connection to independently developed proof methods. The goal of this monograph is to make this understanding more accessible. (shrink)

The relationship between methods, statistics and models in the social sciences is discussed. New models generalizing commonly used linear models to deal with qualitative and ordinal data are introduced; their basic similarity to linear models is pointed out. Rate models and stochastic linear differential equations to model social processes in continuous time are mentioned. The implications of weak substantial theory and the correct use of statistical significance tests for any kind of model are demonstrated.

In 1992 M.W. Evans proposed the O(3) symmetry of electromagnetic fields by adding a constant longitudinal magnetic field to the well-known transverse electric and magnetic fields of circularly polarized plane waves, such that certain cyclic relations of a so-called O(3) symmetry are fulfilled. Since then M.W. Evans has elevated this O(3) symmetry to the status of a new law of electromagnetics. As a law of physics must be invariant under admissible coordinate transforms, namely Lorentz transforms, in 2000 he published a (...) proof of the Lorentz invariance of O(3) symmetry of electromagnetic fields. As will be shown below this proof is incorrect; more, after simple correction it will turn out here that the O(3) symmetry cannot be Lorentz invariant. (shrink)

In this paper I ponder the moral status of conditional threats, in particular the extent to which a threatened party would be permitted to use (lethal) defensive force. I first investigate a mugger case before turning briefly to the more complicated issue of national defence in the face of an invading army. One should not exaggerate the level of protection people under threat owe their conditioned killers simply because what is extorted is of little value. After all, either the conditional (...) threat is willing to kill for something she has no claim on at all, or, if she has a just claim on it - or good reason to believe that she has - she is willing to kill to (re)acquire something of not much worth. In both cases the moral culpability of the conditional threat could be seen as reducing her claim on protection from harm. (shrink)

Anthropologie ist der Versuch des Menschen, nach seinem Wesen und seiner Natur zu fragen sowie seine Herkunft und Möglichkeiten zu ergründen. Während sich Philosophen schon immer mit diesem Thema beschäftigt haben, sind im 20. Jahrhundert viele Disziplinen hinzugekommen. Der Autor beschreibt anhand von 35 biografischen und werkanalytischen Erörterungen, wie sich Ärzte und Philosophen im 20. Jahrhundert auf die Suche nach der „Formel des Menschen“ begeben haben. Dabei setzt er sich mit den verschiedenen Denkrichtungen kritisch auseinander.

Critical Rationalism has become an influential philosophy in many areas including a great number of scientific disciplines. Yet only few studies have been devoted to the role of the philosophy of Sir Karl Popper in the vast field of education. This volume undertakes to fill this gap. Leading scholars in the educational science and in the philosophy of education have critically written for this volume in an attempt to elaborate Popper's methodological and socio-political views and confront them with a globally (...) relevant spectrum of scientific objectives and cultural values. Among the topics discussed are moral values, education for freedom and its consequences for the student, and the critical attitude in political education. Attention is also paid to the historiography of this significant philosophical movement. Regarding pedagogical research, the empirical paradigm, the falsificatory approach to educational research, the complex relationship between educational theory and practice as well as the problem of value-neutrality in educational science are objects of critical analysis. (shrink)

The volume contains the written versions of all papers given at the workshop, divided into five chapters and followed by Alvin Goldman's replies in the sixth.

This volume honours the life and work of Solomon Feferman, one of the most prominent mathematical logicians of the latter half of the 20th century. In the collection of essays presented here, researchers examine Feferman’s work on mathematical as well as specific methodological and philosophical issues that tie into mathematics. Feferman’s work was largely based in mathematical logic, but also branched out into methodological and philosophical issues, making it well known beyond the borders of the mathematics community. With regard to (...) methodological issues, Feferman supported concrete projects. On the one hand, these projects calibrate the proof theoretic strength of subsystems of analysis and set theory and provide ways of overcoming the limitations imposed by Gödel’s incompleteness theorems through appropriate conceptual expansions. On the other, they seek to identify novel axiomatic foundations for mathematical practice, truth theories, and category theory. In his philosophical research, Feferman explored questions such as “What is logic?” and proposed particular positions regarding the foundations of mathematics including, for example, his “conceptual structuralism.” The contributing authors of the volume examine all of the above issues. Their papers are accompanied by an autobiography presented by Feferman that reflects on the evolution and intellectual contexts of his work. The contributing authors critically examine Feferman’s work and, in part, actively expand on his concrete mathematical projects. The volume illuminates Feferman’s distinctive work and, in the process, provides an enlightening perspective on the foundations of mathematics and logic. (shrink)

The area of biomedicine is one of the fastest developing areas of science and technology. The perception of its possible and expected positive or negative impacts results in the growing number of bioethical discussions in scientific community, politics and public. Their intensity, focus and used methods differ from country to country. Th e authors of the prologue have tried to map the state of the art and expected development of bioethical discussion in the countries of Middle and Eastern Europe. In (...) the beginning, they addressed the bioethical experts with short questionnaire from 7 “new” European countries and two “old” European countries. In the end, seven experts have responded their questions and expressed their expectations and difficulties of the development of bioethical discussions and institutionalisations in their countries. The authors summarize in the prologue the most interesting results. (shrink)

A riddle in the ethics of war concerns whether lethal defensive force may be justifiably used against aggressing soldiers who are morally innocent.