Drosophila imaginal discs (appendage primordia) have proved invaluable for deciphering cellular and molecular mechanisms of animal development. By combining the accessibility of the discs with the genetic tractability of the fruit fly, researchers have discovered key mechanisms of growth control, pattern formation and long‐range signaling. One of the principal experimental attractions of discs is their anatomical simplicity — they have long been considered to be cellular monolayers. During larval stages, however, the growing discs are 2‐sided sacs composed of a columnar (...) epithelium on one side and a squamous ‘peripodial’ epithelium on the other. Recent studies suggest important roles for peripodial epithelia in processes previously assumed to be confined to columnar cell monolayers. BioEssays 23:691–697, 2001. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (shrink)

When testing primates with cognitive tasks, it is usually not considered that subjects differ markedly in terms of emotional reactivity toward the experimenter, which potentially affects a subject’s cognitive performance. We addressed this issue in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), a monkey species in which males tend to show stronger emotional reactivity in testing situations, whereas females have been reported to outperform males in cognitive tasks. In a two-phase experiment, we first quantified the emotional reactivity of 14 subjects toward four different (...) experimenters performing a standardized behavioral action sequence and then assessed whether and how it affected the subjects’ participation and performance in a subsequent object permanence task. A test session was terminated if a subject refused to make a choice in four consecutive trials. Highly emotionally aroused individuals, particularly males, were less likely to participate in the cognitive task and completed fewer trials. However, whenever they did participate and were attentive to the task, their performance was not affected. Our results suggest that differences in emotional reactivity toward an experimenter have no major impact on cognitive performance if strict criteria are applied on when to abandon a test session and if performance is corrected for attention to the test procedure. Furthermore, they suggest that the reported sex differences in cognitive performance in marmosets may be owing to motivational and attentional factors, rather than a difference in cognitive ability per se. (shrink)

The series, founded in 1970, publishes works which either combine studies in the history of philosophy with a systematic approach or bring together systematic studies with reconstructions from the history of philosophy. Monographs are published in English as well as in German. The founding editors are Erhard Scheibe (editor until 1991), Günther Patzig (until 1999) and Wolfgang Wieland (until 2003). From 1990 to 2007, the series had been co-edited by Jürgen Mittelstraß.

The presence of general intelligence poses a major evolutionary puzzle, which has led to increased interest in its presence in nonhuman animals. The aim of this review is to critically evaluate this question and to explore the implications for current theories about the evolution of cognition. We first review domain-general and domain-specific accounts of human cognition in order to situate attempts to identify general intelligence in nonhuman animals. Recent studies are consistent with the presence of general intelligence in mammals (rodents (...) and primates). However, the interpretation of a psychometricgfactor as general intelligence needs to be validated, in particular in primates, and we propose a range of such tests. We then evaluate the implications of general intelligence in nonhuman animals for current theories about its evolution and find support for the cultural intelligence approach, which stresses the critical importance of social inputs during the ontogenetic construction of survival-relevant skills. The presence of general intelligence in nonhumans implies that modular abilities can arise in two ways, primarily through automatic development with fixed content and secondarily through learning and automatization with more variable content. The currently best-supported model, for humans and nonhuman vertebrates alike, thus construes the mind as a mix of skills based on primary and secondary modules. The relative importance of these two components is expected to vary widely among species, and we formulate tests to quantify their strength. (shrink)

In the seventeenth century, the Jewish mystical tradition which is known as Kabbalah was integrated into the curriculum of studying the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud. Kabbalah became popular in these times in the wake of the dissemination of Isaac Luria’s teachings, in particular within the Jewish communities in Prague and Amsterdam, where members of the Horowitz family took a leading role. Kabbalistic psychology was applied to the whole Jewish lifestyle then, and to the understanding of Jewish tradition. Kabbalistic intentions (...) of prayer intensified the expectation of redemption, and during the messianic movement initiated by Shabtai Zvi, the kabbalistic meaning of repentance was also adapted in prayer books composed for so-called Conversos, who had to familiarize themselves with Jewish tradition. The article exemplifies this process by a Spanish anthology of prayers, Libro entitulado ensenha à pecadores, and shows the historical impact of Kabbalah in the field of Jewish education. (shrink)

Was ist der Mensch? Was ist Sprache, Geist, Bewusstsein, Selbstbewusstsein, Seele, Absicht, Wille, Freiheit, Subjektivität? Wie hängt dies alles mit der Natur, der es entstammt, zusammen? Wer stellt diese Grundfragen der Philosophie heute noch, und wer gibt Antworten darauf? Gerold Prauss deckt einen bisher noch nicht gesehenen Zusammenhang auf, der philosophisch weiterführt. Ein philosophisches Grundlagenwerk, das als eine Erneuerung systematischen Philosophierens aus dem Geist der großen drei Kritiken Immanuel Kants begrüßt worden ist. Das Werk besticht durch die rhetorische Brillanz, (...) mit der Gerold Prauss seine Leser in den Dialog mit dem Autor einbezieht. (shrink)

Beck, L.W. Können Kants synthetische Urteil in analystische umgewandelt werden?--Ebbinghaus, J. Kants Lehre von der Anschauung a priori.--Mittelstrass, J. Spontaneität.--Prauss, G. Zum Wahrheitsproblem bei Kant.--Henrich, D. Die Beweisstruktur von Kants transzendentaler Deduktion.--Kaulbach, F. Schema, Bild und Modell nach den Voraussetzungen des Kantischen Denkens.--Frede, M. und Krüger, L. Über die Zuordnung der Quantitäten des Urteils und der Kategorien der Grösse bei Kant.--Weizsäcker, C.F. von. Kants "Erste Analogie der Erfahrung" und die Erhaltungssätze der Physik.--Beck, L.W. Die Zweite Analogie und das Prinzip der (...) Unberstimmtheit.--Tuschling, B. Kants "Metaphysische Anfangsgründe der Naturwissenschaft" und das Opus postumum.--Hilbner, K. Leib und Erfahrung in Kants Opus postumum.--Patzig, G. Die logischen Formen praktischer Sätze in Kants Ethik.--Henrich, D. Der Begriff der sittlichen Einsicht und Kants Lehre vom Faktum der Vernunft.--Schwemmer, O. Vernunft und Moral.--Ebbinghaus, J. Die Formeln des kategorischen Imperativs und die Ableitung inhaltlich bestimmter Pflichten. (shrink)

Kant has been the only author who has attempted a deduction of ethical and legal obligations. He namely tried to deduce the ought from the free will. The fact that he finally resorted to the fact of reason proves that he did not succeed in the former deduction. In order to do so, he should have found an additional ground to add to the free will, for the relationship between morality and free will cannot be analytic. It is argued that (...) the addition of such a ground would have not invalidated the argument, neither does it involve any naturalistic fallacy, since the free will is not a natural fact, but rather something intentional. The article shows how far Kant would have gone had he reflected further upon the intentional character of the will. (shrink)

This article concerns the unsolved riddle of the continuum of the extension of time and space. It becomes solvable if one takes the two different relationships that can exist between extension and point as a basis: the primary relationship in the synthetic continuum and the secondary relationship in the analytical continuum. Time and space can then be deduced from the primary relationship between extension and point as each special extension. And this deduction corresponds exactly to the synthesis of time and (...) space that Kant seeks to develop. (shrink)

Kann es dabei bleiben, dass das Kontinuum und das Unendliche noch bis heute zwei ungeloste Ratsel sind? Denn immerhin ist nicht einmal geklart, ob sie tatsachlich zwei sind oder nicht vielmehr nur eins. Und das obwohl doch feststeht: Auftreten kann unsere Welt als Inbegriff des Endlichen nur im Kontinuum von Zeit und Raum als dem Unendlichen. Nur ist nicht klar, ob es auf seinem Grund denn in der Tat kontinuierlich ist und nicht vielmehr diskret, wozu man bisher neigt. Befragt man (...) es bisher doch nur reduktionistisch nach der blossen Vielheit seiner Elemente: philosophisch ebenso wie mathematisch. Notig fur die Ratsellosung aber konnte sein, dass man auch noch holistisch nach der inneren Einheit dieser Vielheit fragt, wie es nicht einmal Aristoteles und Kant tun. Schliesslich ist es fur uns bedeutsam, wenn als Grundgestalt der Welt, zu der wir, die Subjekte, mit hinzugehoren, das Kontinuum als das Unendliche auftritt. Womoglich ist es dadurch nicht nur mathematisch oder philosophisch, sondern auch noch theologisch von Bedeutung. All dem Ungeklarten gilt es jedenfalls noch weiter nachzugehen. (shrink)