The intuition that consciousness is hard to explain may fade away as empirically adequate theories of consciousness develop. We review socio-historical factors that account for why, as a field, the neuroscience of consciousness has not been particularly successful at developing empirically adequate theories. Based on this we argue that the meta-problem may be a self-fulfilling prophecy, created in part because we inadvertently focused too much on the so-called 'hard problem', limiting scientific progress.

Geleitwort von Prof. P. Nicki -- Dr. Hermann Freund im Gespräch mit Prof. Dr. Dr. Hinderk M. Emrich -- Die Angst und der existentielle Sprung -- Die neue Zeit -- Der gedachte Gott -- Wie kommt das Ich zum Du? - Hysterie als Lebensform -- Was heisst, sich entscheiden? - Zur Theologie der Freiheit -- Re-formation der Reformation -- Das metaphysische und zugleich dämonische Wesen des Schlosses in Franz Kafkas Schloss-Roman -- Nachwort von Wolfgang Teichert: Epiphanie oder wo sprechende Philosophie (...) und Theologie aufhören müssen -- Literatur -- Verzeichnis der Mitwirkenden -- Abbildungsverzeichnis. (shrink)

This volume sheds new light on Alexander of Aphrodisias' On Mixture and Growth as an intelligent and carefully crafted rebuttal of Stoic blending, which Alexander regarded as the closest rival of his own brand of hylomorphism. The authors explore Alexander's dialectical method and determine the precise character of the Stoic theory he attacks. The problematic notions of mutual co-extension and infinite division appear in their proper context, while the successive stages of the process of blending are carefully distinguished from the (...) resulting state of the blend. In this perspective the discussion of growth that closes Alexander's work finds its natural place. (shrink)

I summarize Jaegwon Kim's (2001/5) paper on the detrimental affect 'mental causation' has on physicalism.

It has been argued that if an animal is psychologically like us, there may be more scientific reason to experiment upon it, but less moral justification to do so. Some scientists deny the existence of this dilemma, claiming that although there are scientifically valuable similarities between humans and animals that make experimentation worthwhile, humans are at the same time unique and fundamentally different. This latter response is, ironically, typical of pre-Darwinian beliefs in the relationship between human and non-human animals. Another (...) irony is that debate about such issues has facilitated the participation once more of philosophers in questions concerning experimental psychology: ironic because laboratory-oriented psychologists, especially since the turn of the last century, had been eager to establish the independence of their subject from any influence of philosophy and its investigative methods, as well as from any kind of anthropomorphism.In Britain, certainly more so than in the United States, ethical constraints have prevented the development of psychological research with animals along certain routes. By the 1980s British professional and academic societies had published codes of conduct and guidelines for their members, in part responding to public concern about the welfare of animals in the psychological laboratory. What led to the establishment of these codes and guidelines? This paper analyses the historical background against which professional concern for ethical cost in experimental animal psychology began to take shape, leading to the societies' open pronouncements of the 1980s. (shrink)

Using dimensional analysis, we demonstrate that it is possible to quantify changes in the topological structure of cardiac dynamics over long periods of time. A method was developed to calculate a dimension-like measure (referred to here as apparent dimension) from a correlation algorithm within a data window of 500 heart beats which is moved in equidistant steps over the time series of the RR intervals over 24 hours. The correspondence between the apparent dimension and the correlation dimension was tested using (...) artificial data sequences. Furthermore 24 hour electrocardiographic recordings of two healthy subjects and of a patient with acute myocardial infarction were examined. The reliability of the analysis could be demonstrated and changes in dimension reflecting physiological as well as pathophysiological changes were observed. (shrink)

In diesem Beitrag wird gezeigt, dass Menschenwürde und Nachhaltigkeit untrennbar verknüpft sind. Um diese enge Verbindung offen zu legen, ist zunächst ein Blick auf den sperrigen und komplexen Begriff der Nachhaltigkeit zu richten. Es ist also zu fragen: Was ist Nachhaltigkeit? Worin besteht eine nachhaltige Entwicklung? (Abs. 1). Aus der Antwort folgt unmittelbar die Verbindung zur Menschlichkeit und Menschenwürde (Abs. 2). In einem humanistischen Modell der Nachhaltigkeit wird diese Bindung visualisiert (Abs. 3). Wenn nachhaltiges Handeln dem Schutz der Menschenwürde dient, (...) dann ist es zugleich moralisch geboten (Abs. 4). Um zu zeigen, wie es sich im Konkreten gestaltet, wird exemplarisch der Bereich der Technik betrachtet (Abs. 5). Der Beitrag schließt mit einem Fazit (Abs. 6). (shrink)

First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.