Logical Positivists had a very lively interest in the revolutionary science of their time, but also in modern art and especially in ‘international style’ architecture. Surprisingly they never published a representative volume or longer statement on art and architecture. But: it is not well known that Otto Neurath, their leading organizer and spokesman, invited the eminent art historian and critic Meyer Schapiro to contribute a volume on art to the International Encyclopedia of Unified Science. Schapiro failed to deliver the (...) promised book. But from the extended correspondence and some material in the Schapiro papers one can describe the general direction the thing would have taken. The correspondence is also very interesting, because it also covers questions of the endangered peace and the approaching war, the academic scene in Europe and in the USA, and surprisingly: Martin Heidegger. Neurath died in 1945, but Schapiro came back to the Heidegger theme in 1968 when he wrote his famous harsh criticism of Heidegger’s programmatic long paper “Das Kunstwerk” where he interprets one of Van Gogh’s shoe-paintings. Schapiro’s short article caused much controversy then. (shrink)

In "Literary Forms of Argument in Early China," Gentz and Meyer explore a new analytical approach to the study of written thinking by focusing on the argumentative function of literary patterns in early Chinese texts.

'Jeder denkt doch nur an seinen eigenen Vorteil'. Diese schwer überprüfbare Lebensweisheit ist in den letzten zwanzig Jahren von der neueren Ökonomik zu einer modelltheoretisch fundierten Ethik ausgearbeitet worden, die fordert, innerhalb geeigneter Rahmenbedingungen dem 'unbändigen Vorteilsstreben' nicht nur im Marktgeschehen, sondern auch im alltäglichen Zusammenleben freien Lauf zu lassen. Beispielhaft demontiert Hans-Joachim Niemann das Modelldenken der neuen Ökonomik und zeigt: Wer seine Modelle nicht durchschaut oder die Komplexität des sozialen Lebens unterschätzt, läuft Gefahr, das soziale Gefüge aus (...) den Angeln zu heben. Eine solche 'Ethik der Zukunft' brauchen wir nicht. Not tut stattdessen, die herkömmliche Moral als 'säkulare Moral' zu analysieren, zu formulieren und sie dadurch kritisierbar und verbesserbar zu machen. Das geeignete Instrument dazu ist die Problemlösungsethik des kritischen Rationalismus. (shrink)

Albert Lewis's article analysing the influence of Friedrich Schleiermacher on Hermann Grassmann, stimulated many different studies on the founder of n-dimensional outer algebra.Following a brief outline of the various, sometimes diverging, analyses of Grassmann's creative thinking, new research is presented which confirms Lewis's original contribution and widens it considerably. It will be shown that:i. Grassmann, although a self-taught mathematician, was at the centre of a hitherto understated intellectual trend, which was defining for Germany. Initiated by Pestalozzi's concept of elementary mathematical (...) education and culminating in the modern mathematics of the late 19th Century, it was reflected in the contributions of Grassmann, Riemann, Jacobi and Eisenstein.ii. Hermann Grassmann, his father Justus, and his brother Robert were all demonstrably influenced by Schleiermacher's dialectic; however the two brothers responded to it in very different ways.iii. Whilst the more philosophical parts of Hermann's 1844 Extension Theory are characterised by the influence of Schleiermacher and also by the mathematical knowledge of his father, the entire development of this work is the unfolding of a single idea based on the father's interpretation of combinatorial multiplication as a ‘chemical conjunction‘, which was developed largely dialectically by Hermann. (shrink)

This paper addresses the question, which sex ratio will evolve in a population that is subject to mutation and drift. The problem is analyzed using a simulation model as well as analytical methods. A detailed simulation model for the evolution of a population's allele distribution shows that for the sex ratio game a wide spectrum of different population states may evolve from on the one hand a monomorphic state with one predominant allele and with all other alleles suppressed by the (...) forces of selection, to on the other hand a polymorphism determined by recurrent mutations. Which of these states will evolve depends on the population size, the mating system and the rate of mutations. For the sex ratio game the evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS), as defined by evolutionary game theory, can only predict the population sex ratio but not the underlying stable population state. A comparison of different approaches to the problem shows that false predictions of the stable population states might result from two simplifying assumptions that are fairly common in evolutionary biology:a) it is assumed that mutations are rare events and there is never more than one mutant gene present in a population at any one time; b) a deterministic relationship is assumed between the fitness assigned to an individual's strategy and the individual's contribution to the gene pool of future generations. (shrink)

Pour la plupart, les membres du cercle de Vienne se sentaient investis d’une mission philosophique et aussi culturelle: poursuivre la tradition française des Lumières et l’adapter aux exigences du temps. Si l’on se demande dans quelle mesure l’objectif a été atteint, la réponse est double. Quand ils ont cherché à élaborer une encyclopédie empiriste, à savoir l’Encyclopédie internationale de la science unifiée, qui serait comme l’équivalent de la Grande Encyclopédie de Diderot et d’Alembert, l’échec a été flagrant. À cela, il (...) y a des raisons externes, comme la seconde guerre mondiale, ou la mort d’Otto Neurath, le principal éditeur et aussi le moteur de toute l’entreprise. Mais cela tient aussi à des facteurs internes, comme l’insistance de Neurath sur un Index verborum prohibitorum, qui a empêché certaines contributions importantes d’aboutir. Si maintenant l’on élargit l’horizon pour considérer le mouvement dans son ensemble, un bon point de départ se trouve dans la critique très polémique formulée par Max Horkheimer en 1937. L’examen des arguments avancés montre que les positions défendues par l’empirisme logique étaient beaucoup plus solides que ne l’imaginaient Horkheimer et l’École de Francfort: la prise en compte des faits et théories scientifiques est et reste un ingrédient important de toute politique éclairée. (shrink)

Was halt eine Gesellschaft im Innersten zusammen? Was macht das Wesen von Freundschaften aus? Wie kann man der Liebe Dauer verleihen? In drei Essays fasst Hans-Joachim Pieper aktuelle und traditionelle Antworten der Philosophie zusammen und zeigt, wie eng die Formen und Motive des Sozialen miteinander verstrickt sind. LIebe kann sich in Institutionen manifestieren. MItgefuhl und Nachstenliebe spielen bei allem Miteinander eine Rolle. FReundschaften werden in Gesprachen und Unternehmungen, in Netzwerken, Parteien und Freizeitvergnugungen gepflegt. IN lebenslangen Verbindungen gewinnt die (...) Freundschaft eine herausragende Gestalt. ZUgleich bildet sie auch einen wesentlichen Bestandteil der Liebe. Die Gemeinsamkeiten der hier besprochenen Formen des Miteinanders und ihre Vielfalt geben Grund zur Hoffnung, dass die Menschen letztlich mehr zum Frieden neigen als zum Krieg und dass die Rede von der Menschheit nicht nur Schonrederei ist. (shrink)

About the relationship of the two traditions of Platonic interpretation the indirect and the direct traditions, the written dialogues and the unwritten doctrines.