The present paper argues that, despite appearance to the contrary, Kierkegaard’s writings offer promising argumentational resources for addressing the problem of evil. According to Kierkegaard, however, in order to make use of these resources at all, one must necessarily be willing to shift the battleground, so to speak: from a third- to a genuine first-person perspective, namely the perspective of what Climacus dubs Religiousness A. All (yet also only) those who seek deliberate self-annihilation before God—a God in relation to whom (...) they perceive themselves always in the wrong—shall discover the ideal that an unwavering and in fact unconditional thankfulness (namely, for being forgiven) is to be considered the only appropriate attitude towards God and as such both necessary and sufficient for coming to terms with evil and suffering, at least in the life of someone making that discovery. I will argue that Kierkegaard’s (non-)pseudonymous writings provide reasons, at times unwittingly, for adopting the perspective of Religiousness A; however, I will also and ultimately argue that the principle of infinite thankfulness as a corollary of that perspective flounders when it comes to making sense of (the eschatological implications of) the suffering of others. (shrink)

Drawing upon the example of Tucholsky's 1927 Pyrenäenbuch [Book of the Pyrenees], the paper inquires into the possibilities of disciplinary competences and methodology-driven interpretations in the field of cultural studies. It asks whether in the case of the Pyrenäenbuch , the combination strategies of text and photography necessarily predetermine the interpretation, or whether there are other competitive horizons of interpretation beyond this wellestablished theoretical topos of media studies. If it is read in the context of Arnold Gehlen's 1927 Reflexionen über (...) Gewohnheit [Reflections on habit] and Walter Benjamin's Kunstwerkessay , Tucholsky's Reisebuch [Book/journal of voyages] presents itself as an contemporary reading of Kierkegaard and thus as a systematic discussion of medial usages and practices under the sign of repetition. German Der Aufsatz fragt am Beispiel von Tucholskys Pyrenäenbuch von 1927 nach den Möglichkeiten disziplinärer Zuständigkeiten und methodisch gesteuerter Interpretationen im Feld der Kulturwissenschaft. Gibt im Falle des Pyrenäenbuchs die aus Sicht der Medienwissenschaft avancierte Kombinatorik von Text und Photographie die Auslegung vor oder lässt sich jenseits dieser etablierten medienwissenschaftlichen Theorie-Topik dem Text selbst noch ein anderer konkurrenzfähiger Auslegungshorizont abgewinnen? Gelesen im Umfeld von Arnold Gehlens Reflexionen über Gewohnheit (1927) und Walter Benjamins Kunstwerk -Aufsatz wird Tucholskys Reisebuch lesbar als aktualisierte Kierkegaard-Lektüre und damit als systematische Abhandlung über mediale Gebrauchsweisen und Praktiken im Zeichen der Wiederholung. (shrink)

Using an explicit task cuing paradigm, we tested whether masked cues can trigger task-set activation, which would suggest that unconsciously presented stimuli can impact cognitive control processes. Based on a critical assessment of previous findings on the priming of task-set activation, we present two experiments with a new method to approach this subject. Instead of using a prime, we varied the visibility of the cue. These cues either directly signaled particular tasks in Experiment 1, or certain task transitions in Experiment (...) 2. While both masked task and transition cues affected task choice, only task cues affected the speed of task performance. This observation suggests that task-specific stimulus–response rules can be activated only by masked cues that are uniquely associated with a particular task. Taken together, these results demonstrate that unconsciously presented stimuli have the power to activate corresponding task sets. (shrink)

The present study evaluates the cognitive representation of a kicking movement performed by a human and a humanoid robot, and how they are represented in experts and novices of soccer and robotics, respectively. To learn about the expertise-dependent development of memory structures, we compared the representation structures of soccer experts and robot experts concerning a human and humanoid robot kicking movement. We found different cognitive representation structures for both expertise groups under two different motor performance conditions . In general, the (...) expertise relies on the perceptual-motor knowledge of the human motor system. Thus, the soccer experts’ cognitive representation of the humanoid robot movement is dominated by their representation of the corresponding human movement. Additionally, our results suggest that robot experts, in contrast to soccer experts, access functional features of the technical system of the humanoid robot in addition to their perceptual-motor knowledge about the human motor system. Thus, their perceptual-motor and neuro-functional machine representation are integrated into a cognitive representation of the humanoid robot movement. (shrink)

Performance on working memory (WM) tasks may partially be supported by long-term memory (LTM) processing. Hence, brain activation recently being implicated in WM may actually have been driven by (incidental) LTM formation. We examined which brain regions actually support successful WM processing, rather than being confounded by LTM processes, during the maintenance and probe phase of a WM task. We administered a four-pair (faces and houses) associative delayed-match-to-sample (WM) task using event-related fMRI and a subsequent associative recognition LTM task, using (...) the same stimuli. This enabled us to analyze subsequent memory effects for both the WM and the LTM test by contrasting correctly recognized pairs with incorrect pairs for either task. Critically, with respect to the subsequent WM effect, we computed this analysis exclusively for trials that were forgotten in the subsequent LTM recognition task. Hence, brain activity associated with successful WM processing was less likely to be confounded by incidental LTM formation. The subsequent LTM effect, in contrast, was analyzed exclusively for pairs that previously had been correctly recognized in the WM task, disclosing brain regions involved in successful LTM formation after successful WM processing. Results for the subsequent WM effect showed no significantly activated brain areas for WM maintenance, possibly due to an insensitivity of fMRI to mechanisms underlying active WM maintenance. In contrast, a correct decision at WM probe was linked to activation in the “retrieval success network” (anterior and posterior midline brain structures). The subsequent LTM analyses revealed greater activation in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and posterior parietal cortex in the early phase of the maintenance stage. No supra-threshold activation was found during the WM probe. Together, we obtained clearer insights in which brain regions support successful WM and LTM without the potential confound of the respective memory system. (shrink)

Zusammenfassung Sportvereine reagieren auf einen Veränderungsdruck ihrer Umwelt selten einheitlich und keinesfalls immer so, wie es die damit verbundenen Forderungen nahe legen. Was steckt hinter diesem Phänomen? Weshalb ist es anscheinend so irrelevant für die Entwicklung der Sportvereine, wenn externe Experten die Notwendigkeit von Strukturveränderungen einfordern? Bedeutet dies, dass Sportvereine ausschließlich nach dem Gutdünken ihrer Funktionäre operieren, oder dass sie gar unfähig sind, sich von Ereignissen in ihrer Umwelt zu Lernprozessen anregen zu lassen? Der vorliegende Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der (...) Lernfähigkeit von Sportorganisationen. Dabei zeigt sich der Sportverein als besonders lernfähig im Hinblick auf eine Abwehr von Irritationen. Die Notwendigkeit dieser Abwehr ergibt sich aus den sportvereinsspezifischen Organisationsstrukturen. (shrink)

chapter Introduction Poststructuralist perspectives on language, gender and sexual identity Since the inception of the field of language and gender in the, ...

This paper has two goals. The first is to develop a cross-linguistically valid model of modality and mood that captures the most important dimensions along which modal expressions vary. I posit a model with two such dimensions, one of volitivity, and one of event-orientation vs. speaker-orientation, mood being placed at the speaker-oriented end relative to modality proper. The second goal is to provide a new perspective on semantic change of modal expressions on the basis of the proposed model. I argue (...) that unidirectional change along the event-oriented / speaker-oriented dimension is the one overarching tendency of semantic change in modals. This stands in contrast to the widespread perception that change from deontic to epistemic is the dominant tendency. The directionality suggested in this new model is also more comprehensive than previously proposed tendencies of change, such as ‘‘from agent-oriented to epistemic’’, ‘‘from agent-oriented to speaker-oriented’’, and ‘‘from participant-internal to participant-external’’, as it better accounts for various kinds of change that have been previously neglected, including change from epistemic to deontic. (shrink)

This note proposes to emend the problematic preserved reading ad cuius mensae sacra (Val. Max. 4.2.3) to ad Iouis mensae sacra.

Vardanyan’s Theorems [36, 37] state that $\mathsf {QPL}(\mathsf {PA})$ —the quantified provability logic of Peano Arithmetic—is $\Pi ^0_2$ complete, and in particular that this already holds when the language is restricted to a single unary predicate. Moreover, Visser and de Jonge [38] generalized this result to conclude that it is impossible to computably axiomatize the quantified provability logic of a wide class of theories. However, the proof of this fact cannot be performed in a strictly positive signature. The system $\mathsf (...) {QRC_1}$ was previously introduced by the authors [1] as a candidate first-order provability logic. Here we generalize the previously available Kripke soundness and completeness proofs, obtaining constant domain completeness. Then we show that $\mathsf {QRC_1}$ is indeed complete with respect to arithmetical semantics. This is achieved via a Solovay-type construction applied to constant domain Kripke models. As corollaries, we see that $\mathsf {QRC_1}$ is the strictly positive fragment of $\mathsf {QGL}$ and a fragment of $\mathsf {QPL}(\mathsf {PA})$. (shrink)

Immanuel Kant is, famously, not only the major philosopher of European enlightenment, but also one of the first philosophers to develop a philosophical theory of “human races”. How do these two sides of Kant relate to each other? What is the significance of race in Kant’s philosophy? In this article, we aim to discuss these questions by taking a close look into the conceptual and philosophical presuppositions underlying Kant’s understanding of race; relating them to the concept of teleology as developed (...) by Kant in the Critique of Judgement and to the idea of natural history that can be derived from there. In the last two chapters, we intertwine both perspectives in such a way that, on the one hand, we can determine the philosophical significance of race for Kant, and, on the other hand, show how a race-sensible perspective gives new and critical insight into Kant’s concept of reason. (shrink)

Cancer is a complex disease, necessitating research on many different levels; at the subcellular level to identify genes, proteins and signaling pathways associated with the disease; at the cellular level to identify, for example, cell-cell adhesion and communication mechanisms; at the tissue level to investigate disruption of homeostasis and interaction with the tissue of origin or settlement of metastasis; and finally at the systems level to explore its global impact, e.g. through the mechanism of cachexia. Mathematical models have been proposed (...) to identify key mechanisms that underlie dynamics and events at every scale of interest, and increasing effort is now being paid to multi-scale models that bridge the different scales. With more biological data becoming available and with increased interdisciplinary efforts, theoretical models are rendering suitable tools to predict the origin and course of the disease. The ultimate aims of cancer models, however, are to enlighten our concept of the carcinogenesis process and to assist in the designing of treatment protocols that can reduce mortality and improve patient quality of life. Conventional treatment of cancer is surgery combined with radiotherapy or chemotherapy for localized tumors or systemic treatment of advanced cancers, respectively. Although radiation is widely used as treatment, most scheduling is based on empirical knowledge and less on the predictions of sophisticated growth dynamical models of treatment response. Part of the failure to translate modeling research to the clinic may stem from language barriers, exacerbated by often esoteric model renderings with inaccessible parameterization. Here we discuss some ideas for combining tractable dynamical tumor growth models with radiation response models using biologically accessible parameters to provide a more intuitive and exploitable framework for understanding the complexity of radiotherapy treatment and failure. (shrink)

This study presents a contrastive corpus linguistic analysis of language use before and after Stonewall. It uses theoretical insights on normativity from the field of language and sexuality to investigate how the shifting normativities associated with the Stonewall Riots – widely considered the central event of gay liberation in the Western world – have shaped our conceptualization of sexuality as it surfaces in language use. Drawing on two corpora of gay men’s pre-Stonewall narratives dating from two time periods, the analysis (...) combines quantitative and qualitative corpus linguistic methods to examine discursive shifts as evident from narrators’ language use. The study identifies the terms homosexual and normal as central contrastive labels in PRE, and gay and straight as corresponding terms in POST. Other discursive shifts detected are from sexual desire/practices to identity, from an individualistic to a community-based conceptualization of sexuality, and from unquestioned heteronormativity and gender binarism to a weakening of such dominant discourses. The findings are discussed in relation to the desire-identity shift, which is traditionally assumed to have taken place at the end of the 19th century, and shed new light on Stonewall as a central event for the development of an identity-based conceptualization of sexuality as we know it today. (shrink)

Organised around the themes of economy and politics; critical theory; and culture in order to offer an impressive range of thematic perspectives and critical angles, the book delves into the most pressing of today’s quandaries by combining stringent critical analysis with creative foresight. A rigorous examination of the current crisis of late-capitalist society, States of Crisis and Post-Capitalist scenarios develops paradigms that promise to rekindle the desire to move beyond capitalism towards a different social order.

This conceptual paper analyses the arguments which have been made in favour of a transition towards humanistic management. In order to reconcile economic as well as moral arguments an integrative model of humanistic management is presented. This model outlines prospective lines of empirical research especially in the area where business conduct is profitable but not humanistic.

Kritik: Formbildung und Formbegriff. Das Formdenken der Moderne, hrsg. von Ralph Ubl. Malika Maskarinec, Rahel Villinger und Markus Klammer, Paderborn: Fink 2019.

Der Aufsatz fragt am Beispiel von Tucholskys Pyrenäenbuch von 1927 nach den Möglichkeiten disziplinärer Zuständigkeiten und methodisch gesteuerter Interpretationen im Feld der Kulturwissenschaft. Gibt im Falle des Pyrenäenbuchs die aus Sicht der Medienwissenschaft avancierte Kombinatorik von Text und Photographie die Auslegung vor oder lässt sich jenseits dieser etablierten medienwissenschaftlichen Theorie-Topik dem Text selbst noch ein anderer konkurrenzfähiger Auslegungshorizont abgewinnen? Gelesen im Umfeld von Arnold Gehlens Reflexionen über Gewohnheit (1927) und Walter Benjamins Kunstwerk-Aufsatz wird Tucholskys Reisebuch lesbar als aktualisierte Kierkegaard-Lektüre und (...) damit als systematische Abhandlung über mediale Gebrauchsweisen und Praktiken im Zeichen der Wiederholung. Drawing upon the example of Tucholsky's 1927 [Book of the Pyrenees], the paper inquires into the possibilities of disciplinary competences and methodology-driven interpretations in the field of cultural studies. It asks whether in the case of the, the combination strategies of text and photography necessarily predetermine the interpretation, or whether there are other competitive horizons of interpretation beyond this wellestablished theoretical topos of media studies. If it is read in the context of Arnold Gehlen's 1927 [Reflections on habit] and Walter Benjamin's, Tucholsky's [Book/journal of voyages] presents itself as an contemporary reading of Kierkegaard and thus as a systematic discussion of medial usages and practices under the sign of repetition. (shrink)

What is the purpose of our economic system? What would a more life-serving economy look like? There are many books about business and society, yet very few of them question the primacy of GDP growth, profit maximization and individual utility maximization. Even developments with a humanistic touch like stakeholder participation, corporate social responsibility or corporate philanthropy serve the same goal: to foster long-term growth and profitability. Humanism in Business questions these assumptions and investigates the possibility of creating a human-centered, value-oriented (...) society based on humanistic principles. An international team of academics and practitioners present philosophical, spiritual, economic, psychological and organizational arguments that show how humanism can be used to understand, and possibly transform, business at three different levels: the systems level, the organizational level and the individual level. This groundbreaking book will be of interest to academics, practitioners and policymakers concerned with business ethics and the relationship between business and society. (shrink)

Implicit and explicit filling-in phenomena should be distinguished. Blind spot phenomena and mechanisms of boundary completion can be accounted for by implicit filling-in. Surface regions are “painted” with perceptual quantities, such as brightness, by explicit filling-in. “Filling-in” and “finding-out” relate to different computational tasks. Mechanisms of purposive computation (e.g., for navigation) evaluate local measurements, thus “finding out”; whereas mechanisms for grasping might require passive reconstruction, thus “filling in.”.

In dit artikel delen wij onze ervaringen met het ontwikkelen van de onderwijsmodule: we_mind. Binnen deze module gaan minor- en masterstudenten aan de slag met een innovatievraagstuk uit de eigen beroepspraktijk. Hierbij gaan studenten met medeburgers een publieke dialoog aan over de gevolgen van deze innovatie voor de samenleving. De beschreven ervaringen in dit artikel zijn gebaseerd op een pilot met masterstudenten, een zelfevaluatie en de doorontwikkeling van het moduleontwerp. Met dit artikel nodigen we docenten, onderwijsontwikkelaars, bestuurders, opleidingsverantwoordelijken en beleidsmedewerkers (...) uit om niet alleen maar te ‘werken, werken, werken’. Door onze ervaringen te delen en de lezer mee te nemen in het gedachtegoed van Hannah Arendt hopen we hen te inspireren om met elkaar het gesprek aan te gaan over de volgende vragen: Wat maakt een goede publieke professional? Wat is er nodig om deze op te leiden en hoe uit zich dat in onze opleidingen? (shrink)

Das Groschenheft als Bildungsfaktor oder die Zähmung der EinbildungskraftErnst Jüngers Roman Die Zwille von 1973 wiedergelesen.

Financiële technologische ontwikkeling, de zogeheten fintech, is hot en happening. De ontwikkelingen gaan snel maar leiden geregeld tot moreel kwetsbare praktijken. Een geautomatiseerd systeem de schuld geven van economische uitbuiting, uitsluiting en privacyschending is onzinnig. De auteurs gaan in op de vraag wat de rol van financiële ethiek (nog) is als de besluitvorming en gedragssturing bij en in het ontwerp van allerlei systemen (grotendeels) vooraf bepaald wordt. -/- Dit artikel is relevant voor financieel professionals die fintech vormgeven en/of gebruiken. Helaas (...) zijn er geen kant-en-klare oplossingen om moraliteit te programmeren. De auteurs roepen lezers daarom op om bij het managen van de nieuwe innovatiegolf te blijven streven naar vormen van goed bestuur en best practices. (shrink)