In the history of mathematics and natural philosophy Jacobi's contribution to theoretical mechanics is known as a part of the higher calculus in the tradition of Lagrange: accepted as mathematically important, it was denied to have any substantial physical or philosophical relevance. His last lectures on analytical mechanics, given in 1847–1848, three years before his death, and not yet published, show this view to be no longer tenable. These lectures are the most detailed and genuine source on Jacobi's (...) views concerning the foundations of mechanics. In particular, his criticism of the principles of mechanics is unprecedented for its time and anticipates some of Poincaré's views, published about fifty years later. The prehistory of Jacobi's Analytical Mechanics, a description of its content in general and an outline of his criticism, are presented in this paper. (shrink)

This paper argues that essential features of Feyerabend's philosophy, namely his radicalization of critical rationalism and his turn to relativism, could be understood better in the light of his engagement with early Greek thought. In contrast to his earlier, Popperian views he came to see the Homeric worldview as a genuine alternative, which was not falsified by the Presocratics. Unlike socio–psychological and externalist accounts my reading of his published and unpublished material suggests that his alternative reconstruction of the ancient beginnings (...) of the Western scientific tradition motivate and justify his moderate Protagorean relativism. (shrink)

"The choice we have is not between reasonable proposals and an unreasonable utopianism. Utopian thinking does not undermine or discount real reforms. Indeed, it is almost the opposite: practical reforms depend on utopian dreaming."--Russell Jacoby, _Picture Imperfect_ Utopianism suffers from an image problem: A recent exhibition on utopias in Paris and New York included photographs of Hitler's _Mein Kampf_ and a Nazi concentration camp. Many observers judge utopians and their sympathizers as foolhardy dreamers at best and murderous totalitarians at worst. (...) However, as noted social critic and historian Russell Jacoby argues in this salient, polemical, and innovative work, not only has utopianism been unfairly characterized, a return to an iconoclastic utopian spirit is vital for today's society. Shaped by the works of Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Ernst Bloch, Gustav Landauer, and other predominantly Jewish thinkers, iconoclastic utopianism revives society's dormant political imagination and offers hope for a better future. Writing against the grain of history, Jacoby reexamines the anti-utopian mindset and identifies how utopian thought came to be regarded with such suspicion. He challenges standard readings of such anti-utopian classics as _1984_ and _Brave New World_ and offers stinging critiques of the influential liberal and anti-utopian theorists Hannah Arendt, Isaiah Berlin, and Karl Popper. He argues that these thinkers mistakenly equate utopianism with totalitarianism. The reputation of utopian thought has also suffered from the failures of, what Jacoby terms, the blueprint utopian tradition and its oppressive emphasis on detailing all aspects of society and providing fantastic images of the future. In contrast, the iconoclastic utopians, like those who follow God's prohibition against graven images, resist both the blueprinters' obsession with detail and the modern seduction of images. Jacoby suggests that by learning from the hopeful spirit of iconoclastic utopians and their willingness to accept new possibilities for society, we open ourselves to new and more imaginative ideas of the future. (shrink)

A comparison of attitudes among managers from France, Germany and the United States is made with respect to codes of ethics and ethical business philosophy. Findings are also compared with past studies by Baumhart and by Brenner and Molander where data are available. While the current data appear to be consistent with the past studies, there appear to be differences in attitudes among the managers from the three countries.

IN THIS ESSAY WE ARGUE FOR A RECONFIGURATION OF JUST WAR THEORY around the principle of just intention. A just intention—based just war theory can overcome problems inherent in two alternative "ideal-typical" accounts of just war theory. The "internationalist" account argues for the promotion of justice, by analogy to its pursuit in domestic politics. The "realist" account, on the other hand, favors the particular manifestations of justice within states. Taken together, these two accounts complement each other and emphasize genuine goods. (...) The possibility of taken them together, however, arises only out of consideration of just war theory as a peacemaking activity, ordered to the end, or intention, of this political act. If just war theory is not so understood, there is no possibility of drawing together these two complementary accounts. (shrink)

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

First published in 1969. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

"The choice we have is not between reasonable proposals and an unreasonable utopianism. Utopian thinking does not undermine or discount real reforms. Indeed, it is almost the opposite: practical reforms depend on utopian dreaming."--Russell Jacoby, _Picture Imperfect_ Utopianism suffers from an image problem: A recent exhibition on utopias in Paris and New York included photographs of Hitler's _Mein Kampf_ and a Nazi concentration camp. Many observers judge utopians and their sympathizers as foolhardy dreamers at best and murderous totalitarians at worst. (...) However, as noted social critic and historian Russell Jacoby argues in this salient, polemical, and innovative work, not only has utopianism been unfairly characterized, a return to an iconoclastic utopian spirit is vital for today's society. Shaped by the works of Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Ernst Bloch, Gustav Landauer, and other predominantly Jewish thinkers, iconoclastic utopianism revives society's dormant political imagination and offers hope for a better future. Writing against the grain of history, Jacoby reexamines the anti-utopian mindset and identifies how utopian thought came to be regarded with such suspicion. He challenges standard readings of such anti-utopian classics as _1984_ and _Brave New World_ and offers stinging critiques of the influential liberal and anti-utopian theorists Hannah Arendt, Isaiah Berlin, and Karl Popper. He argues that these thinkers mistakenly equate utopianism with totalitarianism. The reputation of utopian thought has also suffered from the failures of, what Jacoby terms, the blueprint utopian tradition and its oppressive emphasis on detailing all aspects of society and providing fantastic images of the future. In contrast, the iconoclastic utopians, like those who follow God's prohibition against graven images, resist both the blueprinters' obsession with detail and the modern seduction of images. Jacoby suggests that by learning from the hopeful spirit of iconoclastic utopians and their willingness to accept new possibilities for society, we open ourselves to new and more imaginative ideas of the future. (shrink)

Driven by the question, 'What is the computational content of a (formal) proof?', this book studies fundamental interactions between proof theory and computability. It provides a unique self-contained text for advanced students and researchers in mathematical logic and computer science. Part I covers basic proof theory, computability and Gödel's theorems. Part II studies and classifies provable recursion in classical systems, from fragments of Peano arithmetic up to Π11-CA0. Ordinal analysis and the (Schwichtenberg-Wainer) subrecursive hierarchies play a central role and are (...) used in proving the 'modified finite Ramsey' and 'extended Kruskal' independence results for PA and Π11-CA0. Part III develops the theoretical underpinnings of the first author's proof assistant MINLOG. Three chapters cover higher-type computability via information systems, a constructive theory TCF of computable functionals, realizability, Dialectica interpretation, computationally significant quantifiers and connectives and polytime complexity in a two-sorted, higher-type arithmetic with linear logic. (shrink)

In Preludes to Pragmatism: Toward A Reconstruction of Philosophy, Phillip Kitcher argues in Chapter 6, “Does ‘Race’ Have a Future” that developments in evolutionary biology may support a separation of our species into subcategories that could be regarded as races. The human species, he argues, could possibly be divided, using a similar methodology to that employed by evolutionary biologists, into relatively stable and isolated breeding populations that bear distinctive and salient clusters of significant genotypic and phenotypic traits. Hence, the eliminativist (...) claim that there is nothing in the world that corresponds to our use of the term ‘race’ is mistaken. There is, in short, a scientifically legitimate.. (shrink)

Die wissenschaftliche Auseinandersetzung mit ökologischen Problemen beim Sporttreiben ist weitgehend noch Neuland. Der vorliegende interdisziplinäre Sammelband greift die Diskussion um sportpädagogische und sportpraktische Lösungsansätze auf. Er fragt nach den spezifischen ökologischen Problemen des Breitensports und nach den Konsequenzen, die aus ökologisch unverträglichen Sportentwicklungen für die Sportpädagogik und die Sportlehrer-Ausbildung zu ziehen sind. Ein weiterer Schwerpunkt liegt auf dem Thema Sport und Gesundheit. Dabei kommen vor allem die präventiven und rehabilitativen Wirkungen gesundheits- und naturbewussten Sporttreibens in den Blick. Abschliessend werden die (...) besondere Stellung und Aufgabe des Hochschulsports, seine ökologischen Herausforderungen und seine Bedeutung für die Bewältigung des Lebens- und Berufsalltags thematisiert. (shrink)

He finds the key in the concept of responsibility, which implies not only the freedom and flexibility of responsiveness to others but also a guiding ideal of ...

An important feature of so-called rational decision making, at least in times of crisis, is arational: that is, our ability to decide manifests features of our characters or the values we hold rather than our reasoning abilities.1 Such a position stands in obvious opposition to the Western philosophical tradition. Consider, by comparison, the view of Immanuel Kant, who held that reason could, and perhaps sometimes ought to, operate independently of (and in opposition to) our sentiments. Contrary to Kant, William James (...) argues in "The Sentiment of Rationality" that arational mental states and phenomena—such as feelings, emotions, values, and attitudes—are indispensable to practical rationality (317). The attempt to .. (shrink)

v. 1. Foundations.--v. 2. Politics.--v. 3. Sex.

This paper begins with a presentation of some important aspects of the science behind global warming. Following that, I argue that attempts to address global warming and climate change as problems facing humanity ought not to center around economic understandings of the problem or it solutions. Moreover, I argue that pragmatism is especially vulnerable to this sort of misappropriation in seeking solutions to climate change, and that environmental pragmatists ought to make a conscious effort to avoid potential mischaracterizations of pragmatism (...) by providing a clearer sense of the boundaries that delimit its approach to climate change, or any other environmental crisis. (shrink)

Die 22 Beiträge dieses Bandes begreifen Sprache als Fundamentalkategorie des Menschen. Alles Sprachliche ist nicht zeichentheoretisch zu verstehen, sondern als Ausdruck eines notwendigen Verhältnisses von Wort und Sache. Dies wird am Kritischen der Sprache selbst, am Sprachdenken und am Metaphorischen zu zeigen versucht. Wichtige Erscheinungen des deutschen Sprachdenkens werden vorgestellt. Die problematische Entwicklung des Sprachbegriffs seit dem 19. Jahrhundert erscheint im Tatsachenbegriff, in der Vorstellung der öffentlichen Rede und in der Tendenz zur Mediensprache. Die Stellung der bedeutenden Literatur innerhalb dieser (...) Sprachvorstellung wird ebenso erörtert wie die Mängel und Anpassungsversuche der Literaturwissenschaft in diesem Zusammenhang. Außerdem geht es um die Fragwürdigkeiten der Literaturkritik heute. Die Überlegung zum Sprechen in den Medien geht vom Typus des Journalisten einerseits wie von den zentralen Medienbegriffen, nämlich Nachricht und Meinung, andererseits aus. Kritische Betrachtungen des Umgangs der Medien mit der Metaphorik wie deren Tendenz auf Sprachbeherrschung werden ebenso behandelt wie die historische Medienkritik und Thesen zur sprachkritischen Ethik in den Medien. Die Arbeit von Karl Kraus als bisher wichtigstes Beispiel einer sprachlichen Medienkritik wird dargestellt. Abschließend geht es um den Begriff der Interpretation als zentralen Begriff einer sprachorientierten Wissenschaft. (shrink)

Johannes von Kries’s Spielraum-theory is regarded as one of the most important philosophical contributions of the nineteenth century to an objective interpretation of probability. This paper aims at a critical and contextual analysis of von Kries’s approach: It is contextual insofar as it reconstructs the Spielraum-theory in the historical setting that formed his scientific and philosophical outlook. It is critical insofar as it unfolds systematic tensions and inconsistencies which are rooted in this context, especially in the grave change of mechanism (...) which took place in the late nineteenth century. In this regard, the paper focuses on von Kries’s understanding of natural laws and nomological knowledge in relation to his concept of objective probability. While the formal approach of the Spielraum-theory—as far as developed by von Kries—seems sound, his epistemological claims with respect to nomological knowledge sustain classical mechanism and are hence difficult to substantiate from the point of view of modern science. (shrink)

We investigate interpolation properties of many-valued propositional logics related to continuous t-norms. In case of failure of interpolation, we characterize the minimal interpolating extensions of the languages. For finite-valued logics, we count the number of interpolating extensions by Fibonacci sequences.