The geometric shapes and natural forms, captured with exceptional precision in Ernst Haeckel's prints, still influence artists and designers to this day. This volume highlights the research and findings of this natural scientist. Powerful modern microscopes have confirmed the accuracy of Haeckel's prints, which even in their day, became world famous. Haeckel's portfolio, first published between 1899 and 1904 in separate installments, is described in the opening essays. The plates illustrate Haeckel's fundamental monistic notion of the "unity of all living (...) things" and the wide variety of forms are executed with utmost delicacy. Incipient microscopic organisms are juxtaposed with highly developed plants and animals. The pages, ordered according to geometric and "constructive" aspects, document the oness of the world in its most diversified forms. This collection of plates was not only well-received by scientists, but by artists and architects as well. Rene Binet, a pioneer of glass and iron constructions, Emile Galle, a renowned Art Nouveau designer, and the photographer Karl Blossfeld all make explicit reference to Haeckel in their work. (shrink)

Excerpt from Augustin und die Patristik Die christliche Theologie hat nach Irenaéiis1 dietätsachen der Offenbarung zu sammeln und _zu deuten. Unter den Tat sachen ist vor allem das nach der Überzeugung der Christen von Wundern und Weissagungen umgebene Wirken des Stifters der christlichen Religion, das Paradoxon, daß dieser Heiligste sterben mußte, endlich seine Auferstehung ge meint. Für die mitfühlende Rekonstruktion der christlichen Gedankenwelt (nicht für ihre Bewertung) ist es irrelevant' wieviel ein Nachforschender von diesen Tatsachen aner kennt. Sie sind geglaubt (...) worden. Werden sie geglaubt, dann ist der gedankliche Aufbau im großen logisch, d. H. Die christliche Theologie ist gewisse Voraussetzungen zuge standen ein philosophisches und als solches ein wissen schaftliches System. Theologie ist eine Form philosophi schen Denkens, das frühchristliche Dogma eine großartige Metaphysik der Geschichte und die Quelle auch andrer wertvoller Gedanken, die Geschichte des Dogmas gehort (mit einer bald zu erwahnenden Einschrankung) in die Ge schichte der Philosophie. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. (shrink)

La philosophie de Descartes se distingue de la haute scolastique par le point de départ gnoséologique et par le dualisme de la substance qui pense et de la substance étendue, sans reconnaissance d’êtres intermédiaires. Mais elle a en commun avec les nominalistes du moyen âge :1° la fondation de la philosophie sur le principe gnoséologique Cogito ergo sum, que certains nominalistes français avaient renouvelé d’après Saint-Augustin ;2° la méfiance contre les concepts universaux et la prédilection pour l’intuition d’où est sorti (...) le dualisme del’esprit et du corps. Les difficultés de ce dualisme ne peuvent être surmontées que par le retour vers une métaphysique des intermédiaires. Un tel retour était alors impossible. Remarquons qu’aujourd’hui la situation a entièrement changé. — La grandeur historique de Descartes consiste dans ce qu’il a — successeur des grands nominalistes français du xive siècle — tâché d’unir la métaphysique aux sciences empiriques. (shrink)

"Das Humanethologische Filmarchiv ist eine Sammlung von rund 800 Stunden Filmmaterial und 2000 Stunden Tonaufzeichnungen, zusammengetragen vom Verhaltensforscher Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt und seinen Mitarbeitern über einen Zeitraum von vier Jahrzehn- ten. Die Humanethologie versteht sich als Biologie des menschlichen Verhaltens und fragt nach den phylogenetischen Bedingungen komplexer motorischer Abläufe, die sie in einer kulturvergleichenden Perspektive untersucht. Aber wovon genau ist das Human- ethologische Filmarchiv ein Archiv? Dieser Beitrag geht dieser Frage nach, in dem er nach den operativen Ontologien der (...) menschlichen Natur und der photographischen Evidenz fragt, die in das Forschungsdesign der Humanethologie eingelassen sind. The film archive of human ethology is a collection of about 800 hours of footage and 2000 hours of sound recordings, compiled by behavioral scientist Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt and his collaborators over a period of four decades. Human ethology is understood as biology of human behavior and asks about the phylogenetic conditions of complex motor processes, which are investigated in a comparative perspective on culture. But what exactly is archived in the film archive of human ethology? The paper tackles this question by asking about the operational ontologies of human nature and the photographic evidence incorporated into the research design of human ethology. ". (shrink)

Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Volume 45, Issue 1-2, Page 87-111, June 2022.

This article carries out a critique of the abstract and disembodied character owned by the structures of the Psychology of Form. The Psychology of Form ignores and removes the genesis of forms, thus remaining trapped in the "dialectic of enlightenment" as described by Adorno and Horkheimer. Through the critical contribution of the works of Piaget and Eibl-Eibesfeldt, is brought to light that history of the relations between the individual and the environment which the Gestaltpsychologie finds only in his (...) final static result. (shrink)

The ArgumentPain has important biomedical socioanthropological, semiotic, and other facets. In this contribution pain and the experssion of pain are looked at from the perspective of evolutionary biology, utilizing, among others, cross-cultural data from field work in Melanesia.No other being cares for sick and suffering conspecifics in the way humans do. Notwithstanding aggression and neglect, common in all cultures, human societies can be characterized as empathic, comforting, and promoting the health and well-being of their members. One important stimulus triggering this (...) caring response in others is the expression of pain. The nonverbal channel of communication, particularly certain universal — i.e., culture-independent facial expressions, gestures, and body postures, convey much of the message from the painstricken person to the group.These behaviors signal the person's physical and psychical pain, sadness, grief, and despair in ways very similar to the signs given by infants and small children: the body loses tonus and sinks or drops to the ground, the gestures are those of helplessness. Pain and grief may be so strong that control is lost not only over the body's posture but also over the mind's awareness. In such cases the afflicted person may carry out actions endangering himself or others. In general, these behavior patterns resemble those of infants in situations of distress and danger, and it is not surprising that the response of the members of the group is basically parental: taking care, assisting and consoling.Perceptive and behavioral patterns which developed in the course of avian and mammalian phylogeny to serve the well-being of the young have proven, as was shown by Eibl-Eibesfeldt, to be powerful building blocks for actions in other spheres of human interaction. Love is one such field, the reactions to a conspecific suffering pain is another. (shrink)

Eric Osborn's book presents a major study of Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, who attacked Gnostic theosophy with positive ideas as well as negative critiques. Irenaeus's combination of argument and imagery, logic and aesthetic, was directed to the bible. Dominated by a Socratic love of truth and a classical love of beauty, he was a founder of Western humanism. Erasmus, who edited the first printed edition of Irenaeus, praised him for his freshness and vigour. He is today valued (...) for his splendid aphorisms, his optimism, love of the created world, evolutionary view of history, theology of beauty and humour. Why have two millennia of European culture been so creative? Irenaeus points to Greek ways of thinking and the Christian Bible. Irenaeus's thought is complex, yet rewarding to the critical reader, and this full study of it will be of interest to theologians, historians of ideas, classicists, scientists and students. (shrink)

Irenaeus of Lyons wrote Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching to encourage his readers of the solidity of their faith, especially as this faith was connected to baptism under the threefold seal: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The threefold nature of the baptismal formula drives Irenaeus’ discussion in Epid. 3-7 and is the point with which he concludes the work, saying, ‘error, concerning the three heads of our seal, has caused much straying from the truth’. Irenaeus structures the (...) intervening chapters to show how Christian baptism is both a testimony to and participation with the Triune God referenced in the baptismal formula. The lack of explicit structural markers within the body of the text has resulted in a neglect of the trinitarian character of its structure. This article explores the manner in which Irenaeus of Lyons’ Demonstration provides insight into his understanding of the nature and activity of the Triune God based on his conviction that Christian baptism is both a testimony to and a participation with that Triune God. (shrink)

God's hospitality or welcome of human beings into eternal life can be approached by means of Western or Eastern strategies. I explore Derrida's understanding of "pure hospitality", which contains parallels with apophatic theology. I then appeal to Irenaeus's eschatology, which exhibits a fruitful tension between kataphatic and apophatic elements, to provide a transcendent warrant for human hospitality. On the one hand, the Bishop's millenarian opposition to Gnosticism implies the continuation of the substance of creation in the eternal Kingdom. On (...) the other hand, Irenaeus's emphasis on deification and visio Dei suggests a future of "pure hospitality" and openness. (shrink)