Historiography in a metaphysical mode Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s11016-011-9524-6 Authors Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, CETCOPRA/Université Paris 1-Panthéon-Sorbonne, 17 Rue de la Sorbonne, 75231 Paris Cedex05, France Jan Golinski, Department of History, University of New Hampshire, 20 Academic Way, Durham, NH 03824, USA Lissa L. Roberts, Department of Science, Technology and Policy Studies (STePS), University of Twente, Postbox 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands John McEvoy, Department of Philosophy, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA Journal Metascience Online ISSN (...) 1467-9981 Print ISSN 0815-0796. (shrink)

The general view is that metaphysical explanation is asymmetric. For instance, if resemblance facts can be explained by facts about their relata, then, by the asymmetry of explanation, these latter facts cannot in turn be explained by the former. The question however is: is there any reason to hold on to the asymmetry? If so, what does it consist in? In the paper we approach these questions by comparing them to analogous questions that have been investigated for scientific explanations. Three (...) main asymmetry criteria have been proposed for the latter: (i) causation, (ii) unification, and (iii) explanatory dependence. We argue that the last criterion, but not the former two, can be of help to metaphysical explanation: metaphysical explanations are asymmetric if the explanatory dependence criterion (in modified format) holds of them. (shrink)

Ultraviolet radiation is generally considered to have been discovered by Johann Wilhelm Ritter in 1801. In this article, we study the reception of Ritter’s experiment during the first decade after the event—Ritter’s remaining lifetime. Drawing on the attributional model of discovery, we are interested in whether the German physicists and chemists granted Ritter’s observation the status of a discovery and, if so, of what. Two things are remarkable concerning the early reception, and both have to do more with neglect than (...) with reception. Firstly, Ritter’s observation was sometimes accepted as a fact but, with the exception of C. J. B. Karsten’s theory of invisible light, it played almost no role in the lively debate about the nature of heat and light. We argue that it was the prevalent discourse based on the metaphysics of Stoffe that prevented a broader reception of Ritter’s invisible rays, not the fact that Ritter himself made his findings a part of his Naturphilosophie. Secondly, with the exception of C. E. Wünsch’s experiments on the visual spectrum, there was no experimental examination of the experiment. We argue that theorizing about ontological systems was more common than experimenting, because, given its social and institutional situation, this was the appropriate way of contributing to physics. Consequently, it was less clear in 1810 than in 1801 what, if anything, had been discovered by Ritter.Keywords: Johann Wilhelm Ritter; Carl Johann Bernhard Karsten; Christian Ernst Wünsch; Ultraviolet radiation; Conceptions of heat and light. (shrink)

This paper revisits the life of Adolf Lindenbaum in light of new research findings, then looks at two areas among many—metric spaces, and decompositions of point sets—where his work has been underappreciated.

_Concepts of Philosophy_ challenges received conceptions of philosophy by way of critical engagement with Chinese and Japanese sources. Built on philologically sound readings of specific texts, the book lifts the discussion on the concept of philosophy to a global plane.

Notes on the life of Adolf Lindenbaum, a complete bibliography of his published works, and selected references to his unpublished results.

This introductory chapter reviews the history of the reception of philosophy from Asia and the Islamic World in Western philosophy and argues in favor of conceptualizing philosophy from a more globally informed point of view.

Zusammenfassung Die Olympischen Spiele sind nicht nur sportliche Wettbewerbe, sie sind auch das Mittel, die verschwenderische Konkurrenz zwischen Nationalstaaten tun Aufmerksamkeit, Legitimität, Moderni- täts- und spezifisches Leistungsprestige, also tun weiche Güter, mit Hilfe sportlicher Erfolge zu ermöglichen. Dabei nimmt der Medaillenspiegel eine zentrale Rolle ein. Mit seiner Hilfe treten teilnehmende Nationen in eine indirekte „Konkurrenz um den Menschen, [in] ein Ringen tun Beifall“. Die indirekte Konkurrenz der Nationen wird in regelmäßigen Abständen wieder von neuem geführt, und das obwohl das IOC (...) eigentlich den Wettbewerb zwischen den Nationen eindeutig zugunsten eines Wettbewerbs zwischen den Athleten ablehnt. Dabei wird medial und politisch um die Aufmerksamkeit des Dritten gebuhlt. Die Aufmerksamkeit des Dritten ist es, die dem Medaillenspiegel als symbolischem Anzeiger nationaler Konkurrenz um weiche Güter Legitimität und Prestige verleiht. Dabei ist tatsächlich unklar, welche Bedeutung die Bevölkerung dem Medaillenspiegel beimisst. Auf Basis einer BevölkerungsStichprobe wurden mit Hilfe eines multivariaten ordinalen logistischen Regressionsmodells Faktoren ermittelt, die das Interesse am Medaillenspiegel erklären. Demnach interessieren sich aktive Sportler, Sportinteressierte, Personen mit höher ausgeprägtem Nationalstolz, mit autoritären Einstellungen und solche, die sich allgemein bei der Entscheidungsfindung an Ratgebern usw orientieren, eher für den Medaillenspiegel. Die sozioökonomischen Variablen Alter, Geschlecht, Migrationshintergrund und schulische Bildung haben nach Kontrolle der erklärenden Variablen keinen signifikanten Einfluss mehr. (shrink)

Transition to a sustainable energy regime is one of the key global societal challenges for the coming decades. Many technological innovations are in the pipeline, but an uncritical appraisal of anything and everything called green innovation lacks methods for testing both the necessity and the sufficiency of these developments. We propose to develop a philosophy of energy to fill this lacuna. Its task is to explore and clarify the space in which the so-called energy transition is taking place. This article (...) sketches the fundaments of such a philosophy and suggests how it might be built upon the work of twentieth century critics of the functioning of energy in society, including Mumford, Bataille, and Heidegger; but not without empirical analysis of contemporary energy systems. Via the example of flux and potentiality - two apparently opposing conceptions of energy - we propose that a philosophy of energy allows for a broader perspective on specific problems in energy transition, and illuminates implicit and problematic assumptions behind these problems. (shrink)

As part of the Dutch national science program “Professional Games for Professional Skills” we developed a stress-exposure biofeedback training in virtual reality for the Dutch police. We aim to reduce the acute negative impact of stress on performance, as well as long-term consequences for mental health by facilitating physiological stress regulation during a demanding decision task. Conventional biofeedback applications mainly train physiological regulation at rest. This might limit the transfer of the regulation skills to stressful situations. In contrast, we provide (...) the user with the opportunity to practice breathing regulation while they carry out a complex task in VR. This setting poses challenges from a technical – as well as from a user-experience perspective. We illustrate how we approach these challenges in our training and hope to contribute a useful reference for researchers and developers in academia or industry who are interested in using biosignals to control elements in a dynamic virtual environment. (shrink)

Infertility is a global problem affecting 48 to 186 million couples of reproductive age. In Poland, it concerns approx. 1.5 million couples, which amounts to 20% of the population capable of reproducing. One of the factors influencing the incidence of fertility disorders may be lifestyle, understood as a multi-disciplinary accumulation of everyday behaviours and habits. In the study, a group of 201 young adults, students of medical and related faculties, were surveyed in order to check the actual level of knowledge (...) about the impact of lifestyle on reproductive health. The Kohonen network, which is an example of a self-learning neural network, was used to find non-obvious connections between the data. The trained Kohonen neural network formed 4 clusters with different characteristics. Based on analyses of the structure of each cluster, it was found that 2nd year students of Medicine are internally divided into 3 fractions. The first fraction declared a high level of knowledge, but did not have real knowledge. The second fraction was aware of their ignorance, as confirmed by the knowledge test. The last fraction was characterized by a high level of self-confidence regarding their knowledge about reproductive health and obtained a high result in the knowledge test. It was confirmed that people studying at the Medical faculty know more than students of the same year at faculties other than Medicine. Interesting results were obtained for a group of 3rd year students of first-cycle studies in Dietetics. They did not obtain a significantly better result in the knowledge test concerning the influence of diet and lifestyle on reproductive health. It would seem that one could expect at least a few highly knowledgeable students in a group of 3rd year students, but this was not confirmed by the study. In view of the obtained results, it was concluded that the Kohonen neural network is applicable to the analysis of data on the actual state of knowledge about the impact of lifestyle on reproductive health. (shrink)

As a way to mitigate climate change, ways to reduce electricity consump­tion are being explored. I claim Briggle and Mitcham’s experiential gap offers a useful framework to understand the workings of our environment regarding this consumption. Via Foucauldian ethics, which holds people need to relate to their environment through ‘self practices’ in order to make moral choices, I argue that the complex and opaque electrical network makes it particularly difficult to consciously curb consumption. Efforts to make the network simpler and (...) more transparent could enable engagement and ‘ethical consumption,’ but at the cost of decreased usability. (shrink)

Energy consumption is central to both a number of pressing environmental issues and to people’s attempts to improve their well-being. Although typically understood as essential for people to thrive, this paper sketches a theoretical foundation for the possibility that the form and amount of energy consumption in modern society may inhibit rather than enable human flourishing. It achieves this goal by connecting and critically assessing the writings of Ivan Illich and Albert Borgmann, which offer a number of concepts that enable (...) a qualitative discussion on energy practices. For different reasons, both authors are highly critical of the societal tendency to command ever-increasing amounts of energy. Illich focuses on negative effects of high energy consumption at the societal level, whereas in my particular re-reading of Borgmann, one finds reasons why high energy consumption fails to realize intended positive effects. It is argued that therefore, energy transition should involve a re-appreciation of the function of energy consumption: to support, rather than to be central to life. (shrink)

I en række afhandlinger beskrives den hollandske ISAF styrkes indsats i Afghanisatn fra 2001-2010. I en fireårig periode fra 2006-2010 var det hollandske kontingent indsat i den afghanske provins Uruzgan og opnåede bemærkelsesværdige resultater. Sikkerhedssituationen blev forbedret, den økonomiske udvikling blev stabiliseret ligesom den offentlige administration, uddannelsen af børn og sundhedsplejen m.v. blev forbedret. Efter 2010 er provinsen overtaget af amerikanske og australske tropper.

In this paper we study a notion of a κ -covering set in connection with Bernstein sets and other types of non-measurability. Our results correspond to those obtained by Muthuvel in [7] and Nowik in [8]. We consider also other types of coverings.

Book Symposium on Don Ihde’s Expanding Hermeneutics: Visualism in Science Content Type Journal Article Category Book Symposium Pages 1-22 DOI 10.1007/s13347-011-0060-5 Authors Jan Kyrre Berg Olsen Friis, University of Copenhagen, Nørre Farimagsgade 5 A, Room 10.0.27, 1014 Copenhagen, Denmark Larry A. Hickman, The Center for Dewey Studies, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA Robert Rosenberger, School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, DM Smith Building, 685 Cherry Street, Atlanta, GA 30332-0345, USA Robert C. Scharff, University (...) of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824-3574, USA Don Ihde, Stony Brook University, Harriman Hall 221, Stony Brook, NY 11794-3750, USA Journal Philosophy & Technology Online ISSN 2210-5441 Print ISSN 2210-5433. (shrink)

In this powerful little book, two leading intellectuals illuminate the truth about where our environmental crisis is taking us. Writing from an island on Canada's northwest coast, Robert Bringhurst and Jan Zwicky weigh in on the death of the planet versus the death of the individual. For Zwicky, awareness and humility are the foundation of the equanimity with which Socrates faced his death: he makes a good model when facing the death of the planet, as well as facing our (...) own mortality. Bringhurst urges readers to tune their minds to the wild. The wild has healed the world before, and it is the only thing that stands any chance of healing the world now--though it is unlikely to save Homo sapiens in the process."--Provided by publisher. (shrink)

O artigo tem por objetivo investigar a particular relação que se estabelece entre a temática do início da filosofia – que é de extrema importância para toda a “escola fenomenológica de Freiburg” – e a concepção da essência da filosofia tal como desenvolvida especificamente no pensamento de Martin Heidegger e Eugen Fink. A partir da reinterpretação e radicalização operadas em relação à abordagem estabelecida pela fenomenologia husserliana, mostraremos como a figura de Husserl se impõe tanto como pano de fundo quanto (...) como alvo polêmico das reflexões de Heidegger e Fink. Assim, se o primeiro desenvolve uma concepção da filosofia como práxis radical de um “outro” pensamento, que procede por tentativas e experimentações, o segundo transforma a fenomenologia husserliana no sentido de uma filosofia da liberdade. (shrink)

Estudo introdutório de apresentação, seguido de tradução, da palestra “Fenomenologia e antropologia”, ministradas por Edmund Husserl nas sedes da Kantgesellschaft de Frankfurt, Berlim e Halle em 1931, na qual avalia criticamente, a partir dos pressupostos transcendentais da fenomenologia, a tendência da filosofia alemã dos anos 20 do século passado para uma antropologia filosófica.

The study of similarity is fundamental to biological inquiry. Many homology concepts have been formulated that function successfully to explain similarity in their native domains, but fail to provide an overarching account applicable to variably interconnected and independent areas of biological research despite the monistic standpoint from which they originate. The use of multiple, explicitly articulated homology concepts, applicable at different levels of the biological hierarchy, allows a more thorough investigation of the nature of biological similarity. Responsible epistemological pluralism as (...) advocated herein is generative of fruitful and innovative biological research, and is appropriate given the metaphysical pluralism that underpins all of biology. (shrink)

Church's Thesis (CT) was first published by Alonzo Church in 1935. CT is a proposition that identifies two notions: an intuitive notion of an effectively computable function defined in natural numbers with the notion of a recursive function. Despite the many efforts of prominent scientists, Church's Thesis has never been disproven. There exists a vast literature concerning the thesis. The aim of this book is to provide a one volume summary of the state of research on Church's Thesis. These include (...) the following: different formulations of CT, CT and intuitionism, CT and intensional mathematics, CT and physics, the epistemic status of CT, CT and philosophy of mind, provability of CT and CT and functional programming. Adam Olszewski, is assistant professor of the philosophy of mathematics and mathematical logic at the Department of Philosophy of Pontifical Academy of Theology, Cracow (Poland). Jan Wolenski is professor of philosophy, Institute of Philosphy, Jagiellonian University, Cracow (Poland). He is one of the most distinguished logicians in Poland. Robert Janusz is assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy of Ignatius College, Cracow (Poland). (shrink)

Infertility is a serious social problem. Very often the only treatment possibility are IVF methods. This study explores the possibility of outcome prediction in the early stages of treatment. The data, collected from the previous treatment cycles, were divided into four subsets, which corresponded to the selected stages of treatment. On each such subset, sophisticated data mining analysis was carried out, with appropriate imputations and classification procedures. The obtained results indicate that there is a possibility of predicting the final outcome (...) at the beginning of treatment. (shrink)

Addressing arguments that comparative philosophy is itself impossible, or that it is indistinguishable from philosophy more generally, this collection challenges myopic understandings of comparative method and encourages a more informed consideration. Bringing together a wide variety of methodological options, it features scholars spread across the globe representing multiple philosophical traditions. From the beginnings of comparative philosophy in the 19th century to present-day proposals for more global philosophy departments, every chapter serves as a viable methodological alternative for any would-be philosophical comparativist. (...) With contributions from leading comparativists that are both distinctive in their method and explicit about its application, this valuable resource challenges and enriches the awareness and sensitivity of the beginning comparativist and seasoned veteran alike. (shrink)