A revision of the author's thesis, Vienna, 1978.

The Newman problem is a fundamental problem that threatens to undermine structural assumptions and structural theories throughout philosophy and science. Here, we consider the problem in the context of consciousness science. We introduce and discuss the problem, and explain why it is detrimental not only to structuralist assumptions, but also to theories of consciousness, if left unconsidered. However, we show that if phenomenal spaces, and mathematical structures of conscious experience more generally, are understood in the right way, the Newman problem (...) does not arise. The upshot of our paper is that consciousness science needs to be careful in which definition of structure to consider, but if it is, the Newman problem disappears. (shrink)

Several promising approaches have been developed to represent conscious experience in terms of mathematical spaces and structures. What is missing, however, is an explicit definition of what a ‘mathematical structure of conscious experience’ is. Here, we propose such a definition. This definition provides a link between the abstract formal entities of mathematics and the concreta of conscious experience; it complements recent approaches that study quality spaces, qualia spaces, or phenomenal spaces; and it provides a general method to identify and investigate (...) structures of conscious experience. We hope that ultimately this work provides a basis for developing a common formal language to study consciousness. (shrink)

This clear and concise book investigates the relation between materiality and the subject in Marxism, (post-)structuralism, and material semiotics. It introduces the three approaches in an accessible way and serves as an introduction to different kinds of materialism and theories of the subject. For each approach, the modalities of materiality of the respective materialism are defined and the relationship between these multiple materialities and the subject are presented as specific to the theoretical approaches discussed. Beetz argues for a non-reductionist materialism, (...) which conceives of materiality as more than matter or matter in motion. In such a materialism the subject is seen as an effect of material conditions, relations, processes, and practices. He shows how the constitution and decentering of the subject is conceptualized in the approaches presented and highlights the role of material instances in these processes. (shrink)

Growing out of concerns for environment-development interlinkages expressed at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, 1972, this volume is a compilation of edited versions of statements made at that conference and at the ...

Reprint of the ed. published by Dietrich which was issued as Bd. 9, Heft 2 of Studien zur Geschichte der Theologie und der Kirche.

The present volume aims at giving a discussion ot the problems ot reductionism in contemporary life sciences. It contains six papers which deals with reduction/reductionism in different fields ot biological research. Also, the holistic perspective, 1. e. the systems view, is discussed in some ot the papers. The message ot this discussion Is that - whereas reductionism is indeed an important strategy - the systems approach is needed. It is argued by some ot the authors that organisms are complex systems (...) and not just heaps of molecules, 50 that the analytical method does not suffice. Recent developments in systems theory offer the possibility to install a more comprehensive view ot living systems what can be seen particularly in the field ot evolutionary biology. It is true that any organismic activity is molecular, this is to say that it is based on molecular mechanisms. But it is also true that the whole organism displays certain patterns ot behavior which are not just molecular. Any organism can be described as a system ot different levels ot organization different levels ot order and complexity - and it is important, theretore, to study all ot the organizational levels and to see their peculiarities. It should be obvious, however, that there is not one problem ot reduction/reductionism, but that there are many problems linked together and that these problems appear at different levels ot biological research and bio philosophical reflections. (shrink)

Band 10 der Gesammelten Schriften Sulzers enthalt den gesamten Briefwechsel zwischen J. G. Sulzer (1720-1779) und J. J. Bodmer (1698-1783), der hier zum ersten Mal vollstandig nach den Handschriften transkribiert und kommentiert wird. Fur die Edition von Sulzers Schriften ist dieser Briefwechsel geradezu fundamental: Mit seinen 453 Briefen, die in 35 Jahren (1744-1779) entstanden sind, zahlt er zu den umfangreichsten Korrespondenzen Sulzers und liefert zahlreiche neue Informationen zu zentralen Themenfeldern der europaischen Aufklarung, zur Genese von Sulzers und Bodmers Schriften, zu (...) ihrem Netzwerk, insbesondere in Preuaen und in der Schweiz, sowie zu Aspekten ihres Privatlebens. Damit erweist sich dieser Briefwechsel als eine unumgangliche Quelle, will man die Formierung des literarischen und akademischen Feldes in der Aufklarungsepoche untersuchen. (shrink)

Musik mit Musik -- Der will nicht nur spielen -- Sätze über musikalische Konzeptkunst -- Mit Leitbild?! -- Das Neue am Neuen Konzeptualismus -- Ausdenken -- Der erweiterte Musikbegriff -- Der aufgelöste Musikbegriff -- Ein kurzer Essay über Liebe -- Hypermoderne Kunst -- Mein tägliches Festival -- Gegen Applaus -- Wer schreit, hat Recht. Über Polemik -- Über Provokation -- Zur Musikkritik -- Die Fotokraft -- Musik und Kapitalismus -- Charts Music -- Minusbolero -- Das Shutter-Prinzip -- Neue Musik über (...) Neue Musik -- Gespräch mit Sergej Newsky -- Gespräch mit Hannes Seidl -- Ich frage mich -- Nachbemerkungen zum erweiterten und aufgelösten Musikbegriff -- Kleines Brevier -- John Cage -- Zu Bernd Alois Zimmermann -- Ganz nah an der Zukunft -- Immaterial 1 -- Immaterial 2. (shrink)

Die Arbeit widmet sich dem Person- und Freiheitsverstandnis des Freiburger Religionsphilosophen Bernhard Welte (1906-1983). Damit werden unter Berucksichtigung bisher unveroffentlichter Schriften anthropologische Voraussetzungen ethisch relevanter Grundphanomene menschlichen Daseins zuganglich gemacht.

Terrorism challenges our Western world system with a new form of war. Terror contrasts strongly with the Western world's concept of freedom. Thus, an aggravation of this conflict is inevitable. In terms of technical equipment, we are prepared. Mentally, we are not. We know the mental treasures of mankind. We know examples of similar situations, which have happened before. We never wanted to meet them again. Thus, our awakening is even more terrifying. Referring to quite contrasting systems, eras, philosophers and (...) historical events, the volume shows what has to be taken into consideration. (shrink)

1. Erstes bis drittes Wäldchen. Viertes Wäldchen. Paralipomena -- 2. Kommentar. Register.

Bd. 1: Grundlegung der Ästhetik. Bd. 2: Die ästhetischen Grundgestalten. Bd. 3: Kunstphilosophie und Metaphysik der Ästhetik Bd. 1 , XII- 560, Bd. 2 , XX-602 und Bd. 3 : XX-600.

What kind of education is needed for democracy? How can education respond to the challenges that current democracies face? This unprecedented Handbook offers a comprehensive overview of the most important ideas, issues, and thinkers within democratic education. Its thirty chapters are written by leading experts in the field in an accessible format. Its breadth of purpose and depth of analysis will appeal to both researchers and practitioners in education and politics. The Handbook addresses not only the historical roots and philosophical (...) foundations of democratic education, but also engages with contemporary political issues and key challenges to the project of democratic education. (shrink)

This paper examines a looming reproducibility crisis in the core of the hard sciences. Namely, it concentrates on molecular modeling and simulation (MMS), a family of methods that predict properties of substances through computing interactions on a molecular level and that is widely popular in physics, chemistry, materials science, and engineering. The paper argues that in order to make quantitative predictions, sophisticated models are needed which have to be evaluated with complex simulation procedures that amalgamate theoretical, technological, and social factors (...) – leading to problems with reproducibility. Thus, for methodological reasons, the predictive success causes a reproducibility problem. (shrink)

Episodic memory has been analyzed in a number of different ways in both philosophy and psychology, and most controversy has centered on its self-referential,autonoeticcharacter. Here, we offer a comprehensive characterization of episodic memory in representational terms and propose a novel functional account on this basis. We argue that episodic memory should be understood as a distinctive epistemic attitude taken toward an event simulation. In this view, episodic memory has a metarepresentational format and should not be equated with beliefs about the (...) past. Instead, empirical findings suggest that the contents of human episodic memory are often constructed in the service of the explicit justification of such beliefs. Existing accounts of episodic memory function that have focused on explaining its constructive character through its role in future-oriented mental time travel do justice neither to its capacity to ground veridical beliefs about the past nor to its representational format. We provide an account of the metarepresentational structure of episodic memory in terms of its role in communicative interaction. The generative nature of recollection allows us to represent and communicate the reasons why we hold certain beliefs about the past. In this process, autonoesis corresponds to the capacity to determine when and how to assert epistemic authority in making claims about the past. A domain where such claims are indispensable are human social engagements. Such engagements commonly require the justification of entitlements and obligations, which is often possible only by explicit reference to specific past events. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps, and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely (...) copy and distribute this work, as no entity has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

This paper argues that epistemic smothering is not a form of epistemic paternalism. In this sense, it refutes the claim recently made by Valerie Chock and Jonathan Matheson, who defend epistemic smothering as epistemically permissible form of epistemic paternalism. After an outline of what is meant by epistemic paternalism and epistemic smothering, based on the work by Kristoffer Ahlstrom-Vij and Kristie Dotson on these topics, the paper argues against the identification of epistemic smothering as a form of epistemic paternalism. In (...) the conclusion, it also calls for a reconsideration of how exactly to conceive of epistemic paternalism. (shrink)

Language (śabda) occupied a central yet often unacknowledged place in classical Indian philosophical thought. Foundational thinkers considered topics such as the nature of language, its relationship to reality, the nature and existence of linguistic units and their capacity to convey meaning, and the role of language in the interpretation of sacred writings. The first reader on language in--and the language of--classical Indian philosophy, A Śabda Reader offers a comprehensive and pedagogically valuable treatment of this topic and its importance to Indian (...) philosophical thought. A Śabda Reader brings together newly translated passages by authors from a variety of traditions--Brahmin, Buddhist, Jaina--representing a number of schools of thought. It illuminates issues such as how Brahmanical thinkers understood the Veda and conceived of Sanskrit; how Buddhist thinkers came to assign importance to language's link to phenomenal reality; how Jains saw language as strictly material; the possibility of self-contradictory sentences; and how words affect thought. Throughout, the volume shows that linguistic presuppositions and implicit notions about language often play as significant a role as explicit ideas and formal theories. Including an introduction that places the texts and ideas in their historical and cultural context, A Śabda Reader sheds light on a crucial aspect of classical Indian thought and in so doing deepens our understanding of the philosophy of language. (shrink)

Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) gehört unangefochten zu den Klassikern der europäischen Geistesgeschichte. Seinen Lebensunterhalt verdiente er im Predigeramt, seine erste Anstellung nach dem Studium im ostpreußischen Königsberg fand er in Riga. Hier in Livland beginnt ein homiletisches Schaffen, das ihn über seine Lebensstationen hinweg bis nach Weimar beschäftigen wird. Die vorliegende Edition erschließt erstmals vollständig Herders Predigtnachlaß, zunächst für die erste Epoche seines Wirkens. Sie umfaßt die Zeit bis Mai 1769, ediert sämtliche erhaltenen Predigten aus der Rigaer Periode, weist (...) verlorene Texte nach und berücksichtigt auch die Entwürfe aus Schul- und Studienzeit, die bis etwa 1758 zurückgehen. Einleitende Aufsätze und ein Kritischer Apparat erschließen das Corpus und machen es auch für Nichtfachleute zugänglich. (shrink)

In den berühmten "Reden an die deutsche Nation" entwickelt Fichte das Ideal eines auf philosophische Prinzipien gegründeten Staates, dessen höchstes Ziel die allgemeine Erziehung seiner Mitglieder zur Sittlichkeit im gemeinschaftlichen Handeln darstellt. Fichte begründet die Notwendigkeit der Erhebung der Deutschen gegen Napoleon nicht aus der Einheit der nationalen Herkunft, sondern unter Hinweis auf einen fortschrittlicheren Begriff des Staates.

Jenseits von Gut und Böse? - Ein provozierendes Plädoyer für einen realistischen Moralkodex - Eine Autopsie der menschlichen Moralfähigkeit - Argumente wider eine Diktatur der Moral Finanzkrise, Doping-Skandale, Wissenschaftsbetrug, Kriege, Mord und Totschlag - ist es wirklich so, dass die Moral schwindet? Oder ist der Mensch überfordert, weil er möglicherweise weniger Moral verträgt, als er sich selbst verordnet? Wie alle anderen Lebewesen sind Menschen Egoisten, die in erster Linie das Problem des Überlebens zu lösen haben. Dazu benötigt der Mensch Ressourcen, (...) um die er mit anderen im Wettbewerb steht. Von Natur aus ist der Mensch also weder gut noch böse, sondern er macht nur, was ihm sein biologischer Imperativ gebietet. Als soziales Lebewesen ist nun der Mensch auf ein Miteinander mit Artgenossen angewiesen und kann obendrein sein Verhalten und Handeln kritisch reflektieren, was zur Schaffung eines Wertesystems geführt hat. Franz M. Wuketits untersucht Herkunft und Zweck moralischen Verhaltens und macht Vorschläge für eine Werteordnung, die an die Bedürfnisse des Individuums angepasst sein muss, wenn sie in der Realität unserer gesellschaftlichen Verhältnisse eine Chance haben soll. (shrink)

Unter den Versuchen Fichtes, sein Denken allgemeinverständlich darzustellen, zählt diese 1800 erschienene Schrift zu den inhaltlich abgerundetsten und aufschlußreichsten; bei den Zeitgenossen stieß sie jedoch auf vehemente Kritik, Hegel sah in ihr gar einen besonders illustrativen Text für den Aufweis der Haltlosigkeit der von Fichte in der Wissenschaftslehre vertretenen Position einer auf das Ich als Tathandlung gegründeten Philosophie. Darum vermag allein schon die Lektüre von Fichtes Bestimmung des Menschen und ihrer kritischen Rezeption in Hegels Glauben und Wissen einen Einblick in (...) die Gründe zu vermitteln, warum bis ins 20. Jahrhundert die Philosophie Fichtes weitgehend als ein merkwürdiger Mosaikstein auf dem Wege "Von Kant bis Hegel" oder, im Hinblick auf den "Endpunkt" dieses Wegs wohl genauer, in der "Entwicklung des Spinozismus" betrachtet wurde. Deutlich wird einer neuen Lektüre aber auch, wieviel noch zu tun bleibt, um die wichtigen Erkenntnisse, die im Deutschen Idealismus auf so getrennten Bahnen gewonnen wurden, im Blick auf die gemeinsamen Grundprobleme einer "Ersten Philosophie" ohne Rückfall in die traditionellen Feindbilder wahrzunehmen und kritisch in die pluralistische Diskussion heutigen Philosophierens einzubringen. (shrink)

Johann Nikolaus Tetens s Philosophical inquiries into Human Nature and its Development (1777) is one of the most important philosophical works of the late Enlightenment. In 14 essays, Tetens attempts to resolve the fundamental problems of Enlightenment philosophy. This is the first complete and annotated edition of this major work of late Enlightenment empiricism since its initial publication.".

This book critically examines what role, if any, should the notion of perfection play in the debate regarding the ethics of human enhancement. It defends that the concept of -human perfection- needs to be central when morally assessing human enhancements.".

Charles Darwin can be regarded as one of the most prominent advocates of an evolutionary approach to ethics or moral philosophy in the nineteenth century and a forerunner of modern evolutionary ethics. Unlike many evolutionists of his days he consequently expanded the theory of evo- lution by natural selection to moral phenomena. He argued that such phenom- ena are deeply rooted in human nature and that humans are endowed with “social instincts.” Also, he maintained that with the aid of our (...) intellect we can strengthen and refine our natural sympathy for others. Darwin believed in moral progress, defended the ideas of justice and solidarity and gave substan- tial support to an evolutionary humanism. His views on morality are still refreshing and deserve full attention of moral philosophers. (shrink)