The distinction between agent-relative reasons and agent-neutral reasons is philosophically important, but there is no consensus on how to understand the distinction exactly. In this paper, I discuss several interpretations of the distinction that can be found in the literature: the Motivational Interpretation, the Scope Interpretation, and the Goal Interpretation, and argue that none of these interpretations is entirely convincing. I propose a novel interpretation of the distinction, which I call the Normative Force Interpretation, according to which the distinction between (...) agent-relative reasons and agent-neutral reasons concerns the normative force that these reasons can have for agents. (shrink)

Agent-relative reasons are an important feature of any nonconsequentialist moral theory. Many authors think that they cannot be accommodated within a value-first theory that understands all value as agent-neutral. In this paper, I offer a novel explanation of agent-relative reasons that accommodates them fully within an agent-neutral value-first view. I argue that agent-relative reasons are to be understood in terms of second-order value responses: when an agent acts on an agent-relative reason, she responds appropriately to the agent-neutral value of her (...) own appropriate response to some agent-neutral value. This view helps reconcile important elements of deontology and consequentialism. (shrink)

In this chapter, I will address the philosophical ambivalence of the concept of Willkür in and after Kant. The aim of my chapter is to defend it against the charge of irrationality and mere chance, and to rehabilitate it from a historical and analytic point of view. I will analyze Kant’s use of the word “Willkür”, and chronologically follow the semantic and systematic changes in his philosophical work. Finally, I address recent attempts to revitalize the concept of Willkür in the (...) analytic debate by referring to the work of Harry Frankfurt and Robert Kane. I shall argue that we need to distinguish between two kinds of libera arbitria. Whereas the liberum arbitrium indifferentiae can be interpreted in terms of the pejorative sense of “Willkür”—as mere chance—the liberum arbitrium voluntatis equals a reflective kind of Willkür—literal Will-kür —which involves freedom of the will. (shrink)

Abstract“Sign stimuli” elicit specific patterns of behavior when an organism's motivation is appropriate. In the toad, visually released prey-catching involves orienting toward the prey, approaching, fixating, and snapping. For these action patterns to be selected and released, the prey must be recognized and localized in space. Toads discriminate prey from nonprey by certain spatiotemporal stimulus features. The stimulus-response relations are mediated by innate releasing mechanisms (RMs) with recognition properties partly modifiable by experience. Striato-pretecto-tectal connectivity determines the RM's recognition and localization (...) properties, whereas medialpallio-thalamo-tectal circuitry makes the system sensitive to changes in internal state and to prior history of exposure to stimuli. RMs encode the diverse stimulus conditions referring to the same prey object through different combinations of “specialized” tectal neurons, involving cells selectively tuned to prey features. The prey-selective neurons express the outcome of information processing in functional units consisting of interconnected cells. Excitatory and inhibitory interactions among feature-sensitive tectal and pretectal neurons specify the perceptual operations involved in distinguishing the prey from its background, selecting its features, and discriminating it from predators. Other connections indicate stimulus location. The results of these analyses are transmitted by specialized neurons projecting from the tectum to bulbar/spinal motor systems, providing a sensorimotor interface. Specific combinations of such projective neurons – mediating feature- and space-related messages – form “command releasing systems” that activate corresponding motor pattern generators for appropriate prey-catching action patterns. (shrink)

This paper discusses under which circumstances grateful responses can become intrinsically bad. It is argued that gratitude should be understood as an appropriate response to value and that it is subject to the so-called recursive account of intrinsic value, according to which appropriate responses to value are intrinsically good, and inappropriate responses to value are intrinsically bad. As a result, gratitude can become intrinsically bad in two cases: i) when gratitude has the wrong object, i.e., is a pro-response to an (...) intrinsically bad act, ii) when the grateful response is grossly disproportionate, i.e., the intensity of the response does not match the goodness of the act that it is a response to. (shrink)

We give characterizations for the sentences "Every $\Sigma^1_2$-set is measurable" and "Every $\Delta^1_2$-set is measurable" for various notions of measurability derived from well-known forcing partial orderings.

A widely held view concerning the justification of associative duties is the so-called relationships view, according to which associative duties within personal relationships arise because of the value of those relationships. Against this view, it has been argued that there can be cases of undemanding friendships, that is, genuine friendships with no associative duties. In this article, I argue that undemanding friendships do not show that associative duties are not grounded in the value of the relationship that gives rise to (...) them by providing an interpretivist account of the normativity of friendships. I argue that friendships are complex values that need to be interpreted in order to determine which response to them would be appropriate, and that understanding one's friendship as undemanding is one valid interpretation of the value of friendship. Subsequently, I demonstrate that this solution is not ad hoc, because friendship is not the only complex value that needs to be interpreted. (shrink)

Authority consists in having standing to make a claim on another person’s actions. Authority comes in degrees: persons have the authority to make moral demands on each other, but if they participate in close relationships, such as friendships or love relationships, their authority over each other is greater, compared to the authority of strangers to make demands, as participants in personal relationships can demand more from each other than can strangers. This paper discusses the phenomenon of a relationship-dependent greater authority (...) on a conceptual level. It thereby fills a gap in the literature on the proper theory of authority : while being a common part of our moral practice, relationship-dependent authority has mostly been neglected in this context. It is even doubtful whether the most influential contemporary accounts of authority can accommodate it. As will be argued, neither Joseph Raz’s service conception nor Stephen Darwall’s second - personal conception of authority are able to. The trig. (shrink)

When a conflict of duties arises, a resolution is often sought by use of an ordering of priority or importance. This paper examines how such a conflict resolution works, compares mechanisms that have been proposed in the literature, and gives preference to one developed by Brewka and Nebel. I distinguish between two cases – that some conflicts may remain unresolved, and that a priority ordering can be determined that resolves all – and provide semantics and axiomatic systems for accordingly defined (...) dyadic deontic operators. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to reconstruct Kant’s theory of error in theoretical and practical terms, not only from a moral-psychological perspective, but also from the broader perspective of his transcendental philosophy. Kant’s theory of error will be interpreted as a central part of his transcendental philosophy, insofar as it is related to his doctrine of reason. For it is precisely Kant’s theory of dialectic as the »logic of appearance« that deals with the reasons that concern theoretical error as (...) well as moral misconduct and that traces theoretical and practical error back to a common root: the phenomenon of rational self-deception. (shrink)

Die sprachliche und soziale Natur der Erkenntnis ist eine Grundeinsicht der Moderne. Doch welchen Spielraum lässt sie noch der Kritik, der distanzierten Prüfung der eigenen Sprache und Lebensform? Vor dem Hintergrund des Werkes Stanley Cavells fragt dieses Buch nach dem Verhältnis von Lebensform und Selbsterkenntnis. In ungewohnter Weise liest es Wittgenstein und Foucault als komplementäre Antwortstrategien auf dieses Grundproblem: Philosophie muss als eine "Arbeit an sich", als körperliche "Selbsttechnik" verstanden werden. Nicht ethische Programmatik, so kann gezeigt werden, sondern systematische Konsequenz (...) führt zu einer Engführung von Philosophie und Lebenspraxis. (shrink)

Ever since the seminal work of Paul Grice, tautologies such as Business is business have been discussed from a number of angles. While most approaches assume that tautological utterances have to do with the operation of conversational maxims, an integrated analysis is still lacking. This paper makes an attempt at analysing tautologies within the framework of Levinson, who proposes a distinction between three pragmatic levels, namely Indexical Pragmatics, Gricean Pragmatics 1, and Gricean Pragmatics 2. It is shown that observations of (...) Ward and Hirschberg on the exclusion of alternatives, the claim of Autenrieth that the second NP in nominal equatives is predicative, and the recent insights of Bulhof and Gimbel on `deep' tautology, may be fruitfully integrated within Levinson's framework. The gist of this paper is to show that tautologies are not as tautological as once thought, because implicatures influence their truth conditions. Data are drawn from the author's corpus of authentic German examples. (shrink)

This paper aims to philosophically analyze the concept of virtual reality, and to determine the concept from an ontological point of view. The term "virtual reality" is often used synonymously with "digital simulation". In his recent book Reality+, David Chalmers has argued that according to virtual digitalism, "if we're in a simulation, our world is still real". He calls this position "simula- tion realism". Against this view I will argue that virtual reality and simulation should not be identified. Rather, virtual (...) reality is a genuine kind of reality that has always been part of our life. To this end, I will analyze the ontology of virtual reality by using the example of banknotes and referring to Lynne Baker's "constitution view". (shrink)

Kant’s moral philosophy is challenged by the so-called “Socratic Paradox”: If free will and pure practical reason are to be identified, as Kant argues, then there seems to be no room for immoral actions that are to be imputed to our individual freedom. The paper argues that Kant’s conception of rationalizing helps us to avoid the Socratic Paradox, and to understand how immoral actions can be imputed to our individual freedom and responsibility. In rationalizing, we misuse our capacity of reason (...) in order to construct the illusion according to which we are not bound to the absolute demand of the moral law, but rather subject to exceptions and excuses. Finally, the paper interprets the three rules of “common sense” in Kant’s Critique of the Power of Judgment in terms of an antidote to rationalizing. (shrink)

In this article I argue that the method of normative reconstruction that is underlying Freedom’s Right undermines Critical Theory’s aspiration to be a force that is unreservedly critical and progressive. I start out by giving a brief account of the four premises of the method of normative reconstruction and unpack their implications for how Honneth conceptualizes social pathologies and misdevelopments, specifically that these notions are no longer linked to radical critique and normative revolution. In the second part, I demonstrate that (...) abandoning forms of radical critique and normative revolution is internally linked to adopting this method, before arguing that Freedom’s Right entails no resources to account for why abandoning them does not amount to a deficiency. In the final part, I point out two problematic implications of turning away from radical critique and normative revolution for the very project Honneth pursues in Freedom’s Right. I show that Honneth’s own view about the limited scope of application of the method of normative reconstruction and his account of the dangers associated with social misdevelopments give us reasons to consider this method to be incomplete. Finally, I contend that the explanatory power of Freedom’s Right is dubious because methodological premises that form part of normative reconstruction lead Honneth to ignore relevant alternative explanations of processes of deviation and disassociation from norms of social freedom, which he characterizes as social misdevelopments. (shrink)

This paper aims to determine the ontology of virtual reality from a historical and systematic point of view. The term “virtual reality” is often used synonymously with “illusion”, “immersion”, “simulation” or “fiction”. Against this anti-realistic view, the paper argues that virtual reality is a genuine kind of reality that has always been part of our life. To this end, I will analyze the ontology of virtual reality by using the example of banknotes and referring to Lynne Baker’s “constitution view”. Finally, (...) I shall attempt to define the term “virtual reality” from a philosophical point of view by distinguishing it from the concepts of simulation and illusion. (shrink)

Two intuitions are important to commonsense morality: the claim that all persons have equal moral worth and the claim that persons have associative duties. These intuitions seem to contradict each other, and there has been extensive discussion concerning their reconciliation. The most widely held view claims that associative duties arise because relationships generate moral reasons to benefit our loved ones. However, such a view cannot account for the phenomenon that some acts are supererogatory when performed on behalf of a stranger (...) but obligatory when performed on behalf of a loved one. This paper offers a novel view of associative duties, according to which such duties arise because relationships serve as indirect intensifiers of moral reasons: they decrease the cost to the agent that certain acts imply, and this increases the relative weight of the reasons that speak in favour of the act in an all-things-considered judgement. This reconciles moral egalitarianism and associative duties in a promising way: the moral worth of a person always generates the same moral reasons, but due to differences in the cost to the agent, these reasons sometimes amount to obligations and sometimes do not. (shrink)

We introduce the property “F-linked” of subsets of posets for a given free filter F on the natural numbers, and define the properties “μ-F-linked” and “θ-F-Knaster” for posets in a natural way. We show that θ-F-Knaster posets preserve strong types of unbounded families and of maximal almost disjoint families. Concerning iterations of such posets, we develop a general technique to construct θ-Fr-Knaster posets (where Fr is the Frechet ideal) via matrix iterations of <θ-ultrafilter-linked posets (restricted to some level of the (...) matrix). This is applied to prove consistency results about Cichoń's diagram (without using large cardinals) and to prove the consistency of the fact that, for each Yorioka ideal, the four cardinal invariants associated with it are pairwise different. At the end, we show that three strongly compact cardinals are enough to force that Cichoń's diagram can be separated into 10 different values. (shrink)

In a recent paper, Sven Danielsson argued that the ‘original paradoxes' of deontic logic, in particular Ross's paradox and Prior's paradox of derived obligation, can be solved by restricting the modal inheritance rule. I argue that this does not solve the paradoxes.

Throughout its history, analytic philosophy has established a decidedly anti-rhetoric self-understanding. Yet the historical development of analytic philosophy, leading from Russell to Quine and Davidson, successively puts this anti-rhetorical ideals in question. Even though the rhetorics of clarity and objectivity remain, the discussions of post-analytic philosophy focus more and more an an understanding of language which is forced to acknowledge its irreducible practical and situational aspects. Analytical philosophy, then, should be seen as a decidedly anti-rhetoric tradition which tries to keep (...) up the spirit of scientific enlightenment in times of growing skepticism -- and which is driven, by the very force of clarity and a better understanding, to develop a picture of language which undermines this ideal at least in some aspects. (shrink)

The series Studien zur deutschen Literatur (Studies in German Literature) presents outstanding analyses of German-speaking literature from the early modern period to the present day. It particularly embraces comparative, cultural and historical-epistemological questions and serves as a tradition-steeped forum for innovative literary research. All submitted manuscripts undergo a double peer-review process. Please contact the editor Marcus B hm (marcus.boehm at] degruyter.com) for further information regarding manuscript submission and subsidies.

Deontic buck-passing aims to analyse deontic properties of acts in terms of reasons. Many authors accept deontic buck-passing, but only few have discussed how to understand the relation between reasons and deontic properties exactly. Justin Snedegar has suggested understanding deontic properties of acts in terms of both reasons and reasons to require: A is required to φ iff A has most reason to φ, and there is most reason to require A to φ. This promising proposal faces two open questions: (...) the question of why there can only be most reason to require A to φ if A has most reason to φ, and the question of what role agent-relative reasons play in generating requirements. In this paper, I address these questions and argue that the key to answering them is to reject evaluative buck-passing and accept a value-based theory of practical reasons instead. The result is a two-level theory of moral explanation: on the first level, practical reasons are explained in terms of appropriate responses to value; on the second level, deontic properties of acts are explained in terms of reasons: reasons to act as well as reasons to require. (shrink)

In this paper I discuss Plato's conception of expertise as a part of the Platonic theory of a good, successful life (eudaimonia). In various Platonic dialogues, Socrates argues that the good life requires a certain kind of knowledge that guides all our good, beneficial actions: the “knowledge of the good and bad”, which is to be acquired by “questioning ourselves and examining our and others’ beliefs”. This knowledge encompasses the particular knowledge of how to recognize experts in a given technical (...) domain. The central element in Socrates’ account of an expert is what I call the truth-and-caring criterion: an expert has to make seeking the truth and avoiding (avoidable) error her supreme epistemic goal and she has to make caring for common goods the supreme goal of practising her expertise. (shrink)

Beim Stichwort ”Kognition“ denken die meisten an das Gehirn, Computermodelle oder Informationsverarbeitung. In der realen Welt treffen wir aber immer nur auf Wesen mit Körpern, die in eine Umwelt eingebunden und in ihr aktiv sind. Kognition findet nicht im Kopf statt, sondern in der Welt. So lautet der Grundgedanke der Philosophie der Verkörperung. Die Hinwendung zu Körper und Umwelt stellt eine der vielleicht weitreichendsten Neuorientierungen der modernen Kognitionswissenschaft und Philosophie dar, die auch unser Verständnis von Wissenschaft und Kultur prägen wird. (...) Der Band versammelt die Grundlagentexte zu diesem Thema zum ersten Mal in deutscher Sprache. (shrink)

The discovery of “molecular chaperones” has dramatically changed our concept of cellular protein folding. Rather than folding spontaneously, most newly synthesized polypeptide chains seem to acquire their native conformation in a reaction mediated by these versatile helper proteins. Understanding the structure and function of molecular chaperones is likely to yield useful applications for medicine and biotechnology in the future.

A promising strategy to make progress in the debate between consequentialist and non-consequentialist moral theories is to unravel the background assumptions of the respective views and discuss their plausibility. This paper discusses a background assumption of consequentialism that has not been noticed so far. Consequentialists claim that morality is about maximizing the impersonal good, and the background assumption is that an appropriate response to the impersonal good is necessarily a response to the impersonal good as a whole. In this paper, (...) I argue that we should understand the impersonal good as a complex good, and that an appropriate responses to a complex good need not be a response to that good as whole. This constitutes a novel objection against consequentialism. (shrink)

A quebra no que se refere às certezas da fé, a ênfase da própria experiência e os horrores do século XX levaram ao surgimento de uma vaga de (anti-)teodiceias. Aos ataques por parte do ateísmo correspondem do lado dos teólogos ou um certo resentimento em relação a Deus ou a sua desculpa mediante um pôr-em-questão da sua omnipotência. Surgiram desta forma propostas de carácter ora dualistico ora monístico que fizeram com que a resposta clássica ao problema tivesse progressivamente ficado quase (...) reduzida ao âmbito do ininteligível (veja-se o caso da incompreensão das teses ontológicas referentes ao carácter deficitário do mal). Foi sobretudo em confronto com a tonalidade afectiva desta discussão que surgiu a "free-will-defense" da racionalidade, muito embora a questão seja aqui a de saber até que ponto não têve ela por isso de pagar um preço demasiado alto. Em referência à dupla questão de Boécio na obra "Consolação da Filosofia", o autor do presente artigo defende, por um lado, a não solubilidade do problema da teodiceia: "Si Deus est, unde mala?" - Néscio! Por outro lado, no entanto, o autor constata também que a reflexão sobre a experiência de si não só justifica, como até exige, uma abertura à esperança da fé: "Si vero Deus non est, unde bona?" Seio quod nonl Facto é que desta forma, diz o autor, nos confrontamos com a realidade do bem seja isso a propósito da exigência moral que experimentamos ou do protesto que levantamos contra a realidade do mal. Ora é esta auto-revelação do poder da realidade do santo e do bem que não só nos permite, mas também de nós exige a Esperança da sua manifestação final. /// Breakdown in what concerns faith certainties, emphasis on experience of the self, and the horrors of the XX century led to a wave of (anti)-theodicies. To the attacks on the atheist's side correspond, according to the theologian's side, either some resentement related to God or their excuse by means of calling in question God's omnipotence. Thus, some proposals of either dualistic or monistic character came up and made the classical answer to the problem progressively reduced to unintelligible bounds (take a look at the incomprehension of the ontological theses concerning evil's deficient character). It was mostly in confrontation with the affective tonality of this discussion that the "free-will-defense" of rationality appeared, though the question here is knowing up to what point it didn't have to pay a too high price. Referring to Boethius double question in "The Consolation of Philosophy", the author of the present article defends, on the one hand, the non-solubility of the problem of theodicy: "Si Deus est, wide mala?" — Nescio! On the other hand, however, the author also notices that the reflexion on self-experience does not only justify, as it also demands an opening to faith's hope: "Si vero Deus non est, uncle bona? "Scio quod non! In fact in this way, says the author, we confront ourselves with the reality of good whether it is in reference to the moral demand that we experiment or to the protest we raise against evil's reality. Now, it's this self-revelation of the power of reality of the saint and good that not only allow us, but also demands from ourselves the Hope of its final manifestation. /// Verlust an Glaubensgewißheit, Betonung eigener Erfahrung und die Schrecken des 20. Jh. haben eine ganze Flut von (Anti-)Theodizeen ausgelöst. Atheistischen Angriffen entsprechen bei Theologen Groll auf Gott oder seine Entschuldigung durch Bestreitung seiner Allmacht. Dualistische wie monistische Antwortversuche leben auf; die klassische Antwort wird kaum noch verstanden (siehe besonders das Mißverständnis der ontologischen These vom Mangel-Charakter des Übels). Einer um sich greifenden Emotionalisierung gegenüber tritt die "free-will-defense" für Rationalität ein; aber zahlt sie für ihren Lösungsvorschlag nicht einen zu hohen Preis? - Im Rückgriff auf die Doppelfrage in Boethius' "Trost der Philosophie" wird hier vertreten: Einerseits ist das Theodizeeproblem unlösbar - "Si Deus esty unde mala?" Nescio! Anderseits berechtigt aber, ja ruft gewissenhafte Selbsterfahrung zur Glaubenshoffnung - "Si vero Deus non est, unde bona? "Scio, quod non! Nun aber begegnet uns Gutes, zunächst im sittlichen Anspruch an uns wie im Recht unseres Protestes gegen das Böse. Diese Selbstoffenbarung der Macht des Heilig-Guten erlaubt, ja fordert die Erwartung seines endgültigen Selbsterweises. (shrink)

Para a determinação do humano (em contraposição quer ao não-humano quer ao in-humano) não basta nem o entendimento saudável do homem (gesunder Menschenverstand) nem a ciência que porventura o complemente. Ms não vai também a Filosofia precisamente em nome da razão para lá do indivíduo e das suas necessidades ? Trata-se, portanto, de em contraposição à "sabedoria do mundo" afirmar a escuta crente em relação a Palavra de Deus? Esta Palavra, por são vez, não informa sobre tudo, e onde quer (...) que ela performe a acção de informar ela deve ser traduzida a partir da sua localização histórica para o nosso Aqui e Agora. Neste sentido, o cristão deve, portanto, filosofar. Ele não afirma a sua fé como fundamentação (como "premissa"), o que acontece, isso sim, na Teologia; mas ela está ao seu serviço no contexto da descoberta: ela olha para lá do indivíduo para a realidade em si mesma. Ora isto pode-Ihe muito bem abrir novas dimensões, as quais permanecem cerradas para um pensamento a-cristão ou até mesmo anti-cristão. Em última análise o crente é levado a reconhecer que a questão central da Filosofia pertence não ao homem, mas a Deus. /// DeusTo determine the human (in contraposition to both the non-human and the inhumane), neither the "healthy" understanding of man, nor science is sufficient. But does philosophy, in name of reason, proceeding beyond the individual and his needs, operate in contraposition to the "wisdom of the world" and the affirmation of the believer in relation to the Word of God? This Word does not inform us of everything and wherever it performs its action of informing, it must be translated in regard to its historical localization. Thus, the Christian must philosophise, not affirming his faith in foundational terms, as does indeed a theologian. But such an affirmation is at the service of a contextual discovery that proceeds beyond the individual and in the direction of reality itself This can open new dimensions that are effectively closed to non-Christian, or even anti-Christian, thought. Ultimately, the believer recognizes that the central question of philosophy does not belong to man but rather to God. (shrink)

ABSTRACTMost authors who discuss the normative impact of sacrifices do so with regards to the impact that a sacrifice can have on the practical reasons of the agent who makes it. A different and underappreciated phenomenon of sacrifices is their other-regarding normative impact: the sacrifice of person A can have an impact on the practical reasons of person B, either by generating practical reasons for B to act in certain ways or by intensifying existing reasons of B for specific courses (...) of action. This paper asks when and why sacrifices have such other-regarding normative impact and argues that sacrifices can have other-regarding normative impact because sacrifices can be intrinsically good. The intrinsic value of sacrifices is explained by the recursive account of value: sacrifices are intrinsically good if and because they are appropriate responses to intrinsic values, and appropriate responses to intrinsic values are themselves intrinsically good. Furthermore, sacrifices are difficult to make, and successful pursuit in difficult activities can also be intrinsically good. (shrink)

English summary: This book is both a study about the Socratic-Platonic conception of a good life, and an analytical study on self-knowledge, self-determination, and moral motivation.

We explore the connection between combinatorial principles on uncountable cardinals, like stick and club, on the one hand, and the combinatorics of sets of reals and, in particular, cardinal invariants of the continuum, on the other hand. For example, we prove that additivity of measure implies that Martin’s axiom holds for any Cohen algebra. We construct a model in which club holds, yet the covering number of the null ideal is large. We show that for uncountable cardinals κ≤λ and , (...) if all subsets of λ either contain, or are disjoint from, a member of , then has size at least etc. As an application, we solve the Gross space problem under by showing that there is such a space over any countable field. In two appendices, we solve problems of Fuchino, Shelah and Soukup, and of Kraszewski, respectively. (shrink)