Communities often unite during a crisis, though some cope by ascribing blame or stigmas to those who might be linked to distressing life events. In a preregistered two-wave survey, we evaluated the dehumanization of Asians and Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our first wave revealed dehumanization was prevalent, between 6.1% and 39% of our sample depending on measurement. Compared to non-dehumanizers, people who dehumanized also perceived the virus as less risky to human health and caused less severe consequences for (...) infected people. They were more likely to be ideologically Conservative and believe in conspiracy theories about the virus. We largely replicated the results 1 month later in our second wave. Together, many Americans dehumanize Asians and Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic with related perceptions that the virus is less problematic. Implications and applications for dehumanization theory are discussed. (shrink)

ArgumentThe paper is based on a hitherto unexplored document (audiotape of an interview accompanied by a German transcript) from 1953, located in the Freud Papers at the Library of Congress. It contributes to a better understanding of the impact of Freud and of Psychoanalysis on personalities from the exact sciences, here represented by the noted applied mathematicians Richard von Mises and Hilda Geiringer from Vienna. The detailed discussion of the interview sheds some new light on the different roles of Kraus (...) and Freud in the Vienna culture, on the Vienna Jugendkulturbewegung (youth culture movement) during WWI in which Geiringer was involved, on Freud’s and Siegfried Bernfeld’s standing around 1930 among German philosophers and psychologists, and on Wilhelm Fließ’ theory of periodicity, which von Mises—based on his attitude as an applied mathematician—defended against superficial accusations. Finally, new biographical material is provided for von Mises and the remotely related Freud family, and for Geiringer’s and von Mises’ early lives. The interview, which was taken during the Cold War, also allows conclusions as to how politics influenced the memories and views of the participants. Part of the aim of the paper is historical documentation of unknown material (letters by Karl Kraus and Wolfgang Köhler, one book review by Wilhelm Ostwald, a file on Richard Pfennig), including some correction of erroneous information in the literature. (shrink)

What follows shall provide an introduction to a predominantly philosophical and polemical, but historically revealing, paper on the foundations of the theory of probability. The leading Russian probabilist Aleksandr Yakovlevich Khinchin wrote the paper in the late 1930s, commenting on a slightly older, but still competing approach to probability theory by Richard von Mises. Together with the even more influential Andrey Nikolayevich Kolmogorov, who was nine years his junior, Khinchin had revolutionized probability theory around 1930 by introducing the modern measure-theoretic (...) approach, which is still standard today and which allowed for a sufficiently general treatment of important new notions such as “stochastic processes.” This development had its first culmination in Kolmogorov's booklet, Grundbegriffe der Wahrscheinlichkeitsrechnung, written in German in 1933, which has exerted an enormous influence world wide. (shrink)

The article discusses the “paradox of the late (around 1940) arrival of academic applied mathematics in the U.S.” as compared to Europe, in particular Germany. A short description of both the indigenous traditions in the U.S. and (in some more detail) of the transfer of scientific ideas, persons, and ideals originating in Europe, particularly in Germany, is given, and some theses, relevant literature, and a tentative solution of the “paradox” are provided.

Kreisel’s conjecture is the statement: if, for all$n\in \mathbb {N}$,$\mathop {\text {PA}} \nolimits \vdash _{k \text { steps}} \varphi (\overline {n})$, then$\mathop {\text {PA}} \nolimits \vdash \forall x.\varphi (x)$. For a theory of arithmeticT, given a recursive functionh,$T \vdash _{\leq h} \varphi $holds if there is a proof of$\varphi $inTwhose code is at most$h(\#\varphi )$. This notion depends on the underlying coding.${P}^h_T(x)$is a predicate for$\vdash _{\leq h}$inT. It is shown that there exist a sentence$\varphi $and a total recursive functionhsuch that$T\vdash (...) _{\leq h}\mathop {\text {Pr}} \nolimits _T(\ulcorner \mathop {\text {Pr}} \nolimits _T(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\rightarrow \varphi \urcorner )$, but, where$\mathop {\text {Pr}} \nolimits _T$stands for the standard provability predicate inT. This statement is related to a conjecture by Montagna. Also variants and weakenings of Kreisel’s conjecture are studied. By the use of reflexion principles, one can obtain a theory$T^h_\Gamma $that extendsTsuch that a version of Kreisel’s conjecture holds: given a recursive functionhand$\varphi (x)$a$\Gamma $-formula (where$\Gamma $is an arbitrarily fixed class of formulas) such that, for all$n\in \mathbb {N}$,$T\vdash _{\leq h} \varphi (\overline {n})$, then$T^h_\Gamma \vdash \forall x.\varphi (x)$. Derivability conditions are studied for a theory to satisfy the following implication: if, then$T\vdash \forall x.\varphi (x)$. This corresponds to an arithmetization of Kreisel’s conjecture. It is shown that, for certain theories, there exists a functionhsuch that$\vdash _{k \text { steps}}\ \subseteq\ \vdash _{\leq h}$. (shrink)

Although reasoning has been characterized as the essence of our being, it is often prone to cognitive biases. Decades of research in the reasoning and decision making fields have shown that when fa...

Modem theory of law in a certain extent needs theological foundation. The dialogue of both law and theology, however, requires specific presuppositions in theological understanding. Paul Tillich's Systematic Theology in its peculiar character of combining theological »paradoxon« and openess for cultural recognition meets these demands.

Modem theory of law in a certain extent needs theological foundation. The dialogue of both law and theology, however, requires specific presuppositions in theological understanding. Paul Tillich's Systematic Theology in its peculiar character of combining theological »paradoxon« and openess for cultural recognition meets these demands.

ArgumentThe article describes a special type of scientific and philosophical “non-conformism” as exemplified in the versatile work of Richard von Mises. While the historical impact of von Mises' practical and organizational work in applied mathematics is beyond doubt, it is shown that von Mises' insistence on cognitive connectibility of various scientific domains was not, in the end, successful although it stimulated the theoretical discussion considerably. Von Mises developed a principally critical attitude towards what he considered “one-sided” in several streams of (...) modernity and tended to be “anti-modern” even in those of his activities which belonged to “modernism.” Reasons can be found in his biographical experiences, in particular in his unorthodox academic education and repeated emigrations. Thus biographical research has considerable potential for historical explanation. The paper delves into the existing premises and sources for a scientific biography of Richard von Mises which is yet to be written, and publishes in the appendix a revealing biographical sketch authored by von Mises' widow, the applied mathematician Hilda Geiringer. (shrink)

This paper is divided into a surveying and argumentative part and a slightly longer documentary part, which is meant to verify or at least make more plausible claims made in the first part. The first part deals in broad outline with the relationship of Frank and von Mises to the Vienna Circle of Logical Empiricism on the one hand and to the physicists and mathematicians in the German-speaking world on the other. The varying special positions, partly the non-conformity of the (...) two Austrian scientists are emphasized, in particular, their adherence to Ernst Mach’s epistemology and their shared interest in probability theory and applied mathematics. The impact of emigration and the after-effects in the U.S. are discussed. This leads to new insights into the fine structure of the Vienna Circle and the latter’s relationship to German academia within ‘Weimar Culture’. P. Forman’s interpretation (1971) of von Mises’ position is critically discussed. The second, documentary part, uses recently discovered correspondence between Frank and von Mises, and, to a lesser extent, von Mises’ personal diary. It aims at further substantiating some of the introductory theses and will at the same time provide material for a thorough biographical appreciation of the two scholars and friends. (shrink)

The paper reproduces a hitherto unpublished report of 1902 by the mathematician of Göttingen, Felix Klein, to the Prussian ministry of education on his travels, in 1893 and 1896, to the United States. Introduction and commentary stress the relation of this document to the beginnings of German foreign cultural policy, in particular to the German-American professors' exchange program since 1905.

Environmental epigenetics is increasingly employed to understand the health outcomes of communities who have experienced historical trauma and structural violence. Epigenetics provides a way to think about traumatic events and sustained deprivation as biological “exposures” that contribute to ill-health across generations. In Australia, some Indigenous researchers and clinicians are embracing epigenetic science as a framework for theorising the slow violence of colonialism as it plays out in intergenerational legacies of trauma and illness. However, there is dispute, contention, and caution as (...) well as enthusiasm among these research communities.In this article, we trace strategies of “refusal” (Simpson, 2014) in response to epigenetics in Indigenous contexts. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Australia with researchers and clinicians in Indigenous health, we explore how some construct epigenetics as useless knowledge and a distraction from implementing anti-colonial change, rather than a tool with which to enact change. Secondly, we explore how epigenetics narrows definitions of colonial harm through the optic of molecular trauma, reproducing conditions in which Indigenous people are made intelligible through a lens of “damaged” bodies. Faced with these two concerns, many turn away from epigenetics altogether, refusing its novelty and supposed benefit for Indigenous health equity and resisting the pull of postgenomics. (shrink)

This book studies Thomas Aquians' treatise on happiness (STh I-II 1-5) with his "Summa Theologiae from a Lutheran theological perspective.