Background and ObjectiveThe outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 has raised increased challenges for older adults’ personal growth in diverse cultural settings. The aim of this study was to analyze negative emotions and their role on older adults’ self-growth in Mexico, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose, a cross-national qualitative research was carried out.MethodsData were collected from 338 community-dwelling participants aged 65 years and older, using a semi-structured interview protocol. Older adults were asked about negative emotions (...) that significantly contribute to their self-growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Content analysis was used to identify key themes.ResultsSeven main negative emotions significantly contributed to seven themes of self-growth, across the samples: sharing difficult experiences with others, supportive partner, spiritual practices, engagement with life, generativity, volunteering activities, and intimacy and sexual satisfaction. Sharing difficult experiences with others was most pertinent to Mexican and to Italian participants, and a supportive partner to Portuguese, and to Spanish participants.ConclusionThe findings of this study indicate that negative emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to their older adults’ self-growth. This study highlighted the cultural diversity of experiences during the pandemics and underlined the upside of negative emotions and its relation to older adults’ self-growth during this period. (shrink)

v. 1. Schriften zur Anthropologie und Geschichte -- v. 2. Schriften zur Altertumskunde und Ästhetik. Die Vasken -- v. 3. Schriften zur Sprachphilosophie -- v. 4. Schriften zur politik und zum bildungswesen -- v. 5. Kleine Schriften, autobiographisches, Dichtungen, Briefe, Kommentare und Ammerkungen zu Band I-V, Anhang.

“Como duas mentes podem conhecer uma única coisa” é um dos textos que Wil-liam James (1842-1910) pretendia reunir sob o nome de Ensaios sobre empirismo radi-cal, embora nunca tenha chegado a ver o projeto concluído. Trata-se da obra tardia do autor, quando este passou a desenvolver algumas das ideias que já se encontravam, em muitos casos de forma embrionária, no monumental Princípios de psicologia. “Como duas mentes podem conhecer uma única coisa” é um dos textos mais importantes desse esforço, uma (...) vez que explica, de forma clara e elegante, um dos pilares do empirismo radical. Como o título já diz, James pretende mostrar como algo pode ser conhecido por duas mentes sem que haja aí uma duplicação, ou um recurso à noção de representação como duplicação de um objeto físico. James postula o conceito de experiência pura e indivisa que se desenvolve em estados de experiências momentâneas sucessivas. A experiência pura acrescenta a consciência à percepção de objetos. Nessa experiência indivisível ocorrem “apropriações” conscientes — que se dão de forma retroativa — das sensações dos objetos pelos sentidos. A consciência conquistada nessa apropriação marca a subjetivação e se dá a partir da inserção do algo sensível, resultante da relação com um objeto físico, na experiência individual. No instante da experiência pura, o objeto é ao mesmo tempo objetivo e subjetivo, não ocorrendo uma duplicação ontológica. Aí reside a resposta à pergunta posta no título: é possível sentir objetos sem duplicá-los. (shrink)

Als ich vor zehn Jahren die Hand des Kopisten des Geschichtswerkes von Dukas in einigen Handschriften identifizierte, hatte ich mehr dazu tendiert, daß der Kopist in der 2. Hälfte des 15. Jh. in Norditalien lebte, wohin er eventuell aus dem Osten gekommen war. Eine spätere, zufällige Entdeckung im Kodex Laurentianus plut. 10.8 hat mich dazu veranlaßt, alle Gegebenheiten bezüglich der Persönlichkeit des Schreibers nochmals zu untersuchen.

Wilhelm von Humboldt's classic study of human language was first published in 1836, as a general introduction to his three-volume treatise on the Kawi language of Java. It is the final statement of his lifelong study of the nature of language, exploring its universal structures and its relation to mind and culture. Empirically wide-ranging - Humboldt goes far beyond the Indo-European family of languages - it remains one of the most interesting and important attempts to draw philosophical conclusions (...) from comparative linguistics. This volume presents a translation by Peter Heath, together with an introduction by Michael Losonsky that places Humboldt's work in its historical context and discusses its relevance to contemporary work in philosophy, linguistics, cognitive science, and psychology. (shrink)

This is an entirely new translation of one of the fundamental works in the development of the study of language. Published in 1836, it formed the general introduction to Wilhelm von Humboldt's three-volume treatise on the Kawi language of Java. It is the final statement of his lifelong study of the nature of language, and presents a survey of a great many languages, exploring ways in which their various grammatical structures make them more or less suitable as vehicles of (...) thought and cultural development. Empirically wide-ranging - von Humboldt goes far beyond the Indo-European family of languages - it remains one of the most interesting and important attempts to draw philosophical conclusions from comparative linguistics. (shrink)

Seit über hundert Jahren wartet eine interessierte Öffentlichkeit auf eine umfassende, kritische, kommentierte Edition der Briefe Wilhelm von Humboldts. Die lange Reihe prominenter Akteure der Goethe-Zeit (bzw. der Napoleonischen Ära), die zu den Briefpartnern dieses Staatsmannes, Bildungsreformers und Sprachforschers zählen, sowie die Vielfalt der Themen – neben den bereits genannten sind dies vor allem Philosophie, Literatur, Philologie, bildende Kunst, Politik, diplomatische Korrespondenz, Geschichte – und nicht zuletzt die literarischen Qualitäten der Brieftexte selbst machen dieses umfangreiche Briefcorpus zu einem der bedeutendsten (...) der Epoche: ein Zeitgemälde auf höchstem Niveau. Die Ausgabe wird in drei Abteilungen erscheinen: I. Jugendbriefe, Brautzeit, erste Ehejahre (1781–1802) II. Amtszeit (1802–1819) III. Altersmuße (1820–1835). Die I. Abteilung wird fünf Bände umfassen. Band 1 beginnt mit Briefen des 13-jährigen Knaben; erster Schwerpunkt ist die Reihe schwärmerischer Briefe an Henriette Herz und weitere Mitglieder der „Verbindung“, einer Vereinigung zur gegenseitigen moralischen Vervollkommnung, die Humboldt bis zur Verlobung mit Karoline von Dacheröden intensiv beschäftigte; danach stehen die Briefe an die Braut im Vordergrund. Außerdem spielen die Briefe an Georg Forster und Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi eine wichtige Rolle; auch die später umfangreiche Korrespondenz mit Carl Gustaf von Brinkman beginnt bereits in dieser Periode. Mit der Eheschließung im Juni 1791 wird der Band abgeschlossen. Der Band enthält 198 Briefe, davon 21 bisher ungedruckte. (shrink)

Wilhelm von Humboldts Rechtsphilosophie ist bei weitem nicht so bekannt wie seine Sprachphilosophie oder gar seine Rolle als Bildungsreformer. Der Autor untersucht zu diesem Zweck Humboldts "Ideen zu einem Versuch, die Grenzen der Wirksamkeit des Staates zu bestimmen".

On February 5, 1850, the Austrian emperor Franz Josef appointed C.G. Jacob Jacobi to the position of full professor at the University of Vienna. Thanks to the efforts of Alexander von Humboldt, however, the world-famous Prussian mathematician remained in Berlin and continued in his position as a salaried member of the Academy of Sciences.This paper describes the history of Jacobi’s appointment in Vienna and his ultimate rejection of it.

Landscape took on a new meaning through the new science of plant geography of Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1857). In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, “landscape” was foremost a painterly genre. Slowly, painted landscapes came to bear on natural surroundings, but by 1800 it was still not common to designate sites as “landscapes.” Humboldt looked at plant vegetation with a painterly gaze. Artists, according to him, could suggest in their work that an abstract unity lay hidden underneath observable phenomena. (...) Humboldt projected painted landscapes on nature and found its ecological unity. By doing so, he ultimately stripped the concept of landscape from its primary visual meaning. (shrink)

In this essay, written for the public presentation of Wilhelm von Humboldt, Scritti filosofici, edited by Giovanni Moretto and Fulvio Tessitore , the author underlines the controversial relationship between Humboldt’s historical-anthropological thought and Kantian criticism, which represents nevertheless a premise both essential and encumbering of Humbolt’s reflection.

Ce n'est que tard dans sa vie que Wilhelm von Humboldt a donné au concept de « forme de la langue » son nom et sa définition. Ce qui est réellement nouveau dans cette conception, par rapport à ses analyses plus anciennes, c'est que, à côté de sa fonction régulatrice en linguistique, elle correspond chez Humboldt à une affirmation accrue de l'unité et de l'autonomie de chacune des langues. Une langue n'est pas l'émanation d'une nation donnée ; c'est (...) un être, pas un simple phénomène. Cela ne veut pas dire que les langues auront toutes la même valeur spirituelle, ni que l'individu sera prisonnier de la langue ; mais, dans son chemin vers la reconnaissance de cet être de la langue, Humboldt prend le risque de rouvrir le dualisme qu'il voulait fermer. Tout spécialement quand la « forme interne de la langue » évoque quelque sujet spirituel qui se servirait des outils grammaticaux et lexicaux. Cela ne veut pas dire que les langues auront toutes la même valeur spirituelle, ni que l'individu sera prisonnier de la langue ; mais, dans son chemin vers la reconnaissance de cet être de la langue, Humboldt prend le risque de rouvrir le dualisme qu'il voulait fermer. Tout spécialement quand la « forme interne de la langue » évoque quelque sujet spirituel qui se servirait des outils grammaticaux et lexicaux. Wilhelm von Humboldt gave the concept of « form of language » a name and a definition only late in his life. What is really new in this conception, in comparison to his older ones, is that, besides its regulative fonction for the linguist, it has to be linked to a stronger emphasis put by Humboldt on both unity and autonomy of every language. A language is not only the émanation of a certain nation ; it is a being, not only a phenomenon. This does not mean that all languages will have the same spiritual worth. It does not either mean that the individual will be some prisoner of the language ; but in his path towards the recognition of the being of the language Humboldt runs the risk of breaking open the dualism he wanted to heal up. Especially when the « inner form of the language » calls up some spiritual subject using both grammatical and lexical tools. (shrink)

The long-term scientific interests of Alexander von Humboldt ranged from anthropology and ancient American studies to geology and geography, climatology and cultural theory, physics and plant geography to language history, volcanology and zoology. As a scientist, he crossed different disciplines and explored new paths of knowledge. Humboldt developed a transdisciplinary and, in the widest sense, nomadic knowledge as a traveller through the sciences. Like a nomad, he did not seek to possess or destroy a territory (of knowledge): no (...) wonder that he became the co-founder of an ecological and geo-ecological thinking. Humboldt wrote and published his works in German as well as in French. In his American Travel Diaries, which returned to Berlin in November 2013, and which are still awaiting their scientific analysis, Humboldt constantly changes between German and French, but also between Latin and Spanish. The author of the Kosmos couldn’t be used for nationalist purposes. Thus, Alexander von Humboldt can be understood as a nomad of science in constant movement, and in this sense as a world citizen. This first theorist of globalization shifted between the words, between the sciences, between the worlds. For him, the greatest possible mobility was not only a scientific program, but also the program of a life – his life. Humboldt wasn’t concerned with any specialization that would lead to a fragmented dialogue with other specialists. He was concerned with a nomadic knowledge, which, thanks to his extensive network of correspondents, always delivered the opportunity to argue from different disciplinary standpoints at the same time. His thinking doesn’t know the limits of interdisciplinary or “disciplined” research oppressing us today, but it rather took aim at the creation of a new world, in which mankind would be able to live together on a planetary scale in freedom and peace. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to analyse Alexander von Humboldt's views on the theory of evolution and tackle the following question: Can Humboldt be considered an evolutionist? I seek to show that Humboldt acknowledges three essential Darwinian elements of the theory of evolution: fossil records, the geographical distribution of species and the struggle for survival. Further, Humboldt recognises a special relation between the natural environment and organic life, and understands it in light of his naturalistic (...) holism. This holism reveals the unity of organic and inorganic nature and highlights the agency of organic life whilst allowing it to create and preserve the adaptive conditions in the natural environment. Accordingly, I argue that Humboldt believes some kind of evolutionary process happens in nature. However, due to the immense influence of Kant’s transcendental study and the rigid utilisation of the empirical method, Humboldt concludes that we cannot acquire knowledge of the exact course of the evolutionary process. This, however, does not imply Humboldt discredits the theory of evolution. (shrink)