Languages are complex systems that allow speakers to produce novel grammatical utterances. Yet, linguists differ as to how general and abstract they think the mental representation of speakers have to be to give rise to this grammatical creativity. In order to shed light on these questions, the present study looks at one specific construction type, English comparative correlatives, that turns out to be particularly interesting in this context: on the one hand it has been described in terms of one of (...) the most abstract and general syntactic rules, on the other hand it shows specific idiomatic structures that are often produced without any variation. While the syntax and semantics of the English Comparative Correlative construction have received considerable attention in the literature, so far only a small number of usage-based analyses have been published on the topic. These either only relied on small databases or focussed only on the productivity of one slot in the construction. In contrast to this, the present study analyses more than 1,400 CC tokens sampled from COCA. The results of the present study yield important results concerning English CC constructions, including the schematicity and generality of their mental representations. (shrink)

The article compares different models of bioethics. The dominant model considers bioethics as just a new area of applied ethics focusing in its origin mainly on questions of medical ethics like those rising from reproductive medicine. Within the framework of this concept, the formal application of ethical principles on medical practices is normally understood as a strategy for the preservation of personal autonomy of the individual. Another model linked e.g. to the names of Van Rensselaer Potter or Hans Jonas can (...) be called a "holistic" one and refers to ethical issues discussed within the greater context of "general meditation" of life in general, nature and human life-worlds. Holistic bioethics focuses on the idea of integrity, and it also allows an internal "living" pluralism of perspectives, which corresponds to the self-differentiation of life in a plurality of life-worlds. The third model is an integrative bioethics which not only tries to combine the perspectives of autonomy on the one hand, life and nature as a whole on the other, but also shows that bioethics is founded on its own sources of normativity. From these sources also rises its task of “integrating” the perspectives of different scientific disciplines on issues of life in general. The concept of "integrative bioethics" is promoted in the article because of the following characteristics: integrative bioethics considers all kinds of interaction between autonomous persons, living beings and nature in general; it is transdisciplinary and therefore based on a dialogue of all sciences in which bioethical awareness of the problem may arise; it is open also to non-scientific manifestations of individual and social consciousness and therefore in discussing live in a normative sense nevertheless stays in contact with the real life-worlds of real people. At the end of the article integrative bioethics is discussed with regard to the example of the meaning of the idea of a “natural will”. (shrink)

Keine ausführliche Beschreibung für "Die absolute Form" verfügbar.

All human languages are characterised by inherent synchronic variability (Hudson, Cognitive Linguistics 8: 73–108, 1997, English Language and Linguistics 11: 383–405, 2007a) and are subject to change over time. Consequently, due to this central role of variation and change, any explanatorily adequate cognitive theory of language should aim to account for both of these phenomena. The present special issue explores how usage-based Construction Grammars can address issues of linguistic variation and change. In particular, focusing on English, we will show how (...) constructionist approaches provide new insights for the study of variation and change in the English language as well as how data from English can help to refine construction grammar theories. This introduction will give a short overview of aspects of constructionist approaches to language which are of relevance to the modelling of linguistic variation and change. In addition to our discussion of the modelling of synchronic and diachronic variation in construction grammar, we provide an overview of the topics addressed by the seven articles in this special issue. (shrink)

Author: Thomas Sören Hoffmann. Translated by Pedro Sepúlveda Zambrano.

Im Mainstream der gegenwärtigen Moralphilosophie bleibt es letztlich rätselhaft, weshalb Menschen danach streben sollten, Gutes zu tun und gut zu sein. Es wird nämlich nicht mehr verstanden, wie Moral und praktische Rationalität die Natur des Menschen ausmachen können, weil nicht mehr verstanden wird, wie Natur etwas anderes sein könnte als die bloss naturwissenschaftlich beschreibbare Natur. Zudem wird die praktische Rationalität des Menschen lediglich als instrumentelle Rationalität aufgefasst, die bloss die geschickte Verwirklichung beliebiger subjektiver Ziele ist. Dabei scheint die Qualität, die (...) sie für Menschen im Allgemeinen haben, keineRolle zu spielen. Damit einher geht die nonkognitivistische Auffassung, dass moralische Urteile nicht wahrheitsfähig sind und es demnach auch keine objektiv bestehenden moralischen Tatsachen geben kann, sondern bestenfalls intersubjektiven Konsens. All dies führt zu einem Bild von Moral und praktischer Rationalität, das ihrer Rolle im Leben von Menschen nicht gerecht wird. In Das Gute wird das alternative Bild eines hermeneutischen Naturalismus skizziert, der begreifbar macht, wie die Natur des Menschen das für ihn praktisch Gute und wie Moral natürlicherweise gut für Menschen sein kann. (shrink)

This article is dedicated to the question of normative aspects in which the relation between responsibly acting subjects and manipulable embryos has to be established. It advocates the thesis that “reflexive identity” between acting subject and treated embryonal “object” is the pivotal and starting point of the debate: the acting subject acts towards a form of objective human existence, which it has undergone by itself and therefore recognizes not only itself, but also poses the condition of possibility of its own (...) current sovereignty in acts. Against this background the concept of “Personalism”, which is found in the German “ESchG” (Embryo Protection Act) and “StZG” (Stem Cell Act), can be understood. If there are new questions arising from complex, technically mediated manipulations of the embryo today, as its entire synthetic production has become possible, it leads to the question regarding the normative meaning of “Besonderung” (particularity/particularization) and the identification of species as living individuality as such. Consequently, it raises the question of the normative relevance of corporal self-objectivations of individuals, which never passes over to just material circumstances. This also applies when embryos are obtained from iPS cells where the biotic substrate, as well as its “administration” and “utilization”, is not regarded an anonymous, but biotic substrate that is embedded in individual biographies that are undetachable and never completely lost. “Biopolitics” that place human biotic substrate in the disposition of arbitrary interests already has to be rejected in the interest of maintaining a perspective of reflexive identity as well as in the horizon of interpersonality. (shrink)

Highlighting Hegel's conceptual realism Hoffmann focuses on an undervalued move in his dialectic: inversion (μεταβολή). Easily proving completeness for Kant's table of categories, Hoffmann shows how metabolic dialectic substantiates Hegel's claim for his _Logic_: it is indeed the science of absolute form!

Mit der folgenden Skizze soll die Aufmerksamkeit auf einen Aspekt des Fichteschen Naturdenkens gelenkt werden, der bislang nicht gerade im Zentrum des ohnehin eher spärlichen Interesses an der Naturphilosophie des großen Wissenschaftslehrers stand. Trotzdem könnte gerade dieser Aspekt in systematischer Hinsicht, und zwar speziell für die stets aktuelle Frage nach einem genuin philosophischen Zugang zum Thema Natur, von einigem Gewicht sein. Ich gebe, um die Entwicklung der These im Rahmen des hier zur Verfügung stehenden Raumes zu erleichtern, einige einleitende Hinweise, (...) die im Sinne eines Vorbegriffs in etwa die Richtung anzeigen sollen, in die sich die folgenden Überlegungen bewegen werden. (shrink)

Proceedings of the conference Fichtes Geschlossener Handelsstaat -- èuber Ort und Ortlosigkeit der èOkonomie im transzendentalen System, held in Berlin, 28-30 November, 2014.

Johann Gottlieb Fichtes Wissenschaftslehre von 1812 stellt die letzte umfassende Ausarbeitung der Grundlegung der Fichteschen Transzendentalphilosophie dar. Historisch handelt es sich um die 'Endgestalt' eines Projekts, das in Zürich und Jena knapp zwanzig Jahre zuvor begonnen worden war, systematisch um den wichtigsten Anwärter auf den Titel der 'Vollendungsgestalt' einer Philosophie, mit der Fichte eine ebenbürtige Alternative zu den Systemen Schellings und Hegels vorlegt. Die Autoren des vorliegenden Bandes tragen dem End- und Vollendungscharakter der 'Wissenschaftslehre' in ihrer Version aus dem Jahre (...) 1812 Rechnung. Dafür knüpfen sie etwa bei der neuen Nähe zu Kant an oder buchstabieren den transzendentallogisch so faszinierenden Versuch Fichtes durch, die Erscheinung als absoluten Ort des Wissens zu denken. Auch das Bild als das grosse Leitthema der Fichteschen Spätphilosophie wird verhandelt, während zugleich ältere Motive wie das 'Selbstbewusstsein' oder die 'Reflexion' in ein neues Licht gerückt werden. (shrink)

The subject of this study is Christian education in the church. This practical-theological work starts from the premise of the relevance of a commitment experience for the faith development of the individual and studies the formats and contents of continuing formal faith education of young Christians in evangelical free churches in a postmodern-urban milieu in Frankfurt. Its aim is to find out how well the New Testament discipleship topics of Jesus are integrated into the faith education in the church, and (...) what reception difficulties and chances they experience in regard to the Zeitgeist. Are the New Testament discipleship topics still the basic guidelines with regard to content? The relationship between faith development, faith education and the local church is presented within a religion- and church-pedagogical approach and a connection to education for discipleship is made. The biblical premise is the discipleship commission of Jesus and its church-pedagogical reply. (shrink)