The story of this book of 'materials on Ludwik Fleck' is also the story of the reception of Ludwik Fleck. In this volume, some essential materials which have been produced by that reception have been gathered together.

How does consciousness vary across the animal kingdom? Are some animals ‘more conscious’ than others? This article presents a multidimensional framework for understanding interspecies variation in states of consciousness. The framework distinguishes five key dimensions of variation: perceptual richness, evaluative richness, integration at a time, integration across time, and self-consciousness. For each dimension, existing experiments that bear on it are reviewed and future experiments are suggested. By assessing a given species against each dimension, we can construct a consciousness profile for (...) that species. On this framework, there is no single scale along which species can be ranked as more or less conscious. Rather, each species has its own distinctive consciousness profile. (shrink)

We present a method to determine the reaction type and kinetic constants for enzyme inhibitors that decreases the number of experimental assays by at least a factor of five. It is based on a new theoretical formalism in terms of concentrations that dismisses the requirement of estimating initial velocities. Expressions for the time evolution of the concentrations of all the reactants are also given.

Meaning in life has become an important topic in empirical research in the psychology of religion. Although it has been studied and found applicable in many different contexts, research on meaning in life and sources of meaning in African countries is scarce. This study qualitatively investigates understandings and experiences of meaning in life and sources of meaning among urban and village dwellers with different educational backgrounds in Zambia. Seven focus group interviews (total N = 52) were conducted and analysed, drawing (...) on Schnell’s model of meaning in life and sources of meaning. The results indicate that the concept of meaning in life is relevant to both urban and village dwellers in Zambia. Meaning experiences and sources of meaning are associated with certain life domains: relationships; religion; education and work; leisure activities; and health and survival. Each life domain includes several fundamental sources of meaning, which can be related to Schnell’s four dimensions of sources of meaning: self-transcendence, self-actualisation, order and well-being and relatedness. The results are discussed in light of extant studies on meaning and cultural characteristics in Africa. (shrink)

This contribution seeks to establish the link between an approach to the concept of the absolute and the question of being in phenomenology. In a first part, different sketches of this topic are presented by major representatives of 20th century phenomenology. The concept of “being” is first addressed by Heidegger in the Contributions to Philosophy. Then the “absolute” in Fink’s phenomenology is discussed, as well as the “new ontology” of phenomenology according to Levinas. The historical considerations end with Richir’s concepts (...) of “pre-being” and “transcendental” (in particular, the transcendental matrix of phenomenalization as explained in Le rien enroul.). The central part of the study elaborates the “generative matrix of ‘Sinnbildung’” at the heart of a generative ontology, the three fundamental concepts of this matrix being correlativity, significance, and reflexivity. The deployment of the self-reflexive sensemaking processuality results in the establishment of the table of this generative matrix. In a final moment, we will deliver the three determinations of “being” as the “absolute” of generative phenomenology and we will establish the link between the “absolute” of generative phenomenology and Fichte’s concepts of “reflexibility”. (shrink)

This article aims at a new interpretation of paragraph §1 of Fichte’s main work of 1794/95, the Grundlage der gesammten Wissenschaftslehre. This well-known text of the early Jena period explicitly introduces a number of thought motifs that will prove to be valuable for the later versions of the Wissenschaftslehre – including the second version of 1804 – and these motifs will furthermore illuminate the significance of the first principle for Fichte’s entire Wissenschaftslehre.

In this study, the author develops an original reading of the Fifth Cartesian Meditation. This text, far from giving rise to a “transcendental solipsism”, as classical commentators claim, leads to a constitution of intersubjectivity on various levels . In its center, a “phenomenological construction” operates, i.e. a methodological piece that masters the genetic approach of intersubjectivity. Closely following the “almost mathematical” rigour of this crucial text of Husserl’s phenomenology, the author equally tackles the issue of the constitution of the experience (...) of the other and the truly intersubjective structure of transcendental subjectivity. The article concludes with the metaphysical results of the analysis of the experience of the other. (shrink)

"La dimension philosophique de la pensée et de l'œuvre de Novalis constitue le cœour de cet ouvrage bilingue. Des philosophes examinent sous toutes les coutures, en allemand et en français, les écrits scientifiques, littéraires et philosophiques du penseur romantique, non sans s'appuyer sur - et majorer - la dimension proprement réflexive de cette œuvre."--Page 4 de la la couverture.

The Impacts of Lasting Occupation examines the effects that Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories have had on Israeli society. The consequences of occupation are evident in all aspects of Israeli life, including its political, social, legal, economic, cultural, and psychological spheres.

La question de la légitimation de la philosophie est l'un des fils conducteurs de l'idéalisme allemand. Dans la première génération des successeurs de Kant en effet, certains ont pour ambition explicite de reprendre ses résultats, mais d'une manière suffisamment justifiée pour répondre aux objections sceptiques. D'autres, en revanche, décident de s'installer dans le renoncement à la fondation systématique, accusant la raison discursive d'être incapable de saisir la vie et la liberté. Quels sont, chez les auteurs de l'idéalisme allemand, les arguments (...) qui plaident en faveur d'un fondement du discours philosophique? Un tel principe est-il théorique ou pratique, inaugural ou terminal, intuitif ou discursif, tel qu'il adopte la forme d'une proposition singulière ou tel qu'il se confond avec le tout du discours? En somme, l'enjeu est d'examiner, sous un point de vue nouveau, le thème de la raison dans l'idéalisme allemand. La question est ici abordée dans une perspective historique autant que systématique. La variété et la richesse des études témoignent de la vitalité des recherches actuelles sur l'idéalisme allemand. (shrink)

This essay tries to account for a certain “speculative turn” in contemporary philosophy (Q. Meillassoux, G. Harman, M. Gabriel, etc.) from a phenomenological point of view . A first objective of it will consist in exposing the link between, on the one hand, the methodological sense of Husserl’s concrete phenomenological analyses (concerning, for example, time and intersubjective structure of transcendental subjectivity,) and on the other hand, the consequences that follow from the grounding of phenomenology as first philosophy. This will allow (...) a largely underestimated research angle to be opened up, one that I call a “constructive phenomenology,” that constitutes an essential and original figure of transcendental philosophy in general. A second objective will then consist in the attempt to sketch the foundation of knowledge as knowledge , the core of a “phenomenological metaphysics.” Whereas the first part will remain within a Husserlian framework, the second will develop some elements of a “speculative transcendentalism” in a phenomenological perspective. (shrink)

From a phenomenological point of view the ‘real’ is neither to be identified with the ‘given’ nor with the ‘withdrawn’. It rather has to be examined in its relatedness to the factual. This in turn requires the reflection of the basic correlation of being and thought. By engaging in this task the author of this essay distinguishes five modalities: 1. the possibility of the accessibility of the world, 2. the actual modes of constitution of appearance 3. the genetic moment of (...) phenomenalization, 4. The eventfulness and singularity of every case, 5. the existence of the world as such. These modalities constitute the realm of the transcendental and they allow us to differentiate how the real ‘exists’. In this sense the essay continues the work of Richir’s “phenomenology of the real”, at the same time it goes beyond Richir’s work. The standpoint of “phenomenological constructivism” allows the integration of skepticist insights into the concept of the transcendental. (shrink)

Clahsen's claim to contribute arguments for dual mechanisms based on rule analysis and against connectionist proposals is refuted. Both types of modeling are inadequate for principled reasons.

As research on meaning in work progresses, access to theoretically integrated, differentiated survey instruments becomes crucial. In response to this demand, the present article introduces ME-Work, a modular inventory to measure meaning in work. Derived from research findings on meaning in life, the ME-Work inventory offers three modules that can be used separately or jointly. Module 1 assesses four facets of meaning in work, i.e., coherence, significance, purpose and belonging; module 2 measures the subjective assessment of work as meaningful or (...) meaningless, and module 3 records the extent to which work is perceived as a source of meaning. We report on the development of the instrument and the results of an exploratory factor analysis in a pilot study of 115 working adults. A further study with 278 working adults provided evidence for construct and incremental validity. Relationships with meaning in life, mental health, job satisfaction, socio-moral climate, burnout and work as meaning were investigated. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the factor structure. Gender-specific analyses of the four facets of meaning’s differential predictive power provided additional insights. Practical implications and further research needs are discussed. (shrink)

In this article, I aim to introduce Marc Richir’s refoundation of transcendantal phenomenology. Starting from the double—“symbolic” and properly “phenomenological”—constitution of the concept of phenomenon, I present the key concepts of Richir’s “phenomenology nova methodo”: hyperbolical phenomenological epoché, schematism, affectivity, phantasy, and so on. Beneath the distinction between theory of knowledge and ontology, I seek to understand both the sense of what he calls the “endogenization” of the phenomenological field and, “beyond Husserl, Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty,” the role of temporality in (...) the phenomenalization of the phenomenon. (shrink)

L'objectif de cet ouvrage est d'introduire le lecteur a la pensee du premier Heidegger a travers un commentaire d'Etre et temps (publie en 1927) et des cours professes a la fin des annees 1920 (en particulier les Fondements metaphysiques de la logique et les Concepts fondamentaux de la metaphysique). L'auteur expose d'abord le projet heideggerien d'une ontologie phenomenologique - en rapport (et en rupture) avec la phenomenologie husserlienne - mettant en oeuvre une analytique existentiale de l'etre-la humain qui est reconstituee (...) selon ses moments structurels. Le chapitre central du livre est consacre au probleme du temps, chez Heidegger, au sujet duquel l'auteur propose une interpretation inedite. Les deux derniers chapitres presentent la metaphysique de l'etre-la et la metaphysique du monde avec lesquelles Heidegger s'eloigne de son projet initial et prepare le fameux tournant des annees 1930. (shrink)

Jacques Derridas Diplomarbeit von 1953/54 "Das Problem der Genese in Husserls Philosophie" ist eines jener Beispiele dafür, dass wichtige Philosophen und Philosophinnen auch schon in ihren frühen Arbeiten Außergewöhnliches leisten. Alexander Schnell liest in seiner Vorlesung "Der frühe Derrida und die Phänomenologie" Derridas Schrift nicht nur als einen Schlüsseltext zu dessen eigenem Denken, sondern nachgerade zu einer zukünftigen Phänomenologie und zwar in Auseinandersetzung mit den Fragen und Problemen der Metaphysik. Dabei entfaltet er kenntnisreich nicht nur den sachlichen und historischen (...) Zusammenhang, in dem Derridas Text sich befindet, sondern ebenso den sachlichen und historischen Kontext der von Derrida interpretierten Texte Husserls. Jacques Derrida's 1953/54 thesis "The Problem of Genesis in Husserl's Philosophy" is one of those examples of important philosophers reaching extraordinary levels of erudition even in their early work. In his lecture "Der frühe Derrida und die Phänomenologie," Alexander Schnell reads Derrida's thesis not only as prime example for Derrida¿s own thinking, but also as a key text for a future phenomenology, namely in its confrontation with the questions and problems of metaphysics. In doing so, Schnell elaborately unfolds not only the factual and historical context in which Derrida's text itself is situated, but also the factual and historical context of Husserl's texts interpreted by Derrida. (shrink)

La phA(c)nomA(c)nologie post-husserlienne s'est dA(c)tournA(c)e des orientations fondamentales de son pA]re fondateur pour adopter une position ou bien dA(c)constructiviste ou bien thA(c)ologisante sinon ouvertement anti-idA(c)aliste. Restant fidA]le A l'attitude phA(c)nomA(c)nologique qui consiste A mettre hors circuit tout prA(c)supposA(c) mA(c)taphysique (qu'il soit de nature antisubjectiviste ou dogmatique), le prA(c)sent ouvrage met en A(c)vidence des motifs cherchant A mettre en place une phA(c)nomA(c)nologie de la connaissance et de la comprA(c)hension qui A(c)vite A la fois l'A(c)cueil d'un scepticisme radical et celui d'une philosophie (...) de la transcendance. A ce dessein, l'essai se divise en trois parties dans lesquelles sont examinA(c)s et explicitA(c)s conformA(c)ment A une orientation husserlienne, heideggerienne ou encore propre A la phA(c)nomA(c)nologie franAaise contemporaine les concepts fondamentaux d'une phA(c)nomA(c)nologie transcendantale fondA(c)e spA(c)culativement. Dans la mesure oA se profile par lA une position philosophique qui intA]gre, par ailleurs, des comprA(c)hensions et acquis toujours valables de la philosophie classique allemande, se dessinent les lignes fondamentales d'un A transcendantalisme spA(c)culatif A qui essaie de renforcer la phA(c)nomA(c)nologie du XXIe siA]cle naissant au sein du dA(c)bat contemporain (par exemple face au A rA(c)alisme spA(c)culatif A). Il s'agit en particulier de rA(c)pondre, du cAtA(c) de la phA(c)nomA(c)nologie, au rapprochement de la tradition europA(c)enne effectuA(c) actuellement par la gA(c)nA(c)ration la plus jeune des penseurs A analytiques A. Cela rendra peut-Aatre possible d'A(c)lever l'A(c)change entre les deux orientations contemporaines A un niveau qui n'A(c)tait pas accessible au XXe siA]cle en raison de prA(c)jugA(c)s et distorsions idA(c)ologiques. (shrink)

Jackendoff's account of relating linguistic structure and brain structure is too restricted in concentrating on formal features of computational requirements, neglecting the achievements of various types of neuroscientific modelling. My own approaches to neuronal models of syntactic organization show how these requirements could be met. The book's lack of discussion of a sound philosophy of the relation is briefly mentioned.

Levinas a cherche a eriger l'ethique en philosophie premiere. Comment ce projet est-il conciliable avec la methode phenomenologique dont il s'est toujours inspire et dont il est reste tributaire tout au long de sa vie? L'auteur essaie d'y repondre en mettant en evidence ce qu'il appelle une phenomenologie sans phenomenalite. Celle-ci s'inscrit expressement dans la tradition de la phenomenologie transcendantale que Levinas prolonge et actualise en promouvant un concept inedit du transcendantal (concu comme conditionnement mutuel du constituant et du constitue (...) ). Au sommet de cette phenomenologie est l' epiphanie du visage, manifestation d'une alterite radicale qui confere le sens a l'apparaissant sur un mode non intentionnel et non phenomenal. C'est autour du visage que s'articulent les categories fondamentales de son parcours: jouissance, demeure, possession, feminite, amour, erotisme, fecondite, etc. Le present ouvrage qui s'appuie essentiellement sur le premier chef d'oeuvre de Levinas (Totalite et infini, paru en 1961) tente d'eclaircir ces concepts, tout en exposant les idees directrices de la philosophie levinassienne de la subjectivite, de la transcendance, du langage, du temps et de la verite. (shrink)

La métaphysique fait de nouveau l'objet d'une attention particulière. Le présent ouvrage développe une position transcendantale qui diffère des approches 'réalistes' récentes. Dans les élaborations systématiques de la philosophie allemande classique, les 'idéalistes allemands' se comprenaient en même temps comme les plus grands réalistes. Dans le débat actuel, en revanche, toute position idéaliste semble être compromise puisque relevant d'un subjectivisme désuet. L'idéalisme transcendantal ici défendu poursuit une perspective dans laquelle la question de l' 'être' doit être posée à l'horizon de (...) ses 'corrélations' en deçà d'un rapport sujet-objet hypostasié. Ce traité de métaphysique phénoménologique s'inscrit ainsi dans un débat contemporain qui est autant philosophique (notamment grâce au 'nouveau[x] réalisme[s]') qu'anthropologique (à propos du statut du 'relationnisme')--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Comment developper une phenomenologie de la connaissance qui, tout en restant fidele aux perspectives fondamentales des deux peres fondateurs de la phenomenologie, tire profit des acquis essentiels des deux generations posterieures de phenomenologues? L'auteur se propose de poursuivre le projet d'une refondation de la phenomenologie qui prend au serieux les critiques du fondationalisme (traditionnel) sans pour autant abandonner une perspective visant a legitimer le bien-fonde de tout discours exhibant le sens de ce qui apparait. La these fondamentale est qu'une telle (...) refondation se doit de mettre en son centre non plus la perception objectivante, mais l'imagination (Einbildungskraft) a la source de toute formation ou configuration du sens (Sinnbildung), laquelle constitue la base de tout apparaissant et de tout evenement. L'imagination est ici comprise a la fois comme devoilant la constitution imageante (imaginaire et imaginal) du reel et comme productrice d' images (ou d' icones ) dont il s'agit de preciser la dimension genetique, voire generative, eu egard a plusieurs concepts determinants de la phenomenologie (tels que la verite, la subjectivite, le reel, l' inconscient, le temps, l' espace, etc.). (shrink)

Les Beiträge zur Philosophie (1936-1938) ont été présentées, lors de leur publication en 1989, par l'éditeur F. -W. von Herrmann comme le "second chef-d'oeuvre" de M. Heidegger. Le présent volume rassemble des contributions parmi les plus grands spécialistes des recherches heideggériennes de la France et de l'étranger, qui permet de statuer sur la réception de cet ouvrage aussi fascinant que troublant. Il s'agit, d'une part, de préciser l'objet du texte, d'en exposer la structure, les concepts fondamentaux et son rapport avec (...) Etre et temps (1927), ainsi qu'avec certaines élaborations ultérieures ; d'autre part, des problèmes ciblés, parfois plus techniques, sont abordés, qui permettent d'introduire à ce texte, sans doute le plus difficile de Heidegger, et d'en approfondir la lecture. (shrink)

Dans cette contribution, l’auteur expose une refondation de la phénoménologie transcendantale en termes de « phénoménologie générative ». Quatre perspectives pour entrer dans cette « phénoménologie générative » sont exposées – respectivement par une considération relative à l’être en phénoménologie, à la créativité, à l’ontogenèse et à une réinterprétation du concept même du « transcendantal » moyennant une descente en deçà du phénoménal. Cette dernière perspective est développée plus en détail et met en œuvre une voie méthodologique, une voie par (...) la logique transcendantale et une voie par les structures de la transcendantalité (qui s’explicitent dans la « matrice générative de la Sinnbildung »). (shrink)

This introduction provides a brief overview of L. Tengeli's life path and philosophy. The author identifies three main questions of his philosophy, which are the question of life-history, the question of experience and the question of the phenomenological metaphysics. According to the central thesis of the introduction, Tengeli is the characteristic representative of modern phenomenology, because in his philosophy we find all those distinctive features which are peculiar to phenomenology in the 21st century: problem of transcendentalism, problem of phenomenological metaphysics, (...) and productive address to history of philosophy. (shrink)

This introduction provides a brief overview of L. Tengeli's life path and philosophy. The author identifies three main questions of his philosophy, which are the question of life-history, the question of experience and the question of the phenomenological metaphysics. According to the central thesis of the introduction, Tengeli is the characteristic representative of modern phenomenology, because in his philosophy we find all those distinctive features which are peculiar to phenomenology in the 21st century: problem of transcendentalism, problem of phenomenological metaphysics, (...) and productive address to history of philosophy. (shrink)

The idea of “food miles,” the distance that food has to be shipped, has entered into debates in both popular and academic circles about local eating. An oft-cited figure claims that the “average item” of food travels 1,500 miles before it reaches your plate. The source of this figure is almost never given, however, and indeed, it is a figure with surprisingly little grounding in objective research. In this study, I track the evolution of this figure, and the ways that (...) scholars and popular writers have rhetorically employed it. I then explore the ongoing debates over food miles and local food, debates that often oversimplify the idea of local eating to a caricature. I then examine a series of in-depth interviews with community-supported agriculture members and farmers in order to bring complexity back to discussions of local food consumers. I argue that the overwhelming focus on “food miles” among scholars threatens to eclipse the multitude of other values and meanings contained in the word “local” that underlie people’s decisions to “eat locally,” foremost among them, a desire to reintegrate food production and consumption within the context of place. (shrink)

In order to build on the information that was obtained in the course of the first study, a follow-up survey was conducted first by phone and subsequently in a written form between August and October 2014. We contacted 1.858 hospitals in all of Germany for the follow-up survey by phone. In cases where a hospital had not participated in the first study, the willingness to participate in the follow-up survey was established in advance. The survey’s dispatch was ensured in the (...) case of acceptance. The same structured survey was used as a research tool. The data of the first study and the follow-up survey were merged and evaluated. 654 surveys could be evaluated altogether. Our survey by phone revealed that 912 hospitals in all of Germany have at least one form of clinical ethics consultation available. The health care ethics committee is the most frequently implemented structure of clinical ethics consultation. The implementation of clinical ethics consultation is dependent on sponsorship and hospital size. Recommendations to deliver structures of clinical ethics consultations have a smaller influence on the implementation compared to the certification by KTQ respectively proCum Cert. The rate of implementation in regard to the structures of clinical ethics consultation has steadily increased for years. The establishment of clinical ethics consultation in German hospitals should be further promoted. It would be desirable further to develop suitable juridical regulations in order to implement clinical ethics consultation as well as structural parameters. (shrink)

Aim:The purpose of this study was to explore how adolescent patients displaying developmental trauma experience and describe meaning in life. Schnell’s model of meaning in life is applied to explore meaningfulness, crises of meaning and sources of meaning. Method: The study has a qualitative design based on individual interviews with eight adolescents aged 14–18 years in treatment in an outpatient clinic for mental health care for children and adolescents. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using systematic text condensation. Results: (...) The adolescents related meaning in life to the experience of coherence, intrinsic values, progress and belonging, or the absence of these. Examples of sources of meaning among the informants were positive relations with meaningful others, structure and routines, moments of well-being, achieving goals related to education, work and family, and seeking something else outside oneself such as playing computer games, being engaged in politics, being with animals, having a belief in a god or being outdoors in natural surroundings. Conclusion: Although the topic of meaning in life was unknown to this group, they used sources of meaning intuitively. This group seems to have similar preferences to the general population. More knowledge is needed on how the topic of meaning in life can be useful in therapy for adolescents with development trauma. (shrink)

Review article on Alexander Schnell’s book “Hinaus: Entwürfe zu einer phänomenologischen Metaphysik und Anthropologie” (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2011). According to Schnell, an exclusively descriptive phenomenology is not enough; phenomenology must also be constructive. He thus outlines an ambitious project for constructive phenomenology that promises (1) to provide an ultimate justification for knowledge and (2) to ground a phenomenological metaphysics and anthropology, each of which is centered on the “image” (Bild). Insofar as Schnell fills in the details (...) of this outline, his analysis is careful, provocative, and filled with insight. (shrink)

Sentience is the capacity to have feelings, such as feelings of pain, pleasure, hunger, thirst, warmth, joy, comfort and excitement. It is not simply the capacity to feel pain, but feelings of pain, distress or harm, broadly understood, have a special significance for animal welfare law. Drawing on over 300 scientific studies, we evaluate the evidence of sentience in two groups of invertebrate animals: the cephalopod molluscs or, for short, cephalopods (including octopods, squid and cuttlefish) and the decapod crustaceans or, (...) for short, decapods (including crabs, lobsters and crayfish). We also evaluate the potential welfare implications of current commercial practices involving these animals. (shrink)

The aim of this contribution is to establish the role of movement in the reconsideration of ontology proposed by Eugen Fink in his 1951 summer semester course Nachdenkliches zur ontologischen Frühgeschichte von Raum - Zeit - Bewegung. In this lecture, first published in 1957, Fink successively discusses how Parmenides, Zeno of Aeneas, Plato and Aristotle approach the concepts of time, space and movement in the overall economy of ontology, and how they might be overcome in a cosmology. This refection on (...) the notion of. (shrink)

The objective of this study is to present the meaning of transcendental phenomenology in the light of the evolution of phenomenology in recent decades. It first proposes the distinguishing principle between “transcendental phenomenology” and “realist phenomenology” and determines the meaning of a “speculative” phenomenology. It then discusses the characteristics of transcendental phenomenology according to Fink and Richir. Four types of considerations are then developed. Ontological considerations: The ontological thesis of transcendental phenomenology as it relates to “pre-being” (Fink). Methodological considerations: The (...) ‘analytical’ method, ‘transcendental induction’, and ‘phenomenological construction’. Speculative considerations: The “generative matrix of ‘Sinnbildung’” at the heart of a generative ontology (with its three fundamental concepts: correlativity, significance, and reflexivity). Aletheiological Considerations: Three aspects of truth: phenomenalizing truth as the “necessary condition” of all truth; the two forms of truth-withdrawal; generative truth as “reflection of reflection”. (shrink)

English summary: This essay demonstrates that phenomenon is a philosophical concept in itself. Following on Kants use of the term, and its complexity under German idealism and phenomenology, the authors argues that the concept of phenomenon is an excellent window onto German philosophy. French description: Repondre a la question de savoir ce qu'est le phenomene peut paraitre un peu etrange de prime abord: n'aurait-on pas tendance, spontanement, a se demander ce qu'est un phenomene? Cet essai se propose de montrer que (...) le phenomene est un concept philosophique a part entiere. Introduit par Kant pour etablir ce qu'il est possible de connaitre, cette notion change de sens et se complexifie dans les traditions philosophiques post-kantiennes (notamment dans l'idealisme allemand et dans la phenomenologie). L'auteur se propose d'ouvrir differentes pistes, relatives a cette notion, qui se degagent dans le debat avec l'auteur de la Critique de la raison pure et qui interrogent la portee et les limites du transcendantalisme kantien. Il apparait par la que le phenomene constitue une excellente introduction a la problematique de la philosophie allemande. (shrink)

This article explores atheist meaning-making by employing a multidimensional model of meaning operationalized by the Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life Questionnaire. When compared to a representative sample of “religionists” and “nones”, atheists show lower degrees of meaningfulness, but they do not suffer from crises of meaning more frequently. However, subsequent cluster analysis reveals that heterogeneity within atheism has to be taken into account. Three types of atheists are identified. ‘Low-commitment’ atheists are characterised by generally low commitment; they report (...) very low meaningfulness and a high frequency of crises of meaning. ‘Broad-commitment’ atheists exhibit considerably higher levels of meaningfulness and rare crises of meaning. They evidence, in particular, high scores on the dimension of well-being and relatedness. The third type, primarily committed to “selfactualization,” exhibits moderate levels of meaningfulness, with crises of meaning being literally absent. Common to most atheists is a particular commitment to self-knowledge, freedom, knowledge, individualism, and comfort. In comparing male and female atheists, gendered patterns of commitment are discovered. (shrink)

This study contributes to the exploration of self-rated spirituality by anchoring self-ratings of spirituality and religiosity in an integrative model of personality. For the measurement of personality dispositions and characteristic adaptations, the NEO Personality Inventory Revised and the Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life Questionnaire have been administered to a sample of German-speaking students. A three-step study design is employed. First, previous findings on associations between personality and religiosity/spirituality are replicated and supplemented. Second, sources of meaning are shown to (...) explain a considerably higher amount of unique variance in religiosity and spirituality than do personality dispositions. Third, two types of spirituality—religious-and-spiritual and spiritual-but-not-religious—are identified and distinguished on the basis of personality traits. The spiritual-but-not-religious type shows significantly higher degrees of Neuroticism, and lower degrees of Agreeableness. Possible interpretations and lines of future research on ‘spirituality without religion’ are sketched out. (shrink)