Michael Seidler - Rival Enlightenments: Civil and Metaphysical Philosophy in Early Modern Germany - Journal of the History of Philosophy 40:3 Journal of the History of Philosophy 40.3 405-406 Book Review Rival Enlightenments: Civil and Metaphysical Philosophy in Early Modern Germany Ian Hunter. Rival Enlightenments: Civil and Metaphysical Philosophy in Early Modern Germany. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Pp. xix + 398. Cloth, $69.95. Mendelssohn once referred to Kant, supposedly with affection, as "the all-destroyer" . Hunter's erudite (...) book takes a similar, albeit colder view of Kant's impact on the history of moral and political thought. Kant and Kantians, he holds, not only distort that account by advancing themselves as the "critical" solution to its dialectical inadequacies,.. (shrink)

Die meisten Erörterungen der Freiheitsproblematik bei Leibniz beschränken sich auf die Frage, ob das logische Prinzip vom unzureichenden Grunde eine praktisch-kausale Determination menschlicher Handlungen einschließt. Meine Abhandlung gibt darauf eine bejahende Antwort und zeigt, daß Leibniz sich sehr darum bemüht hat, logische Handlungsgründe als unmittelbare Verhaltensursachen, d.h. als kausale Erklärung menschlicher Freiheit zu begreifen, der wichtigste Beitrag der Abhandlung besteht jedoch darin, im Detail gezeigt zu haben, daß Leibniz neben der obigen eine andere und neue Freiheitskonzeption vom Standpunkt der Unvollkommenheit (...) des moralisch handelnden Subjektes entwickelt hat. -Diese Freiheit realisiert sich gemäß einer informellen, aber komplexen Methode moralischer Entwicklung und Selbstbestimmung, wodurch der moralisch Handelnde eine zunehmende Herrschaft über die Triebe und Leidenschaften gewinnt, diese Methode moralischer Selbstverwirklichung besitzt Ähnlichkeiten mit der „moralischen Therapieײ der späteren Stoa und mit der Kantischen Methode der sich selbst bestimmenden „praktischen Vernunftײ. (shrink)

This essay examines Kant's relationship to the Stoics with respect to the affective dimension of the moral life. Besides offering a general description and comparison of the two philosophies in this particular regard, it utilizes numerous specific Kantian references to and parallels with Stoicism to argue that his own position was, throughout its development, shaped by a growing contact with and appreciation of the Stoic view. The paper proceeds from some negative remarks of Kant about suppressing or even eliminating the (...) emotions and inclinations found mainly in the Grundlegung and the second Critique, and then goes on to show how Kant was able to draw upon a number of Stoic distinctions and concepts, such as that between the affects and the passions, in order to mitigate these negative and exclusivistic attitudes and to reincorporate the affective components of the personality into his conception of a fully human moral life. Moreover, because of the numerous subtopics explored in making the main case for the Kant-Stoa link, the essay also accomplishes its subsidiary purpose of showing the importance of the sometimes overlooked emotional factor or dimension of Kant's ethics as such. (shrink)

This work contains newly translated excerpts from Samuel Pufendor's two major works in political and moral thought, Elements of Universal Jurisprudence and The Law of Nature and Nations. The editor and translator have worked to present a readable and comprehensive introduction to Pufendorf's political philosophy. The new English translation far exceeds what is currently available in terms of sophistication and clarity. A substantive introduction is included to acquaint readers with Pufendorf's ideas.

This work contains newly translated excerpts from Samuel Pufendor's two major works in political and moral thought, Elements of Universal Jurisprudence and The Law of Nature and Nations. The editor and translator have worked to present a readable and comprehensive introduction to Pufendorf's political philosophy. The new English translation far exceeds what is currently available in terms of sophistication and clarity. A substantive introduction is included to acquaint readers with Pufendorf's ideas.

The differential activation hypothesis (DAH; Teasdale, 1988) proposes that individuals who are vulnerable to depression can be distinguished from non-vulnerable individuals by the degree to which negative thoughts and maladaptive cognitive processes are activated during sad mood. While retrieval of negative autobiographical memories is noted as one such process, the model does not articulate a role for deficits in recalling positive memories. Two studies were conducted to compare the autobiographical memory characteristics of never-depressed and formerly depressed individuals following a sad (...) mood induction. In Study 1, features of negative memories of never-depressed and formerly depressed individuals did not differ, either in neutral or sad mood. For positive memories, groups did not differ in neutral mood, but following a sad mood induction, formerly depressed individuals rated their positive memories as less vivid than their never-depressed counterparts. Study 2 examined positive autobiographical memory features more comprehensively and replicated the finding that in a sad mood formerly depressed individuals recalled less vivid positive memories than never-depressed controls. These findings suggest that the phenomenological features of positive memories could represent an important factor in depressive vulnerability, and, more broadly, that depression may be associated with a deficit in the processing of positive material. (shrink)

HEINRICH SCHIPPERGES vollendete am 17. Marz 1983 sein 65. Lebensjahr. Urn ihm eine Freude zu machen, ja urn ihm die gebiihrende Referenz zu erweisen, hatte sich am 19. Marz im Auditorium der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften ein Kreis von Gratulanten eingefun­ den. Die Sprecher brachten ihre Gabe, je einen Beitrag aus dem eigenen Arbeitsgebiet, zum Vortrag, und der lubilar selbst griff in die Speichen. Er zeigte, was er unter "An­ thropologie" versteht. Nicht aIle Beitdige zu diesem Buche konnten miindlich ausgebreitet (...) werden, aus auBeren Grunden. Nicht alles, was gesagt wurde, konnte gedruckt werden, aus ganz verschiedenen sachlichen Grunden. Es ist nur natiirlich, daB in unserem Buche die historischen Aspekte iiberwiegen. Andererseits geht es gewiI3 nicht nur urn "Geschichte" und "Problemgeschichte", sondern urn klarende und kritische Untersuchungen zum Stand der "Hildegard-Forschung", zum Krankheits-, zum ModeIlbe­ griff, urn Gestalttheorie und Krankheitsforschung, - urn nur einiges zu nennen. Die Darstellung unserer "Aspekte" bringt, wie ich denke, zwei Kostbarkeiten: den Bericht der ehrwiirdigen Frau Sr. ADELGUNDIS FUHRKOTIER OSB iiber die Frage, was ist gesichert im literarischen Nachlaj3 der hI. Hildegard von Bingen, und die bezaubernde Geschichte der Vorwor­ ter der Dedikationsliteratur des 12. bis 17. sc. durch einen der besten Kenner des Prooemium, den lubilar selbst. Unser Buch enthalt elf wissenschaftliche Beitrage und eine bibliographische Materialsammlung zur Medizinischen Anthropologie. Dieser Beitrag will dem, der sich orientie­ ren muB, was diese Anthropologie darstellt und wie sie ge­ worden ist, einen "Handapparat" geben. (shrink)

This book defends a form of ethical intuitionism, according to which (i) there are objective moral truths; (ii) we know some of these truths through a kind of immediate, intellectual awareness, or "intuition"; and (iii) our knowledge of moral truths gives us reasons for action independent of our desires. The author rebuts all the major objections to this theory and shows that the alternative theories about the nature of ethics all face grave difficulties.

The first edition of The Scientific Background to Modern Philosophy took the dialogue of science and philosophy from Aristotle through to Newton. This second edition adds eight chapters, taking the dialogue through the Enlightenment and up to Darwin. This anthology is an attempt to help bridge the gap between the history of science and the history of philosophy.