Ainslie's account of willpower addresses many important mechanisms. We argue that a model of willpower should be grounded in general psychological principles and with a primary focus on their interplay. We discuss the reflective-impulsive model that covers willpower and impulsiveness as special constellations of processes that govern various forms of cognition and behavior.

Theory suggests that stimulus evaluations automatically evoke approach–avoidance behavior. However, the extent to which approach–avoidance behavior is triggered automatically is not yet clear. Furthermore, the nature of automatically triggered approach–avoidance behavior is controversial. We review research on two views on the type of approach–avoidance behavior that is triggered automatically (arm flexion/extension, distance change). Present evidence supports the distance-change view and corroborates the notion of an automatic pathway from evaluation to distance-change behavior. We discuss underlying mechanisms (direct stimulus–response links, outcome anticipations, (...) goals) as well as implications regarding the flexibility of the evaluation–behavior link. (shrink)

The model of addiction proposed by Redish et al. shows a lack of fit with recent data and models in psychological studies of addiction. In these dual process models, relatively automatic appetitive processes are distinguished from explicit goal-directed expectancies and motives, whereas these are all grouped together in the planning system in the Redish et al. model. Implications are discussed.

Der Beitrag beschreibt die wichtigsten psychoanalytischen Erklärungen und Therapieansätze für Sucht aus dem deutsch- und englischsprachigen Raum vor dem Hintergrund einer Skizzierung ihrer historischen Vorläufer. Die triebtheoretischen Annahmen der Anfangszeit hatten die Sucht bei den Perversionen eingereiht. Der Begriff der »Initialverstimmung« markiert eine Richtungsänderung, indem er den süchtigen Betäubungszwang aus frühen narzisstischen Enttäuschungserfahrungen erklärt. Kleinianische Autoren sprachen von »destruktiven inneren Anteilen«, die durch süchtiges Agieren bekämpft werden, während der ichpsychologische Mainstream die Sucht bis heute als Folge einer fehlerhaften Abwehr (...) bzw. eines psychischen Strukturmangels auffasst. Ein neuerer Ansatz sieht die Sucht zum einen als Abwehrsymptom innerhalb verschiedener Persönlichkeitsstörungen und Neurosen, zum anderen als eigenständiges Abwehrsystem, das auf die (missglückte) Interaktion des frühen Selbst mit seinen Bezugsobjekten zurückgeht. (shrink)

Quine ist ein Klassiker der Gegenwartsphilosophie. Doch Quine erläutert nichts und erklärt wenig. Der von ihm angenommene Leser etwa seiner berühmten Aufsatz-Sammlung From a Logical Point of View ist der Fachkollege, der ebenso wie Quine die jeweilige aktuelle Debatte genau kennt. Die vorliegende zweisprachige und vor allem vollständig durchkommentierte Ausgabe legt drei seiner wichtigsten Aufsätze aus dieser Sammlung (On What There Is / Über was es gibt, Two Dogmas of Empiricism / Zwei Dogmen des Empirismus und Reference and Modality / (...) Referenz und Modalität) vor. Auf diese Weise kann sich jeder Leser mit diesen gedanklich faszinierenden Texten beschäftigen. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungTiere erlauben einen ertragreichen Zugriff auf Büchners literarisches Werk. Exemplarisch zeigt sich dies an der »Hühnerlaus« aus dem Woyzeck. Ein Animal Reading dieses Tieres entfaltet zunächst vor dem wissensgeschichtlichen Hintergrund der Parasitenforschung die Rätselhaftigkeit von Büchners literarischer Hühnerlaus und schlägt dann vier mögliche Perspektiven vor, wie diese Rätselhaftigkeit für eine Interpretation fruchtbar gemacht werden kann: einen editionsphilologischen Lesartenstreit, die Debatten um den Wissenshorizont des Autors und seiner Figuren, eine Verortung in der Geschichte der Biotheorie sowie die Frage nach einer Tier-Ästhetik (...) der Groteske.Animals provide a fruitful approach to Büchner’s literary work. This can be demonstrated with regard to the »Hühnerlaus« in Woyzeck. An Animal Reading of the »Hühnerlaus« starts by showing how enigmatic this literary animal seems, when compared with the history of parasitology. Four perspectives, leading to four interpretations of this enigma, are proposed: 1) a discussion in edition philology whether Büchner actually wrote »Hühnerlaus« or not, 2) a look at the knowledge of the author and his figures, 3) some considerations on the history of biological theory, and 4) the question of animal aesthetics, especially of the grotesque. (shrink)

Advocates of conceptual engineering as a method of philosophy face a dilemma: either they are ignorant of how conceptual engineering can be implemented, or else it is trivial to implement but of very little value, representing no new or especially fruitful method of philosophizing. Two key distinctions frame this dilemma and explain its two horns. First, the distinction between speaker’s meaning and reference and semantic meaning and reference reveals a severe implementation problem for one construal of conceptual engineering. Second, the (...) distinction between stipulating meanings and conceptually analyzing allows us to see why, on another construal of what conceptual engineering involves, the practice is neither a new nor neglected philosophical methodology. The article also argues that semantic externalism is not the root of the implementation problem for conceptual engineering, and that the usual rationale for adopting the practice, one that ties its value to the amelioration of “conceptual defects”, is unsound. (shrink)

This book is a defense of the methods of analytic philosophy against a recent empirical challenge to the soundness of those methods. The challenge is raised by practitioners of “experimental philosophy” and concerns the extent to which analytic philosophy relies on intuition—in particular, the extent to which analytic philosophers treat intuitions as evidence in arguing for philosophical conclusions. Experimental philosophers say that analytic philosophers place a great deal of evidential weight on people’s intuitions about hypothetical cases and thought experiments. This (...) book argues that this view of traditional philosophical method is a myth, part of “metaphilosophical folklore.” Analytic philosophy makes regular use of hypothetical examples and thought experiments, but philosophers argue for their claims about what is true or not true in these examples and thought experiments. It is these arguments, not intuitions, that are treated as evidence for the claims. The book discusses xphi and some recent xphi studies; critiques a variety of other metaphilosophical claims; examines such famous arguments as Gettier’s refutation of the JTB theory and Kripke’s Gödel Case argument against descriptivism about proper names, and shows that they rely on reasoning rather than intuition; and finds existing critiques of xphi, the “Multiple Concepts” and “Expertise” replies, to be severely lacking. (shrink)

Nothing seems more possible to me than that people some day will come to the definite opinion that there is no copy in the… nervous system which corresponds to a particular thought, or a particular idea, or, memory.WittgensteinIn a recent essay it was emphasized that brain and mind appear to the mind as complementary and reciprocally recursive domains of a hermeneutic circle (Fischer, 1987). An outstanding and not yet recognized feature of this hermeneutic circle is that interpretation within this circle (...) is not rule-governed and hence appears self-organized: individual features of the world (or the brain) become intelligible in terms of the whole context (of the mind)… while the entire context becomes intelligible through individual features (or brain functions). How, or from where then is significance arising? (shrink)

Die Frühschriften Nietzsches bilden eine deutlich abgrenzbare Abteilung des Gesamtwerks. Den Bruch im Fortgang zu den aphoristischen Hauptwerken (Menschliches, Allzumenschliches usf.) zu erklären beansprucht die vorliegende Arbeit. Mit Hilfe von Methoden der Analytischen Philosophie rekonstruiert sie ein utopisches Argument, dessen notwendiges Scheitern sie als erklärende Hypothese entwickelt und propagiert.

“Real prophecy is always “if... then...” If you commit adultery with your neighbor's wife, then you will roast in hell. But if you love God with all your heart, then you can create the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.”According to the Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology the meanings of ‘divine’ are ‘pertaining to God, godlike, soothsayer and seer’ while ‘to divine’ (after the Latin divinare) is to ‘foretell, predict or make out as by supernatural insight’.

L'interrogation du phénomène esthétique est contemporaine de l'autonomisation de l'art au cours des Temps modernes et de la relativisation de sa fonction lorsqu'il n'est plus que le moyen d'exprimer la vie émotionnelle subjective. En revanche, lorsque la singularité même de l'œuvre d'art se voit mise en question au XXe siècle, ce sont les frontières séparant l'art du non-art qui deviennent évanescentes. C'est sur le fond de cet évènement que s'est déployée la réflexion de Roland Quilliot, que les contributions de (...) ce recueil se proposent de poursuivre. Celles-ci reviennent sur la notion d'image puis sur la manière dont elle se déploie du côté de la littérature comme des arts plastiques y compris du cinéma. Le second temps du recueil s'inscrit, lui, dans le cadre d'une réflexion relative à la crise de l'art moderne, en suggérant aussi que le phénomène esthétique demande à être considéré dans un cadre moral et anthropologique bien plus englobant. (shrink)

Brain functions are stochastic processes without intentionality whereas mind emerges from brain functions as a Hegelian “change from quantity”, that is, on the order of 1012 profusely interconnected neurons, “into a new quality”: the collective phenomenon of the brain's self-experience. This self-referential and self-observing quality we have in mind is capable of (recursively) observing its self-observations, i.e., interpreting change that is meaningful in relation to itself. The notion of self-interpretation embodies the idea of a “hermeneutic circle”, that is, (in interpretation (...) theory) the treatment of the whole in relation to its parts. (shrink)

t. 1. Relation, formule logique, compacité, complétude.--t. 2. Théorie des modèles.--t. 3. Récursivité et constructibilité.

The word “real” (from the Latin “res” = thing) was coined in the 13th century to signify “having Properties” (Pierce. 1958, p. 358), whereas a “model” refers to an analogical representation, the structure of which should correspond to the structure or properties of that which it represents. For Scudder the mind is a system of models and each mind develops different models. We all have a different reality in mind and so we each live in a slightly different world (Scudder, (...) 1975). Hence the real nature of the model and the model nature of reality are often indistinguishable. A snail, for example, when exposed to four tactile stimuli per second (with a rod on his belly) will be compelled to crawl upon that non-existing coherent spatial surface (Brecher, 1966). For the snail four tactile stimuli per second correspond to, or are isomorphic with, the structure of a spatial surface, but it is impossible for the snail to “know” which of the two structures is real. (shrink)

Canʹt touch this -- How sight is not touch -- The medium of sight -- The problem of tactility -- The commonalities of the senses -- Photios and the unfolding of perception -- Has the mind seen?: the language of effluxes -- Has it grasped?: apprehending the object -- Has it visualized?, I: the grasp of the imagination -- Has it visualized?, II: the problem of fantasy -- Then it has effortlessly...: judgment and assent -- Mediation, veneration, remediation -- Medium (...) and mediation -- Tactility and veneration -- Synaesthesia and remediation -- Tempted to touch. (shrink)

This book not only explicates Stalin's thoughts, but thinks with and especially through Stalin. It argues that Stalin often thought at the intersections between theology and Marxist political philosophy - especially regarding key issues of socialism in power. Careful and sustained attention to Stalin's written texts is the primary approach used. The result is a series of arresting efforts to develop the Marxist tradition in unexpected ways. Starting from a sympathetic attitude toward socialism in power, this book provides us with (...) an extremely insightful interpretation of Stalin's philosophy of socialism. It is not only a successful academic effort to re-articulate Stalin's philosophy, but also a creative effort to understand socialism in power in the context of both the former Soviet Union and contemporary China. ------- Zhang Shuangli, Professor of Marxist philosophy, Fudan University Boer's book, far from both "veneration" and "demonization" of Stalin, throws new light on the classic themes of Marxism and the Communist Movement: language, nation, state, and the stages of constructing post-capitalist society. It is an original book that also pays great attention to the People's Republic of China, arising from the reforms of Deng Xiaoping, and which is valuable to those who, beyond the twentieth century, want to understand the time and the world in which we live. -------Domenico Losurdo, University of Urbino, Italy, author of Stalin: The History and Critique of a Black Legend. (shrink)