The main theses of this paper are: assuming the possibility of what can reasonably be called “moral education”, its goal ought to be that people should become autonomous and responsible moral agents who take serious things seriously; the more fundamental elements of this goal cannot be brought about through educational procedures, and moral education, therefore, is to this extent impossible; the elements in question develop as the result of social growth and interaction; education can help to achieve some of the (...) less fundamental elements of the goal, and may, in the form of educational therapy, perhaps even to some degree stimulate the development of the more fundamental elements whose growth has been impaired through destructive experiences during childhood; self-education, i.e. rational and sensitive examination of important happenings and the way in which we react to them, can further, in a more or less indirect way, the fulfillment of the goal, especially during maturity. (shrink)

Utilitarian deliberation has a number of weak or open points where the agent's judgements tend to be influenced by psychological and sociological factors, e.g., by his prejudices, anxieties, insecurities or group-identifications. The most vulnerable points are: the formulation of the problem, the selection of alternatives, the calculation of consequences, the weighing of evidence, the selection of ultimate values and the comparison of different values towards each other.— The utilitarian vocabulary provides the chooser with misleading expressions such as "The action A1 (...) produces more value on the whole than A2" backing up his cpnviction of acting rationally. — In order to improve the situation, we must become aware of the delusiveness of such expressions and of society's and our own irrationality and try to develop more rational feelings and attitudes. (shrink)

Utilitarian deliberation has a number of weak or open points where the agent's judgements tend to be influenced by psychological and sociological factors, e.g., by his prejudices, anxieties, insecurities or group-identifications. The most vulnerable points are: the formulation of the problem, the selection of alternatives, the calculation of consequences, the weighing of evidence, the selection of ultimate values and the comparison of different values towards each other.— The utilitarian vocabulary provides the chooser with misleading expressions such as "The action A1 (...) produces more value on the whole than A2" backing up his cpnviction of acting rationally. — In order to improve the situation, we must become aware of the delusiveness of such expressions and of society's and our own irrationality and try to develop more rational feelings and attitudes. (shrink)

The present paper tries to analyse the way in which Judge William, in Sören Kierkegaard's work Either/Or, distinguishes between the aesthetic and the ethical way of life. Basically his distinctions seem to be that the ethicist is a seriously committed person (has inwardness) whereas the aestheticist is indifferent, and that the former accepts universal rules whereas the latter makes an exception for himself. ? In order to come from the aesthetic to the ethical stage one must, according to Judge William, (...) make a choice of oneself. We try to show that such a choice is only one among several factors implicit in his reasoning and that he does not at all consider it as a ?leap?, but as based upon reasons, though his reasons are mostly of an aesthetic nature. Far from seeing the Judge as a champion of choice, we maintain that the book primarily contains a plea for a certain personality ideal. This probably has to do with the fact that he does not seem to be in doubt as to what one ought to do, only as to how to become a person who does what he ought to do. We shall also argue that a choice of oneself, as a matter of fact, is neither necessary nor sufficient in order to bring a person within the ethical stage, as described by the Judge. ? A person who lives ethically does not, according to Judge William, necessarily act rightly, but his actions are either right or wrong, as opposed to the actions of the aestheticist which fall outside the domain of the ethical. In order to obtain a tenable distinction within his philosophy between ?being within the ethical stage? and ?acting ethically rightly? the first concept should be defined in terms of inwardness (serious commitment), the latter as inward conformity with certain universal rules. ? This idea of inwardness, probably the most original and fruitful contribution of ?Equilibrium?, seems to be based, however, like most of his ethical reasoning, on certain controversial assumptions about human nature. (shrink)

In his lecture “Must Morality have an Object?” Frankena, among other things, tries to distinguish between the moral and the nonmoral domain. People within the former may act morally rightly as well as wrongly. None of them are innocent. They all have eaten of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. “Moralmaid” is Frankena's name of a typical representative of this domain. Whether she tries to act rightly or wrongly is an open question. “Lover-boy” is Frankena's name of one (...) of the more interesting representatives of the nonmoral domain. He is a person who many of us would maintain belongs to the moral domain, but Frankena denies this. Since Frankena sees him as an important test case, he conducts his discussion of how to distinguish between the moral and the nonmoral domain partly in terms of the distinction between moralmaid and loverboy. I shall follow him in this. (shrink)

Following much work in linguistic theory, it is hypothesized that the language faculty has a modular structure and consists of two basic components, a lexicon of (structured) entries and a computational system of combinatorial operations to form larger linguistic expressions from lexical entries. This target article provides evidence for the dual nature of the language faculty by describing recent results of a multidisciplinary investigation of German inflection. We have examined: (1) its linguistic representation, focussing on noun plurals and verb inflection (...) (participles), (2) processes involved in the way adults produce and comprehend inflected words, (3) brain potentials generated during the processing of inflected words, and (4) the way children acquire and use inflection. It will be shown that the evidence from all these sources converges and supports the distinction between lexical entries and combinatorial operations. (shrink)

Das Buch nimmt Heideggers Denkweg im Ganzen, veranlasst durch die seit 2015 an den "Uberlegungen. Schwarze Hefte" aufbrandende Diskussion, neu und im Sinn einer philosophischen Kritik in den Blick. Heidegger'sche Probleme, Texte und Kontexte werden auf Weichenstellungen, Ambivalenzen und Abbiegungen hin neu befragt. So gewinnen Zusammenhange wie Heideggers Verhaltnis zur Husserl'schen Phanomenologie, zur Metaphysik und ihrer Geschichte, aber auch zur Ideologiegeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts neue und systematische Konturen. Heideggers Texte, die "Wege - nicht Werke" sein sollten, werden in ihren Verflechtungen (...) als Zeugnisse einer unabgeschlossenen und unabschliessbaren Selbstverstandigung gelesen. Dabei werden elementare Fragen aufgeworfen: Wie lasst sich die Heidegger'sche Seinsfrage methodisch argumentativ rekonstruieren? Welchen Aussage- und Argumentationsweisen folgte Heidegger und wie zwingend oder kontingent sind sie? Worin besteht die Aktualitat seiner Frage nach Technik und Kunst? Ist es zutreffend, dass Heidegger nichts von Freiheit verstand, wie Jaspers dekretierte, und dass er keine Ethik entwickelte? So ergibt sich eine Revision des Heidegger'schen Denkens, die jedweder vereinfachenden Finalisierung nach der einen oder anderen Seite widerspricht. Sie wurdigt Heidegger als vorlaufig letzten Denker mit einer Jahrhundertperspektive und weist zugleich auf die Problematik und Aporetik seines Ansatzes, auch im Politischen, hin. (shrink)

Der Prozess biologischer wie anthropologischer Evolution ist heute Gegenstand gesicherter Theorie. In dieser Arbeit werden notwendige und zureichende -philosophische- Voraussetzungen derselben untersucht. Dichotomien (Geist - Materie) wie Reduktionismen (z.B. neo-empiristischer Provenienz) werden uberwunden durch ein Erklarungsmodell, das genannte Einseitigkeiten vermittels einer -strukturologischen- Reflexion auf das -Geist- wie -Materie- Gemeinsame hintergreift. - In diesem Zusammenhang werden endlich die herkommlichen Probleme von -Immanenz- und -Transzendenz- des Menschen im Sinn einer vollig neuen Fragestellung transformiert.".

In diesem Buch wird zunachst eine Topik asthetischer Begriffe entwickelt, die dann an wesentlichen Knotenpunkten der Geschichte von Asthetik und Kunstphilosophie von Platon bis in die Gegenwart erprobt und auf sie angewandt wird. Systematische und geschichtlich konturierte Uberlegungen erganzen einander. Von besonderem Interesse ist dabei die Reflexion von Kunsterfahrung und Kunstwerken durch philosophisches Denken. Auf diese Weise zeigt sich das fruchtbare Spannungsverhaltnis zwischen Theorieformen und der Vielfalt asthetischer Erscheinungsformen. Dem Verhaltnis tradierter Asthetik und der nicht-schonen Kunste der Moderne gilt ein (...) besonderer Fokus. Das Augenmerk der Studie begrenzt sich freilich nicht auf hohe und autonome Kunst; vielmehr richtet es sich besonders auch auf die Architektur und Gebrauchskunst. Auch der Asthetik des Performativen und ihrer Rolle in der Kunst der Moderne gelten eingehende Analysen. (shrink)

1,857 adults rated the grandparental solicitude they received in childhood. Through a simple model based on the evolutionary concepts of ontogenetically differentiated reproductive strategy and paternity confidence, an ordered discriminative pattern of grandparental caregiving was predicted and confirmed by solid main effects, based on 603 complete cases. The maternal grandmother was the most caring. Unlike prevalent gender stereotypes, she was followed by the maternal grandfather, the paternal grandmother, and the paternal grandfather. The preferential grandparental solicitude was not influenced by residential (...) distance, grandparent age, and availability of other grandparents. A predicted higher correlation for male than for female progenitors between solicitude and phenotypic resemblance could be confirmed. (shrink)

Bedarf die in Okonomie und durch mediale Vernetzung geeinte Welt auch einer gemeinsamen Grundphilosophie? Die Schwierigkeiten, auf einen tragfahigen Konsens in strittigen Grundfragen zu kommen, deuten in diese Richtung. Doch wie konnte jene Grundphilosophie aussehen? Das Buch von Harald Seubert nimmt programmatisch die Stromungen und Tendenzen interkultureller Philosophie auf und vertieft sie auf die Grundlinien einer Weltphilosophie, die sich, keineswegs eklektizistisch, auf westliche und ostliche Uberlieferungsstrome berufen kann. Dabei kommen namhafte westliche und ostliche Stimmen zu Wort, von Platon uber (...) Cusanus und Hegel bis zu Whitehead und Sri Aurobindo. Reflektiert werden aber auch die verschiedenen Disziplinen philosophischen Denkens, von der Naturphilosophie uber die Politische Philosophie und die Frage eines gemeinsamen Wertekonsenses bis zu Ontologie und Gottesfrage. (shrink)

Plato (ca. 427- ca. 347 BCE), the preeminent Greek philosopher, has been extensively studied. A major field of Plato's comprehensive work is his political philosophy, which is multifaceted and multidimensional. The discourse on gender issues forms an integral part of it. In this context, one is surprised to notice that Plato's elaborations have been interpreted in quite contrasting ways. In some feminist discussions of classical philosophy, Plato's intellectual enterprise is evaluated as reflecting Greek male chauvinism. Such identification carries all manner (...) of stereotyping, and this is neither enlightening nor helpful for an overall understanding of Plato's teachings and his world of ideas. In the scholarly literature, one can make the surprising discovery that Plato's contribution to the understanding of gender roles in society slips the attention of authors who specialize in this topic. Plato was neither feminist in the modern sense nor a sexist. Plato was not a liberal thinker, and he did not take the initiative to make a case for women's liberties. And yet, he elaborates amply on issues of what is subsumed under women's liberation in our time: What else would we call a philosopher who, under the conditions of Greek society in the classical age, advocated for the participation of women in sports competitions and approved of the access of women to public offices, even to political leadership? In this study, priority lies in reconstructing Plato's ideas on women's roles viewed against the zeitgeist of gender issues in Greek society of classical antiquity. The analysis shows that Plato's speculations about gender and gender issues in an ideal society were nothing short of revolutionary. Plato on Women is a major contribution to political philosophy and gender studies as well as an important book for collections of Plato's works and scholarly literature focusing on this philosopher. (shrink)

L. M. de Rijk supposed in 1982 that two anonymous logical tracts in the Viennese Codex 4698, fol. 18r–27v, may be the work of Martinus Anglicus to whom a tract on consequences and one on obligations are ascribed in that codex. The tract on supposition of which the Viennese codex hands down only a fragment of the beginning is contained completely in Hs I 613 of the Stadtbibliothek Mainz, fol. 20vb–21vb. This finding ensures the authorship of Martinus Anglicus and allows (...) to ascribe an Introduction into Logic in some seven parts to him. Martin’s tract on supposition and the more detailed one by Thomas Manlevelt show some resemblances in structure and content, the first being presumably the later one. This paper presents an edition of Martin’s Tractatus de suppositione from the Mainz manuscript and an introduction regarding the author and his work. (shrink)

L. M. de Rijk supposed in 1982 that two anonymous logical tracts in the Viennese Codex 4698, fol. 18r–27v, may be the work of Martinus Anglicus to whom a tract on consequences and one on obligations are ascribed in that codex. The tract on supposition of which the Viennese codex hands down only a fragment of the beginning is contained completely in Hs I 613 of the Stadtbibliothek Mainz, fol. 20vb–21vb. This finding ensures the authorship of Martinus Anglicus and allows (...) to ascribe an Introduction into Logic in some seven parts to him. Martin’s tract on supposition and the more detailed one by Thomas Manlevelt show some resemblances in structure and content, the first being presumably the later one. This paper presents an edition of Martin’s Tractatus de suppositione from the Mainz manuscript and an introduction regarding the author and his work. (shrink)

This essay argues that Oscar Wilde noticeably contributed to the emerging discourse about world literature, even though his views in this regard have to be unearthed from the margins of his works, from his early and unpublished American lectures and ‘between the lines’ of his major critical essays. Wilde’s implicit ideas around world literature can be understood as being closely related to his broader endeavour of redirecting and revaluing the pejorative discourse around ‘decadence’ in art and literature. More specifically, the (...) arch-aesthete preferred to use the word ‘romance’ rather than ‘decadence’, signalling a sensitivity attuned to what he called the ‘love of things impossible’. This reconceptualization of the decadent outlook was to inspire a critical ideal of literature which relied on creatively activating the other as Other, culminating in a vision of intersubjective, transcultural and unlimited literary communication. Wilde’s thought can be more specifically understood as anticipating central tenets of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s evocations of the planetary, thus preparing the way for an alterity-oriented understanding of literary cosmopolitanism. (shrink)