Alfred North Whitehead, although probably known best for his collaborative work with Bertrand Russell on the Principia Mathematica, also developed an original theory of learning and instruction which has much to offer for our times. His theory will be discussed in this paper. In order to do so, two criteria are first developed which in their combination give rise to five categories: radical behaviorism, cognitivism, and radical constructivism, with the intermediary categories of moderate behaviorism and moderate constructivism. A great number (...) of educational researchers are ascribed to one of these five categories. After discussing the shortcomings of the three major philosophical proponents of these three major educational approaches (Hume, Kant, and Berkeley), the basic assumptions of Whitehead’s philosophy of organism are presented, and his assumptions concerning learning and teaching are discussed in view of it. Finally, it is shown that Whitehead’s organismic philosophy is able to offer a frame for integrating Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism, thereby solving a long standing scandal of education. (shrink)

Although it is beyond doubt that there were historical connections between Whitehead and some of the proponents of Gestalt psychology, it is difficult to determine on the available body of historical evidence whether they were substantive or just marginal. A detailed comparison of Whitehead's process metaphysics and the theories of Gestalt psychology is a task yet to be undertaken. Whitehead's process philosophy and Gestalt psychology share basic similarities in their major principles. This is substantiated by two of Ehrenfels'well-known gestalt qualities: (...) superadditivity, and figure-ground relation. Both approaches can profit from one another: while Whitehead's concept of consciousness and its interrelatedness with unconscious processes seems to be more elaborate, the Gestalt psychological approach, on the other hand, shows how these topics can be investigated by using experimental research designs. This is illustrated by an experiment on complex problem solving which demonstrates that unreportable hints can improve even such sophisticated processes as complex problem solving. Since this is what should be expected from a Whiteheadian point of view, the results empirically confirm the process position on perception and thinking. Finally, further interesting possibilities of undertaking future empirical process research are outlined. (shrink)

This article discusses the characteristics of analytic philosophy and the relationship between these characteristics and Whitehead’s philosophy. In particular,Whitehead’s metaphysical theory building is treated in relation to analytic philosophy and is seen as compatible with the tradition of analytic philosophy as it has developed in recent decades.

First a sketch of the current state of the debate of the phenomenon of consciousness is provided; based on it David Chalmer’s distinction between the weak and the hard problem of consciousness will be introduced. It will be indicated that Whitehead’s process philosophy is able to offer a promising basis for solving the hard problem by showing how the concept of consciousness is anchored in his metaphysical theory. In the remaining parts of the paper the so-called weak problem of consciousness (...) will be addressed in more detail by comparing Whitehead’s speculative account with Piaget’s empirical research results concerning the phenomenon of consciousness. By showing that Whitehead’s and Piaget’s positions on consciousness overlap widely a kind of indirect empirical support of Whitehead’s philosophical position will be achieved. At those points where the two positions deviate – that is in only two points – there are indications that Whitehead holds the more plausible position. So this investigation confirms William Seager’s suggestion that more attention should be drawn to Whitehead’s process philosophy when trying to solve the hard, as well as the weak problem of consciousness. In order to substantiate this claim two topics are discussed from the point of view of Whitehead’s position of consciousness: (a) learning and consciousness and (b) artificial consciousness. (shrink)

After an exposition of the importance of the concept of diachronic identity and a short sketch of the bewildering confusion concerning the meaning of the terms intimately connected to it, an outline of the basic features of Whitehead’s process approach is presented in as far as it is relevant for the topic of the human person and identity. In a further step, Whitehead’s concept of ‘person’ as nested in this approach will be discussed and the dilemma between securing human identity (...) on the one side and accounting at the same time for its flexible adaptivity to the environment on the other, will be elaborated. Then the concepts of strict and partial identity and the problem of the fragility of human identity, and even its possible loss, and how identity can be secured within this processorganismic conception of ‘person’ will be dealt with. Finally, the sources of partial diachronic identity within the framework of process philosophy will be discussed. (shrink)

Whiteheads Prozessphilosophie und Piagets genetischer Strukturalismus stellen zwei der originellsten Denkentwurfe unseres Jahrhunderts dar. Beide Ansatze haben Forschungsaktivitaten auf den verschiedensten Gebieten angeregt. Alte Problemstellungen wurden in ihrem Licht transformiert und neue, uberraschende Losungsvorschlage erarbeitet. In diesem Buch wurde der systematische Versuch unternommen, Piagets genetischen Strukturalismus in Whiteheads Prozessphilosophie zu integrieren. Die inhaltlichen Parallelen - bis ins Detail und bis hin zu ansatzimmanenten Problemen - belegen, dass dies gegluckt ist. Whiteheads Prozessphilosophie erweist sich folglich als Hoffnungstrager in einer Zeit mit (...) zunehmend komplexer werdenden Problemen und interdisziplinaren Fragestellungen.". (shrink)

Suppose several individuals (e.g., experts on a panel) each assign probabilities to some events. How can these individual probability assignments be aggregated into a single collective probability assignment? This article reviews several proposed solutions to this problem. We focus on three salient proposals: linear pooling (the weighted or unweighted linear averaging of probabilities), geometric pooling (the weighted or unweighted geometric averaging of probabilities), and multiplicative pooling (where probabilities are multiplied rather than averaged). We present axiomatic characterisations of each class of (...) pooling functions (most of them classic, but one new) and argue that linear pooling can be justified procedurally, but not epistemically, while the other two pooling methods can be justified epistemically. The choice between them, in turn, depends on whether the individuals' probability assignments are based on shared information or on private information. We conclude by mentioning a number of other pooling methods. (shrink)

In the theory of judgment aggregation, it is known for which agendas of propositions it is possible to aggregate individual judgments into collective ones in accordance with the Arrow-inspired requirements of universal domain, collective rationality, unanimity preservation, non-dictatorship and propositionwise independence. But it is only partially known (e.g., only in the monotonic case) for which agendas it is possible to respect additional requirements, notably non-oligarchy, anonymity, no individual veto power, or implication preservation. We fully characterize the agendas for which there (...) are such possibilities, thereby answering the most salient open questions about propositionwise judgment aggregation. Our results build on earlier results by Nehring and Puppe (2002), Nehring (2006), Dietrich and List (2007a) and Dokow and Holzman (2010a). (shrink)

The new field of judgment aggregation aims to merge many individual sets of judgments on logically interconnected propositions into a single collective set of judgments on these propositions. Judgment aggregation has commonly been studied using classical propositional logic, with a limited expressive power and a problematic representation of conditional statements ("if P then Q") as material conditionals. In this methodological paper, I present a simple unified model of judgment aggregation in general logics. I show how many realistic decision problems can (...) be represented in it. This includes decision problems expressed in languages of classical propositional logic, predicate logic (e.g. preference aggregation problems), modal or conditional logics, and some multi-valued or fuzzy logics. I provide a list of simple tools for working with general logics, and I prove impossibility results that generalise earlier theorems. (shrink)

This paper presents a new analysis of C.G. Hempel’s conditions of adequacy for any relation of confirmation [Hempel C. G. (1945). Aspects of scientific explanation and other essays in the philosophy of science. New York: The Free Press, pp. 3–51.], differing from the one Carnap gave in §87 of his [1962. Logical foundations of probability (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.]. Hempel, it is argued, felt the need for two concepts of confirmation: one aiming at true hypotheses and another (...) aiming at informative hypotheses. However, he also realized that these two concepts are conflicting, and he gave up the concept of confirmation aiming at informative hypotheses. I then show that one can have Hempel’s cake and eat it too. There is a logic that takes into account both of these two conflicting aspects. According to this logic, a sentence H is an acceptable hypothesis for evidence E if and only if H is both sufficiently plausible given E and sufficiently informative about E. Finally, the logic sheds new light on Carnap’s analysis. (shrink)

In a single framework, I address the question of the informational basis for evaluating social states. I particularly focus on information about individual welfare, individual preferences and individual (moral) judgments, but the model is also open to any other informational input deemed relevant, e.g. sources of welfare and motivations behind preferences. In addition to proving some possibility and impossibility results, I discuss objections against using information about only one aspect (e.g. using only preference information). These objections suggest a multi-aspect informational (...) basis for aggregation. However, the multi-aspect approach faces an impossibility result created by a lack of inter-aspect comparability. The impossibility could be overcome by measuring information on non-cardinal scales. (shrink)

Author cultivated fermenting cells (Scccharomyces spec.) in must of grapes and measured the various vital phenomena. The data thus received described in a rectangular co-ordinate as a function of time, found three kinds of characteristic curves in every vital phenomenon (whether belonging to the group of feeding, growth or that of increase): I. the curve described bySachs in 1873 and called the curve of the great period of evolution (Fig. 1:s). 2. the one described byM. G. Harting in 1845, and (...) the curve of individual or ontogenetic evolution (Fig. 1:S). 3. the undulatory curve similar to a sinus-cosinus function, deduced in theory by author and later on, in 1915, also found on an experimental basis (Fig. 3). — Analysing these curves, author demonstrates that they are in the closest relationship with each other. The course ofSachs' great period is identical with the function of the aperiodically mitigated vibromotion; the course ofHarting's ontogenetic curve is identical with the integral of the previous aperiodic function; the undulatory curve discovered by the author, and the one belonging to the philogenesis of evolution, consist of two details, one of the members is formed from the function of aperiodically mitigated vibromotion, and the other from a function of periodically mitigated vibration. — Mitigated vibromotion, according to our present knowledge can only arise if a body capable of vibration is simultaneously affected by a force establishing movement and a resistance mitigating the movement. In the living organism, on this basis, there is also a force and a resistance. The living organism obtains this force from food while the resistance is rooted in the construction of the cell. The author proves that the cells which no longer divide (the so-called permanent tissueforming cells) follow an aperiodical vibromotor course in their development while in the development of the continually dividing, so-called meristematic cells, owing to the periodic change of division and regeneration, the potential of the energy accommodates itself to the periodic vibromotor course. Both forms of development are derived from the identical differential equation: d2s/dt2=−w2s−2r ds/dt, the only difference between the two phenomena is that by aperiodic oscillation it is r2>w2 while by periodic it is r2shrink)

Inhalt: Vorwort - F. Chiereghin: Das griechische Erbe in Hegels Anthropologie - N. Waszek: Descartes und die 'Subjektivitatsphilosophie' in der Sicht Hegels - R. Brandt: Beobachtungen zur Anthropologie bei Kant (und Hegel) - E. Dusing: Zum Verhaltnis von Intelligenz und Wille bei Fichte und Hegel - M. Bienenstock: Der Wille bei Rousseau und beim Jenaer Hegel. Zur Entstehung von Hegels Philosophie des subjektiven Geistes - U. Rameil: Bewusstseinsstruktur und Vernunft - M. Wolff: Eine Skizze zur Auflosung des Leib-Seele-Problems. Analytischer Kommentar (...) zu 389 der Enzyklopadie (1830) - M. J. Petry: Systematik und Pragmatik in Hegels Behandlung von animalischem Magnetismus und Verrucktheit - H.-Ch. Lucas: Die 'souverane Undankbarkeit' des Geistes gegenuber der Natur. Logische Bestimmungen, Leiblichkeit, animalischer Magnetismus und Verrucktheit in Hegels Anthropologie - K. Dusing: Hegels Theorie der Einbildungskraft - H. F. Fulda: Vom Gedachtnis zum Denken - A. Th. Peperzak: Hegel uber Wille und Affektivitat. Ein Kommentar zu Enz. 387-392; 468-474; 468-473 - G. Severino: Subjekt und Freiheit in Hegels Denken - J. O'Malley: Die Wurzeln der Freiheit als politische Gesinnung im subjektiven Geist - L. Eley: Anmerkungen zu den drei Hauptformen des subjektiven Geistes - M. Bykowa: Einige Gedanken zum Geheimnis der Subjektivitat bei Hegel - F. Hespe: System und Funktion der Philosophie des subjektiven Geistes - B. Tuschling: Die Idee in Hegels Philosophie des subjektiven Geistes - Literatur- und Personenverzeichnis. (shrink)

This paper discusses an almost sixty year old problem in the philosophy of science -- that of a logic of confirmation. We present a new analysis of Carl G. Hempel's conditions of adequacy (Hempel 1945), differing from the one Carnap gave in §87 of his Logical Foundations of Probability (1962). Hempel, it is argued, felt the need for two concepts of confirmation: one aiming at true theories and another aiming at informative theories. However, he also realized that these two concepts (...) are conflicting, and he gave up the concept of confirmation aiming at informative theories. We then show that one can have Hempel's cake and eat it, too: There is a (rank-theoretic and genuinely nonmonotonic) logic of confirmation -- or rather, theory assessment -- that takes into account both of these two conflicting aspects. According to this logic, a statement H is an acceptable theory for the data E if and only if H is both sufficiently plausible given E and sufficiently informative about E. Finally, the logic sheds new light on Carnap's analysis (and solves another problem of confirmation theory). (shrink)

As Cuba achieves one of the lowest per capita ecological footprints in the world, the country’s overshoot day was on 1 December 2019, while some European countries already reach this limit in February (e.g., Luxembourg), monitoring the environmental preferences of the Cuban younger generation may offer valuable behavioral or pedagogical insights into such a society. As accepted standardized measures exist in the scales of 2-Major Environmental Values (2-MEV) and the General Ecological Behavior (GEB), both measures are following the necessary psychometric (...) requirement, as they have the unique advantage of repeated independent confirmation (and thus provide an external validity). These captured 40 items of reported behavior originating in six subscales that total in a single main cover score. The first one (2-MEV) monitors individual biocentric and anthropocentric preferences with a 20 item-set by relying upon these two higher-order factors of “Preservation” (PRE) and “Utilization” (UTL). Although many language versions already exist (33 in the case of the 2-MEV) for verifying validities and reliabilities of both scales, a country such as Cuba may affirm that this is due to expected cultural differences as well as their exceptionally low global footprint. Additionally, neither the individual connectedness with nature nor the diurnal preferences within the linear structural model showed a substantial relationship to PRE or UTL. Nevertheless, all the regression scores follow the expected positive or negative directions, albeit not all the fit scores turned out as satisfactorily. Apparently, the applied measures secure a good basis for measuring the attitudinal and behavioral framework, but will need further fine tuning to completely monitor the environmental preferences of Cuban adolescents. (shrink)

Since the 19th century the theory of evolution has been the guide not only of biological research, but of the explanation of man's psychic and mental abilities, too. In particular Herbert Spencer's and Charles Darwin's works gave rise to an evolutionary view of human mind (evolutionary psychology). This view was generalized to the explanation of epistemic structures like science and was adopted by many philosophers and scientists, e. g. Boltzmann, Mach, and others. Under the influence of Darwin's theory of natural (...) selection a selective elimination model was established in order to explain epistemic activities. Thus, in the 19th century we find expressed the basic ideas of today's evolutionary epistemology. The modern evolutionary theory of (human) knowledge therefore turns out to be the more precise and elaborated formulation of the fundamental postulates of an evolutionary psychology. (shrink)

Preface, by F. Böckle.--Articles: Empirical social study and ethics, by W. Korff. What does a non-Christian expect of the church in matters of social morality, by R. Garaudy. Social cybernetics as a permanent function of the church, by C. Wagner. World trade and international cooperation for development, by A. Ferrer. How can the church provide guidelines in social ethics? by P. Herder-Dorneich. Races and minorities: a matter of conscience by J. Musulin. The modern sexual revolution, by G. Struck. Prudence and (...) moral change, by F. Furger.--Bibliographical survey: Strength and weakness of the declaration on the Jews, by J.-P. Lichtenberg.--Documentation Concilium: Peace through revolution, by Concilium General Secretariat and H. Gross-Mayr. (shrink)

From the contents: Culture, nationalism and philosophy (Sophie B. Oluwole).- The relationship between African and European philosophers: what it ought to be (Juergen Hengelbrock).- Against culture and the aliens of modernization: the case of Africa (Christian Neugebauer).- Elements democratiques dans les sagesses du Senegal (Massaer Diallo).- Democracy in an ethical community (Tobias J.G. Louw).

Biagio Tassone's study From Psychology to Phenomenology offers an in depth exploration of Brentano's seminal work as an example of a still relevant approach to philosophy of mind.

This article gives an overview of Mesmer's theory.

“Who are you? Tu quis es?” The interrogator was the German philosopher and pedagogue Eduard Spranger. The subject was Carl Schmitt. The place: Berlin. The time: summer of 1945. The question was “precipitous,” as Schmitt acknowledged in Ex Captivitate Salus, the book he completed following his release from Nuremberg in 1947. “Who are you?” Who, but one of the most highly acclaimed and esteemed jurists and political thinkers of the Weimar Republic, whose writings captured the attention of Georg Lukács, Karl (...) Korsch, Felix Gilbert, Leo Strauss, Ferdinand Toennies, and whose concepts significantly influenced Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse, Otto Kirchheimer, Franz Neumann, Karl Mannheim and many other intellectuals and writers on the Left and the Right? (shrink)

Celebrated and castigated as the “Hobbes of the twentieth century” and even a modern Machiavelli. Carl Schmitt (1888–1984) is undoubtedly the most controversial legal and political theorist of the twentieth century. He greatly influenced the thinking of such political scientists and political philosophers as Hans J. Morgenthau, Franz Neumann, Otto Kirchheimer, Leo Strauss, and Julien Freund. But Schmitt always spoke and wrote as a jurist. He grounded his thinking in jurisprudence and was the teacher in the wider sense of (...) such jurists as Ernst‐Wolfgang Böckenförde and Ernst‐Rudolf Huber. (shrink)