The influence of Husserl on the Russian Formalism and the Structuralism of the Prague School of Linguistics is especially manifest in the work of Jakobson. A direct literary dependence is traceable in the so-called „antipsychological” tendency, in the program of a Universal Grammar and in several questions of the theory of meaning. Objective points of contact can be found in the theses of the intersubjective and the associative constitution of objects, but also concerning the central topics of Husserlian phenomenology, the (...) analysis of essence (the elaboration of invariants and universals) and the phenomenological attitude (e.g. in phonology the priority of the perceptual level against the articulatory (physiological) and the acoustic (physical) level). A comparison of Jakobson and Husserl yields not only a mutual confirmation of fundamental aspects of their linguistic and philosophical thought. It opens also interesting ways for further research in both fields. (shrink)

The relations between reason, motivation and value present problems which, though ancient, remain intractable. If values are objective and rational how can they move us and if they are dependent on our contingent desires how can they be rational? E. J. Bond makes a bold attack on this dilemma. The widespread view among philosophers today is that judgements contain an irreducible element of personal commitment. To this Professor Bond proposes an account of values as objective and value judgements as true (...) or false, employing a distinction between grounding and motivating reasons to establish their connection with action. He defines and tests his position against a number of recent theories, providing in the process forceful criticism of Williams, Wiggins, Foot, Narveson and Nagel, among others. A distinctive contribution to the subject, it will stimulate interest and worthwhile debate among philosophers, while also serving as an introduction to this vital topic. (shrink)

Nowhere does the theory-laden character of Husserl’s phenomenological intuitions become as apparent as in his reflections on cultural philosophy. It is his theory that the qualification of one‘s own tradition as one of many manifestations of something valid in itself and binding for all is a unique achievement of Greek-European philosophy. However, that conviction can be found equally in South Asian “doctrines of Oneness” as well as in East Asian instances of the “Golden Rule”. Every person with a command of (...) a natural language is capable of such an insight.The most appropriate model for individual civilizations is not the sphere metaphor, which draws on a Platonic idea of organism, the model that Husserl adopted for his conception of “home” and “foreign worlds”, but rather the image of tinkering introduced by Claude Lévi-Strauss for illiterate societies and used by François Jacob to illustrate the present biological concept of organism.Regarding cultural universals, Husserl also relies on classical ontological reflections rather than on recent biological models. The most inter-esting anthropological universals from the point of view of cultural philosophy are, however, not essential, but contingent universals.En ninguna parte el carácter cargado de teoría de las intuiciones fenomenológicas de Husserl se vuelve tan aparente como en sus reflexiones sobre la filosofía cultural. Según su teoría, la calificación de la propia tradición como una de las muchas manifestaciones de algo válido en sí mismo y vinculante para todos es un logro único de la filosofía greco-europea. Sin embargo, esa convicción se puede encontrar igualmente en las "doctrinas de la unidad" del sur de Asia, así como en las instancias del este asiático de la "regla de oro". Cada persona con un dominio de un lenguaje natural es capaz de tal idea.El modelo más apropiado para las civilizaciones individuales no es la metáfora de la esfera, que se basa en una idea platónica del organismo —el modelo que adoptó Husserl para su concepción de "hogar" y "mundos extranjeros"— sino la imagen de retoque introducida por Claude Lévi Strauss para las sociedades analfabetas y utilizado por François Jacob para ilustrar el concepto biológico actual del organismo.Con respecto a los universales culturales, Husserl también se basa en reflexiones ontoló-gicas clásicas más que en modelos biológicos recientes. Sin embargo, los universales antropológicos más interesantes desde el punto de vista de la filosofía cultural no son esenciales, sino universales contingentes. (shrink)

In examining the question “What is common to all people and how do they differ?” three typological stages may be distinguished: a Platonic thesis, a romantic antithesis, and a current synthesis—the last a hypothesis that is advanced today in human biology and linguistic studies.

Nationalism is an anthropological reality; nations in the German ethnic sense of homogeneous cultural wholes are not. 'Nation’ in this sense is not a 'natural-kind term'. Its defining properties do not co-vary. It does not even correspond to a classical ’ideal type'. Its properties do not tend unidirectionally to a coherent approximative realisation. For natural languages and cultures internal deviations from standard are as constitutive as conformity is. The idea of a homogeneous ’cultural nation' does not justice to the complexity (...) of social diversification. Nationalism is less to be refuted because of its alleged incompatibility with an idealistic universalism than because of its much more painful incompatibility with an empirically adequate particularism. In conclusion: regionalism is a well-founded goal, nationalism is not. (shrink)

Nicht alles, was logisch möglich und technisch machbar ist, ist auch natürlich. Weltkarten sind ein anschauliches Beispiel. Es gibt amerikazentrierte und chinazentrierte Weltkarten, aber sie setzen sich nicht allgemein durch, auch in Amerika und China nicht. Auf amerikazentrierten Karten wird die größte Landmasse, der afroasiatische Kontinent, auseinandergerissen. Chinazentrierte Karten haben eine optische Aufteilung des amerikanischen Kontinents zur Folge. Das widerspricht dem Gestaltgesetz, dass, was zusammengehört, zusammenhängend wahrgenommen und am Natürlichsten auch so wiedergegeben wird. Afrika- alias europazentrierte und pazifikzentrierte Karten sind (...) darum die global verbreitetsten Weltkarten, weil sie keine vergleichbaren Wahrnehmungsgesetze verletzen. Süden-oben-Karten mit den Südkontinenten in der oberen Kartenhälfte setzen sich selbst auf den Südkontinenten aus geologischen und Wahrnehmungsgründen nicht durch, keineswegs nur, weil die politische Dominanz der nördlichen Hemisphäre es verhindert. In den menschlichen Lebenswelten herrscht keine unbeschränkte Variation. (shrink)

A symposium with the title “Tradition, Modernity and Postmodernity: Eastern and Western Perspectives” is in need of a subtitle auch as “Overcoming Dichotomies.” Societies, as well as historical epochs, are complex and overlapping phenomena. A clash between complex civilizations will naturally be a complex encounter. The conflicting parties will always find kindred souls on the other side, motivated by converging interests and values. Modernity and secularism are not inseparable, and tradionality and secularism are not incompatible (see Confucian politology). Two main (...) philosophical reasons for the complexity of civilizations are the heterarchical structure of the human value system and the creative potential of human individuals. These highest values cannot be optimally realized at the same time. The potential for self-fulfillment that every human being has, thanks to his mental structures, excedes the potential for self-fulfillment a singular culture can provide. (shrink)

In Sachen Funktionalanalyse befaßte man sich in der allgemeinen Wissenschaftstheorie anfänglich überwiegend mit der Logik funktionaler Erklärungen. Diese bedarf einer Ergänzung durch eine Semantik der Funktionalanalyse. Nach einer einleitenden Erörterung einiger Schwachpunkte und Grenzen der klassischen Literatur zur Logik der Funktionalanalyse wird eine Wortfeldanalyse von 'Funktion' und 'System' sowie eine phänomenologische Beschreibung der Wirkungsweise von Motiven angeboten. Im Unterschied zu Zielen, die man nur Entitäten zuschreibt, die als selbständig angesehen werden, spricht man Funktionen nur Entitäten zu, die als nichtselbständig angesehen (...) werden, die jedoch mit ihrer Funktion bezogen sind auf eine solche zielorientierte selbständige Entität. (shrink)