The problem at the center of this essay is how one can reconcile the continuity of space with a monadological theory of matter, according to which matter is ultimately composed of simple elements, a problem that greatly exercised Leibniz, the Wolffians, and Kant. The underlying purpose of this essay is to illustrate my reading of Kant’s philosophical development, and of his relation to the Wolffians and Leibniz, according to which, (a), this development was fueled by ‘home-grown’ problems that arose within (...) the framework of the Wolffian philosophy from which Kant started out, and, (b), on his journey to critical idealism, Kant gradually moved away from Wolffianism, but closer to Leibniz, which, however, he came to realize only some years after the publication of the Critique of Pure Reason. This reading is illustrated by showing that the problem of how to reconcile the continuity of space with a monadological theory of matter is a problem that Kant inherits from Leibniz and the Wolffians, in whose thinking it already plays an important role, that Leibniz’s mature solution to the problem differs markedly from the Wolffian solution, and that Kant’s early, pre-critical solution is largely Wolffian, while his later critical solution is largely Leibnizian, as he himself notes with gleeful satisfaction. The discussion also reveals that this problem is one of the key problems that fueled Kant’s philosophical development and, eventually, led him to the discovery of transcendental idealism. (shrink)

Eye-related movements such as blinks and microsaccades are modulated during bistable perceptual tasks. However, if they play an active role during internal perceptual switches is not known. We conducted two experiments involving an ambiguous plaid stimulus, wherein participants were asked to continuously report their percept, which could consist of either unidirectional coherent or bidirectional component movement. Our main results show that blinks and microsaccades did not facilitate perceptual switches. On the contrary, a reduction in eye movements preceded the perceptual switch. (...) Blanks, on the other hand, thought to mimic the retinal consequences of a blink, consistently led to a switch. Through the timing of the blank-introduced perceptual change, we were able to estimate the delay between the internal switch and the response. This delay further allowed us to evaluate that the reduction in blink probability co-occurred with the internal perceptual switch. Additionally, our results indicate that distinct internal processes underlie the switch to coherent vs. component percept. Blanks exclusively facilitated a switch to the coherent percept, and only the switch to coherent percept was followed by an increase in blink rate. In a second study, we largely replicated the findings and included a microsaccade analysis. Microsaccades only showed a weak relation with perceptual switches, but their direction was correlated with the perceived motion direction. Nevertheless, our data suggests an interaction between microsaccades and blinks by showing that microsaccades were differently modulated around blinks compared with blanks. This study shows that a reduction in eye movements precedes internal perceptual switches indicating that the rate of blinks can set the stage for a reinterpretation of sensory input. While a perceptual switch based on changed sensory input usually leads to an increase in blink rate, such an increase was only present after the perceptual switch to coherent motion but absent after the switch to component percept. This provides evidence of different underlying mechanism or internal consequence of the two perceptual switches and suggests that blinks can uncover differences in internal percept-related processes that are not evident from the percept itself. (shrink)

In a study examining the effects of time of day on problem solving, participants solved insight and analytic problems at their optimal or non-optimal time of day. Given the presumed differences in the cognitive processes involved in solving these two types of problems, it was expected that the reduced inhibitory control associated with non-optimal times of the day would differentially impact performance on the two types of problems. In accordance with this expectation, results showed consistently greater insight problem solving performance (...) during non-optimal times of day compared to optimal times of day but no consistent time of day effects on analytic problem solving. The findings indicate that tasks involving creativity might benefit from a non-optimal time of day. (shrink)

It is surprisingly difficult to determine what modal strength Leibniz wants to ascribe to his principle of the identity of indiscernibles (PII). I consider this question by examining (i) some direct textual evidence, (ii) Leibniz's main arguments for PII, (iii) Leibniz's presumable response to a prominent contemporary defense of the necessity of PII against Max Black style counterexamples, and (iv) Leibniz's views about the possibility of primitive haecceities. I conclude that Leibniz probably takes PII to be necessary.

The paper discusses the three stations of an arc of refusal elaborated in Bonnie Honig’s recent book A Feminist Theory of Refusal (2021). Asking why a feminist refusal needs to return to the city, the paper claims a right to leave the city without returning. The critique reads Honig’s recent book in the light of former publications, especially Honig’s Political Theory and the Displacement of Politics from 1993. It shows how a thinking of the ambivalence between settlement and unsettlement shapes (...) Honig’s works throughout the years which we also find in the recent book on feminist refusal – a refusal that unsettles the city’s infrastructures, beliefs, ideas, and figurations of settlement and security. With and against Honig’s theory of refusal, I argue that refusal provides a feminist tool to question the privileges of settlement. However, refusals and refusers do not need to return to the city to qualify as feminist. (shrink)

Bilder spielen in allen Schulfächern immer schon eine zentrale Rolle. Die intellektuellen Energien, die in den Bildungs- und Erziehungswissenschaften aufgewendet werden, um Fragen des Einsatzes von Bildern zu beantworten, wirken daher beachtlich. Eingeklammert bleiben dabei bisher jedoch Phänomene der Unsichtbarkeit, obwohl sie grundlegend für alles Bildliche sind. Denn sie gehören zu jener Dimension, die wir als "latent" bezeichnen. Eine Auseinandersetzung mit den Funktionen von Bildern in Lehrkontexten kann deshalb nur erfolgreich sein, wenn die philosophischen Debatten über "Latenz", die zwischen dem (...) Zeitalter der Aufklärung und dem frühen 21. Jahrhundert stattgefunden haben, Eingang in die bildungswissenschaftliche Theoriebildung finden. (shrink)

Die gängigen Prognosen, nach denen die Religionen im Kontext der Moderne oder im Zuge der Globalisierung an Bedeutung verlieren würden, haben sich nicht bestätigt. Das Gegenteil ist der Fall: Jenseits von nihilistischen Entwürfen und virtuellen Konstruktionen öffneten sich auch und gerade in der Literatur Räume für die Belebung religiöser Weltsicht. Ausgehend von Heinrich Böll und seiner Anfang der 1960er Jahre eingeleiteten Distanzierung von der Institution Kirche, wird am Beispiel von Botho Strauß und Peter Handke, die seit den 1970er und 1980er (...) Jahren eine ins Metaphysische zielende Subjektivität repräsentieren, eine Renaissance des Religiösen konstatiert, die sich in den Werken des jüngeren Autors Ralf Rothmann seit den 1990er Jahren mit selbstbewusster Deutlichkeit fortschreibt. Anhand der geistesgeschichtlichen Trias Gnostizismus, Philosophie und Mystik nimmt die Verfasserin eine Fokussierung vor, die die ästhetischen Konzeptionen der Autoren deutlich werden lässt und sie zueinander in Beziehung setzt. (shrink)

Ethical thought experiments such as the trolley dilemma have been investigated extensively in the past, showing that humans act in utilitarian ways, trying to cause as little overall damage as possible. These trolley dilemmas have gained renewed attention over the past few years, especially due to the necessity of implementing moral decisions in autonomous driving vehicles. We conducted a set of experiments in which participants experienced modified trolley dilemmas as drivers in virtual reality environments. Participants had to make decisions between (...) driving in one of two lanes where different obstacles came into view. Eventually, the participants had to decide which of the objects they would crash into. Obstacles included a variety of human-like avatars of different ages and group sizes. Furthermore, the influence of sidewalks as potential safe harbors and a condition implicating self-sacrifice were tested. Results showed that participants, in general, decided in a utilitarian manner, sparing the highest number of avatars possible with a limited influence by the other variables. Derived from these findings, which are in line with the utilitarian approach in moral decision making, it will be argued for an obligatory ethics setting implemented in ADVs. (shrink)

Discourses on Responsible Innovation and Responsible Research and Innovation, in short RI, have revolved around but not elaborated on the notion of critique. In this article, generative critique is introduced to RI as a practice that sits in-between adversarial armchair critique and co-opted, uncritical service. How to position oneself and be positioned on this spectrum has puzzled humanities scholars and social scientists who engage in interdisciplinary collaborations with scientists, engineers, and other professionals. Recently, generative critique has been presented as a (...) solution to the puzzle in interdisciplinary collaborations on neuroscientific experiments. Generative critique seeks to create connections across disciplines that help remake seemingly stable objects in moments when taken-for-granted ways of seeing and approaching objects are unsettled. In order to translate generative critique from the neurosciences to RI, socio-technical integration research is proposed as a practice of generative critique in interdisciplinary RI collaborations. These collaborations aim to account for societal aspects in research and technology development. For this purpose, a variety of approaches have been developed, including STIR and video-reflexive ethnography. STIR and VRE resemble each other but diverge on affective, collaborative, and temporal dimensions. Their juxtaposition serves to develop suggestions for how STIR could be modified on these dimensions to better enact generative critique in interdisciplinary RI collaborations. In this way, the article contributes to ongoing discussions in RI and in the engaged programme in science and technology studies more broadly on the dynamics of positioning in collaborative work. (shrink)

To put frameworks of Responsible Innovation and Responsible Research and Innovation (R(R)I) into practice, engagement methods have been developed to study and enhance technoscientific experts’ capacities to reflexively address value considerations in their work. These methods commonly rely on engagement between technoscientific experts and social scholars, which makes them vulnerable to structural barriers to interdisciplinary collaboration. To circumvent these barriers, we adapt Socio-Technical Integration Research (STIR) for broader use within technoscientific communities. We call this adaptation: reflexive practitioner dialogues. While the (...) primary aim of this article is to introduce and explain the methodological adaptation, we also analyze results from a pilot study with participants who are involved in research on contemplative practices such as mindfulness meditation. The analysis is guided by research questions that sought to assess whether and under what conditions the practitioner dialogues support reflexive and practical engagement with value considerations in participants’ work. The results indicate that reflexive practitioner dialogues can stimulate reflexive awareness of value conflicts and help re-direct decision-making responsively. We characterize the conditions facilitating such responsiveness as “value exnovators,” highlighting the oft-unacknowledged interpersonal relational practices that support collaborative engagement with value considerations. We suggest that “exnovation”—exposing the strengths of given practices for their improvement—can support R(R)I practices by directing analytical attention to their micro-level carriers. (shrink)

Research suggests that even young children engage in strategic behaviors to manipulate the impressions others form of them and that they manage their reputation in order to cooperate with others. The current study investigated whether young children also lie in order to manage their, or their group’s, reputation in front of ingroup and outgroup members. Five-year old children were randomly assigned to an individual reputation condition or a group reputation condition. Then, they played a mini dictator game in which they (...) could share privately any number of their or their group’s stickers with an anonymous child. Participants then met ingroup and outgroup members, established through a minimal group design, via a pre-recorded, staged Skype call. Group members asked the participant how many stickers she, or her group, had donated. Results revealed that children stated to peers to have donated more than their actual donation, with no differences between conditions and no difference toward ingroup and outgroup members. Findings suggest that by 5years of age, children use lying as a strategy to manage their reputation. (shrink)

Die Art-House-Ästhetik der Fernsehserie Hannibal entfacht eine düstere Bilderwelt, die von verschiedenen Symbolen der Vanitas erfüllt ist. Jedoch erweist sich nicht nur die Symbolik, sondern vielmehr die Gestaltung eines eigenen Zeitparadigmas, das durch die formende Kraft des Seriellen erzeugt wird, als zentraler Bezug zur barocken Denkfigur: Die ästhetische Modellierung von Zeit entfaltet eigene Formen der Zeitenthobenheit sowie der simultanen Präsenz und versucht zugleich das Vergängliche medial zu überwinden. Dabei lotet die Serie einerseits die Schönheit des Vergehens wie die des Verfalls (...) aus, andererseits setzt sie die eigene Medialität mit der Vanitas in Beziehung, indem die Wiederholungstruktur das Vergessen als Erkenntnisprozess instituiert und so Verwandlung und Neubeginn im Zeichen der Vergänglichkeit konstituiert. (shrink)

Die Art-House-Ästhetik der Fernsehserie Hannibal entfacht eine düstere Bilderwelt, die von verschiedenen Symbolen der Vanitas erfüllt ist. Jedoch erweist sich nicht nur die Symbolik, sondern vielmehr die Gestaltung eines eigenen Zeitparadigmas, das durch die formende Kraft des Seriellen erzeugt wird, als zentraler Bezug zur barocken Denkfigur: Die ästhetische Modellierung von Zeit entfaltet eigene Formen der Zeitenthobenheit sowie der simultanen Präsenz und versucht zugleich das Vergängliche medial zu überwinden. Dabei lotet die Serie einerseits die Schönheit des Vergehens wie die des Verfalls (...) aus, andererseits setzt sie die eigene Medialität mit der Vanitas in Beziehung, indem die Wiederholungstruktur das Vergessen als Erkenntnisprozess instituiert und so Verwandlung und Neubeginn im Zeichen der Vergänglichkeit konstituiert. (shrink)

This article aims to serve as an introductory discussion of the European Continental tradition of pedagogics, specifically from a North American perspective. It begins with an overview of the Continental tradition and its main figures. Here, we find a philosophical and, thus, language-sensitive attitude toward the human, the child; and a specific pedagogical terminology, i.e., descriptions and interpretations about the reality of education, such as educational practices, goals, norms, and organizational forms of educational institutions. John Dewey's educational theories exemplify the (...) North American perspective on Continental pedagogics and its study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. Dewey's writings diverge notably from this tradition, as he integrated into his work American pragmatism and an interest in the scientific method, an interest that plays a role in today's policy trends in the United States and elsewhere. Then again, Dewey took a critical stand toward instrumentalizing pedagogics for political aims. On this point, the German-born political philosopher Hannah Arendt agreed with him. As Arendt can be seen as an example of a Continental perspective on philosophy that includes a strong warning to separate politics and education, she relates to Dewey's argument against instrumentalization. Thus, this article also features some of her work. The overall intention is to contribute to a renewal of a language for pedagogics by delineating a historical-philosophical perspective on this specific field of professional practice. (shrink)

Media reports are increasingly drawing attention to animal welfare issues related to surplus calves in dairy farming. Most calves born on conventional or organic dairy farms in Baden-Wuerttemberg (southern Germany) which are not needed for breeding or as replacement heifers are sold at about two to five weeks of age to conventional fattening farms located in northern Germany or other European countries. Associated animal welfare concerns pose an ethical issue, especially for organic dairy farms. In the present study, a representative (...) online survey (N = 918) in south-west Germany is conducted to investigate public’s awareness of issues related to dairy calves and their attitude towards various aspects of calf management. Regression analysis was used to examine whether public’s awareness of animal welfare issues, attitude toward calf management, and empathy with surplus dairy calves are associated with consumption frequency of organic, dairy and beef/veal products. Results indicate that most members of the public are aware of only a few common practices in dairy calf rearing but they are concerned about the well-being of dairy calves and have compassion for these animals. Organic food consumption frequency was linked to participants’ age, income, attitude, and awareness of issues. Consumption frequency of beef/veal products was related to gender, presence of children, attitude, and empathy, whereas dairy product consumption frequency was associated with income, presence of children, and problem awareness. This seems to indicate that members of the public are not aware of the link between dairy and meat industries - or that this awareness is not reflected in their consumption behavior. (shrink)

The nurse–patient relationship is of great significance for both nurses and patients. The purpose of this article is to gain an understanding of how the individual is constituted through a focus on the execution of the patient’s and nurse’s role in the joint relationship. The article represents a social-constructionist consideration using Kenneth Gergen’s concept of multi-being. Gergen’s notions of the self as a multi-being focuses on the individual’s relational character through former relationships and social interactions. Gergen’s concept is applied onto (...) nurses and patients as individuals to gain an understanding of the broader institutional and social context of each role and their interactions within the nurse–patient relationship. The article focuses on the nurse–patient relationship in general with regard to specific challenges in the home care setting. Various demands and experiences from a myriad of past relationships merge as potential actions for nurses and patients during the forming of a relationship. Nurses as multi-beings see themselves confronted with guidelines and legal conditions, their own as well as the patients’ expectations and the actual possible forming of a relationship in the light of daily nursing care. Patients as multi-beings experience an extended social environment that comprises the nurse–patient relationship while simultaneously having to cope with illness and increasing care dependency within their own homes. Discrepancies can be observed in the relationship with regard to the inherent human qualities, the demands of forming a relationship, and the actual relationship arising due to framework conditions. (shrink)

Empathy is crucial for the quality of social interactions and thus highly relevant in human service professions. At the same time, people belonging to this occupational group are especially vulnera...

Name der Zeitschrift: Frühmittelalterliche Studien Jahrgang: 36 Heft: 2 Seiten: 421-422.

New forms of artificial intelligence on the one hand and the ubiquitous networking of “everything with everything” on the other hand characterize the fourth industrial revolution. This results in a changed understanding of human–machine interaction, in new models for production, in which man and machine together with virtual agents form hybrid teams. The empirical study “Socializing with robots” aims to gain insight especially into conditions of development and processes of hybrid human–machine teams. In the experiment, human–robot actions and interactions were (...) closely observed in a virtual environment. Robots as partners differed in shape and behavior. Participants were instructed to achieve an objective that could only be achieved via close teamwork. This paper unites different aspects from core disciplines of social robotics and psychology contributing to anthropomorphization with the empirical insights of the experiment. It focuses on the psychological effects on anthropomorphization and mechanization, taking the inter- and transdisciplinary field of social robotics as a starting point. (shrink)

The main interpretative claims in the chapter on Kant’s critique of the ontological argument in Ian Proops’s The Fiery Test of Critique are critically discussed.

Cet article se propose d’étudier la discussion de la conception aristotélicienne de la prédication chez Simplicius, et notamment de la relation entre la prédication synonyme et la prédication essentielle. Tant dans l’œuvre d’Aristote que dans le Commentaire sur les Catégories d’Aristote de Simplicius, il y a un lien étroit entre les deux formes de prédication. Dans la littérature scientifique sur Aristote, on trouve l’hypothèse que, pour Aristote, la prédication synonyme implique la prédication essentielle. On trouve également l’argument selon lequel cette (...) hypothèse est compatible avec la théorie aristotélicienne, mais que cela n’est pas le cas chez Platon. L’abondante discussion que mène Simplicius à propos de la prédication synonyme et de la prédication essentielle suggère que celui-ci s’est rendu compte des difficultés qui découlent de l’hypothèse selon laquelle la prédication synonyme implique la prédication essentielle. Il s’agit alors de montrer que Simplicius, grâce à une interprétation originale du prédicat, rend cette hypothèse moins problématique pour Platon et pose ainsi un cadre exégétique qui permet d’harmoniser les théories de Platon et d’Aristote. (shrink)

The influence of background music on cognitive functions is still a matter of debate. In this study, we investigated the influence of background music on executive functions (particularly on inhibitory functions). Participants completed a standardized cued Go/NoGo task during three different conditions while an EEG was recorded (1: with no background music, 2: with relaxing or 3: with exciting background music). In addition, we collected reaction times, omissions, and commissions in response to the Go and NoGo stimuli. From the EEG (...) data, event-related potentials (ERPs) were calculated for the Go and NoGo trials. From these ERPs, the N2 and P3 components were specifically analyzed since previous studies have shown that these components (and particularly the Go-NoGo difference waves) are strongly associated with inhibitory functions. The N2 and P3 components of the difference waves (N2d and P3d) were used for statistical analyses. The statistical analyses revealed no differences between the three conditions in terms of amplitudes and latencies of the N2d and P3d components. In addition, reaction times, omissions, and commissions were comparable across all conditions. Our results suggest that in the context of this paradigm, music as background acoustic stimulation has no detrimental effects on the performance of a Go/NoGo task and neural underpinnings. (shrink)

Feministische Aktivist*innen haben sich schon immer verschiedener Medien bedient, um zu kommunizieren, sich zu artikulieren und zu vernetzen. Durch die Digitalisierung und die damit verbundenen Möglichkeiten erweitern sich feministische Aktionsräume und verlagern sich zunehmend ins Social Web. So lässt sich feststellen, dass Plattformen wie twitter, instagram oder auch facebook vielfach genutzt werden, um feministische Anliegen in die Öffentlichkeit zu tragen. Der gegenwärtige mediale Diskurs um feministische Ideen und Forderungen wird dabei maßgeblich durch antifeministische Akteur*innen beeinflusst, deren Anliegen es ist, feministische (...) Stimmen aus dem medialen Raum zu verbannen. Die vorliegende Arbeit greift diese Thematik auf und geht der Frage nach, wie feministische Aktivist*innen antifeministische, digitale Gewalt wahrnehmen und damit umgehen. Die Ergebnisse verweisen darauf, dass insbesondere Aspekte der Sexuellen Identität und der Mehrfachdiskriminierung entscheidend sind für das Ausmaß der digitalen Gewalt, die erfahren wird. Weiterhin wird deutlich, welche Rolle Solidarität, Vernetzung und Empowerment im Kampf gegen den Antifeminismus spielen. Die Autorin Anja Roß studierte Pädagogik und Soziologie an der Universität Bielefeld. Sie arbeitet als wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Institut für Pädagogik an der Universität Oldenburg. Hier promovierte sie 2024 zum feministischen Aktivismus im Social Web und den Umgang mit digitaler Gewalt. (shrink)

Most commentators agree that (part of what) Kant means by characterizing the propositions of geometry as synthetic is that they are not true merely in virtue of logic or meaning, and that this characterization has something to do with his views about the construction of geometrical concepts in intuition. Many commentators regard construction in intuition as an essential part of geometrical proofs on Kant’s view. On this reading, the propositions of geometry are synthetic because the geometrical theorems cannot be proved (...) in purely conceptual or logical terms. Other commentators see the main role of pure intuition and the figures constructed in pure intuition in that they provide a model for Euclidean geometry. On views of this kind, the propositions of geometry are synthetic because the geometrical axioms are substantive truths about one of our forms of intuition. On the interpretation proposed in this essay, what Kant means by claiming that the propositions of geometry are synthetic is not only that the Euclidean axioms and theorems cannot be reduced to tautologies or logical truths, but also that they apply to really possible objects. Construction in intuition plays no essential role in (what we now call) ‘pure’ geometry on Kant’s view. But the fact that the concepts of geometry can be constructed in intuition is of crucial importance in the context of Kant’s transcendental philosophy of geometry, because, among other things, it allows him to explain how Euclidean geometry is possible as an a priori synthetic science in the sense just indicated. (shrink)

Following tropes of light and dark in Amanda Gorman’s poem ‘The Hill We Climb’, the article explores, from a feminist perspective, who counts as a truth-teller. Against the backdrop of Hannah Arendt’s and Michel Foucault’s works on truth-telling, the article theorizes feminist modes of truth-telling. It scrutinizes truth-making in politics while unearthing the andro-centrism in truth-telling. Under the impression of post-truth rhetoric in recent populist landscapes, the article argues for a feminist and intersectional articulation of truth-telling to disclose the gendered (...) and racialized power relations in contemporary masculinist populism. (shrink)

As long-term childhood cancer survivors are at risk for late effects, ongoing medical care is crucial to detect and treat physical illnesses as early as possible. However, previous research from around the world has shown that many adult survivors did not participate in long-term medical follow-up. This study aimed to provide insight into German survivors’ care situation, with a particular focus on barriers to follow-up care. We investigated a sample of adult CCS drawn from the German Childhood Cancer Registry’s oldest (...) cohort. Our analyses included data from a standardized medical examination, a self-report questionnaire, and in-depth interviews with a subsample. Half of the participants reported participating in some kind of medical follow-up. In a logistic regression analysis, attendance of medical follow-up care was associated with higher age. Reasons for non-attendance were assigned to four categories: lack of information about medical follow-up and/or its purpose, termination by the health care provider, structural barriers, and emotional-motivational aspects. The interviews contributed to a better understanding of how these reported barriers played out in the care of individual survivors. Further, they revealed that some survivors currently in medical follow-up had had periods without follow-up care in the past—which were also in many cases related to a lack of information, both on the part of health care providers and CCS themselves. The results indicated that a large proportion of long-term CCS do not receive the recommended follow-up care. Further, there is a great need for more information regarding the aims of long-term medical follow-up and available offers. This is an important prerequisite for CCS to make informed decisions. (shrink)

Zusammenfassung: Der Beitrag nimmt eine politiktheoretisch-dispositivanalytische Perspektive ein. Er zeigt auf, inwiefern im mediterranen Grenzraum Europas nicht nur Mechanismen wirksam werden, die Migrant*innen verandern, sondern sie töten. Die letale VerAnderung vollzieht sich im europäischen Grenzregime innerhalb eines militärisch-humanitären Komplexes, in dem über Vergeschlechtlichung und Rassifizierung Migrant*innen mit spezifischen Affekten verkoppelt und dadurch de-/humanisiert werden. Durch diese Regierung der Anderen sollen regressive Migrationspolitik und ein repressives Grenzregime plausibilisiert werden. Der Heterogenität des Grenzregimes Rechnung tragend diskutiert der Beitrag die diskursive Produktion des (...) Anderen, dessen affektiv-performative Stabilisierung sowie die materiell-technologische Kultur der Grenze. Damit lehnt sich der Beitrag an die Arbeiten Foucaults zu Diskurs, Wahrheitsproduktion und Gouvernementalität an, fokussiert jedoch auf Theorien, die Foucaults Konzepte affekt- und geschlechtertheoretisch bzw. postkolonial reiterieren: Sara Ahmeds Konzept der affektiven Ökonomie, Judith Butlers Theorie der Betrauerbarkeit und Achille Mbembes Begriff der Vergrenzung. Dadurch werden die trauer- und nekropolitischen Aspekte des europäischen Grenzregimes nicht nur über politiktheoretische Perspektivierungen reflektiert, sondern durch einen rassismus- und geschlechterkritischen Blick ernst genommen. (shrink)

The view that agents are not obliged to do more than their initial fair shares when their fellow duty bearers fail to comply has prominent defenders, including Liam Murphy and David Miller. While Murphy thinks that asking agents to take up other agents’ slack would be unfair, Miller claims that slack-taking cannot be required because primary responsibility does not migrate from noncompliers to compliers. This paper argues, by contrast, that there are a number of circumstances in which there is a (...) duty to take up the slack even though it is unfair and even though responsibility stays where it is. The central claim is that what agents owe to third parties is a separate issue from how they relate to fellow duty bearers. This proposal also runs counter to familiar defenses of slack-taking that weigh its unfairness against the moral importance of the interests at stake for third parties. (shrink)

The institutional reform of the Belgian state seems to run parallel with a redefinition of the whole of Belgian society. 'Subnationalism' has overtaken the traditional ethno-linguistic definitions which used to provide a basis for political identification and mobilisation. The territorial demarcation of the regions and the politicisation of cultural life on both sides of the linguistic border constitute basic ingredientsfor 'nationbuilding'projects in Flanders and Wallonia. A number of elements are distinguished to explain why the 'nationalism' of the regions will have (...) repercussions on the political developments in the capital area. Language and territoriality have always played a special role in Brussels. Changes in connection with definitions of territoriality and identity now seem to create opportunities to redefine the relationship between the communities in Brussels. It is not inconceivable that, in the long run, the linguistic divide wilt fade out and wilt be replaced by an identification on the basis of a territorial criterion shared by all the Brussels' inhabitants. (shrink)

The World According to Kant offers an interpretation of Immanuel Kant’s critical idealism, as developed in the Critique of Pure Reason and associated texts. Critical idealism is understood as an ontological position, which comprises transcendental idealism, empirical realism, and a number of other basic ontological theses. According to Kant, the world, understood as the sum total of everything that has reality, comprises several levels of reality, most importantly, the transcendental level and the empirical level. The transcendental level is a mind-independent (...) level at which things in themselves exist. The empirical level is a fully mind-dependent level at which appearances exist, which are intentional objects of experience. Empirical objects and empirical minds are appearances, and empirical space and time are constituted by the spatial and temporal determinations of appearances. On the proposed interpretation, Kant is thus a genuine idealist about empirical objects, empirical minds, and space and time. But in contrast to other intentional objects, appearances genuinely exist, which is due both to the special character of experience compared to other kinds of representations such as illusions or dreams, and to the grounding of appearances in things themselves. This is why, on the proposed interpretation, Kant is also a genuine realist about empirical objects, empirical minds, and empirical space and time. This book develops the indicated interpretation, spells out Kant’s case for critical idealism thus understood, pinpoints the differences between critical idealism and ‘ordinary’ idealism, such as Berkley’s, and clarifies the relation between Kant’s conception of things in themselves and the conception of things in themselves by other philosophers, in particular, Kant’s Leibniz-Wolffian predecessors. -/- PS from the author: I maintain a list of errata plus corrections on my website (which can easily be found by googling my name). If you discover additional errors, typos, or unfortunate formulations, I would be grateful to hear from you. -/- . (shrink)