Die 22 Beiträge dieses Bandes begreifen Sprache als Fundamentalkategorie des Menschen. Alles Sprachliche ist nicht zeichentheoretisch zu verstehen, sondern als Ausdruck eines notwendigen Verhältnisses von Wort und Sache. Dies wird am Kritischen der Sprache selbst, am Sprachdenken und am Metaphorischen zu zeigen versucht. Wichtige Erscheinungen des deutschen Sprachdenkens werden vorgestellt. Die problematische Entwicklung des Sprachbegriffs seit dem 19. Jahrhundert erscheint im Tatsachenbegriff, in der Vorstellung der öffentlichen Rede und in der Tendenz zur Mediensprache. Die Stellung der bedeutenden Literatur innerhalb dieser (...) Sprachvorstellung wird ebenso erörtert wie die Mängel und Anpassungsversuche der Literaturwissenschaft in diesem Zusammenhang. Außerdem geht es um die Fragwürdigkeiten der Literaturkritik heute. Die Überlegung zum Sprechen in den Medien geht vom Typus des Journalisten einerseits wie von den zentralen Medienbegriffen, nämlich Nachricht und Meinung, andererseits aus. Kritische Betrachtungen des Umgangs der Medien mit der Metaphorik wie deren Tendenz auf Sprachbeherrschung werden ebenso behandelt wie die historische Medienkritik und Thesen zur sprachkritischen Ethik in den Medien. Die Arbeit von Karl Kraus als bisher wichtigstes Beispiel einer sprachlichen Medienkritik wird dargestellt. Abschließend geht es um den Begriff der Interpretation als zentralen Begriff einer sprachorientierten Wissenschaft. (shrink)

Augustine's treatment of neighbor - love in De doctrina Christiana has been the subject of much criticism in twentieth-century scholarship. Specifically, Augustine is criticized for reducing neighbor - love to an instrumental "use" of the neighbor as a tool in one's personal project of salvation. This paper argues that careful attention to the relationship between Christ and the uti-frui distinction in book 1 of De doctrina reveals a much different conception of "use." Far from advancing an instrumental treatment of the (...) other, Augustine, when he speaks of "using" the neighbor, is developing language to describe acts of charity. (shrink)

Kant on Duty to Oneself and Resistance to Political Authority SVEN ARNTZEN in ms DOCTRI~tE OF Law and related writings? Kant denies the subject's right to resist political authority in the strongest terms. His argumentation to sup- port this denial is conceptual in character. The denial of a right of resistance follows from the relevant legal concepts of civil society, of the people as sub- ject, of the head of state as the supreme power in civil society, as having (...) only rights but no duties that he may be coerced to fulfill, and of a right as an authorization to use coercion. Civil society is the coexistence of persons as subject to a central authority, a supreme power, which is not itself subject to some other coercive authority. For the people as subject to have a right to resist the supreme power in civil society would be for it to have an authorization to use coercion to restrain that power, which would not, then, be the supreme power. In other words, a people's right to resist the supreme power would imply that the power is both supreme and not ' By Kant's Doctrine of Law I mean his Die metaphysische Anfangsgriinde der Rechtslehre, the first part ofD/e Metaphysik der Sitten, hereafter MdS . The other available translation of the Doctrine of Law is by John Ladd, and is rendered as The Metaphysical Elements of Justice (Indianapolis: The.. (shrink)

He is currently a research fellow at the University of Frankfurt. Theory and Politics is included in the series, Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought, edited by Thomas McCarthy.

The article offers a critical assessment of an article on "Corporate Legitimacy as Deliberation" by Guido Palazzo and Andreas Scherer in this journal. We share the concern about the precarious legitimacy of globally active corporations, infringing on the legitimacy of democracy at large. There is no quarrel with Palazzo/Scherer's diagnosis, which focuses on the consequences of globalization and ensuing challenges for corporate social responsibilities. However, we disagree with the "solutions" offered by them. In a first step we refute the idea (...) of a legitimacy of morals, maintaining that morality is a premodern mode of creating legitimacy. Even worse, moral is becoming a dangerous commodity under conditions of fundamental global disagreements and antagonisms. We secondly refute the concept of the "politicized corporation", maintaining that Palazzo/Scherer disregard the consequences of functional differentiation of modern societies and, in particular, disregard the wisdom of political restraint and constitutional guarantees for the autonomy of different spheres of society. Finally, we refute a seemingly romantic notion of deliberation, maintaining that deliberation and deliberative democracy is a worthy idea, which, however, has no place in the real world of globalized contexts. On the other hand, we also find enough common ground and common concern with Palazzo/Scherer to validate a fruitful discourse. (shrink)

The problem of free will as it is know in Western philosophical traditions is hardly known in China. Considering how central the problem is in the West, this is a remarkable fact. We try to explain this, and we offer insights into discussions within Chinese traditions that we think are related, not historically but regarding the issues discussed. Thus we introduce four central Chinese concepts, namely: (1) xīn 心 (heart, heart-mind), (2) xìng 性 (human nature, characteristic tendencies, inborn capacity), (3) (...) mìng 命 (lifespan, fate, command, allotment, endowment), and (4) zìrán 自然 (self-so, so of itself, nature, spontaneity), and we indicate how these concepts and their discussions can be related to discussions on free will. (shrink)

He finds the key in the concept of responsibility, which implies not only the freedom and flexibility of responsiveness to others but also a guiding ideal of ...

The concept of cultural landscape was first put to use by the German geographer Friedrich Ratzel in 1895. The American geographer Carl Sauer was probably the first to use the concept in the English language in 1925. In recent years, the concept of cultural landscape has become significant in social and political decision-making, and in environmental management and preservation. Cultural landscape has also become the object of extensive consideration and discussion within diverse academic disciplines and areas of research, such as (...) human geography, cultural anthropology, history, archaeology, biology, and ecology. Depending on the discipline or area of research, focus is directed towards specific features in the landscape that have come about as a result of human activity. This collection of essays is predicated on the view that considerations regarding the cultural landscape have underlying philosophical presuppositions. The authors propose that the cultural landscape be made the focus of environmental philosophy, ethics, and aesthetics. (shrink)

I contrast the integrity of nature understood as a community with the integrity of nature understood as an organism. Whereas the latter is typified by nature in its pristine condition and precludes almost all human uses of nature and so excludes the human from the natural, I argue that the integrity of nature (ecological integrity) allows for human uses of nature to sustain human life when nature is understood as a community, which includes humans among its members. Cultural landscapes, understood (...) in a narrow sense, are manifestations of such uses and of man's being in nature on nature's terms. An example of a literary expression of this view is Knut Hamsun's Growth of the Soil. As an ethical value, ecological integrity imposes certain moral constraints on our uses of nature, on the manner in which humans live and co-exist. (shrink)

Kant has made an attempt in his Doctrine of Law to show that the principles of natural Law are a priori principles of pure practical reason. He considers this a necessary step towards establishing the obligating force of positive legislation within a legal system. It is not obvious, however, that Law, which recognizes external coercion as a possible incentive for the compliance with its duties, can be reconciled with pure practical reason, which through the categorical imperative commands that one fulfill (...) duty from the idea of duty and so independently of inclination. Accordingly, it is not clear that there is a systematic and necessary connection between Law and morality for Kant and that he has succeeded in his overall objective of justifying positive Law. ;My dissertation is concerned with the question of how, according to Kant, pure practical reason can allow for juridical legislation, a legislation which admits of an incentive other than the idea of duty for the fulfillment of certain duties. I present criticisms of interpretations according to which Law with its external character cannot be reconciled with morality for Kant. I also discuss some interpretations according to which Law with its duties and legislation is justifiable from the point of view of pure practical reason, either as directly derivable from the categorical imperative or as a means for the realization and protection of the individual's moral freedom. I argue that such accounts do not succeed in explaining the possibility of external coercion for pure practical reason. I do maintain, however, that Law is reconcilable with pure practical reason for Kant, and I offer an explanation of how this is so: an examination of the different classes of duties shows that only juridical duties, or perfect duties to others, are such that reason must recongnize for them a kind of constraint other than free self-constraint and therefore must acknowledge the possibility of juridical legislation for these duties. (shrink)

The contributors to this volume address global, regional, and local landscapes, cosmopolitan and indigenous cultures, and human and more-than-human ecology as they work to reveal place-specific tensional dynamics. This unusual book, which covers a wide-ranging array of topics, coheres into a work that will be a valuable reference for scholars of geography and the philosophy of place.

Name der Zeitschrift: Klio Jahrgang: 96 Heft: 1 Seiten: 351-355.