The influence of the Platonic theory of forms is to be found in nearly all periods in the history of Western philosophy. Much less well known is the fact that in all ages Arabic philosophers also discussed Platonic forms in their written works, although they had no access to Plato s Dialogues. This study analyses how this conception was given doctrinal content without recourse to Plato s works, and presents the relevant Arabic works in German translation for the first time. (...) They offer a first insight into a branch of the reception of Platonism that has not yet been researched, but which is often clearly influenced by Islam.". (shrink)

RésuméBien que l'existence d'une traduction arabe d'une section perdue en grec du commentaire de Proclus sur leTiméesoit connue depuis longtemps, ce texte n'avait fait jusqu'à présent l'objet d'aucune édition. Le présent article vise à remédier à ce manque, en proposant une édition critique du fragment arabe accompagnée d'une traduction anglaise annotée. L'étude qui l'accompagne, consacrée au contenu et à la structure du fragment transmis, montre qu'il présente, au plan formel, tous les éléments caractéristiques des commentaires de Proclus, quand bien même (...) sa concision et ses défauts soulèvent certains doutes quant à sa complétude. En forme d'appendice, l'article propose une analyse d'une lettre de Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq négligée jusqu'à présent, jointe au fragment sous sa forme transmise. Loin de se borner à nous fournir des renseignements sur les origines du fragment de Proclus, cette lettre jette aussi quelque lumière sur la réception syriaque et arabe de certaines œuvres d'Hippocrate et de Galien, tout particulièrement sur le traitéDu régime dans les maladies aiguësd'Hippocrate et sur l'histoire de sa traduction arabe. (shrink)

This statement by the late Franz Rosenthal is, in a sense, the uniting theme of the present volume's 35 articles by renowned scholars of Islamic Studies, Middle ...

The Commentary of al-Nayrizi on Euclid’s Elements occupies an important place in the history of mathematics and of philosophy. The present work presents an annotated English translation of Books II-IV and of a hitherto lost portion of Book I.

One of the century's greatest philosophers, without whom there would be no Sartre, no Foucault, no Frankfurt School, Martin Heidegger was also a man of great failures and flaws, a Faustus who made a pact with the devil of his time, Adolf Hitler. The story of Heidegger's life and philosophy, a quintessentially German story in which good and evil, brilliance and blindness are inextricably entwined and the passions and disasters of a whole century come into play, is told in this (...) brilliant biography. Heidegger grew up in Catholic Germany where, for a chance at pursuing a life of learning, he pledged himself to the priesthood. Soon he turned apostate and sought a university position, which set him on the path to becoming the star of German philosophy in the 1920s. Rüdiger Safranski chronicles Heidegger's rise along with the thought he honed on the way, with its debt to Heraclitus, Plato, and Kant, and its tragic susceptibility to the conservatism that emerged out of the nightmare of Germany's loss in World War I. A chronicle of ideas and of personal commitments and betrayals, Safranski's biography combines clear accounts of the philosophy that won Heidegger eternal renown with the fascinating details of the loves and lapses that tripped up this powerful intellectual. The best intellectual biography of Heidegger ever written and a best-seller in Germany, Martin Heidegger: Between Good and Evil does not shy away from full coverage of Heidegger's shameful transformation into a propagandist for the National Socialist regime; nor does it allow this aspect of his career to obscure his accomplishments. Written by a master of Heidegger's philosophy, the book is one of the best introductions to the thought and to the life and times of the greatest German philosopher of the century. (shrink)

According to the scenario of cosmological artificial selection and artificial cosmogenesis, our universe was created and possibly even fine-tuned by cosmic engineers in another universe. This approach shall be compared to other explanations, and some far-reaching problems of it shall be discussed.

Corporate sustainability reports are supposed to provide a complete and balanced picture of corporate sustainability performance. They are, however, usually voluntary and thus prone to interpretation and even greenwashing tendencies. To overcome this problem, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) provides standardized reporting guidelines challenging companies to report positive and negative aspects of an organization’s sustainability performance. However, the reporting of “negative aspects” in particular can endanger corporate legitimacy if perceived by the stakeholders as not being in line with societal norms (...) and values. Starting from the theoretical lenses of economics-based disclosure theories and socio-political theories of disclosure, the focus of this study therefore was to analyze the communicative legitimation strategies companies use to report “negative aspects,” i.e., negative ecological and social impact caused by corporate activity. Using qualitative content analysis of GRI-oriented sustainability reports from companies listed on the US Dow Jones Industrial Average Index and on the German DAX Index, we identified six legitimation strategies. We discuss these strategies regarding to symbolic and substantial management of legitimacy. We show that symbolic legitimation strategies aiming at modifying the perception of legitimizing stakeholders dominate in the reports at hand. Such persuasion, however, does not meet the requirement of impartiality as postulated by the GRI guidelines. Building upon this conclusion we propose a concise characterization of “negative aspects” and develop a GRI-compliant schema of reporting about them. In doing so, we offer a way to improve the overall “balance” of sustainability reporting contributing to a true and fair view in sustainability disclosure. (shrink)

The first United Nations Millennium Development Goal calls for a distinct reduction of worldwide poverty. It is now widely accepted that the private sector is a crucial partner in achieving this ambitious target. Building on this insight, the ‹Bottom of the Pyramid’ concept provides a framework that highlights the untapped opportunities with the ‹poorest of the poor’, while at the same time acknowledging the abilities and resources of private enterprises for poverty alleviation. This article connects the idea of business with (...) the poor to sustainable development and especially to the notions of inter- and intragenerational justice. These principles of justice can be linked with the ‹Bottom of the Pyramid’ approach directly through the Rawlsian principles to foster holistic thinking. On this basis, the article offers a normative-ethical reasoning of corporations’ possible responsibilities for the poorest of the poor. Today’s state of worldwide inequalities is likely to generate future tensions between the privileged western world and the uncounted mass of poor (let alone the ethical dubiousness of this status). However, it is at the same time problematic if not even impossible to improve the situation of the poor by simply copying the resource intensive western way of living to the ‹Bottom of the Pyramid’ due to the limited carrying capacity of the earth. After highlighting possible moral dilemmas which may occur through such a potential trade off, this article concludes with an outlook on how the concepts ‹Bottom of the Pyramid’ and sustainable development could be combined. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Frühmittelalterliche Studien Jahrgang: 51 Heft: 1 Seiten: 325-388.

So we stand more or less on our own when trying to make sense of a specifically transcendental way of argumentation. Fortunately we are not all that alone, since independently of a direct Kantian influence the problem of transcendental arguments has stimulated a considerable debate among analytical philosophers. And we still have Kant’s own text. We shall start, therefore, by reminding ourselves of this debate and then go back to Kant. We shall deliberately not proceed the other way round in (...) order to avoid as much as possible what one may call a Kantian bias. The representatives chosen for analytical philosophy are Wittgenstein, Quine, and Strawson. We shall then consider the Kantian account of the meaning of the term "transcendental". After this preparation we are in a position to examine the claim of a ‘transcendental deduction,’ which is one of the most controversial issues arising from the Critique of Pure Reason. (shrink)

Among the numerous conceptions of autonomy, three are particularly important: Kant's notion of humans' being subject, and subject only, to moral laws they gave themselves, Frankfurt's idea of persons' willing and acting deriving from the essential character of their wills, and the popular conception of persons' being master over whether others do or do not certain things to them. Kant's moral conception of autonomy, it is argued, is untenable because the moral character of a law and its self-givenness are incompatible. (...) Frankfurt's idea suffers from the fact that we cannot give substance to talk of the essential character of one's will. The third conception is practically irrelevant: there is no principle requiring people to be master over what others do to them. Thus autonomy may have to be dropped from our self-conception. To some this will appear a grave loss. In fact it is not. (shrink)

The selection of ‘good’ pictures has increasingly become a crucial factor when transmitting news to the recipients. Every day thousands of events are happening and millions of pictures are taken. By choosing photographs for newspapers and magazines, photographic editorial departments want to attract the recipients' attention, evoke emotions and get them to read their stories. But what exactly is a good picture that meets these expectations? Which criteria are decisive for selecting pictures and what effects of this selection can be (...) measured on the recipients' side? This article presents the results of a research project carried out at the University of Erfurt in 2008 and conducted in collaboration with the German weekly magazine stern. It deals with the selection and impact of press photography by introducing the concept ‘photo news factors’. Applying the traditional news value theory to pictures, photo news factors are defined as selection criteria that, on the part of the communicator, decide whether the press photos are worth publishing. Furthermore, they are assumed to exert an influence on the intensity of attention that a picture arouses. (shrink)

For much of his adult life, Nietzsche wrote notes on philosophical subjects in small notebooks that he carried around with him. After his breakdown and subsequent death, his sister supervised the publication of some of these notes under the title The Will to Power, and that collection, which is textually inaccurate and substantively misleading, has dominated the English-speaking discussion of Nietzsche's later thought. The present volume offers, for the first time, accurate translations of a selection of writings from Nietzsche's late (...) notebooks, dating from his last productive years between 1885 and 1889. Many of them have never before been published in English. They are translated by Kate Sturge from reliable texts in the Colli-Montinari edition, and they are edited by Rüdiger Bittner, whose introduction places them in the context of Nietzsche's philosophy as a whole. (shrink)

For much of his adult life, Nietzsche wrote notes on philosophical subjects in small notebooks that he carried around with him. After his breakdown and subsequent death, his sister supervised the publication of some of these notes under the title The Will to Power, and that collection, which is textually inaccurate and substantively misleading, has dominated the English-speaking discussion of Nietzsche's later thought. The present volume offers, for the first time, accurate translations of a selection of writings from Nietzsche's late (...) notebooks, dating from his last productive years between 1885 and 1889. Many of them have never before been published in English. They are translated by Kate Sturge from reliable texts in the Colli-Montinari edition, and they are edited by Rüdiger Bittner, whose introduction places them in the context of Nietzsche's philosophy as a whole. (shrink)

In recent years, a considerable amount of research on adapted business for developing countries focused on the impact such endeavours have on the respective companies as well as on the affected people. However, the main emphasis within management sciences was on the economic outcomes or (even more distinct and often) on the question of how to integrate the poor into business models and value chains. Until now, further aspects of a dignified human existence were merely covered as a side note. (...) The article focuses on the influence of inclusive business approaches on various aspects of human dignity and provides explorative insights as a basis for future theory building. The aim is to uncover how human dignity is affected by different business approaches for the poor including and beyond economic outcomes. After giving an insight into the essence and meaning of human dignity in connection to various human rights, the articles refers to a number of illustrative cases of inclusive business. The analysis culminates in the insight that dignity can be (and sometimes already is) assured and promoted by deliberately including the poor into relevant value-added business processes. If this is the case, an enhanced dignity is not merely the result of increased incomes but stems from a variety of effects. However, such positive effects are not an inevitable outcome of any inclusive business initiative. (shrink)

"In Zeiten, in denen jahrzehntelang stabile Vertrauensverhältnisse global immer stärker erschüttert werden, suchen die Menschen nach neuen Vertrauensansätzen. Die libertäre Philosophie hinter Bitcoin nutzt einfache und verständliche Techniken aus der Mathematik, um ein Währungssystem ohne Banken und Staaten zu schaffen. Durch die Geschwindigkeit und die weltweite Verfügbarkeit von Kommunikationsnetzen findet somit ein völlig neuartiges gesellschaftliches Experiment statt. In times in which stable relationships of trust have been increasingly shaken around the globe for decades, people are looking for new approaches to (...) the ability to trust. The libertarian philosophy behind Bitcoin uses simple and understandable mathematical techniques to create a monetary system without banks and states. The speed and worldwide avail- ability of communication networks thus make for a completely new social experiment.". (shrink)

Despite a long tradition of dealing with problems of optimal intergenerational allocation, economists are rarely integrated into debates about strategies to cope with decisions with long-term effects. Cost-benefitanalyses as typical economic methods to evaluate long-term investment strategies mostly neglect the need for basic normative decisions, e.g. about the definition of future generations and their interests. This paper presents first steps of an institutional economics' framework to overcorne these shortcornings and to improve the opportunities of an integrated interdisciplinary approach.

We review the famous no-hidden-variables theorem in von Neumann’s 1932 book on the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics. We describe the notorious gap in von Neumann’s argument, pointed out by Hermann and, more famously, by Bell. We disagree with recent papers claiming that Hermann and Bell failed to understand what von Neumann was actually doing.

Collaborative consumption is proposed as a potential step beyond unsustainable linear consumption patterns toward more sustainable consumption practices. Despite mounting interest in the topic, little is known about the determinants of this consumer behavior. We use an extended theory of planned behavior to examine the relative influence of consumers’ personal norms and the theory’s basic sociopsychological variables attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control on collaborative consumption. Moreover, we use this framework to examine consumers’ underlying value and belief structure regarding (...) collaborative consumption. We measure these aspects for 224 consumers in a survey and then assess their self-reported collaborative consumption behavior in a second survey. Our structural model fits the data well. Collaborative consumption is more strongly—through intentions—influenced by personal norms and attitudes than by subjective norms. Personal norms to consume collaboratively are determined by consumers’ altruistic, biospheric, and egoistic value orientations. Cost savings, efficient use of resources, and community with others are found to be consumers’ attitudinal beliefs underlying collaborative consumption. We conclude that collaborative consumption can be pin-pointed neither as a mere form of economic exchange nor as a primarily normative form of sharing resources. Instead, collaborative consumption is determined by economic/egoistic (e.g., cost savings) and normative (e.g., altruistic and biospheric value orientations) motives. Implications for collaborative consumption research, the theory of planned behavior, and practitioners are discussed. (shrink)

In recent years, a considerable amount of research on adapted business for developing countries focused on the impact such endeavours have on the respective companies as well as on the affected people. However, the main emphasis within management sciences was on the economic outcomes or (even more distinct and often) on the question of how to integrate the poor into business models and value chains. Until now, further aspects of a dignified human existence were merely covered as a side note. (...) The article focuses on the influence of inclusive business approaches on various aspects of human dignity and provides explorative insights as a basis for future theory building. The aim is to uncover how human dignity is affected by different business approaches for the poor including and beyond economic outcomes. After giving an insight into the essence and meaning of human dignity in connection to various human rights, the articles refers to a number of illustrative cases of inclusive business. The analysis culminates in the insight that dignity can be (and sometimes already is) assured and promoted by deliberately including the poor into relevant value‐added business processes. If this is the case, an enhanced dignity is not merely the result of increased incomes but stems from a variety of effects. However, such positive effects are not an inevitable outcome of any inclusive business initiative. (shrink)

Kosmologie im weiten Sinn von Naturwissenschaft und -philosophie hat Karl Popper am meisten fasziniert. Auch die physikalische Kosmologie im engeren Sinn verfolgte er kritisch. In der aktuellen Kosmologie sind seine wissenschafts- und erkenntnistheoretischen Einsichten weiterhin wichtig … oder sollten es sein – besonders im Kontext spekulativer Hypothesen, etwa zu anderen Universen.

Die Vorstellung von einer Ewigen Wiederkehr des Gleichen ist uralt. Friedrich Nietzsche hat sie übernommen, radikalisiert und ihre anthropologischen, psychologischen und existenziellen Aspekte ausgelotet, im Nachlass aber auch als naturwissenschaftliche Hypothese formuliert. Nachdem das physikalische Weltbild der Statistischen Mechanik die Ewige Wiederkehr noch zu Nietzsches Lebzeiten denkbar oder sogar wahrscheinlich machte – allerdings unter anderen Prämissen –, geriet sie in der Kosmologie mit der Entdeckung der Expansion und Evolution des Alls spätestens seit den 1960er-Jahren in Misskredit, weil sie mit der (...) Urknall-Hypothese kaum zu vereinbaren schien. Umso überraschender ist es daher, dass in der aktuellen Quantenkosmologie eine zeitliche und/oder räumliche Ewige Wiederkehr erneut unvermeidlich erscheint – jedenfalls im Rahmen mehrerer unabhängiger und überdies konkurrierender kosmologischer Modelle, die die Urknall-Theorie erweitern. (shrink)

In der Erkenntnistheorie führt das von Hans Albert so genannte Münchhausen-Trilemma an die Grenzen von Begründungen und Rechtfertigungen. Da diese immer in einen infiniten Regress, Zirkel oder Abbruch münden, ist absolut sicheres, letztbegründetes Wissen nicht möglich. Neuere Entwicklungen in der Erkenntnistheorie zeigen jedoch, dass sich die Rechtfertigungen unserer Überzeugungen vielleicht doch tiefer fundieren lassen als bislang gedacht, und dass die Erkenntnisgrenzen erweitert und im Hinblick auf skeptische Argumente genauer bestimmt werden können, wenn der epistemologische Internalismus eingeschränkt werden muss. Die Kosmologie (...) und Metaphysik stoßen aufgrund des Münchhausen-Trilemmas ebenfalls an Grenzen. Dies lässt sich an zwei besonders brisanten Fragen kritisch illustrieren (auch wenn die zahlreichen Antwortversuche und Argumente hier nicht im Detail dargestellt werden können): Wie kam es zum Urknall? Und warum ist etwas und nicht vielmehr nichts? Dabei markiert das Münchhausen-Trilemma nicht nur die explanatorischen Probleme, sondern auch die physikalischen und metaphysischen Möglichkeiten: Der infinite Regress entspricht einem ewigen Kosmos (mit womöglich unendlich vielen Urknall-Ereignissen ohne einen allerersten) beziehungsweise einer unaufhörlichen Kontingenz; der Abbruch entspricht einem absoluten Anfang beziehungsweise einem fundamentalen, unhintergehbaren, womöglich metaphysisch notwendigen Prinzip oder einem unerklärlichen Zufall; und der Zirkel entspricht einem kosmologischen Zeitschleifen-Modell beziehungsweise spekulativen metaphysischen Selbstfundierungsprinzipien. Einerseits sind diese Alternativen letztlich alle unbefriedigend, andererseits stellt die undogmatische epistemische Bescheidenheit, die daraus resultieren sollte, zugleich eine wichtige Einsicht dar, die die beste Voraussetzung ist für weitere Forschungen und somit für einen Fortschritt in der wissenschaftlichen und philosophischen Erkundung unserer Welt und unserer Wissensgrenzen. (shrink)