Spaces of Geographical Thought: Deconstructing Human Geography's Binaries Paul Cloke & Ron Johnston London and Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage Publications, 2005, viii + 224 pp., cloth, $102.00, pape...

Arguing for controversial readings of many of the canonical figures, the book also focuses on lesser-known writers such as Pierre-Sylvain Regis, Nicolas ...

On a currently popular reading of Locke, an idea represents its cause, or what God intended to be its cause. Against Martha Bolton and my former self (among others), I argue that Locke cannot hold such a view, since it sins against his epistemology and theory of abstraction. I argue that Locke is committed to a resemblance theory of representation, with the result that ideas of secondary qualities are not representations.

Successful transitions to a sustainable bioeconomy require novel technologies, processes, and practices as well as a general agreement about the overarching normative direction of innovation. Both requirements necessarily involve collective action by those individuals who purchase, use, and co-produce novelties: the consumers. Based on theoretical considerations borrowed from evolutionary innovation economics and consumer social responsibility, we explore to what extent consumers’ scope of action is addressed in the scientific bioeconomy literature. We do so by systematically reviewing bioeconomy-related publications according to (...) the extent to which consumers are regarded as passive vs. active, and different domains of consumer responsibility. We find all aspects of active consumption considered to varying degrees but observe little interconnection between domains. In sum, our paper contributes to the bioeconomy literature by developing a novel coding scheme that allows us to pinpoint different aspects of consumer activity, which have been considered in a rather isolated and undifferentiated manner. Combined with our theoretical considerations, the results of our review reveal a central research gap which should be taken up in future empirical and conceptual bioeconomy research. The system-spanning nature of a sustainable bioeconomy demands an equally holistic exploration of the consumers’ prospective and shared responsibility for contributing to its coming of age, ranging from the procurement of information on bio-based products and services to their disposal. (shrink)

Philosophers of the modern period are often presented as having made an elementary error: that of confounding the attitude one adopts toward a proposition with its content. By examining the works of Locke and the Port-Royalians, I show that this accusation is ill-founded and that Locke, in particular, has the resources to construct a theory of propositional attitudes.

Tracing different kinds of semiotic practices in boxing, in our text we provide a detailed reconstruction of the way athletes and other participants interpret each other’s actions and integrate these interpretations in their own course of motor action. Drawing on an ethnomethodological approach we argue that these interpretations should not be seen as being isolated from their contextual background. This context and the semiotic actions taking place within them mutually elaborate one another. Analyzing several video recordings and their transcripts, we (...) show how the social interaction of boxing fights consists of a “multi-layeredness of semiotic practice.” These layers of semiotic practice are complemented by what we introduce as asemiotic practices. Asemiotic practices exploit semiotic routines that are a part of boxing and attempt at weakening and overcoming the opponent during the fight thus eventually destroying his or her semiotic capacities. (shrink)

Throughout his mature writings, Berkeley speaks of minds as substances that underlie or support ideas. After initially flirting with a Humean account, according to which minds are nothing but ‘congeries of Perceptions’, Berkeley went on to claim that a mind is a ‘perceiving, active being … entirely distinct’ from its ideas. Despite his immaterialism, Berkeley retains the traditional category of substance and gives it pride of place in his ontology. Ideas, by contrast, are ‘fleeting and dependent beings’ that must be (...) supported by a mental substance. There is no doubt that Berkeley's conception of the relationship between minds and ideas is non-traditional, but that fact does not undercut his commitment to the traditional conception of substance. (shrink)

Hume's views on language have been widely misunderstood. Typical discussions cast Hume as either a linguistic idealist who holds that words refer to ideas or a proto-verificationist. I argue that both readings are wide of the mark and develop my own positive account. Humean signification emerges as a relation whereby a word can both indicate ideas in the mind of the speaker and cause us to have those ideas. If I am right, Hume offers a consistent view on meaning that (...) is neither linguistic idealism nor positivism but a genuine alternative to these, one that deserves to be taken seriously. (shrink)

In seiner "Psychologie der Weltanschauungen" hat Karl Jaspers erstmals die seelischen Quellen und geistigen Typen der Weltanschauungen und der Philosophie aus psychologischer Sicht dargestellt. Ziel und Aufgabe seiner Untersuchung war es, zu verstehen, welche irreduziblen Grundkräfte die Seele bewegen, um das menschliche Leben auch noch in den Grenzsituationen bewältigen zu können. Dazu unterscheidet Jaspers zwischen Einstellungen, Weltbildern und Geistestypen als Elementen der jeweiligen Weltanschauung. Um das Leben des menschlichen Geistes zu verstehen, muss man nach Jaspers zwischen aktuellen Wertungen, abstrahierten Werten, (...) persönlichen und kollektiven Wertehorizonten, situativen Wertekollisionen und diversen Wertehierachien unterscheiden. An Wertentscheidungen und Werturteilen sind nicht nur Gefühle, sondern auch der Verstand und der Wille beteiligt. Das Leiden ist der gemeinsame Grundzug aller Grenzsituationen, wie z.B. Kampf, Schuld und Tod, ist das Leiden der Menschen an etwas Unabänderlichen des menschlichen Daseins. In den Grenzsituationen kommt es nicht selten zu einem existenziellen Konflikt zwischen Hoffnung und Verzweiflung und verschiedene Geistestypen bedürfen eines existenziellen Haltes und letzten Grundes ihrer Existenz. Nach jaspers gibt es vier Typen der Reaktion auf die Grenzsituationen: Resignation, Weltflucht, Heroismus und Religiosität. Verbreiteter sind heute jedoch Versuche der Bewältigung durch Hedonismus und Konsumismus, die keinen letzten Halt bieten, sondern nur eine tiefere Verzweiflung kaschieren. (shrink)

Technologies of communication condition human sense-making. They do so by creating the social environment we inhabit and extending their structural biases and logics through human use. As such, this essay inquires into the prevailing habits of mind in the digital era. Employing a media ecology of communication, I argue that digital computers and microprocessors are defined by three structural properties and, hence, underlying logics: digitization (binary code), algorithmic execution (input/output), and efficiency (machine logic). Repeated exposure to these logics cultivates a (...) digital mind, a model of thinking, communicating, and sense-making characterized by intransigence, impertinence, and impulsivity. I conclude the essay by exploring the broader implications of a digital mind, paying particular attention to the challenges it poses to democratic politics. (shrink)

I claim that Berkeley's main argument against abstraction comes into focus only when we see Descartes as one of its targets. Berkeley does not deploy Winkler's impossibility argument but instead argues that what is impossible is inconceivable. Since Descartes conceives of extension as a determinable, and since determinables cannot exist as such, he falls within the scope of Berkeley's argument.

Obwohl Jaspers in seiner Philosophie Methoden und Motive der Phänomenologie Husserls und der Hermeneutik Diltheys aufgenommen hatte, hat er sich nicht besonders für die Leibphilosophie interessiert. Das bedeutet jedoch nicht, dass der menschliche Leib in seinem Denken gar nicht vorkommt. Aber es handelt sich bei ihm jedoch nicht um ein Schlüsselthema, sondern um ein randständiges Phänomen. Der menschliche Leib ist bei Jaspers die vitale Basis der überlieferten Trias von Leib, Seele und Geist. Damit steht Jaspers in der klassischen Traditionslinie des (...) europäischen Denkens von Platon und Aristoteles bis zu Descartes und Kant. Anders als beim platonischen Sokrates gibt es bei Jaspers jedoch keine Herabsetzung des Körpers oder Abwertung des Leiblichen. Und anders als in der subversiven Tradition der empiristischen Skepsis gibt es bei ihm aber auch keine Vernachlässigung des Geistes. Im Vergleich des Menschen mit den Tieren ist der Geist nicht nur irgendein beliebiges, auf Sprache, Denken und Vernunft basierendes Merkmal, das den Menschen zufällig von den Tieren unterscheidet, sondern die wesentliche menschliche Eigenart, die es zu verstehen gilt, wenn man die spezifisch menschliche Art und Weise des Daseins in der Welt verstehen möchte, die Jaspers 'Existenz' nennt. Existenz zu verstehen ist die eigentliche Aufgabe der Philosophie, zumal die Wissenschaften dies nicht leisten können. (shrink)

Despite their influence on later philosophers such as Hume, Malebranche's central arguments for occasionalism remain deeply puzzling. Both the famous ‘no necessary connection’ argument and what I call the epistemic argument include assumptions – e.g., that a true cause is logically necessarily connected to its effect – that seem unmotivated, even in their context. I argue that a proper understanding of late scholastic views lets us see why Malebranche would make this assumption. Both arguments turn on the claim that a (...) volition is the only candidate for a cause, because only a volition can include an effect as its intentional content. (shrink)

The way of laws is as much a defining feature of the modern period as the way of ideas; but the way of laws is hardly without its forks. Both before and after Descartes, there are philosophers using the concept to carve out a very different position from his, one that is entirely disconnected from God or God’s will. I argue that Francis Bacon and Baruch Spinoza treat laws as dispositions that derive from a thing’s nature. This reading upends the (...) currently orthodox treatment of Spinoza’s laws as infinite modes, and calls for a re-conception of his metaphysics of causation. (shrink)

The popular Cartesian reading of George Berkeley's philosophy of mind mischaracterizes his views on the relations between substance and essence and between an idea and the act of thought in which it figures. I argue that Berkeley rejects Descartes's tripartite taxonomy of distinctions and makes use of a fourth kind of distinction. In addition to illuminating Berkeley's ontology of mind, this fourth distinction allows us to dissolve an important dilemma raised by Kenneth Winkler.

Der lebendige Mensch befindet sich immer zwischen Erfahrung und Metaphysik, er ist Natur und Freiheit zugleich. Anders gesagt erfährt sich der von Welt umgebende Mensch als ein freiheitliches Wesen, das unter einem bedingungslosen moralischen Sollensanspruch steht, der an keine Kontingenz geknüpft ist. Betrachten wir die moralische Dimension genauer, so erkennen wir moralischen Pflichten gegenüber uns selbst und anderen als Gebote Gottes.1 Das bewusste Leben selbst gibt uns Zwecke, die wir weder theoretisch noch praktisch auf den Begriff bringen können.2 Kant spricht (...) vom Leben als ein Vermögen, dass einen inneren selbst-bestimmten Anstoß zum praktischen Handeln im Sinne einer inneren Kausalität darstellt. Wir müssen ein naturgemäßes Leben von einem guten Leben unterscheiden. Idealiter gesehen oder im Zustand der Glückseligkeit ist das natürliche und das moralisch gute Leben ein und das selbe.3 Ein natürliches und ein gutes Leben soll der Mensch führen, denn die Natur ermöglicht sittliches Handeln und sittliches Handeln macht natürliches Leben lebenswerter. Kant hat in seiner epochalen Kritik der Urteilkraft ein für alle mal gezeigt, dass nur der Mensch unbedingter Endzweck der Schöpfung ist, nicht als natürliches sondern als ein moralisches Wesen betrachtet, denn »im Menschen, aber auch in diesem nur als Subjekte der Moralität, ist die unbedingte Gesetzgebung in Ansehung der Zwecke anzutreffen, welche ihn also allein fähig macht, ein Endzweck zu sein, dem die ganze Natur teleologisch untergeordnet ist.4« So gesehen ist der Mensch sich eines physikotheologischen Verhältnisses bewusst und muss es aushalten, und es fragt sich wie der Hiatus zwischen Natur und Freiheit zu denken ist. (shrink)

Platónov Sókratés v záverečnom príhovore pred hlasovaním o svojej vine či nevine sudcom pripomína, že má rodinu, ktorá zahŕňa dospievajúceho syna a dvoch malých chlapcov. Pritom odkazuje na verše z Homérovej Odyssey, aby poukázal na skutočnosť, že sa nenarodil „ani z duba ani zo skaly“ (34d). Cieľom článku bude analyzovať a interpretovať zmysel uvedenej citácie v rámci Sókratovej argumentácie. V prvej časti sa autor sústredí na komparáciu Homérovho verša s jeho podobou v Platónovej Apológii. V druhej časti bude skúmať, akú (...) stratégiu Sókratés sledoval tým, keď sa odvolal na uvedený verš. V záverečnej časti sa zameria na otázku, z akého dôvodu Platónov Sókratés cituje Homéra napriek svojmu predchádzajúcemu vyhláseniu, že básnici nedisponujú múdrosťou. (shrink)

Objective Adolescents have had very limited access to research on biomedical prevention interventions despite high rates of HIV acquisition. One concern is that adolescents are a vulnerable population, and trials carry a possibility of harm, requiring investigators to take additional precautions. Of particular concern is preventive misconception, or the overestimation of personal protection that is afforded by enrolment in a prevention intervention trial. Methods As part of a larger study of preventive misconception in adolescent HIV vaccine trials, we interviewed 33 (...) male and female 16–19-year-olds who have sex with men. Participants underwent a simulated HIV vaccine trial consent process, and then completed a semistructured interview about their understanding and opinions related to enrolment in a HIV vaccine trial. A grounded theory analysis looked for shared concepts, and focused on the content and process of adolescent participants’ understanding of HIV vaccination and the components of preventive misconception, including experiment, placebo and randomisation. Results Across interviews, adolescents demonstrated active processing of information, in which they questioned the interviewer, verbally worked out their answers based upon information provided, and corrected themselves. We observed a wide variety of understanding of research concepts. While most understood experiment and placebo, fewer understood randomisation. All understood the need for safer sex even if they did not understand the more basic concepts. Conclusions Education about basic concepts related to clinical trials, time to absorb materials and assessment of understanding may be necessary in future biomedical prevention trials. (shrink)

Das Projekt Weltethos von Hans Küng, dem Tübinger katholischen Theologen für Ökumenische Theologie, ist ein religionswissenschaftliches Forschungsprojekt über den gegenwärtigen Stand der großen Weltreligionen und zugleich ein Beitrag zum Frieden stiftenden Dialog der Weltreligionen über gemeinsame ethische Grundlagen ihres jeweils religiös fundierten Ethos. Es geht also um Aufklärung über die aktuelle Lage der Religionen, um Erinnerung an ihre gemeinsamen Werte und Normen und um eine Kritik an den Religionen, insofern sie selbst gegen ihre gemeinsamen ethischen Werte und Normen verstoßen.

Die Interpretation (seit dem 17. Jahrhundert auch aHermeneutiko) ist das wichtigste methodische Hilfsmittel der Geisteswissenschaften. Die Erforschung ihrer fruehneuzeitlichen Urspruenge ist zwar im letzten Jahrzehnt ein Stueck vorangekommen, aber nach wie vor gibt es keine zusammenfassende Geschichte der juristischen, der theologischen oder der allgemeinen Hermeneutik und schon gar keinen facheruebergreifenden Vergleich. Der vorliegende Band faat die Ertrage der bisherigen Forschung zusammen und liefert darueber hinaus wichtige Bausteine zu einer vergleichenden Geschichte der Hermeneutik. Im Mittelpunkt steht dabei die bisher vernachlassigte Geschichte (...) der juristischen Interpretation. "Ohne Zweifel stellt der Band einen wichtigen Schritt auf dem Weg zu einer vergleichenden Geschichte der Hermeneutik dar." Das Historisch-Politische Buch "a wird fuer kuenftige Arbeiten zur Geschichte der Methodenlehre unverzichtbar sein." Zeitschrift fuer Neuere Rechtsgeschichte Aus dem Inhalt: Reformation und Humanismus: Beitrage von Ulrich Kopf zu Luther, Ian Maclean und Maximiliane Kriechbaum zur medizinischen und juristischen Hermeneutik 17. Jahrhundert und Aufklarung: Beitrage von Lutz Danneberg zur allgemeinen Hermeneutik, Klaus Luig zur Vertragsauslegung, Clausdieter Schott, Gerhard Otte und Joachim Hruschka zur Gesetzesauslegung Romantische Hermeneutik: Beitrage von Hermann Beisler zu Friedrich Schlegel, Guenter Meckenstock und Oliver R. Scholz zu Schleiermacher, Joachim Rueckert und Axel Buehler zu Savigny. (shrink)

Unlike many of Descartes’s other followers, Pierre-Sylvain Re´gis resists the temptations of occasionalism. By marrying the ontology of mechanism with the causal structure of concurrentism, Re´gis arrives at a novel view that both acknowledges God’s role in natural events and preserves the causal powers of bodies. I set out Re´gis’s position, focusing on his arguments against occasionalism and his responses to Malebranche’s ‘no necessary connection’ and divine concursus arguments.

How language works — its functions, mechanisms, and limitations — matters to the early moderns as much as it does to contemporary philosophers. Many of the moderns make reflection on language central to their philosophical projects, both as a tool for explaining human cognition and as a weapon to be used against competing views. Even in philosophers for whom language is less central, we can find important connections between their views on language and their other philosophical commitments.

In place of traditional approaches in environmental ethics, I suggest an improved approach, with respect to the goal of improving the condition of the natural environment, called 'world mediation' through the use of Hannah Arendt's theory of the vita activa . This approach focuses on the relationship between human made worlds and nature, from which a theory of value is suggested. Intrinsic value theory and nature-culture monism are both criticized for an insufficient attention paid toward the human-nature relationship.

Name der Zeitschrift: Jahrbuch für Wissenschaft und Ethik Jahrgang: 16 Heft: 1 Seiten: 95-114.

Much recent philosophy of perception is preoccupied with finding a place for phenomenal character in a physical world. By contrast, Locke’s philosophy of sensory perception is an episode in his ‘Historical, plain method’ and seeks to map out the processes by which we experience ordinary objects. On Locke’s account, our ideas of primary and secondary qualities enter the mind ‘simple and unmixed’; having an idea of a colour, for example, is not necessary for the visual experience of a shape. An (...) analysis of the Molyneux problem reveals that, for Locke, judgment corrects the initial two-dimensional idea vision presents us with. Nevertheless, Locke’s position is problematic: he has no account of how we pair ideas of primary and secondary qualities, nor of how we could experience a colourless visual idea of shape. (shrink)

Service-Robotic—mainly defined as “non-industrial robotics”—is identified as the next economical success story to be expected after robots have been ubiquitously implemented into industrial production lines. Under the heading of service-robotic, we found a widespread area of applications reaching from robotics in agriculture and in the public transportation system to service robots applied in private homes. We propose for our interdisciplinary perspective of technology assessment to take the human user/worker as common focus. In some cases, the user/worker is the effective subject (...) acting by means of and in cooperation with a service robot; in other cases, the user/worker might become a pure object of the respective robotic system, for example, as a patient in a hospital. In this paper, we present a comprehensive interdisciplinary framework, which allows us to scrutinize some of the most relevant applications of service robotics; we propose to combine technical, economical, legal, philosophical/ethical, and psychological perspectives in order to design a thorough and comprehensive expert-based technology assessment. This allows us to understand the potentials as well as the limits and even the threats connected with the ongoing and the planned implementation of service robots into human lifeworld—particularly of those technical systems displaying increasing grades of autonomy. (shrink)

This article canvases the main areas of controversy: the nature of Lockean signification and his position on propositions and particles.

Powers ontologies are currently enjoying a resurgence. This would be dispiriting news for the moderns; in their eyes, to imbue bodies with powers is to slide back into the scholastic slime from which they helped philosophy crawl. I focus on Descartes’s ‘little souls’ argument, which points to a genuine and, I think persisting, defect in powers theories. The problem is that an Aristotelian power is intrinsic to whatever has it. Once this move is accepted, it becomes very hard to see (...) how humble matter could have such a thing. It is as if each empowered object were possessed of a little soul that directs it and governs its behavior. Instead of attempting to resurrect the Aristotelian power theory, contemporary philosophers would be best served by taking their inspiration from its early modern replacement, devised by John Locke and Robert Boyle. On this view, powers are internal relations, not monadic properties intrinsic to their bearers. This move at once drains away the mysterious directedness of Aristotelian powers and solves the contemporary version of the little souls argument, Neil Williams’s ‘problem of fit.’. (shrink)