It is shown in a literature review, that in the Typostrophic Theory autonomous mechanisms in the organism are considered as the factors which play a decisive role in orienting and controlling the evolutionary process. Selection is a controlling factor of only minor importance. The Synthetic Theory, on the other side, says that phylogenetic changes are not random or controlled by “internal factors” but can always be considered as adaptive remodellings. They are achieved by selection acting on the variation within populations. (...) Ecological, historical and “bautechnische” factors are considered as limiting mechanisms in the evolutionary process. They are discussed in detail in the text. (shrink)

Evolutionary change is opportunistic, but its course is strongly constrained in several fundamental ways. These constraints (historical/phylogenetic, functional/adaptive, constructional/morphogenetic) and their dynamic relationships are discussed here and shown to constitute the conceptual framework of Constructional Morphology. Notwithstanding recent published opinions which claim that the discovery of constraints renders Neodarwinian selection theory obsolete, we regard the insights of Constructional Morphology as being entirely consistent with this theory. As is shown here in the case of the Hyracoidea, formal analysis of the constraints (...) which have framed the evolution of various characters extends our understanding of the evolution of a taxon. (shrink)

Meike Wagner and Wolf-Dieter Ernst Performing the Matrix. Mediating Cultural Performances Neo: The matrix? Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is? ...

This contribution will deal with granting rights to nature. We will define rights of nature as a social process of creating institutions which are linked to philosophical discourses on perceptions of nature. The idea is to use different narratives in order to understand how rights of nature have been and can be accomplished/derived by humans. Then we will give hints for future directions of right detection embedded in eco-systems. We will specifically focus on the right derivation needed for contracting with (...) nature. We take the beaver, the wolf and the black tern as examples and generalize on case specific findings. All of them need habitats and landscapes in which they can live. The message is that landscapes and habitats are part of rights of nature and that they must be also addressed beyond individual species. Additionally, we will use different strains of thought to get hints on a practical establishing of rights of nature. (shrink)

Der Marburger Rechtsphilosoph Ernst Wolf ist in den 1950er Jahren von einer idealen Rechtsphilosophie zu seiner Lehre von der Realität rechtlicher Verhältnisse übergegangen. Am Ende seines Lebens sind ihm an seiner Realen Rechtslehre Zweifel gekommen. Der Band zeichnet diese Entwicklungen nach.

Otto A. Böhmer erzählt von Leben und Werk des Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855), der, wie Ernst Bloch einmal anmerkte, einer „der größten Witzemacher im hohen Stil war, die es gegeben hat“. Wer sich heute, aus welchen Gründen auch immer, nicht mehr auf Kierkegaards christliche Grundüberzeugung einlassen möchte, kann dennoch von ihm lernen – denn die Kunst der Selbstfindung hat er auf ein Niveau gebracht, das von heutigen Sinnsuchern kaum mehr erreicht wird. Selbsterfahrung bedeutet für Kierkegaard eine erst behutsame, dann unnachgiebige (...) Seelenerkundung, die sich als vertrauensbildende Maßnahme erweist und zu bewähren hat. Das Ich, das aus dieser Selbsterfahrung hervorgeht, ist demütig und stolz zugleich. es schaut zum Himmel auf und steht mit beiden Beinen auf der Erde. (shrink)

La propuesta se detiene en analizar el eco del pensamiento utópico de Ernst Bloch presente en los ensayos de Christa Wolf “Der Schatten eines Traumes. Karoline von Günderrode -ein Entwurf” (1978) y “Nun ja! Das nächste Leben geht aber heute an. Ein Brief über die Bettine” (1979). Asimismo, se profundizará la caracterización del romanticismo de Wolf como revolucionario utópico, que implica una crítica a la Modernidad y a la civilización capitalista y que está ligado al feminismo.

Excerpt from Substanzbegriff und Funktionsbegriff: Untersuchungen Uber die Grundfragen der Erkenntniskritik Die erste Anregung zu den Untersuchungen, die dieser Band enthalt, ist mir aus Studien zur Philosophie der Mathe matik erwachsen. Indem ich versuchte, von Seiten der Logik aus einen Zugang zu den Grundbegriffen der Mathematik zu gewinnen, erwies es sich vor allem als notwendig, die B e g r i f f s f u n k t i 0 n e'lhsimaher zu zergliedern und auf ihre Voraussetzungen zuruckzufuhren. Hier (...) aber machte sich alsbald eine eigentumliche Schwierigkeit geltend: die her kommliche logische Lehre vom Begriff zeigte sich in ihren bekannten Hauptzugen als unzureichend, die Probleme, zu denen die Prinzipienlehre der Mathematik hinfuhrt, auch nur vollstandig z u b e z e i c h n e n. Die exakte Wissenschaft war hier, wie sich mir immer deutlicher zu ergeben schien, zu Fragen gelangt, fur welche die Formensprache der tradi tionellen Logik kein genaues Correlat besitzt. Der sachliche Gehalt der mathematischen Erkenntnisse wies auf eine Grund form des Begriffs zuruck, die in der Logik selbst nicht zu klarer Bezeichnung und Anerkennung gekommen war. Ins besondere waren es Untersuchungen jiber den Reihenbegriff und den Grenzbegriff (deren spezielles Ergebnis in die allgemeineren Erorterungen dieses Buches nich? 3iffge nommen werden konnte), die diese Uberzeugung in mir be festigten und damit zu einer erneuten Analyse der Prinzipien der Begriffsbildung selbsfhindrangten. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. (shrink)

A collection of Essays dealing with themes in the philosophy of Wilfrid Sellars.

v. 1. Language.--v. 2. Mythical thought.--v. 3. The phenomenology of knowledge.--v. 4. The metaphysics of symbolic forms.

Many academic works as well as many works of art are such that if they had never been produced, no one would be worse off. Yet it is hard to resist the judgment that some such works are good nonetheless. We are rightly grateful that these works were created; we rightly admire them, appreciate them, and take pains to preserve them. And the authors and artists who produced them have reason to be proud. This should lead us to question the (...) view that in order for a thing to be good, in a sense which implies that the thing merits our attention and positive concern, it needs to be good for someone or something whose welfare is enhanced by it. (shrink)

This is an important book for students, biologists, and general readers interested in the history of ideas--especially ideas that have radically altered our ...

"Cassirer employs his remarkable gift of lucidity to explain the major ideas and intellectual issues that emerged in the course of nineteenth century scientific and historical thinking. The translators have done an excellent job in reproducing his clarity in English. There is no better place for an intelligent reader to find out, with a minimum of technical language, what was really happening during the great intellectual movement between the age of Newton and our own."—_New York Times._.

I analyze a number of widespread misconceptions concerning species. The species category, defined by a concept, denotes the rank of a species taxon in the Linnaean hierarchy. Biological species are reproducing isolated from each other, which protects the integrity of their genotypes. Degree of morphological difference is not an appropriate species definition. Unequal rates of evolution of different characters and lack of information on the mating potential of isolated populations are the major difficulties in the demarcation of species taxa.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain (...) in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

This book grew out of that conviction, and as such it brought a fresh perspective to some of the rarely examined assumptions and methods of analysis.