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Felix Kaufmanns Wissenschaftstheorie Hans-Georg Zilian. X KAUFMANN, DIE ÖKONOMEN UND DAS A PRIORI Bei den österreichischen Grenznutzentheoretikern, mit deren Arbeiten sich Kaufmann vor allem auseinandersetzte, ist von ...

Justice, equality, and righteousness—these are some of our greatest moral convictions. Yet in times of social conflict, morals can become rigid, making religious war, ethnic cleansing, and political purges possible. Morality, therefore, can be viewed as pathology-a rhetorical, psychological, and social tool that is used and abused as a weapon. An expert on Eastern philosophies and social systems theory, Hans-Georg Moeller questions the perceived goodness of morality and those who claim morality is inherently positive. Critiquing the ethical "fanaticism" of (...) Western moralists, such as Immanuel Kant, Lawrence Kohlberg, John Rawls, and the utilitarians, Moeller points to the absurd fundamentalisms and impracticable prescriptions arising from definitions of good. Instead he advances a theory of "moral foolishness," or moral asceticism, extracted from the "amoral" philosophers of East Asia and such thinkers as Ludwig Wittgenstein and Niklas Luhmann. The moral fool doesn't understand why ethics are necessarily good, and he isn't convinced that the moral perspective is always positive. In this way he is like most people, and Moeller defends this foolishness against ethical pathologies that support the death penalty, just wars, and even Jerry Springer's crude moral theater. Comparing and contrasting the religious philosophies of Christianity, Daoism, and Zen Buddhism, Moeller presents a persuasive argument in favor of amorality. (shrink)

Nachdem den Hoffnungen, die sich in der Rede vom »Spätkapitalismus« noch anmeldeten, keine materielle Gewalt mehr eignet, ist es in der Theorie fade geworden. Das Wursteln in der Positivität ersetzt die Arbeit des Begriffs. Gleichwohl gehört es zu den Schönheiten dieser Zeit, daß eben diese Brunft zur Anpassung sich als »reflexive Moderne« aufspreizt. Dies Denken ordnet an, sich einzurichten und abzufinden. Auch die Philosophie hat dem Überschuß des Denkens entsagt und verhökert sich als ethische Lebenshilfe für Industrie, Tourismus, Naturheilkunde. Die (...) »Kryptogramme der Macht« attackieren diese Selbstgefälligkeit. »Die Totalität der Bilderwelt, die die tägliche Produktion von Geschichte sofort ins Vergessen drängt, so als seien die Bilder die Welt selber, vereitelt jeden Versuch historischer Erkenntnis. Die unendliche Zerlegbarkeit sich vollziehender Geschichte macht aus den sozialen Ereignissen austauschbare digitale Quantitäten. Die Bilder lassen die Welt verschwinden; das einst erkennende Subjekt ist auf der Flucht vor sich selber. Dies macht Angst; Freud spricht von frei fluktuierenden Ängsten, die mit Gewalt Halt suchen. Gewalt mag die Flucht der Bilder vielleicht einzudämmen. Wenn eine Gesellschaft große Teile der Bevölkerung durch Arbeitslosigkeit auslagert und durch die Verschiebung der Sexualität auf Gewalt Ökonomie und Phantasie falsch versöhnt, dann ist die Kultur im Nerv getroffen: in der Struktur der Reproduktion selbst. Die Auslagerung der Arbeitslosen als nutzloser Sozialversicherungsballast erheischt eine gigantische Werteproduktion für die ›heile‹ Welt. Die Gewaltförmigkeit von Technik und Kommunikation zeigt die Abenddämmerung der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft an. Das ist das dunkle Afrika, das wir zu entdecken haben.« Helmut Reinickes Attacken zielen auf die dunklen Stellen in der Genesis des Bewußtseins der ›Moderne‹, decken das Heteronome auf in der Geschichte der Philosophie, verweilen im Nebensächlichen und treiben sich herum im Immobilienhandel mit tradierten ontologischen Standorten. Sie treffen die Ducke der Menschen, das Wohlbefinden in der Knechtschaft, die Ästhetisierung der Herrschaft. Das Durchstreifen des subgeschichtlichen Terrains übt den Angriff mit der linken Hand – am Höhlenfeuer Platons, in den Träumen des Descartes, betreffs der Gegengewalt jüdischer Gauner, gegen den Kultus der Technik. (shrink)

Introduces contemporary American philosophy of technology through six of its leading figures. The six American philosophers of technology whose work is profiled in this clear and concise introduction to the field—Albert Borgmann, Hubert Dreyfus, Andrew Feenberg, Donna Haraway, Don Ihde, and Langdon Winner—represent a new, empirical direction in the philosophical study of technology that has developed mainly in North America. In place of the grand philosophical schemes of the classical generation of European philosophers of technology, the contemporary American generation addresses (...) concrete technological practices and the co-evolution of technology and society in modern culture. Six Dutch philosophers associated with Twente University survey and critique the full scope and development of their American colleagues’ work, often illustrating shifts from earlier to more recent interests. Individual chapters focus on Borgmann’s engagement with technology and everyday life; Dreyfus’s work on the limits of artificial intelligence; Feenberg’s perspectives on the cultural and social possibilities opened by technologies; Haraway’s conception of the cyborg and its attendant blurring of boundaries; Ihde’s explorations of the place of technology in the lifeworld; and Winner’s fascination with the moral and political implications of modern technologies. American Philosophy of Technology offers an insightful and readable introduction to this new and distinctly American philosophical turn. Contributors are Hans Achterhuis, Philip Brey, René Munnik, Martijntje Smits, Pieter Tijmes, and Peter-Paul Verbeek. (shrink)

In this book Han Thomas Adriaenssen offers the first comparative exploration of the sceptical reception of representationalism in medieval and early modern philosophy. Descartes is traditionally credited with inaugurating a new kind of scepticism by saying that the direct objects of perception are images in the mind, not external objects, but Adriaenssen shows that as early as the thirteenth century, critics had already found similar problems in Aquinas's theory of representation. He charts the attempts of philosophers in both periods to (...) grapple with these problems, and shows how in order to address the challenges of scepticism and representation, modern philosophers in the wake of Descartes often breathed new life into old ideas, remoulding them in ways that we are just beginning to understand. His book will be valuable for historians interested in the medieval background to early modern thought, and to medievalists looking at continuity with the early modern period. -/- . (shrink)

The work of Thomas White represents a systematic attempt to combine the best of the new science of the seventeenth century with the best of Aristotelian tradition. This attempt earned him the criticism of Hobbes and the praise of Leibniz, but today, most of his attempts to navigate between traditions remain to be explored in detail. This paper does so for his ontology of accidents. It argues that his criticism of accidents in the category of location as entities over and (...) above substances was likely aimed at Francisco Suárez, and shows how White’s worries about the analysis of location were linked with his broader cosmological views. White rejects real qualities, but holds that the quantity of a substance is somehow distinct from its bearer. This reveals a common ground with some of his scholastic interlocutors, but lays bare a deep disagreement with thinkers like Descartes on the nature of matter. (shrink)

Beherrschten vor 20 Jahren noch Industriekonglomerate, Energiekonzerne und Banken die Rangliste der wertvollsten Unternehmen, wurden diese längst von Internetgiganten wie Google, Apple, Amazon und Tencent abgelöst. Digitale Technik ist allgegenwärtig: Wir tragen Hochleistungsrechner in unseren Taschen herum, Waschmaschinen können sich mit dem Internet verbinden. Doch erschöpft sich darin das Neue am digitalen Kapitalismus? 0Philipp Staab beleuchtet den digitalen Kapitalismus aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven, um ihn präziser auf den Begriff zu bringen. Er zeigt, wie digitale Überwachungs- und Bewertungspraktiken in immer mehr Bereiche (...) der Wirtschaft vordringen und dabei die soziale Ungleichheit verschärfen. Das Spezifische am digitalen Kapitalismus, so Staab, ist die Herausbildung 'proprietärer Märkte': Kam es früher darauf an, Dinge herzustellen und mit Gewinn zu verkaufen, geht es im Zeitalter der Unknappheit um das Eigentum an den Märkten selbst. (shrink)

1. Frühe Schriften.--2. Janaer Schriften, 1801-1807.--3. Phänomenologie des Geistes.--4. Nürnberger und Heidelberger Schriften, 1808-1817.--5-6. Wissenschaft der Logik.--7. Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts.--8-10. Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften im Grundrisse (1830).--11. Berliner Schriften, 1818-1831.--12. Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Geschichte.--13-15. Vorlesungen über die Ästhetik.--16-17. Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Religion.--18-20. Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der Philosophie.

Machines will attain human levels of intelligence by the year 2040, predicts robotics expert Hans Moravec. And by 2050, they will have far surpassed us. In this mind-bending new book, Hans Moravec takes the reader on a roller coaster ride packed with such startling predictions. He tells us, for instance, that in the not-too-distant future, an army of robots will displace workers, causing massive, unprecedented unemployment. But then, says Moravec, a period of very comfortable existence will follow, as (...) humans benefit from a fully automated economy. And eventually, as machines evolve far beyond humanity, robots will supplant us. But if Moravec predicts the end of the domination by human beings, his is not a bleak vision. Far from railing against a future in which machines rule the world, Moravec embraces it, taking the startling view that intelligent robots will actually be our evolutionary heirs. "Intelligent machines, which will grow from us, learn our skills, and share our goals and values, can be viewed as children of our minds." And since they are our children, we will want them to outdistance us. In fact, in a bid for immortality, many of our descendants will choose to transform into "ex humans," as they upload themselves into advanced computers. We will become our children and live forever. In his provocative new book, the highly anticipated follow-up to his bestselling volume Mind Children, Moravec charts the trajectory of robotics in breathtaking detail. A must read for artificial intelligence, technology, and computer enthusiasts, Moravec's freewheeling but informed speculations present a future far different than we ever dared imagine. (shrink)

Loneliness in medicine is a serious problem not just for patients, for whom illness is intrinsically isolating, but also for physicians in the contemporary condition of medicine. We explore this problem by investigating the ideal physician-patient relationship, whose analogy with friendship has held enduring normative appeal. Drawing from Talbot Brewer and Nir Ben-Moshe, we argue that this appeal lies in a dynamic form of companionship incompatible with static models of friendship-like physician-patient relationships: a mutual refinement of embodied virtue that draws (...) both persons together. The ideal physician-patient relationship has a dialectical character that fosters each member's improvement of phenomenologically recognizing and embodying moral virtues. A key component of this dynamic is a commitment to the common goal of the patient's health, realized through joint interactivities and conversations over time. The physician's presence to the patient's suffering—understood best as an alienating phenomenological condition for the patient—orients and discloses possibilities for virtuous caregiving by structuring the meanings of the goals, conversations, and joint narrative constitutive of their relationship. Presence to suffering, paradoxically, is perhaps an important prerequisite for this dynamic partnership. These activities dialectically build an interpretive horizon of understanding through which moral goods and character refinement—in and for the other—may become revealed for both persons in their shared being-in-the-world. This analysis of suffering, mood, and revealing of (possible) moral goods has implications for addressing the modern problem of loneliness for patients and physicians, who are increasingly inhibited from building flourishing relationships with each other. (shrink)