While writing this thesis, there were many things I wanted to get right. I wanted to get the data right. I wanted to get my analysis of the data right. I certainly wanted to get all my citations right, which can get pretty tricky when one is trying to finish a chapter at 2am. But if an error did creep in somewhere in the body of the thesis, that is not a disaster. Sooner or later, I will get a chance (...) to correct it in a future publication. However, this part of the thesis, which sits right at the beginning but was among the last to be written, is different. I only have one opportunity to express, in print, how thankful I am to the people whose assistance was so important to me over the past years. Which is unfortunate, since if I were to truly elaborate all I am thankful for, these acknowledgements would be the lengthiest chapter of the thesis. But I hope this brief version will suffice in its stead. (shrink)

Bare plurals (dogs) behave in ways that quantified plurals (some dogs) do not. For instance, while the sentence John owns dogs implies that John owns more than one dog, its negation John does not own dogs does not mean “John does not own more than one dog”, but rather “John does not own a dog”. A second puzzling behavior is known as the dependent plural reading; when in the scope of another plural, the ‘more than one’ meaning of the plural (...) is not distributed over, but the existential force of the plural is. For example, My friends attend good schools requires that each of my friends attend one good school, not more, while at the same time being inappropriate if all my friends attend the same school. This paper shows that both these phenomena, and others, arise from the same cause. Namely, the plural noun itself does not assert ‘more than one’, but rather the plural denotes a predicate that is number neutral (unspecified for cardinality). The ‘more than one’ meaning arises as an scalar implicature, relying on the scalar relationship between the bare plural and its singular alternative, and calculated in a sub-sentential domain; namely, before existential closure of the event variable. Finally, implications of this analysis will be discussed for the analysis of the quantified noun phrases that interact with bare plurals, such as indefinite numeral DPs (three boys), and singular universals (every boy). (shrink)

This paper revisits the question of whether propositions in situation semantics must be persistent [Kratzer (1989). Linguistics and Philosophy, 12, 607–653]. It shows that ignoring persistence causes empirical problems for theories which use quantification over minimal situations as a solution for donkey anaphora [Elbourne (2005). Situations and individuals. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press]. At the same time, modifying these theories to incorporate persistence makes them incompatible with the use of situations for contextual restriction [Kratzer (2004). Ms., University of Massachusetts].

1. Nicholas Robbins argues that, like many other thinkers, Hobbes adopted the monster genre narrative. The commonwealth is interpreted as representing humanity, which is frequently threatened not o...

Baruch (Benedict de) Spinoza was born in Amsterdam in 1632. He belonged to the emigrant Jewish community. He was much influenced by the writings of Descartes. His unorthodox views led him to be excommunicated by the Jewish authorities in 1656. In the following years he devoted himself to his philosophical writings. He derived a modest income from grinding optical lenses. In 1673 he refused an invitation to become professor of philosophy at Heidelberg. Spinoza died at The Hague from consumption in (...) 1677. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Bibliography.

Hölderlin, Kleist, Nietzsche, tres personajes extraordinarios por los que Stefan Zweig, como «psicólogo por pasión, creador por voluntad creadora» sentía un profundo apego. Su inquietud vital los aleja de la contención de Goethe decidido a autoconstruirse: «La fórmula para la vida según Goethe es la representada por el círculo: una línea cerrada, la redondez absoluta que abarca toda existencia, el eterno retorno a uno mismo.» En cambio, «la forma de lo demoníaco», de la inquietud interna en Hölderlin, Kleist y (...) Nietzsche, «se expresa por una parábola: un ascenso rápido e impetuoso en una única dirección, hacia lo superior, lo infinito, una curva perpendicular y una caída brusca.» El demonio, entendido por Stefan Zweig como remanente del caos original del mundo, es quien desafía a los hombres creativos, poseídos por él, y les «arranca de las manos, a la fuerza, el timón de la voluntad, de manera que... son tambaleados por la tempestad, y chocan contra las peñas de su destino.». (shrink)

The roots of the ideal of authenticity in modern Western thought are numerous and complex. In this article, I explore their development in relation to Rousseau’s paradoxical conclusion that complete satisfaction is an aspiration that not only cannot be fulfilled but whose actual realization will make a person miserable. I argue that there is an unresolved tension between the notion of humans as creatures who by nature strive to eliminate suffering to achieve static serenity and the idea that their natural (...) goal in society is to constantly change and enrich themselves. The purpose of this article is not to construct another pessimistic interpretation according to which our most profound desire – happiness – cannot be achieved, but rather, by understanding natural inequality as a historical phenomenon, to shed light on Rousseau’s idea that happiness should be rejected because it contradicts the new foundation of morality: the realization of people’s uniqueness. (shrink)

A Brief History of Moscovia is regarded as a minor, slightly odd composition within the Milton canon. Mostly completed before his total blindness in 1652, it stands in an awkward relationship to his other works, being largely composed of extracts from previous writers. This essay considers Milton's selection of factual content as well as his subtle deviations, at times, from his sources? wording. Milton takes us on a journey beginning with exterior landscapes and moves to graphic anthropological details, in the (...) final chapters shifting from geography to history. All these elements gradually accrue moral emphases, producing not a neutral account but an ethical critique in terms familiar from other Miltonic works, with some patriotic bias. Using R. D. Bedford's superb essay as the starting point, it explores Milton's language at the juncture of statement and evocation. Approaching nearer to the Far Eastern frontier with Cathay, one enters a mysterious realm. Here, the exotic and oriental fire Milton's descriptive imagination. In this combination of knowledge-based detail, moral energy and imaginative and poetic suggestion, Moscovia is in some ways a typically Miltonic work. (shrink)

This is the most complete English edition of Kant's correspondence that has ever been compiled. The letters are concerned with philosophical and scientific topics but many also treat personal, historical, and cultural matters. On one level the letters chart Kant's philosophical development. On another level they expose quirks and foibles, and reveal a good deal about Kant's friendships and philosophical battles with some of the prominent thinkers of the time: Herder, Hamann, Mendelssohn, and Fichte.

This commentary validates the fundamental evolutionary interconnection between the emergence of imitation and the mirror system. We present a novel computational framework for studying the evolutionary origins of imitative behavior and examining the emerging underlying mechanisms. Evolutionary adaptive agents that evolved in this framework demonstrate the emergence of neural “mirror” mechanisms analogous to those found in biological systems.

Drawn from the Prussian Academy edition of Kant's collected works, these letters make it possible to trace the development of Kant's thought from his earliest worries about the topics discussed in the Critique of Pure Reason to his attempts in later life to meet the objections of his critics and erstwhile disciples. "Perhaps the major value of these writings is their demonstration of Kant's own attitude towards his philosophical works."—Paul Arthur Schilpp, Saturday Review.

Änderungen im Bereich der medizinischen Technologie können Änderungen der Begriffswelt, Änderungen der ethischen Perspektiven und Änderungen im Recht hervorrufen. Neue Entwicklungen der Reproduktionstechnik, z.B. in vitro Fertilisation, Leihmutterschaft etc., bilden eine Herausforderung für die traditionellen Konzepte von "Elternschaft", die von uns verlangen, die sonst vorausgesetzte Identität von genetischer Mutter, Geburtsmutter und Sozialmutter etc. zu überdenken. Ich untersuche in diesem Beitrag die möglichen Auswirkungen des Genomprojekts auf einige der geläufigen Annahmen über menschliche Beziehungen, Willensentschlüsse und Tugenden. Ein Beispiel: Würden Sie jemanden (...) heiraten, von dem bekannt ist, daß er/sie in einigen Jahren die Alzheimersche Krankheit ausbilden wird? Würde die Idee einer "lebenslangen Verbindung" hier eine andere moralische Bedeutung erlangen, vielleicht schlicht veralten oder sogar als supererogatorisch einzuschätzen sein? (shrink)

The study of actions is of major importance in social science regardless of whether the investigator is or isn’t a behaviorist. Actions constitute much if not all of an observational substratum which both prompts explanation and confirms prediction. Actions are of interest both as samples of what an animal can do and as symptoms of underlying structures, either psychic or physical. Doubtless, actions as symptoms of underlying structures are, in the long run, of greater importance in social science than actions (...) as samples of capacities, for to be able to predict an organism’s further performance on the basis of knowledge of capacities is not necessarily to understand the organism. Understanding actions, if it is indeed the desideratum of social science—as I take it to be—involves more, however, than the viewing of actions as symptomatic of underlying structures. Actions are obviously bearers of meaning in and for a given social context, and this meaning is for both the agent and actual or imagined spectators. Spectators can be said to do their viewing both at the time the action takes place and also, in a sense, at later times when recalling or reading reports of a now past action. (shrink)

The study of actions is of major importance in social science regardless of whether the investigator is or isn’t a behaviorist. Actions constitute much if not all of an observational substratum which both prompts explanation and confirms prediction. Actions are of interest both as samples of what an animal can do and as symptoms of underlying structures, either psychic or physical. Doubtless, actions as symptoms of underlying structures are, in the long run, of greater importance in social science than actions (...) as samples of capacities, for to be able to predict an organism’s further performance on the basis of knowledge of capacities is not necessarily to understand the organism. Understanding actions, if it is indeed the desideratum of social science—as I take it to be—involves more, however, than the viewing of actions as symptomatic of underlying structures. Actions are obviously bearers of meaning in and for a given social context, and this meaning is for both the agent and actual or imagined spectators. Spectators can be said to do their viewing both at the time the action takes place and also, in a sense, at later times when recalling or reading reports of a now past action. (shrink)

Drawn from the Prussian Academy edition of Kant's collected works, these letters make it possible to trace the development of Kant's thought from his earliest worries about the topics discussed in the _Critique of Pure Reason_ to his attempts in later life to meet the objections of his critics and erstwhile disciples. "Perhaps the major value of these writings is their demonstration of Kant's own attitude towards his philosophical works."—Paul Arthur Schilpp, _Saturday Review_.

Vorschläge für staatliche DNA-Datenbanken und die kürzlichen Enthüllungen und öffentlichen Präsentationen des Sexuallebens des amerikanischen Präsidenten geben den Anlaß für diese Reflexionen über die Bedeutung des Rechts auf Privatheit. Dabei werden die Ambiguität des Ausdrucks "Privatheit" und eines möglichen Rechts auf Privatheit erörtert, sowie die Spannung zwischen dem Wert eines gesellschaftlichen Gutes wie der Durchsetzung des Rechts einerseits und dem Wert des Schutzes des einzelnen vor Einbrüchen in die intimen Details seines Lebens andererseits. Hierzu werden insbesondere die Ansichten von Thomas (...) Nagel und Immanuel Kant dargestellt, um zu erklären, welche Bedeutung es für den Menschen hat, eine private Sphäre von Gedanken und ganz allgemein von Verhalten zu schützen. Proposals for government DNA data banks and recent exhumation and public exhibition of a president's sex life prompt these reflections on the importance of privacy. The ambiguity of the term "privacy" and of a putative right to privacy is noted. The tension between the value of such social goods as law enforcement and the value of freedom from intrusion into the intimate details of one's life is explored. The views of Thomas Nagel and Immanuel Kant are cited in explaining the human importance of preserving a private sphere of thought and conduct generally. (shrink)

In this paper I explore some of the moral pros and cons of pardoning or granting amnesty to people who have committed or participated in serious crimes. I believe that we are pulled in two directions when faced with questions of clemency, pardoning, amnesty, especially when it comes to war criminals or people who are guilty of flagrant violations of human rights. Our everyday morality provides us with fairly strong intuitions when the culprits are "remorseless villains". Remorseless villains don't deserve (...) to be released from punishment. But pardoning or granting amnesty, especially to soldiers or people who acted under the laws of another regime, may be pragmatically vindicated, for prudential reasons and for the sake of making peace. Whether one regards it as justified may depend on the role one is in. The perspective of a judge will differ from that of a victim or the latter's representative, and both may be at odds with the point of view of a political leader.Retributivism is a theory of what justifies punishment. I summarize Kantian and recent formulations and consider the Wittgensteinian challenge that no theory is needed at all, or can be effective in countering competing intuitions. Wittgensteinian insistence on looking at particular cases and avoiding generalized doctrines inspires the discussion of a concrete example of amnesty granted to SS soldiers guilty of the destruction of the village of Oradour-sur-Glane. Der Beitrag untersucht einige der moralischen Argumente, die dafür bzw. dagegen sprechen, Menschen, die schwerwiegende Verbrechen begangen oder an ihnen teilgenommen haben, zu begnadigen oder ihnen eine Amnestie zu gewähren. Wer mit der Frage von Begnadigung, Amnestie oder Straferlaß konfrontiert wird, fühlt sich nicht selten hin- und hergerissen, insbesondere wenn es um Kriegsverbrecher geht oder um Personen, die sich schwerster Menschenrechtsverletzungen schuldig gemacht haben. Unsere Alltagsmoral liefert uns eine ziemlich deutliche Vorstellung davon, bei welchen Tätern es sich um "gewissenlose Schurken" handelt, die es nicht verdienen, von Strafe verschont zu bleiben. Andererseits läßt sich eine Begnadigung oder die Gewährung von Amnestie - gerade in Fällen von Soldaten oder von Menschen, die nach den Gesetzen eines anderen Regimes gehandelt haben - mit pragmatischen Überlegungen rechtfertigen, und zwar durchaus mit rationalen Argumenten oder mit dem Ziel, eine Befriedung zu erreichen. Ob man solche Überlegungen als begründet ansieht, kann von der jeweiligen Rolle abhängen, in der man sich befindet. Die Sichtweise eines Richters wird abweichen von der eines Opfers oder dessen Vertretern, während der Standpunkt eines führenden Politikers wiederum ein gänzlich anderer sein kann.Die Vergeltungstheorie ist eine Theorie, der es um die Rechtfertigung von Strafe geht. Der Beitrag faßt Kantische und jüngere Formulierungen der Theorie zusammen und erwägt darüber hinaus Wittgensteins kritische These, daß eine Straftheorie überflüssig oder zumindest nicht imstande ist, zwischen sich widersprechenden moralischen Intuitionen zu entscheiden. Besteht man in Anlehnung an Wittgenstein, unter Vermeidung von verallgemeinernden Grundsätzen, auf der Untersuchung von Einzelfällen, dann führt das zur Diskussion von Beispielen, etwa des Falles der SS-Soldaten, die der Zerstörung des Dorfes Oradour-sur-Glane schuldig waren und denen gleichwohl Straferlaß gewährt worden ist. (shrink)

Journal Name: Philologus Issue: Ahead of print.

Drawn from the Prussian Academy edition of Kant's collected works, these letters make it possible to trace the development of Kant's thought from his earliest worries about the topics discussed in the Critique of Pure Reason to his attempts in later life to meet the objections of his critics and erstwhile disciples. "Perhaps the major value of these writings is their demonstration of Kant's own attitude towards his philosophical works."—Paul Arthur Schilpp, Saturday Review.

Kant's letters to Marcus Herz and J. C. Lavater.--Critique of pure reason; selections.--Fundamental principles of the metaphysics of morals.--Critique of practical reason; selections.--Critique of judgement; selections.--Metaphysics of morals: the metaphysical principles of virtue; selection.--Bibliography (p. 31).