The present volume contains primarily the invited papers of the 28th Inter-national Wittgenstein Symposium that was held in Kirchberg am Wech-sel (Lower Austria) in August 2005. It was dedicated to the topic Time and History (Zeit und Geschichte) in an interdisciplinary perspective, ranging from the philosophy of time, in the narrower sense, the approaches of the single scientific disciplines, in so far as they are informed by foundational and philosophical issues, to culture and art. As usual, the contributed papers (Beitr (...) age) were already published prior to the symposium. While the latter volume contains, in a special section, papers dedicated to all aspects of Wittgenstein's work, the present volume focuses on his views about time. The editors are well aware that both time and history are prominently discussed within the phenomenological and hermeneutic traditions in philosophy. This was well reflected in the contributed papers, as can be seen in the Beitr age volume, and in some papers dealing with time and history from a cultural perspective. For reasons of thematic coherence and as a consequence of the general orientation of this book series, however, the editors have given priority to philosophers belonging to the analytic tradition in the broad sense. The editors nonetheless hope to have succeeded in presenting an equally focused and comprehensive picture of the contemporary debate. (shrink)

This volume includes recent contributions to the philosophy of science from a historical point of view and of the highest topicality: the range of the topics covers all fields in the philosophy of the science provided by authors from around the world focusing on ancient, modern and contemporary periods in the development of the science philosophy. This proceedings is for the scientific community and students at graduate level as well as postdocs in this interdisciplinary field of research.

Im Rahmen der vorjährigen "Third International History of Philosophy of Science Conference” (HOPOS 2000) an der Universität Wien wurden die politische Bedeutung und der kulturelle Kontext der aus Wien stammenden, jedoch vertriebenen Wissenschaftsphilosophie in einem eigenen Programmschwerpunkt thematisiert. In je vier deutschsprachigen und englischsprachigen Beiträgen werden im vorliegenden Band die historische und politische Bedingtheit und Relevanz des Wiener Kreises bis zur Philosophy of Science im angloamerikanischen Raum behandelt. Somit wird die Entwicklung der Wissenschaftsphilosophie in Österreich (mit einem Blick auf Deutschland) (...) von der Ersten zur Zweiten Republik bzw. die Wirkungsgeschichte dieser Emigrationswissenschaft vor allem in den USA aus gegenwärtiger Perspektive kritisch beleuchtet. Die Beiträge von u.a. Hans Joachim Dahms, Gernot Heiss, Don A. Howard und Alan Richardson zeigen, dass "Reine" Wissenschaftstheorie Teil eines gesellschaftlichen Systems ist und von dessen Pluralität und Toleranz lebt, aber auch immer einen Seismografen des kulturellen Klimas darstellt. (shrink)

The Biotheoretical Shortcomings of the Evolutionary Epistemology. The concept of evolutionary epistemology has been critically discussed by philosophers who have mainly pointed to unacceptable philosophical tenets (cf. Vittorio Hösle, this Journal, Vol. 19 (1988), pp. 348-377). However, as most philosophers are extremely reluctant to critically treat the biological theories on which the ideas of evolutionary epistemology are based, the invalid concepts of adaption escaped their critical scrutiny. Therefore the influence of preconceived biological theories on the biological basis of evolutionary epistemology (...) and the distorting consequences on the philosophical level could not be elaborated. The following context sketches a new view of organismic reasoning and its impact on evolutionary aspects of epistemology. The basic theorem of adaptation is shown to be unacceptable and invalid if organisms are conceived as autonomous entities which can only evolve according to their specific internal organismic properties. (shrink)

Summary The concept of evolutionary epistemology has been critically discussed by philosophers who have mainly pointed to unacceptable philosophical tenets (cf. Vittorio Hösle, this Journal, Vol. 19 (1988), pp. 348–377). However, as most philosophers are extremely reluctant to critically treat the biological theories on which the ideas of evolutionary epistemology are based, the invalid concepts of adaption escaped their critical scrutiny. Therefore the influence of preconceived biological theories on the biological basis of evolutionary epistemology and the distorting consequences on the (...) philosophical level could not be elaborated. The following context sketches a new view of organismic reasoning and its impact on evolutionary aspects of epistemology. The basic theorem of adaptation is shown to be unacceptable and invalid if organisms are conceived as autonomous entities which can only evolve according to their specific internal organismic properties. (shrink)

Archives are considered to be collections of administrative, legal, commercial and other records or the actual place where they are located. They have become ubiquitous in the modern world, but emerged not much later than the invention of writing. Following Foucault, who first used the word archive in a metaphorical sense as "the general system of the formation and transformation of statements" in his "Archaeology of Knowledge", postmodern theorists have tried to exploit the potential of this concept and initiated the (...) "archival turn". In recent years, however, archives have attracted the attention of anthropologists and historians of different denominations regarding them as historical objects and "grounding" them again in real institutions. The papers in this volume explore the complex topic of the archive in a historical, systematic and comparative context and view it in the broader context of manuscript cultures by addressing questions like how, by whom and for which purpose were archival records produced, and if they differ from literary manuscripts regarding materials, formats, and producers. (shrink)

Background: Multiple studies have shown that people who have experienced a serious health problem such as an injury tend to overrate the quality of health they had before that event. The main objective of this study was to test whether the phenomenon of respondents overrating their past health can also be observed in people from the general population. A second aim was to test whether habitual optimism is indeed focused on events in the future.Method: A representatively selected community sample from (...) Leipzig, Germany was examined. Respondents were asked to assess their current health, their past health, and their expected future health on a 0–100 scale. In addition, the study participants completed several questionnaires on specific aspects of physical and mental health.Results: Respondents of all age groups assessed their health as having been better in the past than it was at present. Moreover, they also assessed their earlier state of health more positively than people 5 years younger did their current state. Habitual optimism was associated with respondents having more positive expectations of how healthy they will be in 5 years time, but the correlation with their assessments of their current health was nearly as high.Conclusion: Highly positive scores of retrospectively assessed health among people who have experienced a health problem cannot totally be accounted for by a response to that health problem. (shrink)

This book is a collection of secondary essays on America's most important philosophic thinkers—statesmen, judges, writers, educators, and activists—from the colonial period to the present. Each essay is a comprehensive introduction to the thought of a noted American on the fundamental meaning of the American regime.

Friedrich Engels: Ludwig Feuerbach und der Ausgang der klassischen deutschen Philosophie Edition Holzinger. Taschenbuch Berliner Ausgabe, 2013 Vollständiger, durchgesehener Neusatz mit einer Biographie des Autors bearbeitet und eingerichtet von Michael Holzinger Textgrundlage ist die Ausgabe: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels: Werke. Herausgegeben vom Institut für Marxismus-Leninismus beim ZK der SED, 43 Bände, Band 21, Berlin: Dietz-Verlag, 1962. Herausgeber der Reihe: Michael Holzinger Reihengestaltung: Viktor Harvion Umschlaggestaltung unter Verwendung des Bildes: Friedrich Engels, Fotographie von 1888 von William (...) Elliott Debenham (1839-1924) Gesetzt aus Minion Pro, 10 pt. (shrink)

In this wide-ranging and thoughtful study, Michael Allen Gillespie explores the philosophical foundation, or ground, of the concept of history. Analyzing the historical conflict between human nature and freedom, he centers his discussion on Hegel and Heidegger but also draws on the pertinent thought of other philosophers whose contributions to the debate is crucial—particularly Rousseau, Kant, and Nietzsche.

This book is the first to systematically reconstruct the complete works of the Swiss-Jewish cultural philosopher Michael Landmann (1913–1984) and make them fruitful for teaching purposes: as a philosophical theory of the teaching of cultural plurality. The multiplicity of human life forms represents the content and target horizon of educational processes as well as the underlying value and prejudice of Landmann's anthropology. Taken seriously as such, cultural plurality is the yardstick of a humanity that starts from the natural and (...) cultural artificiality of being human and in which the boundaries of what is human are mediated: spiritually and communicatively in dialogical encounters, and culturally and practically in the formation of lifestyles. (shrink)

Describes a Platonic personal spirituality based on reason that is readily accessible to people today. Michael LaFargue presents an important and accessible aspect of Plato’s legacy largely overlooked today: a variety of personal spirituality based on reason and centered on virtue. Plato’s Virtue-Forms are transcendent in their goodness, ideals that Platonists can use to improve character and become like God so far as is humanly possible. LaFargue constructs a model of inductive Socratic reasoning capable of acquiring knowledge of these (...) perfect Virtue-Forms, then scales back claims about these Forms to what can be supported by this kind of reasoning. This is a critical theory, but also a pluralistic one that accommodates modern cultural diversity. A how-to chapter provides detailed descriptions of the rules of Socratic reasoning basic to this spirituality, which any interested individual can practice today. LaFargue supports his interpretation by a close reading of the Greek text of key passages in Plato’s dialogues. The work also undertakes a broader philosophical consideration, discussing the philosophical foundations proposed for this Platonism in relation to the thought of G. E. Moore, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Martin Heidegger, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Richard Rorty. (shrink)

Short epics in Middle High German are a challenge for author attribution procedures as they involve dealing with short texts, incomplete normalisation, and generic tests. Firstly, the paper discusses optimisation methods using basic form and grammar tags extracted from the ‘Mittelhochdeutsche Begriffsdatenbank’ (Middle High German Conceptual Database). As part of this, an evaluation test with normalised Middle High German texts is carried out where 20 texts with known authorship are used as ‘guessing texts’ and a further 19 works of the (...) same authors as ‘comparison texts’. The use of grammar tags or basic forms, instead of inflected word forms leads to a deterioration of the recognition rate and the combination of basic forms or grammar tags with word forms leads to a slight improvement. Secondly, the authorship of the ‘Halbe Birne’ will be investigated with eight texts by Konrad von Würzburg, as well as a comparative corpus of 14 tales (German ‘Mären’) and seven novels. This leads to a direct calculation of which words can be specifically ascribed to Konrad von Würzburg. This method is first evaluated by determining the distinctive words on four Konrad texts; a control test on four other Konrad texts shows that a preferred use of the distinctive words leads to a significant increase in the recognition rate. Then, a Konrad-specific vocabulary is determined on the basis of eight Konrad texts. Using these distinctive words it can finally be shown that Konrad can be attributed with some certainty as the author of the ‘Halbe Birne’. (shrink)

Until recently, Spinoza's standing in Anglophone studies of philosophy has been relatively low and has only seemed to confirm Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi's assessment of him as "a dead dog." However, an exuberant outburst of excellent scholarship on Spinoza has of late come to dominate work on early modern philosophy. This resurgence is due in no small part to the recent revival of metaphysics in contemporary philosophy and to the increased appreciation of Spinoza's role as an unorthodox, pivotal figure - (...) indeed, perhaps the pivotal figure - in the development of Enlightenment thinking. Spinoza's penetrating articulation of his extreme rationalism makes him a demanding philosopher who offers deep and prescient challenges to all subsequent, inevitably less radical approaches to philosophy. While the twenty-six essays in this volume - by many of the world's leading Spinoza specialists - grapple directly with Spinoza's most important arguments, these essays also seek to identify and explain Spinoza's debts to previous philosophy, his influence on later philosophers, and his significance for contemporary philosophy and for us. (shrink)

Aus Sicht von Libertären des 20. Jahrhunderts ist Mill durch seine Eigentumstheorie zu einem gefährlichen Wegbereiter des Sozialismus geworden. „Mill“, so schreibt Ludwig von MisesMises, Ludwig von, „is the great advocate of socialism. All the arguments that could be advanced in favour of socialism are elaborated by him with loving care. In comparison with Mill all other socialist writers – even MarxMarx, Karl, EngelsEngels, Friedrich, and LassalleLassalle, Ferdinand – are scarcely of any importance“ (Ludwig von Mises, zit. nach Miller (...) 2003, 213–214). Richtig ist an dieser Einschätzung, dass nach Mill jegliche Eigentumsordnung an Maßstäben der Verteilungsgerechtigkeit zu messen ist. Insofern kann man ihn tatsächlich als Vordenker moderner Gerechtigkeitstheorien sehen. Irreführend ist jedoch, Mill als ‚Advokaten‘ des Sozialismus zu bezeichnen, weil er es als eine offene Frage betrachtete, ob eine sozialistische oder eine auf Privateigentum an Produktionsmitteln basierende Markwirtschaft zu bevorzugen wäre. (shrink)

Anlässlich des 65. Geburtstages von Ingeborg Schüßler haben ihre Kollegen, Freunde und ehemaligen Schüler beschlossen, ihr eine Festschrift zu widmen. Das Buch umfasst 25 Beiträge in Deutsch und Französisch. Der Titel des Bandes, Genealogie des neuzeitlichen Denkens bezeichnet die leitende Perspektive der Beiträge: unter verschiedenen Beleuchtungen geht es jedesmal darum, wie das Denken der Moderne und der Gegenwart die philosophischen Erbschaften, von denen es herkommt, aufnimmt und neu bearbeitet. A l'occasion du soixante-cinquième anniversaire de Madame Ingeborg Schüßler, ses collègues, aims (...) et anciens élèves ont décidé de lui offrir un volume d'hommages, rassemblant vingt-cinq contributions en français et en allemand. Le titre du volume, Généalogie de la pensée moderne, indique l'optique commune aux études réunies : sous diverses perspectives, il s'agit à chaque fois de se demander comment la pensée de la modernité reprend et retravaille les héritages philosophiques dont elle est tributaire. Contributions de / Beiträge von Emil Angehrn, Rudolf Bernet, Raphae͏̈l Célis, Pascal David, Felix Duque, Michael Esfeld, Jean Ferrari, Karen Gloy, Gérard Guest, Michel Herren, Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann, Helmuth Holzhey, Wolfgang Janke, Emmanuel Mejia, Ada Neschke, Thérèse Pentzopoulos-Valalas, Mario Ruggenini, John Sallis, Alexandre Schild, Gerhard Seel, Tiziana Suarez-Nani, Rainer Thurnher, Jean-Marc Tétaz, Ivan Urbancic, Franco Volpi. (shrink)

Friedrich Schiller: Über Anmut und Würde Edition Holzinger. Taschenbuch Berliner Ausgabe, 2016 Vollständiger, durchgesehener Neusatz mit einer Biographie des Autors bearbeitet und eingerichtet von Michael Holzinger Entstanden 1793, Erstdruck in: Neue Thalia (Leipzig), 2. Jg., 1793, Heft 2. Textgrundlage ist die Ausgabe: Friedrich Schiller: Sämtliche Werke, Auf Grund der Originaldrucke herausgegeben von Gerhard Fricke und Herbert G. Göpfert in Verbindung mit Herbert Stubenrauch, Band 1-5, 3. Auflage, München: Hanser, 1962. Herausgeber der Reihe: Michael Holzinger Reihengestaltung: Viktor (...) Harvion Umschlaggestaltung unter Verwendung des Bildes: Friedrich Schiller (Pastell von Frenzel nach dem Gemälde von Ludovike Simanowitz, 1793) Gesetzt aus der Minion Pro, 11 pt. (shrink)

G. W. F. Hegel's first masterpiece, the Phenomenology of Spirit, is one of the great works of philosophy. It remains, however, one of the most challenging and mysterious books ever written. Michael Inwood presents this central work to the modern reader in an intelligible and accurate new translation. This translation attempts to convey, as accurately as possible, the subtle nuances of the original German text. Inwood also provides a detailed commentary that explains what Hegel is saying at each stage (...) of his argument and also discusses the philosophical issues it raises. This volume will therefore prove invaluable to those who want to get to grips with Hegel's thought processes and to follow his complex argument. (shrink)