Zwischen der Veröffentlichung der "Phänomenologie der Wahrnehmung" im Jahr 1945 und dem Tod Merleau-Pontys im Jahr 1961 liegen gerade einmal 16 Jahre. In dieser Zeitspanne nimmt Merleau-Ponty das Projekt einer Ausweitung und Grundlegung seiner Überlegungen auf, indem er zum einen das Phänomen der Expressivität in den unterschiedlichsten kulturellen Dimensionen erkundet, um vom Ausdrucksverhalten her eine Kulturphilosophie eigenen Typs zu entwickeln, und um zum anderen ein ontologisches Fundament der ästhetischen Stellung des Menschen in der Welt freizulegen. Diese Projekte konnte Merleau-Ponty aufgrund (...) seines frühen Todes nicht vollständig verwirklichen und zusammenführen. Seine letzte große Veröffentlichung, die unter dem Titel "Zeichen (Signes)" die wichtigsten Beiträge aus jener Zeit versammelt und die nun erstmals vollständig in deutscher Übersetzung vorliegt, läßt den Rahmen dieses Unterfangens erkennen und skizziert die Konturen der Überlegungen Merleau-Pontys in den 50er Jahren. Aufgenommen wurden von ihm Aufsätze und Essays, die der Sprachphilosophie, der Ästhetik, der Wissenschaftstheorie der Sozialwissenschaften sowie der Phänomenologie und Philosophiegeschichte gewidmet sind. Zusätzlich fügt er politische Artikel und Stellungnahmen zur kulturellen Situation Frankreichs sowie Interviews hinzu, die belegen, in welche Zeit hinein und aus welcher Situation heraus sich sein Denken realisiert. (shrink)

This collection of original essays, from both established scholars and newcomers, takes up a debate that has recently flared up in philosophy, sociology, and disability studies on whether disability is intrinsically a harm that lowers a person's quality of life. While this is a new question in disability scholarship, it is also touches on one of the oldest philosophical questions: What is the good human life? Historically, philosophers have not been interested in the topic of disability, and when they are (...) it is usually only in relation to questions such as euthanasia, abortion, or the moral status of disabled people. Consequently, implicitly or explicitly, disability has been either ignored by moral and political philosophers or simply equated with a bad human life, a life not worth living. This collection takes up the challenge that disability poses to basic questions of political philosophy and bioethics, among others, by focusing on fundamental issues as well as practical implications of the relationship between disability and the good human life. (shrink)

Previous studies have shown that the use of motivational regulation strategies has the potential to sustain invested effort and persistence in the learning process. Combining different methods (questionnaires and standardized diaries), the present study aimed to determine the role of motivational regulation in an exam preparation period. Motivational regulation is differentiated in a quantitative (extent of strategy use) and a qualitative (planning, implementing, monitoring and correcting strategy use) aspect. One hundred and fifteen university students reported the quantity and quality of (...) their motivational regulation strategy use in a pretest and kept a standardized learning diary focused on motivational difficulties and invested effort over a 14-day period just before an exam in their studies. Exam performance was assessed afterwards. Results revealed positive effects of both aspects of motivational regulation on invested effort in exam preparation and exam performance. Moreover, a high quality of motivational regulation was associated with reduced negative effects of motivational difficulties on invested effort during studying—implying that motivational regulation can buffer against specific motivational problems occurring in the learning process. (shrink)

First of all, this paper aims at a clarification of Wittgenstein's conception of grammatical propositions. Their essential characteristics will be developed and some of the central questions concerning their status will be discussed: Should grammatical propositions be seen as arbitrary conventions? How do they work in practices? And how do they relate to natural facts? Later on, the two propositions "Every rod has a length" and "Sensations are private" will be discussed in more detail, for both fulfil three important features (...) of grammatical propositions: They are not empirical descriptions, they are rules of a practice, and they are not knowledge-claims but express insights. Focussing on the grammar of pain language, it will be shown what kind of interdependency exists between grammar and natural facts. It will also turn out that some grammatical propositions are closely connected to our understanding of living a human form of life. (shrink)

How much violence can a society expect its members to accept? A comparison between the language theories of Julia Kristeva and Jacques Lacan is the starting point for answering this question. A look at the early stages of language acquisition exposes the sacrificial logic of patriarchal society. Are those forces that restrict the individual to be conceived in a martial imagery of castration or is it possible that an existing society critically questions those points of socialization that leave their members (...) in a state of homelessness? The following considerations should help to distinguish between unavoidable and avoidable forms of violence. (shrink)

How much violence can a society expect its members to accept? A comparison between the language theories of Julia Kristeva and Jacques Lacan is the starting point for answering this question. A look at the early stages of language acquisition exposes the sacrificial logic of patriarchal society. Are those forces that restrict the individual to be conceived in a martial imagery of castration or is it possible that an existing society critically questions those points of socialization that leave their members (...) in a state of homelessness? The following considerations should help to distinguish between unavoidable and avoidable forms of violence. (shrink)

Although training in self-regulated learning is effective in improving performance, human trainers can reach only a few people at a time. We developed a web-based training for potentially unlimited numbers of participants based on the process model of SRL by Schmitz and Wiese. A prior study observed positive effects on self-reported SRL and self-efficacy. In the present randomized controlled trial, we investigated an improved version of the web-based training, augmented by the application of peer feedback groups. Prospective university students in (...) an online mathematics preparation course were assigned randomly to one of four experimental conditions: Group D, group TD, group TDP, and group C. Complete data was obtained for 136 participants. The learning diary was intended to trigger goal setting, planning, and self-motivation in the morning and reflection in the evening. The web-based training consisted of three lessons with videos, presentations, self-tests, and exercises. In the peer feedback condition, participants were randomly assigned to groups of five persons each and used a bulletin board to discuss pre-defined topics related to the content of the web-based training. Outcome measures included a test of declarative SRL knowledge, an SRL questionnaire, a general self-efficacy scale, log file data, and a mathematics test. Results showed positive effects for the web-based training, particularly when combined with peer feedback on both SRL knowledge and SRL questionnaires, self-efficacy, and on objective time-investment, but not on the mathematics test. The learning diary did not exhibit positive effects. We conclude that additional peer-feedback seems to be a useful supplement to web-based trainings with comparably low organizational costs. (shrink)

The resolution of ambiguities is one of the central problems for Machine Translation. In this paper we propose a knowledge-based approach to disambiguation which uses Description Logics (dl) as representation formalism. We present the process of anaphora resolution implemented in the Machine Translation systemfast and show how thedl systemback is used to support disambiguation.The disambiguation strategy uses factors representing syntactic, semantic, and conceptual constraints with different weights to choose the most adequate antecedent candidate. We show how these factors can be (...) declaratively represented as defaults inback. Disambiguation is then achieved by determining the interpretation that yields a qualitatively minimal number of exceptions to the defaults, and can thus be formalized as exception minimization. (shrink)

Coming from Germany in Europe I am starting with Feminism from a Western point of view but with a perspective of dialogue with Feminisms in other parts of the World. My inquiry deals with problems of the present time, especially how to make Feminism interesting not only to a philosophical or academic public, but to people from all professional fields and disciplines. The political perspective of feminist philosophy can be underlined with the central definition the Austrian philosopher Herta Nagl Docekal (...) gives. According to this definition freedom of women is the main issue of each feminist interrogation. With regard to the development of women’s liberation in Europe and the USA three different movements of feminism can be distinguished: the main issue of the first is the notion of equality, it is also called humanist feminism according to Iris Marion Young; secondly we have the feminism of difference or gynocentrism; the third wave can not so easily be defined, a wide range of variety exists, which may lead to the impression that no more general aim is left. Sometimes it is also called postmodern feminism. But what does this mean: postmodern feminism? Far from an arbitrary attitude, which does not accept any order, postmodern feminism – as postmodern and poststructural philosophy – may be understood as a lesson on how to be different and not to loose the aims women share all over the world. The most important challenge is to find a new balance between the different aims and groups of feminism as well as between feminism in different societies and cultures. Feminisms from the beginnings wanted to overcome step by step the prejudices about men and women, about sex and gender, one of the heritages of our Western tradition. My interpretation of Third Wave may be seen as another step on this way. (shrink)

Béatrice Acklin Zimmermann Barbara Schmitz An der GrenzeTheologische Erkundungen zum BösenUnter dem Eindruck der schrecklichen Ereignisse vom 11. September 2001, von Beslan, Abu Ghraib und Kana ist das Interesse "am Bösen"wiedererwacht. Dabei fällt auf, dass die in Politik und Gesellschaft erfolgten Deutungen des Bösen geprägt sind durch klare Grenzziehungen zwischen "gut"und "böse", die zunehmend auch auf religiöse Kategorien wie Licht-Finsternis, gerecht-sündig, Tod-Leben rekurrieren. Dies provoziert die Frage nach der Trennschärfe von "gut"und "böse": Wo genau verläuft die Grenze zwischen "gut"und "böse"und (...) wer zieht diese Grenze? Ist "das Böse"eine unabhängige Größe oder tritt es vielmehr in Vermischung mit "dem Guten"auf? Und was bedeutet die Grenzziehung zwischen "gut"und böse"im Blick auf Genderkonfigurationen?In ökumenischer Aufgeschlossenheit und aus verschiedenen theologischen Blickwinkeln erkunden die Autoren und Autorinnen dieses Bandes "das Böse"unter dem Gesichtspunkt von Grenzziehungen. Zur Debatte stehen dabei ebenso die Grenzziehung zwischen "gut"und "böse"und die damit verbundenen Dualisierungen wie die Frage nach dem Verhältnis von "Gender"und den Konstruktionen des "Bösen". In kritischer Abgrenzung zur gegenwärtigen gesellschaftlich-politischen Tendenz, das Böse primär beim Anderen, einer bestimmten Nation, Kultur, Gesellschaftsschicht oder Weltanschauung zu verorten, wird in den verschiedenen Beiträge gezeigt, dass eine strenge Grenzziehung zwischen dem "Bösen"und dem "Guten"der Komplexität der Wirklichkeit nicht standhält. Mit Beiträgen von Béatrice Acklin Zimmermann, Ruth Albrecht, Pierre Bühler, Barbara Henze, Ralph Kunz und Ute Nürnberg, Walter Lesch, Karl Matthias Schmidt und Barbara Schmitz. Die HerausgeberinnenBéatrice Acklin Zimmermannist Privatdozentin für Systematische Theologie an der Theologischen Fakultät der Universität Freiburg/Schweiz und Leiterin des Bereiches Theologie und Philosophie an der Paulus-Akademie Zürich. Barbara Schmitzist Studienrätin im Hochschuldienst für den Bereich Altes Testament und Sprachen an der Universität Duisburg-Essen. (shrink)