While humanity is altering planet Earth at unprecedented magnitude and speed, representation of the cultural driving factors and their dynamics in models of the Earth system is limited. In this review and perspectives paper, we argue that more or less distinct environmental value sets can be assigned to religion – a deeply embedded feature of human cultures, here defined as collectively shared belief in something sacred. This assertion renders religious theories, practices and actors suitable for studying cultural facets of anthropogenic (...) Earth system change, especially regarding deeper, non-materialistic motivations that ask about humans' self-understanding in the Anthropocene epoch. We sketch a modelling landscape and outline some research primers, encompassing the following elements: extensions of existing Earth system models by quantitative relationships between religious practices and biophysical processes, building on databases that allow for formalisation of such knowledge; design of new model types that specifically represent religious morals, actors and activities as part of co-evolutionary human–environment dynamics; and identification of research questions of humanitarian relevance that are underrepresented in purely economic–technocratic modelling and scenario paradigms. While this analysis is by necessity heuristic and semi-cohesive, we hope that it will act as a stimulus for further interdisciplinary and systematic research on the immaterial dimension of humanity's imprint on the Earth system, both qualitatively and quantitatively. (shrink)

Diese folgenden Texte betreffen allesamt die Theorieversuche über Selbstverhältnisse, welche die klassische deutsche Philosophie entwickelt hat. Sie gehen auch allesamt darauf aus, diese Theorieversuche aus ihren Prämissen neu aufzubauen und ihre Begründungen nicht allein von den Argumenten abhängig sein zu lassen, die sich in den Werken der klassischen Philosophie finden.

Chisholm's two theories of self-consciousness (before and after 1976) are interpreted and evaluated as well motivated, powerful and instructive attempts to avoid circularities while preserving the phenomenon. They are criticised because of correlative shortcomings: The essentialistic theory allows only the formulation and the ascription of self-consciousness in the first person perspective; the second (epistemic) theory is restricted to the ascription of self-consciousness to others. The first theory suffers furthermore from a hidden circularity whereas the second needs an extension that leads (...) into an infinite regress. (shrink)

On considere communement que la philosophie de la subjectivite a ete definitivement depassee par les differents courants de pensee du XXe siecle. Alors que l'approche naturaliste des neurosciences vise a une reduction complete de la conscience individuelle aux activites neuronales du cerveau, la phenomenologie de l'intersubjectivite et la philosophie de la communication contemporaines presupposent comme acquis que la relation a autrui jouit d'une primaute ultime sur toute egoite du moi. Sans proner un simple retour a la metaphysique du sujet au (...) sens classique, le present ouvrage entend montrer que la philosophie ne peut ni ne doit renoncer a la pensee de la subjectivite dans la mesure ou tout rapport au monde naturel et toute relation a autrui decoulent de la dynamique de la relation a soi primordiale dans laquelle chaque sujet se constitue a la fois comme libre et fini. (shrink)