"This is an excellent textbook on Neoplatonism which gives the reader a very concise and lucid overview of the basic doctrines and leading thinkers of the last great philosophy to emerge before the Christianization of the Roman Empire. I’ve no doubt that my students next semester will benefit from the analyses contained in the book. The contents of the chapters are very informative and adequately place developments in their socio-cultural context." --Michael B. Simmons, Auburn University at Montgomery.

This piece of work intends to shed light on Alexander of Aphrodisias from the second-century Aristotle commentator through the history of Aristotelian psychology up to the sixteenth century's clandestine prompter of the new philosophy of nature. In the millennium after his death the head of the Peripatetic school in Athens served as the authority on Aristotle in the Neo-Platonic school, survived the Arabic centuries of philosophy as Averroes' exemplary exponent of the mortality of the soul and as such was not (...) considered worthy of translation by the Latin Scholastics. This attitude changed only in the Late Middle Ages, when the resistance against Averroes grew fierce and Alexander emerged as the only Aristotelian alternative to him. In 1495 his account of Aristotle's psychology was translated and published and the underlying principles of a natural philosophy, based on sense perception and exempt from metaphysics, became accessible. The prompt reception and widespread endorsement of Alexander's teaching testify to his impact throughout the sixteenth century. (shrink)

In this paper, I build on Wittgenstein’s metaphor of a toolbox to introduce the metaphor of ‘tool confusion’ – how differing conceptual constructs may be applied, or misapplied, to one another and the effect that such applications have on the advancement of management theory. Moving beyond metaphor, I investigate a theory of management through two specific philosophical lenses (Popper and Lyotard). This analysis tests both the theory and the philosophies with regard to how each philosophy may be applied as a (...) tool to advance theory towards more effective application. Preliminary conclusions confirm that the application of partial philosophies is not as useful as the application of complete philosophies. Deeper contemplation, however, suggests that there is no upper limit to the completeness of philosophies. Thus, the problem of completeness is inescapable. In place of completeness, I explore the use of perceptual tools that are more specific, foundational and concise. Engaging in a second investigation, I use structures of logic (circular, linear, branching and co-causal) to investigate the subject theory. This investigation suggests at least two important insights relating to the structure of theory and the fuzziness of theory. Combined, these investigations and related conversations suggest rigorous methods for advancing theories and a more normative role for the philosophy of management that will support the accelerated advancement of management theory and practice. (shrink)

In this paper, I build on Wittgenstein’s metaphor of a toolbox to introduce the metaphor of ‘tool confusion’ – how differing conceptual constructs may be applied, or misapplied, to one another and the effect that such applications have on the advancement of management theory. Moving beyond metaphor, I investigate a theory of management through two specific philosophical lenses (Popper and Lyotard). This analysis tests both the theory and the philosophies with regard to how each philosophy may be applied as a (...) tool to advance theory towards more effective application. Preliminary conclusions confirm that the application of partial philosophies is not as useful as the application of complete philosophies. Deeper contemplation, however, suggests that there is no upper limit to the completeness of philosophies. Thus, the problem of completeness is inescapable. In place of completeness, I explore the use of perceptual tools that are more specific, foundational and concise. Engaging in a second investigation, I use structures of logic (circular, linear, branching and co-causal) to investigate the subject theory. This investigation suggests at least two important insights relating to the structure of theory and the fuzziness of theory. Combined, these investigations and related conversations suggest rigorous methods for advancing theories and a more normative role for the philosophy of management that will support the accelerated advancement of management theory and practice. (shrink)

To the extent that contemporary literature can irritate common understandings of literature and the present, it can also function as a stimulus and corrective for literary studies that do not always already presuppose to know what literature is. This has recently become visible in confrontations with social media, in which literary and time-diagnostic modes of writing come together in different ways in experiments with digital tools, as in the context of more conventional forms of literature and corresponding theoretical discourses, to (...) produce what can be called »representing the present«. (shrink)

Das Verhältnis zwischen Kirche und säkularer Kultur steht einmal mehr in Frage. Gehören die Kunstwerke der christlichen Tradition als lebendige Quelle noch in unsere Gegenwart, oder nicht vielmehr einer Vergangenheit an, die höchstens noch von musealem Interesse ist? Ist eine intellektuelle Durchdringung des Glaubens, eine christliche, katholische/protestantische Intellektualität sinnvoll, notwendig, überhaupt möglich?

In this paper, I will examine how films recreate memories of resistance and define, both visually and in film narration, the difference between imperial aggressors and local protagonists of resistance. The examples are taken from the Brazilian film Quilombo that describes the resistance of the 17th and 18th century Maroon communities against the onslaught of the Portuguese colonial powers (political and military). Med Hondo’s (Mauretania) Sarraounia deals with the resistance in West Africa against the Jihad of the Sokoto Fulani and (...) the (in)famous French “exploratory” expedition under the command of Voulet. Both films are based on “real” histories as they were generally communicated from the colonialist perspective. And both films present themselves as counter-discursive revisions of history. The analysis in this paper focuses on the visual representation of the resistance heroes, first isolating them from the continuity of film narration in a type of still image, thus emphasizing the contrastive imagology between aggression and resistance. In the second step, aggressors and resistors are examined in terms of how they relate socially to their fellow combatants and to their communities. The obvious difference is that the aggressors have no immediate community to relate to socially or emotionally. Particular emphasis is put on the associative and symbolic meanings of the scenic setting, in which the antagonistic characters are placed. (shrink)

Aus dem Inhalt: I. Maclean, Introduction M.J. B. Allen, In principio: Marsilio Ficino on the Life of Text D. Perler, Diskussionen uber mentale Sprache im 16. Jahrhundert E. Kessler, Die verborgene Gegenwart und Funktion des Nominalismus in der Renaissance-Philosophie: das Problem der Universalien A. De Pace, Copernicus against a Rhetorical Approach to the Beauty of the Universe. The Influence of the Phaedo on the De revolutionibus H. Mikkeli, Art and Nature in the Renaissance Commentaries and Textbooks on Aristotle's Physics U. (...) Langer, The Ring of Gyges in Plato, Cicero, and Lorenzo Valla: The Moral Force of Fictional Examples I. Maclean, Legal fictions and fictional entities in Renaissance jurisprudence M.-L. Demonet, Les etres de raison, ou les modes d'etre de la litterature M.L. Bianchi, Signs, Signaturae and Natursprache in Paracelsus and Bohme N. G. Siraisi, Disease and symptom as problematic concepts in Renaissance medicine J. Rohls, Schrift, Wort und Sache in der fruhen protestantischen Theologie C. Lohr, Possibility and Reality in Suarez's Disputationes metaphysicae Weitere Beitrage von: B. Vickers, C. Leijenhorst, M. Friedrich. (shrink)

Menschen, die ihren Zeitgenossen anders erscheinen, müssen deshalb nicht auch anders sein. Ebenso wenig wie Menschen, die in der frühen Neuzeit für besessen, Narren, Hexen oder Wechselbälger gehalten wurden, das tatsächlich waren, kann davon ausgegangen werden, dass Menschen, die uns heute als Behinderte oder psychisch Kranke erscheinen, dies in ontologischem Sinne sind. Der Hexenmythos ist weitgehend entzaubert, die thomistische Dämonologie als Leitparadigma durch den kartesianischen Mechanismus abgelöst worden. Doch auch unser heutiges Verständnis von Behinderung und psychischer Krankheit ist sozial konstruiert.

Musik ist eine Kunst des Maßes. Tonhöhe, Tondauer, Takt und Metrum, ferner Tempo und Lautstärke sind die messbaren musikalischen Parameter, die über- oder unterschritten werden können. Die Kategorie des Überflusses generiert in der Musik daher eine Reihe von Oppositionen wie: zu hoch/zu tief (Tonhöhe), zu laut/zu leise (Dynamik) usw. Ein dynamisches Ungleichgewicht entsteht, das zu Zwecken des musikalischen Ausdrucks nutzbar gemacht werden kann. Das Streben nach dynamischer Steigerung durch Überfluss ist ein typisches Merkmal romantischer Musik. Systemtheoretisch betrachtet bilden Produktion und (...) Rezeption von Musik homöostatische Systeme aus, die durch Überfluss und/oder Mangel (Beschränkung) geregelt werden. „Zu viel! Zu viel! O, daß ich nun erwachte!“ Richard Wagner, Tannhäuser, 1. Akt, 2. Szene. Der Ausruf des Minnesängers Tannhäuser aus Richard Wagners gleichnamiger Oper könnte als ein Motto für Überfluss und Überdruss in der Musik des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts bis hin zu unserer Gegenwart gelten. Zwar ist Überfluss keine musikalische Kategorie, aber die Phänomene des „Zu viel!“ oder des „Zu wenig!“ lassen sich bei ihr sehr wohl beobachten. (shrink)

Jens Bonnemann, Filmtheorie. Eine Einführung, Berlin: J. B. Metzler 2019.

When we start with the wrong question, no matter how good an answer we get, it won’t give us the results we want. Rather than joining the throngs who are asking, When will this economic crisis be over? Jim Wallis says the right question to ask is How will this crisis change us? The worst thing we can do now, Wallis tells us, is to go back to normal. Normal is what got us into this situation. We need (...) a new normal, and this economic crisis is an invitation to discover what that means. Some of the principles Wallis unpacks for our new normal are . . . • Spending money we don’t have for things we don’t need is a bad foundation for an economy or a family. • It’s time to stop keeping up with the Joneses and start making sure the Joneses are okay. • The values of commercials and billboards are not the things we want to teach our children. • Care for the poor is not just a moral duty but is critical for the common good. • A healthy society is a balanced society in which markets, the government, and our communities all play a role. • The operating principle of God’s economy says that there is enough if we share it. • And much, much more . . . In the pages of this book, Wallis provides us with a moral compass for this new economy—one that will guide us on Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street. Embracing a New Economy Getting back to "the way things were" is not an option. It is time we take our economic uncertainty and use it to find some moral clarity. Too often we have been ruled by the maxims that greed is good, it’s all about me, and I want it now. Those can be challenged only with some of our oldest and best values—enough is enough, we are in it together, and thinking not just for tomorrow but for future generations. Jim Wallis shows that the solution to our problems will be found only as individuals, families, friends, churches, mosques, synagogues, and entire communities wrestle with the question of values together. (shrink)

L'inscription d'Aberkios, évêque de Hiérapolis en Phrygie dans la seconde moitié du 2e siècle, nous est parvenue par la tradition manuscrite et épigraphique : l'article décrit d'abord l'histoire de la transmission de cette épitaphe extraordinaire, epigramma dignitate et pretio inter Christianan facile princeps d'après G.B. de Rossi. Puis, il donne des explications de détail en confrontant deux traductions allemandes assez différentes, celle de W. Wischmeyer (1980) et celle de R. Merkelbach (1997). Enfin, l'article tente de donner des pistes pour contextualiser (...) ce document dans le monde du Haut-Empire, où les autorités romaines ont accepté la visibilité du culte chrétien et des monuments funéraires des évêques, malgré la situation juridique peu favorable aux Chrétiens. (shrink)

Ludwig Wittgenstein/ Karl R. Popper/ Claude Levi-Strauss/ Martin Heidegger/ Karl Jaspers/ Hannah Arendt/ Ernst Bloch/ Max Horkheimer/ Theodor W. Adorno.

Sickle cell disease is an autosomal recessive hemoglobinopathy found mainly in populations of African and Mediterranean descent, including approximately 100,000 Americans. It is also very common in Spanish-speaking regions of Central America, South America, and parts of the Caribbean, in Saudi Arabia, and in India and Sri Lanka. The disorder is characterized most commonly by lifelong recurrent unpredictable vaso-occlusive pain that may be disabling, and by chronic tissue damage and organ dysfunction. There are several genotypes of the disease. Although SCD (...) pain frequency generally varies between genotypes, it also varies between subjects even within genotype. It may worsen from childhood to adulthood. It may vary by gender. Its location, timing, and severity may be unpredictable.Until recently, pain in SCD had been characterized as episodes that were acute, periodic, and relatively rare. Crises were viewed as usually associated with hospitalization. Many patients utilized hospital or emergency care for pain once per year or less, so painful episodes in SCD were called vaso-occlusive “crises.”. (shrink)

This article explores the ethical principles of prescribing in Sickle Cell Disease. The first two sections of the article provide detailed scientific justification for the last section of the manuscript, which explores and discusses the ethical principles.