‘That in our times a kind of supernumerary person is appearing who is egoless, who in reality is not a human being, is a terrible truth.’ – Rudolf Steiner Are there people on earth today who do not have a self – a human ego or ‘I’? The phenomenon of ‘egolessness’ – the absence of a human being’s core – was discussed by the spiritual teacher Rudolf Steiner in lectures and personal conversations. An egoless individual, he intimated, is an empty (...) sheath through which other spiritual entities could operate. Erdmuth J. Grosse brings together many little-known quotations from Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual research and supports them with a wealth of disquieting reports, testimonies and examples from literature and politics. He places these insights within the broader context of the riddle of the human self, throwing light on the spiritual development of the individual and humanity as a whole. In this thought-provoking study, Grosse goes on to discuss the role of comets, the effects of cyanide on the human constitution – especially in the light of the Holocaust – and the hidden effects of ceremonial magic, occult lodges, cults and sects. In conclusion, he offers positive solutions to humanity’s present predicament by describing the healing impulses of social threefolding, the invisible spiritual beings seeking to help humanity, the role of the gods, the Christ impulse and the true goals of human evolution. (shrink)

In the context of our recently developed emergent quantum mechanics, and, in particular, based on an assumed sub-quantum thermodynamics, the necessity of energy quantization as originally postulated by Max Planck is explained by means of purely classical physics. Moreover, under the same premises, also the energy spectrum of the quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator is derived. Essentially, Planck’s constant h is shown to be indicative of a particle’s “zitterbewegung” and thus of a fundamental angular momentum. The latter is identified with quantum (...) mechanical spin, a residue of which is thus present even in the non-relativistic Schrödinger theory. (shrink)

An analysis of the nature of good governance as it figures into the Royal Government of Bhutan's policy of Gross National Happiness.

An analysis and critical discussion of the concept of good governance as it figures into the Royal Government of Bhutan's policy of Gross National Happiness.

Die vorliegende Arbeit hat zum Ziel, „dem Latinisten/Romanisten für eine Reihe vulgärlat. Phänomene griech. Belege zur Verfügung zu stellen“…; „wer ein primär gräzistisches Interesse verfolgt, ….wird eine Antwort auf die Frage finden, welche „ungewöhnlichen“ Schreibungen (in griechischen Texten JNP) Verf. für den Niederschlag von Prozessen der lat. Sprachgeschichte hält“ (S. 18). Die Verf. geht dem gr.-lat. Sprachkontakt der Kaiserzeit, der früh- und mittelbyzantinischen Epoche nach (bis etwa zur Jahrtausendwende), und zwar anhand der lat. Lehnwörter (LWW) im Gr. von der Antike (...) bis in die neugriechischen Dialekte, nicht wie üblich dem umgekehrten Einfluss. „Lehnwörter sind eine ausgezeichnete sprachgeschichtliche Quelle sowohl für die Nehmer – als auch für die Gebersprache“, …„Zeugen eines historischen Vorgangs, nämlich des Sprachkontakts und damit Kulturkontakts;“… an ihnen „lassen sich …Akkulturationsphänomene zeigen“ (S. 1). Dass das byz. Gr. und das Ngr. eine Fülle von lat. LWW enthalten, die durch die historische Rolle Byzanz‘ als Nachfolger des Römischen Reiches, aber auch durch die Präsenz von Romanen in Südosteuropa bis heute (Rumänen, Vlachen/Aromunen) zu erklären sind, hat die Forschung am Ende des 19. und in den ersten Dezennien des 20. Jhd. stärker beschäftigt, und die Verf. setzt sich in ihrer „Einführung“ ausführlich mit den Ergebnissen ihrer Vorgänger auseinander: Gleich, ob diese einen altertumswissenschaftlichen (L. Hahn), papyrologischen, epigraphischen, romanistischen oder byzantinistisch-neogräzistischen Hintergrund (G. Meyer, M. Triantaphyllides) hatten – das Thema, so stellt die Verf. zu Recht fest, ist nach den Veröffentlichungen Zilliacus' (1935) und Dölgers umfangreicher Rez. (BZ 36, 108-117) seit den dreissiger Jahren praktisch liegengeblieben, wenn man von der Arbeit der beiden Kahanes absieht, in denen freilich (S. 15)„Lautliches und Morphologisches ausser Betracht bleibe“ (S. 15). So ist denn für die Romanistik, ausser für J. Kramer und seine Schule, das „Balkanlatein“ weiterhin eine feste Grösse: Zu ihm wird traditionell das Rumänische mit seinen Dialekten (Aromunisch und Megleno – Rumänisch), der lat. LWortschatz im Albanischen, das (ausgestorbene) Dalmatische und eben der lat. Anteil im Byz. – Ngr. gerechnet. (shrink)

Johann Gottlieb Fichtes Wissenschaftslehre von 1812 stellt die letzte umfassende Ausarbeitung der Grundlegung der Fichteschen Transzendentalphilosophie dar. Historisch handelt es sich um die 'Endgestalt' eines Projekts, das in Zürich und Jena knapp zwanzig Jahre zuvor begonnen worden war, systematisch um den wichtigsten Anwärter auf den Titel der 'Vollendungsgestalt' einer Philosophie, mit der Fichte eine ebenbürtige Alternative zu den Systemen Schellings und Hegels vorlegt. Die Autoren des vorliegenden Bandes tragen dem End- und Vollendungscharakter der 'Wissenschaftslehre' in ihrer Version aus dem Jahre (...) 1812 Rechnung. Dafür knüpfen sie etwa bei der neuen Nähe zu Kant an oder buchstabieren den transzendentallogisch so faszinierenden Versuch Fichtes durch, die Erscheinung als absoluten Ort des Wissens zu denken. Auch das Bild als das grosse Leitthema der Fichteschen Spätphilosophie wird verhandelt, während zugleich ältere Motive wie das 'Selbstbewusstsein' oder die 'Reflexion' in ein neues Licht gerückt werden. (shrink)

The article examines the subject of ‘primitive’ art in Johannes Volkelt’s System der Ästhetik (1905–1927) against the backdrop of the broad debate on the ethnological refounding of aesthetics around 1900. Unlike contemporaries such as the ethnologist Ernst Grosse, Volkelt tries to prove that the art of ‘primitive peoples’ is an inadequate basis for aesthetics. In doing so, he follows 19th-century idealistic metaphysics of beauty. However, his argumentation against Grosse and others, which contradicts itself in crucial points, attests (...) the challenge of philosophy by ethnology as the leading discipline of aesthetics at the beginning of the 20th century. (shrink)

1. T. - Die metaphysischen Urgesetze der Melodik.

In this paper, we explore the extent to which issues of simulation model validation take on novel characteristics when the models in question become particularly complex. Our central claim is that complex simulation models in general, and global models of climate in particular, face a form of confirmation holism. This holism, moreover, makes analytic understanding of complex models of climate either extremely difficult or even impossible. We argue that this supports a position we call convergence skepticism: the belief that the (...) existence of a plurality of different models making a plurality of different forecasts of future climate is likely to be a persistent feature of global climate science. (shrink)

Episodic memory has been analyzed in a number of different ways in both philosophy and psychology, and most controversy has centered on its self-referential,autonoeticcharacter. Here, we offer a comprehensive characterization of episodic memory in representational terms and propose a novel functional account on this basis. We argue that episodic memory should be understood as a distinctive epistemic attitude taken toward an event simulation. In this view, episodic memory has a metarepresentational format and should not be equated with beliefs about the (...) past. Instead, empirical findings suggest that the contents of human episodic memory are often constructed in the service of the explicit justification of such beliefs. Existing accounts of episodic memory function that have focused on explaining its constructive character through its role in future-oriented mental time travel do justice neither to its capacity to ground veridical beliefs about the past nor to its representational format. We provide an account of the metarepresentational structure of episodic memory in terms of its role in communicative interaction. The generative nature of recollection allows us to represent and communicate the reasons why we hold certain beliefs about the past. In this process, autonoesis corresponds to the capacity to determine when and how to assert epistemic authority in making claims about the past. A domain where such claims are indispensable are human social engagements. Such engagements commonly require the justification of entitlements and obligations, which is often possible only by explicit reference to specific past events. (shrink)

Informally, structural properties of mathematical objects are usually characterized in one of two ways: either as properties expressible purely in terms of the primitive relations of mathematical theories, or as the properties that hold of all structurally similar mathematical objects. We present two formal explications corresponding to these two informal characterizations of structural properties. Based on this, we discuss the relation between the two explications. As will be shown, the two characterizations do not determine the same class of mathematical properties. (...) From this observation we draw some philosophical conclusions about the possibility of a ‘correct’ analysis of structural properties. (shrink)

'History' in the modern sense of the word refers to both the way in which human beings develop in time and the way in which this is interpreted. Thus 'Critique of History' concerns a way of life as well as a mode of reflection.

A book review of 'Feeling Extended: Sociality as Extended Body-Becoming-Mind' by Douglas Robinson.

Theories concerning love in the West tend to be bound by the problematic constraints of patriarchal conceptions of what counts ontologically as “true” or “universal” love. It seems that feminist love studies must choose between shining light on these constraints or bursting through them. In this article I give a feminist analysis of Augustine of Hippo's theory of love through a philosophical, psychological, and theological reading of his complicated relationships with women. I argue that, given the “embodied” nature of his (...) many loves throughout his life, there is room in Augustine's account of love for a gendered reading of love that is unconstrained by patriarchal notions concerning which gender is capable of which kind of love. Augustine's theory of love is one that is not coldly universal but bodied and personal; indeed, although it is founded inside patriarchal historical constructions, it is capable of bursting out of these constraints and suggesting an egalitarian, nongendered view of love. (shrink)

Can failure be aesthetic or artistic? How can failure be described as an aesthetic phenomenon or as a work of art? Starting from a concept of aesthetic experience and presence this paper seeks answers to said question in four steps. After defining the event ›failure‹ (I), its aesthetic potential is determined (II), and distinguished from failure as art and the artfulness of failure (III). Finally, the significance of the aesthetic experience of failure for its existential understanding is examined (IV).

In his biography on Augustine, Possidius writes: “His table was frugal and sparing, though indeed with the herbs and lentils he also had meats at times for the sake of his guests or for some of the weaker brethren”.1 Given the importance of friendship in Augustine’s life, it is not surprising that he ate meat for the sake of others and not for his own pleasures. However, Augustine spends much time in Book X of his Confessions obsessing over his delight (...) in everyday activities, including eating2. Indeed, Augustine examines the relationship between desire and the object of desire throughout the Confessions, his ultimate focus being on the nature of our concupiscent hearts. In this paper, I will explore Augustine’s seemingly unhealthy relationship with food by discussing the place of food in his eschatology, his account of concupiscence and will, and his theory of interiority as given in the Confessions. Ultimately, for Augustine, there is a beauty to eating that is found in its relationship to the sensual experience of God. (shrink)

The author presents the impact of Lisbon Strategy on opportunities to support the development of non-governmental organisations in Poland. He studies two inter-related issues: the Strategy’s impact on supporting the development of the so-called Third Sector and opportunities for the non-governmental organisations to achieve the Strategy’s objectives. An analysis of so delineated a field of study serves to arrive at three aims. The first is a description of the vectors and content of political transfer of Europeanisation. The second is the (...) analysis of the issue of the effectiveness with which the objectives of Europeanisation on Poland are implemented, while the third is the analysis of local determinants in the processes of Europeanisation. (shrink)