Foreword Large parts of Monroe Beardsley's production in the field of aesthetics treat literature, the theory of meaning, and the philosophy of language. ...

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are a highly complex and rich phenomena, and this has a number of important clinical, theoretical and methodological implications. However, until recently, this fact has not always been incorporated into the experimental designs and theoretical paradigms used by researchers within the cognitive sciences. In this paper, we will briefly outline two recent examples of phenomenologically informed approaches to the study of AVHs taken from a cognitive science perspective. In the first example, based on Larøi and Woodward (...) (Harv Rev Psychiatry 15:109–117, 2007 ), it is argued that reality monitoring studies examining the cognitive underpinnings of hallucinations have not reflected the phenomenological complexity of AVHs in their experimental designs and theoretical framework. The second example, based on Jones (Schizophr Bull, in press, 2010 ), involves a critical examination of the phenomenology of AVHs in the context of two other prominent cognitive models: inner speech and intrusions from memory. It will be shown that, for both examples, the integration of a phenomenological analysis provides important improvements both on a methodological, theoretical and clinical level. This will be followed by insights and critiques from philosophy and clinical psychiatry—both of which offer a phenomenological alternative to the empiricist–rationalist conceptualisation of AVHs inherent to the cognitive sciences approach. Finally, the paper will conclude with ideas as to how the cognitive sciences may integrate these latter perspectives into their methodological and theoretical programmes. (shrink)

Thinking with Spinoza about education involves thinking with and beyond his authored texts, situating his work within the tradition of Western thought, and exploring his contribution to the philoso...

Climate change is an existential risk reinforced by ordinary actions in afuent societies—often silently present in comfortable and enjoyable habits. This silence is sometimes broken, presenting itself as a nagging reminder of how our habits fuel a catastrophe. As a case in point, global warming has created a state of urgency among wine makers in Spain, as the alcohol level has risen to a point where it jeopardises wine quality and thereby Spanish viticulture. Eforts are currently being made to solve (...) this problem technologically by developing (non-GMO) strains of yeast that produce less alcohol. If successful, this could help save Spanish viticulture. This kind of technological solution is routinely criticised for ofering simplistic “techno-fx” solutions to solve complex societal problems. However, it is not clear what features are criticised by the notion of techno-fx and hence how to avoid this criticism. In our interpretation, the techno-fx notion is not exclusively used as a dismissive term. The notion points to a general virtue of engineering: to create technological solutions that work silently in the background. This asset of technological solutions might sometimes be problematic and sometimes not. Hence, it needs to be analysed case-by-case by paying attention to the moral relevance of the hidden implications of the technology and of the unrefective actions and habits that they facilitate. Such moral analysis will in turn inform strategies for foregrounding this technology to counteract silencing. We discuss what this means in the case of modifying yeast as a viticultural climate resilience strategy. (shrink)

Der Band Bildung als Kunst beleuchtet die Bildungskonzepte Fichtes, Schillers, Humboldts und Nietzsches.

Desde la antigüedad hasta hoy, la tradición vitruviana ha dominado los modos en que se ha entendido el oficio de la arquitectura y la figura del arquitecto en Occidente. Esta tradición hace de la arquitectura una práctica necesariamente relacionada con la edificación. Sin embargo, en los tiempos en que Vitruvio escribía su De Architectura, diferentes nociones sobre el oficio permeaban tanto en escritos dramáticos y filosóficos como en el sentido común de la época. En Cicerón y Eurípides, pero sobre todo (...) en Plauto, encontramos arquitecturas cuyos objetivos se alejaban del arte y se acercaban a la política, y arquitectos con habilidades que tenían menos que ver con la técnica, y más con la prudencia. Con ayuda del pensamiento aristotélico, veremos que estas figuras no eran meros caprichos dramatúrgicos ni moralistas, sino que poseían un fundamento epistemológico y práctico, que encontraba en la arquitectura un modo de pen- sar y de actuar más allá de la proyección y construcción de edificios. (shrink)

O presente artigo aborda a dimensão ética no pensamento de Jean-François Lyotard. Como conceito decisivo para essa relação, é aqui proposto o conceito de receptividade. Partindo dele, deseja-se mostrar que é possível reconstruir uma concepção de responsabilidade ética no pensamento do filósofo francês, a qual se coloca em sentido diametralmente oposto à concepção de autonomia: a obrigação ética se torna por conta disso afetiva, fundada e repousando na capacidade de se deixar falar. Com vistas a uma determinação mais acurada dessa (...) posição, serão consultadas as reflexões de Lyotard acerca da filosofia da linguagem em Le Differénd: a concepção do “acontecimento da fase” se deixa mostrar na ética do diálogo, que deixa espaço para a assimetria, alteridade e transformação. O pensamento do conflito insolúvel mostra-se como plenamente implicado com essa ética. This contribution examines the ethical dimension in the thinking of Jean-François Lyotard. It is shown that receptivity is crucial to its understanding. On these grounds, ethical responsibility can be conceived as fundamentally different from the standard conceptions of autonomy: ethical obligation has its sources in affection and is founded by a capacity of responsivity. This position is further developed by drawing on Lyotard ’s thoughts on language in Le Différend: the idea of a “sentence event” can be conceptualized within the framework of an ethics of dialogue, which leaves room for asymmetry, alterity, and transformation. The philosophy of the irreconcilable conflict turns out to be a form of ethics in this sense. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Embodying Contagion: The Viropolitics of Horror and Desire in Contemporary Discourse ed. by Sandra Becker, Megen de Bruin-Molé, and Sara PolakLars SchmeinkSandra Becker, Megen de Bruin-Molé, and Sara Polak, editors. Embodying Contagion: The Viropolitics of Horror and Desire in Contemporary Discourse. Bangor, Wales: The University of Wales Press, 2021. PB, p. 288, ISBN 978-1-78683-690-8, GBP 45,-There is a trend in current humanities writing to point out its relation (...) to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, curious on the one hand as we normally do not address the day-to-day of our contemporary moment in time quite as immediately, reasonably needing a few years to position our thinking against the fickleness of the Zeitgeist. But, on the other hand, the pandemic has had such a profound impact on all the work we have been doing that it seems impossible not to mention—from projects cancelled or changed due to travel restrictions and lockdowns or to issues becoming so much more (or sometime less) important as our academic as well as social priorities shift. Embodying Contagion, a volume of collected essays, was already in the process of editorial work when the pandemic struck; in fact, it was already in the final round of edits (xiii). But how would you edit a collection on contagion narratives and not address the big one unfolding right then and there? So, in a way this volume is made even more timely because of its peculiar moment of publication, as the ongoing health crisis of COVID-19 is entering its next stage, and somehow the essays needed to position themselves against this historical backdrop—this, the experience of living through a contagion narrative, is then interwoven into the volume like a thread. [End Page 515]In terms of its original premise, the volume has not lost its pertinence; if anything, it is heightened. In a nutshell, the volume takes up the mantle from Priscilla Wald, who had coined the term "outbreak narrative" and expands it to the idea of "contagion" (1–2), discussing the "viropolitics of horror and desire" (2) linked to these contagions as metaphors and images to cope with social realities. As the editors attest, the fascination with contagion in our culture is omnipresent—more so after COVID-19—and can be read to determine our bodies as posthuman, existing "as shifting and sharing ecosystems rather than isolated and inviolate objects, contemporary culture unveils a seemingly endless series of new ways to be, to behave and to belong alongside other bodies" (3). Contagion narratives reveal our relational existence—through them, "we negotiate the boundaries between bodies that are welcome, bodies that must be confined or silenced, and bodies that must be eradicated" (4). It is this negotiation that is framed as key cultural work in the volume and that the ten essays interrogate—why do we use contagion to explore our relational selves, to each other and to our surroundings?In terms of structure, the essays are divided into two main parts with five essays each, framed by a preface from the inspirational Priscilla Wald, an introduction laying out the idea of the volume, and a centrally important epilogue that addresses the current pandemic and its impacts as a contagion narrative specifically. In her preface, Wald is adamant in sounding the alarm, or better yet sounding out a profound "I told you so" as she discusses how "woefully underprepared" (xvii) we were for the pandemic and how ignored contagions are politically—making clear in the process that the cultural work of these narratives is more pressing to recognize: "As these stories titillate us, they shape experience: who, what and where a culture locates its threats, its definitions of 'us' and 'them,' its response to other cultures and to the planet" (xvii).The first part of the volume, then, addresses "the role of epidemic fantasies in theory and reality" (4), meaning that news reporting, policy measures, or social media take up metaphors and imagery of contagion, generating meaning around these narratives. Consequently, in terms of its interdisciplinary approach, the chapters in this part of the volume are closely related to sociology and communication studies, as... (shrink)

Judith Butler (*1956) ist in Deutschland vor allem durch ihre Publikationen im Bereich der Queertheorie bekannt. Doch ist sie seit mehr als zehn Jahren auch auf dem Feld der politischen Philosophie aktiv und hat in diesem Gebiet zahlreiche Veroffentlichungen vorgelegt. Die Themen reichen von der Auseinandersetzung mit der US-amerikanischen Auaenpolitik, uber Erwagungen zur Kriegsphotographie bis hin zum israelisch-palastinensischen Konflikt. Butlers diesbezugliche Veroffentlichungen der letzten Jahre wurden zwar intensiv in den Feuilletons diskutiert, von der wissenschaftlichen Rezeption allerdings nur zogernd aufgenommen, weshalb (...) es bis heute keine systematische Auseinandersetzung mit ihrer politischen Philosophie gibt. Das Anliegen des Sammelbandes ist es, diese Lucke zu schlieaen und Butlers Beitrage zur politischen Philosophie aus verschiedenen Perspektiven auszuleuchten. (shrink)

The paper intends to show, that W. N. Hohfeld's theory of fundamental jural relations is relevant to economic theory, and that Hohfeld's system can be reconstructed by the concepts of 'liberty space' and 'ability space', understood as an agent's Spielraum for action. The first half of the paper is devoted to an exposition of Hohfeld's system and to the question of its relation to the economic analysis of property rights. The second half concerns Spielraum theory and the reformulation of Hohfeldian (...) distinctions in terms of liberty spaces and ability spaces. It is argued that the reformulation is useful, inter alia, for describing exchange of property rights by contract. El artículo intenta mostrar: que la teoría de las relaciones jurídicas fundamentales de W. N. Hohfeld es relevante para la teoría económica y que el sistema de Hohfeld puede ser reconstruido mediante los conceptos de "espacio de libertad" y "espacio de capacidad", entendidos como el Spielraum para la acción del agente. La primera mitad del artículo está dedicada a la exposición del sistema de Hohfeld y al problema de su relación con el análisis económico de los derechos reales. La segunda mitad se refiere a la teoría del Spielraum y a la reformulación de las distinciones hohfeldianas en términos de espacio de libertad y espacio de capacidad. Se argumenta que esta reformulación es útil, inter alia, para describir el cambio de los derechos reales mediante contratos. (shrink)

With the rise of the system approach in World War II, US-engineers developed new design techniques to manage complex socio-technical systems, especially military ones. One of these new methods was the use of block diagrams which should guarantee a rational design process without eliminating the traditional visual habitus of the engineering community. This text argues that the block diagram, as a new visual design method, was embedded in the process of establishing a new engineering science, called system engineering. Furthermore, the (...) block diagram symbolized the changed role of technical experts in the Cold War era, who were regarded as competent problem solvers and as a community that could protect the national security by developing complex military technology. Two images, that were parts of advertisments in theScientific American, shall be used to demonstrate the block diagram’s function in the public sphere as a symbol that represents a new technocratic interpretation of modernity. (shrink)

The ethical debate on whistleblowing concerns centrally the conflict between the right to political free speech and the duty of loyalty to the organization where one works. This is the moral dilemma of whistleblowing. Political free speech is justified because it is a central part of liberal democracy, whereas loyalty can be motivated as a way of showing consideration for one’s associates. The political philosophy of John Rawls is applied to this dilemma, and it is shown that the requirement of (...) loyalty, in the sense that is needed to create the moral dilemma of whistleblowing, is inconsistent with that theory. In this sense, there is no moral dilemma of whistleblowing. This position has been labelled extreme in that it says that whistleblowing is always morally permitted. In a discussion and rejection of Richard De George’s criteria on permissible whistleblowing, it is pointed out that the mere rejection of loyalty will not lead to an extreme position; harms can still be taken into account. Furthermore, it is argued that the best way is, in this as in most other political circumstances, to weigh harms is provided by the free speech argument from democracy. (shrink)

je älter, desto frommer? Diese Frage prägt die religionsinteressierte Altersforschung in vielfältiger Hinsicht. Angesichts der demographischen Entwicklung ist sie gerade für die christlichen Kirchen von großem Interesse. Der Bedeutung und den Mustern und Strukturen von Religion im Alter geht diese Studie deshalb nach. Ihr liegt ein Religionsverständnis zugrunde, das die Ganzheitsdimensionen des Lebens in den Mittelpunkt stellt und den wesentlichen Fokus auf die Frage nach dem Sinn des Lebens richtet. Neben der Identifikation von (religiösen) Sinndimensionen im Alter in der Rekonstruktion (...) von Einzelfällen wie fallübergreifenden Strukturen bildet die Erarbeitung eines dem Forschungsgegenstand adäquaten und praktisch-theologisch fundierten Designs der empirischen Studie einen gewichtigen Schwerpunkt. Damit trägt die Arbeit einerseits dem zukunftsrelevanten Thema der Religion im Alter, andererseits dem Desiderat konzeptionell überzeugender empirischer Forschung in der Praktischen Theologie Rechnung. Das macht sie interessant sowohl für die religiöse Altersforschung im Speziellen wie die praktisch-theologische Religionsforschung im Allgemeinen. (shrink)

Zusammenfassung Obwohl eine Vielzahl an Studien darauf verweist, dass das gemeinsame Erleben und Ausleben von Emotionen ein ganz wichtiges Moment des Zuschauerinteresses am Spitzensport darstellt, ist bislang weitgehend ungeklärt, wie der Spitzensport solche kollektive Emotionen hervorruft und steuern kann. Dieses Defizit zu beheben ist das Ziel des vorliegenden Artikels. Dazu wird ein allgemeines emotionssoziologisches Modell entworfen, mittels dessen zunächst Form und Funktion von Emotionen als psychisches Phänomen beschrieben und mit Blick auf den Sportzuschauer reflektiert werden. Im Anschluss hieran werden die (...) sozialen Strukturen und Prozesse markiert, die einerseits maßgeblichen Einfluss auf das individuelle Emotionserleben ausüben, andererseits aber auch für das Entstehen kollektiver Emotionen verantwortlich zeichnen. Auf Basis dieser Analyse wird in einem letzten Schritt der Frage nach den Steuerungsmöglichkeiten kollektiver Emotionen eines Sportpublikums nachgegangen. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Semiotica Jahrgang: 2015 Heft: 207 Seiten: 327-368.

In this article, German federalism is analyzed through its implications for public spending and for public revenue. The structure of government spending and taxation has evolved in the direction of greater centralisation. This tendency reveals itself in the constitutional changes with regard to taxation, the major territorial reforms and in the increased influence of the federal state on the public spending of inferior levels of government. The evening out between authorities is too egalitarian and the effects on economic development are (...) nefarious. In contrast to a unitary system with a powerful central government, this cooperative federation suffers from a drawback, namely, that the federal state can often not make decisions without the agreement of member states. The consequence is that some reforms are hindered. It is in this way that the need of a fiscal competition between member states in order to better economic policy in Germany makes it felt.Dans cet article, le fédéralisme allemand est analysé à travers ses implications pour les dépenses publiques et pour les recettes publiques. L’évolution des compétences en matière d’imposition et de dépenses indique une tendance à la centralisation. Celle-ci apparaît dans les changements constitutionnels relatifs aux impôts, dans les grandes réformes territoriales, et dans l’augmentation de l’influence de l’État fédéral sur les dépenses publiques des autres niveaux gouvernementaux. La péréquation entre les collectivités est trop égalitaire et les effets sur le développement économique sont néfastes. Comparé à un système unitaire avec un puissant gouvernement central, ce fédéralisme coopératif a le désavantage d’un État fédéral qui ne peut pas souvent prendre une décision sans l’accord des états fédérés. Par conséquent, quelques réformes sont bloquées. C’est ainsi que se fait sentir un besoin de concurrence fiscale entre les fédérés afin d’améliorer a politique économique en Allemagne. (shrink)

In the mid-eighties a first endeavour was initiated to institutionalise Tönnies studies. The Ferdinand Tönnies Society in Kiel and the later Ferdinand Tönnies Research Unit at the University of Hamburg Institute for Sociology undertook to process and promote the works of the Nestor of German sociology. On the basis of the preparatory work done, a complete edition of Tönnies’ works (TG) was planned in 24 volumes. This critical complete edition will include the published authentic and authorised German and foreign-language texts (...) as well as hitherto unpublished material in so far as it is in independent literary form. The first 22 volumes of the TG present the published works, the 23rd volume contains the un-published material, and the final volume provides the general indexes and lists. Besides the edited texts, the volumes contain list(s) of contents, a list of abbreviations and grammalogues, a critical apparatus, name and subject indexes, and a bibliography. The editor’s preface gives brief information on sources, the condition of material, the degree of authorisation, and author corrections. (shrink)

Das philosophische System der Mimamsa hat, was Theorien über Sprache und Tradition betrifft, die indische Geistesgeschichte nachhaltig geprägt. Diese Arbeit rekonstruiert Grundstrukturen des philosophischen Denkens eines seiner bedeutendsten Vertreter aus dem 7. Jahrhundert und stellt sie in den Kontext der Entwicklung sprachphilosophischer und hermeneutischer Auffassungen in Indien. Dabei wird untersucht, wieweit Kumarila der Tradition dieses Systems folgt und wieweit er eigene Konzepte entwickelt. Vergleiche mit Ideen aus der westlichen Philosophie erleichtern den Zugang zur Philosophie Kumarilas und zeigen, daß seine Auffassungen (...) auch für die moderne sprachphilosophische Diskussion von großem Interesse sind. (shrink)

Der Ubergang von der Ideenwelt des Veda zu derjenigen der Upanisaden wird in der Regel als Beginn der indischen Philosophie angesehen. Lars Gohler zeigt in seiner Monographie zur fruhen Philosophie in Indien, dass es neben den Upanisaden hingegen noch eine weitere Traditionslinie in der Entstehung der indischen Philosophie gegeben hat: Sie fuhrt von der Opferritualistik des Veda zu der ihr nachfolgenden Ritualwissenschaft und Hermeneutik der Mimamsa. Ein Grossteil der Begriffe der indischen Philosophie, die ursprunglich aus dem Bereich der Opferritualistik (...) stammen, wurden in der Mimamsa von ihrem engeren rituellen Gebrauch gelost und erhielten eine philosophische Dimension. Ebenso haben die Diskurslogik, Sprachphilosophie und Hermeneutik der Mimamsa in methodischer Hinsicht wichtige Ausgangspunkte fur die klassische Philosophie Indiens dargestellt. Gohler beleuchtet in seiner Studie detailliert diese weitgehend unbekannte Traditionslinie und zeigt ihren entscheidenden Einfluss auf die Entwicklung der indischen Philosophie auf. (shrink)

In the article Should rare diseases get special treatment? by Monica Q F de Magalhaes,1 it is argued that rarity is not a morally relevant feature to consider in prioritising treatment in healthcare, but severity is. A central conclusion in the article is that severity rather than prevalence should guide different cost-effectiveness thresholds. Hence, I take it, she answers no to the question in her own heading. I agree with all of this—and with most of her other arguments and conclusions (...) in the article—except for the clause ‘rather than prevalence’. For this reason, I find the article misses its’ mark. Let me explain by taking Sweden as an example. Sweden has a legally established ethics framework for priority setting in healthcare since 1997, comprising three principles: human-dignity principle, needs-solidarity principle and cost-effectiveness principle. The implication of these principles in practice is that the higher the severity—the higher the cost-effectiveness threshold acceptable.2 During the last 10 years or so, the highest accepted cost-effectiveness threshold for the most severe conditions have been in the order of €100 000/QALY. Until a few years ago rarity or prevalence was …. (shrink)

The article argues that the doctrine of Gorgias of Leontinoi, as expressed in his "Encomion of Helen", is not a rhetorical technique but a practice of moral education. The medium of this "ethical speech practice" is perceptual forms, its basic mode being the practice of showing or epideictic speech. The crucial standard of this practice is "epideictic rightness", which is identical to Gorgias’ conception of "truth.". According to this conception, speech is true if it exemplifies morally right conduct and moral (...) beauty. True speech in this sense must also be effective speech, since it will promote right behaviour in the future. (shrink)