Im Zentrum des Buches steht die Betrachtung der Wiederholung in ihren vielfältigen, kulturübergreifenden Erscheinungsformen. Zahlreiche Analysen aus den Bereichen der abendländischen Kunstmusik, der europäischen Volksmusik, der afrikanischen, indonesischen und indischen Musik sowie der populären Musik untermauern die einzigartige Bedeutung der Wiederholung als musikalisches Gestaltungsmittel. Die europäische Theorie der musikalischen Form, mathematische Betrachtungen, Minimal Music (als Inbegriff repetitiver Musik) sowie ästhetische Überlegungen werden in einzelnen Kapiteln behandelt. Eine Systematisierung der Wiederholungsstrukturen steht am Ende des Buches. Entsprechend dieser Bedeutung wird die Schrift (...) eingeleitet mit einer streifzugartigen Darstellung der Wiederholung als einer universellen, kunstspartenübergreifenden Strategie. (shrink)

Nicolaus Cusanus' thought appears in much to anticipate or run in the direction of modern philosophy, especially that of Leibniz, in particular what concerns his - for the middle ages novel - mathematical reasoning. This article pursues the singularity of the mathematics of both thinkers back to their theological or philosophical intention. Continuity from Cusanus to Leibniz must thus be seen as problematical not only in relation to the infinitesimal calculus. Cusanus adheres, particularly in his specialist mathematical calculations, to the (...) impossibility of continuous transitions and accordingly also of an exact squaring of the circle. Within this limit he seeks the proximity of God in his absolute distinction from all that is finite. Leibniz, on the other hand, achieves the exact calculation of the number π with the support of the continuity principle. This refers not only to God's absolute freedom in the choice of the best but points to a modern mediation between finite and infinite, just that which is rejected by Cusanus. (shrink)

In this article we argue that the notion of control poses a critical conceptual and historical connection between scientific and political power. While many meanings of control originate in the sci...

The basic understanding which underlies scientific evidence - ideas such as the structure of experiments, causality, repeatability, validity and reliability- is not straightforward. But these ideas are needed to judge evidence in school science, in physics or chemistry or biology or psychology, in undergraduate science, and in understanding everyday issues to do with science. It is essential to be able to be critical of scientific evidence. The authors clearly set out the principles of investigation so that the reader will be (...) confident in questioning the experts, making an informed choice or arriving at in informed opinion. The book is intended for a wide range of readers including those who want to: } collect their own evidence } be able to question and judge a wide range of science-based issues that we come across in the press or other media in everyday life } teach others how to understand evidence. This book has been developed from the authors' work with first year undergraduates in a combined science course and in primary teacher training for science specialists. It is suitable for students training as primary science specialists, and also for 'A' level and first-year undergraduates in science and science-related subjects. (shrink)

The end of the nineteenth century and the whole of the twentieth may justifiably be called a time of great discoveries in the micro-, macro-, and megaworlds. All bearing witness to the dynamic life of the universe, these discoveries have resulted primarily from progress in the instruments of research, leading to the discovery of many new elementary particles, new forms of interaction, fields, and astrophysical objects — quasars, pulsars, sources of X-ray emissions, and others. An understanding of the essence of (...) the processes involved in these objects and phenomena, however, comes up against certain difficulties , the overcoming of which is to be sought primarily along the lines of further improvement of the tools of research and processing of the information acquired, the application of existing theories and the development of new ones in physics and astrophysics, and the utilization of the achievements of the science of the most general laws of the motion and development of nature, society, and thought, i.e., dialectical materialism, as the general methodology of acquisition of scientific knowledge. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Der Islam Jahrgang: 94 Heft: 2 Seiten: 583-586.

Prism adaptation is a form of visuomotor training that produces both sensorimotor and cognitive aftereffects depending on the direction of the visual displacement. Recently, a neural framework explaining both types of PA-induced aftereffects has been proposed, but direct evidence for it is lacking. We employed Structural Equation Modeling, a form of effective connectivity analysis, to establish directionality among connected nodes of the brain network thought to subserve PA. The findings reveal two distinct network branches: a loop involving connections from the (...) parietal cortices to the right parahippocampal gyrus, and a branch linking the lateral premotor cortex to the parahippocampal gyrus via the cerebellum. Like the sensorimotor aftereffects, the first branch exhibited qualitatively different modulations for left versus right PA, and critically, changes in these connections were correlated with the magnitude of the sensorimotor aftereffects. Like the cognitive aftereffects, changes in the second branch were qualitatively similar for left and right PA, with greater change for left PA and a trend correlation with cognitive aftereffects. These results provide direct evidence that PA is supported by two functionally distinct subnetworks, a parietal–temporal network responsible for sensorimotor aftereffects and a fronto-cerebellar network responsible for cognitive aftereffects. (shrink)

We share with Anderson & Lebiere (A&L) (and with Newell before them) the goal of developing a domain-general framework for modeling cognition, and we take seriously the issue of evaluation criteria. We advocate a more focused approach than the one reflected in Newell's criteria, based on analysis of failures as well as successes of models brought into close contact with experimental data. A&L attribute the shortcomings of our parallel-distributed processing framework to a failure to acknowledge a symbolic level of thought. (...) Our framework does acknowledge a symbolic level, contrary to their claim. What we deny is that the symbolic level is the level at which the principles of cognitive processing should be formulated. Models cast at a symbolic level are sometimes useful as high-level approximations of the underlying mechanisms of thought. The adequacy of this approximation will continue to increase as symbolic modelers continue to incorporate principles of parallel distributed processing. (shrink)

Wenn überhaupt in einem Gebiet Wahrheit und Existenz unabhängig von unseren Erkenntnisfähigkeiten sind, dann in der Metaphysik – etwa bei der Frage, ob es Gott gibt oder eine Seele, die unseren Tod überdauert. Die metaphysica specialis schreit geradezu nach metaphysischem Realismus und dem zugehörigen Wahrheitsbegriff. Von diesem Ausgangspunkt gerät man allerdings schnell in Verlegenheit, wenn man fragt: Nach welchen Kriterien sollen wir uns richten, wenn wir uns über Gott oder Unsterblichkeit ein Urteil bilden wollen? Mit den Mitteln der Naturwissenschaft und (...) deren rationaler Methodologie (in der es um Empirie, Einfachheit, Sparsamkeit usw. geht) kommen wir bei Themen wie Gott oder Unsterblichkeit immer nur bis zum Patt. Genauso steht es bei der Frage, ob wir in unseren Entscheidungen frei sind. Urteilsenthaltung können wir uns nicht erlauben, dafür sind die metaphysischen Fragen zu wichtig; Auslosen kommt auch nicht infrage. Statt erkenntnistheoretisch zu kapitulieren, schlage ich programmatisch vor, die Erkenntnislehre auf weichere Weise weiterzubetreiben. Emotion, Intuition, Moral – das sind einige der zusätzlichen außerrationalen Hilfsmittel, mit deren Hilfe wir weiterkommen können. Ich zeige, dass diese Hilfsmittel respektabler und gewichtiger sind, als kühle, rationale Erkenntnistheoretiker zugeben wollen. Diese Hilfsmittel führen zu guten Postulaten aus Unvernunft (und zwar nicht nur in der Metaphysik). Wie schlimm es für den Realismus ist, dass diese Postulate immer noch falsch sein könnten, diese Frage werde ich im vorliegenden Aufsatz nicht mehr klären. (shrink)

Alle Menschen wollen glücklich sein, das eigentliche Glück aber besteht darin, Gott zu haben, lautet ein Grundsatz der Anthropologie von Augustinus, der das abendländische Menschenbild wesentlich geprägt hat. Doch streben wirklich alle Menschen nach dem Glück als ihrem letzten Ziel? Und kann man die Frage nach dem Glück wirklich mit Gott in Verbindung bringen, Gott womöglich selbst mit dem ersehnten Glück identifizieren? Welche Rolle kommt Gott in einer Ethik des Glücks, welche Rolle in einer nicht am Glück orientierten Ethik zu? (...) Mit dieser Thematik befassen sich aus philosophiegeschichtlicher und philosophisch-systematischer Perspektive: Jörg Disse, Klaus Düsing, Markus Enders, Bernd Goebel, Rochus Lehonhardt, Jörg Müller und Anja Solbach. (shrink)

Physicist J. Richard Gott uses the Copernican principle that “we are not special” to make predictions about the future lifetime of the human race, based on how long the human race has been in existence so far. We show that the predictions which can be derived from Gott’s argument are less strong than one might be inclined to believe, that Gott’s argument illegitimately assumes that the human race will not last forever, that certain versions of Gott’s argument are incompatible with (...) Bayesian conditionalization, and that Gott’s argument is self-refuting. -/- *****Note: For Bradley Monton's up-to-date thoughts on Gott's argument, see his _Philosophical Quarterly_ paper co-authored with Brian Kierland, "How To Predict Future Duration from Present Age".*****. (shrink)