Summarization of legal case judgement documents is a practical and challenging problem, for which many summarization algorithms of different varieties have been tried. In this work, rather than developing yet another summarization algorithm, we investigate if intelligently ensembling (combining) the outputs of multiple (base) summarization algorithms can lead to better summaries of legal case judgements than any of the base algorithms. Using two datasets of case judgement documents from the Indian Supreme Court, one with extractive gold standard summaries and the (...) other with abstractive gold standard summaries, we apply various ensembling techniques on summaries generated by a wide variety of summarization algorithms. The ensembling methods applied range from simple voting-based methods to ranking-based and graph-based ensembling methods. We show that many of our ensembling methods yield summaries that are better than the summaries produced by any of the individual base algorithms, in terms of ROUGE and METEOR scores. (shrink)

Automatic summarization of legal case judgements, which are known to be long and complex, has traditionally been tried via extractive summarization models. In recent years, generative models including abstractive summarization models and Large language models (LLMs) have gained huge popularity. In this paper, we explore the applicability of such models for legal case judgement summarization. We applied various domain-specific abstractive summarization models and general-domain LLMs as well as extractive summarization models over two sets of legal case judgements – from the (...) United Kingdom (UK) Supreme Court and the Indian Supreme Court – and evaluated the quality of the generated summaries. We also perform experiments on a third dataset of legal documents of a different type – Government reports from the United States. Results show that abstractive summarization models and LLMs generally perform better than the extractive methods as per traditional metrics for evaluating summary quality. However, detailed investigation shows the presence of inconsistencies and hallucinations in the outputs of the generative models, and we explore ways to reduce the hallucinations and inconsistencies in the summaries. Overall, the investigation suggests that further improvements are needed to enhance the reliability of abstractive models and LLMs for legal case judgement summarization. At present, a human-in-the-loop technique is more suitable for performing manual checks to identify inconsistencies in the generated summaries. (shrink)

Beitrage von Ludwig Nagl, Richard Heinrich, Arthur C. Danto, Barry Stroud, Peter F. Strawson, Herbert Hrachovec, Richard Rorty, Stanley Cavell, Hubert L. Dreyfus und Stuar E. Dreyfus, Kurt R. Fischer und Franz M. Wimmer.

In what follows, I attempt to show that a look at some curious examples of translations from European texts makes us think about issues in translation theory and post-colonial theory from a slightly different angle. The metaphor of translation can very well be employed for understanding the relation between European texts, and some texts and some social and political practices in India in the colonial period, and this in turn helps us look critically at what I shall call our fuzzy (...) post-colonialism. I also argue that Walter Benjamin's metaphor of translation as the after-life of a work can be extended to posit two basic modes of after-life. (shrink)

Surveys of modern thought usually distinguish between different philosophical positions, for example, “liberalism,” “utilitarianism,” “universalist moral philosophy,” “German Idealism,” “Marxism,” “Critical Theory,” or “communitarianism.” A feminist perspective, however, reveals shared patterns of thinking: certain androcentric conceptions recur regularly, linking otherwise widely disparate philosophical approaches with each other. This article concerns these kinds of patterns. I shall discuss eight concepts that exemplify the masculine features of the philosophical tradition of modernity. At the same time, I aim to show that the feminist (...) critique of the canon does not rely on a unified theory. Although the critics agree largely, if not entirely, on the task of revealing women's exclusion and devaluation, views differ regarding the conclusions to be drawn from this critical reading. While some authors suggest that ideas such as “the individual,” “equality,” or “autonomy” should be discarded entirely, others seek to develop new understandings of these concepts that fully include women. These differences of position are related to the controversies that characterize contemporary philosophy generally, particularly in connection with the objections against universalist conceptions formulated in the context of so‐called “postmodern” thought and communitarianism. Since the feminist critique of the canon as a whole is so diverse, I can discuss only a few examples here. (shrink)

The paper addresses the asymmetrical gender relations which have shaped all spheres of life, arguing that in both the public and private domains just relations cannot be accomplished unless the uniqueness of the individual is duly acknowledged. Examining the background for the persistent discrimination of women, Part I discusses the naturalistic fallacy implied in traditional gender norms, the fatal correlation of ‚women‘ and ‚nature‘, and the ‚feminization of poverty‘. Part II focuses on the ways in which philosophical conceptions such as (...) ‚autonomy‘ and ‚equality‘ have been, and still are, important tools for elaborating legislative measures – on the national as well as the international level – that aim at abolishing gender discrimination. Participatory equality is one case in point. Emphasizing that legislation represents but one element of what is needed in order to achieve fully reciprocal gender relations, Part III argues that the understanding of intimate human relations needs to be re-considered. Hegel’s portrayal of ‚love‘ that is based upon mutual recognition of individuals in their unique personality, and his conception of ‚we‘ prove relevant here. (shrink)

In this essay I distinguish four different modes of feminist critique of reason. Discussing the work of authors such as Keller, Irigaray, and Butler, I point out that the issue of masculine connotations has been addressed with regard to different concepts-or at least different aspects-of reason. In view of a tendency to overdraw the objections, I suggest to reformulate the feminist critique of reason. I also argue that a rediscovery of those philosophical concepts of reason that do not restrict this (...) term to instrumental rationality might be useful for this purpose. (shrink)

Cognitive neuroscience aims to map mental processes onto brain function, which begs the question of what “mental processes” exist and how they relate to the tasks that are used to manipulate and measure them. This topic has been addressed informally in prior work, but we propose that cumulative progress in cognitive neuroscience requires a more systematic approach to representing the mental entities that are being mapped to brain function and the tasks used to manipulate and measure mental processes. We describe (...) a new open collaborative project that aims to provide a knowledge base for cognitive neuroscience, called the Cognitive Atlas, and outline how this project has the potential to drive novel discoveries about both mind and brain. (shrink)

Nagle, Cormac At the 2015 national conference of Catholic Health Australia, Fr Cormac Nagle OFM was awarded CHA's highest honour, the Maria Cunningham Lifetime Contribution Award. After receiving this award, Fr Cormac reflected on his years of ministry at the Chisholm Centre's 2015 Annual General Meeting. We are pleased to present a slightly edited version of his speech here. Fr Cormac reminds us that Catholic health and aged care follows in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, and that both (...) our service and our ethics are based on a profound respect for human dignity. He advises how our ethical standards should always be interpreted so that they reveal rather than obscure the Good News which Christianity proclaims. Fr Cormac also highlights the need for a holistic and multidisciplinary approach to healthcare. Rather than treating only physical or medical problems, this holistic approach cares for the whole person and also attends to their emotional, social and spiritual needs. (shrink)

As recent social research demonstrates, the life world is increasingly impacted by a corrosion of social bonds and aggressive habits expressed, for instance, in hate speech in the social media. Significantly, such phenomena have not been prevented from evolving within the framework of constitutional liberal states. In search of an appropriate mode of challenging the current social pathologies, we should examine Kant’s claim that, alongside the “juridico-civil (political) state”, an “ethico-civil state”, uniting human beings “under laws of virtue alone”, needs (...) to be established and cultivated. Kant’s claim is discussed in comparison with “postmetaphysical” conceptions of morality, as maintained by Rawls and Habermas. These prove deficient owing to their contract-based approach. Important in the examination of the key idea of the “state of virtue” is Kant’s thesis that such a state “cannot be realized (by human organization) except in the form of a church”. In view of the fact that, today, in many parts of the world significant segments of the population adhere to agnostic or atheistic convictions, the focus is placed on Kant’s specific conception of “church” that is clearly distinct from “historical” creeds and religious practices, and on the way in which he addresses non-believers, since he insists on the intrinsic relation between morality and the “purely moral religion”. Based on these reflections, the relevance of Kant’s argument that it is “a duty of the entire human race” to establish a community in which people mutually support one another in the cultivation of moral sensitivity is scrutinised. (shrink)

es ist eine häufig übersehene These der Hegelschen Ästhetik, dass die künstlerische Arbeit ein Ort der Selbstverständigung einer Gesellschaft ist. Schon in seinem ersten Hauptwerk, der "Phänomenologie des Geistes", sind Hegels Überlegungen zur Kunst eingebunden in den Versuch einer Bestimmung der Moderne, und auch in den später publizierten Texten Hegels sowie in seinen Berliner Vorlesungen zur Philosophie der Kunst ist die Deutung der Geschichte der Kunst integraler Bestandteil seiner Theorie der Moderne. Hat die Standortbestimmung, die Hegel im Blick auf die (...) Kunst seiner Zeit formuliert, auch für das heutige Selbstverständnis noch Relevanz? Im Zeichen dieser Frage wird in den Beiträgen des Buchs die Stellung der Kunst nach dem "Ende der Kunst", die Interrelationen von Kunst, Religion und Philosophie unter Bedingungen radikalisierter subjektiver Freiheit, sowie die Spannung zwischen Individualität und Allgemeinheit am Ort der Kunst und die Bedeutung der ästhetischen Theorie im Kontext der Moderne erörtert. Mit Beiträgen von: István Fehér, Annemarie Gethmann-Siefert, Francesca Iannelli, Ludwig Nagl, Herta Nagl-Docekal, Alain Patrik Oliver, Sándór Radnóti, Erzsébet Rózsa, Alberto L. Siani, Gerrit Steunebrink, Klaus Vieweg, János Weiss und Elisabeth Weisser-Lohmann. (shrink)

"We translate what American women write, they never translate our texts," wrote Helene Cixous almost two decades ago. Her complaint about the unavailability of French feminist writing in English has long since been rectified, but the situation for feminist writing by German-speaking philosophers remains today what it was then. This pioneering collection takes a giant step forward to overcoming this handicap, revealing the full richness and variety of feminist critique ongoing in this linguistic community. The essays offer fresh readings of (...) thinkers from the Enlightenment to the present, including those often discussed by feminists everywhere—such as Freud, Habermas, Hegel, Kant, and Rousseau—as well as some less subjected to feminist critique such as Benjamin and Weininger. In their Introduction the editors provide the context for understanding both how these essays fit into the larger picture of developing feminist theory and what makes their contribution in some ways distinctive. (shrink)

In his posthumously published book The Confession of Augustine, J.F. Lyotard reconstructs St. Augustine's invocatio: his "move upward" towards the absolute. The paper deals with three segments of Lyotard's text that interpret St. Augustine's method of letting the voice of the invoked "speak within me"; his attempt to progress to the atemporal "at the umbilical" of temporal experience; and his reading of the caller and the called as identical. Two aspects of Lyotard's interpretation are pointed out as problematic: his thesis (...) of the "silent" absolute "You"; and his assumption, that invocatio takes pleasure in a "radical heteronomous" subordination "under the law of an unknown master.". (shrink)

Review quote. A quote from a review of the product: "Der Band ist ein exzellentes Kompendium, ein Hand- und Studienbuch." Lars Rademacher in: Communicatio Socialis, Heft 2, 2007 "Alle wichtigen gegenwärtig im deutschsprachigen Raum vertretenen Ansätze sind darin enthalten... - eine Fundgrube für jeden, der sich über die gegenwärtige Medienphilosophie informieren will." Forschung - Trends - Kontroversen, 2007 "Alle wichtigeren gegenwärtig im deutschsprachigen Raum vertretenen Ansätze sind darin enthalten und zwar geordnet nach 'sinnlichen Wahrnehmungsmedien', 'semiotischen' sowie 'technischen Verbreitungs-, Verarbeitungs- und (...) Speichermedien' - eine Fundgrube für jeden, der sich über die gegenwärtige Medienphilosophie informieren will." Information Philosophie, Oktober 2007, Heft 4. (shrink)

Are we in a post-feminist era? Has the term, feminist, grown out of its resisted stance? What from today's standpoint is an appropriate concept of feminist philosophy? And is it not the case that all people thinking democratically must share its central concern? In Feminist Philosophy, internationally acclaimed philosopher Herta Nagl-Do.

Filmphilosophie ist ein – im deutschsprachigen Raum noch junges – Spezialthema der Ästhetik. Der Chicagoer Philosoph Robert B. Pippin, ein international anerkannter Interpret Hegels und Nietzsches analysiert in seinen Filmbüchern – Hollywood Western and the American Myth und Fatalism in Film Noir – zwei zentrale Filmgenres und untersucht in seinen neuesten Forschungen das Kino der belgischen Brüder Dardenne. Im vorliegenden Band beschäftigen sich, nach einem Beitrag Pippins zu den Dardennes, zwölf Autorinnen und Autoren aus Europa, den USA und Kanada mit (...) Pippins Filmphilosophie: 1) allgemein mit dem Themenraum „Film und Philosophie“; 2) mit Lektüren des Western, u.a. mit der Darstellung des „American South“ in diesem Genre; 3) mit dem Film Noir, wobei Pippins Analysen mit den Interpretationen von Deleuze und Žižek verglichen werden, und eine der Schlüsselfiguren der Schwarzen Serie, die Femme Fatale, ausführlich fokussiert wird. Das Buch ist der weltweit erste Diskussionsband zur Pippinschen Filmphilosophie und von Interesse für die Disziplinen Philosophie, Amerikanistik, Filmwissenschaft, Cultural und Gender Studies. (shrink)