Macpherson (Nous 40(1):82–117, 2006) argues that the square/regular diamond figure threatens representationalism, construed as the theory which holds that the phenomenal character is explained by the nonconceptual content of experience. Her argument is the claim that representationalism is committed to the thesis that differences in the experience of ambiguous figures, the gestalt switch, should be explained by differences in the NCC of perception of these figures. However, with respect to the square/regular diamond and some other ambiguous figure representationalism fails to (...) offer a unified account of how representational content makes them ambiguous. In this paper, I aim, first, to offer a representationalist account of ambiguous figures and, second, to examine and rebut Macpherson’s arguments. My main point is that in each ambiguous figure Macpherson discusses there are differences in representational content that can explain differences in phenomenal character or content. The representational differences are due to the ways the Cartesian frame of reference in which perceptual content is always cast cuts the figure, underlying different properties of the figure with respect to the axes of the Cartesian frame of reference. (shrink)

Athanasios Tziafalias, Bruno Helly Two Unpublished Decrees from Larisa p. 377-420 Among the epigraphical documents found at Larisa in recent years, two of the city's decrees have a particular interest. The first, a proxenia decree for a Mytilinian, that can be dated to the earliest years of the 2nd c. BC, is in a dialect and reflects the relations that were established before the engagement of the Second Macedonian War and were renewed, for the admission of the Asclepieia of (...) Mytilini, between the Thessalian Confederation and the cities that composed it on the one hand and the Mytilinians on the other. This casts new light on a well-known document, the Mytilini decree for the Thessalian Confederation IG XII Suppl., 3, and supplements the history of the relations between the two parties, which were prolonged up to the period of Augustus, as we know from the fragments of decrees in honour of the Mytilenian Potamon, son of Lesbonax. The second Larisa decree, which was voted for two citizens of Chalkis in Euboea and which is in koine, should be placed more than a century later, towards 70 BC; it shows the procedure by which a foreigner who had received the proxenia of the Thessalian Confederation could acquire, at his request, citizenship in a member city of this Confederation. (shrink)

This second volume of Voegelin's magisterial _Order and History, The World of the Polis,_ explores the ancient Greek symbolization of human reality. Taking us from the origins of Greek culture in the Pre-Homeric Cretan civilizations, through the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey,_ Hesiod, and the rise of philosophy with the Pre-Socratics Parmenides and Heraclitus, this masterful work concludes with the historians of the classical period. In _The World of the Polis,_ Voegelin traces the emergence of the forms of the city-state and of (...) philosophy from the ancient symbolism of myth. He maintains that the limits and ultimate goals of human nature are constant and that the central problem of every society is the same—"to create an order that will endow the fact of its existence with meaning in terms of ends divine and human." Thus, Voegelin shows how "the meaning of existence" achieved concrete expression in the typical political, social, and religious institutions of Greece and in the productions of its poets and thinkers. He deals with more than fifty Greek writers in the course of his analysis of the rise of myth and its representation of the divine order of the cosmos as the first great symbolic form of order, one later supplanted by the leap in being reflected in the emergence of philosophy. The book is a tour de force, a virtuoso performance by a scholar and philosopher of great power, learning, and imagination that places its subject matter in a new light. The editor's critical introduction places _The World of the Polis_ in the broader context of Voegelin's philosophy of history. Scholars and students of political science, philosophy, and the history of ideas will find this work invaluable. (shrink)

This study in progress addresses the question of how market competition affects corporate social performance. An empirical analysis is described designed to shed light on recent theoretical developments on the relation between market structure and stakeholder responsiveness and to inform on the old debate between Friedman and Corporate Social Responsibility.

Zur Einführung Ist der sechste (805 Verse zählende) Logos der Grottaferrata-Version dem Titelhelden vorbehalten, der den Freunden von seinen Abenteuern berichtet, so beschreibt im viel kürzeren (229 Verse umfassenden) siebten Logos nun der Erzähler das idyllische Leben des Digenes mit der geliebten Frau am Ufer des Euphrat. Damit ist ein Wechsel der Perspektive verbunden: von der Ich-Erzählung, die bereits im fünften Logos begegnet, zur auktorialen Erzählhaltung. Der Übergang vollzieht sich bereits in den letzten Versen von Buch VI: Digenes berichtet von (...) seinem letzten Abenteuer, dem Sieg über Maximu, dem mit ihr begangenen Ehebruch und ihrem (grausamen) Ende von seiner Hand; in den letzten zwei Versen teilt er sodann seinen Entschluß mit, sich am Euphrat niederzulassen.1. (shrink)

The impact of incidental emotions on decision making is well established. Incidental emotions can be differentiated on several appraisal dimensions, including certainty–uncertainty. The present research investigates the effect of certainty–uncertainty of incidental emotions on hedonic forecasting. The results of four experimental studies indicate that uncertainty-associated incidental emotions, such as fear and hope, compared with certainty emotions, such as anger and happiness, amplify predicted utility. This amplification effect is confirmed for opposite utility types; uncertainty-associated emotions, when compared with their certainty counterparts, (...) lead to an overprediction of positive utilities and to an underprediction of negative utilities. This effect is mediated by the prediction task uncertainty, providing evidence for a carryover process of the incidental emotion. The effect of task uncertainty on predicted utility is, in turn, partly mediated by attention to the task, suggesting that an affective adaptation process lies behind the amplification of forecasts. Taken together, these findings extend the impact of certainty–uncertainty to the context of hedonic forecasting and further corroborate the impact of incidental emotions in judgment and decision making. (shrink)

In many countries consumers have shown an increasing interest to the way in which food products are being produced. This study investigates Chinese consumers’ attitudes towards different pig production systems by means of a conjoint analysis. While there has been a range of studies on Western consumers’ attitudes to various forms of food production, little is known about the level of Chinese consumers’ attitudes. A cross-sectional survey was carried out with 472 participants in 6 Chinese cities. Results indicate that Chinese (...) consumers prefer industrial pig production systems, where traditional pig breeds are raised, over large-scale and small family farms. Farms with maximum attention to food safety, which furthermore can provide lean meat with consistent quality, are also preferred. Imported pig breeds and tasty but variable meat were rejected. A 3-cluster solution found that consumers from cluster 1 focus almost exclusively on the food safety aspect. Consumers from cluster 2 show weak overall attitudes to pig production systems in general. Cluster 3 stands out by being very positive about industrial, large-size farms and consistent quality. From a Chinese consumer’s perspective, the industrial approach seems to represent values such as achievement and evolution, as well as quality and safety, since pig production is moving away from low-cost, low-quality, and low-safety family-scale systems. A complex set of rural and environmental development, quality aspects, and food safety measures are challenges that must be met by the stakeholders of pig production systems in China. (shrink)

Les inscriptions présentées dans cet article proviennent du second théâtre de Larissa qui a été construit au ier s. av. J.‑C. avec des blocs de remploi provenant d’un bâtiment arrondi, appartenant à un sanctuaire. Certains de ces blocs portent des dédicaces faites par des affranchis à une divinité qui n’est jamais nommée ; la nature de l’objet consacré n’est jamais précisée (peut‑être s’agit‑il de la pierre elle‑même?). Ces inscriptions, qui datent de la fin du iiie s.-début du iie s. av. (...) J.‑C, sont toutes en dialecte thessalien. Les noms des affranchis sont généralement accompagnés d’un adjectif patronymique, toujours différent du nom de leur manumissor, dont on ne peut dire s’il correspond au nom de leur père ou à celui de leur ancien maître. Certains des affranchissements mentionnés dans ces dédicaces apparaissent comme consécutifs à un héritage et il se pourrait que ce soit le cas de l’ensemble de ces inscriptions. Ces dédicaces constituent vraisemblablement une première forme de la taxe d’affranchissement. (shrink)

To maximize brain plasticity after stroke, several rehabilitation strategies have been explored, including the use of intensive motor training, motor imagery, and action observation. Growing evidence of the positive impact of virtual reality (VR) techniques on recovery following stroke has been shown. However, most VR tools are designed to exploit active movement, and hence patients with low level of motor control cannot fully benefit from them. Consequently, the idea of directly training the central nervous system has been promoted by utilizing (...) motor-imagery (MI) based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). To date, detailed information on which VR strategies lead to successful functional recovery is still largely missing, and very little is known about how to optimally integrate BCI and VR paradigms for stroke rehabilitation. The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of a BCI-VR system using a MI paradigm for post-stroke upper limb rehabilitation on functional assessments, and related changes in MI ability and brain imaging. To achieve this, a 60 years old male chronic stroke patient was recruited. The patient underwent a 3-week intervention in a clinical environment, resulting in 10 BCI-VR training sessions. The patient was assessed before and after intervention, as well as on a one-month follow-up, in terms of clinical scales and brain imaging using functional MRI (fMRI). Consistent with prior research, we found important improvements in upper extremity scores (Fugl-Meyer) and identified increases in brain activation measured by fMRI that suggest neuroplastic changes in brain motor networks. This study expands on the current body of evidence as more data are needed on the effect of this type of interventions not only on functional improvement but also through brain imaging to study the effect of the intervention on plasticity. (shrink)

Constructivism undermines realism by arguing that experience is mediated by concepts, and that there is no direct way to examine those aspects of objects that belong to them independently of our conceptualizations; perception is theory-laden. To defend realism one has to show first that perception relates us directly with the world without any intermediary conceptual framework. The result of this direct link is the nonconceptual content of experience. Second, one has to show that part of the nonconceptual content extracted from (...) the environment correctly represents features of mind independent objects. With regard to the first condition, I have argued elsewhere that a part of visual processing, which I call “perception,” is theory-neutral and nonconceptual. In this paper, facing the second demand, I argue that a part of the nonconceptual content of perception presents properties that are the properties of mind independent objects. I claim first that nonconceptual content is the appropriate level of analysis of the issue of realism since it avoids the main problems besetting various types of analysis of the issue at the level of beliefs about the world. Then I claim that a subset of the nonconceptual content presents features of objects in the environment as they really are. (shrink)

The book under review treats sociology as a science that identifies and reconceptualizes problems already defined by others. Such definitions are viewed to be dependent on conditions that the book calls “membership orders”. The book argues that the sociological observer should look for and observe from the boundaries that keep “members” and “non-members”, along with their corresponding views of problems, apart. The review essay approaches the book with the dual question, “Who describes the reality in which it is determined that (...) social situations are treated as problematic by those involved?” And “Who determines whose problem is the problem considered relevant in each case?” The essay discusses the answers given by the authors to these questions with the help of their conceptualization, data, and object constitution. Similarities and differences are highlighted in comparison with Luhmann’s theory. For illustration purposes, the authors’ theory is applied to law. (shrink)

Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin are two thinkers who seem to have much in common, yet they provide markedly different interpretations of Machiavelli. A comparison of their views on such a distinctive figure in the history of political thought reveals fundamental differences of philosophical outlook and scholarly temperament even as it occasions a re-examination of the ‘enigma’ of Machiavelli himself.

Macpherson (2006) argues that the square/regular diamond figure threatens representationalism, which holds that the phenomenal character of experience is either identical, or supervenes on, the nonconceptual content of experience (NCC). Her argument is that representationalism is committed to the thesis that differences in the phenomenal experience of ambiguous figures, the gestalt switch, should be explained by differences in the NCC of perception of these figures. However, with respect to the square/regular diamond figure such differences in NCC do not explain the (...) gestalt switch. I examine Macpherson’s claims and argue that representationalism can account for the experience of ambiguous figures by explaining differences in the phenomenal content of experience by means of differences in the NCC of that same experience. The thrust of my argument is that Macpherson’s account of what happens when subjects, upon viewing a tilted A and an A, report their experience by using the concept-term “A”, mistakes seeph with seedox. If this confusion is cleared, then representationalism can offer a coherent account of the gestalt switch in the diamond/square figure on the basis of the NCC of that experience. (shrink)

Michel Foucault's theory of moral subjectivity, as a trained relation of the subject to itself, contains a latent semiotic theory of self-knowledge. The formation of the moral subject is seen by Foucault as a sign system, given the name of technology, and placed in a broader context of semiotic and non-semiotic paths to knowledge. In such a framework, signification as a technology, the self as a binary opposition, and the in-between space of binaries emerge as important methodological elements in self-knowledge. (...) Furthermore, a semiotic argument comes forth about the epistemological role of culture in the modeling of knowledge at large. (shrink)

Ανέκδοτα ψηφίσματα από τη Λάρισσα (3) Συνεχίζοντας τις δΰο προηγούμενες δημοσιεύσεις που αφορούσαν σε ψηφίσματα της Λάρισσας (BCH 128-129 (2005), p. 377-417 ; BCH 130 (2006) [20081, Ρ· 435-483), παρουσιάζουμε εδώ μια τρίτη στήλη, η οποία φέρει τρία κείμενα: δύο ψηφίσματα της Λάρισσας, που ψηφίστηκαν κατά τη διάρκεια της στρατηγείας του Παυσανία, υιού του Θρασυμήδη από τις Φέρες (περίπου 130/129 π. Χ.), το ένα για έναν Αθηναίο φιλόσοφο και το άλλο για τρεις πολίτες της Κω· ένα τρίτο ψήφισμα προέρχεται από (...) τη Συνομοσπονδία των Μολοσσών και ανταμοίβει δικαστές από τη Λάρισσα, οι οποίοι εστάλησαν στην Ήπειρο για να διαιτητεύσουν σε μια διαμάχη μεταξύ Μολοσσών και Ακαρνάνων. Τα κείμενα αυτά, γραμμένα σε θεσσαλική διάλεκτο, η οποία την εποχή εκείνη χρησίμευε στη μεταγραφή εγγράφων της καγκελλαρίας των ελληνιστικών πόλεων σε μια γλώσσα που χάνει προοδευτικά τη συνοχή και την ιδιομορφία της και καταλήγει να διατηρεί μόνο μια «θεσσαλίζουσα» απόχρωση, έχουν αξία για την ιστορία της Λάρισσας, αφού αναφέρονται στην πνευματική ζωή και σε ορισμένες εκφάνσεις των πολιτικών ή οικονομικών δραστηριοτήτων των Λαρισσαίων στο δεύτερο μισό του 2ου αι. π. Χ. (shrink)

I examine John Campbell’s claim that the determination of the reference of a perceptual demonstrative requires conscious visual object-based selective attention. I argue that although Campbell’s claim to the effect that, first, a complex binding parameter is needed to establish the referent of a perceptual demonstrative, and, second, that this referent is determined independently of, and before, the application of sortals is correct, this binding parameter does not require object-based attention for its construction. If object-based attention were indeed required then (...) the determination of the referent would necessarily involve the application of sortal concepts, since object-based attention initiates top-down cognitive effects on visual processing. I also examine Mohan Matthen’s claim that reference to objects is established only through the visual processing in the dorsal visual stream and argue that although it is true that processing in the dorsal stream can determine reference, a thesis that goes against Campbell’s view that the determination of the referent requires conscious attention, processing along the ventral visual stream can also establish the reference of perceptual demonstratives. It also claim that Matthen’s account of dorsal processing underestimates the kind of information processed along the dorsal stream and this has some implications regarding perceptual demonstratives reference fixing. (shrink)

Das letzte Kapitel des letzten Buches der Alexias Anna Komnenes ist bekanntlich ob seines Überlieferungszustandes das in textkritischer Hinsicht schwierigste des gesamten Textes; von diesem Buch ist wiederum der Text ab Paragraph 10 bis zum Ende (10-24) am schwierigsten, da die lezten Blätter des einzigen (unabhängigen) Überlieferungsträgers, des Parisinus Coislinianus 311 mechanisch stark beschädigt sind, wodurch eine größere Anzahl kleinerer und größerer Lücken entstanden ist. Das Bemühen der Herausgeber und Textkritiker galt folglich immer, neben der Behandlung der in der Hs. (...) im zusammenhängend überlieferten Text vorhandenen Korruptelen, im Besonderen seiner möglichst getreuen Wiederherstellung durch die Beseitigung der Lücken. Vor allem Reifferscheidts Leistung in seinen beiden Editionen (Leib folgte ihm im großen und ganzen) ist in dieser Hinsicht nicht hoch genug einzuschätzen; er hat sehr viele Lücken erfolgreich ergänzt, zu anderen einen wertvollen Beitrag geliefert; bei manchen ist er schließlich zu noch nicht restlos befriedigenden, korrekturbedürftigen Ergänzungen gekommen. Letzteres gilt vor allem für Lücken, bei denen nur der Anfang oder das Ende eines Wortes überliefert und in denen er von einer Fehllesung des in C wirklich vorhandenen ausgegangen ist (das betrifft z.B. die Verlesung oder die Nichtbeachtung eines vorhandenen bzw. fehlenden Akzents oder Spiritus oder die Verlesung bzw. Nicht-Entzifferung einzelner Buchstaben, Buchstabengruppen oder auch ganzer Wörter). Freilich sind auch nach der von Reifferscheidt geleisteten Arbeit immer noch viele Lücken offen geblieben. In zwei früheren Publikationen habe ich mich bereits mit den Folgen der Beschädigung der Hs. befaßt. Angesichts der Vorbereitung der neuen kritischen Edition der Alexias beschäftigte ich mich neben der Auseinandersetzung mit dem gesamten Text (und speziell mit dem 15. Buch) noch einmal intensiv mit dem 11 Kapitel dieses Buches und setzte mich mit früheren Vorschlägen auseinander (einschließlich meiner eigenen früheren Überlegungen); so gelangte ich schließlich zu der Textgestaltung, wie sie jetzt in der Edition präsentiert wird. Die knapp gehaltenen Angaben im apparatus criticus lassen jedoch kaum erahnen, auf welchen Wegen das Erzielte erreicht wurde. So entschloß ich mich, in den folgenden Bemerkungen eine ausführlichere Begründung und Dokumentation für die allein in diesem Kapitel (genauer 11, 5-24) getroffenen textkritischen Entscheidungen, die neben einigen Textkorruptelen fast ausschließlich die zahlreichen Lücken betreffen, nachzuliefern (vgl. D. R. Reinsch, diese Zeitschrift, 94, 2001, 608). Ergänzungen anderer, die in der neuen Edition im Text belassen wurden, obwohl dies eine neue, eigene Entscheidung voraussetzt, sind von der weiteren Behandlung hier ausgenommen. Hier geht es ausschließlich um die eigenen Korrektur- und Ergänzungsvorschläge. Grundlage und Mittelpunkt der folgenden Erörterung der einzelnen Textstellen bleibt natürlich C; allerdings werden auch der Vaticanus 1438 (mit fenestrae, wo C Lücken aufweist) häufiger und alle Editionen immer berücksichtigt. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Zeitschrift für kritische Sozialtheorie und Philosophie Jahrgang: 4 Heft: 1-2 Seiten: 265-275.

Simone Weil and the Politics of Self-Denial delivers what no other book on Weil has -- a comprehensive study of her political thought.

Άπό τήν Πάτρα, ρωμαϊκή ἀποικία τοῦ Αὐγούστου, προέρχεται μιά σειρά ἐπιτύμβιων στηλῶν πού μαρτυροῦν τήν τέλεση ἀγώνων μονομάχων στήν πόλη κατά τήν αὐτοκρατορική περίοδο. Οἱ παραστάσεις καί οἱ ἐπιγραφές τους θυμίζουν ἐκεῖνες ἀνάλογων μνημείων τοῦ ἐλληνικοῦ κόσμου τῆς ανατολῆς · συνιστοῦν, ὡστόσο, ἕνα πρωτότυπο καί ἄξιο προσοχῆς στοιχεῖο τῆς κοινωνικῆς καί πολιτιστικῆς ζωῆς τῆς πόλης στήν παραπάνω περίοδο.

La forteresse de Dierum, située sur le sommet d'un contrefort (1.450 m) du Haut-Olympe, faisait partie intégrante du système très élaboré de la défense macédonienne sur les frontières Sud du royaume et, par son emplacement stratégique, permettait le contrôle de toutes les voies d'accès qui, venant du Sud et de l'Ouest, conduisaient vers la plaine côtière. Cette forteresse est mentionnée chez Tite-Live (44, 3, 3) dans son récit sur la marche de l'armée romaine du consul Q. Marcius Philippus lors des (...) événements de la troisième guerre de Macédoine. (shrink)

The main result of the present article is the following: Let N be an infinite subset of,, and let be a matrix with infinitely many rows of completely Ramsey subsets of such that for every n,. Then there exist, a sequence of nonempty finite subsets of N, and an infinite subset T of such that for every infinite subset I of. We also give an application of this result to partitions of an uncountable analytic subset of a Polish space X (...) into sets belonging to the σ‐algebra generated by the analytic subsets of X. (shrink)

Une grande stèle trouvée à Larissa en 1990 porte trois décrets votés par cette cité au cours de la même année, probablement très peu après la fin de la troisième guerre de Macédoine, donc en 171/0 av. J.-C. ou l'une des années suivantes. Les deux premiers honorent un philosophe athénien, Satyros fils de Philinos, qui a séjourné sans doute plusieurs années à Larissa et y a vécu les temps de guerre : le peuple de Larissa le récompense en lui accordant (...) la proxénie et différents honneurs, complétés par l'octroi du droit de cité, qui fait l'objet d'un décret complémentaire. Le troisième décret a été voté pour un Mamertin de Sicile appelé Novius fils d'Ovius, qui a racheté un Larisséen capturé par des soldats romains au cours de la même guerre et l'a rendu à la liberté. Dans la partie disparue au bas de la stèle, un quatrième décret devait, comme pour le philosophe Satyros, accorder à Novius le droit de cité. Ces textes sont de tout premier ordre à la fois parce qu'on y trouve des formulaires très explicites et complets, ce qui est peu fréquent, et parce que leur rédaction, dans un dialecte cohérent et représentatif, donne matière à des observations syntaxiques et stylistiques qu'il n'est pas toujours possible de faire sur d'autres documents thessaliens. Leur valeur pour l'histoire de Larissa n'est pas moindre, puisque l'on peut rassembler autour de ces textes plusieurs autres documents déjà connus qui se rapportent à la troisième guerre de Macédoine, soit aux quelques années qui l'ont précédée, soit aux années 171-169 av. J.-C. et à celles qui ont immédiatement suivi. (shrink)

In this paper, we address the issue of privacy protection in context aware services, through the use of entropy as a means of measuring the capability of locating a user’s whereabouts and identifying personal selections. We present a framework for calculating levels of abstraction in location and personal preferences reporting in queries to a context aware services server. Finally, we propose a methodology for determining the levels of abstraction in location and preferences that should be applied in user data reporting (...) during service provision, according to her personal privacy settings. (shrink)

The assumption that the onset of puberty is a context-sensitive marker of a reproductive strategy is tested by comparing parental and filial childhood context and somatic development in West and East Germany. Sixty-eight mother-daughter dyads and 35 father-son dyads were taken from two samples of families from Osnabrück in West Germany and Halle in East Germany. According to the observed context discontinuity between the generations in the male dyads, linear regression models show that no indicator of male sexual maturation was (...) influenced significantly by the somatic development of the father. Instead of an inherited timing of maturation, antecedent distal factors like socioeconomic childhood context variables and critical life events lead to an acceleration of male sexual maturation. Finally we test the effect of two different conditions of childhood context continuity on daughter’s age at menarche with maternal age at menarche controlled. Linear regression models show that mother’s age at menarche predicts daughter’s age at menarche only under the condition of contextual continuity between generations, which was the case in the West German sample only. In East Germany, where mother’s age at menarche had no significant effect, the amount of variance explained by childhood context variables was almost the same. These results indicate the context sensitivity of somatic development which seems to follow an evolutionary rationale. (shrink)