Für viele neuzeitliche Menschen sind zentrale religiöse Begriffe wie "Gott", "Gnade" oder "Heil" weitgehend unverständlich geworden. Im Bereich des alltäglichen Lebens lassen sich mit ihnen kaum noch persönliche Erfahrungen verbinden. In Anbetracht der daraus resultierenden Krise des christlichen Glaubens hat der Freiburger Religionsphilosoph Bernhard Welte (1906-1983) umfangreiche hermeneutische Überlegungen angestellt. Ausgehend von der These, dass sich der menschliche Verstehenshorizont im Lauf der Geschichte immer wieder modifiziert, entwirft er eine christologische Hermeneutik für das neuzeitliche Seinsverständnis. Diese umfasst sowohl eine Hermeneutik (...) des christlichen Glaubens als auch eine Hermeneutik der dogmatischen Christusverkündigung. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht beide Stränge der genannten Hermeneutik und prüft, ob Weltes Vermittlungsversuche auch für die heutige Theologie von Nutzen sein können."-- Back cover. (shrink)

The woman at the heart of Pearl Jam’s “Better Man” (Vitalogy, 1994) is trapped. She has committed herself to a relationship that makes her miserable, but she sees no viable alternative to staying in it. She mourns a past self who might have been able to leave and dreams of a dierent way things might be, but remains unable to move on. It is tempting to view her with a mixture of pity and frustration (reecting some of the personal circumstances (...) -- Eddie Vedder’s mother’s second marriage -- informing its composition). As a moral being, she appears to be hopelessly compromised by her situation, even as she is also doing her best to survive under conditions designed to undermine her autonomy and keep her trapped (as abusive relationships do). The song is not so much critical of her choice to stay as it is confused by and resigned to it. -/- What keeps a person where she so clearly does not want to be? -/- The song itself was, at least early in its recorded life for Pearl Jam, similarly compromised. Vedder appears to have thought of it as too “accessible”, too much of a pop hit for the kind of musical vision he had in mind either for Vs. (for which it had originally been intended) or for Vitalogy; by this point in the band’s career, he was ever more actively resisting success, accessibility, and everything that went with the version of rock star life imposed collectively on the band and on him as an individual. The form that resistance took was an exercise of artistic and other forms of control, sometimes exercised in ways that were destructive or damaging (to the band and its internal relationships, its fame or success, its image, its artistic identity, etc.). -/- What keeps an artist or a band where they so clearly do not want to be? In this chapter, I oer a loose exploration of some possible philosophical approaches to answering the question of what keeps us where we are, like it or not, worked out in parallel through the lyrics of “Better Man” and the circumstances of the song’s eventual arrival Vitalogy. My main interest is in examining the ethical dimensions of the question itself -- what, if anything, are we morally required or expected to do under compromised or compromising conditions? My main suggestion is that answering the question might require of us a messier, more ambivalent, and perhaps more compassionate notion of moral agency, inspired by Simone Weil’s work on affliction. (shrink)

The dramatic characters in the tragedies of Aeschylus tend to assert that their actions are in accordance with the law and prompted by necessity. Because these statements are often given to legitimise problematic actions, this paper argues that the rhetorical devices can convey the intentions and dispositions of the tragic heroes. Therefore, the „Septem“, the „Suppliants“ and the „Oresteia“ are analysed to show how Aeschylus makes use of rhetorical devices in order to enable the recipient to reach a fuller understanding (...) of the tragic heroes and the tragedies. (shrink)

As library collections and services have increasingly moved from print to digital, much of the work that used to be done by libraries themselves with regard to creating, maintaining, and managing the systems that hold collections and facilitate user access to them is now done primarily by vendors. This change to the information services landscape for academic libraries is the occasion not only of technical and procedural challenges, but also some internal conflicts concerning the ethical demands of the library profession. (...) This essay examines the ways in which these conflicts become acute and obvious when attention is paid to the way in which attempts to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are undermined by the handover of library services to vendors, even when—or perhaps especially when—those vendors use their control of content and platforms to commodify diverse content instead of making the necessary systemic changes required by truly effective EDI efforts. (shrink)

Georg Lukacs's The Process of Democratization provides indispensable reading for an understanding of the revolution that swept Russia and Eastern Europe during 1989-1990. Lukacs, a spokesman for anti-Bolshevik communism, was the advance guard of anti-Stalinist reform. Written in the aftermath of the Prague Spring, his book was a precursor to many of the Gorbachev reforms. Lukacs was the leading communist intellectual in the world until his death. During his last 15 years, he embarked upon a massive effort to revive Marxism (...) as philosophy, as aesthetics, and as politics. The Process of Democratization was part of this attempt at a Marxist renaissance. He would probably be surprised to find that the Second Russian Revolution of 1989-1990 moved far beyond his reformism, overthrowing even the anti-Stalinist communism that he fought to retain. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain (...) in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

Philosophy of Song and Singing: An Introduction Jeanette Bicknellroutledge. 2015. pp. 140. £29.99.

Cancer susceptibility testing is likely to become routine in medical practice, despite many limitations and unanswered questions. These uncertainties greatly complicate the process of informed consent, creating an excellent opportunity to reconsider exactly how it should be conducted. Research with women's reactions to the availability of genetic susceptibility testing for breast cancer dramatically underscores that informed consent ought to be highly individualized, taking care to discern what patients believe about the disease and its causes and what role they want their (...) physician to play. (shrink)

Par leur forme, les Dialogues de Platon sont déroutants. Quand on a reconnu l'impossibilité d'y découvrir un Système tout fait, articulé selon une démarche définitivement sûre de ses tenants et aboutissants, reste, croit-on souvent, à supposer de confiance que la Philosophie même, à ses origines, s'y est réalisée dans une sorte de neutralité supérieure. On admire alors Platon trop inconditionnellement pour pouvoir l'entendre. Le plus irremplaçable, le plus actuel des maîtres à penser, il faut, pour bénéficier de son exemple, lui (...) faire avouer son choix fondamental, qui n'est pas le seul philosophiquement possible. Son idéalisme, son finalisme ontologique, s'est ouvert progressivement à des schèmes de pensée élaborés sur l'autre bord, mais cela précisément pour réagir plus efficacement contre les matérialismes antérieurs. La dialectique concrète d'une réflexion travaillant à se reprendre et à s'élargir sans cesse, au service d'une option constamment maintenue, voilà ce que nous offre le déroulement historique du « Grand Dialogue » que Platon a entretenu avec lui-même et avec tous les courants d'une tradition déjà merveilleusement riche. Si l'on met assez d'exigeante docilité à suivre ce progrès sinueux et vivant, on s'aperçoit que le Platonisme est bien un système, mais un système en train de se faire et de se rectifier. Certains passages négligés par les interprètes comme hors-d'œuvre négatifs sont en réalité de hauts moments dialectiques et des moteurs de renouvellement. Tel est principalement le cas de la théorie matérialiste de l'âme-harmonie. Transposition critique de l'idéalisme pythagoricien chez des héritiers inconnus de l'« harmonie discordante » qu'avait vaticinée le prestigieux Héraclite, cette doctrine prépare à son tour, d'abord la substance même des conclusions du Phédon, puis, à la faveur des difficultés dont elle grève ce dialogue, tout l'approfondissement ultérieur de l'idéalisme platonicien. En ce jeu complexe d'irréductibles antagonismes et d'interactions fécondes, il n'est pas illégitime de voir une « harmonie discordante » dont l'exercice de la philosophie, comme jadis et naguère, reste inséparable aujourd'hui. (shrink)