The Christian Heritage delves into the history of the western Christian heritage. Challenges to the Christian heritage, a heritage nourished both by Judaism and by the western classics, have been stimulated by the very success of the way of life that is promoted, a way of life that is somehow responsible for the emergence of modern science with its revolutionary technology.

Polanyi’s philosophy of science is appealing to theologians because it shows that all acts of commitment to comprehensive interpretative frameworks are similar in fiduciary stnlcture even though their content and focus may be quite different. The recent biography of Polanyi was co-authored by a scientist and a theologian vvhose different fields of expertise helped thern appreciate the full scope of Polanyi’s career. Polanyi’s commitment to Christianity cannot be neatly categorized. As a large-hearted, open-minded, convivial thinker, he affirmed the Protestant and (...) Enlightenment tradition of responsible, conscientious inquiry in all fields, from physics to religion. Polanyi hoped that a renewed understanding of the tacit and personal dimension of knowing might act as an antidote to the nihilistic philosophies that led to the destruction of Europe in the world wars. (shrink)

La cuestión de la justicia global en el ámbito de la bioética no es una cuestión baladí, en ella nos jugamos la dignidad a escala planetaria y la dignidad de todos y cada uno de los seres humanos en particular. El paradigma para pensar el mundo ya no es la confrontación Este-Oeste, ni incluso Norte-Sur. Los problemas, con sus posibilidades y limitaciones en la forma de abordarlos, tienen dimensiones globales. Urge una rearticulación de los discursos parcelados y compartimentados pues, desde (...) ellos, resulta extremadamente difícil seguir abordando las cuestiones que afectan a la vida descontextualizándolas del entorno global. En la misma medida tampoco se puede pensar apropiadamente la justicia sin las condiciones práctico-materiales concretas que, a nivel vital, vienen determinadas por el factum de lo global. Ni se puede abordar una ética de la vida y para la vida sin atender a referencias globales y criterios de justicia. Todo ello plantea un nuevo esquema en el que la tríada vida-globalidad-justicia ha de ser abordada también desde la Bioética Teológica. O, lo que es lo mismo, la Teología Moral no puede prescindir hoy de esa triple conexión emergente so pena de que traicione su propio estatuto de servicio. La intención de fondo en todo ello no es sino estimular la búsqueda, el diálogo y la cooperación de los bioeticistas, tanto de índole secular como teológica, en la tarea ineludiblemente humana de cuidar la fragilidad vital en todas sus dimensiones. Francisco J. Alarcos Martínez, nacido en 1963 en Cúllar (Granada), terminó los estudios de Teología en la Facultad de Teología de Granada (1986). Licenciado en Teología moral (1999) por la U. P. Comillas (Madrid), con premio extraordinario, realiza el Máster en Bioética en la misma Universidad. Se doctoró en la Facultad de Teología de Granada (2004) en la cual es profesor de Bioética y secretario de la Cátedra Andaluza de Bioética, dependiente de la misma Facultad. Además, es director del Centro de Estudios Teológico-Pastorales de Guadix (Granada) y profesor de moral en el mismo. Interviene también como profesor invitado en diversos Máster, así como en cursos monográficos sobre Bioética. Entre sus publicaciones se encuentran: Para vivir la ética en la vida pública (2000), Bioética y pastoral de la salud (2002), Co-autor de 10 palabras clave en humanizar la salud (2002), Ed. de La moral cristiana como propuesta. Homenaje al profesor Eduardo López Azpitarte (2004). Su dedicación académica la compagina con la praxis pastoral como presbítero secular en la diócesis de Guadix-Baza. (shrink)

This essay is an introduction to a lecture course "Elements of Descriptive Psychology" delivered by Anton Marty in around 1903/04. Marty offered courses on descriptive psychology at regular intervals in the course of his career at the University of Prague. The content of these courses follows closely the ideas of Marty’s teacher Franz Brentano, though with some interesting divergences and extrapolations. The present work is a historical and systematic introduction to an extract from notes taken of (...) class='Hi'>Marty’s lecture, with some discussion of the work of Dilthey on similar topics, and of Marty’s influence on Franz Kafka and on the Gestalt psychologist Max Wertheimer. (shrink)

Guidelines recommend a ‘do-not-resuscitate’ code status for inpatients in which cardiopulmonary resuscitation attempts are considered futile because of low probability of survival with good neurological outcome. We retrospectively assessed the prevalence of DNR code status and its association with presumed CPR futility defined by the Good Outcome Following Attempted Resuscitation score and the Clinical Frailty Scale in patients hospitalised in the Divisions of Internal Medicine and Traumatology/Orthopedics at the University Hospital of Basel between September 2018 and June 2019. The definition (...) of presumed CPR futility was met in 467 of 2889 patients. 866 patients had a DNR code status. In a regression model adjusted for age, gender, main diagnosis, nationality, language and religion, presumed CPR futility was associated with a higher likelihood of a DNR code status. In the subgroup of patients with presumed futile CPR, 144 of 467 had a full code status, which was independently associated with younger age, male gender, non-Christian religion and non-Swiss citizenship. We found a significant proportion of hospitalised patients to have a full code status despite the fact that CPR had to be considered futile according to an established definition. Whether these decisions were based on patient preferences or whether there was a lack of patient involvement in decision-making needs further investigation. (shrink)

In Building Cultures of Trust Martin Marty proposes ways to improve the conditions for trust at what might be called the "grassroots" level. He suggests that it makes a difference if citizens put energy into inventing, developing, and encouraging "cultures of trust" in all areas of life--families, schools, neighborhoods, workplaces, and churches. Marty acknowledges that the reality of human nature tends toward trust-breaking, not trust-building--all the more reason, he argues, to develop strategies to bring about improvements incrementally, one (...) small step at a time. --from publisher description. (shrink)

Este libro trata de moral social, pero no es un tratado sobre la materia. Sí afronta cuestiones como la globalización, los derechos humanos, la caridad, la justicia social, la solidaridad, la opción por los pobres, la ecología, la investigación social o la cultura de la virtualidad real. Y lo hace siempre buscando la clave de la espiritualidad que alimenta y sostiene las opciones cristianas ante tales asuntos. En el tratamiento de esos temas, las encíclicas del Papa Benedicto XVI Deus caritas (...) est y Caritas in veritate ocupan un lugar especialmente destacado, y en la construcción del hogar espiritual de la moral social cuenta sobre todo con la espiritualidad ignaciana y los Ejercicios Espirituales. Si el Concilio Trento puso las bases para la separación entre moral y espiritualidad, el Vaticano II recuperó la relación entre ambas. Desde planteamientos como la llamada universal a la santidad o la tarea de la moral de «mostrar la excelencia de la vocación de los fieles en Cristo y su obligación de producir frutos en la caridad para la vida del mundo», carece de sentido pensar que la Teología espiritual tiene que estudiar el comportamiento positivo de los fieles, relacionado con la gracia de Dios, y que la Teología moral debe centrarse en el comportamiento negativo, asociado a la ley, las normas y el pecado. Al contrario, la vida moral es también expresión práctica de la gracia divina actuando en cada persona, y por eso necesita conectarse con la dimensión teologal y espiritual de horizonte de sentido, donde se alimentan las motivaciones y actitudes básicas. Por su parte, la espiritualidad ha de encontrar los cauces adecuados para interpretar y expresar el compromiso intramundano. Ambas perspectivas son constitutivas y esenciales de la vida y la existencia teologal de las comunidades y de cada uno de los cristianos, y permitir que se encuentren y «conspiren» es una obligación irrenunciable a la que también deben ayudar los teólogos. En eso está esta sencilla obra. JULIO L. MARTÍNEZ, jesuita, es profesor de Teología moral en la Universidad Pontificia Comillas, donde actualmente desempeña además el cargo de Vicerrector de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación, y antes fue director de la Cátedra de Bioética y del Instituto de Estudios sobre Migraciones. Su campo de investigación tiene como foco la religión en la vida pública. En esa materia ha escrito sus principales libros, entre los que destacan Consenso público y moral social, Ciudadanía, migraciones y religión y Libertad religiosa y dignidad humana, así como buena parte de sus abundantes artículos. (shrink)

Part of a 14-volume work covering writings in American religious history with specific attention to trends in American Protestantism; church and state; theological issues; social Christianity; women in religion; native American religion; regional and black religion; fundamentalism and creationism.

Most authors of articles in this issue reflect on differences between the world into which William James dropped his book in 1902 and the world in which readers can confront it in 2002. Here and there are mentions that imply he was speaking in a climate where many hearers and readers were indifferent to, suspicious of, or hostile to explorations that dealt with anything coded with words such as 'transcendent', 'mystical', 'spiritual', or 'religious'. Such mentions are in place. One can (...) sense the psychologist clearing his throat, shifting on his feet, and perhaps figuratively raising a protective arm as a shield against verbal missiles that would be hurled by audiences or readers. To deal with some medieval mystics was one thing; to take seriously the upstart and often, among academics, unrespectable movements such as Christian Science was another. It could expose him to ridicule and hurt the scientific and philosophical communities in which he was a leader. Between the turn of the last century and the turn of this one, historians of culture agree, James would have had an ever worse time carrying on his explorations or making his points. The world, which meant the world of the academy, media, arts, and often politics, was periodically described as secular, and growing ever more relentlessly so. Whatever else 'secular' meant, it implied the freedom to ignore or oppose scholarship other than historical that dealt with the transcendent or the mystical. Those were years of 'secular theology' or 'the death of God' movements or, simply, turnings of the back on mysticism and inquiries concerning it for pragmatic reasons or less discernible ones that came with the ethos. (shrink)

This essay examines the relationship between Marti Kheel’s ecofeminism, particularly as articulated in her recent book Nature Ethics, and holistic eco-philosophy. It begins by arguing that while Kheel’s view shares some common ground with holistic thinkers, her position is best understood as one that re-conceives the meaning of holism. Next, her comments on species preservation are discussed both to show her individualism, and to highlight a weakness in her approach to issues involving at-risk species. It is then suggested that one (...) could develop a more holistic answer to questions about species that is consonant with Kheel’s overall philosophical approach. (shrink)

"La Lógica pura, la idea de la Gramática pura y el problema de una filosofí­a del lenguaje en las Investigaciones Lógicas" Una de las cuestiones centrales que hasta hoy en dí­a se siguen debatiendo en torno a la recepción de las Investigaciones Lógicas, se refiere a la relación entre pensamiento y lenguaje, entre significado y expresión lingí¼í­stica, entre percepción y juicio, entre Lógica y Gramática que estableció en el debate con G. Frege y A. Marty, entre otros. El autor (...) se ocupa de las influencias -en parte directas o indirectas- que ha dejado la obra de Husserl sobre la lingí¼í­stica moderna, la filosofí­a del lenguaje del siglo XX y la filosofí­a analí­tica del lenguaje. "The pure Logic, the pure Grammar's idea and the problem of a philosophy of the language in the Logical Investigations". One of the central questions that until today is continued debating around the reception of the Logical Investigations, it refers to the relationship between thought and language. between meaning and linguistic expression, between perception and judgement, between Logic and Grammar that Husserl settled down in the debate with G. Frege and A. Marty, among others. The author is in charge of the influences -direct or indirectly- that has left the work of Husserl on the modern linguistics, the philosophy of the language of the XX century and the analytic philosophy of the language. (shrink)

Doctor Marti is to be commended for compressing such a rich variety of historical reminders and flashes of philosophical insight within the scope of his brief and suggestive paper. Among the important reminders culled from the tradition are, first of all, the pivotal importance of St. Augustine’s fusion of philosophical inwardness and Christian doctrine, then a correct and careful estimation of Kant’s location of the ethically active self within the noumenal order, and finally a lucid synthesis of Schelling’s insights (...) into the possibility of a philosophical religion. Marti understands that to repeat the tradition philosophically is to renew and restore it. But he also brings novel insights to bear upon the Kantian-Hegelian tradition, the most striking of which are the assertions that the work of ratiocination is guesswork, and that obligation becomes objective only in and with the act of taking responsibility. Each of these gems deserves to be cut, polished, and set within its own extended treatment. (shrink)

Unlike the relativity theory it seeks to replace, causal set theory has been interpreted to leave space for a substantive, though perhaps ‘localized’, form of ‘becoming’. The possibility of fundamental becoming is nourished by the fact that the analogue of Stein’s theorem from special relativity does not hold in causal set theory. Despite this, we find that in many ways, the debate concerning becoming parallels the well-rehearsed lines it follows in the domain of relativity. We present, however, some new twists (...) and challenges. In particular, we show that a novel and exotic notion of becoming is compatible with causal sets. In contrast to the ‘localized’ becoming considered compatible with the dynamics of causal set theory by its advocates, our novel kind of becoming, while not answering to the typical A-theoretic demands, is ‘global’ and objective. (shrink)

Since language is the collective focus of this series, the present paper follows both historiographical and theoretical perspectives. The first deals with Prague as a Middle-European town, with a German and Czech University from 1882, where a philosopher, Anton Marty, from the Brentano school, focuses on language and semasiology in the framework of a psychology from an empirical standpoint. He cites Christian von Ehrenfels, and underscores the relational approach to psychic dynamism but, crucially, he emphasises the oscillations between (...) linguistic “sketches” and semantic comprehension. Sprache ist eine Skizze, listeners are lead through suggestions, Nebenvorstellungen, to grasp meanings, Bedeutungen which do not coincide with the mere addition of explicit, variable components. Simultaneously, Vilém Mathesius, forthcoming founder (1926) of the Prague Linguistic Circle, dealing with English language and literature, enquires into the spontaneous ability of listeners to grasp, infer, integrate ellipsis in a sentence, consisting of a missing word, in omissione vocabuli, quod non dictum tamen cogitatur. Language enquiries will then require psychology, will aim to explain inferences, to infer implicit from explicit. The effort to obtain the whole, via super- or even subsummativity processes, has been a special topic for Gestalt psychology. Context being the proper habitat for both language and mind, we follow the fil rouge which leads directly to Gestalt contributions and further developments, e.g., inferential semantics and pragmatics. In conversation, as in architecture, less is more. We strive to prove this. (shrink)

This essay considers and evaluates recent results and arguments from classical chaotic systems theory and non-relativistic quantum mechanics that pertain to the question of whether our world is deterministic or indeterministic. While the classical results are inconclusive, quantum mechanics is often assumed to establish indeterminism insofar as the measurement process involves an ineliminable stochastic element, even though the dynamics between two measurements is considered fully deterministic. While this latter claim concerning the Schrödinger evolution must be qualified, the former fully depends (...) on a resolution of the measurement problem. Two alleged proofs that nature is indeterministic, relying, in turn, on Gleason's theorem and Conway and Kochen's recent 'free will theorem', are shown to be wanting qua proofs of indeterminism. We are thus left with the conclusion that the determinism question remains open. (shrink)

In this paper we address the question of when a researcher is justified in describing his or her artificial agent as demonstrating ethical decision-making. The paper is motivated by the amount of research being done that attempts to imbue artificial agents with expertise in ethical decision-making. It seems clear that computing systems make decisions, in that they make choices between different options; and there is scholarship in philosophy that addresses the distinction between ethical decision-making and general decision-making. Essentially, the qualitative (...) difference between ethical decisions and general decisions is that ethical decisions must be part of the process of developing ethical expertise within an agent. We use this distinction in examining publicity surrounding a particular experiment in which a simulated robot attempted to safeguard simulated humans from falling into a hole. We conclude that any suggestions that this simulated robot was making ethical decisions were misleading. (shrink)

On July 14, 1866 Franz Brentano stepped up to the pulpit to defend his thesis that “the true method of philosophy is none other than that of the natural sciences”. This thesis bound his first students to him and became the north star of his school, against the complex background of the progress and specialization of the natural sciences as well as the growth and professionalization of universities. I will discuss the project of the renewal of philosophy as science in (...) the School of Brentano and how this aimed to provide a scientific foundation for the humanities independently from the natural sciences, while preserving the unity of science. Through his well-known re-introduction of the concept of intentionality as criterion to distinguish internal and external perception, Brentano was able to supply an empirical foundation for the Geisteswissenschaften. While philosophy would use the method of natural science, its domain would not be nature, but consciousness: a full-blooded science of the mind that did not require a reduction to the physical in order to be scientific. Brentano’s science of consciousness was empirical, but not experimental, and relied on subjective methods, but was not introspective. Brentano’s students Carl Stumpf, Anton Marty, Alexius Meinong, Christian von Ehrenfels, Edmund Husserl and others came to occupy important chairs in philosophy throughout Europe. While they were certainly not all orthodox followers, they adapted and spread his theories far and wide in the schools and movements they founded and influenced: Gestalt psychology, Prague linguistics, phenomenology, etc.. Moreover, the 19th century idea of scientific research as a collaborative and collective achievement led to a division of labor in Brentano’s school. Each of his students was meant to work out a part of the greater whole: Stumpf, the philosophy of sound and music; Marty, language; Meinong the history of philosophy; Husserl, mathematics; etc. Yet all of them also contributed to the shared project of the renewal of philosophy as science and discussed the (foundational) relation of philosophy to other sciences in programmatic works. Though often forgotten and overlooked due to contingent historical circumstances, the scientific paradigm of the School of Brentano was very fruitful and highly influential in philosophy and the human sciences in general, throughout the second half of the 19th and into the 20th centuries. Yet it is relevant then as now to preserve the independent scientific dignity of the humanities. (shrink)

There is a narrow thread in the vast literature on Kafka which pertains to Kafka’s knowledge of philosophy, and more precisely to Kafka’s use in his fictional writings of some of the main ideas of Franz Brentano. Kafka attended courses in philosophy at the Charles University given by Brentano’s students Anton Marty and Christian von Ehrenfels, and was for several years a member of a discussion-group organized by orthodox adherents of the Brentanian philosophy in Prague. The present essay (...) summarizes what is known about Kafka’s relations to the Brentanist movement. It draws on Brentanian ideas on the evidence of inner perception, on oblique consciousness, on active introspection, on correct and incorrect judgment, and on consciousness as a species of inner tribunal, in order to throw light on central features of Kafka’s writings, including stylistic features. Special attention is directed towards Die Verwandlung and Der Prozess, and a reading of the latter is offered according to which the trial of Joseph K. occurs entirely within the mind of K. himself. The revisions in the 1997 version of the paper relate especially to the treatment of Kafka and Brentano in Arnold Heidsieck’s book The Intellectual Contexts of Kafka’s Fiction: Philosophy, Law, Religion, of 1994. (shrink)

There is a narrow thread in the vast literature on Kafka which pertains to Kafka’s knowledge of philosophy, and more precisely to Kafka’s use in his fictional writings of some of the main ideas of Franz Brentano. Kafka attended courses in philosophy at the Charles University given by Brentano’s students Anton Marty and Christian von Ehrenfels, and was for several years a member of a discussion-group organized by orthodox adherents of the Brentanian philosophy in Prague. The present essay (...) summarizes what is known about Kafka’s relations to the Brentanist movement. It draws on Brentanian ideas on the evidence of inner perception, on oblique consciousness, on active introspection, on correct and incorrect judgment, and on consciousness as a species of inner tribunal, in order to throw light on central features of Kafka’s writings, including stylistic features. Special attention is directed towards Die Verwandlung and Der Prozess, and a reading of the latter is offered according to which the trial of Joseph K. occurs entirely within the mind of K. himself. The revisions in the 1997 version of the paper relate especially to the treatment of Kafka and Brentano in Arnold Heidsieck’s book The Intellectual Contexts of Kafka’s Fiction: Philosophy, Law, Religion of 1994. (shrink)

Research in the organizational sciences has tended to portray prosocial behavior as an unqualified positive outcome that should be encouraged in organizations. However, only recently, have researchers begun to acknowledge prosocial behaviors that help maintain an organization’s positive image in ways that violate ethical norms. Recent scandals, including Volkswagen’s emissions scandal and Penn State’s child sex abuse scandal, point to the need for research on the individual factors and situational conditions that shape the emergence of these unethical pro-organizational behaviors. Drawing (...) on trait activation theory, we argue that the “dark” trait of Machiavellianism should make individuals more willing to engage in UPB. Further, we argue that this willingness will be augmented when Machiavellians hold bottom-line-mentality climate perceptions, or the perception that ethical standards matter less than organizational performance. Using data from 170 U.S. employees, results suggested that Machiavellians are more willing to engage in UPB, but that BLMCPs may not affect their motivation to engage in UPB. We discuss the study’s theoretical and practical implications, as well as avenues for research. (shrink)

In this book, Christian Barry and Sanjay G. Reddy propose ways in which the international trading system can support poor countries in promoting the well-being of their peoples.

Johann Christoph Gottsched gehört unbestritten zu den zentralen Figuren der deutschen Frühaufklärung. Wie wohl kein anderer vor und nach ihm hat er die Entwicklung der deutschsprachigen Sprach-, Rede-, Dicht- und Bühnenkunst geprägt, geleitet von der festen Absicht, diesen Künsten wo möglich eine wissenschaftliche Begründung, eine überschaubare kritische Historie sowie eine klare und elegante Darstellung zu verleihen. Über diese Bemühungen hinaus, hat sich insbesondere die neuere Forschung weiteren Facetten seines riesigen Werkes zugewendet. So erscheint Gottsched als Vorbild zahlreicher Zeitschriftenprojekte, als wichtiger (...) Popularisator der Leibnizschen und Wolffschen Philosophie, als zentraler Reformer der zeitgenössischen Homiletik, als Drehscheibe bei der Vermittlung europäischer Dichtung und Gelehrsamkeit. Die Beiträge des vorliegenden Bandes tragen der gesamten Breite der Gottsched-Forschung Rechnung, prüfen alte Erkenntnisse und stellen neue Einschätzungen zur Diskussion. Darüber wird die Aufmerksamkeit auch auf weniger bekannte Aspekte des Gottschedschen Oeuvres gelenkt, so etwa auf Beiträge zu den Naturwissenschaften und der Staatslehre, auf die akademische Lehrtätigkeit und auf das zunehmende Interesse an anthropologischen und ästhetischen Fragen. MIT BEITRÄGEN VON: Erich Achermann, Thomas Althaus, Detlef Döring, Frank Grunert, Gerda Hassler, Peter Hesselmann, Hanspeter Marti, Christian Meierhofer, Dagmar Mirbach, Merio Scattola, Oliver Scholz, Tomas Sommadossi, Holger Steinmann, Gideon Stiening, Andres Strassberger, Dietmar Till, Klaus Weimar und Jan-Henrik Witthaus. (shrink)

Do the dynamics of a physical system determine what function the system computes? Except in special cases, the answer is no: it is often indeterminate what function a given physical system computes. Accordingly, care should be taken when the question ‘What does a particular neuronal system do?’ is answered by hypothesising that the system computes a particular function. The phenomenon of the indeterminacy of computation has important implications for the development of computational explanations of biological systems. Additionally, the phenomenon lends (...) some support to the idea that a single neuronal structure may perform multiple cognitive functions, each subserved by a different computation. We provide an overarching conceptual framework in order to further the philosophical debate on the nature of computational indeterminacy and computational explanation. (shrink)

No one in philosophy has paid much attention to the virtue of honesty in recent years. Here is a trait for which it is easy to find consensus that it is a virtue, and furthermore, a very important virtue. It also has obvious relevance to what we see going on in contemporary politics, for instance, or in sports, the entertainment world, and education. Yet as far as I can tell, only one article in a philosophy journal has appeared in several (...) decades which discusses this virtue at any length. -/- In this chapter I have two central aims: (i) to sketch some of the conceptual parameters of the virtue of honesty in general, as well as its subordinate virtues, and then (ii) to draw on leading work in psychology to determine, at least in a preliminary way, whether we should think that most people instantiate this virtue or not. (shrink)

In _An Introduction to Kant’s Aesthetics_, Christian Wenzel discusses and demystifies Kant’s Critique of the Power of Judgment, guiding the reader each step of the way and placing key points of discussion in the context of Kant’s other work. Explains difficult concepts in plain language, using numerous examples and a helpful glossary. Proceeds in the same order as Kant’s text for ease of reference and comprehension. Includes an illuminating foreword by Henry E. Allison. Offers twenty-six further-reading sections, commenting briefly (...) on books and articles from the English, German, and French, that are relevant for each topic Provides an extensive bibliography and a chapter summarizing Kant's main points. (shrink)

The detailed interpretation and translation of Nietzsche’s early Latin odes clearly show that Horace’s lyric poetry has an exemplary function for the development of Nietzsche’s own poetic language. Even in his later works, such as Twilight of the Idols and the Dionysos-Dithyrambs, Nietzsche’s poetic style and rhetorical strategies remain indebted to his early attempts to emulate classical Latin poetry when he was a pupil at the Pforta boarding school.

Christian Pfeiffer explores an important, but neglected topic in Aristotle's theoretical philosophy: the theory of bodies. A body is a three-dimensionally extended and continuous magnitude bounded by surfaces. This notion is distinct from the notion of a perceptible or physical substance. Substances have bodies, that is to say, they are extended, their parts are continuous with each other and they have boundaries, which demarcate them from their surroundings. Pfeiffer argues that body, thus understood, has a pivotal role in Aristotle's (...) natural philosophy. A theory of body is a presupposed in, e.g., Aristotle's account of the infinite, place, or action and passion, because their being bodies explains why things have a location or how they can act upon each other. The notion of body can be ranked among the central concepts for natural science which are discussed in Physics III-IV. (shrink)