Recent scholarship has held that De ciuitate Dei was aimed primarily at Christians. Through a comprehensive study of Augustine’s correspondence with known readers of De ciuitate Dei, this article argues that he in fact intended it for practical outreach. Beginning with the exchange with Volusianus and Marcellinus, it argues that the “circle of Volusianus” was not comprised of self-confident pagans but of a dynamic group of locals and émigrés, pagan and Christian, who had briefly coalesced around Volusianus and Marcellinus. The (...) Carthaginian social situation did not greatly change, therefore, after Marcellinus’s execution and Volusianus’s departure. Neither did Augustine’s aims, of which the same picture emerges from Augustine’s later correspondence with Macedonius, Evodius, Peter and Abraham, Firmus, and Darius, and from Orosius. Augustine intended, from the first inception of De ciuitate Dei to the eve of his death, to use it to equip Christians with arguments and, through those Christians’ efforts in turn, to convince once-reluctant pagans to embrace the truth of its claims. (shrink)

At Peristephanon 2.549-560, Prudentius depicts St. Laurence as consul in a heavenly Rome. This extraordinary passage achieves two purposes. First, it links the celebration of Rome’s conversion to the concluding prayer. By looking toward the martyr in heavenly glory, Prudentius can make his prayer heard despite his separation from the martyr’s body. Laurence’s exaltation also qualifies aristocratic ambitions. Prudentius glories in the Senate’s conversion, but senatorial lifestyles were at odds with his ideals (as Laurence’s denunciation of the rich underscores). By (...) putting Laurence at the apex of the afterlife for which both senators and ascetics longed, Prudentius can rejoice in the conversion of Rome’s élite and still maintain the superiority of ascetical to worldly lifestyles. (shrink)

Der Beitrag untersucht den Zusammenhang von Kritizismus (qua Heterologie) und Kritischer Theorie (qua Dialektik) anhand der Konstellation Rickert-Adorno. Heterologie und Dialektik werden von der Forschung bislang als gegensätzliche Methodenkonzepte erachtet. Dagegen soll gezeigt werden, dass Adorno diesen Gegensatz gezielt infrage stellen und sich auf das heterologische Denkprinzip berufen muss, um die dialektische Tradition zu kritisieren. Die These lautet: Bei Adorno bildet Heterologie den Sinnhorizont der dialektischen Negation. Sonst wäre die negative Dialektik eine positive Dialektik – die Kritische eine traditionelle Theorie (...) geblieben. (shrink)

A recent study has argued from theological and classicizing parallels that the first, anti-pagan book of Augustine’s De consensu euangelistarum belongs between 406 and 412 CE. This article defends the traditional dating ca. 400–405 CE, implied by Retractationes. Uncertainty over the dating of parallels in De trinitate 1–4 cautions against reliance on theological peculiarities (a variant of John 5:19 and the phrase unitas personae, both otherwise paralleled in the 410s CE or later), while a close review of the patterns of (...) classical citation proves resemblance to De ciuitate dei to be superficial. Not only does Augustine demonstrably cite the same classical texts on widely separated occasions, De consensu euangelistarum 1 evinces little of Augustine’s later knowledge of Porphyry and Varro. The crowning proof comes, however, in a brief rebuttal to pagan complaints over contemporary misfortunes. Although he focuses on Rome’s religious history, Augustine omits any hint of Alaric’s sack (410 CE), the religious-political instability of 408–409 CE, or Radagaisus’ invasion of Italy (405–406 CE), all of key importance for later works. The book’s method, scope, and tenor place it neatly within the span 400–405 CE, as our first testimony to the interreligious milieu for which De ciuitate dei would later be aimed. (shrink)

We are ruled by judges whom we know, we enjoy the benefits | Of peace and war, as if the warrior Quirinus, | As if peaceful Numa were governing.With these words the poet Claudian lauds the Emperor Honorius on the occasion of his fourth consulship in 398 by comparing him to Rome's deified founder, Romulus-Quirinus, and to Numa Pompilius, its second king, who was proverbial for wisdom and piety. Claudian's panegyric stands in a long literary tradition in which the legendary (...) Roman kings were depicted as models of statesmanship. This exemplary tradition left its mark on a broad array of late antique works, including historical compendia such as the pseudo-AurelianDe uiris illustribus, which narrates the kings’ deeds as soldiers and statesmen, and the writings of antiquarians such as Macrobius and Servius, who collected information on the kings’ invention of cults and calendars. Servius’ interest in the kings implies that they featured in the teaching provided by other late antiquegrammaticias well, and thus that most literate Latin-speakers would have had some knowledge of their deeds. Advanced education in rhetoric likewise drew on Virgil and other school texts for historicalexemplaincluding Romulus and Numa, who appear in panegyrics and in brief histories, such as Eutropius’Breviary, that probably served as reference texts for the political elite. The kings thus loomed large in Roman perceptions of the founding of their empire, which began with the heroic Romulus, was strengthened by Numa's establishment of the Roman cultic system, and was secured by the later kings’ political and military successes. (shrink)

I examine Kant’s claim in part one ofReligion within the Boundaries of Mere Reasonthat moral reform requires both a ‘change of heart’ and gradual reformation of one’s sense (R,6: 47). I argue that Kant’s conception of moral reform is neither fundamentally obscure nor is it as vulnerable to serious objections as several commentators have suggested. I defend Kant by explaining how he can maintain both that we can choose our moral disposition via an intelligible choice and that we become good (...) through a continuous struggle. I then provide an interpretation of how moral reform occurs in the phenomenal realm. (shrink)

The important ‘no-envy’ fairness criterion has typically been attributed to Foley and sometimes to Tinbergen. We reveal that Jan Tinbergen introduced ‘no-envy’ as a fairness criterion in his article “Mathematiese Psychologie” published in 1930 in the Dutch journal Mens en Maatschappij and translated as “Mathematical Psychology” in 2021 in the Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics. Our article accompanies the translation: we introduce Tinbergen’s 1930 formulation of the ‘no-envy’ criterion, compare it to other formulations, and comment on its significance for (...) the fairness literature in philosophy and economics. (shrink)

This is the first translation into English of early phenomenologist Hedwig Conrad-Martius’ Metaphysical Conversations, originally published in 1921. Conrad-Martius was one of Husserl’s first students, an important part of the Göttingen Phenomenology Circle and mentor to Edith Stein, Jean Héring, and other early phenomenologists. The present volume provides the full German and English texts of the conversations, a phenomenological discussion of the nature of the human, examining the nature of body, soul, and spirit, and drawing distinctions between plants, (...) animals, humans, and various other beings. The volume also includes two important essays on phenomenology, in which Conrad-Martius distinguishes between the phenomenological approaches of Husserl, Heidegger, and the more ontological approach of the Göttingen school of phenomenology. She is critical of Husserl’s "transcendental" and Heidegger’s "existential" approach. The conversations illustrate her use of the phenomenological method for fundamental investigations into the nature (or Wesen) of things. (shrink)

Instead he argues that there is an essence of comedy in the area of spirit rather than form, perspective rather than pattern. He draws upon the rich historical ensemble of types of comic figures, with a chapter devoted to each: the humorist, comedian, comic hero, rogue, trickster, clown, fool, underdog, and simpleton. He shows how each type incarnates a comic heroism in its own unique manner, offering a profound wisdom and philosophy of life.

Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, EarlyView.

_Educating for the Twenty-First Century_ explores critical issues facing education in the 21st century.

Kant's view that there is a propensity to evil in human nature has been thought to be both internally inconsistent and in tension with his other philosophical commitments. This essay provides an interpretation of the propensity to evil to defend Kant from these objections. I argue that the propensity to evil is the choice of the evil fundamental maxim. I then assess Kant's claims that the propensity to evil is universal and inextirpable given this interpretation. I conclude by proposing a (...) new interpretation of why Kant deliberately employs religious language in developing his account of the propensity to evil. (shrink)

New Blackfriars, Volume 102, Issue 1101, Page 728-744, September 2021.

On the received view, the Representational Theory of Measurement reduces measurement to the numerical representation of empirical relations. This account of measurement has been widely criticized. In this article, I provide a new interpretation of the Representational Theory of Measurement that sidesteps these debates. I propose to view the Representational Theory of Measurement as a library of theorems that investigate the numerical representability of qualitative relations. Such theorems are useful tools for concept formation that, in turn, is one crucial aspect (...) of measurement for a broad range of cases in linguistics, rational choice, metaphysics, and the social sciences. (shrink)

The most fundamental questions of economics are often philosophical in nature, and philosophers have, since the very beginning of Western philosophy, asked many questions that current observers would identify as economic. The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Economics is an outstanding reference source to the key topics, problems, and debates at the intersection of philosophical and economic inquiry.It captures this field of countless exciting interconnections, affinities, and opportunities for cross-fertilization. Comprising thirty-five chapters by a diverse team of contributors from all (...) over the globe, the Handbook is divided into eight sections: I. Rationality II. Cooperation and Interaction III. Methodology IV. Values V. Causality and Explanation VI. Experimentation and Simulation VII. Evidence VIII. Policy The volume is essential reading for students and researchers in economics and philosophy who are interested in exploring the interconnections between the two disciplines. It is also a valuable resource for those in related fields like political science, sociology, and in the humanities. (shrink)

Organized around seven main headings, this book includes excerpts from 13 cases, as well as numerous readings on legal theory drawn from classical and contemporary sources.

This paper examines a recurrent debate about the rationale of contractual liability: whether the central object of contract law is to facilitate human interaction by respecting individual choices, or if it is in large part to redistribute wealth, power, and advantages generally. The debate between defenders of freedom of contract and those who would use contract law to advance schemes of redistribution is connected to the long-standing issues between natural-law theories and legal positivism. This paper is divided into two main (...) sections. In the first, the notion of individual autonomy is examined in light of the classical view, most recently advanced by Fried, that the rationale for enforcing contracts is connected to the respect for individual autonomy as such. There is also an examination of the notion of a collective concern, and what it is, from a libertarian point of view, that makes some social goals objectionably collective. The second part of the paper argues that the use of collective resources for the enforcement of contracts brings with it the authority to limit and shape enforcement in the interest of redistribution. (shrink)

This book shows quantum learning is the resource that unites parts into wholes and then wholes into continually larger wholes. Just as quantum computers can regard sub-atomic particles as a wave and as particles, quantum learning can understand learners as simultaneously nondual (whole) and dual (part). The study includes a reconsideration of clarity in expression and thought.

En el presente trabajo se expone y analiza la mutua influencia y desencuentros de la Bildung, propia de la Ilustración alemana y de su desarrollo posterior, con la cultura judía. La secularización y asimilación de los judíos alemanes a la cultura ilustrada, por una parte, y la demanda que representa la tradición y el culto, por otra, constituyen una tensión que afecta no sólo a judíos, sino también a todas las instituciones culturales alemanas. This paper exposes and analyzes the mutual (...) influence and disagreements of the Bildung, typical of the German Enlightenment and its subsequent development with Jewish culture. German Jews'secularization and assimilation into the enlightened culture, on the one hand, and the exigency that tradition and cult represent, on the other, constitute a tension that affects not only the Jews but also all German cultural institutions. (shrink)

This paper provides a methodological analysis of Libertarian Paternalism, as put forward in the book Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein (Yale University Press, 2008). Libertarian Paternalism aims to use the accumulated findings of behavioural economics in order to assist decision-makers to make better choices. The philosophical debate about this proposal has focused on normative issues with regards to this proposal. This paper analyses Libertarian Paternalism descriptively and points out four methodological conditions for successful Nudges. On that basis, a (...) methodological critique of Libertarian Paternalism is mounted: the success conditions suggest that Nudges might be even harder to implement and to justify than commonly assumed in the philosophical debate. (shrink)

Kurzdarstellung: Der Beitrag untersucht Wolfgang Cramers Argument für die transzendentale Realität der Zeit. In seiner Grundlegung einer Theorie des Geistes von 1957 beansprucht der Post-Neukantianer, Kants Theorie der Zeit zu revidieren, um das angebliche Grundproblem der Transzendentalphilosophie zu lösen: wie „das Bewusstsein in seiner Konstitution des Gegenstandes den Gegenstand als Nicht-Gegen­ stand […] wissen“ könne. Indem das Kernargument von Cramers transzendentaler Ontologie rekonstruiert wird, soll (gegen Cramer) dargelegt werden, dass schon der kritische Idealismus Kants eine Lösung auf das besagte Grundproblem (...) darstellt. Sie besteht darin, den Zusammenhang von Zeit und Denken zu entontologisieren. Gleichwohl bringt Cramers transzendentale Ontologie (wohl unfreiwillig) einen zentralen, aber immer noch weitgehend vernachlässigten Aspekt der kantischen Theorie der Zeit zur Geltung – deren spekulative Bedeutung. -/- Abstract: The article explores Wolfgang Cramer’s argument for the transcendental reality of time. In his 1957 Grundlegung einer Theorie des Geistes, the Post-Neokantian claims to revise Kant’s theory of time in order to resolve the alleged key problem of transcendental philosophy: How consciousness is able to relate to the constituted object (Gegenstand) of our representations as a non-object (Nicht-Gegenstand). While reconstructing the core argument of Cramer’s transcendental ontology, I will argue (pace Cramer) that Kantian critical idealism already presents a solution to said problem: de-ontologizing the nexus between time and thinking. Nevertheless, Cramer’s transcendental ontology manages (perhaps involuntarily) to highlight a central, yet still widely neglected aspect of Kant’s theory of time—its speculative relevance. (shrink)

La profondeur, la précision et la vivacité de l'écriture fiedlerienne se révèlent pleinement dans ces pensées toujours subtiles, parfois fulgurantes, qui reprennent et prolongent la réflexion conduite dans l'ouvrage Sur l'origine de l'activité artistique, édité par D Cohn dans la même collection. La pensée de Fiedler est plus qu'un moment majeur de l'esthétique néo-kantienne : elle élève l'art à la dignité d'une théorie de la connaissance. Son refus d'une esthétique vouée au bon goût, l'affirmation qu'un jugement artistique objectif est possible (...) servent une conception de l'oeuvre comme révélation des conditions de la visibilité. L'art devient, avec lui et pour la modernité qui s'annonce, une exploration de la perception humaine en tant que telle. Aussi Fiedler est-il aujourd'hui redécouvert et son influence sur Georg Simmel ou Ernst Cassirer, autant que sur Wölfflin ou Panofsky réévaluée à sa juste mesure. (shrink)