'Ethik ist auf deskriptives Wissen angewiesen. Das ist nichts Neues: Bereits Aristoteles betont, die Ethik müsse berücksichtigen, dass der Mensch von Natur aus ein soziales Wesen sei. Wie viel Gewicht aber kann und sollte man dem deskriptiven Wissen in normativen Fragen zugestehen? Eine naturalistische Ethik hält es für möglich, dass deskriptives Wissen nicht nur Hilfsmittel für die Anwendung ethischer Normen sein, sondern einen großen Teil der bisher erforderlichen Normen ersetzen kann. Eine naturalistische Ethik fordert außerdem: Möglichst wenig metaphysische Annahmen! Statt (...) Metaphysik möchten Naturalisten Ergebnisse und Methoden der Wissenschaften einsetzen, mit dem Ziel, den Bestand an Normen in der Ethik und damit den Begründungsbedarf zu verkleinern. Lassen sich also Normen durch Fakten ersetzen? Und wenn ja, wie weit? In diesem Band kommen zu dieser Frage Philosophie, Ökonomik, Soziologie, Psychologie, Soziobiologie, Rechtswissenschaft und Spieltheorie zu Wort. Es geht hierbei gerade nicht um eine ethisch-moralische Bewertung von Resultaten oder Methoden dieser Disziplinen, sondern - umgekehrt - um die Frage, welchen Beitrag diese Wissenschaften zur Ethik leisten können.' (Autorenreferat). Inhaltsverzeichnis: Gerhard Vollmer, Christoph Lütge: Fakten statt Normen? Einleitung und Überblick (VII-XIV); Dieter Birnbacher: Prognosen statt Normen? Das Zusammenspiel von Normen und Fakten in der Angewandten Ethik (3-13); Gerhard Schurz: Zur Rolle von Brückenprinzipien in einer faktenorientierten Ethik (14-27); Uwe Czaniera: Vernünftige Normen statt moralischer Fakten (28-42); Gerhard Engel: Von Fakten zu Normen: Zur Ableitbarkeit des Sollen aus dem Sein (43-59); Dagmar Borchers: Träume von Tatsachen und Tugenden: Stärken und Schwächen des tugendethischen Naturalismus (60-77); Wolfgang Buschlinger: Hinter verschlossene Türen: Ethik in die Hand von Experten? (78-87); Eric Hilgendorf: Fakten und Normen in der Rechtstheorie Tatsachenfragen und Wertungsfragen: Bausteine zu einer naturalistischen Jurisprudenz (91-102); Karl Homann: Fakten und Normen: Der Fall der Wirtschaftsethik (105-116); Christoph Lütge: Ordnungsethik - naturalistisch konzipiert (117-127); Ken Binmore: Natural Justice (128-150); Michael Baurmann: Mehrheit ohne Moral? Warum demokratische Entscheidungen ethische Prinzipien erfordern (153-176); Eckart Voland: Normentreue zwischen Reziprozität und Prestige-Ökonomie: Eine soziobiologische Interpretation kostspieliger sozialer Konformität (177-189); Günter Dux: Das Sein des Sollens (190-204); Heiko Breit, Lutz Eckensberger: Fakten und Normen in der Psychologie. Die Faktizität des Normenbewusstseins: Eine entwicklungspsychologische Perspektive (207-224). (shrink)

Proponents of linguistic philosophy hold that all non-empirical philosophical problems can be solved by either analyzing ordinary language or developing an ideal one. I review the debates on linguistic philosophy and between ordinary and ideal language philosophy. Using arguments from these debates, I argue that the results of experimental philosophy on intuitions support linguistic philosophy. Within linguistic philosophy, these experimental results support and complement ideal language philosophy. I argue further that some of the critiques of experimental philosophy are in fact (...) defenses of ideal language philosophy. Finally, I show how much of the current debate about experimental philosophy is anticipated in the debates about and within linguistic philosophy. Specifically, arguments by ideal language philosophers support experimental philosophy. (shrink)

The American states have demonstrated varying levels of support for animal rights legislation. The activities of interest groups, including pressures from competing groups, help to explain the presence or absence of ten pro-animal regulations and laws. This article analyzes and ranks each of the fifty states with regard to ten key areas of animal protection and welfare legislation. The analysis reveals that states with a more agricultural economic base are less likely to provide protection to animals. In addition, states with (...) a more traditional political culture are less likely to have pro-animal legislation in place. (shrink)

Amsterdam University Press is a leading publisher of academic books, journals and textbooks in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Our aim is to make current research available to scholars, students, innovators, and the general public. AUP stands for scholarly excellence, global presence, and engagement with the international academic community.

Volume 25, Issue 4, June 2020, Page 491-492.

Both of these books in quite different ways are successful attempts to break new ground in the research on terrorism. What they do have in common is the fact that there are efforts to provide infor...

Liberdade e eticidade: o diagnóstico crítico da modernidade política em Hegel Resumo: Após uma sucinta caracterização do processo de diferenciação e separação histórico-conceitual entre sociedade civil e Estado, respectivamente, entre o indivíduo burguês e o cidadão como traço principal da modernidade política, empreende-se uma análise concisa dos três registros da “apresentação” do conceito de liberdade, que, no âmbito do espírito objetivo, culmina no desenvolvimento do conceito de eticidade. Em seguida, explicita-se os três momentos lógicos, isto é, os três elementos constitutivos (...) e processuais do conceito de liberdade, que, em sua efetivação no âmbito do espírito subjetivo, assume três figuras, a da vontade natural, a da vontade do arbítrio e a da vontade livre que quer a efetivação universal da liberdade como seu “conteúdo, objeto e fim”. Hegel é por excelência o filósofo da modernidade política e, ao mesmo tempo, o seu crítico, na medida em que aprofunda a ruptura com a fundamentação teológica e jusnaturalista que o contratualismo moderno introduz no pensamento ético-político ao fundar a família, a sociedade e o poder político na vontade livre autônoma, ao mesmo tempo em que critica o caráter atomista e negativo da liberdade individual que o paradigma contratualista põe como sua base. Por fim, examina-se mais detidamente os dois pilares fundamentais que fundam a estrutura normativa de uma eticidade moderna e reflexiva : a pessoa como sujeito de direitos e a liberdade subjetiva da consciência moral moderna. Palavras-chave: Liberdade. Modernidade política. Diferença entre sociedade e Estado. Eticidade. Pessoa. Consciência moral. Freiheit und Sittlichkeit: die kritische Diagnose der politischen Modernität bei Hegel Zusammenfassung: Nach einer kurzen Darlegung des historisch-begrifflichen Differenzierungs- und Trennungsprozesses von burgerlicher Gesellschaft und Staat, beziehunsweise, zwischen dem „bourgeois“ und dem staatlichen Bürger, als den auszeichnenden Hauptzug der politischen Modernität, wird eine gedrängte Analyse der drei Ebenen der Darstellung des Freiheitsbegriffs, dessen Verwirklichung im Bereich des objektiven Geistes in der Entwicklung des Sittlichkeitbegriffs seinen Höhepunkt hat. Danach werden die drei logischen Momente, das heisst, die drei prozessualen Bestantandsteile des abstrakten Freiheitsbegriffs ausgelegt, die in ihrer Verwirklichung im subjektiven Geist die entresprechenden drei Gestalten des natürlichen Willens, des Willens als Willkür und desjenigen freien Willens, der die allgemeine Verwirklichung der Freiheit als „Inhalt, Gegenstand und Zweck“ hat. Hegel erweist sich als der profilierte und zugleich kritische Philosoph der politischen Modernität, insofern er den vom Kontraktualismus eingeführten Bruch mit der theologischen und naturrechtlichen Fundierung der Familie, der Gesellschat und der politischen Macht weiter vertieft und zugleich die negative und atomistische Dimension der individuellen Freiheit kritisiert, die der Kontraktualismus zu seiner Voraussetzung hat. Endlich, werden die zwei Grundpfeiler auseinandergelegt, welche die normative Struktur einer reflexiven und modernen Sittlichkeit begründen : die Person als Rechtssubjekt und die subjektive Freiheit als moralisches Gewissen. Schlüsselbegriffe: Freiheit. Politische Modernität. Differenz zwischen bürgerlicher Gesellschat und Staat. Sittlichkeit. Person. Gewissen. Freedom and ethical life: Hegel’s critical diagnosis of political modernity: Departing from a brief characterization of the historical-conceptual process by which civil society and the state, respectively, the bourgeois and the citizen, differed and separated from one another – a fundamental trait of political modernity –, I have undertaken a concise analysis of the three moments of the exposition of freedom’s concept, which, within the scope of objective spirit, culminates in the development of the concept of ethical life. Thereupon, I have elucidated the three logical moments, that is, the three constitutive and procedural elements of freedom’s concept, namely, universality, particularity and singularity, which, in their effectivation within the scope of subjective spirit, assume three figures: that of natural will, arbitrary will and the free will which wants the universal effectivation of freedom as its “content, object and aim”. Hegel is thus the philosopher of political modernity par excellence and, simultaneously, its severe critic, inasmuch as he, on the one hand, deepens the rift which modern contractualism introduced in ethical-political thought when it founded family, society and political power upon autonomous free will, and on the other, inasmuch as he, at the same time, tears down the atomist and negative character of individual freedom set forth by the contractualist paradigm as its basis. Finally, I examined in detail the two fundamental columns upon which a normative structure of a modern and reflexive ethical life are based: the person as subject of rights and the modern moral consciousness’ as subjective freedom. Keywords: Freedom. Political modernity. Difference between society and state. Ethical life. Person. Moral consciousness. Data de registro: 30/07/2020 Data de aceite: 21/10/2020. (shrink)

In her famous memoir Lost in Translation, the journalist and psychoanalyst Eva Hoffman describes her childhood metamorphosis from a Polish into a North American girl by reconstructing her experience with learning a new language. She equates this with loss and acquisition of identities. This article focuses on Hoffman’s interest in language as an identity issue since this is a highly relevant theme for migration researchers, particularly for those working with narrative material. The article explores the role of language in biographical (...) interviews with migrants and discusses language use as an instrument for data collection. It argues that we need to ensure a sensitive and vigilant handling of language in the interview setting, which takes into consideration context, coding, articulation and hybridity. The final part raises questions about the ways in which gender comes into play in migrants’ narratives. (shrink)

ABSTRACTLeo Strauss argues that the “theologico-political” problem arose from the competing claims of rationalist philosophy and theology. Although he urges others to take sides in this debate, most theorists see it as insoluble, since it is rooted in competing traditions and different, non-demonstrable, epistemic principles. Strauss, however, argues that there is a common ground capable of sustaining a contest between the two: their appeal to the pre-philosophic understanding of justice as moral virtue. The contest between the Bible and Socratic-Platonic philosophy (...) centers on which of the two better understands what justice is, what completes it, and in what respect it is good. Strauss enables us to see why Plato’s Socratic dialogues became indispensable models for classical and medieval philosophers who sought to meet the challenge of theology on the vital common ground of philosophy and theology. (shrink)

We discuss various ways, which have been plainly justified in the secondhalf of the twentieth century, to introduce infinitesimals, and we considerthe new style of reasoning in mathematical analysis that they allow.

"Der Text vergleicht zwei fetischistische Puppenexperimente des 20. Jahrhunderts. Auf der einen Seite steht der vielbeachtete Versuch Oskar Kokoschkas, die verlorene Alma Mahler durch eine lebensechte Puppe zu ersetzen. Auf der anderen Seite geht es um die verborgen gehaltenen Bücher des Schweizer Einsiedlers Armand Schulthess, bevölkert von Hunderten von erotischen Collage-Frauen, die kunstvoll zusammengeklebt, vernäht und ineinander gefaltet sind. So unterschiedlich das zugrundeliegende fetischistische Ritual auch ausfällt, so zeigt sich in beiden Anordnungen doch eine grundlegende Übereinstimmung: In beiden Fällen nimmt (...) das Inkarnieren die Form einer Operationskette an, die das Bild ins Register einer mimetischen Transformationsontologie überstellt. The paper compares two fetishistic experiments with puppets of the 20th century. On the one hand, there is Oskar Kokoschka’s much discussed attempt to replace the lost Alma Mahler with a life-size doll. On the other hand, the paper treats the secret books of Swiss hermit Armand Schulthess, populated by hundreds of erotic women, which are artfully glued, sewn and folded together. However different the underlying fetishistic ritual may be, the two groups show a fundamental agreement: In both cases, the process of incarnating becomes a chain of operations, translating the image into the register of a mimetic ontology of transformation. ". (shrink)

This volume consists of an interesting collection of essays that highlight some of the difficulties societies and political systems are facing as a result of growing globalization and rapid technol...

When New Labour came into office in 1997, its commitment to 'education, education, education' captured the imagination of the public. This collection of humorous articles by Ted Wragg between 1998 to 2003 exposes the real state of education during this period, when educational policy was never far from the headlines. No one escapes Ted's sharp-shooting wit: from the 'blamers and shamers' who try to turn teacher-bashing into a national pastime to the 'pale policy wonks' in the Department of Education, who (...) issue regular hare-brained initiatives from the mysterious 'Tony Zoffis'. Split into seven issue-focused chapters, this hilarious collection will be a tonic for anyone finding themselves unsure whether to laugh or cry about recent developments in the world of education. (shrink)

Cluster headache, writes sociologist Joanna Kempner, is “the most painful phenomenon a human can experience.” Also known as “suicide headache,” this condition is reportedly more painful than gunsho...

Kant declared that philosophy began in 1781 with his Critique of Pure Reason. In 1806 Hegel announced that it had been completed. Förster assesses the steps that led from Kant’s “beginning” to Hegel’s “end” and concludes that both Kant and Hegel were indeed right. His study reveals Goethe’s significant contribution to post-Kantian thinking.

Evolutionary Debunking Arguments purport to show that our moral beliefs do not amount to knowledge because these beliefs are “debunked” by the fact that our moral beliefs are, in some way, the product of evolutionary forces. But there is a substantial gap in this argument between its main evolutionary premise and the skeptical conclusion. What is it, exactly, about the evolutionary origins of moral beliefs that would create problems for realist views in metaethics? I argue that evolutionary debunking arguments are (...) best understood as offering up defeaters for our moral beliefs. Moreover, the defeater in question is a paradigmatic instance of undercutting defeat. If anything is an undercutting defeater, then learning about the evolutionary origins of our moral beliefs is a defeater for those beliefs. (shrink)

in Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness edited by Zelazo P., Moscovitch M. and Thompson E. (2007).

With his innovative research on Kant and German Idealism, Eckart Förster has been a major driving force in research on idealism for many years. In particular, his works on Kant’s ‘Opus postumum’ and spatial schematism, on intellectual intuition and intuitive understanding, on Fichte, Hölderlin, and Goethe, on the genesis of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit as well as on the importance of Goethe for post-Kantian philosophy have received widespread attention. This volume contains many of his most important essays from the (...) last three decades. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Animals in the World: Five Essays on Aristotle’s Biology by Pierre PellegrinChristopher LutzPELLEGRIN, Pierre. Animals in the World: Five Essays on Aristotle’s Biology. Translated by Anthony Preus. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2023. vi + 324 pp. Cloth, $95.00; paper, $35.95This book explores two broad questions that have for decades been driving Pierre Pellegrin’s contributions to the so-called biological turn in Aristotle studies: whether and in (...) what sense Aristotle actually has a biology; the degree to which Aristotle’s teleological commitments lead him to characterize living things and the world that they inhabit as perfect. By analyzing various interplays that the zoological treatises posit between, on the one hand, the form and end of each species and, on the other hand, its material and efficient causes, Pellegrin reveals the astounding depth of Aristotle’s affinity with modern biology.In consideration of the millennia-spanning distance between Aristotle and the emergence of modern biology in the nineteenth century, Pellegrin first of all seeks to establish that he may call Aristotle a biologist without committing anachronism. Chapter 1 identifies two teleological notions that connect Parts of Animals and Generation of Animals to nineteenth-century conceptions of biology: Using organic function as the primary organizational principle in comparative anatomy relates Aristotle to Cuvier, and the concept of adaptation relates Aristotle to Darwin. Citing the profound influence of History of Animals on Cuvier (and thus on nineteenth-century biology), Pellegrin argues that its chief biological [End Page 357] innovation lies in the suggestion that observation is epistemically useful even when we are unable to explain that which we have observed.Chapter 2 emphasizes the role that mechanistic (that is, material and efficient) causality plays within the teleological explanations in Aristotle’s studies of animals. After a lengthy discussion of hypothetical necessity, Pellegrin uses PA 1.1’s distinction between formal nature and material nature to suggest that Aristotle recognizes an “ontological autonomy” of material nature, by which he seems to mean that matter has certain properties independent of any form. Linking Aristotle to Darwin, he argues that for Aristotle the perfection of each species consists in its fitness for (everlasting) survival. The end-directed formal nature of the species must negotiate with its autonomous material nature in order to secure for it an advantageous condition that guarantees its permanence but inevitably comes at the expense of certain disadvantages. For example, birds have no ears because they need extra matter for feathers (see PA 2.12).Shifting the focus to a crucial difference between Aristotle and modern biology, chapter 3 investigates the unity of Aristotelian natural science and biology’s place within it. Pellegrin finds analogies between Aristotle’s explanations of sexual reproduction, spontaneous generation, and Meteorology ’s account of the formation of inanimate homoiomerous matter (for example, metals, minerals). Sexual reproduction (clearly involving a material, formal, efficient, and final cause) is more causally complex than spontaneous generation (which according to Pellegrin has no preexisting final cause and only a quasi-formal cause), yet we understand spontaneous generation only by analogy with sexual reproduction, which is for Aristotle explanatorily prior. Spontaneous generation, in turn, is marginally more complex than the formation of homoiomerous matter (which also has only a quasi-formal cause and, further, no final cause at all), yet we understand the latter only by analogy with spontaneous generation and sexual reproduction. Pellegrin concludes that all natural science is united insofar as “material-efficient causality concerns all natural realities,” living and nonliving alike; however, because Aristotle in each case explains the less complex by analogy with the more complex, the teleological study of fully developed living things is explanatorily primary within his natural science. In this way, Aristotle stands in stark contrast to modern natural science, in which biology is explanatorily posterior to chemistry and physics.Chapter 4 qualifies the explanatory priority of complex organisms by challenging any notion of an Aristotelian scala naturae. Pellegrin works to show that the recognition of irreducible diversity is present in Aristotle’s very definition of an animal, arguing that in animals the nutritive faculty is neither ontologically nor developmentally prior to the sensitive and motive... (shrink)

Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Imagerie Ce´re´brale (LENA), Hoˆpital de La Salpeˆtrie`re, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).

First published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The article provides a brief overview on Hans Mayer’s life and work and his several stays in Jerusalem and with Stéphane Mosès.