Die erste systematische Schrift, die Ernst Cassirer veröffentlicht hat, ist das Buch »Substanzbegriff und Funktionsbegriff« von 1910, in dem er sich mit dem Problem der mathematischen und naturwissenschaftlichen Begriffsbildung auseinandersetzt. Als »Faktum« legte er den damaligen Stand der Wissenschaft zugrunde, der das klassische System der Physik noch als unbestritten galt. Mit den Fortschritten der Wissenschaften, in diesem Fall der Entwicklung der theoretischen Physik, muss die Erkenntniskritik Schritt halten. Und so drängten sich im Laufe der Zeit neue Fragen auf, die (...) der philosophischen Behandlung bedurften. Aus dieser Motivation heraus veröffentlichte Cassirer 1920 die Schrift »Zur Einsteinschen Relativitätstheorie« (ECW Bd. 10), in der er sich mit der Um- und Neubildung der modernen Physik durch die allgemeine und spezielle Relativitätstheorie beschäftigt. Um dem philosophischen Ideal der methodischen Analyse und erkenntniskritischen Grundlegung gerecht zu werden, ergab sich jedoch die Notwendigkeit, auch die Auswirkungen der Quantentheorie in die Reflexion mit einzubeziehen. Den historischen Ursachen und systematischen Gründen der Sprengkraft, die die Quantentheorie auf dem ganzen Gebiet der Physik entwickelte, geht Cassirer in der Schrift »Determinismus und Indeterminismus in der modernen Physik« nach, die er 1936 abschließt. (shrink)

Brian Skyrms has argued that the evolution of the social contract may be explained using the tools of evolutionary game theory. I show in the first half of this paper that the evolutionary game-theoretic models are often highly sensitive to the specific processes that they are intended to simulate. This sensitivity represents an important robustness failure that complicates Skyrms's project. But I go on to make the positive proposal that we may none the less obtain robust results by simulating the (...) population structures that existed among our evolutionary ancestors. It is by extending the evolutionary models in this way that we should pursue the project of explaining the evolution of the social contract. (shrink)

xi should hope for "first and foremost" from any historical investigation, including his own, was that "it may not be too tedious. " II That hope is generally realized in Mach's historical writings, most of which are as lively and interesting now as they were when they appeared. Mach did not follow any existing model of historical or philosophical or scientific exposition, but went at things his own way combining the various approaches as needed to reach the goals he set (...) for himself. When he is at his best we get a sense of the Mach whom William James met on a visit to Prague, the Mach whose four hours of "unforgettable conversation" gave the forty year old, well traveled James the strongest "impression of pure intellectual genius" he had yet received, and whose "absolute simplicity of manner and winningness of smile" captivated him completely. 12 Consider, for example, the first few chapters of this book, Principles of the Theory of Heat, which Mach devotes to the notion of temperature, that most fundamental of all thermal concepts. He begins by trying to trace the path that leads from our sensations of hot and cold to a numerical temperature scale. (shrink)

Continued failure to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are causing global climate change has brought increased attention to climate engineering technologies, which actively modify the global environment to counteract heating and climate disruptions caused by elevated greenhouse gases. Some proposed forms of CE, particularly spraying reflective particles in the upper atmosphere to reduce incoming sunlight, can cool the average temperature of the Earth rapidly and cheaply, thereby substantially reducing climate-related risks. Yet CE interventions provide only (...) imperfect corrections for the climatic and other environmental effects of elevated greenhouse gases, and carry their own environmental risks. Moreover, they may also increase other risks, by weakening political support for essential emissions reductions or providing new triggers for international conflict. These technologies thus require international governance, but also pose novel and severe challenges to current international laws and institutions. Effective governance of CE will require a capacity to make decisions regarding the conditions, if any, under which specific interventions are authorized, plus realtime operational oversight of any interventions that are conducted. Decision processes must be effectively linked with scientific research and assessment, and with institutions to manage and respond to threats of CE-related conflict. We advance preliminary suggestions to address two priority areas for early investigation: how international cooperation on early CE research can help develop shared norms that can grow robust enough to support future decision needs; and how early research and development on CE can be made to complement and encourage, rather than undermine, parallel efforts to reduce climate risks by cutting emissions. (shrink)

First published in Switzerland in 1935 and now available for the first time in English translation, _Heritage of Our Times_ is a bold work of cultural criticism by a major twentieth-century German philosopher. Recalling work by Walter Benjamin and the Frankfurt School, Ernst Bloch's study of everyday life and politics during the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany is a brilliant historical analysis of the cultural conditions leading to German fascism. A half-century later, Bloch's prescient meditations on culture and politics (...) still retain their explosive power and are certain to provoke controversy and discussion among cultural critics, philosophers, social theorists, and historians. In their Introduction, the translators contextualize the book within the political and intellectual tendencies of the period and Bloch's other work. (shrink)

Photographs by Ernst Scheidegger of Alberto Giacometti and his art work.

Marx as a student -- Karl Marx and humanity : the material of hope -- Man and citizen in Marx -- Changing the world : Marx's Theses on Feuerbach -- Marx and dialectics of idealism -- The university, Marxism, and philosophy -- The Marxist concept of science -- Epicurus and Karl Marx -- Upright carriage, concrete utopia.

Die Beiträge des Bandes unterziehen Hegels 'Phänomenologie des Geistes' nicht vorrangig einer erneuten historischen und philologisch-hermeneutischen Interpretation. Sie lesen Hegels Frühwerk vielmehr primär kritisch aus der Erfahrung seiner Nachgeschichte und systematisch aus der Perspektive gegenwärtiger Philosophien. Das von den Autoren behandelte Spektrum reicht von der Anthropologie seit Ludwig Feuerbach über den symbolphilosophischen Ansatz Ernst Cassirers bis zu an Michel Foucault und Jacques Lacan orientierten Lesarten des Herr-Knecht-Kapitels. Mit Beiträgen von: Andreas Arndt, Wolfgang Bergande, Harald Bluhm, Brady Bowman, Veit Friemert, (...) Christian Iber, Walter Jaeschke, Reinhard Mehring, Christian Möckel, Patience Moll, Ernst Müller, Erzsébet Rózsa, Christine Weckwerth u.a. (shrink)

Angeregt von Freunden und Kollegen, hat Ernst Cassirer im amerikanischen Exil mit diesem Werk eine Summe seines Denkens vorgelegt, in der seine Philosophie der symbolischen Formen in ihren Hauptgedanken fortgeführt wird, und zwar in einer Weise, die auch einem breiteren Kreis interessierter Leser zugänglich ist. Cassirer stellt die alte Frage nach dem Wesen des Menschen neu und beantwortet sie, indem er die klassische Antwort mit weitreichenden Folgen abwandelt: Er bestimmt den Menschen als ein Wesen, das Symbole schafft und sich (...) durch Symbole mit seinesgleichen und der Welt verständigt. "Der Begriff der Vernunft ist höchst ungeeignet, die Formen menschlicher Kultur in ihrer Fülle und Mannigfaltigkeit zu erfassen [...]. Alle diese Formen sind symbolische Formen. Deshalb sollten wir den Menschen nicht als animal rationale, sondern als animal symbolicum definieren.". (shrink)

Ernst Cassirer (1874-1945) n'aura cesse de s'interesser a Descartes et a la philosophie classique, depuis sa dissertation de Marbpourg (1899), qui traite de la critique cartesienne de la connaissance physico-mathematique, en passant par la monographie qu'il consacre a Leibniz en 1902, jusqu'au premier volume de l'Erkenntnisproblem ou de la philosophie des formes symboliques. Les etudes reunies ici proposent, a travers l'analyse des figures singulieres de Corneille et de Christine de Suede, une remarquable situation de la pensee cartesienne a l'age (...) classique. (shrink)

If cooperative dispositions are associated with unique phenotypic features (’green beards’), cooperative individuals can be identified. Therefore, cooperative individuals can avoid exploitation by defectors by cooperating exclusively with other cooperative individuals; consequently, cooperators flourish and defectors die out. Experimental evidence suggests that subjects, who are given the opportunity to make promises in face-to-face interactions, are indeed able to predict the partner’s behavior better than chance in a subsequent Prisoners’ Dilemma. This evidence has been interpreted as evidence in favor of green (...) beard approaches to the evolution of human cooperation. Here we argue, however, that the evidence does not support this interpretation. We show, in particular, that the existence of conditional cooperation renders subjects' choices in the Prisoners’ Dilemma predictable. However, although subjects predict behavior better than chance, selfish individuals earn higher incomes than conditional cooperators. Thus, although subjects may predict other players’ choices better than chance evolution favors the selfish subjects, i.e., the experimental evidence does not support the green beard approach towards the evolution of cooperation. (shrink)

Human beings are highly irrational, at least if we hold to an economic standard of ‘rationality’. Experimental economics studies the irrational behavior of human beings, with the aim of understanding exactly how our behavior deviates from the Homo economicus, as ‘rational man’ has been called. Insofar as philosophical theories depend upon rationality assumptions, experimental economics is the source of both problems and (at least potential) solutions to several philosophical issues. This article offers a programmatic and highly biased survey of some (...) of these issues, with the hope of convincing the reader that experimental economics is well-deserving of careful study by philosophers. (shrink)

Explores what is meant by the concept of religion.

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)

L'article traduit ici parut dans le Contemporary Jewish Record, Review of events and digest of opinion, 7 (Juin 1944), pages 115 à 126. Cette revue, l'une des nombreuses publications de l'American Jewish Committee, vit le jour peu avant la guerre, en septembre 1938, et finit avec elle en juin 1945, ne trouvant plus sa raison d'être, à savoir dénoncer les crimes allemands et travailler à la paix. Figurent aussi dans ce volume sept un article de Hannah Arendt : « Concerning (...) Minorities » et la traduction de la communication de Renan à la Société des Études Juives, le 26 mai 1883 : « Judaïsme et Christianisme ». Sur les thèmes évoqués, on se référera aux textes suivants : — « Judaism and the Modem political Myths », Symbol, Myth and Culture, Yale University Press, 1979, p.233-239. Il s'agit du texte, incomplet, d'une épreuve manuscrite (Cassirer Deposit 162 b), restée inachevée, de l'article traduit ici. — « The Myth of the State », Fortune, vol. 26, n° 6, juin 1944. — « Der mythos als politische Waffe », Die Amerikanische Rundschau, Munich, n° 11. — « Philosophy and Politics », in Symbol, Myth and Culture, Essays and Lectures of E. Cassirer, ed. by D.P. Varene, Yale University Press, 1979. Traduction française : « Philosophie et politique », in E. Cassirer, L'idée de l'Histoire, les inédits de Yale et autres écrits d'exil, Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 1989. — « The Technique of our Modem Political Myths », in Symbol, Myth and Culture, Essays and Lectures of E. Cassirer, ed. by D.P. Varene, Yale University Press, 1979. — The Myth of the State, Yale University Press, 1946. — T. Cassirer, Aus meinem Leben mit Ernst Cassirer, New York, Prìvately issued, 1950, notamment p. 291-296. (shrink)

Foreword, by H. Cox.--Introduction, by J. Moltmann.--Karl Marx; death and apocalypse.--Incipit vita nova.--Biblical resurrection and apocalypse.--Christ, or The uncovered countenance.--Religious truth.--Christian social utopias.--The nationalized God and the right to community.--Man's increasing entry into religious mystery.

Name der Zeitschrift: Klio Jahrgang: 96 Heft: 1 Seiten: 287-288.

Excerpt from Der Zweckbegriff bei Kant und Sein Verhaltnis zu den Kategorien Bemerkung: Die Zitate aus der allgemeinen Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels, den drei Kritiken, den Prolegomena, der Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten, der Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der blossen Vernunft sind den Ausgaben in Reclams Universalbibliothek entnommen. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art (...) technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.". (shrink)