In 1809--the year of Charles Darwin's birth--Jean-Baptiste Lamarck published Philosophie zoologique, the first comprehensive and systematic theory of biological evolution. The Lamarckian approach emphasizes the generation of developmental variations; Darwinism stresses selection. Lamarck's ideas were eventually eclipsed by Darwinian concepts, especially after the emergence of the Modern Synthesis in the twentieth century. The different approaches--which can be seen as complementary rather than mutually exclusive--have important implications for the kinds of questions biologists ask and for the type of research they conduct. (...) Lamarckism has been evolving--or, in Lamarckian terminology, transforming--since Philosophie zoologique's description of biological processes mediated by "subtle fluids." Essays in this book focus on new developments in biology that make Lamarck's ideas relevant not only to modern empirical and theoretical research but also to problems in the philosophy of biology. Contributors discuss the historical transformations of Lamarckism from the 1820s to the 1940s, and the different understandings of Lamarck and Lamarckism; the Modern Synthesis and its emphasis on Mendelian genetics; theoretical and experimental research on such "Lamarckian" topics as plasticity, soft (epigenetic) inheritance, and individuality; and the importance of a developmental approach to evolution in the philosophy of biology. The book shows the advantages of a "Lamarckian" perspective on evolution. Indeed, the development-oriented approach it presents is becoming central to current evolutionary studies--as can be seen in the burgeoning field of Evo-Devo. Transformations of Lamarckism makes a unique contribution to this research. (shrink)

According to the fear module theory, humans are evolutionarily predisposed to perceive snakes as prioritized stimuli and exhibit a fast emotional and behavioral response toward them. In Europe, highly dangerous snake species are distributed almost exclusively in the Mediterranean and Caspian areas. While the risk of a snakebite is relatively low in Central Europe, Azerbaijan, on the other hand, has a high occurrence of the deadly venomous Levant viper ( Macrovipera lebetina ). We hypothesize that co-habitation with this dangerous snake (...) has shaped the way in which humans evaluate snake species resembling it. For that purpose, we asked respondents from the Czech Republic and Azerbaijan to rank photographs depicting 36 snake species according to perceived fear and beauty. The results revealed a high cross-cultural agreement in both evaluations (fear r 2 = 0.683, p r 2 = 0.816, p. (shrink)

Illuminates childrens experiences of embodiment, inter-subjectivity, place, thing, time, and language through a dialogue between developmental research and ...

Companies increasingly recognize the importance of communicating corporate social responsibility including their engagement toward employees, the community, the environment and other stakeholder groups to attract applicants. The positive findings on the effect of CSR on applicants’ reactions are commonly based on the assumption that companies send a clear signal about their commitment to CSR. However, communication is always contextualized and has become more ambiguous through the increased availability of information online. External stakeholders including actual and potential applicants are confronted with (...) inconsistencies between the way companies communicate CSR activities and their overall CSR performance. Drawing on signaling theory, this article raises the question of how the interaction between strong CSR communication and low CSR performance influences organizational attractiveness. We propose that low CSR performance dampens the effect of CSR communication on organizational attractiveness. Hence, the inconsistency between CSR communication and CSR performance decreases organizational attractiveness. To test our hypotheses, we scraped 67,189 posts published on corporate Facebook career pages by 58 Fortune 500 companies from the time they began their respective career page until June 2018. Surprisingly, our results show that a low CSR performance strengthens the effect of CSR communication on organizational attractiveness. Thus, inconsistencies between CSR communication and CSR performance seem to lead to positive evaluations among applicants. (shrink)

A growing number of multinational companies (MNCs) report on their progress toward contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their annual reports, yet the amount and quality of the information they disclose varies significantly. The aim of this study is twofold: First, we investigate how transparent MNCs report on their SDG engagement and second, we study how the reported SDG engagement changed over time due to major shifts in sustainability reporting requirements. Using a dataset of the largest German MNCs, (...) we analyze their disclosure of SDG contribution reporting practices. Our results show that, overall, between 2016 and 2021 all German MNCs increased their SDG reporting activity and that the MNCs adopted four different practices to report their SDG engagement. We also found that the largest MNCs were more transparent and systematic in their SDG reporting than smaller MNCs, whose reporting was more heterogeneous. Our study contributes to legitimacy research and the role of transparency in corporate reporting as well as the debates on the efficacy of sustainability reporting legislation in the context of SDG engagement. Our findings imply that regulations on environmental and social regulation increase the transparency of sustainability reporting. (shrink)

Two aspects about meaning and emotion are discussed in this paper. The first, which is the main focus of this paper, addresses the semantic shaping of emotions (semanticization). It will be shown how language acquisition leads to the semantic shaping of emotions. For this purpose I will first introduce the theory of language acquisition that has been developed mainly by Michael Tomasello and also by Donald Davidson. Then I will take basic emotions into account in order to show that language (...) plays a crucial role when it comes to the shaping of emotions and how we feel. The second aspect about meaning and emotion addresses the signification that an emotion might have for a person. One could also say that this aspect addresses the meaning an emotion has for a person. This issue will only play a minor part in my investigations. (shrink)

Focusing on ‘real actions’ of ‘real people’, normative behaviourism turns facts about observable patterns of behaviour into grounds for specific normative political principles. For this reason, this way of doing normative political theory has strong political realist credentials, given its methods, values and ambitions. In fact, according to its supporters, normative behaviourism is an improvement of political realism since it solves two problems that allegedly face many realists, namely, the ‘legitimacy problem’, i.e., how we should distinguish genuine acceptance of a (...) political system from false acceptance, and ‘the institutional problem’, i.e., how we should translate political principles into viable political institutions. In this paper, we make two claims. First, normative behaviourism does not solve the legitimacy problem encountered by realists, because its solution rests on a flawed distinction between foundational principles and ‘principles that matter’, together with a problematic use of a Humean internal reasons approach. Second, normative behaviourism does not solve the institutional problem encountered by realists, because its solution is in fact much more unfeasible than realist prescriptions, since feasibility is interpreted as mere possibility. We wind up our analysis by showing that normative behaviourism encounters new problems that realist approaches typically do not face. (shrink)

In this book, a new theory of grammar based on word order is proposed: a deep word order as the multipartioned communicative-information structure of the ...

The aim of this paper is to connect the traditional epistemological issue of justification with what one might call the “new reasons paradigm” coming from the philosophy of action and metaethics. More specifically, I will show that Conee and Feldman’s mentalism, a version of internalism about justification, can profitably be spelled out in terms of subjective normative reasons. On the way to achieving this aim, I will argue that it is important to ask not just the oft-discussed ontological question about (...) epistemic reasons—what kind of entities are they?—but also: Reasons in which sense are fundamental to justification? (shrink)

“This book is a philosophical interpretation of Macbeth,” the preface states. It is not a theoretical reading, that is, an application of literary theory to uncover implications in the text that the author may not have consciously put there. The hypothesis of Jan Blits’s philosophical interpretation is that we are only to find out what Shakespeare has put in with infinitely conscious art and that theory is not to be imposed on, but philosophy is to be discerned in, the play. (...) “Philosophy” here means the reflective content of each line, not necessarily understood by the speaker, but intended by Shakespeare to serve the reader in thinking about humanity and its circumstances, natural and divine. (shrink)

In der moralphilosophischen Literatur existieren verschiedene Auffassungen darüber, worauf die Autorität moralischer Normen basiert. Einige Moralphilosophen führen das moralische Sollen auf die Vernunft, das Wohlwollen oder auch auf die Wahrnehmung moralischer Tatsachen zurück; andere dagegen meinen, dass das moralische Sollen auf äußeren Sanktionen wie sozialem Ausschluss oder inneren Sanktionen wie Schuldgefühlen beruht. Die sowohl in der Geschichte der Philosophie als auch in der gegenwärtigen Auseinandersetzung häufig vertretene Meinung, dass moralische Verpflichtung notwendig an Sanktionierung geknüpft ist, wird aus verschiedenen Perspektiven kritisch (...) untersucht. (shrink)

The Hungarian Nominal Functional Sequence combines the methods of syntactic cartography with evidence from compositional semantics in a comprehensive exploration of the structure of Noun Phrases. Proceeding from the lexical core to the top of DP, it uses Hungarian as a window on the underlying universal functional hierarchy of Noun Phrases, but it also regularly complements and supports the analysis with cross-linguistic evidence. The book works out a minimal map of the extended NP in the sense that the proposed hierarchy (...) only has projections which host overt material and it does not draw on semantically empty word order projections. Topics which receive special attention include the syntax of classifiers, demonstratives, proper names, possessive NPs and plural pronouns. (shrink)

INTRODUCTION: Philosophy is the unique science which considers all other sciences in systematically unity (Kant). The classical anthropology (Platon, Aristoteles, Descartes, Hume, Kant, etc.) considers the human and his "spheres" (biological, psychological, logical, philosophical, theological) and his interdependence with nature and society. A philosophical theology investigates spiritual phenomena, described by religions and parapsychology in context of ethics, epistemology (incl. metaphysics), aesthetics. A theological anthropology should consider these phenomena multidimensional in context of a holisticscience, i.e. physico- (Kant), bio- (Lüke), psycho-, logico-, (...) philosophical theology, etc. [Lit.: Neu, Michailov: Integralanthropology. In: Proc. 21st World Congr. Philos. Istanbul. Press FISP 280‐281, 2003; Theol. Anthrop. In: Book: New Pathways for Eur. Bioethics. Ed.: Eur. Ass. Med. Ethics, Leuven, p. 53/60, 2006; Med. Ethics, 21st Ann. Conf. EACME (Ed.) Zürich, p. 53, 2007]. CONCEPTION: Regrettably philosophical theology is reduced to nearly philosophical and theological ethics: Both ethics in the future should realize a common scientific integrated ethics based on philosophy, theology, and psychology incl. of great cultures - Brahmanism, Buddhism, Christianism-Mosaism, Confucianism, and Mohammedanism. The present moral philosophy is very pluralistic: Many views concerningnormative and metaethics (deontology, axiology), also relativism, absolutism (incl. utilitarism), noncognitivism are present. A similar situation exists in moral theology: Not only in context of philosophy (consequentialism, justice, protectionism), but more - of theology are existent contradictionary differences concerning ethics in the great religions (related to God, Spirit/Soul, reincarnation, etc.). A future philosophical theology needs a renewal of its scientific theoretical andexperimental fundamentals (controlled observations: criterion for intersubjectivity) concerning theological anthropology incl. not only occidental epistemology (metaphysics, scientific theory, etc.), but also oriental - esp. Brahmanistic and Buddhist (self realization by Yoga, Tibetan, Zen Buddhism) and scientific evaluation of spiritual phenomena by biophysics, physiology, psychology and formal (Aristoteles, Gautama), real, transcendental (Kant), metaphysical (Hegel) normal logic. Areconsideration of application of philosophy of arts, esp. aesthetics in philosophical theology is also necessary (incl. inspirations in music/Bach, Beethoven, Händel, painting/Leonardo da Vinci, sculpture/Michelangelo). CONCLUSION: Scientific and political support for a renovation of theological anthropology and philosophical theology could help essentially for a realization of UNO-Agenda 21 for better total (incl. spiritual) health and peaceful world. (shrink)

In contemporary poetry, devices serving the purpose of creative destruction are increasingly coming into use. Usually not considered as proper to art making, these tools create by dismantling what is already there rather than generating something entirely new from nothing. Such methods of text deletion are at stake in so-called »erasure poetry«. Erasure poetry designates a mode of poetic production, in which an existing text is edited with a black felt marker or painted over with other suitable office supplies according (...) to a set of given parameters. This essay explores what happens when texts are no longer written but crossed out. Examples from a variety of contexts of use illustrate both the wide spectrum of the phenomenon and different functions of erasure. As a collective practice the technique may be therapeutic or simply helpful in coping with life. However, as an artistic strategy, erasure is currently deployed in many poetry collections and artists’ books that question common ways of engaging with literature as well as certain practices of power. Here, erasure emerges as an aesthetic strategy that can in fact reveal contents that have been concealed, negated, or threatened with oblivion. Both in terms of production and of reception, the decisive aesthetic feature in such cases is a break with conventional modes of representation. This break manifests itself in the ways the remaining words or letters are arranged on the page and put into relation to the empty space that surrounds them: Word placement and white space management are the two central operations of post-avant-garde literature and its page design. (shrink)

During the past few years, the IRBIT domain has emerged as an important add‐on of S‐adenosyl‐L‐homocystein hydrolase (AHCY), thereby creating the new family of AHCY‐like proteins. In this review, we discuss the currently available data on this new family of proteins. We describe the IRBIT domain as a unique part of these proteins and give an overview of its regulation via (de)phosphorylation and proteolysis. The second part of this review is focused on the potential functions of the AHCY‐like proteins. We (...) propose that the IRBIT domain serves as an anchor for targeting AHCY‐like proteins towards cytoplasmic targets. This leads to regulation of (i) intracellular Ca2+ via the inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate receptor (IP3R), (ii) intracellular pH via the Na+/HCO3− cotransporters (NBCs); whereas inactivation of the IRBIT domain induces (iii) nuclear translocation and regulation of AHCY activity. Dysfunction of AHCY‐like proteins will disturb these three important functions, with various biological implications. BioEssays 30:642–652, 2008. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

In this systematic review, we summarized and evaluated the evidence for effects of, and associations between, immersive nature-experience on mental, physical and social health promotion outcomes. Immersive nature-experience was operationalized as non-competitive activities, both sedentary and active, occurring in natural environments removed from everyday environments. We defined health according to the World Health Organization’s holistic and positive definition of health and included steady-state, intermediate, and health promotion outcomes. An electronic search was performed for Danish, English, German, Norwegian, and Swedish articles (...) published between January 2004 and May 2017. Manual approaches, e.g., bibliographies from experts, supplemented the literature search. Data were extracted from 461 publications that met the inclusion criteria. To assess the status and quality of the evidence for health promotion effects of immersive nature-experience, we focused on the subset of studies based on controlled designs (n = 133). Outcome level quality of the evidence was assessed narratively. Interventions most often involved adventure-based activities, short-termed walking, and seated relaxation in natural environments. We found positive effects on a range of health promotion outcomes grouped under psychological wellbeing (n = 97; ≈55% positive; ≈13% mixed; ≈29% non-significant; 2% negative); psychosocial function (n = 67; ≈61% positive; ≈9% mixed; ≈30% non-significant); psychophysiological stress response (n = 50; ≈58% positive; ≈18% mixed; ≈24% non-significant), and cognitive performance (n = 36; ≈58% positive; ≈6% mixed; ≈33% non-significant; 3% negative); and social skills and relationships (n = 34; ≈70% positive; ≈7% mixed; ≈22% non-significant). Findings related to outcomes categorized under physical health, e.g., risk of cardiovascular disease, were less consistent (n = 51; ≈37% positive; ≈28% mixed; ≈35% non-significant). Across the types of interventions and outcomes, the quality of the evidence was deemed low and occasionally moderate. In the review, we identify, discuss, and present possible solutions to four core methodological challenges associated with investigating immersive nature-experience and health outcomes: 1) intervention and program complexity; 2) feasibility and desirability of randomization; 3) blinding of participants and researchers; and 4) transferability and generalizability. The results of the review have been published as a popular-scientific report and a scientific research overview, both in Danish language. (shrink)

Gender differences have been observed regarding many political and social issues, yet we lack comprehensive evidence on differences in perceptions on a wide range of security issues increasingly important to voters: military threats, criminality, and terrorism. Previous research suggests that when women are highly politically mobilized, as they are in Sweden, gender differences in political opinion are large. On the other hand, Swedish politicians have worked hard to reduce gender stereotypical thinking. This prompts the question: Are there gender differences in (...) attitudes on security issues in Sweden, and if so, in what ways do the attitudes differ? This study is based on comprehensive data from focus groups and a large-scale survey. The results show that women were more prone to respond with an “ethic of care,” across security issues. Women were more inclined to understand security problems as structural, explained by macho culture, segregation, and injustice. Women tend to support preventive measures that provide individuals with opportunities to choose “the right path,” such as education and economic investment in deprived areas. When asked about national security, women believe more in diplomacy and dialogue. In general, women are less inclined to support various repressive solutions. (shrink)

The late antique rabbis of Roman Palestine were seasoned jurists, experts on exegesis and legal interpretation. Yet rabbinic literature does not theorize. A positive account of rabbinic conceptions of language therefore remains a desideratum. I choose an alternative approach. Legal reasoning relies on language to ground the determinacy of the law. Jurists must thus confront language when it threatens to undermine the latter. Conversely, they may hold language to safeguard legal determinacy. Drawing on insights from legal theory, I turn to (...) an unusual rabbinic rule of inference. Its earliest attested version suggests a universal possibility of inference “from the category of yes that of no, from the category of no that of yes.” I show that the ever-evolving uses of this rule allow us to observe a shift in linguistic attitude, increasingly acknowledging linguistic uncertainty. My findings tie in with recent advances in the study of rabbinic exegesis. (shrink)

descent represents a progression in this relationship whereby the Chorus, in finally abandoning their chariot and agreeing to approach Prometheus and listen to him, jeopardize their detachment from him and his fate, offer tentative support, and give him scope to develop his storytelling abilities and apply his persuasive powers. Although this progression does not represent an unequivocal commitment to Prometheus–for the Chorus fluctuate throughout the play between sympathy and reproach for him–it is none the less a crucial step as signalled (...) by the intensity of Prometheus' insistence that they descend and hear his story through to the end. (shrink)

Dieser Aufsatz untersucht einige Zusammenhänge zwischen der Zuschreibung von Intuitionen und intuitivem Wissen einerseits und epistemischen Ungerechtigkeiten andererseits. Der Aufsatz gliedert sich in zwei Teile. Ausgangspunkt ist im ersten Teil Frickers Theorie der epistemischen Ungerechtigkeit. Ich zeige auf, dass dem Verweis auf die „weibliche Intuition“ eine Schlüsselrolle in der Etablierung der Konzepte der testimonialen und hermeneutischen Ungerechtigkeit zukommt, da in ihm systematische Vorurteile über gender-codierte Denkmuster und Verhaltensweisen kulminieren, die paradigmatisch für strukturelle epistemische Ungerechtigkeiten sind. Allerdings gilt es zu betonen, (...) dass der Begriff der Intuition nicht nur im Sinne einer epistemischen Abwertung, sondern auch im Sinne einer Aufwertung höchst problematisch ist. Hierdurch wird eine Schwachstelle in Frickers Theorie deutlich, da diese durch die Annahme einer grundlegenden Asymmetrie zwischen Glaubwürdigkeitsdefiziten und -exzessen ihre Perspektive auf epistemische Ungerechtigkeiten zu weit einschränkt. Im zweiten Teil werde ich anhand zweier ausgewählter metaphilosophischer Debatten einige Verbindungen zwischen dem Intuitionsbegriff in der analytischen Philosophie und Fragen nach epistemischen Ungerechtigkeiten aufdecken. Hierbei werde ich in Bezug auf die Debatte um die sog. Expertise-Verteidigung dafür argumentieren, dass diese nicht auf epistemische Fragestellungen begrenzt werden kann, sondern auch auf eine ethische Dimension verweist. Mit Blick auf die Debatte um die Gender-Lücke in der akademischen Philosophie werde ich aufzeigen dass hier zwar epistemische und ethische Perspektiven zusammengeführt werden, dass bestimmte Argumentationsmuster aber so angelegt sind, dass sie sich implizit an eine problematische, dualistische Vorstellung von Intuition binden. (shrink)

The City is a dynamic living narrative, an unfolding autobiography, a melding of countless invisible stories; unravelling not in words but in movement, fear, desire, need, coupling the daily of living. The city seen is a narrative; meaning definition is found not in the narrative but in the illegible depths of the unseen city. Art practices of every kind are one fragment of the ever-unfolding narrative. New technological possibilities have also revolutionized the way the narrative of the City can be (...) ‘told’ and ‘reproduced’. Narrative is transcribed into a new cultural code through technological advances. Many works of art tell stories; indeed, most of the humanities involve stories. This article is going to study a number of innovative projects in digital art: locative media and interactive media. They all reveal how City is seen by them through their ‘stories’ and narratives. It will explore further the role of story-telling processes. All projects are site specific, participatory and interactive. They also have the capacity to map hybrid city in a mobilized and digital world. How do we picture urban life and formulate our experience of it? How can this experience be reflected via new technologies? Do new ways of narrative and story telling emerge through new technologies? How does audience respond to these practices? Can these practices be a cinematic means of digitalized story telling? These are some of the questions that will be answered in this article. (shrink)

Receivables transactions play an important role in modern national economies. Cross-Border Security over Receivables, which studies the law of seven European nations, provides an in-depth examination of the key substantive law issues, as well as a detailed examination of the private international law issues, particularly, the third party effects of assignments. National reports use practical cases to explore the issues and to highlight differences and similarities. The book will assist market participants and their counsel to better understand the rules of (...) their own countries and those of other countries. It will be of great value to academics in the private, comparative, and private international law fields and will assist those involved in national, EU and global reform efforts. (shrink)