Mit Descartes' 'Meditationen' setzt eine neue Epoche der Philosophie ein: ohne sie keine 'Kritik der reinen Vernunft', keine 'Wissenschaftslehre' und keine 'Phänomenologie des Geistes'. F.-W. v. Herrmann liest die 'Meditationen' mit phänomenologischem Blick und unter Beachtung der ihnen eigentümlichen Grundhaltung der 'Cartesianischen Epoché': als Grundlegung einer Metaphysik des Selbstbewusstseins aus dem Selbstbewusstsein. Er stellt die Lektüre der sechs Meditationen unter den Leitgedanken der Endlichkeit des Selbstbewusstseins und des Problems der Transzendenz. Denn das endliche Selbstbewusstsein vollzieht sich in einem Gefüge (...) dreifachen Transzendierens. Durch diese Metaphysik des Selbstbewusstseins wird Descartes zum entscheidenden Wegeröffner der großen Metaphysiken der Neuzeit von Spinoza über Leibniz, Kant, Fichte, Schelling bis zu Hegel - und darüber hinaus im 20. Jahrhundert zum Wegbereiter der Transzendentalen Phänomenologie Edmund Husserls. (shrink)

Jakob Friedrich Fries is one of the most important representatives of the Critical Philosophy, someone who built immediately on the original Kantian philosophy. -/- Fries was born in 1773 in Barby (on the Elbe). In 1805 he was extraordinary professor for philosophy in Jena and in the same year was ordinary professor for philosophy in Heidelberg. Returning to Jena in 1816, one year later he was compulsorily retired because of his participation at the nationalistic and republican Wartburg Festival. In 1924 (...) he obtained a professorship for physics and mathematics, and in 1838 he was given back a professorship for philosophy. He died in 1843 in Jena. -/- The book summarizes the research results of the DFG-Project "Jakob Friedrich Fries' Influence on the Sciences of the 19th Century". The research project was carried out by Dr. Kay Herrmann (Institute of Philosophy, Jena University) and Prof. Dr. Wolfram Hogrebe (Institute of Philosophy, Bonn University). Such a study has special importance. There is available a large amount of literature about the "speculative contemporaries" of Fries, like Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. In contrast to the "speculative philosophy", there has been published only a few studies about the Friesian natural philosophy. Fries was, in his natural-philosophical studies, looking for a link between philosophy and modern sciences, wheras his "speculative philosophical" contemporaries felt obligated to stick primarily to a descriptive, phenomenal view of nature. So far the question "How was mathematical natural philosophy regarded by scientists and mathematicians of the 19th century?" has hardly been investigated. Archival studies showed that this gap in Fries-research can be filled. The Friesian correspondence turned out to be a rich gold mine. -/- The present publication is more than a research report. The monographic first part is intended to introduce the foundations of the Friesian theory of cognition, the Friesian methodology, and the Friesian natural philosophy. This should facilitate entry into Friesian philosophy. -/- The Friesian theory is analyzed from two points of view: •How did Fries suceed in continuing and improving the Kantian approach? Is Fries able to remove the weak points of Kantian philosophy? -/- •What is the current significance of the Friesian approach? There are some interesting similarities between the Friesian approach and modern philosophical theories (such like Chomsky's theory of "universal grammer"). The lasting core of the Friesian theory of cognition is: To use empirical studies for working on philosophical problems. -/- Chapters 3 and 4 are scientific-historically oriented. These chapters analyze the Friesian position in scientific and mathematical debates (debates about the a priori foundations of physics, the problem of the identification of physics as an independent discipline, the problem of the boundary between chemistry and physics, the problem of mathematization of the sciences, the theory of the imponderabilia, the systematics and structure of sciences and mathematics, problems of infinity, the differential calculus, the theory of parallel lines) and the relation between Fries and the scientists of the 19th century. The book contains the latest findings gained by evaluation of the Friesian unpublished work (for example the correspondence with W. Weber, C. F. Gauß, E. F. Apelt, O. Schlömilch, Ch. Reichel, B. A. v. Lindenau, L. Gmelin, E. G. Fischer, A. N. Scherer, J. S. C. Schweigger) -/- One result of the research project is that some important scientists took a favourable view of the Friesian theory, but the influence of the Friesian philosophy on the sciences of the 19th century was very limited. The causes are very complex: An anti-natural-philosophical spirit of age, the limits of the Kantian inspired philosophy and some unfavourable aspects in the biography of Fries. -/- For the first time the voluminous Fries-Reichel-correspondence was evaluated. The Fries-Reichel-correspondence contains the Friesian approach to prove the 11th Euclidean axiom, and the whole transcript of the Friesian attempt at proof is given. // Der erste Teil des Buches will in die Grundprobleme Fries’scher Erkenntnis­theorie, Methodenlehre und Naturphilosophie einführen, wobei das Hauptaugenmerk auf die Fortführung der kantischen Ansätze durch Fries sowie auf die aktuelle Interpretation der Fries’schen Lehre gerichtet ist. Der wissenschaftshistorisch ausgerichtete zweite Teil analysiert Fries’ Stellung zu naturwissenschaftlichen und mathematischen Diskussionsrichtungen (Probleme der Identifizierung der Physik als eigenständige Disziplin, der Grenzziehung zwischen Physik und Chemie, der Mathematisierung der Naturwissenschaften, der Imponderabilientheorie, der Systematik von Naturwissenschaft und Mathematik, des Unendlichen, der Parallelentheorie usw.) sowie sein Verhältnis zu Naturwissenschaftlern und Mathematikern seiner Zeit. Das Buch enthält neue Erkenntnisse, die aus der Auswertung zahlreicher Nachlassmaterialien gewonnen wurden. Erstmalig wird unter dem Blickwinkel „Fries als Naturwissenschaftler und Mathematiker“ auch der sehr umfangreiche Reichel-Briefwechsel ausgewertet. Dem Reichel-Briefwechsel entstammt auch Fries’ Versuch eines Beweises des Parallelenaxioms, der in diesem Buch erstmalig in transkribierter Form vollständig vorliegt. -/- . (shrink)

We define a property for varieties V, the f.r.p. . If it applies to a finitely based V then V is strongly finitely based in the sense of [14], see Theorem 2. Moreover, we obtain finite axiomatizability results for certain propositional logics associated with V, in its generality comparable to well-known finite base results from equational logic. Theorem 3 states that each variety generated by a 2-element algebra has the f.r.p. Essentially this implies finite axiomatizability of a 2-valued logic in (...) any finite language. (shrink)

Together with microtubules and actin microfilaments, ∼11 nm wide intermediate filaments (IFs) constitute the integrated, dynamic filament network present in the cytoplasm of metazoan cells. This network is critically involved in division, motility and other cellular processes. While the structures of microtubules and microfilaments are known in atomic detail, IF architecture is presently much less understood. The elementary ‘building block’ of IFs is a highly elongated, rod‐like dimer based on an α‐helical coiled‐coil structure. Assembly of cytoplasmic IF proteins, such as (...) vimentin, begins with a lateral association of dimers into tetramers and gradually into the so‐called unit‐length filaments (ULFs). Subsequently ULFs start to anneal longitudinally, ultimately yielding mature IFs after a compaction step. For nuclear lamins, however, assembly starts with a head‐to‐tail association of dimers. Recently, X‐ray crystallographic data were obtained for several fragments of the vimentin dimer. Based on the dimer structure, molecular models of the tetramer and the entire filament are now a possibility. BioEssays 25:243–251, 2003. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

A two-body quantum correlation is calculated for a particle reflecting from a moving mirror. Correlated interference results when the incident and reflected particle substates and their associated mirror substates overlap. Using the Copenhagen interpretation of measurement, an asynchronous joint probability density, which is a function both of the different positions and different times at which the particle and mirror are measured, is derived assuming that no interaction occurs between each measurement. Measurement of the particle first, in the correlated interference region, (...) results in a splitting of the mirror substate into ones which have and have not reflected the particle. An analog of the interference from the Doppler effect for only measurements of the particle, in this two-body system, is shown to be a consequence of the asynchronous measurement. The simplification obtained for a microscopic particle reflecting from a mesoscopic or macroscopic mirror is used to illustrate asynchronous correlation interferometry. In this case, the small displacement between these mirror states can yield negligible environmental decoherence times. In addition, interference of these mirror states does not vanish in the limit of large mirror mass due to the small momentum exchange in reflecting a microscopic particle. (shrink)

A comprehensive progress report, by some thirty scholars, journalists, and educators, on the situation in Germany ten years after the Zusammenbruch of 1945, ranging from the reorganization of business and politics to recent developments in the arts and sciences. Though the authors try mainly to report and inform--and this they do with balance and clarity--there is also a good deal of soul-searching, amounting at times to an outright critique of the way things have been and are being done. The editors (...) refuse to draw, on the basis of "Gestern," any very definite conclusions about "Morgen," beyond the general conviction that at least the future is open.--F. V. (shrink)

t. 1. Obʺektivnai︠a︡ dialektika -- t. 2. Subʺektivnai︠a︡ dialektika -- t. 3. Dialektika prirody i estestvoznanii︠a︡ -- t. 4. Dialektika obshchestvennogo razvitii︠a︡ -- t. 5. Kritika idealisticheskikh kont︠s︡ept︠s︡iĭ dialektiki.

The problem of the psychological unconscious has a history of many centuries. Some investigators seek to demonstrate the existence of the unconscious, and others deny it. Fundamental differences exist with respect to the nature of the psychological unconscious even among proponents of that hypothesis. In recent decades interest in the problem of the unconscious has grown substantially in our country. An extensive literature devoted to this subject has appeared in which discussion centers principally on the significance of the psychological unconscious (...) in various spheres of human activity. However, little attention is given in those works to making clear the specifics, the patterns, and the forms in which the unconscious is manifested. Virtually nothing is said about the techniques by which we penetrate the realm of the psychological unconscious, how we achieve knowledge of it, and what the psychological relationship is between the consciousness and the unconscious. (shrink)

This gracefully written book about Xenophon is primarily intended to present a sympathetic account of the writings of that much maligned and underrated ancient soldier, statesman, and philosopher. Professor Higgins is a "student of literature" who does not attempt to elicit Xenophon’s political philosophy; what he does attempt to do is to present an accurate and sympathetic portrait of a great writer and disciple of Socrates. Such a venture is long past due, and Higgins is especially successful. His careful and (...) sensitive reading of the Xenophonic corpus is nothing short of admirable. The book contains seven chapters beginning with an account of how to read Xenophon: his comments on Xenophonic use of irony are especially instructive. But despite his efforts to contrast one work with another—e.g., the Hiero or Kyroupaideia with the Lacedaemonian Constitution—the author fails to observe larger structural similarities. He seems to be unaware, for example, that there is a significant similarity in the way the Kyroupaideia ends and the way the Lacedaemonian Constitution ends. If he is aware of the parallel peculiarities in these two works, he fails to draw any conclusion from the similarity. This oversight leads Higgins to miss the major points of these two treatises: regimes founded as solidly as Sparta with institutional support for law will last much longer than regimes, such as Persia, which depend upon the actual presence of one strong ruler. That is why Cyrus’s empire collapsed. As soon as Cyrus died: "his children at once fell into dissension, cities and nations began at once to revolt." The Spartan regime, despite its questionable customs and despite its constitutional deficiencies such as the dual monarchy, survived long after the death of Lykourgos. It eventually became the most admired regime of ancient times—not Persia. But Xenophon questions this reputation in the name of justice and piety. (shrink)

A literal German translation of Vico’s De Antiquissima Italorum sapientia liber primus and the Risposte. The entire Latin text of the De antiquissima is presented with a German translation on the opposite page. The Italian Risposte are likewise printed on one page with a German version on the other. The book is attractively published with a soft cover but without an index.

Liebe Frau Henry! Herzlichen Dank für Ihren Brief und für die beiden Artikel Sie sind der erste Mensch, der es meiner Kenntnis nach erreicht hat, dass die Resolutionen in extenso abgedruckt wurden, und ich bin sehr froh, dass es an dieser Stelle gerade geschehen ist. Ich habe mich übrigens mit hiesigen physikalisch-mathematischen Studienräten verabredet, einmal an ihrem Unterricht teilzunehmen und dann das Problem der Stoffbeschränkung in der Physik mit ihnen zu besprechen.

Liebe Frau Henry! Auf Ihren Brief antworte ich sofort. Ihren gemeinsamen Brief an Herrn Picht und mich habe ich freilich immer noch nicht beantwortet, aber dazu braucht es mehr Gelassenheit, als mir im Moment eine etwas mir über den Kopf wachsende Reisetätigkeit gelassen hat. Nun aber zu Ihren praktischen Fragen.