ExcerptHans Blumenberg's sprawling and seemingly esoteric work is driven by factors that are buried deep in the moonscape of postwar (West) German intellectual history. Philosophical anthropology, Husserl's phenomenology (in contrast to Heidegger's history of being), the re-introduction of French thought and literature (especially the writings of Paul Valéry), the activation of theological and scholastic thought, the debate with political theologians and their concept of secularization: these are just a few of the motivations that shaped the philosopher's early work and continue (...) to be important for an understanding of his first mature books. Three of these books, The Legitimacy of the…. (shrink)

The following study tries to elucidate the connection between the discourse of natural philosophy in the late eighteenth century and Wilhelm von Humboldt's anthropological, aesthetic and linguistic writings. The concepts of force, organism and, most significantly, of generation, as they were developed in the natural sciences, are shown to have strongly influenced Humboldt's philosophy. ;The first chapter reconstructs the scientific discussion about biological generation in the 18th century. At the end of the century, the widely accepted theory of preformationism is (...) challenged and replaced by the epigenetic model of generation, according to which each organism is individually produced by both parents and the workings of a formative force. ;The second chapter interprets the significance of this change for the philosophy of German Idealism, most notably in the works of Kant and Fichte. Epigenesis and its key concepts, such as "formative impulse" , organism and individuality is shown to provide a biological base for the idealist theories of subjectivity and freedom. ;The third chapter investigates Humboldt's involvement in the discourse and practice of natural philosophy during his studies at Gottingen and Jena. He discussed these problems frequently with his brother Alexander and his friends Schiller, Goethe and Fichte. His famous articles on the significance of sexual difference can be understood as a philosophical interpretation of his own scientific studies. ;The fourth chapter shows the main concepts of natural philosophy at work in Humboldt's mature writings about the philosophy of language. Against the backdrop of Goethe's scientific work, Humboldt's linguistic theory appears as an application of scientific notions to the "organism" of language. ;The fifth chapter concentrates on Humboldt's account of the mutual dependence and the mutual generation of language and thought. With his epigenetic account he tries to overcome the impasses of earlier 18th century theories of language. ;The last chapter focuses on the essential element in Humboldt's linguistic theory, the problem of articulation. Humboldt interprets articulation seen from the side of the subject as an act of violence, opposed to the material power of historically given languages. This interplay between violence and power is also shown to be at the center of Humboldt's hitherto unnoticed poetic works. (shrink)

Der Reader versammelt programmatische Ansätze der kulturwissenschaftlichen Auseinandersetzung mit dem Problem der Evidenz aus dem Blickpunkt der Sprach-, Geschichts-, Kunst- und Literaturwissenschaft, Medientheorie, Anthropologie und Soziologie. Mit Beiträgen u.a. von Rüdiger Campe, Iris Daermann, Egon Flaig, Peter Geimer, Vinzenz Hediger, Caspar Hirschi, Ludwig Jäger, Albrecht Koschorke, Helmut Lethen, Jakob Moser, Inka Mülder-Bach, Jan-Dirk Müller, Karl Schlögel, Florian Sprenger, Jakob Tanner, Marcus Twellmann, Juliane Vogel und Claus Zittel.

Mark Coeckelbergh’s mobilisation of Wittgensteinian language games makes an important contribution to exposing the social dimension of machine use. This commentary asks to what extent this social dimension of meaning and the wider imaginary that forms around technological objects on account of the transparency of language is also part of a technological “confidence trick”. It suggests that philosophical anthropology, especially the perspectives developed by Günther Anders and Helmut Plessner, can offer additional resources to trace and critique the wider ownership (...) structures and social relations of power that Mark Coecklebergh’s work productively exposes. It argues that language games alone cannot fully account for the hidden social relations that are habitually presented to us as abilities of “smart”, “intelligent” machines. Here a language that defamiliarizes machines, tries to make them visible by using exaggerated, pessimistic and object-oriented perspectives can perhaps help to make these power-relationships more comprehensible, “obvious” and thereby resistible and open to debate. (shrink)

This work argues that at populism's core is a rejection of pluralism. Populists will always claim that they and they alone represent the people and their true interests. Müller also shows that, contrary to conventional wisdom, populists can govern on the basis of their claim to exclusive moral representation of the people: if populists have enough power, they will end up creating an authoritarian state that excludes all those not considered part of the proper "people." The book proposes a (...) number of concrete strategies for how liberal democrats should best deal with populists and, in particular, how to counter their claims to speak exclusively for "the silent majority" or "the real people." - Provided by the publisher. (shrink)

Das typologische Spektrum der Denkformen von Alterität ist breit. Es erstreckt sich zwischen leerer Gleichheit und unzugänglicher Fremdheit. Eine besondere Zuspitzung erfährt das Thema in der Theologie im Gottesgedanken. Das Buch behandelt diesen Problemzusammenhang anhand von Fallstudien zu Schleiermacher und Luther. Bei der Interpretation geht es zugleich um die Frage nach Genese und Quellen von Alterität in übergreifenden Zusammenhängen. Im Mittelpunkt stehen hierbei die grossen theologischen Gegensatzverhältnisse zwischen Gott und Sünde im Horizont, ebenso die vielfältigen Differenzkorrelationen von Selbst und Welt. (...) Dies findet eine Zuspitzung in der Fokussierung von Entsprechungen zwischen Gottes-, Sozial- und Selbstverhältnissen: Theologie wird mit der Logik von Soziologie und Psychologie verknüpft."-- Back cover. (shrink)

Gerechtigkeit gilt als Kardinaltugend für ein gutes und richtiges Leben. Was aber bedeutet sie inhaltlich und wie lässt sie sich begründen? Der gedankliche Mittelpunkt der Darstellung ist die epochale Neubestimmung der Gerechtigkeit durch John Rawls. Seine Theorie der Gerechtigkeit hat zu vielen Diskussionen, Weiterführungen und Gegenentwürfen Anlass gegeben, die exemplarisch vorgestellt und vier Fragestellungen zugeordnet werden: Ist ein Gesellschaftsvertrag als Grundvoraussetzung der Theorie unabdingbar? Muss nicht die Gemeinschaft als Ort der Gerechtigkeitsvorstellungen stärker betont werden? Ist der Stellenwert, den Rawls der (...) Gleichheit zuschreibt, angemessen? Gewährt er der Freiheit einen adäquaten Raum? Den Abschluss bildet ein argumentationsethischer situationsbezogener Ansatz. (shrink)

It is a commonplace that emotions are characteristically passive. As we ordinarily think of them, emotions are ways in which we are acted upon, that is, moved or affected by aspects of our environment. Moreover, we have no voluntary control over whether we feel them. In this paper, I call attention to a much-neglected respect in which emotions are active, which is no less central to our pretheoretical concept of them. That is, in having emotions, we are engaged with the (...) world insofar as we respond to aspects of our environment. In this context, to say that an emotion is a response to x is tantamount to saying that x is a reason for which we have it. Elaborating this claim in light of a historically prominent conception of the active/passive distinction, I will argue that emotions are a form of spontaneity in virtue of their responsive character and contrast in this respect with perceptions, which are fundamentally receptive. While this proposal is prima facie opposed to the ordinary image of emotions as passive, I will show that it actually allows us to make proper sense of it. (shrink)

In a recent issue of this journal, M. Frisch claims to have proven that classical electrodynamics is an inconsistent physical theory. We argue that he has applied classical electrodynamics inconsistently. Frisch also claims that all other classical theories of electromagnetic phenomena, when consistent and in some sense an approximation of classical electrodynamics, are haunted by “serious conceptual problems” that defy resolution. We argue that this claim is based on a partisan if not misleading presentation of theoretical research in classical electrodynamics.

Vor allem die prophetischen Texte versteht er als dramatisch inszenierende Rede, deren Dramatik allerdings nicht von einer Aufführungspraxis abhängt. Der Titel "Gottes Wahrnehmungen" ist aber noch in einem andern Sinn zu verstehen.

A translation of the essay ‘On Promethean Shame’ by Günther Anders with a comprehensive introduction and analysis of his work.

This paper investigates the prospects of Rodney Brooks’ proposal for AI without representation. It turns out that the supposedly characteristic features of “new AI” (embodiment, situatedness, absence of reasoning, and absence of representation) are all present in conventional systems: “New AI” is just like old AI. Brooks proposal boils down to the architectural rejection of central control in intelligent agents—Which, however, turns out to be crucial. Some of more recent cognitive science suggests that we might do well to dispose of (...) the image of intelligent agents as central representation processors. If this paradigm shift is achieved, Brooks’ proposal for cognition without representation appears promising for full-blown intelligent agents—Though not for conscious agents. (shrink)

Zum I. Kapitel 1 Diesen hier nur skizzierten Strukturzusammenhang von Fragehinsichten und Sachbezügen, innerhalb dessen die Politische Philosophie ihren Ort gewinnt, hat der Verf des näheren darzulegen versucht in einem Aufsatz Die Staatsphilosophie im Verhältnis zur Politik als Wissenschaft, in: Dieter Oberndörfer (Hrsg.), Wissenschaftliche Politik. Eine Einführung in Grundfragen ihrer Tradition und Theorie. Freiburg i. Br. 1962, S. 153-195. Vgl. dazu insbesondere auch Arnold Bergslraesser, Politik in Wissenschaft und Bildung. Schriften und Reden. Freiburg i. Br. 1961, S. 17-29 (Die Stellung (...) der Politik unter den Wissen schaften); Dieter Oberndärfer, Politik als praktische Wissenschaft, in dem oben angeführten Band, S. 9-58, bes. S. 37ff. ; Olto Heinrich von der GablenlZ, Politische Wissenschaft und Philosophie, in: Politische Vierteljahresschrift 1, 1960/61, S. 4-11; H.R.G. Greaves, Grundlagen der Politischen Theorie. Neuwied-Berlin 1960 sowie die Arbeiten von Hans Barlh, Helmut Kuhn, Max Müller (vgl. Anm. 6, Nr. 7), Joachim Ritter (zu Aristoteles) und Leo Slrauss, die zu den wenigen gehören, die heute noch von der Philosophie selbst aus den Problembereich der Praktischen und Politischen Philosophie in einem unserem Ver ständnis verwandten Sinne zu erörtern und grundzulegen suchen (s. Lit.-Verz.). Es sei auch auf die unter diesem Betracht in Frage kommenden Publikationen Hannah Arendts hingewiesen. Siehe außerdem unsere Angaben unter Anm. 4 und 5.-In ein analoges Ver hältnis setzt Helmut Schelsky (Ortsbestimmung der deutschen Soziologie. Düsseldorf Köln 1959) Soziologie, philosophische Theorie der Gesellschaft und allgemeine Philosophie zueinander. (shrink)

Employing a perspectival technique inspired by Nietzsche himself, Bertram constructs a densely layered portrait of the thinker that shows him riven by deep and ultimately irresolvable cultural, historical, and psychological conflicts.

In recent decades Evagrian psychology and asceticism have attracted much attention. It has, however, also become clear that to understand these aspects, it is necessary to observe the greater metaphysical framework to which they relate. Although this framework presents evident parallelisms with other ancient systems of metaphysics, its relations to these systems have not yet been fully brought to light. In this paper, I propose to shed light on central elements of Evagrius’ theory of contemplation and their metaphysical background by (...) drawing on Neoplatonist ideas. To that end, I cross-read passages from the Evagrian corpus and Plotinus’ Enneads, in particular the treatise on contemplation (III 8). In these passages, I identify various conceptual and structural parallelisms that allow us to suppose a common philosophical background to both systems. Based on these parallelisms, I then outline some conclusions for future perspectives in Evagrian scholarship. (shrink)

Building a bridge between the anthropologies of West and East, the author shows how an intrinsically pathological--marginal--Western culture can be partially reconstructed to go "beyond marginality" by incorporating elements of a more authentic world view.

Le nombre et la logique.--Doctrines et théories physiques.--La causalité mathématique et l'interprétation.--La causalité biologique.--Le physique et le mental.--Les structures psychologiques et sociales.--L'intervention humaine et l'individualité.--L'intention esthétique et l'action morale.--Epistémologie matérialiste et métaphysique.--Résumé et conclusion.