The nature of envy has recently been the subject of a heated debate. Some researchers see envy as a complex, yet unitary construct that despite being hostile in nature can lead to both hostile and...

The basic bearer of responsibility is individuals, because that isall there are – nothing else can literally be the bearer of fullresponsibility. Claims about group responsibility therefore needanalysis. This would be impossible if all actions must be understoodas ones that could be performed whether or not anyone else exists.Individuals often act by virtue of membership in certain groups;often such membership bears a causal role in our behavior, andsometimes people act deliberately in order to promote the prospectsof members of a given (...) group. Nevertheless, it is rational to awardproportionally to individual contributions to those actions andindividual shares in the production of the consequences of thoseactions. (shrink)

We extend stit logic by adding a spatial dimension. This enables us to distinguish between powers and opportunities of agents. Powers are agent-specific and do not depend on an agent’s location. Opportunities do depend on locations, and are the same for every agent. The central idea is to define the real possibility to see to the truth of a condition in space and time as the combination of the power and the opportunity to do so. The focus on agent-relative powers (...) and space-relative opportunities firmly roots effectivity of an autonomous choice making agent in a space–time picture. Our space–time view will be classically Newtonian, since we will assume relativistic phenomena do not play a role in agentive effectivity. We show how our semantics naturally distinguishes between different kinds of histories; histories that reflect real possibilities and histories that reflect counterfactual possibilities. Furthermore, we discuss how the spatial picture sheds light on conceptual problems plaguing the central stit property of ‘independence of agency’. At several points in the article we will emphasise and defend the differences with Belnap’s theory of agency in relativistic branching space–times. (shrink)

From the very beginnings of his thought, Thomas Garrigue Masaryk was convinced that modern man, and likewise the culturally and politically emancipated Czech nation, was in a deep existential crisis closely linked with the spread of irreligiosity. Masaryk gradually came to believe that this crisis could be positively overcome on two levels. On a theoretical level, he relied on his specific classification and systematization of the sciences. On a practical level, which was directly based on his notion of positive sciences (...) and a strictly rational scientific approach, it was a matter of developing a new direction and method, which he characteristically conceived of as realism. On the eve of the First World War, Masaryk’s position became understandably radicalized. He distanced himself from a more objectivist view of religion and countered theism with a scientific and philosophical anthropism. (shrink)

Of all the attitudes and theories associated with or identified as "pacifism," only the doctrine that everyone ought not to resist violence with force is of philosophical interest, And it is logically incoherent. Pacifism's popularity rests on confusions about what the doctrine really is. If we have rights, We have the right to prevent infringements upon them. We have the right to use force to protect our rights, And in the degree necessary to accomplish that end. (staff).

How should we construe the unity, in affective experience, of felt bodily changes on the one hand and intentionality on the other, without forcing affective phenomena into a one-sided theoretical framework such as cognitivism? To answer this question, I will consider the specific kind of self-awareness implicit in affectivity. In particular, I will explore the idea that a bodily sense of ability is crucial for affective self-awareness. Describing the affective ways of “grasping oneself” manifest in a person’s felt sense of (...) ability will help us understand the intimate connection between bodily feelings and intentionality in affective processes. In order to illustrate these experiential structures in a concrete case, I will discuss experiential changes often reported by sufferers of depression. (shrink)

Notes on the life of Adolf Lindenbaum, a complete bibliography of his published works, and selected references to his unpublished results.

We give combinatorial and computational characterizations of the NP search problems definable in the bounded arithmetic theories $T_{2}^{2}$ and $T_{3}^{2}$.

This paper synthesizes confirmation by instances and confirmation by successful predictions, and thereby the Hempelian and the hypothetico-deductive traditions in confirmation theory. The merger of these two approaches is subsequently extended to the piecemeal confirmation of entire theories. It is then argued that this synthetic account makes a useful contribution from both a historical and a systematic perspective.

Epidemiological research is subject to an ethics review. The aim of this qualitative review is to compare existing ethical guidelines in English for epidemiological research and public health practice in regard to the scope and matter of an ethics review. Authors systematically searched PubMed, Google Scholar and Google Search for ethical guidelines. Qualitative analysis was applied to categorize important aspects of the an ethics review process. Eight ethical guidelines in English for epidemiological research were retrieved. Five main categories that are (...) relevant to the review of epidemiological research by Institutional Review Boards/Research Ethics Committees were distinguished. Within the scope of main categories, fifty-nine subcategories were analyzed. There are important differences between the guidelines in terms of the scope and matter of an ethics review. Not all guidelines encompass all identified ethically important issues, and some do not define precisely the scope and matter of an ethics review, leaving much to the ethics of the individual researchers and the discretion of IRBs/RECs. (shrink)

A number of well-developed theories shed light on the question, under what circumstances our beliefs enjoy epistemic justification. Yet, comparatively little is known about epistemic defeat--when new information causes the loss of epistemic justification. This book proposes and defends a detailed account of epistemic defeaters. The main kinds of defeaters are analyzed in detail and integrated into a general framework that aims to explain how beliefs lose justification. It is argued that defeaters introduce incompatibilities into a noetic system and thereby (...) prompt a structured re-evaluation process that makes a justified reinstatement of the defeated belief impossible. The account is then applied to the topic of disagreement, where it is used in an argument for conciliationism, as well as a new explanation for higher-order defeat. Throughout the book, the notion of defeat is the center of attention, while a number of new issues are discussed at the intersections of defeat and justification. Specifically, new problems are raised for broadly internalist accounts of defeat, a fully descriptive reliabilist account of defeat is provided, and the case for normative defeat is revisited. (shrink)

This article discusses the feedback on students’ ethics essays provided by eight markers in the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle University. It highlights significant shortcomings, including failures to identify instances where students had failed to select and to conclude on ethical issues, logical errors, misunderstandings of ethical arguments made in the literature, instances of simple deference, and a lack of critical engagement with relevant literature. Markers also made a large number of linguistic errors and, on many occasions, failed to (...) explain clearly what they meant. Some indication is given of what the cost of this might be to health care students as well as to those who are affected by the quality of their ethical decisions. The article concludes by providing some guidance on how this cost might be reduced at Newcastle University as well as in many other institutions where similar problems are likely to exist. (shrink)

As corporate social responsibility involves a voluntary business endeavour to address social and environmental issues beyond legal compliance, governments cannot fall back on hierarchical command-and-control policies to support it. As such, it is complementary with the increasing popularity of public policies known as New Governance policies, where the government is engaged in a horizontal inter-organizational network of societal actors and where public policy is both formed and executed by the interacting and voluntary efforts from a multitude of stakeholders. However, such (...) policies are known to generate substantive uncertainty about the content of CSR and its related issues, strategic uncertainty regarding the behavior of the actors involved and institutional uncertainty related to the interaction process involved in the institutional change. We explore New Governance policy instruments to address these uncertainties in the context CSR and discuss the experiences with these methods in the European Union. (shrink)

The issues that Paul Standish alerts us to are significant since they situate McDowell's argument in reference to works lying outside the mainstream tradition o.

Bayesian model selection has frequently been the focus of philosophical inquiry (e.g., Forster, Br J Philos Sci 46:399–424, 1995; Bandyopadhyay and Boik, Philos Sci 66:S390–S402, 1999; Dowe et al., Br J Philos Sci 58:709–754, 2007). This paper argues that Bayesian model selection procedures are very diverse in their inferential target and their justification, and substantiates this claim by means of case studies on three selected procedures: MML, BIC and DIC. Hence, there is no tight link between Bayesian model selection and (...) Bayesian philosophy. Consequently, arguments for or against Bayesian reasoning based on properties of Bayesian model selection procedures should be treated with great caution. (shrink)

What if in discussion the critic refuses to recognize an emotionally expressed argument of her interlocutor as an argument, accusing him of having presented no argument at all. In this paper, we shall deal with this reproach, which taken literally amounts to a charge of having committed a fallacy of non-argumentation. As such it is a very strong, if not the ultimate, criticism, which even carries the risk of abandonment of the discussion and can, therefore, not be made without burdening (...) oneself with correspondingly strong obligations. We want to specify the fallacies of non-argumentation and their dialectic, i.e., the proper way to criticize them, the appropriate ways for the arguer to react to such criticism, and the appropriate ways for the critic to follow up on these reactions. Among the types of fallacy of non-argumentation, the emphasis will be on the appeal to popular sentiments . Our aim is to reach, for cases of non-argumentation, a survey of dialectical possibilities. By making the disputants themselves responsible for the place of emotion in their dialogues, we hope to contribute to a further development of the theory of dialectical obligations. (shrink)

The effort to identify the neural substrate of episodic recall, though ambitious, lacks experimental support. By considering the data on c-fos activation by novel and familiar stimuli in recognition studies, we illustrate how inadequate experimental designs permit alternative interpretations. We stress that interpretation of c-fos expression changes should be supported by adequate recognition tests.

Agency without Actors? New Approaches to collective Action is rethinking a key issue in social theory and research: the question of agency. The history of sociological thought is deeply intertwined with the discourse of human agency as an effect of social relations. In most recent discussions the role of non-humans gains a substantial impact. Consequently the book asks: Are nonhumans active, do they have agency? And if so: how and in what different ways? The volume offers a critical state-of-the-art debate (...) of internationally and nationally leading scholars within Sociology, Social Anthropology and STS on agency (Latour, Law, Michael, Rammert etc.). It fosters the productive exchange of empirical settings and theoretical views by outlining a wide range of novel accounts that link human and non-human agency. It tries to understand social-technical, political and environmental networks as different forms of agency that produce discrete and identifiable entities like humans, animals, technical artifacts. It also asks how different types of (often conflicting) agency and agents actors are distinguished in practice, how they are maintained and how they interfere with each other. (shrink)

This translation is based on “Renesansowe koncepcje godności człowieka,” Roczniki Filozoficzne 35, no. 1 (1987): 251–81, with the Publisher’s permission.

Was heißt es, einen literarischen Text zu interpretieren? Wie können Interpretationen begründet werden? Können wir mit Interpretationen Anspruch auf Erkenntnis erheben? Können Interpretationen wahr sein? In welcher Weise fließt das Wissen von Interpreten in ihre Interpretationen ein? Aus der Perspektive verschiedener Disziplinen suchen die Beiträge dieses Bandes Antworten auf diese und andere fundamentale Fragen, die sich mit der Interpretation von Literatur verbinden. Der einleitende Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über wichtige Themen und Probleme, die gegenwärtig im Hinblick auf die Theorie und (...) Praxis der Literaturinterpretation diskutiert werden. Die in den folgenden vier Sektionen versammelten Studien widmen sich unter anderem Fragen nach dem Interpretationsbegriff, der Geltung und der methodisch geleiteten Begründung von Interpretationen, den kognitiven Operationen beim Verstehen und Interpretieren von Literatur sowie den Problemen, die sich in der Praxis der Literaturinterpretation angesichts der spezifischen Beschaffenheit literarischer Texte ergeben. Vertreten sind die Fachgebiete der deutschsprachigen Literaturwissenschaft, Philosophie, Linguistik, Mediävistik, Anglistik und Computerphilologie. [What does it mean to interpret a work of literature? How can interpretations be justified? Can interpretations serve as a source of knowledge? Is it possible for interpretations to be true? How does the knowledge of interpreters contribute to their interpretations? The essays comprised in this volume look for answers to these and other fundamental questions regarding the interpretation of literature. The introduction provides an overview of the main issues and problems in contemporary debates on the theory and practice of interpretation. The articles are grouped into four sections and cover topics like the concept of interpretation, the validity of interpretations, the methods for justifying interpretations, the cognitive processes that are involved in understanding and interpreting literature, and address problems that arise in the practice of interpretation and in light of the specific characteristics of literary texts. The contributors to this volume come from a variety of disciplines such as literary studies, philosophy, linguistics, and the digital humanities.]. (shrink)

Die nicht erst seit dem Herbst 2015 andauernden Migrationsbewegungen nach Europa und auch innerhalb Europas lassen es angeraten erscheinen, den damit aufgeworfenen ethischen und rechtlichen Fragen auch in einem Themenschwerpunkt des Jahrbuchs näher nachzugehen. Der vorliegende Band stellt dabei in einem ersten Teil die rechtsethischen Grundfragen der Migration zur Diskussion. In einem zweiten Teil werden demgegenüber rechtliche Spezialfragen der Migration untersucht. Das Jahrbuch enthält wieder ein »Diskussionsforum«, in dem in diesem Jahr Fragen des Zusammenspiels von logischer Analyse und juristischer Argumentation (...) zur Debatte stehen. Es schließt mit einem Berichts- und Rezensionsteil. (shrink)

Josef Zumr was one of the leading representatives of modern Czech philosophical thought. His lifelong disposition was to be a realist of the Masaryk variety. He believed that a formative idea of humanity was the determinate element in the Czech tradition of thought. He found his unceasing conviction in the meaning and value of actuality in a conscious search for a supporting ideological cohesion in modern Czech thinking – in the urgent and convincing revelation of its original, rational sources and (...) emancipatory heights. He himself critically thought through this quintessential line of expression in Czech thought, doing so creatively and with the full responsibility of an engaged intellectual, and developing it conceptually and thematically. With his critical intellectual stance, the paramount goal of which Zumr considered to be the positive reshaping of existing social reality, he opened up possibilities of effectively strengthening democratic principles. One of these complementary democratic principles weighed most heavily on Josef Zumr in the final phase of his life: freedom of speech. He left us on July 2, 2024 at the age of 96. (shrink)

«Wer die heilige Schrift liebt, liebt auch die Philosophie, um durch sie den Glauben zu bestärken; aber die Philosophie ist der Baum der Erkenntnis von Gut und Böse, weil in ihr die Falschheit der Wahrheit beigemischt ist». Dieser Ausspruch Bonaventuras in einer Adventspredigt zu Joh 1,26-27 aus dem Jahre 1267 spiegelt die ganze Ambivalenz wider, die sich in seinen Schriften mit Bezug auf die Philosophie findet. Dem unverkennbaren philosophisch-spekulativen Impetus seines Denkens steht eine teilweise harsche Philosophen- und Philosophiekritik gegenüber. «Die (...) Philosophen gaben neun Wissenschaften und versprachen, eine zehnte zu geben, nämlich die Schau. Aber indem sich viele Philosophen von der Finsternis des Irrtums trennen wollten, verstrickten sie sich in größere Irrtümer; und indem sie sich weise nannten, wurden sie zu Toren; indem sie auf ihr Wissen stolz waren, wurden sie zu Gefolgsleuten Luzifers». (shrink)

Die MISCELLANEA MEDIAEVALIA präsentieren seit ihrer Gründung durch Paul Wilpert im Jahre 1962 Arbeiten des Thomas-Instituts der Universität zu Köln. Das Kernstück der Publikationsreihe bilden die Akten der im zweijährigen Rhythmus stattfindenden Kölner Mediaevistentagungen, die vor über 50 Jahren von Josef Koch, dem Gründungsdirektor des Instituts, ins Leben gerufen wurden. Der interdisziplinäre Charakter dieser Kongresse prägt auch die Tagungsakten: Die MISCELLANEA MEDIAEVALIA versammeln Beiträge aus allen mediävistischen Disziplinen - die mittelalterliche Geschichte, die Philosophie, die Theologie sowie die Kunst- und Literaturwissenschaften (...) sind Teile einer Gesamtbetrachtung des Mittelalters. (shrink)