This article is intended to provide a review of some modifications to the Drake equation, a 1961 concept presented by Frank Drake to determine the number of extra-terrestrial civilizations able to communicate. A reduced version of the Drake equation will then be presented. This can be used to estimate an important question for astrobiology, the frequency with which planets are habitable. Finally, a concept is presented that can also integrate the habitability of moons into the reduced Drake equation.

Karl Ameriks here collects his most important essays to provide a uniquely detailed and up-to-date analysis of Kant's main arguments in all three major areas of his work: theoretical philosophy (Critique of Pure Reason), practical philosophy (Critique of Practical Reason), and aesthetics (Critique of Judgment). Guiding the volume is Ameriks's belief that one cannot properly understand any one of these Critiques except in the context of the other two. The essays can be read individually, but read together they offer (...) a comprehensive guide to the main themes of the most influential of all modern philosophical systems. (shrink)

It can be creepy to notice that something human-looking is not real. But can sensitivity to this phenomenon, known as the uncanny valley, be predicted from superficially unrelated traits? Based on results from at least 489 participants, this study examines the relation between nine theoretically motivated trait indices and uncanny valley sensitivity, operationalized as increased eerie ratings and decreased warmth ratings for androids presented in videos. Animal Reminder Sensitivity, Neuroticism, its Anxiety facet, and Religious Fundamentalism significantly predicted uncanny valley sensitivity. (...) In addition, Concern over Mistakes and Personal Distress significantly predicted android eerie ratings but not warmth. The structural equation model indicated that Religious Fundamentalism operates indirectly, through robot-related attitudes, to heighten uncanny valley sensitivity, while Animal Reminder Sensitivity increases eerie ratings directly. These results suggest that the uncanny valley phenomenon may operate through both sociocultural constructions and biological adaptations for threat avoidance, such as the fear and disgust systems. Trait indices that predict uncanny valley sensitivity warrant investigation by experimental methods to explicate the processes underlying the uncanny valley phenomenon. (shrink)

A prominent feature of Norwegian nationalism in the second half of the nineteenth century and in the first half of the twentieth century was its use of Norway’s Viking and medieval history. This use is visible in Norwegian popular and political culture of the period with, among other things, the Norwegianization of city names and the emergence of the Dragon style. This article examines the role of commemoration of Viking heroes in Norwegian street names and memory sites in the period (...) 1850-1940. In doing so, the article identifies who were remembered, when and where, and shows how there was an increase in Viking and medieval street names in the lead-up to 1900. The article also shows how the Norwegian population embraced and partook in the remembrance of these heroes through the case studies of the restoration of Trondheim Cathedral for 1930 and the construction of Haraldshaugen monument in 1872. By comparing these case studies with the spread of street names referencing the medieval, this article shows how there is a correlation between the increase in street names and the popular contributions to the construction of national memorials which suggests an increased participation in the national community. This shows the link between the spread of nationalism and medievalism in Norway in the period leading up to the Second World War opening the way to examine Norwegian medievalism as a component of the popularisation of the idea of an independent Norway. (shrink)

This volume brings to English readers the finest postwar German-language scholarship on Kant's moral and legal philosophy. Examining Kant's relation to predecessors such as Hutcheson, Wolff, and Baumgarten, it clarifies the central issues in each of Kant's major works in practical philosophy, including The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, The Critique of Practical Reason, and The Metaphysics of Morals. It also examines the relation of Kant's philosophy to politics. Collectively, the essays in this volume provide English readers with a (...) direct view of how leading German philosophers are now regarding Kant's revolutionary practical philosophy, one of the outstanding achievements of German thought. (shrink)

Argues that there are two distinct senses in which knowledge is incompatible with accidental truth - each of which can be traced to a distinct role played by everyday knowledge attributions.

Nonmonotonic logics were created as an abstraction of some types of common sense reasoning, analogous to the way classical logic serves to formalize ideal reasoning about mathematical objects. These logics are nonmonotonic in the sense that enlarging the set of axioms does not necessarily imply an enlargement of the set of formulas deducible from these axioms. Such situations arise naturally, for example, in the use of information of different degrees of reliability. This book emphasizes basic concepts by outlining connections between (...) different formalisms of nonmonotonic logic, and gives a coherent presentation of recent research results and reasoning techniques. It provides a self-contained state-of-the-art survey of the area addressing researchers in AI lo. (shrink)

The interest in textuality from a hermeneutic perspective has its historical origins in Martin Luther's doctrine of Sola Scriptura, “Only Scripture”. Schleiermacher, who to liberated hermeneutics from the Bible, presented a scientific account of textuality that consists in establishing a dialectic between the grammatical and the psychological. The modern hermeneutic theory of textuality was first developed by Hans‐Georg Gadamer. To be a work, says Ricoeur, textual discourse must satisfy three criteria: it must be a sequence longer than a sentence; it (...) must be codified into a genre (a story, poem, essay, etc.); and it must be uniquely configured into a style. Ricoeur's analysis of work in this sense is an attempt to synthesize the romantic hermeneutics of Schleiermacher with what he sees as being its antithesis. The hermeneutics of both Ricoeur and Gadamer are returned to their Lutheran origins through this faith in textuality, or textual goodwill. (shrink)

Translator's summary and notes: Karl Jaspers (1883–1969) argues that modern advances in the natural sciences and in technology have exerted transforming influence on the art of clinical medicine and on its ancient Hippocratic ideal, even though Plato's classical argument about slave physicians and free physicians retains essential relevance for the physician of today.Medicine should be rooted not only in science and technology, but in the humanity of the physician as well. Jaspers thus shows how, within the mind of every (...) medical person, the researcher contests with the physician and the technician with the humanist. (shrink)

This volume brings together those papers of mine which may be of interest not only to various specialists but also to philosophers. Many of my writings in mathematics were motivated by epistemological considerations; some papers originated in the critique of certain views that at one time dominated the discussions of the Vienna Cirele; others grew out of problems in teaching fundamental ideas of mathematics; sti II others were occasioned by personal relations with economists. Hence a wide range of subjects will (...) be discussed: epistemology, logic, basic concepts of pure and applied mathematics, philosophical ideas resulting from geometric studies, mathematical didactics and, finally, economics. The papers also span a period of more than fifty years. What unifies the various parts of the book is the spirit of searching for the elarification of basic concepts and methods and of articulating hidden ideas and tacit procedures. Part 1 ineludes papers published about 1930 which expound an idea that Carnap, after a short period of opposition in the Cirele, fully adopted ; and, under the name "Princip/e of To/erance", he eloquently formulated it in great generality in his book, Logica/ Syntax of Language, through which it was widely disseminated. "The New Logic" in Chapter 1 furthermore ineludes the first report to a larger public of Godel's epochal discovery presented among the great logic results of ali time. Chapter 2 is a translation of an often quoted 1930 paper presenting a detailed exposition and critique of intuitionism. (shrink)

Der Band bietet einen Überblick über eine der fruchtbarsten Teildisziplinen der Film- und Medienwissenschaft. Nach einer Einführung in film- und kinoanthropologische Perspektiven der frühen Filmtheorie stellt der Band – etwa mit Morins Beschreibung des Kinos als ‚Muttermaschine’ oder Powdermakers Hollywood-Studie als Fabrik zur Herstellung ‚geistloser Zombies’ – einige Positionen der klassischen Kinoanthropologie vor. Die Einflüsse der philosophischen Anthropologie werden mit Bubers Wahrnehmungsmodell als ‚zuverlässige Kinematographie’ ebenso diskutiert wie mit Husserls Besuch eines Wachsfigurenkabinetts.

The philosophy of science between the two world wars, 1920s-1930s.

Research suggests that institutions affect the levels of corruption in a country. We take these arguments a step further and examine whether it is the presence of inclusive institutions and/or the credible and consistent implementation of institutions that matter, as regards corruption. We use a novel approach to theoretically conceptualise and empirically operationalise institutions along two analytically distinct dimensions: the nature of the institutions (the de jure dimension), and the extent to which they are credibly and consistently implemented over time (...) (the de facto dimension), using a panel dataset for 148 countries covering 2012 to 2018. We find that formal institutions are most effective in reducing corruption when the rules are credibly and consistently implemented. Furthermore, this effect appears to operate differently at different levels of national income. The nature of the formal institutions appears important across income levels, but particularly so at the upper middle income level, while the credible and consistent implementation of these institutions is primarily influential at upper middle income levels. We explain why this may be the case and elaborate on the policy implications. (shrink)

Written in political exile during the Second World War and first published in 1945, Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies is one of the most influential books of the twentieth century. Hailed by Bertrand Russell as a 'vigorous and profound defence of democracy', its now legendary attack on the philosophies of Plato, Hegel and Marx exposed the dangers inherent in centrally planned political systems. Popper's highly accessible style, his erudite and lucid explanations of the thought of great (...) philosophers and the recent resurgence of totalitarian regimes around the world are just three of the reasons for the enduring popularity of The Open Society and Its Enemies , and for why it demands to be read both today and in years to come. This is the second of two volumes of The Open Society and Its Enemies. (shrink)

Die Arbeit fragt den Anfangen psychologischer Begriffsbildung nach: In den Bestimmungen der Asthetik um 1800 stellt sich der Gestaltbegriff als Einheit von Form und Inhalt, von Begriff und Natur solchermassen vor, dass erkennendes Subjekt und Erscheinungswelt versohnt scheinen; jene, von Kants -asthetischer Urteilskraft- sich herleitende Illusion erscheint in ihrer asthetisch-naturphilosophischen (Goethe-Schelling-Carus) und psychologisch-asthetischen Version (Reinhold-Fichte-Schiller-Niethammer) in einem jeweils entsprechenden Begriff erzieherisch-vorauszusetzender menschlicher Natur und figuriert in - individuelles Verhalten und die Gesetze der Natur versohnenden- Bildern -subjektiver Totalitat-.".