Mitte Oktober 1518 befand sich Luther in Augsburg, um sich einem Verhör durch den päpstlichen Sondergesandten Kardinal Thomas Cajetan (1469-1534) zu stellen. Die Zusammenkunft fand am Rande des gerade in der Reichsstadt tagenden Reichstags statt. Mit größtem Einsatz versuchte Luther, Cajetan von seiner Argumentation zu überzeugen, der Dominikaner lehnte eine inhaltliche Auseinandersetzung allerdings ab. Die katholische Kirche verfolgte mit dem Verhör einzig das Ziel, Luther zum Widerruf seiner Thesen zu bewegen, worauf dieser wiederum nicht einging. Die Augsburger Ereignisse fasste Luther (...) für die Öffentlichkeit Ende 1518 in den "Acta Fratris Martini Lutheri Augustiniani apud D Legatum Apostolicum Augustae", kurz "Acta Augustana", protokollartig zusammen. In das Dokument fügte er zusätzlich noch ein ursprünglich geheimes Schreiben Papst Leos X. (1513-1521) an Kardinal Cajetan ein. In dem Breve ermächtigte das Oberhaupt der katholischen Kirche Cajetan dazu, Luther zu verhaften und nach Rom bringen zu lassen, falls dieser in Augsburg weiter gegen die päpstliche Lehre anreden und seine Ansichten nicht revidieren sollte. Luther erfuhr von dem Brief und verließ Augsburg deshalb sofort nach dem letzten Verhör am Abend des 20. Oktober. // Autor: Matthias Bader // Datum: 2016. (shrink)

This paper examines the subversive role of statistics paleontology at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. In particular, I will focus on German paleontology and its relationship with statistics. I argue that in paleontology, the quantitative method was questioned and strongly limited by the first decade of the 20th century because, as its opponents noted, when the fossil record is treated statistically, it was found to generate results openly in conflict with the Darwinian theory (...) of evolution. Essentially, statistics questions the gradual mode of evolution and the role of natural selection. The main objections to statistics were addressed during the meetings at the Kaiserlich-Königliche Geologische Reichsanstalt in Vienna in the 1880s. After having introduced the statistical treatment of the fossil record, I will use the works of Charles Léo Lesquereux, Joachim Barrande, and Henry Shaler Williams to compare the objections raised in Vienna with how the statistical treatment of the data worked in practice. Furthermore, I will discuss the criticisms of Melchior Neumayr, one of the leading German opponents of statistical paleontology, to show why, and to what extent, statistics were questioned in Vienna. The final part of this paper considers what paleontologists can derive from a statistical notion of data: the necessity of opening a discussion about the completeness and nature of the paleontological data. The Vienna discussion about which method paleontologists should follow offers an interesting case study in order to understand the epistemic tensions within paleontology surrounding Darwin’s theory as well as the variety of non-Darwinian alternatives that emerged from the statistical treatment of the fossil record at the end of the 19th century. (shrink)

Why do many societies moralize apparently harmless pleasures, such as lust, gluttony, alcohol, drugs, and even music and dance? Why do they erect temperance, asceticism, sobriety, modesty, and piety as cardinal moral virtues? According to existing theories, this puritanical morality cannot be reduced to concerns for harm and fairness: It must emerge from cognitive systems that did not evolve for cooperation (e.g., disgust-based “purity” concerns). Here, we argue that, despite appearances, puritanical morality is no exception to the cooperative function of (...) moral cognition. It emerges in response to a key feature of cooperation, namely that cooperation is (ultimately) a long-term strategy, requiring (proximately) the self-control of appetites for immediate gratification. Puritanical moralizations condemn behaviors which, although inherently harmless, are perceived as indirectly facilitating uncooperative behaviors, by impairing the self-control required to refrain from cheating. Drinking, drugs, immodest clothing, and unruly music and dance are condemned as stimulating short-term impulses, thus facilitating uncooperative behaviors (e.g., violence, adultery, free-riding). Overindulgence in harmless bodily pleasures (e.g., masturbation, gluttony) is perceived as making people slave to their urges, thus altering abilities to resist future antisocial temptations. Daily self-discipline, ascetic temperance, and pious ritual observance are perceived as cultivating the self-control required to honor prosocial obligations. We review psychological, historical, and ethnographic evidence supporting this account. We use this theory to explain the fall of puritanism in western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies, and discuss the cultural evolution of puritanical norms. Explaining puritanical norms does not require adding mechanisms unrelated to cooperation in our models of the moral mind. (shrink)

We show that four central aspects of Hume's account of cause were contained and available to him in the translation of Sextus Empiricus' "Outlines of Pyrrhonism" contained in Thomas Stanley's 1687 _History of Philosophy.

Forewarning -- Merde alors -- Why sex? -- Sensual sucking and sociality -- Force in progress -- Receptivity and being-in -- Staring.

De oude idealen van regering door de best opgeleiden, die weten hoe zij met de verantwoordelijkheid van de macht moeten omgaan, zijn thans vervangen door technologie in vele vormen, die slechts een schijn van democratie in stand houden.

The appeal of the moral principle according to which we should treat like cases alike is so great that it verges on the axiomatic, or on the platitudinous. Recently, however, the principle has been challenged in deeply interesting ways. These ways are interesting because they do not invite skepticism about morality at large, but about the specific claim that what is good (or bad) for an agent in a given situation must be good (or bad) for any other similarly situated (...) agent. I here assess the post-challenge viability of the principle. In a sense, the principle survives, but this is neither an unqualified victory nor an inspiring result. The examination of these matters contains an important (and under-investigated) lesson about the nature of moral experience. (shrink)