In this paper I offer an anti-Humean critique to Williamson and Russo’s approach to medical mechanisms. I focus on one of the specific claims made by Williamson and Russo, namely the claim that micro-structural ‘mechanisms’ provide evidence for the stability across populations of causal relationships ascertained at the (macro-) level of (test) populations. This claim is grounded in the epistemic account of causality developed by Williamson, an account which—while not relying exclusively on mechanistic evidence for justifying causal judgements—appeals nevertheless to (...) mechanisms, and rejects their anti-Humean interpretation in terms of capacities, powers, potencies, etc. By using (and expanding on) Cartwright’s basic critique against Humean mechanisms, I suggest that, in order to move beyond the level of plausibility, Williamson and Russo’s position is in need of a clarification as to the occurent reading of the components, functioning and interferences of mechanisms. Relatedly, as concerns Williamson’s epistemic account of causation, I argue that this account is in need of a more straightforward answer as to what truth-makers its causal claims should have. (shrink)

Abstract In this paper I offer an anti-Humean interpretation of the causal interactions in somatic medicine. I focus on life-threatening pathological states and show how Nancy Cartwright’s capacities can offer a plausible epistemology for medical processes and the singular causal claims advanced in medical diagnoses. I argue that the capacities manifested in the emergence of symptoms and signs could be tracked down if healthy organisms are construed as nomological machines and suggest that the causal reasoning from current medical practice bears (...) a tacit adherence to anti-Humean assumptions. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-28 DOI 10.1007/s12136-011-0141-1 Authors Stefan Dragulinescu, Drumul Taberei 20, Bucharest, Romania Journal Acta Analytica Online ISSN 1874-6349 Print ISSN 0353-5150. (shrink)

Moral development has become an integral part in military training and the importance of moral judgment and behavior in military operations can hardly be overestimated. Many armed forces have integrated military ethics and moral decision-making interventions in their training programs. However, little is known about the effectiveness of these interventions. This study examined the effectiveness of a 1-week training program in moral decision making in the Swiss Armed Forces. The program was based on a strategy-based interactional moral dilemma approach. Results (...) of this quasi-experimental intervention study showed significant improvements in content-related (moral and instrumental awareness, quality of moral information processing, development of compensatory actions) as well as process-related (situational analysis, development and evaluation of alternative solutions, justification of decision) aspects in moral decision making. Results of a follow-up test indicated positive long-term effects with regard to moral and instrumental awareness and process-related aspects. Findings are discussed, and consequences for leadership development programs and further research are explored. (shrink)

Synthesizing important research traditions in information theory, structuralist semiotics, and generative linguistics, at least three main types of semiotic indeterminacy must be distinguished: Kolmogorov’s notion of randomness defined as sequential incompressibility, de Saussure’s principle of contingency of sign which ensures the possibility of translation between different sign systems, and Chomsky’s idea of indefiniteness in generative mechanisms as a requirement for the explanation of semiotic creativity. These types of semiotic indeterminacy form an abstract system useful for the description of concrete sign (...) processes in their syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic dimension. In his philosophical reflections on modern biology, Jacques Monod used the conceptual opposition chance versus necessity to analyse several phenomena of indeterminacy (especially in molecular biology). The biosemiotic approach to life permits to apply the suggestedsystem of semiotic indeterminacy on these phenomena. (shrink)

Let us by ‘first-order beliefs’ mean beliefs about the world, such as the belief that it will rain tomorrow, and by ‘second-order beliefs’ let us mean beliefs about the reliability of first-order, belief-forming processes. In formal epistemology, coherence has been studied, with much ingenuity and precision, for sets of first-order beliefs. However, to the best of our knowledge, sets including second-order beliefs have not yet received serious attention in that literature. In informal epistemology, by contrast, sets of the latter kind (...) play an important role in some respectable coherence theories of knowledge and justification. In this paper, we extend the formal treatment of coherence to second-order beliefs. Our main conclusion is that while extending the framework to second-order beliefs sheds doubt on the generality of the notorious impossibility results for coherentism, another problem crops up that might be no less damaging to the coherentist project: facts of coherence turn out to be epistemically accessible only to agents who have a good deal of insight into matters external to their own belief states. (shrink)

In this article, we explore to what extent parents should be ‘educators’ of their children. In the course of this exploration, we offer some examples of these practices and ways of speaking and thinking, indicate some of the problems and limitations they import into our understanding of the parent–child relationship, and make some tentative suggestions towards an alternative way of thinking about this relationship.

This chapter provides an overview of Bernard Bolzano’s views about grounding. On Bolzano’s account, grounding is an objective priority relation among true propositions that has certain explanatory features. The chapter briefly highlights historical influences on Bolzano’s account of grounding and subsequently provides an overview of the most important aspects of it. Bolzano’s account resembles current accounts of metaphysical grounding in many respects and can thus easily be related to many positions in the current debate. The chapter investigates some Bolzanian ideas (...) about grounding that differ from the current orthodoxy but may constitute interesting additions, challenges or inspirations for those working in the current debate. It is striking that Bolzano accepts a number of principles that seem to be motivated by the same kind of intuition that underlies present work on the logic of ground. Bolzano’s thought is that, for instance, general mathematical truths will never be grounded in truths concerned with any individual concrete object in particular. (shrink)

Ethics and Education, Volume 6, Issue 2, Page 101-108, July 2011.

Zusammenfassung Vor dem Hintergrund der gegenwärtigen soziologischen Theoriebildung zum Event zeigt der Artikel am Beispiel des II. Ökumenischen Kirchentags in München, wie nicht nur ein einheitliches Erleben des konkreten Events selbst, sondern darüber hinaus auch eine holistische Erlebnisqualität hergestellt wird. Die Erzeugung dieses auch als entgrenzend zu beschreibenden Erlebens wird durch die Konzepte Mediatisierung/hybridisierung, Gleichzeitigkeit/verdichtung und Sukzession analysiert und nachgezeichnet. Das holistische Erlebnis – und damit gleichzeitig das Gesamtevent ÖKT – wird dann im Sinne einer Praxis der Konstitution einer spezifisch (...) postmodernen Subjektivität zur Debatte um die Moderne und den Ort der Religion in derselben in Beziehung gesetzt. Dabei wird vor allem das überkommene Paradigma der funktionalen Ausdifferenzierung als Bestimmungsmerkmal einer prekären Moderne hinterfragt und stattdessen die Alternative eines in der alltagsweltlich- populären Kultur verankerten, holistischen Modells aufgezeigt. (shrink)

We are currently witnessing the emergence of a ‘third culture’, driven by unprecedented developments that are changing the playing field. These include advances in AI, big data analysis and robotics. The traditional ‘two cultures’ view (S. P. Snow) distinguishes between the sciences and the humanities. The wisdoms these two cultures offer are separated from each other, with little to no interaction or mutual comprehension. However, over the past two decades, and for the first time in human history, a new, third (...) culture has appeared. This new culture, rooted in new technologies, not only pursues its own form of rationality but also supports advances in the original two cultures, deepening and expanding our individual and collective consciousness so that we can see more and do better. It will eventually give rise to new forms of consciousness based not on biochemical signals, but on copper wires and lithium chips. These new machine intelligences will change the world and force us to realise: we are no longer alone. The human species’ position in the twenty-first century will be fundamentally redefined: not as a conductor leading the orchestra, but a single string player within it. (shrink)

The issue of anxiety has been thoroughly debated in Kierkegaardian scholarship from multiple standpoints and traditions, but not so much when it comes to the hermeneutic undertone. This article is primarily concerned with tackling the concept of anxiety as a hermeneutical concept, or working with it through hermeneutical lenses; nevertheless, the implications go deeper—making a case for an original hermeneutic anxiety, an agonistic trait of hermeneutics. By exploring the hermeneutical dimensions of the Kierkegaardian anxiety we unravel a whole genealogy of (...) the agonistic phenomena—a hermeneutical way that thrives in the paradox. The scope of it all is to break with the conciliatory ways of an epistemic hermeneutics, by regaining the Kierkegaardian hermeneutics of anxiety: preferring the fertile struggle over the passionless synthesis, paradox over soundness and agony over apathy. (shrink)

This paper focuses on highlighting the way in which the spirit of Protestantism, ultimately expressed through the conceptual spectrum of anxiety and despair is the essence of modernity. Within this line of thought there will be explored and challenged the very tension that the Protestant discourse has brought into the public life and the new dynamics of faith. Finally, the goal of this paper is to resuscitate this paradigmatic shift and its effects on post-modernism by immersing into the orbit of (...) death. This line of thought is based on the works of Kierkegaard, in which the Protestant is found at paroxysm intuiting the Postmodern nuances of anxiety and rethinking a Christian discourse within the coordinates of the Absurd. (shrink)

Clarke and Beck argue that the ANS doesn't represent non-numerical magnitudes because of its second-order character. A sensory integration mechanism can explain this character as well, provided the dumbbell studies involve interference from systems that segment by objects such as the Object Tracking System. Although currently equal hypotheses, I point to several ways the two can be distinguished.

ZusammenfassungZur aristotelischen Unterscheidung von Herstellen und Handeln (Poiesis und Praxis) gibt es zwei konkurrierende Interpretationen: nach der einen betrifft der Unterschied zwei verschiedene Aspekte an Handlungen, nach der anderen verschiedene Typen von Handlungen. Für eine Entscheidung dieser Frage sind systematische und exegetische Gesichtspunkte zu trennen: zwar bietet die aristotelische Textbasis Belege für beide Seiten, allerdings zeigt die systematische Untersuchung, dass eine zwei-Typen-Lesart sachlich verfehlt ist. Handlungen lassen sich nicht sinnvoll unterteilen in solche, die ihr Ziel lediglich außer sich, aber kein (...) Ziel in sich haben und umgekehrt. Stattdessen sind sie notwendig von einer doppelten Zielsetzung geleitet, bei welcher der Vollzug der Handlung in deren Vollendung münden soll. (shrink)

“Narrativity and the Symbolic Vacuum” examines the descriptive and the prescriptive narrativity claim in the context of a claim that there are narratives in the biblical literature that resist both. The descriptive narrativity claim maintains that it is not an option for a person to conceive of their life without narrative coherence. The prescriptive claim holds that narrativity is a necessary condition for a good and successful human life. Phenomenological thought and Aristotelian virtue ethics, expressing a critical stance towards modernity (...) (modernity with its desire for objective, narrative-free criteria for truth), encourage narrativity claims. Biblical theology, despite its pervasive use of narrative strategies, offers a space in which narrativity claims are relativized. It is especially in confrontation with death where human life cannot be narratively managed. That is why it is in particular the cross in the New Testament which defies both descriptive and prescriptive narrativity claims. (shrink)

Uzquiano (Analysis 70:39–44, 2010 ) showed that the Hardest Logic Puzzle Ever ( HLPE ) [in its amended form due to Rabern and Rabern (Analysis 68:105–112, 2008 )] has a solution in only two questions. Uzquiano concludes his paper by noting that his solution strategy naturally suggests a harder variation of the puzzle which, as he remarks, he does not know how to solve in two questions. Wheeler and Barahona (J Philos Logic, to appear, 2011 ) formulated a three question (...) solution to Uzquiano’s puzzle and gave an information theoretic argument to establish that a two question solution for Uzquiano’s puzzle does not exist. However, their argument crucially relies on a certain conception of what it means to answer self-referential yes–no questions truly and falsely . We propose an alternative such conception which, as we show, allows one to solve Uzquiano’s puzzle in two questions. The solution strategy adopted suggests an even harder variation of Uzquiano’s puzzle which, as we will show, can also be solved in two questions. Just as all previous solutions to versions of HLPE , our solution is presented informally. The second part of the paper investigates the prospects of formally representing solutions to HLPE by exploiting theories of truth. (shrink)

Im Erfolgsfall winken dem Wagemutigen Ruhm, ökonomischer Gewinn sowie wachsendes soziales und symbolisches Kapital. Dem Scheiternden bleibt zumindest der Nachruhm: Hat er nicht die Zukunft herausgefordert und sich nicht passiv in sein Schicksal ergeben? Eingegangene Risiken werden jedoch erst im nachträglichen Erzählen zum Wagnis. Was die einen als Wagnis preisen, mag von anderen als Fehler, Übermut, Hybris, ja Verbrechen gesehen werden.

In his early writings, dealing mainly with problems of agricultural policy, Max Weber at times differentiates between “class” and “estate”, but in general he treats them as synonyms. Only after 1909, when he started to work on Economy and Society and Economic Ethic of the World Religions, he felt the necessity to use these concepts in a more clear-cut manner. “Classes” are only placed within the economic order, while “estates” belong to the social order and take shape through the partition (...) of «social prestige» or «honor», which in turn derives from different sources, including the religious ones. This essay explores the forms of religious stratification which arise from the knowledge of rituals and precedents, from the knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures, or from a specific knowledge of the conditions of possibility of redemption. (shrink)

This essay analyzes the tensions that the rise of “Nordic racism” associated with Hans F. K. Günther triggered within the völkisch movement in the 1920s. Using the examples of the “Deutschbund,” the völkisch wing of the German youth movement “Bündische Jugend” and the German Aristocrats' Association “Deutsche Adelsgenossenschaft,” this essay shows that the reception of the Nordic idea was partially based on misunderstandings and distortions but was also met with open disagreement.

Einleitung -- Charismatische Herrschaft -- Traditionale Herrschaft -- Traditionale und charismatische Herrschaft im vorrationalen Okzident: Antike -- Traditionale und charismatische Herrschaft im vorrationalen Okzident: Mittelalter -- Legale Herrschaft.

Die Arbeit des Bundesverfassungsgerichts hat Ausstrahlungswirkung auf alle drei Staatsgewalten. Während sich das Interesse der Öffentlichkeit wie der Medien im Wesentlichen auf spektakuläre Einzelurteile fokussiert, bemüht sich die Rechtswissenschaft, die Rechtsprechung des BVerfG in ihrer gesamten Breite zu erfassen, zu analysieren und zu strukturieren. Die wissenschaftlichen MitarbeiterInnen nehmen als Erste Tendenzen und Rechtsprechungslinien wahr und begleiten sie mit ihrer Arbeit. Aus dieser Nahsicht herauswird in dem vorliegenden Bandder Versuch unternommen, zentrale, charakteristische und bedeutsame Themen und Fragestellungen aufzugreifen und auf wissenschaftlichem (...) Niveau zu erörtern. Die Beiträge gehen dabei über bloße Entscheidungsbesprechungen ebenso hinaus wie über Rechtsprechungsübersichten. Im Aufzeigen sowohl von Hintergründen als auch von Tendenzen der Verfassungsrechtsprechung und ihrer aktuellen und praktischen Bezüge zur Tätigkeit der anderen Staatsgewalten gerade durch Mitarbeiter des Gerichts liegt der besondere Wert dieses Sammelbandes. (shrink)

This paper challenges the thesis that Søren Kierkegaard’s theory of stages is a project undertaken in the first authorship, and is abandoned in the second one, where the task of becoming a Christian becomes central. For this, I have reopened the hermeneutical discussion with regards to the whole Kierkegaardian oeuvre, and proposed a new thesis that pin-points the shift from the first to the second authorship in 1847’s Upbuilding Discourses. In this sense, the discourse on the “Lilies and the Birds”, (...) which is suggestively repeated in 1849, becomes paradigmatic. The proposed restructuring of Kierkegaard’s authorship eventually puts forward the ground for a new way of understanding the drastic differences between categories of “the Christian” and “the religious”, and the aesthetic writings/stage. (shrink)

Which is more important, tragedy or treatise? This question, which was posed as early as in antiquity, cannot easily be answered since tragedy has reflective passages on existential issues, just as philosophy uses tragedy for argumentation or takes the dramatic form itself. This is particularly evident in the work of the ‘philosophus scaenicus’ Euripides, in Plato, whose understanding of tragedy as expressed in the Symposium and the Laws is discussed here, and with Cicero and Seneca, who were both authors of (...) treatises and verses of tragedy. They constitute the focus of this volume, which also examines the function of the poetry quotations in Chrysippus and finally the significance of tragedy for Hannah Arendt’s political analysis. With contributions by Sandra Erker, Susanna Fischer, Thomas Gärtner, Andreas Heil, Argyri Karanasiou, Giovanni Panno, Robert C. Pirro, Tobias Riedl and Petra Schierl. (shrink)

Este artículo trata acerca del compromiso político de los autores de la Teoría crítica. Muchas veces se les ha reclamado (todavía sucede en las discusiones presentes) no haber sido más cercanos a algún grupo político, a algún gobierno de izquierda, algún partido o sindicato. En el contexto de esa crítica, esbozo estas reflexiones para demostrar que su compromiso con la emancipación humana sólo pudo ser tan incondicional por la distancia que mantuvieron con las organizaciones de izquierda existentes en su tiempo.

We study satisfiability and infinite-state model checking in ICPDL, which extends Propositional Dynamic Logic (PDL) with intersection and converse operators on programs. The two main results of this paper are that (i) satisfiability is in 2EXPTIME, thus 2EXPTIME-complete by an existing lower bound, and (ii) infinite-state model checking of basic process algebras and pushdown systems is also 2EXPTIME-complete. Both upper bounds are obtained by polynomial time computable reductions to ω-regular tree satisfiability in ICPDL, a reasoning problem that we introduce specifically (...) for this purpose. This problem is then reduced to the emptiness problem for alternating two-way automata on infinite trees. Our approach to (i) also provides a shorter and more elegant proof of Danecki's difficult result that satisfiability in IPDL is in 2EXPTIME. We prove the lower bound(s) for infinite-state model checking using an encoding of alternating Turing machines. (shrink)