The relationship between science and philosophy is contentious. Quine saw philosophy as continuous with science (broadly understood), but many philosophers see a dichotomy between them. The present paper discusses cases where the relevance of certain scientific findings has been denied (related to Zeno’s Dichotomy paradox and to the appeal of skeptical arguments) or overlooked (one argument related to the frame problem of artificial intelligence and Nagel’s “bat” argument). The results caution against overly quick dismissal of the import of science on (...) philosophical questions, whether the latter be of a more theoretical or practical nature. (shrink)

I formulate a theory of groups based on pluralities and counterparts: roughly put, a group is a plurality of entities at a time. This theory comes with counterpart-theoretic semantics for modal and temporal sentences about groups. So this theory of groups is akin to the stage theory of material objects: both take the items they analyze to exist at a single time, and both use counterparts to satisfy certain conditions relating to the modal properties, temporal properties, and coincidence properties of (...) those items. (shrink)

I propose an account of probability in the Everett interpretation of quantum mechanics. According to the account, probabilities are objective chances of centered propositions. As I show, the account solves a number of problems concerning the role of probability in the Everett interpretation. It also challenges an implicit assumption, concerning the aim and scope of fundamental physical theories, that is made throughout the philosophy of physics literature.

Keine ausführliche Beschreibung für "Vorlesungen über Naturphilosophie" verfügbar.

Bd. 1. Einleitung in die Geisteswissenschaft. 2. Aufl.--Bd. 2. Weltanschauung und Analyse des Menschen seit Renaissance und Reformation.--Bd. 3. Studien zur Geschichte des deutschen Geistes.--Bd. 4. Die Jugendgeschichte Hegels und andere Abhandlungen zur Geschichte des deutschen Idealismus.--Bd. 5-6. Die Geistige Welt.--Bd. 7. Der Aufbau der geschichtlichen Welt in den Geisteswissenschaften.--Bd. 8. Weltanschauungslehre.--Bd. 9. Pädagogik.--Bd. 10. System der Ethik.--Bd. 11. Vom Aufgang des geschichtlichen Bewussteins.--Bd. 12. Zur preussischen Geschichte.

This volume provides Dilthey's most mature and best formulation of his Critique of Historical Reason. It begins with three "Studies Toward the Foundation of the Human Sciences," in which Dilthey refashions Husserlian concepts to describe the basic structures of consciousness relevant to historical understanding. The volume next presents the major 1910 work The Formation of the Historical World in the Human Sciences. Here Dilthey considers the degree to which carriers of history--individuals, cultures, institutions, and communities--can be articulated as productive systems (...) capable of generating value and meaning and of realizing purposes. Hegel's idea of objective spirit is reconceived in a more empirical form to designate the medium of commonality in which historical beings are immersed. Any universal claims about history need to be framed within the specific productive systems analyzed by the various human sciences. Dilthey's drafts for the Continuation of the Formation contain extensive discussions of the categories most important for our knowledge of historical life: meaning, value, purpose, time, and development. He also examines the contributions of autobiography to historical understanding and of biography to scientific history. The finest summary of Dilthey's views on hermeneutics can be found in "The Understanding of Other Persons and Their Manifestations of Life." Here, Dilthey differentiates understanding relative to three kinds of manifestations of life. After giving his analysis of elementary understanding, he examines the role of induction in higher understanding and interpretation, and the relevance of transposition and re-experiencing for grasping individuality. (shrink)

I explore the relationship between a prominent analysis of intrinsic properties, due to Langton and Lewis, and the phenomenon of quantum entanglement. As I argue, the analysis faces a puzzle. The full analysis classifies certain properties of entangled particles as intrinsic. But when combined with an extremely plausible assumption about duplication, the main part of the analysis classifies those properties as non-intrinsic instead. I conclude that much of Lewis’s metaphysics is in trouble: Lewis based many of his metaphysical views—his thesis (...) of Humean supervenience, for instance, and his account of recombination—on an analysis of intrinsicality which does not sit well with quantum phenomena. (shrink)

Perhaps no philosopher has so fully explored the nature and conditions of historical understanding as Wilhelm Dilthey. His work, conceived overall as a Critique of Historical Reason and developed through his well-known theory of the human studies, provides concepts and methods still fruitful for those concerned with analyzing the human condition. Despite the increasing recognition of Dilthey's contributions, relati vely few of his writings have as yet appeared in English translation. It is therefore both timely and useful to have (...) available here two works drawn from different phases in the development of his philosophy. The "Ideas Concerning a Descriptive and Analytic Psychology" (1894), now translated into English for the first time, sets forth Dilthey's programma tic and methodological viewpoints through a descriptive psychology, while "The Understanding of Other Persons and Their Expressions of Life" (ca. 1910) is representative of his later hermeneutic approach to historical understanding. DESCRIPTIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND THE HUMAN STUDIES Dilthey presented the first mature statement of his theory of the human studies in volume one of his Einleitung in die Geisteswissenschaften (Introduction to the Human Studies), published in 1883. He argued there that for the proper study of man and history we must eschew the metaphysical speculation of the absolute idealists while at the same time avoiding the scientistic reduction of positivism. (shrink)

I. bd. Allgemeine logik und erkenntnistheorie.- II. bd. Logik der exakten wissenschaften.- III. bd. Logik der geisteswissenschaften.

Freiheit und Verantwortung?! Zum Jubiläumsjahr des Thesenanschlags zuWittenberg versammelt dieses Buch 95 prägnante Thesen für unsere Zeit.Thesen zu Gesellschaft und Familie, zum Sozialwesen, zu Wissenschaftund Bildung, zu Migration, Kunst und Literatur, zur Religion – und auch zu»Freiheit und Verantwortung« heute. Martin Luther schrieb, dass derMensch einerseits »ein freier Herr über alle Dinge und niemandem untertan« und andererseits »ein dienstbarer Knecht aller Dinge und jedermannuntertan« sei. In diesem Spannungsfeld, auf heute bezogen, bewegensich die Beiträge, die sich an die Reformation anlehnen können, (...) aber nichtmüssen. (shrink)

1. Grundgestalt, Bewegung, Stufung.--[Beilage]: Musik-Beispiele.

"Ich habe dem ausserordentlichen Manne, dessen Andenken diese Schrift gilt, nach seinem letzten Willen einen Grabstein gesetzt, auf dem Nichts zu lesen ist als sein Name. Das Ubrige sollte die Nachwelt schon wissen. Auch vertreten seine Werke den Biographen besser als die anderer beruhmten Gelehrten. Nur als Schriftsteller betrat er die offentliche Laufbahn; angstlich vermied er, seitdem sein Geist zum vollen Bewusstsein erwacht war, jede Beruhrung mit dem Tun der Menschen, und sein eignes sollte nicht in Betracht kommen gegen den (...) bleibenden Gehalt seines Daseins; sein Denken; aber uber alle Gebiete des Lebens erstreckt sich dieses und verrat vielfach den personlichen Anteil des Autors. Deshalb wollte er nicht, dass die ausseren Zuge seines Lebens zu seinem Gedachtnisse ins Einzelne hinein verfolgt wurden, und doch bedarf die kurze Grabschrift in den Augen seiner Zeit eines Kommentars, den er selbst uber sich nicht schreiben konnte." [...] Das vorliegende Werk von Wilhelm Gwinner ist ein Blick auf das Leben Schopenhauers, seinen Charakter und seine Lehre aus dem personlichem Umgang dargestellt. Der Verlag der Wissenschaften verlegt historische Literatur bekannter und unbekannter wissenschaftlicher Autoren. Dem interessierten Leser werden so teilweise langst nicht mehr verlegte Werke wieder zugangig gemacht. Das vorliegende Buch ist ein unveranderter Nachdruck der historischen Originalausgabe aus dem Jahr 1862.". (shrink)