Analogical reasoning addresses the question how evidence from various phenomena can be combined and made relevant for theory development and prediction. In the first part of my contribution, I review some influential accounts of analogical reasoning, both historical and contemporary, focusing in particular on Keynes, Carnap, Hesse, and more recently Bartha. In the second part, I sketch a general framework. To this purpose, a distinction between a predictive and a conceptual type of analogical reasoning is introduced. I then take up (...) a common intuition according to which analogical inferences hold if the differences between source and target concern only irrelevant circumstances. I attempt to make this idea more precise by addressing possible objections and in particular by specifying a notion of causal irrelevance based on difference making in homogeneous contexts. (shrink)

In his contribution to this special issue, Almaas is keen to distinguish the individual streams of consciousness from 'pure awareness'. Since the existence of the former is presumably quite uncontroversial in present-day philosophy, I wish to concentrate on the latter, in particular on Almaas's claim that pure awareness is non-individual and ultimately it is 'the true owner of all experiences of all streams'. In my contribution, I wish to make plausible, by a philosophical reflection on the puzzling nature of the (...) I, that the ultimate subject of experience is indeed not the individual but 'the pure ego of the universe'. (shrink)

Der Unterricht in Medizinethik soll Medizinstudierenden die Grundlagen dafür vermitteln, in ihrer zukünftigen ärztlichen Tätigkeit gute Entscheidungen treffen zu können. Im Rahmen einer Panelstudie wird derzeit die Entwicklung moralischer Positionen, medizinethischer Kenntnisse und Motivationen von Medizinstudierenden der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München über den Verlauf des Studiums untersucht. Für die Datenerhebung wurde ein Fragebogen entwickelt, der medizinethische Positionen und Kenntnisse sowie Motivationen erfasst. Im Wintersemester 2009/10 wurde die erste Querschnittsuntersuchung mit Studierenden im 1., 3. und 8. Semester sowie im Praktischen Jahr durchgeführt. Die (...) Mehrzahl der Befragten verfügte über einen geringen Kenntnisstand in verschiedenen Themenbereichen des Unterrichtsfachs GTE. Rechtliche Grundlagen und praktische Umsetzung von Therapiebegrenzungsmaßnahmen waren bis ins PJ-Semester vielen Studierenden nicht bekannt. Im Verlauf des Studiums veränderten sich die Motivationen weg von der Motivation, Menschen helfen zu wollen, hin zu Wissenserwerb und dem Ergreifen eines sicheren Berufs. Obwohl viele Befragte ein hohes Interesse an medizinethischen Fragestellungen und Unterricht im Bereich GTE angaben, zeigte sich kein nachhaltiger Zuwachs an medizinethischen Kenntnissen im Laufe des Studiums. In der Zusammenschau werfen die Ergebnisse die Frage auf, inwieweit verschiedene Ausbildungskonzepte Einfluss auf die individuelle ethische Entwicklung Medizinstudierender nehmen können. Eine Untersuchung dieser Fragestellung bleibt Gegenstand weitergehender Forschung. (shrink)

Wolfgang Welsch examines global aestheticization phenomena, probes the relationship of aesthetics and ethics, and considers the broad relevance of aesthetics for contemporary thinking. He argues that modes of thought familiar from the aesthetic realm comprise fundamental paradigms for understanding todayÆs reality. The implications for specific and everyday issues are demonstrated in studies of architecture, advertising, the Internet, and our perception of the life world. Surgically precise, innovative, and, above all, relevant, this book is an essential resource, providing the analysis (...) of contemporary culture with philosophical bite. Aesthetics is to transcend itself, address the whole realm of aethesis, and hence enable orientation in the contemporary condition. Undoing aesthetics means releasing it from old cultural binds and giving it new ties with the future. (shrink)

This paper is the most complete presentation of my views on deterministic causation. It develops the deterministic theory in perfect parallel to my theory of probabilistic causation and thus unites the two aspects. It also argues that the theory presented is superior to all regularity and all counterfactual theories of causation.

This book is a critical examination of Michel Foucault's relation to ancient Greek thought, in particular his famous analysis of Greek history of sexuality. Wolfgang Detel offers a new understanding of Foucault's theories of power and knowledge based on modern analytical theories of science and concepts of power. He offers a fresh and complex reading of the texts which Foucault discusses, covering topics such as Aristotle's ethics and theory of sex, Hippocratic diatetics, the earliest treatises on economics, and Plato's (...) theory of love. The result is a philosophically rich and probing critique of Foucault's later writings, and a persuasive account of the relation between ethics, power and knowledge in classical antiquity. His book will have a wide appeal to readers interested in Foucault and in Greek thought and culture. (shrink)

ABSTRACT ‘You may have beer or wine’ suggests that you may have beer and you may have wine. Following Klinedinst, I argue that this ‘free choice’ effect is a special kind of scalar implicature, arising from the application of an unspecific predicate to a plurality (of worlds). I show that the implicature can be derived from general norms of cooperative communication, without postulating new grammatical rules or hidden lexical items. The derivation calls for an extension to the classical neo-Gricean model. (...) I give independent arguments for this extension. (shrink)

Als "Wissenschaft des Regierens" und "Kunst der Verwaltung" definiert ein Lexikon aus dem 18. Jahrhundert die Politik, 2000 Jahre früher machte Aristoteles das "glückselige und edle Leben" als Zweck des Staates aus. Ein Blick auf die Rituale der Berliner Republik zeigt, wie weit sich die praktische Politik von diesen Idealen entfernt hat: Es geht weniger um die Glückseligkeit der Bürger als um Parteienproporz und Lobbyinteressen, das zähe Ringen um Reformen hat mit großer Kunst wenig gemeinsam. Wie es trotzdem immer wieder (...) gelingt, die Fiktion einer idealen Politik aufrechtzuerhalten, ist das Thema der Studie von Wolfgang Fach: Charismatische Persönlichkeiten "veredeln" die graue Routine, demokratische Wahlen sollen das politische Tagesgeschäft "reinigen". Wo diese Verfahren nicht weiterhelfen, muß die Politik neu erfunden werden. (shrink)

Rudolf Carnap was born on May 18, 1891, and Hans Reichenbach on September 26 in the same year. They are two of the greatest philosophers of this century, and they are eminent representatives of what is perhaps the most powerful contemporary philosophical movement. Moreover, they founded the journal Erkenntnis. This is ample reason for presenting, on behalf of Erkenntnis, a collection of essays in honor of them and their philosophical work. I am less sure, however, whether it is a good (...) time for resuming their philosophical impact; their work still is rather part than historical basis of the present philosophical melting-pot. Their basic philosophical theses have currently, it may seem, not so high a standing, but their impact can be seen in numerous detailed issues; they have opened or pushed forward lively fields of research which are still very actively pursued not only within philosophy, but also in many neighboring disciplines. Whatever the present balance of opinions about their philosophical ideas, there is something even more basic in their philosophy than their tenets which is as fresh, as stimulating, as exemplary as ever. I have in mind their way of philosophizing, their conception of how to do philosophy. It is always a good time for reinforcing that conception; and if this volume would manage to do so, it would fully serve its purpose. (shrink)

The article points out the important contribution made by the concept of “growth models” to comparative political economy. It emphasizes Baccaro and Pontusson’s critique of the standard model of “varieties of capitalism.”.

It was in February 1935 that Lévi-Strauss went to Brazil to teach sociology at the newly founded University of São Paolo. In the stimulating atmosphere of the city soon he struck up a friendship with the founders of Brazilian modernism, in particular with Mário de Andrade, the central figure of the avant-garde movement, who helped the young researcher to finance his expeditions into the Mato Grosso and the Amazon Rainforest. Twenty years later Lévi-Strauss wrote about this period in Brazil, after (...) having encountered other cultures and having made other experiences. The highly reflexive narrative of Tristes Tropiques contains most of the topics which return in his later works and about which the authors of this volume have pondered from different perspectives. This introductory text reconstructs the principal stages of Lévi-Strauss’ enterprises in Brazil and illustrates how his departure for the New World became the start of a great career. (shrink)

Naturalism and Democracy, first published in German in 2014, presents a long-awaited commentary on Spinoza’s Political Treatise (Tractatus politicus). It gives a detailed analysis of Spinoza’s latest theory of State and Law, with special attention to his democratic approach.

Die "Theoretische Psychologie" Sigmund Freuds -- Affekt und Bild vs. Handlung und Symbolisierung - "Mentalisierung" als Regulation. Anmerkungen über eine neuere Konzeption zu Freuds metapsychologischen Schriften -- Bild vs. Sprache : vom Unbewussten zum Bewusstwerden -- Der Primärprozess und das halluzinatorisch-bildliche Erleben des Klein(st) kindes - nebst einem Anhang über das Verhältnis der Leistungen der modernen Gehirnphysiologie zur Erforschung und Erklärung inhaltlich-seelischer Vorgänge -- Träume sind Bildgeschichten -- Erst Verbildlichung, dann Verbalisierung -- Weitere Konsequenzen für die therapeutische Praxis : Fallgeschichten (...) -- Kausales vs. strukturelles Denken in der Psychotherapie. (shrink)

Eine semantische Analyse indexikalischer Audrücke muß klären, wie der Sinn dieser Ausdrücke aufzufassen ist und nach welchem Kriterium mit verschiedenen indexikalischen Sätzen dieselbe Proposition ausgedrückt werden kann. Der Sinn eines Indikators fällt nicht mit dem Sinn einer Kennzeichnung zusammen, Indikatoren sind aber auf Kennzeichnungen angewiesen. Zwei geäußerte indexikalische Sätze sind sinngleich, wenn mit ihnen dasselbe Potential von Umständen verbunden ist, unter denen ihre Behauptung berechtigt wäre, und sie in dieser Weise kognitiv gleichwertig sind. Die Festlegung des Referenzobjekts durch indexikalische Ausdrucksmittel, (...) die sich aus der linguistischen Bedeutung des Ausdrucks und seinem Äußerungskontext zusammensetzen, setzt die Fähigkeit von Sprecher und Hörer voraus, sich in einem objektiven Raum-Zeit-System zu orientieren. (shrink)

"Mancher, der am Film interessiert ist, hat vielleicht schon vor dem Problem gestanden,,analytisch' mit Filmen umgehen zu mussen - sei es, daj3 er einfach auf eine genauere Erkliirung neugierig war, sei es, daj3 er die Filme anderen erkliiren muj3te. Er mag sich dann vielerorts umgesehen haben, in der Vielfalt von methodischen Hinweisen zur Filmanalyse, moglicherweise auch in sogenannten,exemplarischen' Einzelanalysen, urn schliej3lich - einigermaj3en verwirrt - zu der Einsieht gelangt zu sein, daj3 Filmanalyse ein schwieriges Unterfangen sei. In dieser (resignierten) Ein­ (...) sieht druckt sieh aber nicht zuletzt die Sehwierigkeit aus, unter dem viel­ fiiltigen methodisehen Angebot eine Auswahl zu treffen. " Mit dieser Bemerkung haben wir vor gut drei Iahren zwei Aufsatze in der 1 Zeitschrift medien + erziehung eingeleitet, die in durchaus auch polemischer Absicht nachweisen sollten, "daB ein gut Teil der Schwierigkeiten daran liegt, daB die Methoden unterschiedliche Aussagen tiber das implizieren, was der Film sei. " An verschiedenen Einftihrungen in die Methoden der Film­ analyse, sowie an den methodologischen Implikationen und Vorgaben ausgewahlter Filmtheorien, sollte nachgewiesen werden, daB dort der Gegen­ stand der Filmanalyse je nach Methodologie, je nach Theorie in jeweils divergenten Formen erscheint (Film "als Ware", "als Sprache", "als Massen­ kommunikation", "als Kunst" etc. ), was es dann in der Tat schwierig macht, einen Film zu analysieren; zumindest fUr einen Leser, der sich tiber Filmana­ lyse informieren will und nicht einer bestimmten,Schule' anhangt. (shrink)

Lying is by no means a new phenomenon in human existence, nor in philosophy or political science. Only Arendt’s phenomenological analysis, however, clearly reveals the constant tension between truth and lie inherent in the political space, and the structural weakness of the former compared to the latter. Adopting this perspective helps to understand the temptation of the so-called “post-truth” that manifests today in the form of “fake news”, conspiracy theories, and populist propaganda. This article sheds light on the political and (...) social conditions underlying the emergence of post-truth and on what distinguishes it from the political lie Arendt encountered in the nineteen-sixties in the United States. The Arendtian concept of qualitative plurality is proposed as an antidote to the unworldliness of post-truth. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Klio Jahrgang: 99 Heft: 2 Seiten: 753-757.

The respectably legitimate offspring of an age-old affair between writing and picture-making, the calligramme — that is, “a poem in which the typographical layout creates a picture, generally related to the ‘subject’ of the text” (Dictionnaire des littératures, Larousse) — is often seen as an esoteric minority art of dubious reputation. Starting from an exclusively Western approach to the history of the calligramme, my aim is to demonstrate that this artform may in fact represent something more than simply (here I (...) deliberately use a metaphor from the far east, as a counterargument to my theme) the “Kyogen of the No theatre” — i.e., more than a lightweight interlude between more literary, aesthetic, even metaphysical preoccupations — more elevated, more serious, or, in general terms, more extended. Apart from the play and the pleasure of an approach that is creative in terms of letters and language, it contains serious elements related to the actual exercise of writing in our media civilization. (shrink)

This paper is on dangerous human experimentations with drugs against trypanosimiasis carried out in the former German colonies of German East Africa and Togo. Victory over trypanosomiasis could not be achieved in Berlin because animals were thought to be unsuitable for therapeutic laboratory research in the field of trypanosomiasis. The colonies themselves were necessarily chosen as laboratories and the patients with sleeping sickness became the objects of therapeutical and pharmacological research. The paper first outlines Robert Koch's trypanosomiasis research in the (...) large sleeping sickness laboratory of German East Africa and then focuses on the escalating human experiments on trypanosomiasis in the German Musterkolonie Togo, which must be interpreted as a reaction to the starting signal given by Robert Koch in East Africa. (shrink)

The interest contemporary philosophy takes in Kant's notion of apperception is restricted to his criticism of the Cartesian Ego and to his refutation of scepticism, but there is a profound lack of concern for the notion itself and for the act of spontaneity in particular which is connected with the use of the word T. Starting from a comparison of Wittgenstein's account of this use with Kant's considerations it is argued that the latter aims at a theory of formal conditions (...) of knowledge which includes the availability of the notion of the I. It is clarified what the determination of apperception as an 'act of spontaniety' amounts to (B: 132). Kant's scattered remarks on the ability of having the representation of the I, of using the word 'I', are considered in order to show that what he called 'the logical I' has something to do with the capacity of performing an act of judgment. It is argued that such an account is not to be found in contemporary discussions of 'essential indexicals', 'first-person view' and mental self-ascriptions. (shrink)