‘Progress’ is a dazzling concept used to describe developments in all areas of life. Progress is of particular interest in the sciences, where it manifests itself in innovations in the natural sciences and technology, for example. Whether one trusts in progress and looks hopefully into the future or longs for a golden past and distrusts progress depends on the observer. Modern science cannot be separated from the hope for progress and new knowledge. In this book, examples from different sciences are (...) used to look at progress in those fields. In addition, the scientific environment, in the form of the communication and promotion of science, is also taken into account. With contributions by Prof. Dr. Thomas Heinemann, Prof. Dr. Gregor Maria Hoff, Prof. Dr. Wim Kösters, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Lüke, Prof. Dr. Gregor Nickel, Prof. Dr. Thomas Schmidt, Prof. Dr. Jörg Siekmann, Prof. Dr. Manfred Stöckler and Dr. Eva-Maria Streier. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:European Network of Buddhist-Christian StudiesSalzburg, Austria, June 8–11, 2007John D’Arcy MayIs it a problem for Buddhists that what is generally regarded as religion can be profoundly different from tradition to tradition? Is it appropriate or even desirable to speak of a Buddhist “theology of religions”? Does Buddhism have its own ways, however subtle, of affirming its superiority over all else that claims the name “religion”?The European Network of Buddhist-Christian (...) Studies set out to find answers to these questions at its seventh conference, held at the splendid Catholic conference center of St. Virgil on the outskirts of Salzburg, Austria.Given the demographic realities in Europe, the network has inevitably tended to be a group of Christians discussing Buddhism, as far as possible with the participation of Buddhist guests but without really providing a platform for a thoroughgoing Buddhist discussion of religious plurality. This time, more Buddhists than ever before, including significant scholars from America and Asia as well as Europe, participated in the conference. We were thus treated to a discussion of Buddhist attitudes to the religions that broke new ground and presented a vivid picture of Buddhism’s own internal diversity.In his introductory address the president of the network, Prof. John May, paid tribute to the University of Salzburg’s newly established Centre for Intercultural Theology and the Study of Religions, whose director, Prof. Gregor Maria Hoff, welcomed participants on behalf of the university. Dr. Ulrich Winkler contributed substantially to the organization of the conference.Dr. Kristin Kiblinger (Winthrop University), author of the first systematic treatment of Buddhist “inclusivism,” opened the conference proper by distinguishing between “open” and “closed” forms of inclusivism. She suggested a parallel with George Lindbeck’s “experiential-expressive” paradigm of religious doctrine in order to make clear that Buddhists, like Christians, have ways of privileging their own positions, though these generally remain unacknowledged.“One vehicle” (ekayāna) theories of Buddhism have something in common with “common core” theories of Christian pluralism in that they presuppose a “single end” [End Page 149] inclusivism. Whether the “positionless position” derived from Buddhist “emptiness” (śūnyatā) is a better guarantee of genuine pluralism than the Christian notion of “self-emptying” (kenōsis), as suggested by Masao Abe, remains an open question. The Buddhist doctrine of “two truths,” one expressed in the “higher” language (paramārthasatya) accessible only to Buddhist practitioners and the other in the “lower” language (samvrtisatya) of discourse with others, does not hold out much promise of true mutual respect between traditions.Prof. John Makransky (Boston College), an ordained lama and meditation teacher as well as a renowned scholar of Tibetan Buddhism, took up the challenge of developing a Buddhist “theology” that avoids the claim to superiority. What matters to the Buddhist practitioner is to cut through all subconscious clinging, even to approved teachings and spiritual results. “Ultimate truth” can be known, directly but nonconceptually, yielding a “nonconceptual compassion” comparable to what Christians call “totally undivided oneness with God.” Lacking historical consciousness, however, teachers have tended to project their understanding of skillful means back on to Śākyamuni Buddha, each school assuming that other schools are merely preparations for itself. The same pattern is evident in the integration into Buddhism of indigenous religions such as Shintō, which enriched Buddhism but also assimilated it to themselves. Prompted by his contacts with Christian colleagues to venture beyond practice into Buddhist self-reflection, Makransky is now prepared to see in conceptions such as the Dharmakāya (“Dharma body” of the Buddha or ultimate reality) an equivalent of what Christians understand by God. The Body of Christ, with its implications for ecclesiology, could open up a further avenue for comparison.Existing under the conditions of late or post-modernity, Buddhism is forced to come to terms with pluralism and ecumenism. Prof. Kenneth Tanaka (Musashino University, Tokyo), an ordained Jōdo Shinshū priest, sees himself as incapable of saying to a non-Buddhist, “You’re not saved,” because the practice of prajñā and karunā (wisdom and compassion) is not restricted to Buddhists. Even within traditions, however, levels of spiritual attainment are not equivalent, nor are all religions equally valid. “Prophets can’t be pluralists,” but like... (shrink)

Reviewers of this book have praised Christina Hoff Sommer's well-reasoned argument against many feminists' reliance on misleading, politically motivated 'facts' about how women are victimised.

The scientist Richard Lovell Edgeworth, educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and Oxford, was a Member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, where he exchanged ideas with other scientists, including James Watt, and was known for his significant mechanical inventions. However, Edgeworth's real interest was education: in this 1788 two-volume work, written with his daughter, the poet Maria Edgeworth, he draws on his own experience of raising twenty children, from which the work derives its authority and innovative character. The work (...) was very influential, and led to his Essays on Professional Education. The two volumes discuss the theories of philosophers and educationalists, while in general arguing for the importance and formative character of early childhood experiences. Volume 1 deals with different areas of childhood education, including play, learning, and obedience and good behaviour. (shrink)

The role of demographic terminology in the fields of medicine and public health is critical in the identification and allocation of resources to the communities that most benefit from intervention...

Good actors appear to become their characters, making them come alive, as if they were real. Is this because they have succeeded in merging themselves with their character? Are there any positive or negative psychological effects of this experience? We examined the role of three characteristics that may make this kind of merging possible: dissociation, flow, and empathy. We also examined the relation of these characteristics to acting quality. Acting students and non-acting students completed a dissociation measure, and then performed (...) a monologue that was recorded and rated on the dimensions of acting. Participants were then reassessed on dissociation to determine whether it increased as a function of performance. They were also then assessed on flow and empathy. Actors did not differ from non-actors on dissociation, but did score significantly higher than non-actors on some flow and empathy subscales, indicating a positive psychological experience and outcome. While non-actors’ dissociation marginally increased post-performance, actors’ dissociation rose significantly, which could indicate a negative psychological experience. Surprisingly, acting ratings were unrelated to the levels of dissociation, flow, or empathy. We concluded that, while these are tools used by actors to immerse themselves fully in their characters, they may not be necessary to create the illusion of an imaginary character come to life on stage. (shrink)

Razón, poesía, historia.--La cuestión del estoicismo español.--El querer.

Esse trabalho tem como objetivo discutir especificamente o tempo como duração interior em Henri Bergson, tese fundamental de sua obra Ensaio sobre os dados imediatos da consciência, tendo como horizonte a noção de tempo psicológico, a qual difere totalmente do tempo externo, ou seja, do tempo espacializado. Exploraremos também a literatura de Marcel Proust, com sua obra Em busca do tempo perdido. Proust também pensa o tempo, em seu romance, a partir da realidade interior do personagem principal. No entanto, este (...) trabalho não será para mostrar uma relação entre os dois autores, mas sim para evidenciar alguns temas que perpassam suas obras, por mais que divirjam em alguns pontos. Além da realidade interior, a questão da memória é um elemento importante tanto para o filósofo quanto para o romancista. Discutiremos a maneira pela qual a concepção bergsoniana da memória foi desenvolvida na obra Matéria e memória, bem como a memória proustiana foi contemplada no mencionado romance. Deste modo, a literatura do escritor francês surge como uma maneira de expressar o verdadeiro sentido do tempo vivido. O filósofo francês já fazia referências a um suposto romancista que tiraria o véu e nos colocaria diante da realidade de nossa vida interior, dos nossos sentimentos, da duração interior. É neste sentido que Bergson se aproxima da arte para expressar o conteúdo do eu profundo. (shrink)

El aprendizaje de la Historia en Educación Secundaria se relaciona con un proceso memorístico y conceptual que dificulta la formación del pensamiento crítico y reflexivo en el alumnado de esta etapa educativa. Por este motivo, con esta experiencia y desde un enfoque investigativo, hemos fomentado la curiosidad y el interés de los alumnos de 1º de Secundaria por las prácticas religiosas y funerarias que profesaron los romanos. El método de enseñanza-aprendizaje fue activo y participativo, lo que facilitó la indagación y (...) la experimentación del taller “Funus romanorum”. Los resultados mostraron las ventajas de trabajar la arqueología experimental para comprender mejor los hechos acaecidos en la Antigüedad y adquirir contenidos históricos a través de talleres experienciales. (shrink)

The vehicle suspension system is represented by a complex group of components which connect the wheels to the frame or body. Its primary function is to reduce or absorb various vehicle vibrations generated by road disturbances, providing comfort and safety for passengers. Most modern vehicles have independent, active, or semiactive front and rear suspensions which allow the use of electronic actuation. For this reason, automotive engineers conduct research on the active suspension model to determine the most suitable control algorithm. Three (...) active suspension models are intensely used within simulations: the quarter-car, the half-car, and the full-car models. This paper proposes an adaptive harmonic control for a half-car active suspension system. The mathematical model of the suspension system is implemented in the MATLAB/Simulink environment. The control approach is tested via simulation, and several comparisons with the classical proportional-integral controller are provided. The simulation results show that the controller behaves quite similarly on the half-car model as it did on a quarter-car model. Additionally, an improvement to the harmonic control algorithm has been accomplished. (shrink)

This book argues that we can find the resources to build a public perspective if we make two commitments: to respect people as autonomous agents and to endorse a shared ethics of beliefs.

Głównym celem niniejszego artykułu jest zaprezentowanie najciekawszego dokumentu szlacheckiego przechowywanego w zasobie Archiwum Państwowego w Opolu. Jest to zadanie trudne ze względu na mnogość oraz różnorodną tematykę rękopisów wystawianych przez członków śląskich rodów szlacheckich. Właściciele majątków swoimi pismami regulowali wiele kwestii dotyczących codziennego funkcjonowania poddanych, tj. określali wysokość podatków, nadzorowali sprzedaż ziemi, rozstrzygali spory, potwierdzali testamenty, a nawet poświadczali prawe urodzenie. Dbali również, by zarządzane przez nich ziemie posiadały stosowne przywileje oraz statuty. Oprócz sfery materialnej otaczali troską kwestie związane z (...) wyznawaną religią. Było to szczególnie widoczne w okresie rozwoju ruchu kontrreformacyjnego. Dlatego też w poniższym tekście przedstawiony zostanie dokument Georga III von Oppersdorffa, który bardzo aktywnie działał na polu rekatolizacji ziem śląskich. Prezentowany rękopis jest jedną z kilkunastu jednostek archiwalnych, na podstawie których można zobrazować sytuację ewangelików na terenie Śląska w XVII wieku. Dotychczas nie doczekał się on opracowania, podobnie jak pozostałe wskazane w tekście archiwalia. Analizując dostępną literaturę dotyczącą zarówno historii kontrreformacji na Śląsku, jak i samego miasta Głogówka, zaobserwować można niewielką liczbę wydanych publikacji oraz artykułów. Dlatego też prezentowany materiał stanowić ma zarówno przegląd dokumentów poświęconych losom protestantów na Śląsku, jak i zachętę do dalszego eksplorowania zasobu Archiwum Państwowego w Opolu przez badaczy historii regionu i dziejów rodów śląskich. (shrink)

The reflection proposed in this article aims to briefly consider philosophy and literature on the saga of Genoveva Pia in the early morning cadence of the drums of São Luís (1975), a novel by the great poet from Maranhão, Josué Montello (1917-2006), in which a narrative is made between fiction and the reality of the Brazilian colonial slave period on the historical soil of São Luís, Ma. To this end, the text is divided into two parts: firstly, it looks at (...) the dialectic between history as representative and memory as an actualizable, individual and collective phenomenon that takes shape between spaces, events, memories and forgetfulness and, secondly, it highlights the importance of the saga of the black woman Genoveva Pia, from persistence to resistance in welcoming, protecting and freeing the black men and women, recalling the ancestry of the freed black man Damião, the novel’s central character and narrator. (shrink)

The article offers us a theologic reflection about the environment crisis which is quickly moved by the human being arrogation and a damning evidence by the accumulation of material estate caused by mass consumerism. But in earlier times however, it was not exactly the way it’s used to be. The dream of the Lord represented in the created Heaven and the power to submit the earth, to get forward with his project joing people living together without violence in our “Casa (...) Comum”, having a goog live. Philosophy “levinasiana” recommends alterability as a tool for ethnic-philosophic to face a large crisis which was developed by the total view that reduces the other to himself. We apply this intuition to present the environment as another cosmos, it expresses an ecological alterability that claims ethnically “No kill”. This call reflects the sound of one-earth, the other-environment nowadays. They seem to be as a cosmie alterability which is so important and needful to human being survives. This conscience needs an ecological conversion taking part in a process salvation revealed by Jesus. It’s necessay and urgent an eco-spirituality. We must pay more attention in considerations of Pope Francis encyclicals Laudato Si, Fratelli Tutti and in his apostolical exhortation Laudate Deum. He advices us about our carelessness with our “Casa Comum”; Our Planet. This reality affects mainly who is needy. It produces inequality, poverty, injustice. Because of that the title of this article means: “Are we all together?”. It means to be a conscious agreement changing the attitude in front of an environment crisis. Then, we will realize that together and aware we will be able to make over again our trajectory, saving our Planet, preserving life. (shrink)

Die Studie zeigt, dass Autobiographien weit mehr sind als individuelle Lebensentwürfe. Vor allem Autobiographien von Paaren zeugen von den Schnittstellen gemeinsamen Lebens und Schreibens. Sie bieten sich in herausragender Weise an, die Zweistimmigkeit im Leben und Schreiben von Paaren in den Blick zu nehmen und relationale Dimensionen des Lebens in kreativen Schaffensprozessen als ethisches und ästhetisches Moment wahrzunehmen. Dem komplexen Beziehungsgeflecht von Autobiographien wird hier am Beispiel des bekannten spanischen Schriftstellerpaares María Teresa León und Rafael Alberti nachgespürt. Über die individuellen (...) Prägungen der Autobiographien hinaus wird das Netz, das zwischen beiden Autoren und Texten im autobiographischen Schreiben gesponnen wurde, aufgedeckt und einer Stereophonie der Autobiographie Raum gegeben. (shrink)

Until recently, feminist theory and citizenship theory have seemed two distinct areas, with writers in both camps seldom discussing the other's work.

IN THE LAST PART of the Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith puts his theory in a class with those of his contemporaries Francis Hutcheson and David Hume, namely, the systems that make sentiments the principle of approbation. Despite recognizing important differences with both of them, he thinks that since he has placed the origin of moral sentiments in sympathy, and in particular the fact that we are able to enter into the motives of the agent and get pleasure from (...) finding them appropriate to their cause, sentiments are the foundation of his theory of morals. Many of Smith’s commentators, in fact almost all of the most important studies over the last few years, reaffirm the author’s self-description. However, my aim in this paper is to challenge this view by showing that Smith’s system can also be plausibly seen as a theory of practical reasoning, and in some important aspects very similar to Aristotelian ethics. Surprisingly few scholars have seen this parallel. Laurence Berns, Samuel Fleischacker, Charles Griswold, and Gloria Vivenza are the latest exceptions, identifying several points of coincidence between Adam Smith and Aristotle’s ethics. None of them, however, has tied all these similarities under a unified interpretation, such as the one I propose here: The basic analogy between these theories, and the source of those particular coincidences, is the operation of practical reason. Moreover, and besides the common elements with Aristotle’s ethics, Smith’s reconstruction of practical reason simultaneously announces some of the main features of modern accounts of ethics, such as impartiality and universality as preconditions of moral judgment. The integration of these ancient and modern elements in a single coherent theory allows Smith’s TMS to overcome the insufficiencies and paradoxes of both these traditions, and it constitutes one of the most interesting and challenging proposals of modern ethics. (shrink)

Many philosophical counselors seem to be counselors who use or point to phil­osophical texts or use abstract indeed logical or rational methods when working with a client. I want to introduce the idea of a counseling philosopher, who uses the client’s own concrete experiences as the basis for philosophizing with the client about the nature of the client’s dilemma - using ‘the between’ (Buber) as that special creative space where one em­ploys the art of philosophizing to the unique situation. Otherwise, (...) the particularity of that client gets subsumed under theory or methods, much like what has happened in psychology and which gave rise to Achenbach’s criticisms of psychology/psychiatry. The dialogical of which Buber and Friedman speak is the give and take between client and counseling philosopher of understanding and expanding perceptions confirmed through the actual relationship. Philosophy as an art (and not a method) helps us restore the trust Buber talks about which allows us to engage the world directly and not through categories of thought grounded in psychological or philosophical texts and theories. (shrink)

Causal eliminativists maintain that all causal talk is false. The prospects for such a view seem to be stymied by an indispensability argument, charging that any agent must distinguish between effective and ineffective strategies, and that such a distinction must commit that agent to causal notions. However, this argument has been under-explored. The contributions of this paper are twofold: first, I provide a thorough explication of the indispensability argument and the various ways it might be defended. Second, I point to (...) an important limitation in the argument and suggest that it does not give us sufficient reason to reject eliminativism. In support of this last claim, I show that the distinction between effective and ineffective strategies could perfectly well be grounded in a counterfactual rather than a causal decision theory and argue that there are fully adequate explanations of how we could come to make the requisite counterfactual judgments that need not invoke causal concepts. (shrink)

An objection has been raised that Karol Wojtyła presents an ethical system heavily centered on actions and deeds. With the exception of his occasional references to the virtue of chastity in Love and Responsibility and his first writing on Saint John, some of the most central themes of ancient and medieval, as well as of contemporary, ethics seem almost entirely absent. In the following article, we will turn to Wojtyła’s most important philosophical work, The Acting Person, to glean from it (...) his understanding of “action.” We will then turn to the writings of Dietrich von Hildebrand, as an example of a classic counterpart for any approach to man primarily through action. After briefly discussing the ethical relevance of aspects such as inner responses, fundamental moral attitudes, and virtues, we will conclude by returning to Wojtyła and re-evaluating the legitimacy of the objection raised against him. (shrink)

Numerosas expresiones lingüísticas son producidas por los profesionales de las áreas de la Educación y Psicología para designar al sujeto con discapacidad. Nuestra mirada se centró en los discursos que se balizan en un lenguaje analítico y heurístico perteneciente al universo de la normalidad de la razón analítica. En contra de esta propuesta dialogamos con Wittgenstein sobre producción de sentido y de Vygotsky sobre mediación semiótica. Palabras claves: producción de sentido; mediación semiótica, discapacidad, inclusión.

The progressive multistage stabilization of memory (consolidation) relies on post-acquisition neural reorganization. We hypothesize that two processes subserve procedural memory consolidation and are reflected in delayed post-acquisition performance gains: (1) synaptic consolidation, which is classical Hebbian, and (2) in some tasks, concurrently or consequently, “system consolidation,” which might in some skills be sleep-dependent. Behavioral interference may affect either type of consolidation.

The comprehension problem in Broca's patients does not stem from an inability to represent argument traces. There can be good comprehension in the presence of (object) traces and impaired comprehension can result in constructions where there are no (object) argument traces. This leads to an alternative understanding of Broca's comprehension, one that places the locus of the impairment in an inability to construct syntactic representation on time.

En este trabajo critico la interpretación moralizada de la obligación política en Hobbes que defiende Luciano Venezia. Exploro una lectura diferente que evita una dicotomía tajante entre las razones prudenciales y las razones morales y subraya en cambio la discontinuidad entre la normatividad subjetiva de la ley natural y la normatividad objetiva de la ley positiva. Sostengo que el contrato de sujeción política establece obligaciones objetivas recién cuando el soberano exige el cumplimiento de los contratos. La obligación política es entonces (...) una forma de obligación jurídica. Además, enfatizo que la comunidad moral de Hobbes solo es posible dentro del Estado. In this paper, I criticize Luciano Venezia's moralized interpretation of the Hobbesian concept of political obligation. I explore a different reading that avoids a clear-cut dichotomy between prudential and moral reasons and underscores instead the discontinuity between natural law's subjective normativity and civil law's objective normativity. I contend that the pact of political subjection establishes objective obligations only when the sovereign requires the fulfillment of contracts. Political obligation is then a form of legal obligation. In addition, I emphasize that Hobbes's moral community is only possible within the State. (shrink)

In recent years there has been renewed interest in the participation of lay people in regulatory procedures. The debate peaked in the 1980s with the anti-nuclear movements and again more recently as a reaction to the food scandals of the mid-1990s. In the wake of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) crisis there has been a proliferation of European Community rules on the production, processing and retailing of food products, along with the multiplication of scientific committees in order to cope with (...) increased ... (shrink)

What makes us human beings? Is it merely some corporeal aspect, or rather some specific mental capacity, language, or some form of moral agency or social life? Is there a gendered bias within the concept of humanity? How do human beings become more human, and can we somehow cease to be human? This volume provides some answers to these fundamental questions and more by charting the increased preoccupation of the European Enlightenment with the concepts of humankind and humanity. Chapters investigate (...) the philosophical concerns of major figures across Western Europe, including Montesquieu, Diderot, Rousseau, Locke, Hume, Ferguson, Kant, Herder, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach and the Comte de Buffon. As these philosophers develop important descriptive and comparative approaches to the human species and moral and social ideals of humanity, they present a view of the Enlightenment project as a particular kind of humanism that is different from its Ancient and Renaissance predecessors. With contributions from a team of internationally recognized scholars, including Stephen Gaukroger, Michael Forster, Céline Spector, Jacqueline Taylor, and Günter Zöller, this book offers a novel interpretation of the Enlightenment that is both clear in focus and impressive in scope. (shrink)

The article discusses the problem of coexistence of different types of rationality, different scientific and linguistic pictures of the world as well as the problem of the adoption by one culture of another culture’s scientific picture of the world with accompanying transformations of the linguistic picture of the world of the recipient culture. The article deals with the experience of mutual research and collision between Western and Chinese traditions, using the example of medical science. The author examines the problem of (...) the transfer of scientific medical knowledge from Western to Chinese culture in the context of a radical mismatch of scientific and linguistic pictures. The articles considers two different approaches to the translation of Western medical terminology into Chinese, developed at different times by English translators Benjamin Hobson and John Fryer. Hobson was focused on harmonizing new terminology with the usual concepts of the world language picture of the recipient. Fryer preferred to introduce new specific terms, artificially created directly for the needs of a new scientific picture of the world. In the field of medical terminology, the first of the two approaches turns out to be more viable, since it is more focused on its “end users” – Chinese doctors who study Western medicine in order to use its methods in their medical practice. Therefore, there is only partial applicability of the approaches, methods and terminology developed in one tradition for the evaluation and development of another tradition. (shrink)

This book demonstrates the vast range of philosophical approaches, regional issues and problems, perspectives, and historical and theoretical frameworks that together constitute feminist philosophy in Latin America and Spain.This is important while feminist philosophy was long dominated by Anglo-American authors. It makes available recent feminist thought in Latin America and Spain to facilitate dialogue among Latin American, North American, and European thinkers.

Procura-‑se compreender com este artigo os motivos da hermenêutica do testemunho em P. Ricoeur. Tentamos mostrar como esta categoria, de cariz eminentemente ético, é importante numa reflexão sobre o existir que não parte já da pura espontaneidade do cogito, mas da necessidade de uma reflexão mediata sobre a condição humana, isto é, sobre as suas ações, decisões e modos de estar-‑no-‑mundo. Não há para o filósofo qualquer compreensão que o sujeito possa ter de si mesmo que não esteja mediada por (...) signos, símbolos e textos. Daqui o valor ético de uma recuperação hermenêutica do testemunho, da história e do tesouro dos grandes símbolos das várias culturas que nos influenciaram. É a dialética da atestação pessoal de capacidades, no exercício do testemunho, e a dimensão hermenêutica e mesmo metafórica deste que preservam o âmbito histórico e ético da memória e da abertura ao que historicamente ficou por realizar e permanece em aberto, ao nível do absoluto ético desejável. (shrink)