Open peer commentary on the article “Luhmann and the Constructivist Heritage: A Critical Reflection” by Armin Scholl. Upshot: The comment starts with Buchinger’s assessment that Luhmann’s contribution to constructivism is original and inspiring, but raises more questions than answers. In three variations, the comment tries to show that Luhmann can indeed be viewed as a big question-generator and that his heritage for radical constructivism may lie in the original and inspiring effects these new and additional questions can produce.

Der Schlussteil des Pratimoksa der Sarvastivadins. Edited, annotated and translated by Klaus T. Schmidt. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1989. 112pp, DM 48.

The Mahasudarsanavadana and The Mahasudarsanasutra. Hisashi Matsumura. Bibliotheca Indo-Buddhica 47, Indian Books Centre, Delhi 1988. lvii, 142 pp. Rs.350.

In addition to the neglect of philosophy by medicine, emphasized in a recent editorial in this journal, there has been an equally important neglect of medicine by philosophy. Philosophy stands to gain from medicine in three respects: in materials, the conceptual difficulties arising in the practice of medicine being key data for philosophical enquiry; in methods, these data, through their problematic character, being ideally suited to the technique of linguistic analysis; and in results, the practical requirements of medicine placing a (...) direct demand for progress on philosophical theory. The future of the relationship between philosophy and medicine depends on the development of a positive two-way trade between them. (shrink)

David Hume’s Treatise on Human Nature famously fell `deadborn from the press’ because it was too far ahead of its time. Basu’s book is one of a number published in recent years that suggest we are at last ready to put its precepts into action.1 Modern game theory provides a framework that makes Hume’s insights genuinely applicable, and I totally agree with Basu that this is not only the right way forward, but that it now looks increasingly likely that this (...) is the road that wil actualy be folowed ± not only in political economy, but across the board in the social sciences. (shrink)

We formulate a general theory of conservation laws and other invariants for a physical system through equivalence relations. The conservation laws are classified according to the type of equivalence relation, with group equivalence, homotopical equivalence, and other types of equivalence relations giving respective kinds of conservation laws. The stability properties in the topological (and differentiable) sense are discussed using continuous deformations with respect to control parameters. The conservation laws due to the Abelian symmetries are shown to be stable through application (...) of well-known theorems. (shrink)

Jean-Paul Fitoussi needs no introduction as one of the world's foremost Macroeconomists of his generation. This celebration of his work includes contributions from Nobel Prize - winning economists Robert W. Clower and Robert Solow as well as Olivier Blanchard and leading economic theorist, Edmond Malinvaud.

To make genuine progress toward explicating the relation between innate talent and high levels of ability, we need to consider the differences in structure between most everyday abilities and expert performance. Only in expert performance is it possible to show consistently that individuals can acquire skills to circumvent and modify basic characteristics (talent).

In the present paper two kinds of quantum-theoretical states are considered: the “physical state” determined by a complete observation and the “intrinsic state” which comprises the values of the observed as well as the unobserved observables. It will be shown that the future values of all these observables are determined. Causality is therefore valid, though not verifiable.

The cultivation of an organization’s moral resources has become a priority for many executives who understand that such resources are key to competitive advantage. Yet, traditional strategic management courses at both the undergraduate and MBA levels generally overlook these resources when discussing the resource-based view of the firm. We propose that moral resources be discussed in strategic management classrooms to provide additional insight for students about the critical nature of such resources. We also provide a simple tool for faculty to (...) use in the classroom to stimulate discussion and enhance student learning in this important area. (shrink)