In Cold War Freud Dagmar Herzog uncovers the astonishing array of concepts of human selfhood which circulated across the globe in the aftermath of World War II. Against the backdrop of Nazism and the Holocaust, the sexual revolution, feminism, gay rights, and anticolonial and antiwar activism, she charts the heated battles which raged over Freud's legacy. From the postwar US to Europe and Latin America, she reveals how competing theories of desire, anxiety, aggression, guilt, trauma and pleasure emerged and (...) were then transformed to serve both conservative and subversive ends in a fundamental rethinking of the very nature of the human self and its motivations. Her findings shed new light on psychoanalysis' enduring contribution to the enigma of the relationship between nature and culture, and the ways in which social contexts enter into and shape the innermost recesses of individual psyches. (shrink)

It has often been claimed, and frequently denied, that music derives some or all of its artistic value from the relation in which it stands to the emotions. This book presents and subjects to critical examination the chief theories about the relationship between the art of music and the emotions.

In der Naturethik als einer der neuen akademischen Bereichsethiken stehen sich anthropozentrische und physiozentrische Grundhaltungen gegenüber. Der Beitrag stellt die anthropozentrische Naturethik ins Zentrum und versucht systematisch zu klären, ob und inwiefern eine Begründung naturethischer Normen im Rekurs auf menschliche Bedürfnisse und Interessen überzeugend ist. Nach einer allgemeinen Charakterisierung der anthropozentrischen Naturethik werden die drei wichtigsten anthropozentrischen Argumente vorgestellt und kritisch erörtert : die basic-needs-Argumente , die ästhetischen Argumente und die moralpädagogischen Argumente . Abschließend werden die Gegenargumente der physiozentrischen Naturethik (...) diskutiert . Dabei zeigt es sich, dass weitere Begriffsdifferenzierungen wie diejenige zwischen einem egoistischen und einem universalistischen Anthropozentrismus und zwischen einem epistemischen Anthropozentrismus und einem epistemisch-anthropozentrischen Physiozentrismus notwendig sind. (shrink)

Was ist zu Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts von einer Auseinandersetzung mit der Philosophie Johann Gottlieb Fichtes zu erwarten, die sich darum bemuht, die Konstitution von Subjektivitat herauszuarbeiten? Kann es nach dem 'Tod des Subjektes' und der neurobiologischen Erforschung des Bewusstseins ein Interesse an Fichte geben, das mehr als ein historisches ist? Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, anhand Fichtes Kritik an dem psychologischen Konzept der Seele seine Konstitution von Subjektivitat als mogliche Grundlage fur systemisches Denken und Arbeiten zu erweisen. (...) Zwingende Vorraussetzung, um Fichtes Philosophie zur heutigen Subjektivitats-Debatte hin zu offnen, ist es dabei allerdings, immer noch weit verbreitete Missverstandnisse uber die Wissenschaftslehre zu beheben: Einschatzungen wie 'Grossenwahn' oder 'Narzissmus' gilt es zu widerlegen, um eine neue Lesart der Wissenschaftslehre zu fordern, um damit wiederum ihr volles Potential frei zu legen. (shrink)

In this article I will show how the goal-directed proof procedure for the propositional fragment of the 'inconsistency-adaptive' logic CLuN(r)from Batens (2005, J. Appl. Logic, 3, 221-250) called pCLuN(r) allows for generating sensible abductive explanations from finite inconsistent theories. Before this is shown, I give a more general account on how goal-directed proof procedures contribute to the study of abduction as backward reasoning. Between these two parts, I describe the goal-directed proof procedure for the propositional fragment of the 'inconsistency-adaptive' logic (...) CLuNr from Batens (2005, J. Appl. Logic, 3, 221-250). (shrink)

Roger Scruton's extraordinarily rich and impressive book The Aesthetics of Music has not received the attention it deserves. In this paper I take issue with one of its most striking claims, namely that the basic perceptions of music are informed by spatial concepts understood metaphorically. To evaluate this claim it is necessary to grasp Scruton's theory of metaphor, which has largely been neglected. I sketch his theory and derive from it the essence of his claim about the fundamental role of (...) spatial metaphors in musical experience. With the issue clarified in this way, I attempt to show that the claim is not plausible. (shrink)

In this article, we wish to consider relationships internal and external to the farm household, and how these enable and/or mitigate the adoption of better farm practices. We find that internally, members of the farm household (successors or spouses ‘marrying in’), can influence the future direction of agricultural practice in a positive way, that is more profitable and sustainable. It is not a straightforward process though. Interpersonal household relations play a role; status and standing within the family can impact on (...) how decisions about change are made. This relates to both people marrying in and the position of the successor in an inter-generational household. We found that the power of the farming peer group to influence change is underestimated. Our data shows that farming is an occupation subject to strong cultural norms regarding acceptable farming practice. Sometimes farm family decisions to change agricultural practice falter under the weight of sanctions and derision encountered when trying to make adjustments. This paper draws from two data sets in Germany and England. We conclude that understanding internal farm household interactions, and their external relations with farming peer groups is critical to supporting the future of agriculture. (shrink)

Auth: University College London, Distributed by Viking.

In a clinic-wide approach to establish liberal policies, a closed psychiatric ward was planned to be opened. The leaders of the multi-professional team of this ward requested continuous ethics support during the first few months after the transition from their previously closed ward into an open one. During the process of accompanying the team through this ethically sensitive period of institutional change, several variations of ethics consultation were developed: the ‘context-adjusted’ clinical ethics support. Some ethics consultations focused on a retrospective (...) evaluation of a patient case, in other ethics consultations consolidation of a previous case discussion was worked out, and/or reflections on fundamental ethical issues were included. Based on our experiences and the feedback of the team, we consider this context-adjusted clinical ethics support as feasible and effective. (shrink)

Dissident circles during the Czechoslovak communist regime were organized in semi-private islands of resistance. They saw themselves as a parallel polis in line with Arendt’s notion of political action by pursuing “life in truth,” authentic experience, and ultimately freedom. The heroes of these circles were that society’s pariahs. In their quest for authenticity, they turned to the past to find meaning, to understand the nature of their communities and the needs for political action towards the future. As such, they sought (...) what Heidegger would label authentic public interpretations. After 1989, these heroes shaped and adapted to the constitutional design of the new polis and often experienced a transformation from pariah to inauthentic hero to at least the potential to become strong man, maintaining varying degrees of authenticity. (shrink)

My paper examines a vital but neglected aspect of Frank Sibley's pioneering account of aesthetic concepts. This is the claim that many aesthetic qualities are such that they can be characterized adequately only by metaphors or ‘quasi-metaphors’. Although there is no indication that Sibley embraced it, I outline a radical, minimalist conception of the experience of perceiving an item as possessing an aesthetic quality, which, I believe, has wide application and which would secure Sibley's position for those aesthetic qualities that (...) conform to it. (shrink)

This book offers a critical assessment of Axel Honneth’s complex and growing opus in social and political philosophy. It examines this in the context of the history and future of the Frankfurt School and in its relation to contemporary analytic approaches to social and political philosophy as well as postmodernist critics.

Name der Zeitschrift: Cognitive Linguistics Jahrgang: 27 Heft: 1 Seiten: 1-33.

Résumé La réception des Lumières en République démocratique allemande (RDA) était particulière. D’une part, la tradition marxiste a découvert la pensée matérialiste dans l’histoire des idées allemande et a reproché à juste titre à la « bourgeoisie idéaliste » de l’avoir marginalisée. D’autre part, l’usage dogmatique de l’ouvrage de Lénine concernant l’épistémologie de Ernst Mach, Matérialisme et empiriocriticisme, empêcha d’apprécier convenablement des penseurs importants comme Jean Le Rond D’Alembert. De plus, la structure répressive de la vie académique en RDA a (...) paralysé la renaissance de la pensée matérialiste. Au lieu de se consacrer aux conditions concrètes de la production du savoir, la pensée matérialiste était entravée par l’obligation de recourir à l’interprétation économique. (shrink)

This study contextualizes Konrad of Megenberg’s “Book of Natural Things” within the natural philosophy practiced by the Faculty of Arts in the 14th century. Albert the Great and texts of ps.-Albert emerge as significant in this interpretation.

In On the Genealogy of Morals, Nietzsche asserts, first, that the transvaluation of values of an original master morality by the slave morality is accompanied by an increasing deepening and differentiation of the human soul and, secondly, that this has led to mental instability and poor self-esteem by maximizing the sense of guilt and bad conscience. This paper argues on the basis of an analysis of the Homeric epics as a paradigm of a master morality, the teaching of church father (...) Augustine of Hippo, and the Platonic psychology and ethics as an intermediate position for the accuracy of the first thesis and critically reflects the pros and cons of the second thesis. (shrink)

After the fall of an oppressive regime, public interpretation of the past provides the normative backbone for the new society’s institutional framework. This narrative also molds temporality on a collective level, elevating some events and eras above the floating river of time, while omitting or suppressing others. In all societies, collective memory, and the temporality embedded within it, are mediated within the public domain. This paper argues that the hyper-accelerated time of transition leaves its mediating function vulnerable and prone to (...) slip into manipulation. By monopolizing the public interpretation of the past and manipulating public temporality, political regimes undermine the processes of healing and reconciliation, which require us to recognize different voices and interpretations. A manipulated temporality, that clashes with the personal temporality of lived experience, may violate personal identity and dignity and impede the democratic project. (shrink)

While universalist theories have come under increasing attack from relativist and post-modern critics, such as Walzer, MacIntyre and Rorty, Kantian constructivism can be seen as a saviour of universalist ethics. Kantian constructivists accept the criticism that past universalist theories were foundational and philosophically comprehensive and thus contestable, but dispute that universalist principles are unattainable. The question then arises if Kantian constructivism can deliver a non-foundational justification of universal principles. Rawls, the first Kantian constructivist, has seemingly retreated from the universalist ambitions (...) of Kantian constructivism. However, others have taken up the project of Kantian constructivism. One of them is O’Neill, who argues that she can succeed where Rawls failed and provide a truly universal non-foundational constructivism. Her requirements for such a constructivism are a constructive justification of the procedure of construction and the use of only abstract, non-ideal starting points. I will argue that O’Neill fails on both accounts. Instead of justifying the principle of practical reason constructively she gives an instrumental and therefore conditional justification. Instead of relying on purely abstract starting points her account builds on an underlying value assumption. This indicates inherent contradictions within constructivism, and might force defenders of universalism to look elsewhere to answer the relativist and post-modern critic. (shrink)

The conceptual basis of the paper is the difference between two types of responsibi- lity: the agent’s responsibility for his own acts and their effects; a responsibi- lity which is primarily oriented to the Other, about whom one is concerned and for whom one guarantees. The paper deals with this second meaning of responsibility: an imputation of a deed to somebody as its agent. The author explores the origins of the modern concept of imputation, its specific character and effectiveness, as (...) well as its limitations. She focuses on three approaches: those of M. Weber, A. Giuliani and P. Ricœur. Weber’s responsibility means a causal imputation. But it was not Weber, who introduced this way of defining the act’s ethical value. Giuliani shows, how the theological concept of imputation is related to its later laicization in the theory of natural law. Ricœur argues that the real history of responsibility began after responsibility has been separated from the theological context. In conclusion it is showed, that although responsibility rooted in one’s realizing the vulnerability of the Other differs from the responsibility of the agent for his own deeds, these are neither historically, nor theoretically two independent realms. (shrink)