The Ethics of Dust: Doge's Palace, Venice, is an installation resulting from the experimental preservation of the pollution accumulated on the Doge's Palace of Venice. Traditionally, only the intentional products of human labor, such as art or architecture, have been considered part of our cultural heritage. Pollution is a formless byproduct that was never intentionally shaped; yet it is perhaps our civilization's most significant cultural product. Jorge Otero-Pailos' preservation of pollution expands the notion of world heritage to include our unintentional (...) outputs. Published on the occasion of the presentation of The Ethics of Dust: Doge's Palace, Venice​ at the 53rd International Art Exhibition / Biennale di Venezia, 2009. The Ethics of Dust: Doge's Palace, Venice​ was commissioned and produced by TBA21. The book includes text contributions Daniel Birnbaum, Francesca von Habsburg, Thordis Arrhenius, Daniel A. Barber, Valeria Burgio, Dorota Chudzicka, Lorenzo Fusi, David Gissen, Caroline A. Jones, Jorge Otero-Pailos , Adam Phillips, Raqs Media Collective, Mark Wigley. (shrink)

Hermann von Helmholtz has been widely acknowledged as one of the forerunners of contemporary theories of measurement. However, his conception of measurement differs from later, representational conceptions in two main respects. Firstly, Helmholtz advocated an empiricist philosophy of arithmetic as grounded in some psychological facts concerning quantification. Secondly, his theory implies that mathematical structures are common to both subjective experiences and objective ones. My suggestion is that both of these differences depend on a classical approach to measurement, according to which (...) the arithmetic laws of addition define what is measurable as a particular domain for their application, and, at the same time, the extensibility of these laws to all known physical processes works as a heuristic principle for empirical research. Such an approach is worth reconsidering, not only because it lends plausibility to some of the controversial aspects of Helmholtz’s theory, but also because it offers a philosophical perspective on quantification problems that originated in the nineteenth-century.This paper draws insights on Helmholtz’s philosophical views from his engagement with the measurability of sensations via Fechner’s psychophysical law. This seems to be in contrast with the fact that the reception of Helmholtz’s theory culminated with the formulation of the theory of extensive measurement. I will contend that Helmholtz reached a no less important standpoint in the nineteenth-century debate on whether sensations are different (i.e., intensive) kinds of magnitudes and on how, if at all, they can be measured. (shrink)

The first formal definition of randomness, seen as a property of sequences of events or experimental outcomes, dates back to Richard von Mises' work in the foundations of probability and statistics. The randomness notion introduced by von Mises is nowadays widely regarded as being too weak. This is, to a large extent, due to the work of Jean Ville, which is often described as having dealt the death blow to von Mises' approach, and which was integral to the development of (...) algorithmic randomness—the now-standard theory of randomness for elements of a probability space. The main goal of this article is to trace the history and provide an in-depth appraisal of two lesser-known, yet historically and methodologically notable proposals for how to modify von Mises' definition so as to avoid Ville's objection. The first proposal is due to Abraham Wald, while the second one is due to Claus-Peter Schnorr. We show that, once made precise in a natural way using computability theory, Wald's proposal constitutes a much more radical departure from von Mises' framework than intended. Schnorr's proposal, on the other hand, does provide a partial vindication of von Mises' approach: it demonstrates that it is possible to obtain a satisfactory randomness notion—indeed, a canonical algorithmic randomness notion—by characterizing randomness in terms of the invariance of limiting relative frequencies. More generally, we argue that Schnorr's proposal, together with a number of little-known related results, reveals that there is more continuity than typically acknowledged between von Mises' approach and algorithmic randomness. Even though von Mises' exclusive focus on limiting relative frequencies did not survive the passage to the theory of algorithmic randomness, another crucial aspect of his conception of randomness did endure; namely, the idea that randomness amounts to a certain type of stability or invariance under an appropriate class of transformations. (shrink)

Angesichts der erhitzten Debatten vor allem in den deutschen Feuilletons, aber auch eines gewissen Trends zum Kollektiven in den ‚westlichen‘ Künsten, fragt der Beitrag danach, welche Formen des Kollektiven in der documenta fifteen praktiziert wurden und inwiefern sich diese von ‚westlichen‘ Vorstellungen unterscheiden. Ausgehend von der Annahme, dass es auf der documenta fifteen vor allem um die Formierung, nicht um die bloße Voraussetzung von Kollektivität ging, setzt sich der Text kritisch mit dem Abschlussbericht des von den Gesellschaftern der Documenta gGmbH (...) beauftragten fachwissenschaftlichen Gremiums auseinander. Dabei werden drei Modalitäten aus der ‚westlichen‘ Kunst zum Vergleich herangezogen, in denen es ebenfalls um die künstlerische Formierung von Kollektiven geht: die Ausrichtung konvivialer Situationen, die Instituierung eines gegen-hegemonialen Wir und die Markierung der Unmöglichkeit von Kollektivität aufgrund bestehender gewaltsamer Marginalisierungen. Mit allen drei Modalitäten, so zeigt der Vergleich, hat die Documenta von 2022 etwas gemeinsam, setzt aber auch deutlich eigene Akzente. Daher argumentiert der Beitrag dafür, dass die documenta fifteen tatsächlich eine neue Formierungsweise (künstlerischer) Kollektivität erprobt hat. Aufgrund der heftigen deutschen Kritik an der Ausstellung fragt der Text abschließend, ob diese Form der Kollektivierung gescheitert ist. Der Schluss erinnert an die doppelte Einladung, die der documenta fifteen vorausgegangen ist, und plädiert dafür, den durch sie angestoßenen Prozess, mit Fehlern und Entwicklungen, weiterhin offen zu halten. (shrink)

Die Autorin analysiert die politische Konzeption des Messias als König und Gesetzgeber bei Maimonides in seinen Briefen, in Pereq Heleq sowie in Mishneh Torah. Besonderes Augenmerk liegt auf folgenden Schwerpunkten: a) die Konzeption des König-Philosophen bei Platon und Aristoteles; b) die karäischen Einflüsse auf Pereq Heleq sowie die Einflüsse der Mu'taziliten und der Ash'ariten durch die karäische Vermittlung; c) die individuelle und gemeinschaftliche Dimension des ́olam ha-ba im Werk Maimonides'; d.) die Beziehung zwischen Philosophie und Gesetz im Mishneh Torah und (...) deren eschatologische Konzeption im Vergleich zu Al-Farabis politischen und religionsphilosophischen Werken. Die Analyse basiert auf einer ausführlichen Lektüre der jüdischen, arabischen und judäoarabischen Quellen. Ziel der Autorin ist es, eine Lücke zu schließen in der politisch-philosophischen Kette zwischen Platon, Aristoteles, Al-Farabi und Maimonides in Bezug auf den messianischen König. Anhand der Denkstrukturen der jüdisch-islamischen Epoche zwischen dem 8. und dem 12. Jahrhundert wird der politische Charakter des König-Messias sowie seine spezifische Darstellung im intellektuellen Milieu von Maimonides konstruiert. (shrink)

In 1870, Hermann von Helmholtz criticized the Kantian conception of geometrical axioms as a priori synthetic judgments grounded in spatial intuition. However, during his dispute with Albrecht Krause (Kant und Helmholtz über den Ursprung und die Bedeutung der Raumanschauung und der geometrischen Axiome. Lahr, Schauenburg, 1878), Helmholtz maintained that space can be transcendental without the axioms being so. In this paper, I will analyze Helmholtz’s claim in connection with his theory of measurement. Helmholtz uses a Kantian argument that can be (...) summarized as follows: mathematical structures that can be defined independently of the objects we experience are necessary for judgments about magnitudes to be generally valid. I suggest that space is conceived by Helmholtz as one such structure. I will analyze his argument in its most detailed version, which is found in Helmholtz (Zählen und Messen, erkenntnistheoretisch betrachtet 1887. In: Schriften zur Erkenntnistheorie. Springer, Berlin, 1921, 70–97). In support of my view, I will consider alternative formulations of the same argument by Ernst Cassirer and Otto Hölder. (shrink)

Wie finden Medien Eingang in die Theorie der Rhetorik? Und wie findet Rhetorik Eingang in die Praxis der Medien? Der vorliegende Band erschließt die Beziehung zwischen der Rhetorik und den Medien sowohl historisch und systematisch als auch in aktuellen Fallstudien. Im ersten Teil wird dargelegt, wie die mediale Grundstruktur der Rhetorik reflektiert wurde – in die Bedeutung von Medien für das überzeugende Handeln von der Antike und Spätantike über Mittelalter, Renaissance, Barock sowie Aufklärung und Moderne bis zu gegenwärtigen Theorien. Im (...) systematischen Teil wird erörtert, wie das Verhältnis von Rhetorik und Medien in Bezug auf unterschiedliche Medienträger wie Bild, Rede, Musik, Architektur, Werbung, Websites etc. spezifiziert werden kann. Die Fallstudien stellen an konkreten Beispielen vor, wie sich die Mediengestaltung von heute der Rhetorik bedienen kann. Der Band liefert so einen umfassenden Einblick und ist somit für jeden Medienschaffenden eine wichtige Grundlage. (shrink)

This book offers a reconstruction of the debate on non-Euclidean geometry in neo-Kantianism between the second half of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century. Kant famously characterized space and time as a priori forms of intuitions, which lie at the foundation of mathematical knowledge. The success of his philosophical account of space was due not least to the fact that Euclidean geometry was widely considered to be a model of certainty at his time. However, such (...) later scientific developments as non-Euclidean geometries and Einstein’s general theory of relativity called into question the certainty of Euclidean geometry and posed the problem of reconsidering space as an open question for empirical research. The transformation of the concept of space from a source of knowledge to an object of research can be traced back to a tradition, which includes such mathematicians as Carl Friedrich Gauss, Bernhard Riemann, Richard Dedekind, Felix Klein, and Henri Poincaré, and which finds one of its clearest expressions in Hermann von Helmholtz’s epistemological works. Although Helmholtz formulated compelling objections to Kant, the author reconsiders different strategies for a philosophical account of the same transformation from a neo-Kantian perspective, and especially Hermann Cohen’s account of the aprioricity of mathematics in terms of applicability and Ernst Cassirer’s reformulation of the a priori of space in terms of a system of hypotheses. This book is ideal for students, scholars and researchers who wish to broaden their knowledge of non-Euclidean geometry or neo-Kantianism. (shrink)

Hermann von Helmholtz’s geometrical papers have been typically deemed to provide an implicitly group-theoretical analysis of space, as articulated later by Felix Klein, Sophus Lie, and Henri Poincaré. However, there is less agreement as to what properties exactly in such a view would pertain to space, as opposed to abstract mathematical structures, on the one hand, and empirical contents, on the other. According to Moritz Schlick, the puzzle can be resolved only by clearly distinguishing the empirical qualities of spatial perception (...) from those describable in terms of axiomatic geometry. This paper offers a partial defense of the group-theoretical reading of Helmholtz along the lines of Ernst Cassirer in the fourth volume of The Problem of Knowledge of 1940. In order to avoid the problem raised by Schlick, Cassirer relied on a Kantian view of space not so much as an object of geometry, but as a precondition for the possibility of measurement. Although the concept of group does not provide a description of space, the modern way to articulate the concept of space in terms of transformation groups reveals something about the structure and the transformation of spatial concepts in mathematical and natural sciences. (shrink)

Es wird gezeigt, daß in der Skizze zum Beweis des 2. Satzes von Gödel dieser eine stillschweigende Voraussetzung macht, die im Widerspruch zu den üblichen Forderungen nach Eindeutigkeit der benutzten Terme steht: Eine und dieselbe Gödelzahl g repräsentiert nämlich einmal den Ausdruck g1: "ein im System k unentscheidbarer Satz" und das andere Mal den Ausdruck g2: "g1 ist in k nicht beweisbar". Beachtet man aber diesen Unterschied, so ist der Widerspruch nicht herleitbar, auf dem der Gödelsche Beweis basiert.

This essay details the reception of Bruno's works in Goethe's unpublished texts, with a special emphasis on the Frankfurt Poems. Puccini analyzes Goethe's interpretation in the light of his studies in the field of natural sciences. In particular, she aims to show how Goethe's research interacts with Bruno's meditations on the unity and infinity of the universe/nature. After a first period (1770-1802) in which Goethe's interest in the Nolan philosopher is dominated by a Neoplatonic reading of Bruno's cosmology, between 1812 (...) and 1829 the scientist-poet's criticism of nineteenth-century scientifìc culture recalls Bruno's attacks against the conformity of the "insani", those intellectuals who passively follow the dominant paradigms. Their interpretation of natural phenomena is irredeemably corrupted by the passive acceptance of wrong hypotheses. (shrink)

It is well known that Hermann Cohen was one of the first philosophers who engaged in the debate about non-Euclidean geometries and the concept of space. His relation to Hermann von Helmholtz, who played a major role in the same debate, is an illuminating example of how some of the leading ideas of Marburg neo-Kantianism, although motivated independently of scientific debates, naturally led to the examination of scientific works and scientists’ epistemological views. This paper deals with Cohen’s view of magnitudes (...) and measurement and with his – less known – review of Helmholtz’s paper “Zählen und Messen, erkenntnistheoretisch betrachtet”, which contains one of the first attempts to formulate a theory of measurement in the modern sense. The first part provides a brief introduction to this debate in its connection with the earlier discussion on geometrical axioms and the concept of space. The main sections deal with Helmholtz’s and Cohen’s approaches to the foundations of measurement. Cohen’s criticism of some of Helmholtz’s assumptions notwithstanding, my emphasis is on some unexpected affinities between these two approaches. In the concluding section, I rely on the constructive side of Cohen’s criticisms to reconsider the philosophical aspects of Helmholtz’s theory and draw a few comparisons with contemporary measurement theory. (shrink)

Wenn es 'archetypische' Grund- und Tiefenstrukturen des menschlichen Denkens gibt, dann werden sie uns zugänglich durch ständige Bilder und Metaphern, wie z. B. die vier Grundelemente: Luft, Erde, Wasser, Feuer. Diese Elemente reichten für das Altertum zur Bildung der Welt aus. Diese Sicht der Dinge ist teilweise und in unterschiedlicher Art und Weise auch noch heute festzustellen. Ihre Spuren finden wir in den unzähligen Ausdrucksmodi der Modernität. So läßt sich kurz das Thema dieses Sammelbandes beschreiben, der die Ergebnisse einer Tagung (...) über 'Politische Metaphorik in historischer Perspektive' zusammenfaßt. Sie hat im Frühjahr 1993 in Verbania (Lago Maggiore) stattgefunden und ist vom Seminar für Politikwissenschaft der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, vom italienisch-deutschen historischen Institut in Trento, vom Istituto italiano per gli studi filosofici di Napoli und von der Gemeinde Verbania organisiert worden. Über Metaphern, Bilder und die Zusammenhänge zwischen Bildern, die sich auf die vier Elemente zurückführen lassen, haben Forscher unterschiedlicher kultureller Herkunft diskutiert, Historiker, Philosophen, Linguisten, Literaten und Politologen. Sie alle verbindet das Bewußtsein, daß die Fragen nach den metaphorischen und symbolischen Bedeutungen nur schwer von einem einzigen Zweig der Humanwissenschaften aus und vielleicht sogar nicht einmal von den Humanwissenschaften allein beantwortet werden können. Insgesamt kann man sagen, daß die Stellung und die Identifizierung der Elemente, aus denen das Universum besteht, die durchgängigste Frage der philosophischen und wissenschaftlichen Forschung aller Zeiten gewesen ist. Die Aufgliederung des Universums auf der Grundlage der vier Elemente entspricht überdies in der traditionellen Vorstellungswelt der Struktur des menschlichen Körpers und kann wiederum durch zwei geteilt werden, entsprechend den gegensätzlichen Qualitäten warm und kalt, männlich und weiblich, gut und böse, oben und unten usw. E. (shrink)

Goethe’s religiosity appears at the same time profoundly sincere yetescaping confessional labels. It has been claimed that Goethe was Christian,theist, mason, and even a pagan. Our work aims at studying Goethe’sreligiosity throughout his life, and in particular in his relationship with Islām.Of all religions Goethe studied and interacted with, Islām is remarkably absentfrom literary critic, yet he elaborated it throughout his life. We will proposea periodisation which divides his relationship with Islām into four stages, inwhich specific religious themes echo in (...) his letters and works, most of whichhave not been pointed out before, such as in the Faust. Finally, we will discussour findings in the context of religious studies scholarship, and approach theissue of what can Goethe suggest for the meaning of a European Islām today. (shrink)

Die Philosophie Helmuth Plessners hat in den letzten Jahren eine Renaissance erfahren: Plessner wurde als relevanter Vertreter einer Biophilosophie (wieder) entdeckt, die nicht nur die uberkommene Trennung von Natur und Kultur, sondern auch die Gegenuberstellung disjunkter Wissenschaftskulturen in Frage stellt und ihr Verhaltnis neu bestimmt. DAs Buch nimmt die verschiedenen disziplinaren Faden auf, die die Konzeption von Plessners Biophilosophie insbesondere in den Stufen des Organischen und der Mensch (1928) verstandlich machen. ES stellt Plessners uberlegungen im Kontext von naturwissenschaftlichen (von Uexkull, (...) Buytendijk, Driesch, von Weizsacker, Portmann, Kohler) sowie philosophischen (Bergson, Misch, Hartmann, Scheler, Heidegger, Jonas) Theorien seiner Zeit vor. (shrink)

Hegels These vom Ende der Kunst beinhaltet nicht die Todesanzeige für die Kunst. Im Gegenteil: Es handelt sich für Hegel um den Anfang der Entfaltung freier Kunst in der Moderne.0Hegels These vom Ende der Kunst hat zusammen mit dem Topos vom Ende der Geschichte grosse Entrüstung ausgelöst. In beiden Fällen führte die unzulässige Identifikation vom Ende mit Untergang und Tod zu einem massiven, bis heute wirksamen Missverständnis. Der Mythos von einem Untergang der Kunst in Hegels Ästhetik wird von manchen noch (...) immer und zu Unrecht zu einer Art Grabrede auf die hegelsche Kunstphilosophie stilisiert. Der vorliegende Band versucht, dieses alte Vorurteil über Hegels Ästhetik zu überwinden. (shrink)

A challenging critique of narrative theologies, including the works of George Lindbeck, Robert Jenson, and Herbert McCabe. Francesca Aran Murphy argues that the use of the concept of story or narrative in theology is circular and self-referential, and that the widespread notion that the role of the theologian is to 'tell God's story' has not helped theology to advance the reality of its doctrines. Murphy contends that the scriptural revelation on which Christian theology depends is not a story or (...) a plot but a dramatic encounter between mysterious, free, and unpredictable persons. She offers her own alternative approach, making use of cinema and film theory, and engaging in particular in a dialogue with the work of Hans Urs von Balthasar. (shrink)

Gegen die verbreitete Vorstellung, dass Negativität im Interesse von mehr Selbstverwirklichung, Produktivität und Positivität überwunden oder be-grenzt werden muss, eröffnet dieser Band eine andere Perspektive. Er geht den verschiedenen Formen des Negativen in Kunst, Recht und Politik nach, um zu zeigen, dass es nicht allein eine Negativität gibt, die dem Gelingen im Weg steht oder zu dessen sicher beherrschtem Mittel wird. Die Beiträge des Bandes erweisen Negativität vielmehr als eine Kraft der Befreiung, die ein Gelingen anderer Art ermöglicht.

Historians are showing increasing interest in scientific internationalism, the notion that science transcends national differences and hence advances peace and cooperation. This notion became particularly popular in the decades around 1900, the heyday of the universal expositions and the so-called first era of globalization. In this article I argue that in order to properly historicize scientific internationalism, it is imperative to understand how actors imagined science to have pacifist effects, and to relate their technoscientific to their geopolitical imaginaries. To illustrate (...) this, I analyze the 1911 novel Der Menschheit Hochgedanken (translated as When Thoughts Will Soar) by the famous Austrian pacifist Baroness Bertha von Suttner. It tells the story of a scientific conference whose participants, by the sheer brilliance of their thought, ward off war and preserve world peace. Relating the novel to von Suttner’s own life experiences, I situate her internationalism in the social texture and international relations of the late Habsburg Empire. It appears that Von Suttner mobilized notions of the pacific effects of science with an eye to preserving both the European system of states and the position of the aristocracy. (shrink)

Francesca Biagioli’s Space, Number, and Geometry from Helmholtz to Cassirer is a substantial and pathbreaking contribution to the energetic and growing field of researchers delving into the physics, physiology, psychology, and mathematics of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The book provides a bracing and painstakingly researched re-appreciation of the work of Hermann von Helmholtz and Ernst Cassirer, and of their place in the tradition, and is worth study for that alone. The contributions of the book go far beyond that, (...) however. It is a clear, accurate, and deep account of fascinating and philosophically momentous implications of the move to relativity theory. (shrink)

SummaryEarly modern Europe experienced an expansion of both governmental institutions and the responsibilities they assumed. These changes were accompanied by protracted conflict. This article traces the philosophy of state developed by Austria's estatist opposition during the early decades of the seventeenth century. In the writings of Georg Erasmus von Tschernembl, especially, an alternative vision of state and governance took shape, whose implementation would have transformed the history of Central Europe. It took a continental war to resolve this fundamental ideological discord (...) in favour of the Habsburg dynasty. (shrink)

Frederick II neither tolerated the Schwenckfeldians in Silesia as an independent denomination nor recognized them, but, rather from a legal basis demanded that they be incorporated into the Lutheran Church. With the acknowledgement of the Schwenckfeldian movement as an independant denomination, he would have gone beyond article VII of the Instrumenta Pacis Osnabrigense, jeopardizing future peace negotiations with the House of Habsburg. However, he did promise the Schwenckfeldians that the government would respect their personal faith and conscience and would (...) be willing to protect them from attack, though limited by the reason of state which would be endangered if the fundamental articles of the Christian religion were openly denied. For if these were negated one could not discount the possibility that not only Maria Theresea but also the Protestant and Catholic subjects would take offence, causing tension and diminishing the prosperity of the State. The philosopher of Sanssouci himself held freedom of faith and conscience highly, but felt it had to be subordinate to the welfare of the state. The actual reason for he gave this assurance to the Schwenckfeldians though, was not merely to give his subjects a relative amount of freedom, but, more important, to encourage further immigration into his lands. Frederick II, who saw himself as the first servant of his state, thereby hoped to raise the density of population in relatively depopulated areas, to promote manufacturing and trade, and with it the prosperity of the state. The positive impulse for the attitude of Frederic II against the Schwenckfeldians was therefore in the last analysis based on political motives. His concession of freedom of faith and conscience to the Schwenckfeldians was in principle possible only because he had granted such freedom to all his Silesian subjects - who had to belong to one of the three confessions recognized by the Peace of Westphalia- on the condition that they would not deny reverence to God or subservience to the State. In comparison to the intolerant attitude of many contemporary states which gave their subjects no liberty of faith or conscience, the position which the state of Frederic II hat taken vis-a-vis the Schwenckfeldians in Silesia therefore signifies a great step forward. This position, however, was considerably less than the religious freedom enjoyed by those Schwenckfeldians who emigrated to Pennsylvania. (shrink)

The thesis according to which technologies of communication have implications not just for the form, but also for the content and indeed for the overall logic of what is being communicated rests on a set of general philosophical assumptions as regards the relation between thought and its medium. The paper shows that formulating these assumptions, and elaborating them, has been a characteristic concern of Austro‐Hungarian philosophy; that between the philosophers who played a role in the relevant endeavours there obtained significant, (...) sometimes mutual, influences; and that Austro‐Hungarian realities ‐ basically, the phenomenon of disturbed communication within the Habsburg Empire ‐ had a marked effect on their thought. (shrink)

Die Paragonefrage, erstmals ausgiebig von Leonardo diskutiert, besitzt im gesamten Quattrocento eine rege Vorgeschichte, die bei allen frühen Impulsen durch Petrarca als die entscheidende Phase der Formierung der Debatte betrachtet werden muss. Spektakuläre Textfunde der Humanisten, Kunsttraktate, auch eigenhändig von Malern oder Bildhauern verfasst, die Blüte an Vielfachbegabungen, öffentlichen Künstlerwettbewerben und gattungsmäßigen Grenzüberschreitungen verliehen dem wertenden Vergleich der Künste im Italien des 15. Jahrhunderts sein ganz eigenes Gepräge. Erstmals steht dieses - mitsamt dem Fundus an eruierten Quellen - im Zentrum (...) einer grundlegenden Monographie. Leonardos argumentativer Eigenanteil gewinnt ebenso Konturen wie die Genese der Diskussion. Vorweg zweiseitig bemalte Bildnistafeln wie Leonardos Porträt der Ginevra de ́ Benci bieten mit Steinimitationen und Versen spannungsreiche "Übergriffe" in die Nachbargattungen. Für Piero della Francesca waren sie Programm, als er das vierteilige Landschaftspanorama im buchartigen Montefeltro-Diptychon zum Ariadnefaden einer poetischen Erzählung machte. (shrink)

Cryonics—also known as cryopreservation or cryosuspension—is the preservation of legally dead individuals at ultra-low temperatures. Those who undergo this procedure hope that future technology will not only succeed in reviving them, but also cure them of the condition that led to their demise. In this sense, some hope that cryopreservation will allow people to continue living indefinitely. This book discusses the moral concerns of cryonics, both as a medical procedure and as an intermediate step toward life extension. In particular, Minerva (...) analyses the moral issues surrounding cryonics-related techniques by focusing on how they might impact the individuals who undergo cryosuspension, as well as society at large. (shrink)

Situated approaches to affectivity overcome an outdated individualistic perspective on emotions by emphasizing the role embodiment and environment play in affective dynamics. Yet, accounts which provide the conceptual toolbox for analyses in the philosophy of emotions do not go far enough. Their focus falls (a) on the present situation, abstracting from the broader historico-cultural context, and (b) on adopting a largely functionalist approach by conceiving of emotions and the environment as resources to be regulated or scaffolds to be used. In (...) this paper, I argue that we need totake situatedness seriously: We need (a) to acknowledge that emotions are not situated in undetermined “contexts” but in concrete socio-culturally specific practices referring to forms of living; and (b) to agree that not only are context and emotionsusedfor the sake of something else but also that the meaning-disclosive dimension of affective intentionality is structured by situatedness as well. To do so, I offer a multidimensional approach to situatedness that integrates the biographical and cultural dimensions of contextualization within the analysis of situated affective dynamics. This approach suggests that humans affectively disclose meaning (together) which is at once product and producer of specific forms of living – and these are always already subjects of (politically relevant) critique. (shrink)

Function talk is a constant across different life sciences. From macro-evolution to genetics, functions are mentioned everywhere. For example, a limb’s function is to allow movement and RNA polymerases’ function is to transcribe DNA. Biochemistry is not immune from such a characterization; the biochemical world seems to be a chemical world embedded within biological processes. Specifically, biochemists commonly ascribe functions to biomolecules and classify them accordingly. This has been noticed in the recent philosophical literature on biochemical kinds. But while a (...) lot has been written on biological and psychological functions, little has been said explicitly about biochemical fuctions. Here, I explore functional attribution to biochemical molecules. I argue that if we accept this attribution, then biochemical functions are constituted by chemical dispositional properties that causally contribute to selected biological processes. In section 2, I discuss the controversy concerning the characterization of biochemical functions. In section 3, I consider whether a biological or a chemical under- standing of function can be applied to biochemical functions, illustrating the account with the example of vitamin B12. The result is that none of the theories on their own provides an adequate characterization. In section 4, I present an account of biochemical functions. In section 5, I assess this account taking into consideration common requirements for a theory of functions and an objection. (shrink)

I Das Grenzland Im Jahre 1772 annektierte das Habsburgerreich im Süden Polens gelegene Gebiete und gliederte sie als „Königreich Galizien und Lodomerien“ in seinen Herrschaftsbereich ein. Nach dem Zusammenbruch der Habsburger Monarchie im I. Weltkrieg wurde Galizien 1918 Teil des erneut unabhängigen Polen. In Ostgalizien gründeten ukrainische Nationalisten eine kurzlebige „West-Ukrainische Republik“. Im Anschluss weiterer Kampfhandlungen zwischen Polen, Ukrainern und Sowjets annektierte Polen dann ganz Ostgalizien, das von den Polen „Kleines Ostpolen“ genannt wurde, einschließlich der nördlichen Gebiete Wolhyniens und Polesiens. (...) Die im Gefolge des Kriegsendes neu entstandenen Grenzen wurden 1923 international anerkannt. Ostgalizien und Wolhynien wurden 1939 von der UdSSR annektiert und der ukrainischen Sowjetrepublik angegliedert. Während der deutschen Besatzung zwischen 1941–1944 war Ostgalizien Teil des von den Deutschen kontrollierten Generalgouvernements Polen. Im Anschluss an die Befreiung dieser Gebiete durch die Rote Armee kam Ostgalizien wiederum an die ukrainische Sowjetrepublik. Seit der ukrainischen Unabhängigkeit 1991 ist es Teil der West-Ukraine. Das ehemalige ostgalizische Grenzlandgebiet erstreckt sich von der im Norden gelegenen Kreishauptstadt L'viv bis zu der im Süden gelegenen, der ehemaligen österreichischen Provinz Bukowina zugehörigen Stadt Chernivtsi, von der Bergkette der Karpaten im Westen bis zum Fluss Sbrutsch und zu den Ebenen von Podolien im Osten. Es handelt sich um ein Gebiet, das berühmt, aber durchaus auch berüchtigt ist. (shrink)

1534 yılında Ignacio de Loyala (Ignaz von Loyola) tarafından kurulan, aslında Kudüs merkezli bir tarikat olması düşünülürken fiziki ve siyasi şartların el vermemesi nedeniyle Avrupa’da yayılan ve faaliyet alanlarını genellikle misyonerlik ve eğitim kurumları üzerinde yoğunlaştıran Cizvit Hristiyan tarikatı, kısaca “SJ” (Societas Jesu- İsa’nın topluluğu) olarak isimlendirilmiştir. Ancak bu kısaltma halk arasında “Schlaue Jungs” (Akıllı Adamlar) şeklinde telaffuz edilmiştir. Zira söz konusu tarikat üyelerinin geneli Din Bilimlerinin yanı sıra ikinci bir alanda da eğitimlerini tamamlayarak söz sahibi olmuşlardır. 1551 yılından itibaren (...) Avusturya’da da yayılmaya başlayan Cizvit tarikatı, kurdukları kolejler ve eğitim kurumları sayesinde oldukça popüler hale gelmiş ve birçok devlet adamı ve kralların çocuklarına öğretmenlik yaparak devlet yönetiminde söz sahibi olmuşlardır. Ayrıca kendi mezunlarını devletin önemli pozisyonlarına yerleştirerek bürokrasiye de hâkim olan bu tarikat, sonraları güç zehirlenmesi yaşayarak Papa ve Avrupalı idarecilerle ters düşmüş ve 1773 yılında tarikatın haklarına sınırlama getirilerek eğitim kurumlarına ve mal varlıklarına el konulmuştur. Bu nedenle bu tarikatın eğitim faaliyetlerini izlemek aynı zamanda Avrupa’nın siyasi ve dini tarihini daha yakından tanımak anlamına geleceğinden, çalışmada özellikle Habsburg imparatorluğunun merkezi Avusturya seçilmiştir. Ancak çalışmanın sınırlarını muhafaza edebilmek için sadece Cizvitlerin lise eğitim sistemi üzerinde durulmuş ve bu eğitime karşı olan tepkiler aktarılmıştır. Söz konusu tepkiler de genellikle 18. ve 19. yüzyıllar arasında yazılan Almanca eserlerle ortaya konulmaya çalışılmış ve çalışmanın zaman dilimi olarak da 16.ve 19. yüzyıllar arasında olması uygun bulunmuştur. (shrink)

Recent work has demonstrated how data-driven AI methods can leverage consumer protection by supporting the automated analysis of legal documents. However, a shortcoming of data-driven approaches is poor explainability. We posit that in this domain useful explanations of classifier outcomes can be provided by resorting to legal rationales. We thus consider several configurations of memory-augmented neural networks where rationales are given a special role in the modeling of context knowledge. Our results show that rationales not only contribute to improve the (...) classification accuracy, but are also able to offer meaningful, natural language explanations of otherwise opaque classifier outcomes. (shrink)

What is a gene? Does it represent a natural kind, or is it just a tool for genomics? A clear answer to these questions has been challenged by postgenomic discoveries. In response, I will argue that the gene can be deemed a natural kind as it satisfies some requirements for genuine kindhood. Specifically, natural kinds are projectible categories in our best scientific theories, and they represent nodes in the causal network of the world (as in Khalidi. Natural Categories and Human (...) Kinds: Classification in the Natural and Social Sciences. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2013; Khalidi. Synthese 195: 1379–1396, 2018; Khalidi. Are Sexes Natural Kinds, In: Dasgupta S, Weslake B (eds) Current Controversies in Philoso-phy of Science. Routledge, New York, 2020; Khalidi. Philos Sci 88:1–21, 2021). In Sect. 2, I will present a brief history of the gene and the controversy over its status. In Sect. 3, I will introduce the account of natural kinds considered in this paper. In Sect. 4, I will first present the relevant definition of genes and how they can be classified. Then, I will argue that the gene can be considered a natural kind as it satisfies the criteria for natural kindhood. Section 5 concludes. (shrink)