Comparative biological morphology, incorporating the study of active reaction, is contrasted with genetics as the study of passive mutation. Geneticists investigate anatomical characters, never anatomical constructions, which are capable of reorganization when the biological-morphological equilibrium of the organism has been disturbed. The anatomy of Opisthocomus cristatus and Stringops habroptilus demonstrate that three successive disturbances in the bio-morphological equilibrium are reacted to purposively by anatomical reconstruction. These reactions are no accidental mutations, but are anatomical reactions, related to, and affecting, the organism (...) as a whole. In sharp contrast to such anatomical reaction, resulting, during phylogeny, in reorganization, are the “technics” [i.e., mechanistic bases] of individual development. The hereditary process is, like every physiological or embryological process, a fixed mechanism, which remains constant until an active reaction leads to reconstruction and at the same time an appropriate change of the mechanisms. The remolding of species is therefore no passive, “technical” process, but a creative act of the organisms themselves. [Original English abstract; not translated.]. (shrink)

Cet article se propose de préciser la relation entre l'épanouissement de l'autobiographie allemande de la fin du XVIIIe siècle et l'essor de la bourgeoisie en s'appuyant sur la notion de carrière de Luhmann. Cette notion rend compte de la nécessité pour l'individu, dans la société fonctionnelle bourgeoise, de trouver une identité personnelle et sociale grâce à la description de sa vie sous forme orale ou écrite. L'autobiographie de Jung-Stilling, publiée au fur et à mesure de son ascension sociale, montre bien (...) le rôle extraordinaire de ce récit dans la constitution de l'identité et l'amélioration des chances pratiques de son auteur. Au contraire, le roman psychologique, Anton Reiser, de K. P. Moritz décrit l'impossibilité du héros à poursuivre une carrière et à construire son identité à cause de son imagination débordante. L'autobiographie du XVIIIe siècle s'avère ainsi être l'autopoïesis littéraire de l'individualité concrète de ses auteurs. (shrink)

The ethical aspects of placebo control in clinical trials have been extensively and controversially debated in the last decade. However, a thorough analytical comparison of the different existing international regulations, their terminologies and their ethical principles concerning placebo, is still missing. The central issue in the ongoing controversy is the justification of placebo‐use, if proven treatment exists. All present versions of the examined guidelines propose such justifications, but each guideline differs from the others in relevant details. Therefore the conditions justifying (...) placebo‐use according to each guideline are the focus of our attention. We will first propose a formalized general principle that defines the ethical acceptability of placebo‐use. Then we will analyse three categories of conditions put forward by the different documents: the risk of harm or burden, compelling scientific reasons, and the availability of proven treatment. The analysis shows important normative discrepancies and contradictions between the examined guidelines. Especially striking is the fact that some guidelines allow the participants in clinical trials to be exposed to a risk of serious harm, while others do not. Finally, we try to show how the normative difference of each guideline could influence the decision of researchers or IRBs concerning the ethical acceptabililty of placebo‐use. (shrink)

We propose a dynamic logic of lying, wherein a ‘lie that $$\varphi $$ ’ is an action in the sense of dynamic modal logic, that is interpreted as a state transformer relative to the formula $$\varphi $$. The states that are being transformed are pointed Kripke models encoding the uncertainty of agents about their beliefs. Lies can be about factual propositions but also about modal formulas, such as the beliefs of other agents or the belief consequences of the lies of (...) other agents. We distinguish two speaker perspectives: an outside observer who is lying to an agent that is modelled in the system, and an agent who is lying to another agent, and where both are modelled in the system. We distinguish three addressee perspectives: the credulous agent who believes everything that it is told, the skeptical agent who only believes what it is told if that is consistent with its current beliefs, and the belief revising agent who believes everything that it is told by consistently revising its current, possibly conflicting, beliefs. The logics have complete axiomatizations, which can most elegantly be shown by way of their embedding in what is known as action model logic or in the extension of that logic to belief revision. (shrink)

Ohne Ubertreibung kann man sagen, dass der Philosoph Wilhelm Friedrich Weischedel - ein Schuler Martin Heideggers - im Problem des Nihilismus, d.h. des Todes Gottes und des damit verbundenen Sinn- und Seinsverlusts, die tiefste Herausforderung des Denkens sah. Vor allem seine Philosophische Theologie entfaltet dieses Grundproblem. Uber verschiedene denkerische Schritte gelangt er zu einer ihm plausibel erscheinenden Antwort auf den Nihilismus, zum Gott der Philosophen. Diese Schritte aber wurden Gegenstand heftiger Kontroversen. Sowohl theologische wie auch philosophische Kritiker haben sie abgelehnt. (...) In der vorliegenden Studie setzt sich der Verfasser mit dem historischen Nahrboden, der Entwicklung und den Schwierigkeiten der Weischedelschen Gotteslehre auseinander. Denn nur auf der Basis einer solchen Auseinandersetzung lasst zich klaren, ob diese Lehre heute ein Licht im Schatten des Nihilismus sein kann. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain (...) in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

In this paper we investigate Accardi's claim that the "quantum paradoxes" have their roots in probability theory and that, in particular, they can be evaded by giving up Bayes' rule, concerning the relation between composite and conditional probabilities. We reach the conclusion that, although it may be possible to give up Bayes' rule and define conditional probabilities differently, this contributes nothing to solving the philosophical problems which surround quantum mechanics.

This article addresses the two most important areas of potential conflict between inferentialism and naturalism, namely normativity and rationality. Concerning the first, it sides with inferentialism, while at the same time developing a normativist position less vulnerable to naturalistic objections. There is nothing problematic or mysterious about semantic normativity or normativity in general. But one needs to distinguish different types of normativity and recognize that statements of norms can be perfectly truth-apt. Concerning the second area of conflict, my verdict is (...) partly naturalistic. It rejects overly intellectualist accounts of the normative practices that underlie meaning and content. The article ends with a plea for an ‘anthropological’ naturalism that eschews both ontological supernaturalism and epistemological naturalism. (shrink)

This volume presents six lively conversations with Hans-Georg Gadamer, one of the twentieth century’s master philosophers. Looking back over his life and thought, Gadamer takes up key issues in his philosophy, addresses points of controversy, and replies to his critics, including those who accuse him of having been in complicity with the Nazis. A genial and direct conversationalist, Gadamer is here captured at his best and most accessible. The interviews took place between 1989 and 1996, and all but one (...) appear in English for the first time in this volume. The first three conversations, conducted by Heidelberg philosopher Carsten Dutt, deal with hermeneutics, aesthetics, and practical philosophy and the question of ethics. In a fourth conversation, with University of Heidelberg classics professor Glenn W. Most, Gadamer argues for the vital importance of the Greeks for our contemporary thinking. In the next, the philosopher reaffirms his connection with phenomenology and clarifies his relation to Husserl and Heidegger in a conversation with London philosopher Alfons Grieder. In the final interview, with German Nazi expert Dörte von Westernhagen, Gadamer describes his life as a struggling young professor in Germany in the 1930s and refutes accusations of his complicity with the Nazis. These conversations are a lucid introduction for readers new to the philosopher’s thought, and for experts they present an invaluable commentary on Gadamer’s most important themes. (shrink)

Books reviewed: Donald Davidson, Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective.

When applied to a family of sets, the term differentiation designates a measure of the totality of those members which appear in only one of the sets. This basic set theoretic concept involves the formation of intersections, unions, and complements of sets. However, populations as special kinds of sets may share types, but they do not share the carriers of these types; intersections of different populations are thus always empty. The resulting conceptual dilemma is resolved by considering the joint representation (...) of members of different populations that have the same type; populations then intersect with respect to joint representation of types. Two forms of representation reflect relative and absolute characteristics of differentiation by accounting for the distributions of types as relative frequencies within populations (as is commonly done) and as absolute frequencies (including effects of population sizes on differentiation), respectively. Corresponding classes of differentiation measures are developed, and existing measures are discussed in relation to these classes. In particular, the affinity of the measurement of distances between populations and the special case of differentiation of two-population families is examined in order to distinguish between the notions of distance and differentiation. (shrink)

A measure of association is introduced that is based on a conceptual rather than a model approach in order to ensure its broad applicability. The basis of the concept involves two variables or traits and of members of a population. The association of the -state with the -state is measured by the degree to which members of given -state share their -state. This formulation yields an index of association, which is applicable to all categories of traits, including discontinuous and continuous (...) traits as well as combinations of these. Complete association of one trait with the other is equivalent to the existence of a functional relationship of the second to the first trait. Therefore, the degree of association can be understood as the closeness of the relations between two variables to a non-specified functional relationship. This feature in connection with the asymmetry of the index attests its suitability for cause-effect analyses. In fact, the conceptual approach to the measurement of association yields a conclusive method of detection and description of functional relationships between variables together with a method for quantification of the strictness of these relationships. The legitimacy of the correlation coefficient and of disequilibrium indices as measures of association is briefly addressed. (shrink)

. Standard considerations of philosophy of science are reformulated in psychological terms and arguments, suggesting a fundamental change in life perspective: subjective experiences or introspective data are subject to motivational biases and therefore not admitted as objective empirical facts in science, However, we never experience objects or events of the external world, i.e., so called objective facts, but exclusively subjective percepts or mental events. They are merely assumed to, but may or may not be accurate or distorted mental representations of (...) objects or events of an external world. Accordingly, the latter are theoretical constructs, i.e., constructs of the fictitious but most successful predictive (implicit) theory, called external world, which seems to be constructed from regularities observed in mental events and serves as a reference fiction for, erroneously called empirical, tests of predictions of scientific theories. (shrink)

Hoewel René Descartes zijn leven lang onderdaan bleef van de Franse koning, verbleef hij vele jaren in de Republiek der Nederlanden. In veel opzichten paste hij zich aan de Nederlanden aan: hij beheerste de taal, kleedde zich naar de gewoonten van het land, had een groot aantal Nederlandse boezemvrienden en invloedrijke relaties en trad uitvoerig in discussie met Nederlandse geleerden. De bekendheid die hij in Frankrijk had verworven, zorgde ervoor dat hij voortdurend in de belangstelling stond. Terwijl zijn denken juist (...) gebaat was bij rust. Die omstandigheden vond hij in Nederland.0Filosoof en schrijver Hans Dijkhuis herleidt aan de hand van vele bronnen zo exact mogelijk de verblijfplaatsen van Descartes en beschrijft diens omgang met tijdgenoten. Veel van de episodes en gebeurtenissen komen in andere biografieën niet of nauwelijks aan de orde, maar zijn van belang voor een vollediger inzicht in zijn leven en denken. Zijn verblijf in Alkmaar is bijvoorbeeld grotendeels onbekend, maar vormde in zekere zin een keerpunt in zijn leven. (shrink)

Rudolf Carnap hat nur im Vorwort zum „Logischen Aufbau der Welt“ Bemerkungen zum Verhältnis seiner wissenschaftlichen Arbeit zur Kunst und Architektur seiner Zeit veröffentlicht. Aber sein emphatisches Bekenntnis zur Moderne der 20er-Jahre hat bisher nur selten Aufmerksamkeit in der philosophiegeschichtlichen Sekundärliteratur gefunden. In meinem Beitrag versuche ich in den ersten beiden Abschnitten, seinen kulturellen Hintergrund seit seiner Schul- und Studentenzeit zu skizzieren und dann seine persönlichen Kontakte und Austauschbeziehungen mit Vorkämpfern der Moderne wie Franz Roh und Siegfried Giedion zu beschreiben. (...) Nach diesen Vorbereitungen wird die Frage gestellt, ob und in wieweit Carnaps Philosophie selbst als ein Teil der Bewegung der Neuen Sachlichkeit verstanden werden kann oder sogar muss. Zur Beantwortung werden eine Reihe von Charakteristika dieses Zeitgeist-Phänomens aus den – gleichzeitig mit Carnaps „Aufbau“ erschienenen Werken der Genannten – herauspräpariert und dann untersucht, ob diese Kriterien sich auch im Werk Carnaps finden. Das Ergebnis ist, dass man ihn mit Fug und Recht als „Philosoph der Neuen Sachlichkeit“ bezeichnen kann. (shrink)