The present volume contains 14 contributions presented at a colloquium on "Structure and Approximation in Physical Theories" held at Osnabruck in June 1980. The articles are presented in the revised form written after the colloquium and hence also take account of the results of the discussion at the colloquium. It is a striking feature that the problem of approximation in physical theories has only recently found some attention in the philosophy of science, although the working physicist is con stantly confronted (...) with those questions. No interesting theory of exact science exactly fits its experimental data; almost every relation between different theories is an approximate one. There fore an adequate reconstruction of physical theories must take into account and conceptualize the moment of approximation. The majority of the articles in this book is centered around this subject. There are at least two elaborate, 'structuralistic' approaches to the formalization of physical theories in which the aspect of approximation has been incorporated: the approach due to P. Suppes, J. Sneed, W. Stegmuller ("S-approach") and the approach of G. Lud wig and his co-workers ("L-approach"). The articles in this book correspondingly fall into three classes: presentation, elaboration and critique of the L-approach [Hartkamper/Schmidt, Ludwig, Neumann, Werner, Schmidt, Mayr, Kamiah, Majer, Grafe] or of the S-approach [Moulines, Balzer, Cooke], and articles referring to both approaches or concerned with related matters [Scheibe, Pfarr, Castrigiano]. Of course, this is only a rough classification and each article must be appraised in its own right. (shrink)

This book presents a range of essays on the conceptual foundations of physicalism, mental causation and human agency, written by established and leading authors ...

A collaboration has been arranged for the preparation and publication in three dual-language volumes within the Hegel series presently in preparation by Fr. Frommanns Verlag of new critical editions of Hegel’s 1821 Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion, to be included in one volume with the up to now unpublished first form of his Encyclopedia, and Hegel’s 1824 Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion, in two volumes. The new German editions are to be prepared by Professor Dr. K.-H. Ilting. The (...) English translations are to be prepared by Professor Darrel E. Christensen. The anticipation is that the first of these editions will appear some time in 1973. (shrink)

Hermeneutik und Wissenschaftstheorie, die von unterschiedlichen Voraussetzungen ausgehen, konvergieren in ihrer Bemühung um die Sprache. Der universale Anspruch der Hermeneutik kann aber nicht sprachphilosophisch begründet werden, sondern liegt auf der Ebene einer Metatheorie der wissenschaftlichen Arbeit überhaupt. Diese Ebene ist von den positiven Wissenschaften aus, durch die in ihnen ansetzende hermeneutische Reflexion zu erreichen. Wird diese Reflexion von den historischen Geisteswissenschaften aus angestellt, zeigt sich für die Wissenschaften überhaupt, daß ihr Wirkungsfeld gesellschaftlich-geschichtlich strukturiert ist. Im Anschluß an die Kantische Erkenntnistheorie (...) lassen sich allgemeine Erkenntnisprinzipien gewinnen, die den gemeinsamen Boden wissenschaftlicher Tätigkeit und außerwissenschaftlicher individueller und gesellschaftlicher Lebenspraxis bestimmen. (shrink)

Der Band präsentiert bisher noch nie im Detail kommentierte Vortragstexte des Redners und Philosophen Dion von Prusa (um 40 - nach 111 n. Chr.), die ein Bild des Philosophen nicht als eines abstrakten Denkers, sondern als eines praktischen Ethikers zeichnen, der durch sein Auftreten die Menschen zum Überdenken und Korrigieren ihres Lebens anregt.