Literary controversies are instructive both in themselves and by illuminating the historical contexts that surrounded them. The Zurich dispute between Johann J. Bottmer, Johann J. Breitinger, and J...

François Jullien’s idea of landscape in Chinese philosophy and art is taken from the refinement of highly literate writers and artists, unrelated to the techniques of location that find good sites and make places in landscape. This article is based on a study of fengshui (Chinese geomancy). It argues that fengshui is a practice of identifying not things or beings but moments and circumstances of a client. It works with an epistemology of pattern recognition, which is based on observation and (...) experience but does not test the truth of the signs that are the means of recognizing patterns. This epistemology of pattern recognition is not peculiarly Chinese but can also be found in building, urban planning, and the art of medical diagnosis. (shrink)

China has many religions. But rituals of local temples are none of these. They celebrate many gods and their powers to respond. Gods are invited as welcome guests by appropriate rituals of welcome and communication. Other rituals pacify ghosts and harmful powers. These rituals are rich with their own poetry, a poetry of performance, not just of contemplation. Interpreting this poetry demands revision of theories of ritual and religion. The author has spent over four decades studying Chinese ritual and religion (...) through observation in contemporary China and Taiwan, constantly revising and rethinking theories of religion, ritual and their role in different political regimes.". (shrink)

An analysis is presented of the significance and consequent limitations on the applicability of the von Neumann measurement postulate in quantum mechanics. Directly observable quantities, such as the expectation value of the velocity operator, are distinguished from mathematical constructs, such as the expectation value of the canonical momentum, which are not directly observable. A simple criterion to distinguish between the two types of operators is derived. The non-observability of the electromagnetic four-potentials is shown to imply the non-measurability of the canonical (...) momentum. The concept of a mechanical gauge is introduced and discussed. Classically the Lagrangian is nonunique within a total time derivative. This may be interpreted as the freedom of choosing a “mechanical” (M) gauge function. In quantum mechanics it is often implicitly assumed that the M-gauge vanishes. However, the requirement that directly observable quantities be independent of the arbitrary mechanical gauge is shown to lead to results analogous to those derived from the requirement of electromagnetic gauge independence of observables. The significance of the above to the observability of transition amplitudes between field-free energy eigenstates in the presence (and absence) of electromagnetic fields is discussed. E- and M-gauge independent transition amplitudes between field-free energy eigenstates in the absence of electromagnetic fields are defined. It is shown that, in general, such measurable amplitudes cannot be defined in the presence of externally applied time-dependent fields. Transition amplitudes in the presence of time-independent fields are discussed. The path dependence of previous derivations of E-gauge independent Hamiltonians and/or transition amplitudes in the presence of electromagnetic fields are related to the inherent M-gauge dependence of these quantities in the presence of such fields. (shrink)

The edition illustrates the correspondence between Martin Buber and Ludwig Feuchtwanger and is based on four unpublished letters from the Leo Baeck Institute and the National Library Jerusalem. Among the documents included, Feuchtwanger's review of Buber's book on the origins and historical dynamic of messianism clarifies different aspects of the historical context as does the previously unknown letter from Franz Rosenzweig addressed to Ludwig Feuchtwanger.

This essay points out the great importance of the recently published exchange of letters between Carl Schmitt and his publisher Ludwig Feuchtwanger. Using unknown letters, it also outlines Schmitt's relationship with Jewish intellectuals before 1933, describes the dramatic development of the political-theological controversy, and honors Feuchtwanger as a postassimilationist Jewish intellectual and legal historian.

J.S. Mill's plural voting proposal in Considerations on Representative Government presents political theorists with a puzzle: the elitist proposal that some individuals deserve a greater voice than others seems at odds with Mill's repeated arguments for the value of full participation in government. This essay looks at Mill's arguments for plural voting, arguing that, far from being motivated solely by elitism, Mill's account is actually driven by a commitment to both competence and participation. It goes on to argue that, for (...) Mill, much of the value of political participation lies in its unique ability to educate the participants. That ability to educate is not, however, a product of participation alone; rather, for Mill, the true educative benefits of participation obtain only when competence and participation work together in the political sphere. Plural voting, then, is a mechanism for allowing Mill to take advantage of the educative benefits that arise from the intersection of competence and participation. (shrink)

J M Tarrant; J. Wilson and B. Cowell on the Democratic Myth, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 18, Issue 1, 30 May 2006, Pages 123–127, https://doi.org.

Thomas J.J. Altizer is one of the most important theologians of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and all radical theology must pass through and be conversant with his work and the historical significance of his earlier contributions. This chapter presents Altizer’s essential ideas in a straightforward and accessible manner and provides a guide for the beginning reader.

The texts collected in this volume, which was originally published in 1969, contain Herder's most original and stimulating ideas on politics, history and language. They had for the most part not been previously available in English. In his introduction, Professor Barnard analyses the basic premises of Herder's political thought against the background of the Enlightenment. He examines Herder's concepts of language, community and culture, his theory of historical interaction, and his approach to the problem of change and progress. Finally, he (...) provides a brief comparative analysis of traditionalist thought following the French Revolution, showing how substantive writers like Burke differed from Herder despite the close similarity of political vocabulary. (shrink)