Leopold first discusses the conservation of natural resources in the southwestern United States in economic tenns, stressing, in particular, erosion and aridity. He then concludes his analysis with a discussion of the moral issues involved, developing his general position within the context of P. D. Ouspenky’s early philosophy of organism.

Gathers the pre-Sand Country Almanac writings of Aldo Leopold, showing that he was not born an ecologist, but evolved over time through experimentation and thought.

Traditional explanations of multistable visual phenomena (e.g. ambiguous figures, perceptual rivalry) suggest that the basis for spontaneous reversals in perception lies in antagonistic connectivity within the visual system. In this review, we suggest an alternative, albeit speculative, explanation for visual multistability – that spontaneous alternations reflect responses to active, programmed events initiated by brain areas that integrate sensory and non-sensory information to coordinate a diversity of behaviors. Much evidence suggests that perceptual reversals are themselves more closely related to the expression (...) of a behavior than to passive sensory responses: (1) they are initiated spontaneously, often voluntarily, and are influenced by subjective variables such as attention and mood; (2) the alternation process is greatly facilitated with practice and compromised by lesions in non-visual cortical areas; (3) the alternation process has temporal dynamics similar to those of spontaneously initiated behaviors; (4) functional imaging reveals that brain areas associated with a variety of cognitive behaviors are specifically activated when vision becomes unstable. In this scheme, reorganizations of activity throughout the visual cortex, concurrent with perceptual reversals, are initiated by higher, largely non-sensory brain centers. Such direct intervention in the processing of the sensory input by brain structures associated with planning and motor programming might serve an important role in perceptual organization, particularly in aspects related to selective attention. (shrink)

Leopold first discusses the conservation of natural resources in the southwestern United States in economic tenns, stressing, in particular, erosion and aridity. He then concludes his analysis with a discussion of the moral issues involved, developing his general position within the context of P. D. Ouspenky’s early philosophy of organism.

Le genre épigrammatique est connu pour son potentiel comique mais également pour la dimension ludique qu’il peut mettre en place. Cette étude s’intéresse précisément à ces deux aspects et à leur mise en relation au sein des épigrammes à caractère sexuel d’Ausone et de Claudien afin d’observer les interactions entre ces trois dimensions (comique, ludique, sexualité) mais également pour délimiter les moyens et les bornes du comique et du ludique.

Le décret de la Confédération des Insulaires pour le banquier Timôn de Syracuse (IG XII 5, 817) fait mention d’une opération financière dont il est montré ici qu’elle ne peut qu’avoir été une opération de change. Timôn avait changé aux Insulaires une importante somme d’argent sans leur faire payer de kollybos. Sur la base de divers parallèles (inscriptions d’Olbia, Delphes, Pergame et Mylasa), on démontre ensuite qu’à Délos le change était libre et ne faisait pas l’objet d’un monopole de la (...) cité, et que, de manière générale, le kollybos correspondait non pas à une taxe (même s’il devenait une taxe lorsqu’un État établissait un monopole de change) ou à une commission de change stricto sensu, mais à un agio de change, établi sur la base du cours du change entre espèces différentes. (shrink)

Correspondence should be addressed to David A. Leopold [email protected] the viewing of certain patterns, widely known as ambiguous or puzzle figures, perception lapses into a sequence of spontaneous alternations, switching every few seconds between two or more visual interpretations of the stimulus. Although their nature and origin remain topics of debate, these stochastic switches are generally thought to be the automatic and inevitable consequence of viewing a pattern without a unique solution. We report here that in humans such perceptual alternations (...) can be slowed, and even brought to a standstill, if the visual stimulus is periodically removed from view. We also show, with a visual illusion, that this stabilizing effect hinges on perceptual disappearance rather than on actual removal of the stimulus. These findings indicate that uninterrupted subjective perception of an ambiguous pattern is required for the initiation of the brain-state changes underlying multistable vision.Visual perception involves coordination between sensory sampling of the world and active interpretation of the sensory data. Human perception of objects and scenes is normally stable and robust, but it falters when one is presented with patterns that are inherently ambiguous or contradictory. Under such conditions, vision lapses into a chain of continually alternating percepts, whereby a viable visual interpretation dominates for a few seconds and is then replaced by a rival interpretation. This multistable vision, or 'multistability', is thought to result from destabilization of fundamental visual mechanisms, and has offered valuable insights into how sensory patterns are actively organized and interpreted in the brain1, 2. Despite a great deal of recent research and interest in multistable perception, however, its neurophysiological underpinnings remain poorly understood. Physiological studies have suggested that disambiguation of ambiguous patterns. (shrink)

In order to contribute to the consolidation in the field ofPositive Psychology, we reinvestigated the factor structure of top 10 positive emotions of Barbara Fredrickson. Former research in experimental settings resulted in a three-cluster solution, which we tested withexploratoryandconfirmatorymethodology against different factor models. Within our non-experimental data (N= 312), statistical evidence is presented, advocating for a single factor model of the 10 positive emotions. Different possible reasons for the deviating results are discussed, as well as the theoretical significance to various (...) subfields inPositive Psychology(e.g., therapeutical interventions). Furthermore, the special role ofawewithin the study and its implications for further research in the field are discussed. (shrink)

Most accounts of the derogatory meaning of slurs are semantic. Recently, Nunberg proposed a purely pragmatic account offering a compelling picture of the relation between derogatory content and social context. Nunberg posits that the semantic content of slurs is identical to that of neutral counterparts, and that derogation is a result of the association of slur use with linguistic conventions of bigoted speakers. The mechanism responsible for it is a special kind of conversational implicature. However, this paper argues that Nunberg’s (...) proposal suffers from technical and conceptual problems regarding the application of the concepts of implicature and convention. It is proposed that the implicature mechanism should be replaced by expressive commitment attribution. The account advocated here preserves crucial insights of Nunberg’s analysis, 25–48, 2013a, Analytic Philosophy 54, 350–363, 2013b; Bolinger Nous, 51, 439–462, 2017), giving them a firmer conceptual basis. It supports a distinction between derogation and offensiveness of slurs that improves on the one proposed by Hom and May, 293–313 2013), and sheds light on puzzling borderline cases: the use of slurs by ignorant speakers and controversies surrounding the status of some words as potentially slurs. (shrink)

This paper offers a general model of the semantics of lexicalized social meanings, i.e. semiotic properties of certain expressions in a socio-political context. Examples include slurs, problematically charged expressions such as inner city, as well as terms such as mother, which also carry implicit ideological associations. Insofar as their linguistic properties are concerned, social meanings can be construed as context-structuring devices: without introducing specific at-issue contents, they evoke background assumptions which shape the context of conversation. An inferentialist model of discourse (...) is developed to account for this effect, in which the discursive significance of an utterance is defined as the set of inferences it licenses relative to a discursive context. A discursive context is a set of propositions that can serve as auxiliary premises in material inferences, together with a salience ranking that makes some of these propositions more readily available and therefore more relevant to determining discursive significance. Social meanings are defined as functions on discursive contexts that modify the salience ranking, increasing the salience of certain assumptions and stereotypes. As a result, they impact the discursive significance of utterances indirectly and independently of at-issue contents. They are also largely independent of speaker intentions in virtue of the ideological nature of discursive contexts. (shrink)

“utopophobia” is a diverse and long-established phenomenon. Recent discussion of the notion of “realism” in political philosophy has illuminated one form that the fear of utopia can take—namely, suspicion and disapproval of normative standards that are unlikely ever to be achieved—but has not exhausted all that is of interest here.1 The present paper is concerned with a different variety of utopophobia: namely, the historically influential but not well-understood hostility of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels toward the provision of plans and (...) blueprints of the ideal society of the future.2There seems little doubt about the existence of this Marxian utopophobia. (Note that I use the.. (shrink)

La « parentalité » est une notion peu employée dans le milieu scolaire. Les relations parents-enseignants sont par ailleurs de plus en plus problématiques. À partir de situations d’analyse des pratiques avec des enseignants, l’auteur de cet article fait l’hypothèse que la prise en compte d’une « parentalité en souffrance » permettrait une évolution positive de ces relations. Les crises identitaires que traversent la famille et l’école viennent en effet complexifier et conflictualiser leurs relations et parfois créer de la confusion (...) dans leurs places respectives. La construction de nouvelles alliances suppose le dégagement d’espaces tiers propres à médiatiser ces relations. La prise en compte de la place particulière que représente l’école entre l’enfant et ses parents ainsi que l’élaboration du « parent interne » chez les enseignants constituent deux pistes de travail. Une « parentalité partagée » pourrait ainsi servir de base à des alliances à même de garantir une place à l’enfant ou adolescent devenu élève. (shrink)

„Keiner merkte, dass die Unterhaltung eigentlich nur schreiend vor sich ging …“ Das sind Tagebuchaufzeichnungen eines charakteristischen Abends im Alpbacherhof, wo man sich nach getaner Arbeit zu ausgiebigen Diskussionen beim Jazz-Abend zusammentraf, um über die aktuellsten Themen weiter zu debattieren. Es war in den 1970er Jahren, dass mir mehrmals die Gelegenheit geboten worden war, am Europäischen Hochschulforum in Alpbach teilzunehmen; es war die Zeit des kritischen Rationalismus und wir hörten Hans Alberts Ideen zum Positivismusstreit. Als junge Studentin nahm ich an (...) den Gesprächen teil, selbst wenn keine eigene Meinung im engeren Sinne vertreten werden sollte, sondern nur versucht wurde, die „großen Geister“ zu verstehen. Aber meist regte die Atmosphäre in dem prächtigen Alpendorf alle Teilnehmer zu Fragen, zu Kommentaren oder zu Widersprüchen an. (shrink)

Consciousness and Qualia is a philosophical study of qualitative consciousness, characteristic examples of which are pains, experienced colors, sounds, etc.

Given the apparent nondisplaceability and noncancellability of the derogatory content of slurs, it may appear puzzling that non-derogatory uses of slurs exist. Moreover, these uses seem to be in general available only to in-group speakers, thereby exhibiting a peculiar kind of context-sensitivity. In this paper the author argues that to understand non-derogatory uses we should consider slurs in terms of the kind of social practice their uses instantiate. A suitable theory of social practices has been proposed by McMillan. In typical (...) uses the practice is one of bigotry and discrimination. Non-derogatory uses are only possible to the extent that they consitute acts of an alternative, non-derogatory practice. In the core cases it must be a subversive practice of satire or reappropriation. The social identity of speakers is not an ultimately decisive factor but it is an important constitutive condition: most non-derogatory practices of slur-use can only be performed by a member of the target group. (shrink)

In welchen gesellschaftlichen Räumen können sich zeitgenössische literarische Werke entwickeln, in welchen wirksam werden? Auf welche Weise sind sie gesellschaftlich noch verankert? Gesellschaftlich im weitesten Sinn: in literarischen, künstlerischen, wissenschaftlichen, kulturkritischen, sozialen, politischen Räumen. Diese Fragen bildeten den Ausgangspunkt von einer von der Wiener Alten Schmiede angezettelten Veranstaltung, die zur zentralen Fragestellung nach der Zukunft des Romans führte. Wobei Leopold Federmair und Olga Martynova, den Hauptakteur: innen dieses als Briefwechsel angelegten Dialogs, die doppelte Stossrichtung des Begriffs Zukunft wichtig war: Welche (...) Zukunft hat das Genre Roman? Und: Welche Rolle wird die Zukunft (auch im Sinne von Utopie) in dieser literarischen Gattung künftig spielen?Ausgehend von einem Memo-Zettel Italo Calvinos mit Vorschlägen für eine Literatur des 21. Jahrhunderts entwickelte sich ein spannender Gedankenaustausch durchaus entlang der grossen Themen und grossen Namen der Literaturgeschichte, ohne jedoch in ein Namedropping zu verfallen und ohne die zentrale Frage der Formsuche und -findung aus den Augen zu verlieren. Wenn hier einer Weltliteratur das Wort geredet wird, dann im Sinne von welthaltig. Dieser von Martynova und Federmair in Gang gesetzte Briefroman wurde in einer zweiten Phase des Projekts von Peter Henisch und zwei jüngeren Autor:innen kommentierend fortgeführt: Anna Weidenholzer und Robert Stripling. In einer dritten und letzten Phase trafen sich die Protagonisten mit dem Dichter Ferdinand Schmatz unter der Diskussionsleitung von Kurt Neumann, um diese Expedition in die Zukunft - nein, nicht abzuschliessen, sondern - in ihrer Mehrstimmigkeit offen zu halten. (shrink)

Recent advancements in therapeutic and diagnostic medicine, along with the creation of large biobanks and methods for monitoring health technologies, have improved the prospects for preventing, treating, and curing illness. These same advancements, however, give rise to a plethora of ethical questions concerning good decision-making and best action. These ethical questions engage policymakers, practitioners, scientists, and researchers from a variety of fields in different ways. Collaborations between professionals in the medical and health sciences and the social sciences and humanities often (...) take an asymmetrical form, as when social scientists use ethnographic approaches to study the moral issues and practices of physicians. The ethics laboratory described in this article is a cross-sectoral and inter-disciplinary forum for collaborative investigation on important moral topics. It offers an experimental way of unpacking implied assumptions, underlying values, and comparable notions from different professional healthcare fields. The aim of this article is to present the ethics laboratory’s methodology. The article offers a model and a hermeneutical framework that rests on a dialogical approach to ethical questions. The model and the framework derive from a Danish research project, _Personalized Medicine in the Welfare State_. This article uses personalized medicine as a point of reference, though it offers an argument for the applicability of the model more broadly. (shrink)

In this paper I describe the place of naive realism in Russell’s changing accounts of perception. I argue ‎for the following conclusions: (1) The early period, 1898-1910: I am inclined to think that the naïve ‎realism that Russell embraced so enthusiastically early on may not have been intended as a naïve ‎realism about perception, but as a metaphysical or semantical thesis. (2) The Problems of Philosophy ‎‎(1912): Russell abandons naïve realism (if, in fact, he ever held it) and presents a (...) sense-datum version ‎of representative realism. (3) “On Matter” (1912): here we see Russell’s best attempt to defend ‎something very close to the standard doctrine of naïve realism. The objects of perception—the ‎‎“everyday material objects such as caterpillars and Cadillacs”—have, of course, undergone severe ‎reconstruction. But the resulting picture does capture the spirit of the doctrine. (4) The period from ‎‎1914 to 1927: though Russell’s thinking about perception underwent some significant changes during ‎this period—the sense datum theory is replaced by neutral monism—I try to show that the ‎distinction between the matter of physics and the thing of common sense is a constant feature of ‎Russell’s changing views. And I suggest that our perceptual relation the thing of common ‎sense (as logically reconstructed by Russell) can usefully be viewed as a limited sort of naïve realism. ‎‎(5) The period after 1927: the thing of common sense no longer features in Russell’s account of our ‎perceptual access to the world. The things we perceive are percepts, located in our private spaces. The ‎only material objects of which these percepts are parts are our brains. All other material objects are ‎beyond our perceptual reach and are accessible only via inference. This is the end of anything ‎resembling the traditional view of naïve realism in Russell’s account of perception. ‎. (shrink)

Zur klarstellung unserer pflichten.--Ästhetisches.--Selbstbesinnung.--Pfeiler der settlichkeit.--Bausteine der gluckseligkeit.--Moralisches.--Auf dem wege zum glauben.