Context: By proposing to regard objects as “tokens for eigenbehavior,” von Foerster’s seminal paper opposes the intuitive subject-object dualism of traditional philosophy, which considers objects to be instances of an external world Problem: We argue that this proposal has two implications, one for epistemology and one for the demarcation between the natural sciences and the humanities. Method: Our arguments are based on insights gained in computational models and from reviewing the contributions to this special issue. Results: Epistemologically, von Foerster’s proposal (...) suggests that what is called “reality” could be seen as an ensemble of eigenforms generated by the eigenbehavior that arises in the interaction of multiple dynamics. Regarding science, the contributions to this special issue demonstrate that the concept of eigenbehavior can be applied to a variety of disciplines from the formal and natural sciences to the humanities. Its universal applicability provides a strong argument for transdisciplinarity, and its emphasis on the observer points in the direction of an observer-inclusive science. Implications: Thinking in eigenbehavior may not only have implications for tearing down the barriers between sciences and humanities, a better understanding of eigenbehaviors may also have profound effects on our understanding of ourselves. This also opens the way to innovative behavior design/modification technologies. (shrink)

-- II. Allgemeine Gesellschaftstheorie, Theorie und Gesellschaftswissenschaften, in je zwei Fassungen -- III. Materialien zur Philosophie der konkreten Subjektivität, Erkenntnsstherorie.

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This paper describes the local context of Kant’s scientific education. It provides an informed sense of what Kant’s scientific training was like by presenting each relevant member of the philosophy faculty at the university in Königsberg where Kant was a student, and the scientific activities each one was engaged in. On the basis of this picture, it is argued that Kant’s relationship with one of his teachers, Martin Knutzen, may have been much more negative or critical than is typically supposed. (...) This evaluation has important implications especially for understanding Kant’s early works in natural philosophy. (shrink)

This work investigates the role of semantic clause types and modality in argumentative texts. We annotate argumentative microtexts with situation entity (SE) classes and additionally label the segm...

The unusual occurrence and developmental diversity of asexual eukaryotes remain a puzzle. De novo formation of a functioning asexual genome requires a unique assembly of sets of genes or gene states to disrupt cellular mechanisms of meiosis and gametogenesis, and to affect discrete components of sexuality and produce clonal or hemiclonal offspring. We highlight two usually overlooked but essential conditions to understand the molecular nature of clonal organisms, that is, a nonrecombinant genomic assemblage retaining modifiers of the sexual program, and (...) a complementation between altered reproductive components. These subtle conditions are the basis for physiologically viable and genetically balanced transitions between generations. Genomic and developmental evidence from asexual animals and plants indicates the lack of complementation of molecular changes in the sexual reproductive program is likely the main cause of asexuals' rarity, and can provide an explanatory frame for the developmental diversity and lability of developmental patterns in some asexuals as well as for the discordant time to extinction estimations. (shrink)

Se aborda la idea de razón pública, atendiendo en particular a su concomitante ideal de razonabilidad. Se expone la continuidad de esta noción desde John Locke a John Rawls, destacando su vínculo con la religiosidad doctrinalmente minimalista de la tradición erasmista. Se cuestiona que, dado tal vínculo, esta ida pueda servir de criterio para evaluar la presencia de otras voces religiosas en la vida pública. The article addresses the idea of public reason, treating in particular its concomitant ideal of reasonableness. (...) It exposes the continuity of this notion from John Locke to John Rawls, highlighting its connection to the minimalist doctrinal religiosity of the Erasmist tradition. It questions if this idea can serve as criteria to evaluate the presence of other religious voices in public life, given this connection. (shrink)

The fine arts are considered as one of several pathways toward insight, knowledge, and understanding. My reflections on this are deliberately not based on aesthetics or on philosophy of art. Speculations on fine art observe two characteristics of specific epistemic processes: first, a tacit knowledge that is not enunciated by ordinary language and, second, a present and effective logic, which has a different pattern from the logic of scientific knowledge. The latter leads to change because it is built upon accumulated (...) knowledge, whereas in the arts, change leads to knowledge as creative processes guide us toward what we do not know, and this challenges what we do know. (shrink)

Präsenz und Distanz: von diesem Verhältnis handelt die Phänomenologie, wenn sie sich, behutsam beschreibend, der Lebenswelt und dem Zeitbewußtsein zuwendet. Lebensweltliches Leben ist unmittelbare Anschauung am Anfang des Übergangs zu begrifflichem Denken und symbolischen Repräsentanten, ist ursprüngliche Einheit und beginnendes Auseinander von subjektivem Erlebnis und objektiver Realität. All unsere Erlebnisse aber kommen und gehen in der Zeit des Bewußtseins. Sie ist die Form eines Fließens, in dem uns der Augenblick der Gegenwart erst nachträglich faßbar wird; er erweist sich als der (...) immer schon vergangene Anfang einer Nah-Erinnerung, die beides zugleich ist: Noch-Gegenwart und Schon-Vergangenheit: Präsenz gibt es erst im Abstand von ihr. - Mit dem, was unser bewußtes Leben zuunterst trägt und zuinnerst hält, befassen sich die Beschreibungen und Interpretationen dieses Buches: mit dem lebensweltlichen Grund und der zeitlichen Form. (shrink)

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Karl Popper hat sich in vielen Schriften immer wieder mit der Quantenmechanik auseinandergesetzt. Eine Reihe dieser Arbeiten sind in physikalischen Zeitschriften erschienen und viele Physiker nahmen darauf Bezug. Selbst wenn Popper Experimente vorschlug, ging es ihm aber nicht um die Weiterentwicklung der Physik, sondern um die Interpretation der Quantentheorie, d. h. um methodologische, erkenntnistheoretische und metaphysische Fragen, die durch sie aufgeworfen werden.Über solche Interpretationsfragen gab es von Anfang an unterschiedliche Auffassungen, die vor allem durch die sog. Bohr-Einstein-Debatte bekannt geworden sind. (...) In dieser Auseinandersetzung hat sich Karl Popper mit seiner erkenntnistheoretischen Kritik an der Kopenhagener Interpretation auf die Seite Einsteins gestellt, eine Teilcheninterpretation der Quantenobjekte favorisiert und in diesem Zusammenhang seine Propensitätsinterpretation der Wahrscheinlichkeit entwickelt.Der Beitrag diskutiert Poppers Ideen zur Quantentheorie, vor allem die, die mit Einsteins Themen zu tun haben. Ausgespart bleiben Poppers Überlegungen zur Quantenlogik und zur Nicht-Lokalität der Quantentheorie, wie sie bei verschränkten Zuständen sichtbar wird. Er untersucht die philosophischen Motive für Poppers Kritik an der damaligen Standardauffassung und die Bedeutung, die Albert Einstein für die Entwicklung von Poppers eigener Position hatte. In einem weiteren Schritt wird skizziert, wie Poppers Vorschläge aus der Sicht der gegenwärtigen Philosophie der Physik bewertet werden. Dabei zeigt sich, dass Poppers spezielle physikalische Vorschläge zur Quantenmechanik und ihrer Interpretation heute eher kritisch gesehen werden, seine philosophischen Motive dagegen in neueren Entwicklungen der Interpretationsdebatte weitgehend erfüllt worden sind, wenn auch auf anderen Wegen als er dachte. (shrink)

Summary In this report on the present state of the discussion about the interpretation of quantum mechanics an attempt is made to provide an idea of the philosophical relevance of the foundations of physics. A simplified model of the measuring process is given which shows the difficulties in the interpretation of quantum mechanics. It is argued against Bohr's solution (also in a version of H. Putnam). Two examples show possible philosophical consequences of quantum mechanics: The variety of quantum logics challenges (...) the foundations of logic, the paradox of Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen (with Bell's inequality) may be interpreted along the lines of holism. Against alleged refutations of realism by means of quantum mechanics, a realist standpoint is maintained. A proper interpretation of quantum mechanics from an epistemological point of view seems still to be lacking. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Eric Voegelin’s intellectual project has typically been described as involved in the rehabilitation of classical political philosophy and in the diagnosis of Gnostic tendencies in modernity. In his work, however, he repeatedly points to the late-medieval/early modern concept of toleration as a necessary addition to the Platonic-Aristotelian legacy he was concerned with retrieving. This article explores Voegelin’s understanding of toleration, and especially its Bodinian origins. As the article demonstrates, his understanding of toleration is deeply intertwined with a Bodinian understanding (...) of religion, and as such it may be more difficult to integrate with other elements of Voegelin’s thought than he himself believed. (shrink)

The chapter provides an overview of the interaction between quantification and information-structural properties, especially focus, givenness, and topic. While quantification affects truth conditions, information-structuring devices can have an effect on the interpretation of quantificational expressions. After a short introduction to the nature of quantification, the chapter covers the main areas where such effects have been identified, in particular in adverbial quantification, in generic clauses, in conditional sentences, and in sentences with nominal quantification, including intersective determiners and comparative determiners like most. (...) It reviews different theoretical proposals how this sensitivity to information-structural categories arises, in particular whether they are related to focus or givenness. It also discusses cases in which the quantifier itself is topical, given, or focused. (shrink)

Der vorliegende dritte Band der Briefedition dokumentiert den Briefwechsel der Jahre 1734 und 1735. Mit seiner Ernennung zum Professor für Logik und Metaphysik und seiner Heirat mit Luise Adelgunde Victorie Kulmus ist Gottsched Mitte der 1730er Jahre in Leipzig fest etabliert. Die Briefe bieten wichtige Einblicke in die Entwicklung der von ihm geleiteten Deutschen Gesellschaft (vor allem zu dem von ihr herausgegebenen ersten Periodikum zur Literaturwissenschaft), in die Aufnahme und Wirkung seiner Werke, u.a. der Theaterstücke, und in seine Übersetzertätigkeit. Sie (...) sind daneben eine hervorragende Quelle für Studienbetrieb und Studentenleben des 18. Jahrhunderts. (shrink)