First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Cette section contient les recensions que Rudolf Carnap, Moritz Schlick et Hermann Weyl ont données de l’ouvrage de Hugo Dingler : Physik und Hypothese. Versuch einer induktiven Wissenschaftslehre nebst einer kris­tischen Analyse der Fundamente der Relativitätstheorie [Dingler 1921]. Elles sont traduites par Christophe Bouriau en collaboration avec Oliver Sehlaudt et Gerhard Heinzmann.

In the fall of 1957 the University of California Press expanded Arnheim’s 1933 book _Film_ by four essays and brought that landmark work back into print as _Film as Art._ Now nearly fifty years after that re-edition, the book continues to occupy an important place in the literature of film. Arnheim’s method, provocative in this age of technological wizardry, was to focus on the way art in film was derived from that medium’s early limitations: no sound, no color, no three-dimensional (...) depth. (shrink)

While sublimation is not the first word in psychoanalysis, it nevertheless constitutes the final aim of psychoanalytic thought in both its clinical and theoretical orientations. Indeed, if psychoanalysis is primarily a practice whose aim is to alleviate a patient’s sufferings, and if these sufferings are largely the result of a conflict between the exigencies of an individual’s drives and the necessities of a civilized social life, then effective therapeutic action presupposes some knowledge of the way in which such a conflict (...) might be resolved.Yet the concept of sublimation not only exhibits the ultimate horizon, the aim or even the ethical norm of therapeutic action, it also provides a striking outline of the conception which psychoanalytic theory has of the human being. Sublimation cannot be understood without a previous understanding of such key psychoanalytic concepts as the unconscious, drive and desire, sexuality and pleasure, dream and reality. Tying together the ultimate ends of psychoanalytic therapy with the first principles of ‘Freudian metapsychology’, a study of the notion of sublimation invites us not only to take an overall view of psychoanalytic theory, but also to test its coherence.It would not, then, be an exaggeration to say that the value of psychoanalysis as theory and as practice depends essentially on its ability to think sublimation and, more specifically, to think the relation between the economy of a singular libidinal body and the demands of a cultural life accomplished within a symbolic field transcending the individual. (shrink)

From the Introduction: The papers collected in this book are based on the assumption that art, as any other activity of the mind, is subject to psychology, accessible to understanding, and needed for any comprehensive survey of mental functioning. The author believes, furthermore, that the science of psychology is not limited to measurements under controlled laboratory conditions, but must comprise all attempts to obtain generalizations by means of facts as thoroughly established and concepts as well defined as the investigated situation (...) permits. Therefore the psychological findings offered or referred to in these papers range all the way from experiments in the perception of shape or observations on the art work of children to broad deliberations on the nature of images or of inspiration and contemplation. It is also assumed that every area of general psychology calls for applications to art. The study of perception applies to the effects of shape, color, movement, and expression in the visual arts. Motivation raises the question of what needs are fulfilled by the production and reception of art. The psychology of the normal and the disturbed personality searches the work of art for manifestations of individual attitudes. And social psychology relates the artist and his contribution to his fellow men. A systematic book on the psychology of art would have to survey relevant work in all of these areas. My papers undertake nothing of the kind. They are due to one man's outlook and interest, and they report on whatever happened to occur to him. They are presented together because they turn out to be concerned with a limited number of common themes. Often, but unintentionally, a hint in one paper is expanded to full exposition in another, and different applications of one and the same concept are found in different papers. I can only hope that the many overlappings will act as unifying reinforcements rather than as repetitions. These papers represent much of the output of the quarter of a century during which I have been privileged to live, study, and teach in the United States. To me, they are not so much the steps of a development as the gradual spelling-out of a position. For this reason, I have grouped them systematically, not chronologically. For the same reason, I did not hesitate to change the words I wrote years ago wherever I thought I could clarify their meaning. Removed from my original intimacy with the content, I approached the text as an unprepared reader, and when I stumbled, I tried to repair the road. In some instances, I recast whole sections, not in order to bring them up to date, but in the hope of saying better what I meant at the time. Some of the earlier papers led to my book, _Art and Visual Perception_, which was written in 1951 and first published in 1954- Sections of the articles on perceptual abstraction, on the Gestalt theory of expression, and on Henry Moore are incorporated in that book. Others continued where the book left off, for instance, the attempts to describe more explicitly the symbolism conveyed by visual form. The short piece on inspiration provided the substance for the introductory chapter on creativity in my more recent book, Picasso's Guernica. Finally, in rereading the material, I was surprised to find how many passages point to what is shaping up as my next task, namely, a presentation of visual thinking as the common and necessary way of productive problem solving in any human activity. Ten of the papers in this book were first published in the _Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism_. To mention this is to express my indebtedness to the only scholarly periodical in the United States devoted to the theory of art. In particular, Thomas Munro, its first editor, showed a great trust in the contribution of psychology. He made me feel at home among the philosophers, art historians, and literary critics whose lively propositions inhabit the hostel he founded and sustained. To him, as well as to my friends of the University of California Press, who are now publishing my fourth book, I wish to say that much of what I thought about in these years might not have been cast into final writing, had it not been for their sympathy, which encouraged the novice and keeps a critical eye on the more self-assured pro. There are a few scientific papers here, originally written for psychological journals but free, I hope, of the terminological incrustation that would hide their meaning from sight. There are essays for the educated friend of the arts. And there are speeches, intended to suggest practical consequences for art education, for the concerns of the artist, and for the function of art in our time. These public lectures are hardly the products of a missionary temperament. In fact, I marveled why anybody would go to a theorist for counsel, illumination, and reassurance in practical matters. However, when I responded to such requests I noticed, bewildered and delighted, that some of my findings pointed to tangible applications, which were taken to be useful. (shrink)

This essay is an attempt to reconcile the disturbing contradiction between the striving for order in nature and in man and the principle of entropy implicit in the second law of thermodynamics - between the tendency toward greater organization and the general trend of the material universe toward death and disorder.

From the Introduction: The papers collected in this book are based on the assumption that art, as any other activity of the mind, is subject to psychology, accessible to understanding, and needed for any comprehensive survey of mental functioning. The author believes, furthermore, that the science of psychology is not limited to measurements under controlled laboratory conditions, but must comprise all attempts to obtain generalizations by means of facts as thoroughly established and concepts as well defined as the investigated situation (...) permits. Therefore the psychological findings offered or referred to in these papers range all the way from experiments in the perception of shape or observations on the art work of children to broad deliberations on the nature of images or of inspiration and contemplation. It is also assumed that every area of general psychology calls for applications to art. The study of perception applies to the effects of shape, color, movement, and expression in the visual arts. Motivation raises the question of what needs are fulfilled by the production and reception of art. The psychology of the normal and the disturbed personality searches the work of art for manifestations of individual attitudes. And social psychology relates the artist and his contribution to his fellow men. A systematic book on the psychology of art would have to survey relevant work in all of these areas. My papers undertake nothing of the kind. They are due to one man's outlook and interest, and they report on whatever happened to occur to him. They are presented together because they turn out to be concerned with a limited number of common themes. Often, but unintentionally, a hint in one paper is expanded to full exposition in another, and different applications of one and the same concept are found in different papers. I can only hope that the many overlappings will act as unifying reinforcements rather than as repetitions. These papers represent much of the output of the quarter of a century during which I have been privileged to live, study, and teach in the United States. To me, they are not so much the steps of a development as the gradual spelling-out of a position. For this reason, I have grouped them systematically, not chronologically. For the same reason, I did not hesitate to change the words I wrote years ago wherever I thought I could clarify their meaning. Removed from my original intimacy with the content, I approached the text as an unprepared reader, and when I stumbled, I tried to repair the road. In some instances, I recast whole sections, not in order to bring them up to date, but in the hope of saying better what I meant at the time. Some of the earlier papers led to my book, _Art and Visual Perception_, which was written in 1951 and first published in 1954- Sections of the articles on perceptual abstraction, on the Gestalt theory of expression, and on Henry Moore are incorporated in that book. Others continued where the book left off, for instance, the attempts to describe more explicitly the symbolism conveyed by visual form. The short piece on inspiration provided the substance for the introductory chapter on creativity in my more recent book, Picasso's Guernica. Finally, in rereading the material, I was surprised to find how many passages point to what is shaping up as my next task, namely, a presentation of visual thinking as the common and necessary way of productive problem solving in any human activity. Ten of the papers in this book were first published in the _Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism_. To mention this is to express my indebtedness to the only scholarly periodical in the United States devoted to the theory of art. In particular, Thomas Munro, its first editor, showed a great trust in the contribution of psychology. He made me feel at home among the philosophers, art historians, and literary critics whose lively propositions inhabit the hostel he founded and sustained. To him, as well as to my friends of the University of California Press, who are now publishing my fourth book, I wish to say that much of what I thought about in these years might not have been cast into final writing, had it not been for their sympathy, which encouraged the novice and keeps a critical eye on the more self-assured pro. There are a few scientific papers here, originally written for psychological journals but free, I hope, of the terminological incrustation that would hide their meaning from sight. There are essays for the educated friend of the arts. And there are speeches, intended to suggest practical consequences for art education, for the concerns of the artist, and for the function of art in our time. These public lectures are hardly the products of a missionary temperament. In fact, I marveled why anybody would go to a theorist for counsel, illumination, and reassurance in practical matters. However, when I responded to such requests I noticed, bewildered and delighted, that some of my findings pointed to tangible applications, which were taken to be useful. (shrink)

Face à des enjeux planétaires qui se multiplient et à leurs pronostics de plus en plus inquiétants, les injonctions à agir vite s’imposent avec une certaine évidence. Si la proposition semble tenir du bon sens et ne pas nécessiter qu’on s’y arrête, il convient de prendre un peu de recul, au contraire. S’autoriser à prendre le temps : le temps de la déconstruction des évidences, à commencer par celle de la définition de l’urgence qui invite à de nouveaux engagements, suivi (...) d’un temps nécessaire à l’élaboration d’une réponse appropriée, et ainsi de suite… Sans parler du temps du partage nécessaire, dès lors que la cause se doit d’être collective et non simplement individuelle et personnelle. Sans remettre en cause la légitimité des alertes écologiques, il convient de réfléchir à des modalités d’action permettant tout à la fois des engagements fermes en matière de transformation sociale et la prise en compte d’imprévus. L’article conclut par la présentation de quelques innovations dans le domaine des projets urbains qui tentent de combiner ces deux enjeux. La discussion s’oriente pour finir par une réflexion sur la nécessité de renouer avec un art menacé, celui de faire société. (shrink)

English summary: Rudolf Steiners book Theosophy (1904) is regarded as the definitive account of the anthroposophical understanding of man (Menschenkunde). It documents how deeply Steiner delved into the theosophical world view of Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater around the turn of the century, seeking to harmonize them with the idealistic and developmental concepts of his own Philosophy of Freedom of 1894. The edition at hand reveals the rich textual development of this foundational work in Anthroposophy through several major reworkings (...) and critically contextualizes its concepts. Also included is a fragment of 1910 titled Anthroposophie which outlines Steiner's theory of the senses (Sinneslehre). German description: Die Theosophie (1904) stellt Rudolf Steiners klassische Darstellung der anthroposophischen Menschenkunde dar. Sie dokumentiert Steiners intensives Eintauchen in die theosophische Gedankenwelt Annie Besants und Charles Leadbeaters um die Jahrhundertwende und seinen Versuch einer Harmonisierung derselben mit seiner eigenen, stark vom deutschen Idealismus sowie von der Entwicklungslehre Ernst Haeckels gepragten Philosophie der Freiheit von 1894. Der vorliegende Band, der die wechselvolle Textgeschichte dieses Grundwerks der Anthroposophie dokumentiert und kritisch begleitet, wird erganzt durch die Fragment gebliebene Skizze einer anthroposophischen Sinneslehre (Anthroposophie) aus dem Jahre 1910. (shrink)

The paper offers an examination of the patterns of philosophizing in Slovakia. In the author’s view, its predominating feature is its receptivity, i.e. accepting the particular streams and conceptions of European philosophy. However, not all forms of receptivity are to be judged as mere imitativeness or plagiarism. In spite of its receptiveness the philosophizing in Slovakia very often included creative reinterpretations, modifications and applications.

A number of studies have shown reduced recall of specific autobiographical memories (AMs) in patients after attempted suicide, but in all of them the study samples were confounded with diagnoses of affective disorders. The present study aims to demonstrate impaired specific autobiographical memory in patients after a suicide attempt without a diagnosis of an affective disorder. Four groups were compared: (1) patients with an actual major depression and a suicide attempt; (2) patients after a suicide attempt without a lifetime history (...) of an affective diagnosis; (3) patients currently suffering from major depression without a suicide attempt; and (4) control persons not suffering from either of the two conditions during their entire life. Individuals with major depression and a suicide attempt showed reduced specificity of AM and, most importantly, patients with a suicide attempt—despite the absence of an affective disorder—were equally impaired with recall of specific AMs as were patients with major depression. The authors propose that reduced specific AM is a common vulnerability factor that can lead either to the development of an affective disorder and/or to a suicide attempt. (shrink)

Introduction to the Human Sciences carries forward a projected six-volume translation series of the major writings of Wilhelm Dilthey --a philosopher and historian of culture who has had a strong and continuing influence on twentieth-century Continental philosophy as well as a broad range of other scholarly disciplines. In addition to his landmark works on the theories of history and the human sciences, Dilthey made important contributions to hermeneutics and phenomenology, aesthetics, psychology, and the methodology of the social sciences. The Selected (...) Works will make accessible to English-speaking readers the full range of Dilthey's thought, including some historical essays and literary criticism. The series provides translations of complete texts, together with editorial notes, and contains manuscript materials that are currently being published for the first time in Germany.This volume brings together the various parts of the Introduction to the Human Sciences published separately in the German edition. Rudolf Makkreel and Frithjof Rodi have underscored the systematic character of Dilthey's theory of the human sciences by translating the bulk of Dilthey's first volume and his important drafts for the never-completed second volume. (shrink)

"O fim do direito é a paz, e o meio para atingi-lo é a luta. Enquanto o direito precisar estar pronto ante a agressão da injustiça, o que ocorrerá enquanto existir o mundo, não poderá ele poupar se da luta. A vida do direito é luta, uma luta dos povos, do poder do estado, das classes, dos indivíduos." O jurista Rudolf von Ihering expõe neste livro de 1872 sua ideia de que o direito não é cedido ao povo naturalmente, (...) mas sim que deve haver uma luta social para conquistá-lo. O autor expressa que o processo é de fato difícil e doloroso, contudo é justamente essa dor que desenvolve uma ligação mais forte e perene entre o Direito conquistado e o povo que sangrou para conquistá-lo. E vai além: essa luta seria não apenas um dever moral do indivíduo para consigo mesmo como também um dever cívico dele para com a sociedade. A luta pelo Direito tece críticas a todos os que sacrificam seus direitos individuais em nome de uma paz pessoal, e reafirma o poder e o dever de cada um perante a coletividade. Obra fundamental em tempos de mudanças sociais e jurídicas tão profundas. (shrink)