During the last years of his life, the mathematician Karl Menger worked on a biography of his father, the economist and founder of the Austrian School of Economics, Carl Menger. The younger Menger never finished the work. While working in the Menger collections at Duke University’s David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, we discovered draft chapters of the biography, a valuable source of information given that relatively little is known about Carl Menger’s life nearly a hundred years after (...) his death. The unfinished biography covers Carl Menger’s family background and his life through early 1889. In this article, we discuss the biography and the most valuable new insights it provides into Carl Menger’s life, including Carl Menger’s family, his childhood, his student years, his time working as a journalist and newspaper editor, his early scientific career, and his relationship with Crown Prince Rudolf. (shrink)

Deux questions sont abordées : l'individu peut-il conceptualiser sa mort? Celle-ci est-elle un mal? Trois problèmes sont soulevés : la nature de la mort, sa connaissance par l'individu et sa perception, ou non, comme un mal. L'auteur analyse les textes classiques anciens et contemporains traitant de l'approche de la mort, et se livre à une intégration critique des philosophes thanatologues.

In his?Proslogion?, Anselm presents a proof for God?s existence which has attracted a tremendous amount of scholarly attention. In spite of all that has been said about this proof and proofs for God?s existence more generally, scholarly consensus seems to dissipate when it comes to determining whether theistic proofs are persuasive and sound. In this article, I will argue that there is a way to provide compelling proof for the existence of God. To substantiate this claim, I will not attempt (...) to prove that God exists apart from His revelation in any of the ways that have been advocated by various philosophers of religion. Rather, I will endeavor to explain that Anselm?s approach to offering evidence for God?s existence is quite different from the approach that modern philosophers tend to attribute to him and to elaborate on what that approach involves by reading Anselm?s argument in the context of Augustine?s?De Trinitate? and the whole of the?Proslogion? (shrink)

Der Autor setzt sicht kritisch mit der Definition des so genannten personalen Todes auseinander und behauptet, dass die Negation der biologischen Dimension des Todes – entsprechend einer von Locke begründeten dualistischen Anthropologie, der sich zahlreiche zeitgenössische Bioethiker verschrieben haben – eine Banalisierung des menschlichen Todes darstellt. Der Autor nimmt einen biologistischen Standpunkt ein, wonach die Zerstörung des Körpers in dieser Welt gleichbedeutend ist mit dem Tod der Person. Er diskutiert in einem zweiten Schritt die Radikalisierung dieser biologischen Todesdefinition, die den (...) menschlichen Tod entpersonalisiert, indem sie ihn auf eine bloße natürliche Dysfunktion des menschlichen Organismus reduziert und sich weigert, in ihm ein Drama beziehungsweise ein Übel an sich zu sehen. (shrink)

For \(n\in \omega \), the weak choice principle \(\textrm{RC}_n\) is defined as follows: _For every infinite set_ _X_ _there is an infinite subset_ \(Y\subseteq X\) _with a choice function on_ \([Y]^n:=\{z\subseteq Y:|z|=n\}\). The choice principle \(\textrm{C}_n^-\) states the following: _For every infinite family of_ _n_-_element sets, there is an infinite subfamily_ \({\mathcal {G}}\subseteq {\mathcal {F}}\) _with a choice function._ The choice principles \(\textrm{LOC}_n^-\) and \(\textrm{WOC}_n^-\) are the same as \(\textrm{C}_n^-\), but we assume that the family \({\mathcal {F}}\) is linearly orderable (...) (for \(\textrm{LOC}_n^-\) ) or well-orderable (for \(\textrm{WOC}_n^-\) ). In the first part of this paper, for \(m,n\in \omega \) we will give a full characterization of when the implication \(\textrm{RC}_m\Rightarrow \textrm{WOC}_n^-\) holds in \({\textsf {ZF}}\). We will prove the independence results by using suitable Fraenkel-Mostowski permutation models. In the second part, we will show some generalizations. In particular, we will show that \(\textrm{RC}_5\Rightarrow \textrm{LOC}_5^-\) and that \(\textrm{RC}_6\Rightarrow \textrm{C}_3^-\), answering two open questions from Halbeisen and Tachtsis (Arch Math Logik 59(5):583–606, 2020). Furthermore, we will show that \(\textrm{RC}_6\Rightarrow \textrm{C}_9^-\) and that \(\textrm{RC}_7\Rightarrow \textrm{LOC}_7^-\). (shrink)

To the extent that contemporary literature can irritate common understandings of literature and the present, it can also function as a stimulus and corrective for literary studies that do not always already presuppose to know what literature is. This has recently become visible in confrontations with social media, in which literary and time-diagnostic modes of writing come together in different ways in experiments with digital tools, as in the context of more conventional forms of literature and corresponding theoretical discourses, to (...) produce what can be called »representing the present«. (shrink)

From the structure of quantum dynamics for closed and open systems, we describe several general results about information flow between interacting systems, which can be expressed in diagrammatic form. Conditions on information flow (e.g., that no information is transferred from system A to system B) imply that the overall dynamical evolution has a particular structure. We also remark that one simple type of two-qubit interaction, the unitary CNOT gate, cannot be represented by local operations and a single simultaneous information exchange.

Recent evidence from studies on DNA repair systems that are implicated in accelerated aging syndromes, have revealed a mechanism through which low levels of persistent damage might exert beneficial effects for both cancer prevention and longevity assurance. Beneficial effects of adaptive responses to low doses of insults that in higher concentrations show adverse effects are generally referred to as hormesis. There are numerous examples of hormetic effects ranging from mild stresses of irradiation to heat stress, hypergravity, pro‐oxidants, or food restriction. (...) Although the notion of hormesis is supported by many observations in various organisms, at least two major caveats have thus far prevented the application of hormesis for disease prevention in humans. First, the very nature of hormesis using toxins as a treatment regimen harbors the inherent danger of detrimental consequences. Second, the molecular mechanisms through which insults might exert beneficial effects have thus far remained elusive. Here, I discuss a mechanistic basis for hormesis and its implications for cancer prevention and healthy aging. (shrink)

The medieval Franciscan John Duns Scotus famously distinguished between two different wills, which are characterized by an affection for advantage or happiness and an affection for justice. He identified the source of his theory in the earlier medieval thinker, Anselm of Canterbury, who first articulated the distinction. This article will demonstrate, however, that there is significant disparity between Anselm and Scotus’ understanding of the two wills. To this end, the article will explore the two wills theory articulated by Scotus’ predecessors, (...) Alexander of Hales and John of La Rochelle, who together composed the so-called Summa Halensis, the founding text of the Franciscan intellectual tradition. These authors drew on John of Damascus’ distinction between thelesis and boulesis to delineate the theory that Scotus attributed to Anselm. However, their theory was just as distant from the Damascene’s original understanding as Scotus’ was from Anselm. In demonstrating this, the article seeks to highlight the originality of the Franciscan theory while at the same time allowing its sources to be interpreted on their own terms. (shrink)

This article outlines a new paradigm of inquiry, An alternative to the classical or newtonian paradigm. Essentially, The author presents kant's version of the classical paradigm, And asks what he would have said if he had confronted contemporary, Rather than classical, Physics. Kant distinguished two levels of judgment, Determinate and reflective, Each differently grounded. This distinction must now be overcome: all judgment becomes formative judgment, Unfolding orders of division out of the order of undivided wholeness. He then applies formative judgment (...) to some traditional, Philosophical questions, Such as how we ought to live. (shrink)

Background: Only data of published study results are available to the scientific community for further use such as informing future research and synthesis of available evidence. If study results are reported selectively, reporting bias and distortion of summarised estimates of effect or harm of treatments can occur. The publication and citation of results of clinical research conducted in Germany was studied.Methods: The protocols of clinical research projects submitted to the research ethics committee of the University of Freiburg in 2000 were (...) analysed. Published full articles in several databases were searched and investigators contacted. Data on study and publication characteristics were extracted from protocols and corresponding publications.Results: 299 study protocols were included. The most frequent study design was randomised controlled trial , followed by uncontrolled studies , laboratory studies and non-randomised studies . 182 were multicentre studies including 97 international collaborations. 152 of 299 had commercial funding and 46 non-commercial funding. 109 of the 225 completed protocols corresponded to at least one full publication ; the publication rate was 48%. 168 of 210 identified publications were cited in articles indexed in the ISI Web of Science. The median was 11 citations per publication .Conclusions: Results of German clinical research projects conducted are largely underreported. Barriers to successful publication need to be identified and appropriate measures taken. Close monitoring of projects until publication and adequate support provided to investigators may help remedy the prevailing underreporting of research. (shrink)

This book contributes to current bioethical debates by providing a critical analysis of the philosophy of human death. Bernard N. Schumacher discusses contemporary philosophical perspectives on death, creating a dialogue between phenomenology, existentialism, and analytic philosophy. He also examines the ancient philosophies that have shaped our current ideas about death. His analysis focuses on three fundamental problems: (1) the definition of human death, (2) the knowledge of mortality and of human death as such, and (3) the question of whether (...) death is nothing to us or, on the contrary, whether it can be regarded as an absolute or relative evil. Drawing on scholarship published in four languages and from three distinct currents of thought, this volume represents a comprehensive and systematic study of the philosophy of death, one that provides a provocative basis for discussions of the bioethics of human mortality. (shrink)

This chapter reviews neurophysiological and neuroanatomical investigations of information structural notions, with a view to working towards a neurobiologically grounded perspective. It first considers components of a neurobiologically plausible theory of information structure and outlines candidate mechanisms for higher-order cognitive processing, namely prediction and mental modelling, attention orientation, memory, and inferencing. The chapter then proceeds to neuroscientific investigations of information structure, highlighting differences between sentence- and text-level processing and discussing findings for the information structural notions of givenness, focus, and topic, (...) before presenting further insights from syntax-induced information structural effects. The chapter concludes with a discussion of neurobiological models of information structure processing. (shrink)

Minimum wages are usually assumed to be inefficient as they prevent the full exploitation of mutual gains from trade. Yet advocates of wage regulation policies have repeatedly claimed that this loss in market efficiency can be justified by the pursuit of ethical goals. Policy makers, it is argued, should not focus on efficiency alone. Rather, they should try to find an adequate balance between efficiency and equity targets. This idea is based on a two-worlds-paradigm that sees ethics and economics as (...) two inherently conflicting ways of thinking. We, however, believe that this view of the relationship between ethics and economics is fundamentally flawed and blurs our understanding of how an ethically responsible regulation of the labour market should be conducted. In drawing on an economic-ethical approach that resolves the antinomy between efficiency and equity, we show that ethics and economics are, in fact, two sides of the same coin and that minimum wage legislation can only be ethically responsible, if it is at the same time economically efficient. In other words, we can have our cake and eat it too. On the basis of our approach, we develop two simple game theoretical models for different types of labour markets and derive policy implications from an economic-ethical viewpoint. We suggest that under the assumption of perfectly competitive labour markets a tax-funded wage subsidy is preferable over minimum wages, as it makes everyone better off. If, however, employers have monopsony power in the wage setting process, the minimum wage is justifiable under certain conditions. (shrink)

Während in der Forschungsliteratur zu Berkeleys Theorien bis in die 70er Jahre des vergangenen Jahrhunderts Gesamtdarstellungen dominierten, in denen es wie zum Beispiel in den Monographien von A. A. Luce, Ian Tipton und George Pitcher um die Kritik oder Verteidigung seines Immaterialismus und direkten Realismus geht, konzentriert sich die Diskussion seit den 80er Jahren auf die Untersuchung historischer Entwicklungslinien sowie auf einzelne konzeptuelle und argumentative Beiträge Berkeleys zur Erkenntnistheorie und Metaphysik. Im folgenden wird anhand von drei zentralen Fragestellungen ein repräsentativer (...) Überblick über die Forschungsliteratur zu Berkeleys Philosophie gegeben: Auf welche Weise kritisiert Berkeley den Repräsentationalismus, und wie verteidigt er seinen Immaterialismus? Wird Berkeley seinem Anspruch gerecht, unserem Alltagsrealismus in wesentlichen Punkten Rechnung zu tragen? Wodurch zeichnet sich Berkeleys direkter Realismus aus? (shrink)

ABSTRACTIf war is an inevitable condition of human nature, as David Hume suggests, then what type of societies can best protect us from defeat and conquest? For David Hume, commerce decreases the relative cost of war and promotes technological military advances as well as martial spirit. Commerce therefore makes a country militarily stronger and better equipped to protect itself against attacks than any other kind of society. Hume does not assume commerce would yield a peaceful world nor that commercial societies (...) would be militarily weak, as many contemporary scholars have argued. On the contrary, for him, military might is a beneficial consequence of commerce. (shrink)

Schumaker (philosophy, science and technology department, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) examines how the terms of posture encompass all the major disciplines and investigates a variety of philosophical topics: abstract thought, ...

Corporations in the United States have been starting ethics programs for a variety of reasons both active and passive. Ethics officers are being charged with improving both company image and the level of ethical decision-making by employees. Thirty ethics officers from Fortune 500 firms were surveyed to develop a database of their duties and the companies' commitment to ethical standards. The results suggest much is being done, both in the diversity of responses and the similarities of commitment and duties.

Bernard Schumacher (Hrsg.) Jean-Paul Sartre: Das Sein und das Nichts 2003. XII, 267 S. ISBN 978-3-05-003236-8 Klassiker Auslegen, Bd. 22 Sartre ist unbestritten eine herausragende Gestalt der zeitgenössischen Philosophie, dessen Werk "Das Sein und das Nichts" zu den Klassikern der philosophischen Literatur gehört. Als bedeutendster Philosoph der Nachkriegszeit hat Sartre eine ganze Generation von Denkern geprägt. Ungeachtet zahlreicher Versuche, ihn herabzuwürdigen, aller Verachtung, allem Neid über seinen Erfolg und den vielen Anfechtungen und leidenschaftlich geführten Debatten, die seine philosophischen Positionen (...) auslösten, zum Trotz, ist Sartre der französische Autor des XX. Jahrhunderts, der am meisten studiert wird. In seinem Buch, dem Hauptwerk des französischen Existenzialismus, eröffnet Sartre völlig neue, befreiende Einsichten über die menschliche Freiheit, über Gefühle wie Scham und Begehren, über den Tod. Er bringt die Philosophie zurück auf die Straße. Dennoch ist die mehr als tausend Seiten umfassende Analyse des legendären Denkers nicht ganz einfach zu lesen. Der nunmehr vorliegende kooperative Kommentar gibt mit 13 Originalbeiträgen einen spannenden Überblick über den Inhalt des Werks und dokumentiert zugleich unterschiedliche Perspektiven der internationalen Sartre-Forschung. (shrink)

Bringing together different theoretical frameworks, the volume provides thought-provoking discussions of how the notion of context can be understood, modeled, and implemented in linguistics.