Gerhard Ernst - Böcker

This volume provides a framework for approaching and understanding mental normativity. It presents cutting-edge research on the ethics of belief as well as innovative research beyond the normativity of belief—and towards an ethics of mind. By moving beyond traditional issues of epistemology the contributors discuss the most current ideas revolving around rationality, responsibility, and normativity.The book’s chapters are divided into two main parts. Part I discusses contemporary issues surrounding the normativity of belief. The essays here cover topics such as control over belief and its implication for the ethics of belief, the role of the epistemic community for the possibility of epistemic normativity, responsibility for believing, doxastic partiality in friendship, the structure and content of epistemic norms, and the norms for suspension of judgment. In Part II the focus shifts from the practical dimensions of belief to the normativity and rationality of other mental states—especially blame, passing thoughts, fantasies, decisions, and emotions. These essays illustrate how we might approach an ethics of mind by focusing not only on belief, but also more generally on debates about responsibility and rationality, as well as on normative questions concerning other mental states or attitudes.The Ethics of Belief and Beyond paves the way towards an ethics of mind by building on and contributing to recent philosophical discussions in the ethics of belief and the normativity of other mental phenomena. It will be of interest to upper-level students and researchers working in epistemology, ethics, philosophy of action, philosophy of mind, and moral psychology.

Statistical mechanics attempts to explain the behaviour of macroscopic physical systems in terms of the mechanical properties of their constituents. Although it is one of the fundamental theories of physics, it has received little attention from philosophers of science. Nevertheless, it raises philosophical questions of fundamental importance on the nature of time, chance and reduction. Most philosophical issues in this domain relate to the question of the reduction of thermodynamics to statistical mechanics. This book addresses issues inherent in this reduction: the time-asymmetry of thermodynamics and its absence in statistical mechanics; the role and essential nature of chance and probability in this reduction when thermodynamics is non-probabilistic; and how, if at all, the reduction is possible. Compiling contributions on current research by experts in the field, this is an invaluable survey of the philosophy of statistical mechanics for academic researchers and graduate students interested in the foundations of physics.

This volume provides a framework for approaching and understanding mental normativity. It presents cutting-edge research on the ethics of belief as well as innovative research beyond the normativity of belief—and towards an ethics of mind. By moving beyond traditional issues of epistemology the contributors discuss the most current ideas revolving around rationality, responsibility, and normativity.The book’s chapters are divided into two main parts. Part I discusses contemporary issues surrounding the normativity of belief. The essays here cover topics such as control over belief and its implication for the ethics of belief, the role of the epistemic community for the possibility of epistemic normativity, responsibility for believing, doxastic partiality in friendship, the structure and content of epistemic norms, and the norms for suspension of judgment. In Part II the focus shifts from the practical dimensions of belief to the normativity and rationality of other mental states—especially blame, passing thoughts, fantasies, decisions, and emotions. These essays illustrate how we might approach an ethics of mind by focusing not only on belief, but also more generally on debates about responsibility and rationality, as well as on normative questions concerning other mental states or attitudes.The Ethics of Belief and Beyond paves the way towards an ethics of mind by building on and contributing to recent philosophical discussions in the ethics of belief and the normativity of other mental phenomena. It will be of interest to upper-level students and researchers working in epistemology, ethics, philosophy of action, philosophy of mind, and moral psychology.

With regard to historical linguistics, the study of romance languages enjoys the privilege of a long documentation history, which, with Latin as its basis, dates back almost three thousand years. This long tradition makes it possible to analyze nearly every language-historical aspect, as well as to develop methods and test theories without having to rely on speculation. Drawing upon this rich history, "Romanische sprachgeschichte (Romance Language History)" describes the systematic nature of spoken and written language in the Romance language area on the one hand, and on the other hand determines the conditionality of such human behaviour due to regional, social and situational conformities - themselves subject to the changing of times - and to culture-historical and literary determinants. With regard to both of these aspects, "Romanische Sprachgeschichte" breaks away from the typical focus on the history of the individual national Romance languages and adds a diachronic dimension to the continuum of language varieties within the Romance language area.Thematic parallels and contrastive analysis of the various Romance languages and language areas make it possible to observe and analyze divergences as well as convergences in language development under different socio-historical conditions. The main languages of publication are German and French. However, a few articles in Spanish and Italian are also included.

With regard to historical linguistics, the study of Romance languages enjoys the privilege of a long documentation history, which, with Latin as its basis, dates back almost three thousand years. This long tradition makes it possible to analyze nearly every language-historical aspect as well as to develop methods and test theories without having to rely on speculation. Drawing upon this rich history, "Romanische Sprachgeschichte" (Romance Language History) describes the systematic nature of spoken and written language in the Romance language area on the one hand, and on the other hand determines the conditionality of such human behavior due to regional, social and situational conformities - themselves subject to the changing of times - and to culture- historical and literary determinants. With regard to both of these aspects, "Romanische Sprachgeschichte" breaks away from the typical focus on the history of the individual national Romance languages and adds a diachronic dimension to the continuum of language varieties within the Romance language area.Thematic parallels and contrastive analysis of the various Romance languages and language areas make it possible to observe and analyze divergences as well as convergences in language development under different sociohistorical conditions. The main languages of publication are German and French.

The notion of “human rights” is widely used in political and moral discussions. The core idea, that all human beings have some inalienable basic rights, is appealing and has an eminently practical function: It allows moral criticism of various wrongs and calls for action in order to prevent them. On the other hand it is unclear what exactly a human right is. Human rights lack a convincing conceptual foundation that would be able to compel the wrong-doer to accept human rights claims as well-founded. Hence the practical function faces theoretical doubts.The present collection takes up the tension between the wide political use of human rights claims and the intellectual skepticism about them. In particular two major issues are identified that call for conceptual clarification in order to better understand human rights claims both in theory and in practice: the question of how to justify human rights and the tension between universal normative claims and particular moralities.

Nelson Goodman (1906-1998) was one of the outstanding thinkers of the 20th century. In a memorial note, Hilary Putnam considers him to be "one of the two or three greatest analytic philosophers of the post-World War II period". Goodman has left his mark in many fields of philosophical investigation: Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, Logic, Metaphysics, the General Theory of Symbols, Philosophy of Language and Philosophy of Art, all have been challenged and enriched by the problems he has shown up, the projects he developed from them and the solutions he has suggested. In August 2006 a couple of Goodman aficionados met in Munich to celebrate the Centennial. The proceedings of the ensuing international conference are documented in this volume. The contributions attest the fact that Goodman's thinking still holds many treasures.