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13Methodological Reflections on Exploring Beliefs in AnimalsJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 38 (2): 347-355. 2007.A theory of the beliefs of non-human animals is not closed to us, only because we do not have beliefs of their kind. Starting from a theory of human beliefs and working on a building block model of propositional attitudes a theory of animal beliefs is viable. Such a theory is an example of the broader conception of a heterophenomenological approach to animal cognition. The theory aims at outlining the crucial differences between human and animal beliefs as well as the relations between these att…Read more
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111Why and how to be a DialetheistStudia Philosophica Estonica 1 (2): 208-227. 2008.In the first part the paper rehearses the main arguments why to be a dialetheist (i.e. why to assume that some contradictions are true). Dialetheism, however, has been criticised as irrational or self-refutating. Therefore the second part of the paper outlines one way to make dialetheism rational assertable. True contradictions turn out to be both believable and assertable. The argument proceeds by setting out basic principles of assertion and denial, and employing bivalent truth value operators…Read more
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2021The following essay reconsiders the ontological and logical issues around Frege’s Basic Law (V). If focuses less on Russell’s Paradox, as most treatments of Frege’s Grundgesetze der Arithmetik (GGA)1 do, but rather on the relation between Frege’s Basic Law (V) and Cantor’s Theorem (CT). So for the most part the inconsistency of Naïve Comprehension (in the context of standard Second Order Logic) will not concern us, but rather the ontological issues central to the conflict between (BLV) and (CT).…Read more
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51Jan Wolenski , Essays on Logic and Its Applications in Philosophy . Reviewed byPhilosophy in Review 33 (2): 168-170. 2013.
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75In the last twenty years analytic philosophy has seen a rising interest in the philosophy of religion in general and in rational reconstructions of religion related arguments and Christian doctrines. In this short note I like to point to a problem that although cosmological arguments play a great role in the present discussion has not received the attention, I believe, it deserves.[1] An old objection to cosmological arguments, named “the Carriage Objection” by Schopenhauer[2], charges them as b…Read more
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30Coherence theories are regularly confronted with the objection that there can be many coherent systems, so that mere coherence is said to be insufficient as either the defining element of truth or even as a working criterion of truth. This objection has been called the “master objection”. If someone is taking coherence not only as a criterion supporting the truth of a theory, but as an ingredient to a definition of “true” she has to attack the master objection straight on
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37Eine Notiz zu den Argumentationsstrukturen in der „Widerlegung des Idealismus”Kant Studien 92 (1): 13-18. 2001.Kant spricht bezüglich der Widerlegung des Idealismus von einem „Beweis”. Das ist sicher der höchste Status, den er bereit ist, einem Argument zuzuschreiben. Diese Notiz hier soll zeigen, daß Kant diesen Anspruch zu Recht erhebt. Dazu reicht eine an der sprachlichen Oberflächenstruktur orientierte Formalisierung. Nun hat Kant natürlich die moderne Prädikatenlogik nicht gekannt, aber für den Gebrauch dieser Logik und ein dem gemäßes Räsonieren bedarf es bekanntlich ja auch nicht der ausdrückliche…Read more
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110C. S. Jenkins, Grounding Concepts: An Empirical Basis for Arithmetical Knowledge Reviewed byPhilosophy in Review 30 (3): 205-207. 2010.
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1Philip Hugly and Charles Sayward, Arithmetic and Ontology: A Non-Realist Philosophy of Arithmetic Reviewed byPhilosophy in Review 27 (3): 188-191. 2007.
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108In our dealings with animals at least most of us see them as conscious beings. On the other hand the employment of human categories to animals seems to be problematic. Reflecting on the details of human beliefs, for example, casts serious doubt on whether the cat is able to believe anything at all. These theses try to reflect on methodological issues when investigating animal minds. Developing a theory of animal mentality seems to be a test case of the interdisciplinary research programme in cog…Read more
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40Methodologische Überlegungen zu tierischen Überzeugungen / Methodological Reflections on Exploring Beliefs in AnimalsJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 38 (2). 2007.A theory of the beliefs of non-human animals is not closed to us, only because we do not have beliefs of their kind. Starting from a theory of human beliefs and working on a building block model of propositional attitudes a theory of animal beliefs is viable. Such a theory is an example of the broader conception of a heterophenomenological approach to animal cognition. The theory aims at outlining the crucial differences between human and animal beliefs as well as the relations between these att…Read more
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1050Transcendental Logic RedefinedReview of Contemporary Philosophy 7. 2008.Traditionally transcendental logic has been set apart from formal logic. Transcendental logic had to deal with the conditions of possibility of judgements, which were presupposed by formal logic. Defined as a purely philosophical enterprise transcendental logic was considered as being a priori delivering either analytic or even synthetic a priori results. In this paper it is argued that this separation from the (empirical) cognitive sciences should be given up. Transcendental logic should be und…Read more
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8Jordan Howard Sobel, Logic and Theism: Arguments for and against beliefs in God Reviewed byPhilosophy in Review 24 (5): 368-371. 2004.
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Savas L. Tsohatzidis, ed., John Searle's Philosophy of Language: Force, Meaning and MindPhilosophy in Review 29 (1): 69. 2009.
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141Restall and Beall on Logical Pluralism: A CritiqueErkenntnis 79 (S2): 293-299. 2014.With their book Logical Pluralism, Jc Beall and Greg Restall have elaborated on their previous statements on logical pluralism. Their view of logical pluralism is centred on ways of understanding logical consequence. The essay tries to come to grips with their doctrine of logical pluralism by highlighting some points that might be made clearer, and questioning the force of some of Beall’s and Restall’s central arguments. In that connection seven problems for their approach are put forth: (1) The…Read more
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54David Smith and Amie Thomasson, editors, phenomenology and philosophy of mindMinds and Machines 18 (3): 417-419. 2008.
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72Conceptual atomism of this type is incompatible with many other semantic approaches. One of these approaches is justificationist semantics. This book assumes conceptual atomism.
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60In this talk I consider two problems for conceptual atomism. Conceptual atomism can be defended against the criticism that it seems to contend that all concepts are simply innate (even technical concepts to pre-technological humanoids) by specifying the innateness thesis as one of mechanisms of hooking up mental representations (concepts as language of thought types) to properties in the world (§1). This theory faces a problem with non-referring expressions/concepts, it seems. Conceptual atomism…Read more
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William Byers, How Mathematicians Think: Using Ambiguity, Contradiction, and Paradox to Create MathematicsPhilosophy in Review 28 (2): 92-94. 2008.
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71The book discusses the fate of universality and a universal set in several set theories.
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127Lessons from Sartre for the Analytic Philosophy of MindAnalecta Husserliana 88 63-85. 2005.There are positive and negative lessons from Sartre: - Taking up some of his ideas one may arrive at a better model of consciousness in the analytic philosophy of mind; representing some of his ideas within the language and the models of a functionalist theory of mind makes them more accessible and inte¬grates them into the wider picture. - Sartre, as any philosopher, errs at some points, I believe; but these errors may be instruc¬tive, especially in as much as they mirror some errors in some c…Read more
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110Truth In Internal RealismIn Julian Nida-Rümelin (ed.), Rationality, Realism and Revision, . 1999.This essay deals with the concept of truth in the context of a version of internal realism . In §1 I define some variants of realism using a set of realistic axioms. In §2 I will argue that for semantical reasons we should be realists of some kind. In §3 I plead for an internalistic setting of realism starting from the thesis that truth is, at least, not a non-epistemic concept. We have to bear the consequences of this in form of a more complicated concept of truth. The "internal" of "internal r…Read more
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41Ist die transzendentalpragmatik letztbegründet oder holistisch?Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 26 (1). 1995.Is transcendental pragmatics a matter of ultimate foundation or a matter of holism? Transcendental pragmatics as developed by Karl-Otto Apel has been the object of various criticisms. Against the fallibilists' claim (Albert) that argumentation is at last either dogmatic, axiomatic or circular, the transcendental pragmatists have given an argument that ultimate foundation ('Letztbegründung') cannot be proved to be impossible. But this clarification of their claims leaves open the questions whethe…Read more
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599How are metarepresentations built and processedKriterion - Journal of Philosophy 26 (1): 22-38. 2012.This paper looks at some aspects of semantic metarepresentation. It is mostly concerned with questions more formal, concerning the representation format in semantic metarepresentations, and the way they are processed. Section 1 distinguishes between metacognition and metarepresentation in a narrow and broad sense. Section 2 reminds the reader of some main areas where metarepresentations have to be used. The main part considers the ways that metarepresentations are built and processed. Section 3 …Read more
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6„Philosophie im interdisziplinären Dialog“. Bericht über die Tagung des Forums für Philosophie der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Philosophie e.V. in Dortmund, 29. September – 3. Oktober 2004 (review)Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Philosophie 30 (1): 109-115. 2005.
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95Do Cats Have Beliefs?In Stephen Hales (ed.), What Philosophy Teaches You about Your Cat, . 2008.In our dealings with our pets, and larger animals in general, at least most of us see them as conscious beings. We say “the cat feels pain” ascribing sensation. We notice “My cat wants to get in the kitchen because she thinks there is some cheese left” ascribing beliefs and desires. Explanations likes these can be employed on a variety of occasions, and usually we are content with what they say. We seem to understand why our cat is doing what she does. On the other hand the employment of human c…Read more
University of Cologne
PhD, 1993
Areas of Specialization
Logic and Philosophy of Logic |
Epistemology |
Areas of Interest
Logic and Philosophy of Logic |
Science, Logic, and Mathematics |