V. Hans

Early modern Europe was unusually rich by 1700, compared to the rest of the world. We argue that the 'European Marriage Pattern' (EMP) contributed to this phenomenon. By raising the marriage age of women, and ensuring that a substantial proportion remained celibate, the EMP reduced fertility by up to 40%, and raised average wages by a quarter. We present a model that explains how fertility limitation evolved. We emphasize changes in the production structure of the agricultural sector following the 14th century Black Death. Rising wages after 1349 translated into greater demand for 'luxury products', such as wool and meat. Their production was subject to economies of scale, making it profitable for large farms to hire outside labor. It was also land-using and labor-saving. Women's wages increased, and a period of working as a servant became a common feature of the life cycle of European women. Marriage was thus delayed, and fertility reduced. The Black Death set into motion a virtuous cycle of higher wages and fertility decline that contributed to unusually high per capita incomes.

This is a translation of the second work by Hans Vaihinger (1852-1833), first published in 1902. Its title, Nietzsche als Philosoph, may seem inconsequential to today’s readers but could have been shocking at the beginning of the twentieth century. Nietzsche had not yet been recognised as an authentic philosopher, which in the terms of the day meant the author of a philosophical system. As early as 1879, Alois Riehl had devoted an essay to him entitled: Friedrich Nietzsche. Der Künstler und der Denker. Ein Essay. In 1902, Rudolf Eisler published a work on Nietzsche’s metaphysics and theory of knowledge: Nietzsche’s Erkenntnistheorie und Metaphysik. Unlike these two authors, Vaihinger was the first to present the whole of Nietzsche’s thought systematically starting from its central core, thus showing that he can be considered and studied as a genuine philosopher. Vaihinger’s neo-Kantianism is particularly evident in his criticism of Nietzsche’s hierarchy of different types of human beings, in contrast to Kant’s recognition of the equal dignity of all human beings.

Spinozas Ethica ordine geometrico demonstrata (1677) lässt sich als häretische Antwort auf Descartes’ Schrift Les passions de l’âme (1649) lesen: Beide Werke beanspruchen für sich, eine umfassende Analyse des menschlichen Affekthaushaltes zu liefern, und beide Werke erschöpfen sich nicht in dieser Analyse, sondern möchten einen Ausweg aus der Dominanz negativer Stimmungen begründen. Sie können damit als Wegbereiter moderner Therapietheorien verstanden werden. Ein Blick auf die Therapeutik Sigmund Freuds zeigt, wie die Lektüre von Spinozas Ethik aus einer aktualisierenden Perspektive für aktuelle Diskurse der Lebenskunst fruchtbar gemacht werden kann.