Tomoe Nakamura

This article explores the genealogical and metaphysical grounds for the positive re-evaluation of the concept of “confusion”, which played a vital role in Baumgarten’s foundation of aesthetics as scientia cognitionis sensitivae. First, a reconsideration of Descartes’ and Leibniz’ conceptualisations of “confusion” attempts to identify the place of Baumgarten’s aesthetics within the rationalistic dilemma of evaluating moral and art-related thinking. Secondly, the way in which Baumgarten attempted to resolve the dilemma is explored by a close examination of his concept of “the aesthetic” and of how the concept changed in the course of his writings. The ultimate purpose of this article lies in illuminating an aspect of Baumgarten’s aesthetics, that is, an attempt to synthesize the cognitive and the ethical by means of a re-configuration o f the concept of “confusion”.

Excited states in Si38,40,42 nuclei have been studied via in-beam γ-ray spectroscopy with multinucleon removal reactions. Intense radioactive beams of S40 and S44 provided at the new facility of the RIKEN Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory enabled γ-γ coincidence measurements. A prominent γ line observed with an energy of 742 keV in Si42 confirms the 2 + state reported in an earlier study. Among the γ lines observed in coincidence with the 2 +→0 + transition, the most probable candidate for the transition from the yrast 4 + state was identified, leading to a 41+ energy of 2173 keV. The energy ratio of 2.93 between the 21+ and 41+ states indicates well-developed deformation in Si42 at N=28 and Z=14. Also for Si38,40 energy ratios with values of 2.09 and 2.56 were obtained. Together with the ratio for Si42, the results show a rapid deformation development of Si isotopes from N=24 to N=28. © 2012 American Physical Society.