In this book, Michael Arbib, a researcher in artificial intelligence and brain theory, joins forces with Mary Hesse, a philosopher of science, to present an integrated account of how humans "construct" reality through interaction with the social and physical world around them. The book is a major expansion of the Gifford Lectures delivered by the authors at the University of Edinburgh in the autumn of 1983. The authors reconcile a theory of the individual's construction of reality as a network of schemas "in the head" with an account of the social construction of language, science, ideology, and religion to provide an integrated schema-theoretic view of human knowledge. The authors still find scope for lively debate, particularly in their discussion of free will and of the reality of God. The book integrates an accessible exposition of background information with a cumulative marshalling of evidence to address fundamental questions concerning human action in the world and the nature of ultimate reality.

In this book, Michael Arbib, a researcher in artificial intelligence and brain theory, joins forces with Mary Hesse, a philosopher of science, to present an integrated account of how humans "construct" reality through interaction with the social and physical world around them. The book is a major expansion of the Gifford Lectures delivered by the authors at the University of Edinburgh in the autumn of 1983. The authors reconcile a theory of the individual's construction of reality as a network of schemas "in the head" with an account of the social construction of language, science, ideology, and religion to provide an integrated schema-theoretic view of human knowledge. The authors still find scope for lively debate, particularly in their discussion of free will and of the reality of God. The book integrates an accessible exposition of background information with a cumulative marshalling of evidence to address fundamental questions concerning human action in the world and the nature of ultimate reality.

Das Buch enthAlt die BeitrAge der Tagung "Neurowissenschaft und Ethik," die 1986 in Jakobsberg bei Bonn auf Einladung des Bundeskanzlers stattfand und sich mit den ethischen Fragen befaAte, die in den sich rasch entwickelnden Neurowissenschaften und der Neuromedizin eine Rolle spielen und schon jetzt in die Affentliche Diskussion eingetreten sind. Nach einer eingehenden Darstellung der molekularen Biologie, der Struktur und Funktion neuronaler SignalA1/4bertragungsprozesse sowie der Prinzipien neuronaler Netzwerke werden Probleme neurogenetischer Krankheiten, der Intensivmedizin und der Neurochirurgie vorgestellt. Auf dieser Grundlage werden offene ethische Fragen zu dem Problem der Erforschung und Behandlung von Nerven- und Geisteskrankheiten behandelt und in einer abschlieAenden Empfehlung formuliert.

In der gesamten Heilkunde ist die Psychiatrie eines der klinischen Facher, zu dessen Entwicidung beson ders viele verschiedene Wissenschaftsdisziplinen beigetragen haben. Und auch die kiinftige Entwick lung der Psychiatrie wird sich immer im engen Kon takt, im regen Austausch und manchmal auch in der Auseinandersetzung mit anderen Wissenschaften vollziehen. Diese vielfattigen Beriihrungsffiichen der Psychiatrie mit anderen Gebieten betreffen nicht nur die medizinischen Grundlagenfacher und die klini schen Schwesterfacher der Psychiatrie - sie reichen weit fiber die Medizin binaus. Dadurch gerat die Psychiatrie in eine - oft durchaus spannungsreiche Mittlerrolle zwischen der gesamten Medizin und vielen anderen Wissenschaften. Diese Aufgabe ver mag die Psychiatrie nur dann zu erfiillen, wenn die Psychiater stets bereit sind, die Position ihres Faches im Disput mit anderen Wissenschaften zu re flektieren. Das hat in den letzten Jahren dazu ge fiihrt, daB es viele Kontroversen in und urn die Psych iatrie gegeben hat - einige Bereiche der Psychiatrie gerieten schlieBlich in Gefahr, ihr Selbstverstiindnis als ein fest in der Medizin verwurzeltes Fach der Heilkunde zu verlieren. In solchen Situatione9 ist es gut, einmal Gedanken und Ansichten von Wissen schaftlem zu horen, die die Psychiatrie von auBen betrachten. IX Ein AnlaB zu einem so1chen Gedankenaustausch bot ein JubiIaum des "Mtinchener Nervenarztlichen Kolloquiums.""

Der vorliegende Band umfaBt die Vortrage und Diskussionen des 19. Mosbacher Colloquiums. Die Unterzeichneten haben die wissenschaftliche Organisation des Colloquiums ubernommen in der Absicht, die wesentlichen Aspekte der Biochemie des Sauer stoffs durch hervorragende Fachvertreter zur Darstellung zu brin gen. Leider konnten einige Wissenschaftler, die Entscheidendes zur Entwicklung der Kenntnisse auf diesem Gebiet beigetragen haben, nicht anwesend sein. Genannt seien neben vielen anderen die Herren Drs. H. MAsoN, Oregon, R. SATO, Osaka, L. N. M. DUYSENS, Leiden, R. HILL, Cambridge, P. SLONIMSKI, Paris. Wir sind der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Biologische Chemie und ihrem Prasidenten, Herrn Professor Dr. O. WESTPHAL, zu groBem Dank verpflichtet, da sie ohne zu zogern die hohen Kosten fUr das Mosbacher Colloquium 1968 ubernommen haben. Wir danken weiter Herrn Prof. Dr. E. AUHAGEN als Schatzmeister und Herrn Dr. H. GIBIAN als Schriftfuhrer der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Biologische Chemie fUr ihre umsichtige un lautlose Rilfe bei der Organisation der Tagung. Zugleich gebuhrt unser besonderer Dank aber auch ihren Helfern, Fraulein S. PENNER und Frau U. LUBTON sowie den Kollegen, die wahrend der Tagung tatig gewesen sind, Fraulein U. SCHMELING, Herrn Dr. H. W. LEBER, Herrn Dr. G. MAYER, Herrn P. WEBER, den Herren Drs. K. BRAND, K. DECK NER, E. KUHN und H.-J. WIEKER sowie den Herren H. SCHLUTER und H. KLEINHANS."

Forces and Fields by Mary Hesse is a history of physics surrounding the question: How do bodies act on one another across space? Hesse illustrates this through various answers, discussing period of transition in fundamental physics in which new concepts and ideas have been introduced and made scientifically testable, and makes a certain philosophical interpretation of science from the beginning. Some topics include the logical status of theories, primitive analogies, mechanism in Greek science, the Greek inheritance, Corpuscular Philosophy, The Theory of Gravitation and The Theory of Relativity, as well as others. Mary B. Hesse (born 1924) was a contemporary English philosopher of science. She is now professor emerita of the philosophy of science at Cambridge University. Her publication Models and Analogies in Science is a widely cited and accessible introduction to the topic. Hesse argues, contra Duhem, that models and analogies are integral to understanding scientific practice in general and scientific advancement in particular, especially how the domain of a scientific theory is extended and how theories generate genuinely novel predictions. Examples of such models include the famous billiard ball model of the dynamical theory of gases and models of light based on analogies to sound and water waves. Hesse thinks that, in order help us understand a new system or phenomenon, we will often create an analogical model that compares this new system or phenomenon with a more familiar system or phenomenon. In her book, Hesse makes a distinction between three types of analogues in scientific models: positive analogies, negative analogies, and neutral analogies. Positive analogies are those features which are known or thought to be shared by both systems, negative analogies are those features which are known or thought to be present in one system but absent in the other, and neutral analogies are those features whose status as positive or negative analogies is uncertain at present. Neutral analogies are by far the most interesting of the three types of analogies, for they suggest ways to test the limits of our models, guiding the way for scientific advancement. In the late 19th century, for example, the idea that light-waves have a physical medium called the luminiferous ether would have been best thought of as a neutral analogy with water and sound waves. Eventually, due to a null result in the Michelson-Morley and Trouton-Noble experiments, as well as other similar experiments, this analogy came to be accepted as a negative analogy - we now accept that light has no physical medium, unlike sound and water waves. The discovery of this negative analogy led to further advancement, including the unification of electro-magnetic theory with optics, and the eventual creation of new and more informative models of light.

This in-depth look at the science of ancient Greece examines the influence of antique philosophy on 17th-century thought, plus modern concepts: quantum mechanics, wave-particle duality, the uncertainty principle. 1961 edition.

This comprehensive handbook attempts to summarize the state of gender studies not only by examining the crucial research of the past decade, but by encouraging thinking about how the questions central to studying gender have themselves changed. Building on the work started by the contributors to this volume's predecessor, (Analyzing Gender, Sage 1987), editors Myra Marx Ferree, Judith Lorber, and Beth B. Hess reflect on the advances of gender scholarship during the past decade with its emphasis on all levels of social structure from the most macro to the most individual. Revisioning Gender is a step, albeit a tentative one, toward constructing a new analytical approach for the social sciences, one that calls into question disciplinary boundaries and the specific agendas that may be entailed within them. The editors, and the contributors to this important volume, illustrate how the use of gender by scholars in various and overlapping fields of study has helped alter concepts and research designs. The goal of this volume is to present, and encourage, the debates that advance the study of social science.