Wahrheit und Selbstrückbezüglichkeit

This paper is intended to discuss the problems occurring in the relation between the notion of truth and the question of self-reference. To do this, we shall review Tarski's (T) convention and its related terminology. We shall clarify the relation between truth and extension in order to lead into the question of semantic paradoxes appearing in the theoretical models concerned with truth. Subsequently, we shall review the logical system which develops in the reformulation of the modal proposal of the (T) convention. In closing, we shall critically examine Kripke's interpretation from the proposals made by Tarski.     

Verführung in der Gegenübertragung

The author presents a counter-transferential dream of the director of a flat sharing community for mentally disabled persons. On the one side she realizes hereby a tension between the performances which have to be presented for external quality assurance and the “work which is not to be seen”, i.e. the coping with emotions and phantasies of the caring staff. On the other side she discovers, motivated by Freud, Morgenthaler and most of all by Elisabeth Lenk, in this dream a mimetic (ecstatic, sexual) dimension which may become a threat for the coherence of the subject. An attempt at interpretation leads to the extremes of exhibitionism and voyeurism as they are activated in the care work. Institutions produce their own counter-transferences steeped in the phantasms prevailing in these institutions (here: mental disability). In the counter-transference dream analyzed here the author discovers elements of the primal scene and examines the relevance of the associated phantasies in the constitution of the subject of the caring staff, of the cared-for persons and of the author herself.     

Opfer-überzeugungen

The public interest in ??new?? clinical symptoms is described exemplified by burnout, mobbing and trauma. In the background self-explanations by patients as well as interests of therapists can be recognized. Both can be understood as an expression of subconsciously reflected contemporary convictions. Post-traumatic stress syndrome and the sequelae of abuse, which are probably diagnosed too often in guideline correct psychotherapy, throw up questions on the appropriate therapy and possible injurious side effects. The social background to the psychotherapeutic fascination with trauma will be discussed.     

Ein Situierter Künstlicher Kommunikator für Konstruktionsaufgaben

A Situated Artificial Communicator for Assembly Tasks Summary. In this article we describe a Situated Artificial Communicator for assembly tasks. The main components of the system we are developing are a speech understanding module and a two-arm-robot module. The robot system can be instructed using spontaneous speech. The speech understanding module is based on Combinatory Categorial Grammar, which makes incremental and interactive speech understanding possible. The robot module is provided with multiple sensors and it masters complex assembly operations like peg-in-hole or screwing a nut into a bolt. The architecture and the underlying cognitive principles enable interactive processing that depends on the actual situation and allows the system to take advantage of redundant items of information. Due to these principles our Situated Artificial Communicator is highly robust. Zusammenfassung. In diesem Beitrag stellen wir einen Situierten Künstlichen Kommunikator vor, im vorliegenden Fall ein Robotersystem für Konstruktionsaufgaben. Das Robotersystem kann durch spontansprachliche Anweisungen gesteuert werden. Die Hauptkomponenten des Systems sind eine Sprachverstehenskomponente und eine Zwei-Arm-Roboterkomponente. Die Sprachverstehenskomponente basiert auf der Combinatory Categorial Grammar und ermöglicht eine inkrementelle und interaktive Sprachverarbeitung. Die Roboterkomponente verfügt über eine Vielzahl von Sensoren und beherrscht Montageoperationen wie Stecken und Schrauben. Durch die gewählte Architektur und die zugrundegelegten kognitiven Verarbeitungsprinzipien können Teilkomponenten des Systems der aktuellen Situation entsprechend interagieren und Informationsredundanz nutzen. Das System erhält dadurch eine hohe Robustheit.     

Die Bestimmung einer Unterschiedsschwelle für Gefühle

Zusammenfassung Eine Unterschiedsschwelle für Gefühle kann bestimmt werden, wenn man hierfür (abweichend von den Verfahren der Wahrnehmungspsychologie) nicht Reizgrößen, sondern physiologische Veränderungen, die mit Gefühlen korreliert sind, zugrunde legt. Es ist demnach die Frage zu stellen, bei welchem Grad einer solchen körperlichen Veränderung im Durchschnitt auch eine emotionale merklich wird.Als physiologische Variable wurden die Schwankungen des Hautwiderstandes (sog. psychogalvanische Reaktion) gewählt, da diese in enger Beziehung zum Auftreten von Gefühlen stehen. Im Experiment wurden Reizwörter optisch dargeboten, die von den Vpen hinsichtlich der Größe der Gefühlsbetonung paarweise miteinander zu vergleichen und zu beurteilen waren. Gleichzeitig wurden die bei der Darbietung der Reizwörter auftretenden Hautwiderstandsänderungen in Direktschreibung registriert. Zur Auswertung wurden die Flächen der Widerstandsänderungen in einem Näherungsmaß bestimmt. Aus den zusammengehörigen Widerstandsreaktionen wurden dann sowohl die Flächendifferenzen als auch die Flächenverhältnisse gebildet und mit den Urteilen der Vpen in Beziehung gesetzt.Die Bestimmung der Korrelation zwischen der radizierten Flächendifferenz der Widerstandsänderungen und der Beurteilung des Gefühlswertes des Reizwortpaars ergab: Die Tatsache, daß die Wortpaare um so eindeutiger beurteilt wurden, je größer die ihnen zugeordneten Flächendifferenzen waren, bestätigte zunächst die Hypothese, daß eine Unterschiedsschwelle für Gefühle in Einheiten eines physiologischen Korrelats angegeben werden kann.Aus den gewonnenen Meßwerten (Flächendifferenzen und Flächenverhältnisse) und den zugehörigen Urteilen wird alsdann die Bestimmung der Unterschiedsschwelle auf der Basis von 50% und von 75% richtiger Urteile an Hand verschiedener Methoden demonstriert.Eine weitere Aufgabe besteht darin, aus einer größeren Anzahl von Ergebnissen eine Maßeinheit für Gefühle abzuleiten.     

Ein Plädoyer für die Menschenwürde

Dass wir heute einen so dringenden Ethikbedarf in der Medizin haben, hat – nach Elmar Waibl, Professor für Philosophie in Innsbruck – eine sonderbare, ja eine paradoxe Erkl?rung: Der Grund ist nicht ein Moralversagen der Medizin, sondern eine Moralüberforderung als Resultat des gro?en Erfolges der Heilkunst. überarbeitete Fassung eines am 20.9.2008 in Wien anl?sslich der 21. Jahrestagung der ?sterreichischen Alzheimer Gesellschaft gehaltenen Vortrages     

Natürliche Unarten

Today it is widely accepted among philosophers ofanalytical inclination that there are two theoriesabout what endows words with their extensions: thetheory of natural kinds and the so-called Californiansemantics. It is widely agreed that the first issuperior to the second because it can not only explainthe indexicality of the extension of natural kindterms as well as their social character but also avoidGoodman's paradox of projectibility. Natural kindterms can not be corrupted concepts since theirmembers are grouped by objective similarity.It will be shown that there is a third way besidesthe two above-mentioned theories. It shares theadvantages of Natural Kind theory without making useof the problematic concept of objective similarity.Its main feature is not to claim that extensions arethere once and forever but that concepts evolve byusing concepts.     

Frühkindlicher Autismus

Eine kurze Geschichte der Diagnose des frühkindlichen Autismus leitet diesen übersichtsartikelein. Die autistische St?rung zeichnet sich durch drei Hauptsymptomgruppen aus: St?rung der sozialen Interaktion, St?rung der Kommunikation, und stereotype, eingeschr?nkte Verhaltensmuster und Interessen. Aktuelle Kenntnisse im Bereich der ?tiopathogenese wurden kurz zusammengefasst. Diagnostische und differenzialdiagnostische Grundlagen werden diskutiert. Ein kurzer überblick der Pharmakotherapie des Autismus schlie?t die übersicht.     

Wirkung vorgeburtlicher und früh-nachgeburtlicher Umwelteinflüsse auf Gehirn und Psyche

The psyche of a human being is formed in strict correlation with the development of the brain. Genetic, epigenetic regulatory and prenatal influences through the brain of the mother as well as postnatal influences, predominantly as early childhood attachment experiences are all intertwined with each other. This takes place at three “limbic levels”: a lower level at which the infantile temperament resides, a middle level of early childhood impressioning experiences and an upper limbic level of socialization. The cognitive language level develops in a relatively independent manner. At the three limbic levels six psychoneural systems are operative, namely the stress processing, the self-calming, the impulse inhibiting, the motivation, the attachment and the reality and risk perception systems. Mental disorders are characterized throughout by disorders of the first two systems, predominantly in the form of greatly increased cortisol levels and greatly reduced serotinin levels. These then induce deficits in other systems; however, in less severe cases compensatory processes can occur via an attachment-related increased release of oxytocin. Similar processes also occur within the “therapeutic alliance” in the patient-therapist relationship.     

Beurteilerübereinstimmung von Psychotherapie-Gutachtern

The access to outpatient psychotherapy in Germany is regulated by an application and expert opinion procedure in a peer-review system. In an external assessment procedure, the application of each patient is considered concerning the existence of a mental disorder, a positive prognosis as well as the adequacy of the chosen therapy rationale. The present paper examines the reliability of this procedure by reanalysing the data from three studies on interrater agreement in the expert opinions about psychoanalytic/psychodynamic therapy, behaviour therapy or child and youth behaviour therapy. In the study of Rudolf et al. (2002) 48 experts re-examined two already assessed cases, in the studies of Sulz et al. (2003) as well as Sulz and Peterander (2004) each of 30 and respectively 7 experts had judged five non selected or seven selected applications. The interrater agreement was calculated using the kappa coefficient by Fleiss for the agreement among many raters, which tests the observed agreement probability against the expected agreement probability that would occur by chance. The level of agreement among the experts differs between 46% and 70%. With the chosen method it is mostly not possible to show that there is a significant higher agreement than by chance. The generalizability of the results to the usual assessment procedure is discussed as well as their potential for the advancement of the application procedure and expert peer-review system.     

„Schicksalsklüfte“

The present paper deals with the derivation of the fate concept and its application in psychotherapeutic theory and practice. Conclusions for an extension of the practical therapeutic view on existential themes, such as meaning, freedom, loneliness and death are drawn and effects on the therapeutic relationship are presented.     

Grammatik mit Widersprüchen

This paper presents and discusses important aspects of Optimality Theory, which has become one of the dominant models in theoretical linguistics. Optimality Theory is a system of constraints that are potentially in conflict with each other. Conflicts are resolved by ordering the principles in a strict hierarchy. We show that there are many respects in which Optimality Theory is a much more restrictive model of the language faculty than any of its competitors. Furthermore, the implications of the specific way how OT resolves conflicts seem to be more or less correct for natural language. However, modifications may be called for with respect to graded grammaticality and ineffability.     

Wie Natürlich ist das System der Natürlichen Deduktion?

How natural is natural deduction?– Gentzen's system of natural deduction intends to fit logical rules to the effective mathematical reasoning in order to overcome the artificiality of deductions in axiomatic systems (¶ 2). In spite of this reform some of Gentzen's rules for natural deduction are criticised by psychologists and natural language philosophers for remaining unnatural. The criticism focuses on the principle of extensionality and on formalism of logic (¶ 3). After sketching the criticism relatively to the main rules, I argue that the criteria of economy, simplicity, pertinence etc., on which the objections are based, transcend the strict domain of logic and apply to arguments in general (¶ 4). (¶ 5) deals with Frege's critique of the concept of naturalness as regards logic. It is shown that this concept means a regression into psychologism and is exposed to the same difficulties as are: relativity, lack of precision, the error of arguing from `is' to `ought' (the naturalistic fallacy). Despite of these, the concept of naturalness plays the role of a diffuse ideal which favours the construction of alternative deductive systems in contrast to the platonic conception of logic (¶ 6).