Mou Zongsan and Tang Junyi on Zhang Zai��s and Wang Fuzhi��s Philosophies of Qi: A Critical Reflection

As the founders of Contemporary Neo-Confucianism, Mou Zongsan and Tang Junyi developed different interpretations of Zhang Zai’s and Wang Fuzhi’s philosophies of qi. In this essay, both the strength and weakness of their interpretations will be critically examined. As a contrast, an alternative interpretation of the School of qi in Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism will be outlined. This new interpretation will uncover that, like Leibniz, Zhang Zai and Wang Fuzhi introduced a non-substantivalist approach in natural philosophy in terms of an innovative concept of force. This interpretation not only helps to show the limitations of Mou Zongsan’s and Tang Junyi’s understandings of Zhang Zai’s and Wang Fuzhi’s doctrines of qi, but also indicates a way to bridge the traditional Chinese philosophy of nature and modern physics. More generally, our critical discussions will bring to light a new angle with which to re-appreciate Mou Zongsan’s and Tang Junyi’s contributions to the development of Confucianism.     

Coherence and Nonmonotonicity in Human Reasoning

Nonmonotonic reasoning is often claimed to mimic human common sense reasoning. Only a few studies, though, have investigated this claim empirically. We report four experiments which investigate three rules of SYSTEMP, namely the AND, the LEFT LOGICAL EQUIVALENCE, and the OR rule. The actual inferences of the subjects are compared with the coherent normative upper and lower probability bounds derived from a non-infinitesimal probability semantics of SYSTEM P. We found a relatively good agreement of human reasoning and principles of nonmonotonic reasoning. Contrary to the results reported in the ‘heuristics and biases’ tradition, the subjects committed relatively few upper bound violations (conjunction fallacies).     

Ein differentialmethodischer Versuch zum Intelligenzproblem

Ohne ZusammenfassungDie Arbeit hätte nicht durchgeführt werden können ohne Hilfe durch andere: die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft gewährte den wesentlichen Anteil an finanzieller Unterstützung. Frau Dipl.-Psych. Helga Biermann und Fräulein Dipl.Psych. Helga Böttcher haben sich als wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterinnen bei der Planung, Durchführung und Auswertung der Versuche sehr verdient gemacht. Bei der Datenaufbereitung waren unermüdlich und zuverlässig tätig: Fräulein Gabriele Block, Fräulein Jutta von Hatzfeld, Fräulein Ursula Siry, Fräulein Elsbe Ziessler und Herr Theo Mooren. Bei der Datenanalyse am Institut für angewandte Physik an der Universität Münster hat Herr Dipl.-Psych. Dieter Langheinrich mit manch schnellem Rat und mit noch schnelleren Rechenprogrammen ausgeholfen. Allen sei herzlich gedankt.     

Recent learned helplessness/irrelevance research in Japan: Conceptual framework and some experiments on learned irrelevance

In Section 1, a conceptual framework within which to study learned helplessness (LH), learned irrelevance (LI) and the related phenomena is introduced. In Section 2, three rat experiments on LI conducted in our laboratory using a conditioned suppression of licking preparation are introduced. In Experiment 1, the phenomena of LI and general LI were confirmed. In Experiment 2, random presentations of CSt/US were found to interfere with subsequent initial excitatory conditioning to CSl under random CSl/US presentations. In Experiment 3, pre-paired presentations of CSn or CSt with US before random CSt/US presentations was found to have an attenuating effect on the development of general LI.     

Musical Naturalism in the Thought of JI Kang

Wei-Jin period is characterized by neo-Daoism (xuanxue 玄學), and JI Kang lived in the midst of this philosophical exploration. Adopting the naturalism of the Zhuangzi, Ji Kang expressed his socio-political concerns through the medium of music, which was previously regarded as having moral bearing and rectitude. Denying such rectitude became central for Ji Kang, who claimed that music was incapable of possessing human emotion, releasing it from the chains of Confucian ritualism. His investigation into the name and reality of musical expression gave music an “aesthetic turn” lacking in Qin and early Han thought, and by making use of concepts such as natural harmony and spontaneity, Ji Kang was able to turn away from the negative aesthetics of earlier thinkers such as He Yan and Wang Bi to one cherishing the naturalism espoused by Zhuangzi.     

Processing complex graphemes in handwriting production

Recent studies on handwriting production and neuropsychological data have suggested that orthographic representations are multilevel structures that encode information on letter identity and order, but also on intermediate-grained processing units such as syllables and morphemes. This study on handwriting production examined whether orthographic representations also include a graphemic-processing level. French adults wrote words containing an embedded one-, two-, or three-letter grapheme (e.g., a in clavier, ai in prairie, ain in plainte) on a digitizer. The results for letter duration revealed that the timing of movement processing depends on grapheme length (e.g., the duration of a for one-letter graphemes was shorter than that for two-letter graphemes, which, in turn, was shorter than that for three-letter graphemes). Two- and three-letter graphemes start to be processed before we start to write them. The results therefore revealed that orthographic representations also encode information on grapheme complexity.     

Einfluß der Leistungsmotivation auf das Behalten von Erfolgs- und Mißerfolgswörtern

Ohne ZusammenfassungHerrn Prof. Dr. Heckhausen und Herrn Prof. Dr. Dr. Metzger danke ich für Hinweise bei der Abfassung des Manuskripts.     

Experimentelle Untersuchung der sog. induzierten Bewegung

Ohne ZusammenfassungDie Versuche wurden durchgeführt von Dezember 1948 bis Februar 1949. Herrn Prof. Dr. F. J. J. Buytendijk danke ich für die Anregung zu dieser Arbeit. Herrn Dr. jur. D. Köllen und Frau M. M. I. Köllen (Bilthoven) bin ich zu großem Dank verpflichtet für die freundliche Bereitschaft, das deutsche Manuskript durchzusehen.     

Sensing Aliveness

This study examines whether the categories animate/inanimate might be formed on the basis of information available to the cognitive system. We suggest that the discrimination of percepts according to these categories relies on proprioceptive information, which allows the perceiving subject to know that he is ‘animate’. Since other ‘objects’ in the world exhibit movements, reactions, etc. similar to those that the subject experiences himself, he can ‘project’ his knowledge onto these objects and recognize them as ‘animate’ like himself. On this basis we try to corroborate the empricist position in the debate concerning the organization of knowledge as opposed to the nativist view. Furthermore, we argue that the categorical dichotomy animate/inanimate is more basic than other analogous ones such as living/non-living, biological/non-biological and we sketch a ‘categorical stratification’ following the line ‘humans–animals–plants’ based on the hypothesis that humans detect different degrees of ‘vitality’ according to the degree of similarity they recognise between the considered instance and themselves.     

A framework for the transfer of proofs,lemmas and strategies from classical to non classical logics

There exist valuable methods for theorem proving in non classical logics based on translation from these logics into first-order classical logic (abbreviated henceforth FOL). The key notion in these approaches istranslation from aSource Logic (henceforth abbreviated SL) to aTarget Logic (henceforth abbreviated TL). These methods are concerned with the problem offinding a proof in TL by translating a formula in SL, but they do not address the very important problem ofpresenting proofs in SL via a backward translation. We propose a framework for presenting proofs in SL based on a partial backward translation of proofs obtained in a familiar TL: Order-Sorted Predicate Logic. The proposed backward translation transfers some formulasF _TL belonging to the proof in TL into formulasF _SL , such that the formulasF _SL either (a) belong to a corresponding deduction in SL (in the best case) or, (b) are semantically related in some precise way, to formulas in the corresponding deduction in SL (in the worst case). The formulasF _TL andF _SL can obviously be considered aslemmas of their respective proofs. Therefore the transfer of lemmas of TL gives at least a skeleton of the corresponding proof in SL. Since the formulas of a proof keep trace of the strategy used to obtain the proof, clearly the framework can also help in solving another fundamental and difficult problem:the transfer of strategies from classical to non classical logics. We show how to apply the proposed framework, at least to S5, S4(p), K, T, K4. Two conjectures are stated and we propose sufficient (and in general satisfactory) conditions in order to obtain formulas in the proof in SL. Two particular cases of the conjectures are proved to be theorems. Three examples are treated in full detail. The main lines of future research are given.     

Mathematical Fuzzy Logic – What It Can Learn from Mostowski and Rasiowa

Important works of Mostowski and Rasiowa dealing with many-valued logic are analyzed from the point of view of contemporary mathematical fuzzy logic.A version of this paper has been presented during the conference Trends in Logic III, dedicated to the memory of A. MOSTOWSKI, H. RASIOWA and C. RAUSZER, and held in Warsaw and Ruciane-Nida from 23rd to 25th September 2005.     

Guter Eindruck und Persönlichkeitsfragebogen

Ohne ZusammenfassungDie vorliegende Arbeit stellt einen Auszug aus einer Semesterarbeit über Probleme des guten Eindrucks dar, die auf Anregung von Prof. Dr. E. Rausch von H. Gregor im Sommer 1960 dunchgeführt wurde.     

W<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">ang</Emphasis> Yangming’s 王陽明 Philosophy and Modern Theories of Democracy: A Reconstructive Interpretation

Liu Shipei 劉師培 (1884–1919) was the first scholar to locate intellectual resources of modern democracy in Wang Yangming’s theory of the “original knowing” (liangzhi 良知). In the 1950s there was a debate between Taiwanese liberals and the “New Confucians” over the relationship between the traditional Confucianism and modern democracy. Like Liu Shipei, the “New Confucians” justified modern democracy by means of Confucian philosophy (including that of Wang Yangming). For liberals, however, the Confucian tradition encompassed only the concept of “positive liberty,” which was irrelevant to or even incompatible with modern democracy. In this article, I try to argue for the position of the “New Confucians” by reconstructing Wang Yangming’s theory of the “original knowing” from a communitarian perspective.     

A perspective metric for visual slant and shape

Summary Linear retinal perspective as a cue for visual slant and shape is analyzed in terms of its geometrical and psychophysical properties. Geometrically, retinal perspective is defined as the visual-angle difference in the projective magnitudes of the near and far edges of slanted rectangles. The psychophysical effectiveness of retinal perspective is then determined in two experiments. In Experiment 1, the sensitivity of the eye to retinal perspective is shown to be inversely related to the visual-angle height of slanted rectangles which are rotated about a horizontal axis. In Experiment 2, the visual shape of monocularly observed slanted rectangles is shown to depend solely on a simple prediction derived from Weber's Law, in which it is assumed that perceived height is a linear function of visual-angle height.

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Zusammenfassung Die geometrischen und psychophysischen Eigenschaften der linearen retinalen Perspektive wurden analysiert, um festzustellen, welchen Einfluß die Perspektive auf gesehene Schräge und Form hat. Geometrisch wird die retinale Perspektive als die Sehwinkeldifferenz in der projektiven Größe der näheren und ferneren Kante schräger Rechtecke definiert. Die psychophysische Wirksamkeit der retinalen Perspektive wurde an Hand zweier Experimente gemessen. Im ersten wurde gezeigt, daß die Sensitivität des Auges für die retinale Perspektive eine negative Funktion der Sehwinkelhöhe schräger Rechtecke ist, wenn diese um eine waagerechte Achse gedreht sind. Im zweiten Experiment wurde festgestellt, daß die Sehform einäugig betrachteter schräger Rechtecke von einer einfachen Ableitung des Weberschen Gesetzes abhängig ist, in der angenommen wird, daß die wahrgenommene Körperhöhe des Rechteckes eine lineare Funktion der Sehwinkelhöhe des Retinabildes ist.

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These investigations were supported by research grants MH-08856 and MH-10,691 from the National Institute of Mental Health, United States Public Health Service. The advice of Robert Seibel in the calculations of the regression lines of Fig. 4, and the assistance of Robert Pasnak in the conduct of Experiment 2 are gratefully acknowledged. Technical assistance was rendered by J. L. Cohen, W. F. Garber, Martha Harsanyi, R. L. Kochman, S. Ludwig, and Judith Ann Muth.     

Han Feizi��s Thought and Republicanism

Han Feizi’s philosophy is usually represented as an amoral autocracy where the ruler is the sole political power and runs the state by controlling the people through rewards and punishments. While his system is formally autocratic, this article argues that the purpose behind this system bears some similarity to the republican political ideal of non-domination. In this interpretation, Han Feizi makes the ruler the sole power to mitigate the danger of the state being dominated by ministers. He does not employ republican institutions, but attempts to discourage the ruler from using his power capriciously in order to increase order and security in the state, which are his ultimate political values. Han Feizi is not a republican, but this similarity suggests that when revised for today’s very different circumstances, Han Feizian philosophy’s focus on impartial law can make a contribution to contemporary Chinese political thought.     

Multi-Modal CTL: Completeness,Complexity, and an Application

We define a multi-modal version of Computation Tree Logic (ctl) by extending the language with path quantifiers E ^δ and A ^δ where δ denotes one of finitely many dimensions, interpreted over Kripke structures with one total relation for each dimension. As expected, the logic is axiomatised by taking a copy of a ctl axiomatisation for each dimension. Completeness is proved by employing the completeness result for ctl to obtain a model along each dimension in turn. We also show that the logic is decidable and that its satisfiability problem is no harder than the corresponding problem for ctl. We then demonstrate how Normative Systems can be conceived as a natural interpretation of such a multi-dimensional ctl logic. Presented by Jacek Malinowski     

Verhaltensmodelle des Nichtwissenschaftlers: Einige biographische und Antriebskorrelate der wahrgenommenen Beziehung zwischen Erfolgswahrscheinlichkeit und Zielanreiz

Ohne ZusammenfassungDer Verfasser ist Janet L. Sekki für ihre Unterstützung bei den Versuchen und bei der Ergebnisauswertung zu Dank verpflichtet.Ein Teil der Materialien und Hilfsdienste wurde durch ein Sachstipendium unter Valparaiso University Research Account No. 871-872 finanziert.     

Der Einfluß eines kaleidoskopischen Figurwandels auf das Erkundungsverhalten

Ohne ZusammenfassungMit den vorliegenden Untersuchungen zum Erkundungsverhalten waren vielfältige technische Probleme aufgegeben. Ich danke dem Werkstattleiter des Psychologischen Instituts der Universität Münster, Herrn Menke und seinen Lehrlingen U. Spielbusch und M. Gerdes für ihre tatkräftige Hilfe bei der Herstellung der Versuchsapparatur. Herrn Franck danke ich für die Anfertigung von Befundbögen und Fotografien sowie Herrn Höner vom Verkaufsbüro Essen der Firma Kalle & Co. A.G., Wiesbaden-Bieberich, für die Beschaffung von Kunststoffolien, ohne die die kaleidoskopischen Bildvorlagen nicht hätten hergestellt werden können.Die Stiftung Volkswagenwerk unterstützte mich mit einem Jahresstipendium.Mein besonderer Dank gilt meinen verehrten Lehrern, Herrn Prof. Dr. H. Heckhausen, der mich in das Rahmenthema der Wahrnehmungsneugier einführte und die vielfältigen Probleme laufend mit mir diskutierte, und nicht zuletzt Herrn Prof. Dr. Dr. W. Metzger, der mir wertvolle Hinweise für die Anlage der Versuchsanordnung und die Entwicklung und Auswahl der kaleidoskopischen Bildvorlagen gab.Von der philosophischen Fakultät der Universität Münster angenommene Dissertationsarbeit.     

A Duality for the Algebras of a Łukasiewicz <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis> + 1-valued Modal System

In this paper, we develop a duality for the varieties of a Łukasiewicz n + 1-valued modal system. This duality is an extension of Stone duality for modal algebras. Some logical consequences (such as completeness results, correspondence theory...) are then derived and we propose some ideas for future research. Presented by Daniele Mundici     

Zhu Xi’s Spiritual Practice as the Basis of His Central Philosophical Concepts

This article attempts to connect three aspects of Zhu Xi’s 朱熹 (1130–1200) life and work: (1) the “spiritual crisis” he experienced in his thirties; (2) his identification of Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤 (1017–1073) as the first true Confucian sage since Mencius; and (3) his concepts of taiji 太極 and li 理. The argument is that (1) the spiritual crisis that Zhu Xi discussed with Zhang Shi 張栻 (1133–1180) and the other “gentlemen of Hunan” from about 1167 to 1169, which was resolved by an understanding of what we might call the “interpenetration”of the mind’s stillness and activity (dong-jing 動靜) or equilibrium and harmony (zhong-he 中和), (2) led directly to his realization that Zhou Dunyi’s thought provided a cosmological basis for that resolution, and (3) this in turn led Zhu Xi to understand (or construct) the meaning of taiji in terms of the polarity of yin and yang; i.e. the “Supreme Polarity” as the most fundamental ordering principle (li 理).