Bion und C.G. Jung

This paper investigates the possible impact of C.G. Jung’s Tavistock Lectures on Bion’s concept of the living container. In the first part of the paper the author argues for clues pointing to such an essential impact, by means of text passages as well as the facts of the Bion-Beckett case, up to and including issues of Bion’s first publication The imaginary twin. The second part investigates the fate of the assumed cryptomnesia. From this point of view Bion’s concept of the container appears to be the result of growth in the container-contained mode. Finally the author deals with the question whether cryptomnesia in psychoanalytical literature can frequently be seen as the result of psychic growth.     

2. GKV-Neuordnungsgesetz und EBM-Reform

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Transzendentalpragmatik und Diskursethik. Elemente und Perspektiven der Apelschen Diskursphilosophie

Transcendental Pragmatics and Discourse Ethics. Elements and Perspectives of Apel's Discourse-Philosophy. The author follows Apel's intellectual biography and shows the conception of a critique of meaning qua ‘reflection upon the discourse within the discourse’ to be the centre of Apel's language-pragmatic ‘Transformation of Philosophy’ (Frankfurt a.M. 1973). Beginning with an explication of the situation of a speaker/thinker, especially of the situation of a philosophising speaker/thinker, Apel reconstructs a two fold apriori of communication: Every thought is situated within the context of a particular, historically evolved, community of language and interaction. At the same time, however, the validity-claims of thoughts transcend the context of their origin towards an unlimited community of argumentation. On the basis of the first apriori Apel criticises the methodical solipsism as well as the objectivism of modern philosophy and theory of science. Drawing upon the second apriori he develops a universalist critique of meaning of relativism and contextualism. In the sixties and seventies Apel worked out a differentiated theory of the – more or less – communicatively cognizing humanities and set it apart from the theory of the causal-explanatory natural sciences, thus challenging the objectivism of a Theory of Unified Science. Building upon this work Transcendental Pragmatics, as developed by Apel and others, sets philosophy primarily two tasks: firstly, a (fallible) internal reconstruction of argumentative discourse as the (logical) situation of speech and thought which seeks to elucidate the conditions of the meaningfulness, i. e. the presuppositions, of discourse. These presuppositions comprise, thus Apel with Habermas, the four validity-claims to intelligibility, sincerety/credibility, truth and normative rightness/legitimacy. Their moral content consists, thus Apel, not only in the recognition of the equality of all beings capable of discursive reasoning but also in their recognition of a co-responsibility for the realizability of discourses and of responsibility. The author argues that the existence of a co-responsibility of this kind is indisputable because the discursive claims to validity are intertwined with a set of ‘primordial promises of dialogue’. Only with the elucidation and explication of these promises can the reconstruction of the internal conditions of discourse be completed.The second task of a pragmatics of argumentation isthe strict resp. actual reflection of the thinker upon the presuppositions of the discourse in which he currently engages. This reflection has a Socratic character and can only be done in the form of discussion and debate (‘Auseinandersetzungen’, Apel, Frankfurt a.M. 1998) with critics of the reconstruction. In this context, the author proposes a method of Socratic reflection upon the presuppositions of dialogue which suspends the usual, theoretically oriented, attitude of the scientist and the philosopher in favour of an actual reflective attitude. Within a dialogue with a sceptic who doubts one of the results of the internal reconstruction of dialogical presuppositions, say X, it is tested whether his doubt as to the unrestricted validity of X can be understood as a sincere contribution to the current dialogue or whether this particular sceptical thesis does not make sense, because it is incompatible with the role of a sincere participant of argumentation which, after all, the sceptic cannot refuse to claim for himself.Finally the author explains Apel's characterization of the tension between “Discourse and Responsibility” (Frankfurt a.M. 1988). In the course of discussions with Max Weber, Lawrence Kohlberg, Hans Jonas et al., Apel formulates and justifies an ethics of responsibility and gives an affirmative answer to the crucial question of whether the fulfilment of the moral obligations connected with the recognition of co-responsibility can be demanded within the non-dialogical circumstances of social reality. Apel's answer employs the idea of counter-strategies which are morally legitimate in virtue of their being worthy of argumentative consensus. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Gebrauchssprache und logik. eine philosophiehistorische notiz zu frege und lotze

Die Zusammenhänge die zwischen G. Freges und R. H. Lotzes logischen Lehren bestehen, sind, wie die gemeinsame Beurteilung der Gebrauchssprache zeigt, noch tiefer als allgemein angenommen. Insbesondere die von Frege konzipierte logische Sprachkritik ist in drei Punkten von Lotze beeinflußt. Lotze fordert nämlich die strenge Trennung von Logik und Gebrauchssprache. Daneben spielt der Begriff des Logischeinfachen eine zentrale Rolle in seiner Logik. Schließlich unterscheidet er den objektiven Gedanken von seiner Färbung.

The connexions that exist between the logical doctrines of G. Frege and R. H. Lotze are, as shows their common treatment of natural language, deeper than is generally admitted. In particular, the logical criticism of language conceived by Frege is influenced in three points by Lotze. Firstly, Lotze postulates the strict separation of logic and natural language. Furthermore, the idea of logical simplicity plays an important role in his logic. Finally, he distinguishes objective thought from its tone.     

Ätiologie und Pathogenese der Migräne

Migräne ist eine weltweit sehr häufige Erkrankung, die zu einer erheblichen Beeinträchtigung der Lebensqualität Betroffener führen kann. Bereits zu Beginn der Migräneattacke konnte eine Aktivierung des Hypothalamus gezeigt werden. Ein wesentlicher Aspekt ist dann die nachfolgende Aktivierung des trigeminovaskulären Systems. Hier spielt das Neuropeptid Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP) eine tragende Rolle. Durch die Aktivierung nozizeptiver Fasern kommt es zur Reizweiterleitung nach zentral in den Hirnstamm und über periphere und zentrale Sensibilisierung zu den typischen migräneartigen Kopfschmerzen. Durch besseres Verständnis der Pathophysiologie der Migräne ist es zuletzt gelungen, eine medikamentöse Prophylaxe zu entwickeln, die spezifisch in die komplexe Abfolge der Migränekaskade eingreift, indem das CGRP bzw. sein Rezeptor durch spezifische monoklonale Antikörper blockiert werden.     

Die Entwicklung des moralischen und rechtlichen Bewusstseins von Kindern und Jugendlichen.

First, Piaget’s and Kohlberg’s models of moral development are briefly sketched and some objections rose. Then the cognitive dimension of the development of moral and legal understanding in childhood and adolescence is described. This involves knowledge of moral rules, an understanding of the categorical ought, cognizance of the prima facie validity of moral rules and specific knowlegde systems guiding contextualized rule applications. Data show that all children quite early acquire an adequate basic understanding of moral rules and legal concepts. Several learning mechanisms are at work – sociocognitive development, processes of implicit rule reconstruction, acquisition of knowlegde systems. The following part focusses on moral motivation - its strength and the types of concerns motivating conformity. Moral motivation develops in a second, delayed, differential learning process which only on average shows a steady continuous increase. Individual trajectories often display losses attributable to sociocultural influences.