ABSTRACTThe paper focuses on the gradual separation between materialism and mechanism in early modern German philosophy. In Germany the distinction between the two concepts, originally introduced by Leibniz, was definitively stated by Wolff who was the first to provide a definition of the new philosophical term Materialismus, and of the related philosophical sect. In the first part I describe the initial identification of mechanism and materialism in German philosophy between the last decades of the seventeenth century and 1720. Mechanism is (...) here mostly conceived within a monistic metaphysics of body, which refers mainly to Hobbes and to some interpretations of Spinoza’s pantheism. This tight connection between a mechanical explanation of nature and the Deus sive natura issue leads to a negative judgement on mechanism and its materialistic implications, both charged with a form of more or less explicit atheism. In the second part I describe the gradual emancipation in Germany of mechanism fro... (shrink)

The paper focuses on Wolff’s empirical psychology, analyzing its contents both from an historical, and a theoretical point of view. Considering the discipline the main innovation that Wolff introduced in the ‘science of the soul’ in his time, the paper presents on the one hand the distance it displays between Wolff’s metaphysical statements and Leibniz’s monadology, and on the other hand the central role played by the connubium rationis et experientiae. This peculiar methodological purpose of Wolff’s philosophy finds in the (...) relation between the empirical and the rational science of the soul one of its most remarkable realizations. The final part of the paper presents the contents of the main sections of Wolff’s Psychologia empirica, and briefly sketches the stages of its influence on the later philosophical and anthropological discussion. (shrink)

The paper focuses on the reception of Priestley in Germany, which is remarkable for the huge and assiduous interest it raised in different philosophical milieus. Priestley’s dynamical conception of matter, his explanation of the functioning of the brain, and of the production of material ideas are at the basis of the new form of materialism that develops in Germany in the late 1770s, and which differs completely from the model of mechanical materialism Germany was used to in earlier decades. Indeed, (...) the German reception of Priestley’s ideas begins surprisingly early, just one year after the publication of his edition of Hartley’s Observations on Man (1775), and traverses the two final decades of the eighteenth century with a considerable number of reviews and references in the main philosophical journals and works of the time. In 1778, his introduction to the Observations was translated into German and presented in the form of a manifesto of a new materialistic philosophy compatible with the claims of morals and religion. Within a few years, Priestley became the unavoidable reference point for the most relevant theological and philosophical discussions concerning the nature of matter and spirits, the place of God, the possibility of human freedom, and the legitimacy of free thinking. (shrink)

Georg Friedrich Meier’s approach to prejudice in 18th century German philosophy represents a significant departure from the typical views of the Enlightenment, which often regarded prejudice as a logical or psychological obstacle to knowledge. The philosophy of Christian Wolff, which was prevalent during this period, emphasized that knowledge should be clear, distinct, and well-ordered, with prejudice seen as an error to be eradicated through rigorous scientific methods. However, Meier, while aligned with Wolffian logic, challenged this view by reassessing the role (...) of prejudice. He argued that while prejudice should be avoided in philosophical and scientific reasoning, it is an unavoidable aspect of common knowledge shaped by unexamined beliefs and early experiences. Meier suggested that prejudice, although a negative element of knowledge, may play a more complex role in human understanding. His view reflects a more cautious and humble attitude towards human reason, recognizing its inherent limitations and the challenge of achieving absolute clarity in every realm of knowledge. (shrink)

The relationship between Baumgarten and Kant is famously as fruitful as any in the history of philosophy. It is well known that Kant adopted the former's Metaphysica for his lectures on metaphysics and anthropology almost uninterruptedly for about 40 years. Baumgarten's textbook represents a reference point for what a groundbreaking book of many years ago called "Kant's way to transcendental philosophy", and a key for the investigation of a considerable part of Kant's conceptual and terminological heritage. This historical circumstance has (...) deeply influenced the destiny of the studies on Baumgarten, who—beside... (shrink)

The paper retraces the early reception of La Mettrie’s work L’Homme machine in Germany. It focuses in particular on the role played by Wolff and by Manteuffel’s “Society of Alethiophiles” in promoting a scandalous image of La Mettrie’s work by reducing it to the old formula of mechanistic materialism à la Hobbes. By defending Wolff’s interpretation, Manteuffel contributed discretely but actively to the capillary dissemination of such an image, which was to become very soon the dominant one. By means of (...) their collaboration Wolff and Manteuffel didn’t only introduce a deep and long-lasting misunderstanding of La Mettrie’s materialism in German philosophy; they additionally even vetoed any possible appreciation of his peculiar idea of active matter. (shrink)

The paper focuses on the role of Kant’s refutation of materialism in his understanding of the Enlightenment, meant to be the necessary condition that allows human beings to express their proper dignity, i.e. to cultivate the urge for and the vocation of free thought. Sketching the main moments of the German struggle against the threat of materialism, the paper places Kant’s refutation within this tradition, and reconstructs the steps of his critique from the very beginning of his reflection – still (...) dealing with the main topics of Wolff’s metaphysic – up to the definitive refutation he develops on the basis of the transcendental idealism of the first Critique. The shift from the «obscure reasons» pointed out in the Dreams, that allow a refutation of materialism on moral grounds, to the statement of the meaninglessness of the question in a transcendental perspective reveals that the attempt to find a solution to the problem of materialism – most of all in its psychological meaning –represents a neverending challenge within Kant’s reflection. (shrink)

The paper focuses on the role of Kant’s refutation of materialism in his understanding of the Enlightenment, meant to be the necessary condition that allows human beings to express their proper dignity, i.e. to cultivate the urge for and the vocation of free thought. Sketching the main moments of the German struggle against the threat of materialism, the paper places Kant’s refutation within this tradition, and reconstructs the steps of his critique from the very beginning of his reflection – still (...) dealing with the main topics of Wolff’s metaphysic – up to the definitive refutation he develops on the basis of the transcendental idealism of the first Critique. The shift from the «obscure reasons» pointed out in the Dreams, that allow a refutation of materialism on moral grounds, to the statement of the meaninglessness of the question in a transcendental perspective reveals that the attempt to find a solution to the problem of materialism – most of all in its psychological meaning –represents a neverending challenge within Kant’s reflection. (shrink)

The chapter focuses on the figure of Princess Wilhelmine of Prussia (Friederike Sophie Wilhelmine, 1709–1758), Frederick the Great’s older and favourite sister, then Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. Wilhelmine plays a central role within the German philosophical debate in the 1740s. Her intellectual engagement comes out in an extraordinary clear way in her commitment to making Bayreuth one of the main intellectual centres of the Holy Roman Empire. The chapter focuses on Wilhelmine’s cultural and institutional engagement in the philosophical debate of the (...) German Enlightenment on the basis of her philosophical reflections both in her correspondence with the most representative personality of the time and in her works. (shrink)

Between 1917 and 1945, the Ecological Society of America (ESA) housed a Committee for the Preservation of Natural Conditions specifically charged with identifying and taking political action toward the preservation of wilderness sites for scientific study. While several historians have analyzed the social and political contexts of the Preservation Committee, none has addressed the scientific context that gave rise to the Committee and to political activism by ESA members. Among the Preservation Committee's lobbying efforts, the naming of Glacier Bay, Alaska, (...) as a national monument in 1925 stands out as a unique success. I argue that the campaign for the preservation of Glacier Bay reveals the methodological ambitions ecologists had for their science in the 1920s and 1930s and demonstrates how ecologists understood the role of place in biological field studies. It represented preservation for science. Most of the political activities undertaken by the ESA in the interwar years, however, turned out to be science for conservation, which rarely involved lobbying for the protection of active research sites. In conjunction with changes in ecological methodology in the 1940s, the Committee's unclear scientific mission contributed to its being disbanded in 1945. (shrink)

Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728–1777) galt schon den Zeitgenossen als Universalgenie von europäischem Rang. Tatsächlich forschte und publizierte Lambert als Mathematiker und Philosoph, und zwar vor allem zur Logik und Metaphysik, zur Erkenntnis- und Sprachtheorie, als Astronom und Physiker. Seinem Aufklärungsverständnis gemäß wirkte er nicht nur mit einer Vielzahl von Publikationen in die Wissenschaften, sondern als Popularphilosoph darüber hinaus auch in die sich ent- wickelnde Gesellschaft und den Staat der Aufklärung hinein. Dass Lambert vor dem Hintergrund dieses Selbstverständnisses als Aufklärer auch (...) Gedichte verfasste, überrascht dabei nicht. Der Band versammelt erstmals Studien zu allen Werkteilen des Berliner Gelehrten. (shrink)

Beyond the only text Jean-Luc Nancy explicitly dedicated to it (‘Rumoration’ in La Ville au loin), rumor lurks in the background — under the surface — of any discourse on community, or on being-with. Following closely Nancy’s thought process in ‘Rumoration’ (Nancy presents himself as walking, wandering in the city), this article interweaves fragments of a genealogy of rumor, from the ancient Greek logopoios to today’s ‘fake news’. But rumor is precisely what evades genealogy, so although it can be thought (...) of as an archimedium (pure mediality, as Maurice Blanchot suggests), its floating texture, made up of references to references, turns it into a kind of anarchistructure. (shrink)

The term ‘rumor’ is often used interchangeably with ‘gossip’ and ‘urban legend’ by both laypersons and scholars. In this article we attempt to clarify the construct of rumor by proposing a definition that delineates the situational and motivational contexts from which rumors arise (ambiguous, threatening or potentially threatening situations), the functions that rumors perform (sense-making and threat management), and the contents of rumor statements (unverified and instrumentally relevant information statements in circulation). To further clarify the rumor construct we (...) also investigate the contexts, functions and contents of gossip and urban legends, juxtapose these with rumor, and analyze their similarities and differences. (shrink)

Blanchot often evoked the silence required for literary writing, a silence which he says must “be imposed” on a pre-existing and indistinct murmur of language. Likewise, he evokes this murmur itself as an originary ground of all speech, including literary speech. Less often recognized are the ways in which he also locates this murmur in the realm of public speech and everyday language, the rumor of speech spoken by no one and by everyone, a realm which he in turn links (...) with the exigencies of publication and publicity that bear on the literary work within modern societies marked by mass media and technically mediated communication. Blanchot himself thus points to an unexpected convergence, in these sonic images of impersonal murmuring flows of language, between literary language per se, and a language that is traditionally considered inauthentic, empty, superficial, a chattering nullity. This essay attempts to press on this border by showing Blanchot’s anxious, and probably futile, attempts to maintain the distinction he so profoundly and rigorously effaces. As literature is threatened by the indistinction of language from which it originates, it reveals an unexpected convergence with the leveling modes of language marked by mass media and by technicity in general. (shrink)

To effectively identify network rumors and block their spread, this paper uses fractal theory to analyze a network rumor spreading situation time series, reveal its inner regularity, extract features, and establish a network rumor recognition model. The model is based on an empirical mode decomposition correlation dimension and K-nearest neighbor approach. Firstly, a partition function is used to determine if the time series of the rumor spreading situation is a uniform fractal process. Secondly, the rumor spreading situation is subjected (...) to EMD to obtain a series of intrinsic mode functions, construct the IMF1–IMF6 components containing effective feature information as the principal components, and reconstruct the phase space of the principal components, respectively. Finally, the correlation dimensions of the principal components IMF1–IMF6 as obtained by the Grassberger-Procaccia algorithm are used as feature parameters and are imported into the KNN model for rumor recognition. The experimental results show that the correlation dimension of a spreading situation can better reflect the characteristic information; as combined with the KNN model for identifying rumors, the recognition rate reaches 87.5%. This result verifies the effectiveness of fractal theory in network rumors recognition, expands the thinking for the research of rumors recognition, and provides theoretical support for rumor governance. (shrink)

Contemporary societies are awash in rumor. Truth claims may have an uncertain provenance, but we tend to incorporate them into our belief system, act upon them, and recall them through collective memory. The question becomes who, what, where and when do we trust. The analysis of rumor belongs to the sociology of action. This paper sketches a brief analysis of the intersection of trust and rumors through the concepts of plausibility, credibility, frequency, diffusion, boundaries, divisiveness and stability or rumor. (...) The role of the ‘cultures of judgment’ is also outlined. (shrink)

As false information may spread rapidly on social media, a profound understanding of how it can be debunked is required. This study offers empirical insights into the development of rumors after they are debunked, the various user groups who are involved in the process, and their network structures. As crisis situations are highly sensitive to the spread of rumors, Twitter posts from during the 2017 G20 summit are examined. Tweets regarding five rumors that were debunked during this (...) event were manually coded into the following categories: rumor, debunking message, uncertainty about rumor, uncertainty about debunking message, and others. Our findings show that rumors which are debunked early and vehemently by official sources are the most likely to be stopped. When individuals participate in the process, they typically do so by sharing uncommented media content, as opposed to contributing user-generated content. Depending on the conditions in which a rumor arises, different network structures can be found. Since some rumors are easier for individuals to verify than others, our results have implications for the priorities of journalists and official sources. (shrink)

Robert Coles is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, a leading child psychiatrist, a compassionate and thoughtful essayist, and a sensitive, deeply moving poet. In his days as a medical student he had the good fortune to know Dr. William Carlos Williams, an experience which has remained lasting for Dr. Coles—and which has inspired _Rumors of Separate Worlds_. Coles describes this volume of reflective poetry best, calling it "a mind's struggle to make sense of the world's apparently limitless ironies, ambiguities, contradictions, not (...) to mention its fatefulness, the rule of luck, the reign of the arbitrary, the accidental in our lives." _Rumors of Separate Worlds_ aptly represents the life of one of our most humane and important writers and thinkers. (shrink)

When Socrates was standing before the Athenian tribunal in 399 BC, he said in his defence that the opponents he feared most were the invisible ones, those who had been spreading rumors against him for years but none of whom were being brought to court – it was like fighting shadows. The moment was iconic: Socrates, the harbinger of logos and true knowledge, was eventually defeated by rumors and mendacious slander. Where does the strange power of rumors (...) come from? Everyone knows that rumors are unfounded and based on thin air, but still they pass them on: rumors spread, and what appeared as a small breeze can grow into a mighty whirlwind and produce serious effects, ruin people’s lives and change the course of events. This book scrutinizes the mysterious power of rumors and seeks to analyse it philosophically, examining along the way some key moments of our cultural history concerning rumors, from Shakespeare and Cervantes to Gogol and Kafka. It also underlines the fact that, although rumors are as old as humankind, the advent of the internet and social media has raised the spreading of rumors to an entirely new level, to the point where we could speak of the rumorization of the social. The more communication there is, the more the social fabric threatens to fall apart – and the more urgent it becomes to find strategies to counteract this. (shrink)

This article offers a close reading of Valerius Flaccus’ description of the rumor leading up to the Lemnian massacre. A detailed analysis of the successive rephrasings of the original fact by different characters shows how the gradual distortion of information is used to steer the women towards a violent course of action.

This is an informative dossier on research work published since 2001 and connected with the field of rumors and urban legends. It includes reviews of eight French publications, seven publications in English, including two encyclopedias, two works from Mexico and one each from Italy and Sweden. The reviews are provided by a range of international scholars.