This article charts the history of the concept of system in order to establish a set of conceptual trends in the philosophy of systems. Establishing the importance of the German Idealists, and especially Hegel, in this history, we then focus on the system of Leibniz since he marks a decisive turn toward the problem of individuation within the systematic, ontological immanence so important to He...

One of John McDowell’s central concerns is to understand the relation between mind and world, to understand intentionality. McDowell believes that ‘that there is no better way for us to approach an understanding of intentionality than by working toward understanding Kant’ (McDowell 1998: 432). McDowell also believes that this conviction is shared by Wilfrid Sellars and that ‘coming to terms wit...

Hegel's view of poetry clarifies the overall role of language in his system and allows him to makes sense of a difficult linguistic issue: how to distinguish between poetry and prose. For Hegel, this distinction is crucial because it illuminates the different ways poetry and prose allow us to understand ourselves as members of an ethical community. In this paper, I argue, using Hegel, that the ...

Based on protocol analysis of the designers solving spatial problems in architecture, a paradigm for the designers' behavior was proposed [Akin87] in terms of: Problem (Re)Stnjcturing, when problem parameters are established or transformed, and Problem Solving, when these parameters are satisfied in a design solution. In order to calibrate and verify the paradigm, we implemented a computer base...

‘Abduction’ was the term Charles Sanders Peirce used in his later writings for a type of inference that he had earlier called ‘hypothesis’ and that is now commonly called ‘inference to the best explanation’. According to Peirce, abduction constituted, alongside induction, a distinct second form of nondemonstrative or probabilistic inference. Especially in his later work, Peirce conceived of abd...

Die Klassische Deutsche Philosophie formuliert einen Bildungsbegriff, der allgemeine Menschenbildung polemisch gegen die Indienstnahme durch heteronome und nicht weiter reflektierte Zwecke absetzt: Selbst-Bildung des Menschen und Wirkung auf andere nur durch diese Selbstbildung. Die Menschheit in der Person eines jeden zu achten und deswegen die allseitige Entwicklung der menschlichen Wesenskrä...