In the opinion of many scholars the notion of symbolic pregnancy is one of the key concepts in Ernst Cassirer’s philosophy of symbolic forms. Without a proper understanding of its conceptual frame Cassirer’s philosophy lacks a consistent foundation. The notion symbolic pregnancy offers the mechanism of distinction of symbolic forms. The newest investigations (also in unpublished or less known, neglected writings of the philosopher) has shown that the key-notion of symbolic pregnancy has its roots in Gestalt theory (Gestalt psychology). In this school Cassirer saw the most important example of the general tendency in scientific thought, according to which the primacy of the notion of function has to override the primacy of the notion of substance, the idea of integrated whole as well as the notion of primary elements.

Karl Bühler’s last essay dedicated to the principle of Gestalt was published 1960. By publishing it, Bühler closed in the final period of his life the circle he had opened in 1913 with his Gestaltwahrnehmungen. The said essay was essentially founded upon observations, experiments and rigorous measurements. Its introduction stresses the connections between researches in psychology of perception and the field of aesthetics. In particular, it positively comments on the following passage by Adolf Hildebrand, taken from his work Das Problem der Form in der bildenden Kunst (1908): “A play, a symphony, presents an architecture, an internal structure; it constitutes an organic whole of relations, like a painting, a statue, even though the different arts inhabit worlds of totally different forms.” The same quotation opens, almost fifty years later, Bühler’s work Das Gestaltprinzip im Leben des Menschen und der Tiere, enlarging the discussed fields and adding further reflections on language, philology, cybernetics, biology, and the life sciences.

The article focuses on Husserl’s phenomenological philosophy as an intentional-genetic theory of experience. I inquire into the elementary forms and principle of the organisation of subjective experiences and investigate the concepts of type in the context of pre-predicative constitution. I attempt to show how far type, conceived as a concrete and acquired coherence of homogenous experiences, determines the process of interest-awakening even before higher predicative procedures—such as discursive and reflexive thinking—take place. Following such a path, phenomenology comes closer to the philosophy of life, to the Gestalt theory, and to the psychoanalytic theory of understanding.

In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Thomas Kuhn propounded a controversial claim that the scientific change is a form of Gestalt switch. As I point out, he did it apparently without having a full understanding of what Gestalt theory was, and used the concept of Gestalt rather metaphorically, and not entirely consistently. Interestingly, however, Kuhn’s model of scientific change as sketched in The Copernican Revolution and advanced in his subsequent works, bears some obvious structural resemblance to Gestalt theory. In the paper, I confront Kuhn’s model with Gestalt theory, and attempt to show that the latter is able to clarify the basic assumption of the model. It unifies Kuhn’s views on scientific change, and provides a coherent conceptual frame in which scientific development can be analyzed. In particular, Gestalt theory helps to uncover the directionality of changes which Kuhn failed to acknowledge.

In his paper the author reconstructs the categorial relations between Gestalt psychology and theory and classical 20th-century philosophical anthropology (Max Scheler, Helmuth Plessner). In the first part, entitled Inspirations, it is analysed how the views of a key 20th-century Gestalt theorist Wolfgang Köhler influenced Scheler, the author of The Human Place in the Cosmos. In part two, Parallels, the author investigates the categorial similarities between Plessner’s anthropology of laughter and contemporary comicality conceptions based on Gestalt psychology (Hellmuth Metz-Göckel).

The aim of this work is to present the historical evolution of the concept of percep-tual belongingness developed within the theoretical framework of the Gestalt theory. This concept has been used to explain the effects of the context on colour appearance. After introducing the concept as Kurt Koffka, Wilhelm Fuchs and Wilhelm Benary have defined it we will present the first scientific reactions to it. Successively, it is shown how the concept of perceptual belongingness is central for the assimilation theory proposed by Cesare Musatti. Furthermore, the position of Gaetano Kanizsa is discussed. Finally, we show the connection between the concept of belongingness and that of binding, developed within the feature integration theory proposed by Anne M. Treisman.

This paper examines the prevailing problems of insecurity and terrorism in Nigeria that have triggered fear, chaos, conflicts, violence and instability. The increase of terrorist activities bordering on the state sponsored, home grown and transnational types of insurgency in Nigeria now pose serious threats to the viability and stability of the social order. A traditional pathway to addressing terrorism and insecurity is through the “hard” or paramilitary or military approaches. The military approach has not been too successful owing to deficiencies such as a motivation, a lack of focus, poor training and equipment, corruption and loss of public or citizens’ support among other shortfalls. As such an opening has been created for a broader approach that employs civilian security and militia formations to participate in the restoration of security and a social order free from terrorism. This paper tracks this social trend and examines the problems and prospects.

Gestalt theory has a promising potential in the area of management studies and prac-tice when it continues its hidden heritage that relates to aesthetics and atmospheres in the workplace and organisational culture. With an aestheticization of the economy, organisational research has acknowledged the importance of aesthetic, sensually perceivable elements in the workplace. Gestalt theory, given its pedigree in early organisational research, lends itself to theory-building in this area and can also contribute practically through so-called arts-based interventions. Arts-based interventions bring people, products and processes from the world of arts into organisations, applying a range of formative methods (in the sense of gestaltende Methoden). Methods like sculpturing and painting in these interventions for example help organisational members in “finding a form” and giving a Gestalt to experiences and atmospheres in the workplace that relate to teamwork, leadership and organisational culture and that can then be addressed, challenged and developed. From a Gestalt theory perspective, organisations can be perceived as “gestalten,” and consequentially, it seems useful to encourage organisational members to “give form” to the ways in which they perceive organisational life. Sculpture as a tool in this context is briefly discussed with an example. This leads to a suggestion of a more diverse application of Gestalt theory in the field of management.

The aim of this investigation is to find to what degree globalization and rising the global civilization is sustainable. The methodology is based on the transdisciplinary, big-picture view of civilization in the 21st century, within the context of its rise and decline. Among the findings are the following: the global civilization is not sustainable since it leads to super-consumerism (promoted by the global financial elite) and the depletion of strategic resources. Practical implications: Instead of forcing one global market, one global government (?) and one civilization it would be better to promote the development of a universal civilization as the second layer upon the existing civilizations (Western, Easter, Chinese, Japanese, Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic and African) with the common, accepted set of values, presented in this study. Social implications: The sustainable future of the civilization depends on the next generation taught in schools about those values which promote tolerance and the avidness of conflicts and wars. Originality: This investigation, by providing the transdisciplinary and civilizational approach at the big-picture level, has provided an answer to the question of what is and could be the role of universal values in the development of a sustainable and wise civilization.

This essay confronts Karl Marx’s early globalisation premonitions with the reflec-tions of three observers of contemporary globalisation trends known to endorse the heritage of the father of historical materialism—Max Horkheimer, Zygmunt Bauman and Chris Harman. The author shows the deep chasm between Marx’s optimistic visions of a world order founded on the peaceful coexistence of an integrated humanity and their observations about the negative economic, social, political and psychological ef-fects of globalisation today. While Marx’s social emancipation idea merged freedom with equality, Horkheimer’s “administered world” sacrifices freedom for equality’s sake. For Bauman, on the other hand, the “disorder” generated by the globalising world precludes both. References to Chris Harman serve to remind that the essence of capitalism remains unchanged despite its evolution, because, today as in Marx’s day, capital is a vampire which feeds on the blood of wage labour. Like Marx, the British theoretician sees the potential for social emancipation in the working class, which is much more numerous today than ever before in the history of capitalism.

In this keynote address, I reflect on the origin, history, past accomplishments, and guiding principles of the International Society for Universal Dialogue (ISUD). I also reflect on the future challenges facing our society and the need to critique, clarify, revise, and renew our core principles, values, and ideals.

This paper traces the history of the International Society for Universal Dialogue by reflecting on the tension between universalism and pluralism and the underlying dialectics of identity and difference. This paper argues that this tension is the source of creativity and that dialogue, by its refusal to privilege one over the other, keeps this tension alive as it seeks ever better formulations and understandings of goodness, justice, and truth. This paper argues that philosophers are duty bound to honor their ideals and values through the sort of reflection and dialogue that features critique, clarification, and renewal of those ideals and values. Only through this process (critique, clarification, and renewal) do those values remain bright and vibrant.

This is a working paper that presents the first phase of what will eventually be a huge project, namely a critical appropriation of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. Early on it provides a sketch of the main strands of Aristotle’s theoretical web in his N. Ethics. Following that, the paper offers some critical commentary concerning some of Aristotle’s main positions: especially his views on moral virtue, the soul, intellectual virtue, and human well-being. The paper then turns to the development of some significantly different ways of construing both intellectual virtue as well as moral virtue. With respect to intellectual virtue, I present my own perspective in interconnection with a process-oriented way of understanding reality, as opposed to Aristotle’s substance-oriented way. With respect to moral virtue, I present my interpretation in relation to a thisworldly understanding of the human spirit/soul, as well as a humanistic-Marxist interpretation of human well-being. Toward the paper’s end, I offer some suggestions concerning a modified “doctrine of the mean” that would be a sort of critical synthesis of the views of Aristotle and Confucius.

The theory and practice of co-evolution offers a way forward for humanity that goes well beyond the deterministic confines of an outmoded mechanistic science that still inhabits much academic thought and research; and also goes well beyond postdeterministic efforts to exempt the human mind and will from its presumed inexorable embeddedness in the mechanistically perceived life and motions of the body. Coevolution rejects both and goes to the root of the matter regarding nature. It decisively affirms the post-mechanistic understandings of nature by quantum physics, feminist critique of patriarchy, and ecological philosophy. Co-evolution affirms that nature’s relational and animated being situates the human being and all individual human beings in an interactive mode. From this, dialogue is a natural, instead of a contrived, outgrowth and fulfillment of the human project. The way then is clear for humanity to coevolve interdependently with natural forces for mutual benefit.

In this paper the author explores the conditions under which inter-religious dialogue can be a transformative process not only of the interlocutor’s understanding of the beliefs and values of the religiously different other but also her attitude toward him or her. The proposition elucidated and defended is that, to be transformative, the dialogue should be God-centered, objective, empathic, and it should be grounded in the values of equality, respect, and toleration. The paper is composed of two parts. The first is devoted to an analysis of the concept of dialogue in general and of inter-religious dialogue in particular: What are the structural elements of dialogue between (a) individuals and (b) religious communities? The second part is devoted to an analysis of the conditions under which inter-religious dialogue can be a transformative process. The focus in this analysis is on the following question: What does it take for a person who has grown up in a certain religion, who understands herself and in fact lives from the standpoint that religion, to discern the religious truth proclaimed by another religion, to comprehend it, appreciate it, assent to it, and incorporate it in the structure of her mind or worldview? We may construct a formidable strategy, one that wins the blessing of reason, still, the question remains: How can a community, which tends to be exclusivist in its religious orientation, change its understanding of God or attitude toward the religious different other?

Ontologies that privilege being over becoming fragment what is real by privileging completeness, finality, and stability over motion, change, flow, and flux. This, in turn, results in a conception of truth that tends toward dogmatism and absolutism. This essay sketches an alternative ontology rooted in the rheomodic character of all that is real. Such an ontology underwrites an alternative to the ego-centered form of reasoning. This essay compares and contrasts ego-centred reasoning and doing with a de-centred form of reasoning and doing. This alternative “de-centered” or rheomodic form of reasoning and doing allows us to retain the virtues and values of humanity, sociality, and universality without reducing all questions of humanity, sociality, or universality to dogmatic discourses and thereby promises to be a better alternative to the quest for human relations that promote equality, peace, and justice than the prevailing ego-centered reasoningand doing.

I argue that it is through an integrative dialogue based on the Ijing (Book of Changes) model of cooperative and cyclical change rather, than a Marxist or neo-Marxist dialectical model of change based upon the Hegelian model of conflict and replacement, that promises the greatest possibility of peaceful coexistence. As a case study of a dialogue between civilizations, I utilize both a mythical and an historical encounter between Martin Buber, representing the West, and Zhuangzi, representing the East. I show that despite the vast temporal, historic, linguistic and cultural differences, that the dialogue between Zhuangzi and Buber is complementary and not adversarial.

In this paper we focus on conversational thinking to demonstrate the value of public reasoning in building a decent world and true democracies. We shall take into account the views of selected scholars, especially John Rawls and Jürgen Habermas, on law and democratic practice, to explain why post-colonial Africa is weighed down by sociopolitical hegemonies that have aversion to their opposition and eliminate room for strong institutions, rule of law and human rights. In light of conversational thinking, this eliminates any chance for “creative struggle,” i.e. a philosophers struggle against the post-colonial imaginary/social agents to dethrone strong individuals and create strong institutions. In the absence of these indices which a conversational orientation may engender, it is difficult to transform bogus democracy into true democracy and thus to create a decent society. Post-colonial Africa mired in social regression, political crisis and economic stagnation urgently needs conversational tonics to overcome the ineffectiveness of bogus democracy. We postulate a thesis about three structural transformations forming what we call Democratic Transformational Programme (DTP).

The purpose of this investigation is to define, first, wisdom from the point of view of the cognitive approach, and, second, to integrate this definition with the aspects of wisdom as defined by the semantic, cognitive, psychological approaches as well as to a certain degree by the philosophical approach. The research is based on an interdisciplinary view of the main aspects of wisdom’s development and their interdependency. Among the findings are: wisdom is information reflecting good judgment and choice; it is the final cognition unit in the Semantic Ladder and has different levels of scope and quality depending on the four minds, namely basic, whole, global and universal mind, which are supported by the art of living, understood as the reflection of behavioral aspects of wisdom within the philosophical framework of the hierarchy of possible purposes of one’s life. Practical implications: Wisdom can be accomplished in all phases of living. Social implication: The quest for wisdom should be achieved by teaching wisdom once it is defined. Originality: This investigation, by providing an interdisciplinary and civilizational approach, allows for the teaching and application of wisdom in a typical manner as is done by other disciplines and their issues.