This is not "another collection of contributions on a traditional subject." Even more than we dared to expect during the preparatory stages, the papers in this volume prove that our thinking about science has taken a new turn and has reached a new stage. The progressive destruction of the received view has been a fascinating and healthy experience. At present, the period of destruction is over. A richer and more equilibrated analysis of a number of problems is possible and is being cru'ried out. In this sense, this book comes right on time. We owe a lot to the scholars of the Kuhnian period....

Research on the interaction between plants and microbes has attracted considerable attention in recent years. The use of modem genetic techniques has now made possible a detailed analysis both of plant and of microbial genes involved in phytopathogenic and beneficial interactions. At the biochemical level, signal molecules and their receptors, either of plant or of microbial origins, have been detected which act in signal transduction pathways or as co-regulators of gene expression. We begin to understand the molecular basis of classical concepts such as gene-for-gene relationships,...

A volume of essays on the themes of tradition, oral communication versus literal communication, Wittgenstein, and computers. The later Wittgenstein is shown to be on the one hand a traditionalist, and on the other hand, along with Heidegger, a philosopher of postmodern -- secondary -- orality, yearning for bygone, premodern times -- the times of primary orality. Under conditions of primary orality traditions fulfilled the specific cognitive role of conserving information -- a role subsequently taken over by writing, and today by electronic data processing.
The...

In the past few years it has become clear that left ventricular dysfunction, even of severe degree, may be reversible after coronary revascularization in some patients. As a result, myocardial viability has captured the imagination of researchers and clinicians seeking to unravel the cellular and subcellular mechanisms and define appropriate diagnostic modalities. These diagnostic modalities include: cardiac catheterization, positron-emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, two-dimensional echocardiography and single-photon imaging.

The Oosterschelde Estuary is one of the estuaries in the Netherlands which remained after the Delta scheme was completed in 1986. In the Seventies, the Oosterschelde became a national symbol of the change in political thinking and decision-making about the values of our natural environment. As a result of political decision, a storm-surge barrier was built in the mouth of the estuary, as a compromise between safety for the human population and nature conservation.

In a crisp, original style the author approaches the crucial question of moral theory, the is--ought' problem via communicative argumentation. Moving to the end of Habermas's conception of the communicative action, he introduces the concept of radical choice' as the key to the transition from the descriptive to the normative. Phenomenological subjectivity of the intersubjective life-world is being vindicated as the arch-value' of all derivative values, or the first principle for all normative precepts.
With exceptional acumen and mastery of the philosophical argument, the author -- a...

For a North American seeking to know the Mexican mind, and especially the sciences today and in their recent development, a great light of genius is to be found in Mexico City in the late 17th century. Tbe genius is that of one who surely may be counted as the first Mexican philosopher of nature, a nun of the Order of Saint Jerome: Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. Sor Juana must speak for herself, from her penetrating exercise of an independent mind within a political and religious formation which denigrated women and circumscribed reason itself. To understand this world of ours, to join in an...

by Paul Ricoeur It is already a piece of good fortune to find oneself understood by a reader who is at once demanding and benevolent. It is an even greater fortune to be better understood by another than by one's own self. In effect, when I look back, I am rather struck by the discontinuity among my works, each of which takes on a specific problem and apparently has little more in common with its predecessor than the fact of having left an overflow of unanswered questions behind it as a residue. On the contrary, Domenico Jervolino's interpretation of my works, which extend over more than...

Contemporary Action Theory, Volume II (Social Action) is concerned with the philosophical and logical aspects of actions performed by several individuals or groups of individuals. The topics dealt with in this volume include collective attitudes (especially joint intentions), cooperation, social norms, and commitments. The contributors are leading experts in the philosophy of social action and artificial intelligence. No comparable collection of papers is currently available.