Life without Toothache: Hans Blumenberg's and History of Science as Theoretical Attitude.

The notion of a "theoretical attitude" [theoretische Einstellung or Haltung] is of central importance to Blumenberg's work, and particularly so in his writings on the history of science. From The Legitimacy of the Modern Age onwards, Blumenberg used this notion to insist on a continuity between scientific and humanistic modes of inquiry despite their different methodologies, and he attached a strong moral significance to the theoretical attitude he sees them as sharing. This essay traces the emphasis on such an attitude in Blumenberg's work on the sciences and technology, and it historicizes Blumenberg's focus on the concept.

The metaphor of epigenesis: Kant, Blumenbach and Herder.

Over the last few decades, the meaning of the scientific theory of epigenesis and its significance for Kant's critical philosophy have become increasingly central questions. Most recently, scholars have argued that epigenesis is a key factor in the development of Kant's understanding of reason as self-grounding and self-generating. Building on this work, our claim is that Kant appealed to not just any epigenetic theory, but specifically Johann Friedrich Blumenbach's account of generation, and that this appeal must be understood not only in terms of self-organization, but also in terms of the demarcation of a specific domain of inquiry: for Blumenbach, the study of life; for Kant, the study of reason.

Multiquantal release underlies the distribution of synaptic efficacies in the neocortex.

Inter-pyramidal synaptic connections are characterized by a wide range of EPSP amplitudes. Although repeatedly observed at different brain regions and across layers, little is known about the synaptic characteristics that contribute to this wide range. In particular, the range could potentially be accounted for by differences in all three parameters of the quantal model of synaptic transmission, i.