A Gift is not always a Gift: Heterogeneity and Long Term Effects in a Gift Exchange Experiment

We study gift exchange in a field experiment where a random subsample of participants in the Swiss Labour Force Survey received vouchers to be used in adult training. Actual voucher redemption can be traced, giving us the unique opportunity to study whether gift exchange in the form of participation in future rounds of the survey depends on the perceived usefulness of the gift. The group of voucher recipients as a whole has significantly higher response rates. There is considerable heterogeneity, however. Our results point to a long-lasting gift exchange relationship only for the subgroup that redeemed their vouchers.

Implications for the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life: A Theological Approach

Recent remarks of Pope Francis spark anew an important discussion: are we alone in the Universe? The article follows traces of the idea of extraterrestrial life throughout philosophy, evaluates the current considerations about the probability of extraterrestrial life and discusses the potential implications for the discovery of such life from a theological point of view. This “thought experiment” covers basic insights on creation, revelation and redemption.

Prometheus on Mars: Nineteenth-Century Science Fiction and the Language of Romanticism

The development of astrophysics in the nineteenth century drew mankind closer to the planets. For the first time, it was possible to give serious scientific consideration to the possibilities for life on other planets. The greatest leap, however, was in recognizing what was not known, and acknowledging the limits of human intuition. ‘Ideas,’ wrote Agnes M. Clerke, ‘have all at once become plastic’. As the scientific community tested the limits of scientific understanding, it became the role of science-fiction writers to imagine the universe beyond these limits. This paper will examine the ways in which nineteenth-century science fiction used the inheritance of the poetic language of Romanticism to reinstate the centrality of human being in the universe. I will explore the ways in which writers such as Edward Bulwer-Lytton (The Coming Race, 1871) and W. S. Lach-Szyrma (Aleriel, 1883) extended the Byronic hero to envisage extra-terrestrial utopias. The Hegelian systematic mythology described by Byron and Shelley had reimagined paradise and redemption on earth. Through science fiction, this mythology extended out towards the stars. A discourse on the possibilities of extra-terrestrial life became a Romantic discourse on the possibilities of being. The Byronic hero could now find a home not by escaping the shackles of religion, but as an angelic citizen of Venus or Mars. In this way, the paper will explore how science-fiction writers appropriated the language of Romantic poetry to build a bridge between the framework of scientific knowledge and the extent of human imagination.

„Der Ewige“ als „Synthese“ des Stern. Der Gebrauch des Gottesnamens „der Ewige“ bei Franz Rosenzweig

In his famous final essay Franz Rosenzweig neglects to mention that he had referred to the expression “the Eternal” already in The Star of Redemp­tion. Through a comprehensive analysis of his writings, and in particular of his masterpiece, the article seeks to research thoroughly Rosenzweig’s use of this expression. The revelation of God’s name is a core issue in The Star of Redemption. While elaborating on the structure of the Star, Rosenzweig seeks to cap­ture the crucial meaning of God’s name by translating it as “the Eternal,” thereby enabling us to consider the thought of eternity as presenting the “synthesis” within the system of The Star of Redemption. Commonly perceived to convey an infinite progression of time, Rosenzweig’s understanding of the concept of eternity in The Star proves to be richer, including the idea of the everlasting as well as the notion of a constantly renewing presence. The article furthermore shows that the concept of the meaning of God’s name oriented at the present, as de­vised by Rosenzweig together with Martin Buber in their joint work of transla­tion, had already been articulated in The Star.