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1. Philosophical Aspects 1.1. As a look at everyday usage shows (Language 1), the “language game” (L. Wittgenstein) of doubt is very diverse. One may doubt the truth of a statement, the rightness of a decision to act, the motives of actions, one’s own feelings or those of others, perceptions of meaning, and religious or other beliefs of every kind. Philosophical tradition has taken over the broad claim that the essential meaning of doubt lies in the subjective impossibility of assessing truth claim…

1. State of the Problem All societies share the basic experience of death, yet they respond to it in different ways in their thinking and customs (Dead, Cult of the). We find ideas ranging from self-evident certainty of the presence of the dead (Ancestor Worship; Demons) to preparation for the journey of the dead to their new home and hope of redemption in a new life beyond the present course. The various theories of the relation to death that are also found in society and religion do not allow of sy…

1. History of the Term The term “nature” clearly is used in many different ways, in both everyday speech and technical language. This imprecision makes its meaning versatile but problematic in relation to such concepts as life, experience, and reality. The flexibility and imprecision mark its whole history (Philosophy of Nature), in which we find all the meanings that it has in common parlance. Common to them all is the idea that “nature” stands for the sphere of the given. 1.1. Greek Philosophy Physis in Greek philosophy is more a forerunner than an equivalent of “nature.” In…