Intellectual Value Research Articles

Green Intellectual Capital on Value Relevance in Indonesia’s Manufacturing Companies

Objective - Corporate concern for the environment is an important stakeholder demand. A company is obliged to preserve the environment with various investments, one of which is green intellectual capital to maintain the sustainability of the company, especially for companies that carry out their business activities in countries that are in conditions of high pollution such as Indonesia. The importance of green intellectual capital investment information for stakeholders can be seen from the value relevance of the information. This study aims to examine and analyze the effect of investment in green intellectual capital, which consists of the following dimensions: human, structural, and relation to value relevance. Methodology/Technique – This study will explain the causal relationship between the independent and the dependent variables through hypothesis testing based on the theory that has been formulated with data that obtained and tested through quantitative panel data testing. Findings - The results of a survey of 515 samples of data from a population of 183 manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in 2015-2019 found that green intellectual capital with its three dimensions had a significant positive effect on value relevance. This study also proves that green structural intellectual capital has influenced more on value relevance than human and relation intellectual capital. Novelty - The measurement of variables is green intellectual capital and value relevance in this study develops previous research with related government conditions and regulations in Indonesia. Green intellectual capital investment is measured by using content analysis from disclosures in annual reports and sustainability reports, and value relevance is measured by the Olhson model with beta correction by the stock market in Indonesia. Type of Paper: Empirical. JEL Classification: G32, O34 Keywords: Green Intellectual Capital; Value relevance; Human Capital; Structural Capital, Relational Capital

Modern technologies of protection and processing of confidential documentary information in organizations and institutions of different forms of ownership

The purpose of the article is to establish the features and types of modern documentary information thathas intellectual value; finding out the principles on which to build a secure document flow; characteristics ofthe main technological stages and procedures for the implementation of confidential documents; identifyingthreats that may arise during this process. The methodology consisted of a set of general scientific, specialscientific and specific methods of studying the problem, the application of which allows to achieve the goal.Scientific intelligence was based on the principles of objectivity and integrity. The use of a set of scientificmethods made it possible to study the specifics of valuable documentary information, to find out the mainchannels of information leakage, to trace the stages of document circulation of such business papers. Scientificnovelty. The latest international practices of working with confidential documents are studied. Featuresand types of documentary information that has intellectual value for the entrepreneur are established. Theprinciples on which it is necessary to build a secure document flow are formulated. The main technologicalstages and procedures of execution of confidential documents are outlined. The main threats that may ariseduring this process have been identified. Conclusions. Confidential information allows any company to operatesuccessfully due to the security of information. The importance of such information determines the risk of itsloss. In order to avoid inconveniences related to the loss or theft of information, the institutions should createappropriate services, whose representatives monitor confidential information, document circulation, createdatabases for computers and files for paper media, destroy drafts of confidential documents, store and destroydocuments that are valuable in the prescribed manner.Keywords: execution of a confidential document, secrecy stamp, information protection, technologicalcomplexity, value of documentary information.

A TOPSIS-Based Model for Evaluating the Performance of the Intellectual Property Value Strategies of Science and Technology Enterprises

Intellectual property comes with risks such as value evaluation and externalities. It is an intangible asset involving a large investment and a long return period; however, it plays an important role in enhancing the competitiveness of enterprises. Some companies see intellectual property as being a long-term development strategy, which makes evaluating the performance of corporate intellectual property particularly important. The TOPSIS method is widely used to evaluate the pros and cons, as well as the performance of various programs. It can make full use of the data to accurately reflect the gaps in various programs. This paper uses the TOPSIS method to evaluate the performance of the intellectual property value strategy of six typical technology companies based on three dimensions: financial performance, external performance, and value chain performance. The study found that the value chain performance was the most important in the performance evaluation of the intellectual property value strategy, followed by the external performance, and then by the financial performance. There were also significant differences in the intellectual property value strategy of the six technology companies.

Street earnings as a mediator of the effect of intellectual capital disclosure, customer value, and research development activities on firm value

This study is driven by the phenomenon of earnings indicators that can mislead investors due to managers' personal interests. As a result, investors would seek alternative earnings through analysts serving as intermediaries, referred to as street earnings. Street earnings are considered more predictive, informative, and more likely to be used to assess firm value. Furthermore, non-financial information from the corporation can affect street earnings. As a result, this study attempts to determine whether street earnings affect firm value while also determining whether it can mediate the relationship between non-financial information on firms with firm value. This analysis makes use of 392 observations from manufacturing firms between 2015 and 2020. SPSS 25 and the Sobel test are used to conduct data analysis. One of the three hypothesis is proven, namely that research and development activities directly and indirectly affect street earnings and firm value. If street earnings can moderate the relationship between the two variables, this conclusion is also supported by the Sobel test.

Rhetoric’s Renaissance

In 2005, Art Walzer graciously invited me to join an NCA panel celebrating the recent publication of Hugh Blair’s Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (Southern Illinois University Press, eds. Linda Ferreira-Buckley and S. Michael Halloran). After my clumsy talk about Blair’s bourgeois rhetorical style, I listened to Art’s sophisticated claim that Blair occupies a pivotal place in the canon because he negotiated the turn from civic humanism to civil society by transmogrifying ancient civic virtue into modern Christian politeness. Enthralled, I committed to reading Art’s work on George Campbell, an erudite exploration of abstruse rhetorical theory and Enlightenment emotional psychology. Art had made Blair into the Anglican Quintilian, Campbell into a Humean Aristotle. Up until that point, I had ignored British belletrism because it seemed like a moribund scholarly field. Art made the Scottish Enlightenment blossom.To date, I have avoided the Renaissance because it looked like a stripped scholarly mine, pored over and picked through so often that nothing of intellectual value could remain. Walzer and Sullivan’s Critical Edition of Four Works on Counsel, however, finds new gems in an old pit. Accepting The Boke Named the Governour as Elyot’s most significant text, they discuss his lesser-known works as extrapolations on the proper form and function of magisterial counsel. The Governour, they explain, envisions a “semi-professional class of governor/counsels driven by vocations and prepared by a curriculum” (19). The works featured in this collection, when read through the lenses provided by Walzer and Sullivan’s robust critical apparatus, show us how the counselor should behave. These works serve either as examples of good counsel (To Nicocles and The Defense of Good Women) or as theories of good counsel (Pasquill the Playne and Of that Knowlage).Walzer and Sullivan emphasize the historical contexts, explaining how Elyot’s own experiences in the Henrician court colored his thoughts on the counselor’s office and potential. Two moments are illustrative. Walzer and Sullivan discuss Elyot’s positive experiences while Clerk of the Council under Cardinal Wolsey. In this capacity, Elyot witnessed a productive debate about policies that might prevent the hoarding of grain. Their deliberation resulted in wise policy. Later, while serving as Henry’s royal ambassador to Charles V, Elyot struggled in his efforts to advance the English king’s petition for a legal divorce from Catherine. This frustrating experience ended with Elyot’s early dismissal. Elyot’s hope for good counsel, a hope fed by positive experiences under Wolsey, led to optimistic works like Elyot’s translation of Isocrates’s To Nicocles and his Defense of Good Women. Elyot’s vain and interrupted attempt to persuade Charles V contributed to the jaded perspective dominating a Lucianic dialogue between the Greek rhetorician (Gnatho), who says only things that will be well-received, and the Roman parrhesiast (Pasquill), who speaks the eternal truth without regard for audience. The tension between these two figures is further compounded by the prelate (Harpocrates) who maintains his silence because at court, more often than not, silence is in season. Even this pasquinade has a sunny third act, however, for Walzer and Sullivan argue that, though the characters are unable to decide which option is best (suitable silence, conciliating rhetoric, or blunt truth), they do model “prudential reasoning” in their conversation (171).I’ve highlighted one instance where Walzer and Sullivan describe the historical circumstance to illuminate the rhetorical works. Their collection is filled with such moments. Because of this careful attention to historical context, Critical Editions of Four Works on Counsel transcends the English Renaissance. Walzer and Sullivan can explore the problem of counsel as a transhistorical, rhetorical problem. The tension between rhetoric and parrhesia comes forth in every one of Elyot’s minor works. By dutifully noting Elyot’s classical inheritance, Walzer and Sullivan can demonstrate that the problem of counsel is not peculiar to courtly life in the fifteenth century. Elyot becomes the Renaissance Cicero, balancing wisdom and eloquence in a philosophia civilor. He was the Henrician Quintilian, educating the ideal counselor (80). He turns into the English Aristotle worried that a rhetoric aimed only at expediency and not informed by prudence will lead to malice (86). And, for me, this is deja vu all over again. A figure whom I imagined as intellectually obscure, historically peculiar, and completely uninteresting has bloomed into the paradigmatic rhetor.Walzer’s corpus is filled with careful historical scholarship, every book, every article claiming a broader philosophical relevance for a figure or an era that might otherwise seem unimportant or over-examined: Thomas Malthus, Marcus Quintilian, Richard Whately, et alii. If I had to characterize Art Walzer as a scholar, based on his ability to find something appropriate to say about anyone, anywhere, I might borrow an epithet given to another Renaissance counselor. I might say Art Walzer is a rhetorician for all seasons.

Ibn ‘Arabi and the Shadhiliya of Tunisia

Tunisian Sufi rituals are among a wide array of indigenous North African performance practices that have not received sufficient attention. Focusing on the hadra ritual of the Shadhiliya Sufi order, this article explores how ideas derived from Islamic intellectual history have been interwoven into popular Sufi culture, particularly Islamic understandings of epistemology. Citing the works of the twelfth century Islamic philosopher and saint, Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi, the author examines what constitutes knowledge from an Islamic Sufi perspective and how it is acquired through embodied practice. This not only reveals the intellectual value of indigenous Sufi traditions like the hadra ritual, but also raises important questions about how Islamic epistemology and understandings of embodiment can enrich theatrical practice, particularly for North African theatre-makers who are interested in experimenting with indigenous forms.

Intellectual Property Pledge Value Evaluation for Listed Companies: a Case Study of Yunnan Baiyao Enterprise

In modern enterprise assets, the proportion of intangible assets is not only an important standard to measure the competitiveness of an enterprise, but also an important way to obtain financing. Bank loans can be obtained through the pledge of intellectual property rights to solve the capital problems encountered in the development process of enterprises. However, the difficulty of intellectual property pledge is value evaluation, and intellectual property belongs to intangible assets, and its uncertain characteristics easily lead to more problems in the process of value evaluation. In addition, the traditional value evaluation methods have certain limitations. This paper selects Yunnan Baiyao enterprises as an example to study the value evaluation of intellectual property pledge of listed companies. In this paper, domestic and foreign scholars on the status of intellectual property pledge research, analysis of the focus of domestic and foreign research, at the same time, the status quo of value evaluation is analyzed, and combined with three basic methods of intellectual property value evaluation are analyzed, and taking Yunnan Baiyao enterprise as an example, the application of intellectual property pledge value evaluation method is illustrated, and relevant enlightenment and suggestions are obtained. Finally, this paper summarizes the full text and prospects the evaluation methods of intellectual property pledge value of Listed Companies in China. The text studies the advanced experience of municipal solid waste treat.

INNOVATIVE DEVELOPMENT TRENDS OF SMALL BUSINESS ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE DIGITAL ECONOMY CONDITION

The article is devoted to the modern trends identification in the small businesses innovative development and their adaptability to the digital economy. The article presents the main characteristics of the digital economy and its impact on the small business’ innovative development. Transformation processes from idea generation, business idea formation to implementation of breakthrough innovations and small business enterprises activity are analyzed. The article considers, within the network intellectual digitization, technological trends: digital idea, smart applications and analytics, smart things, digital twins, cloud technologies, talk platforms, immersive experience, blockchain, managed models, prolonged adaptive risk and trust. Based on the results of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis, the most significant economic factors of industrial production development in Ukraine have been found out. The economic factors of the enterprises development under the conditions of Industry 4.0 are systematized. It shows the essence of the paradigm shifts in economy, that respond to the trend to globalization and setting up the information society, especially to the impact of the fourth industrial revolution. The authors have noted increased productivity and profitability of production and the rise of collaboration effectiveness between the economic entities. Such factors as the need to develop a new type of intellectual value chain, production of individual and customized goods with reasonable prices and use of learning factories have specific meaning in the framework of this problem. However, in the context of the Ukraine industrial policy within of Industry 4.0, certain systemic economic factors that could have a negative impact on the development of priority sectors of industry have been identified. The results obtained can be used by business entities implementing the decoded platform. At the same time, drivers of innovative development of modern business at the local and global level are identified, such as: staff and innovation culture, customer understanding, research and development, business processes and business model.

A new correlation for estimating the gas turbine cost

The recent changes in energy scenario with rising attention to decarbonization, introduction of new technology and renewable source have led to design power plant with the lowest values of cost of energy, investment payback period, CO2 emission, especially in cogeneration and combined cycle plants. The cost of a gas turbine, an industrial key intellectual property value, represents a large portion of total plant capital cost. In fact, the correlations used to determine this cost, represent an important part in the optimization of power plant studied. In this work, a new cost correlation has been determined using gas turbine data presents into GTW handbook. The overall correlation, dependently only on gas turbine output power, used in a lot of scientific studies is here actualized, calculating new split-power and new coefficients for Heavy Duty and Aeroderivative gas turbine. Therefore, a more complete and detailed correlation is developed, introducing additional parameters, such as thermodynamic efficiency, pressure ratio, exhaust temperature and exhaust mass flow rate, whose values are available on gas turbine datasheet. The new correlation here proposed reflects better real gas turbine configurations and costs.

Possibility of using Art Forms in Interior Design

This study will discuss the possibility of using various art forms in interior design, as there was a significant impact, and aesthetic value via using artworks in interior design. The study has analyzed (5) design cases of artworks (sculpture, ceramics, painting, decoration, folk art) within an interior space concerning the added aesthetic value of these artworks in interior design. The study contained five cases to prove whether the use of these artworks added aesthetic value to interior design or not. The results have shown that artworks added an aesthetic, artistic and intellectual value to interior design.

Strategies to Improve the Effectiveness of Classroom Teaching for Philosophy Teachers

The purpose of this study is to achieve two objectives. First, to compare the effectiveness of philosophy classes in two administrative classes of Liupanshui Normal University, and to explore the influence of the strategies used by the teachers in the two administrative classes in philosophy teaching on the students. Secondly, through the comparison and discussion of the first point, this paper puts forward the implementation strategies to improve the effectiveness of philosophy classroom, so that students can accept and absorb these knowledge points to the maximum extent to improve the teaching effect. Liupanshui Normal University is located in a remote mountain area of China, so students don't have enough knowledge and guidance in philosophy. Therefore, it is necessary to improve students' philosophical quality through effective classroom practice, so that they can better adapt to the society. Taking case study as the research method, this paper conducted observation, questionnaire survey, interview and literature analysis on philosophy teachers, students, parents, employers and school administrators. The results show that the effect of traditional teaching methods is not as good as audio-visual teaching tools, and the application of audio-visual materials in philosophy teaching has successfully endowed students with higher intellectual value and stimulated their creativity and innovative spirit. In addition, continuous improvement in teachers' emphasis on evaluation feedback, interaction and knowledge literature learning has a positive impact on students, as these strategies encourage them to use higher-level thinking skills.

Pengaruh Struktur Modal, Profitabilitas, Ukuran Perusahaan dan Modal Intelektual Terhadap Nilai Perusahaan Pada Indeks LQ 45 Periode 2010-2017

This study aims to examine the effect of capital structure, profitability, firm size and intellectual capital towards firm value. Capital structure is proxied by Debt to Equity Ratio (DER), profitability is proxied by Return On Assets (ROA), company size is proxied by Ln from total assets, intellectual capital is proxied by Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC) and company value is proxied by Price to Book Value (PBV). The data used in this study is secondary data obtained from the company's financial statements on the LQ 45 index listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the period 2010-2017. The sampling technique was carried out using purposive sampling and obtained a sample of 15 companies. The data analysis technique used was multiple linear regression analysis using SPSS version 20. The results showed that the capital structure had no effect on the value of the company, profitability had an effect on the value of the company, the size of the company did not affect the value of the company and intellectual capital did not affect the value of the company.

A feminist manifesto of resistance against intellectual property regimes: reclaiming the public domain as an open-access information commons

This commentary article examines how the commodity form of knowledge – enclosed within the rigid structures of intellectual property (IP) – bears the imprint of Eurocentric, patriarchal, and capitalist forces which produced IP regimes. The commoditization of knowledge is a process mediated by historical asymmetries of power. This manifesto makes the argument that liberating knowledge production from oppressive histories and hierarchical structures – instead, locating it within a reclaimed public domain – is a necessarily feminist and decolonial enterprise. Knowledge producers everywhere are invited to interrupt the continued appropriation of knowledge by capitalism by refusing to participate in corporatized intellectual property regimes. Those who inhabit or are adjacent to dominant structures of power can affirm alternative mediations of intellectual value rooted in feminist and decolonial theories of community, commons, and exchange, rather than legalistic and capitalist property regimes that favour corporations and hyper-individualism.

The blending of African heritage with modern technologies to design a futuristic reality An analytical study of scenic designs and costumes for ”The Black Panther” movie

Black Panther movie is managed to achieve the most difficult cinematic equation,which was both public and critical success.Director Ryan Coogler made adventure and suspense a general framework for the events to shed light on many contemporary social and political issues that classified the movie as one of the best comic superhero movies. The makers of the movie especially the director,made a challenge by presenting an exceptional movie that balances artistic pleasure and intellectual value,without disturbing the classification of it as one of the movies based mainly on visual dazzling. One of the most prominent factors that characterized the movie was the design of the spatial environment of events,It’s a fictional city called Wakanda,which is technologically advanced and located in the picturesque nature of Africa continent, perhaps it was not a real city,but production designer Hannah Beachler and fashion designer Ruth Carter,relied on very real tribes and cultures across Africa continent to represent the various peoples that are part of the Wakanda nation,and this has contributed to enriching visual content and providing a unique cinematic image of a balance between dazzling and nature without a breach of nature inherent characteristic of the peoples of the continent related to history and fine detail African heritage.

Investigation of L2 Learners’ Reading Attitudes with an Impact of Extensive Reading Project at Secondary Level, Sindh, Pakistan

In Pakistan, English is most importantly taught at all levels of education and several subjects are taught through the medium of English. Students acquire much of knowledge by reading written literature. Therefore, the importance of reading is inevitable at school level where students have to develop and adopt several strategies and new skills. Reading attitude is a complicated notion, and has a crucial role in developing reading skill. Reading attitudes are based on past experiences and practices and make a learner to be positive or negative for attempting the reading activity. Several researches suggest that learners’ choice for reading material and flexibility add a vital role in shaping the reading attitudes of the learners. Therefore, this study had taken the extensive reading for the instruction to gain support for the reading attitudes in second language. This attempt was made to fill the gap by investigating the effectiveness of extensive reading on the L2 reading attitudes. The subjects were 110 secondary level learners from Sindh, Pakistan. A reading attitude likert scale questionnaire was used before and after the 12-week project of extensive reading with 20 items divided into 6 variables: self-perception, intellectual value, practical value, linguistic value, comfort and anxiety. The results were compiled with the help of SPSS analysis, that showed the descriptive analysis of both pre and post project reading attitudes for each variable and significant difference. Suggestions and implications are highlighted for future practices and research. Keywords : Extensive reading, Reading attitude, Second Language, Learners’ Choice DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/11-2-06 Publication date: January 31 st 2021

Loss and Longevity: Rhetorics and Tactics of Early Modern Women's Writing

Abstract: This article assesses the place of scholarship on early modern women's writing, interrogating the conditions for sustaining, as well as recovering, women writers. The paradigm of loss has been both enabling and limiting for research in this area, capturing the excitement of discovery and innovation but with rhetorical pitfalls that impact upon longevity in the literary canon. The article evaluates various strategies for dissemination of research, also advocating for a set of practices around public engagement beyond the academy. The situatedness and fluidity of the literary canon are considered in the context of women's writing but also debates around decolonizing the curriculum. Perspective, location, and time are determinants of literary and intellectual value. The discussion concludes by proposing an "action plan," a set of tactics available to those in the field that might support the longevity and sustained presence of early modern women in the canon of literature as well as the wider community.

Zastupljenost ilustracija u udžbenicima osnovne škole

A textbook is a basic and compulsory teaching aid, written on the basis of a prescribed curriculum. The accompanying materials in the textbook are certainly illustrations that, in addition to serving the basic text, can also have a significant effect on the student. The aim of this research was to examine the representation of illustrations in textbooks used from the first to the sixth grade of primary school. An analysis was performed of forty elementary school textbooks approved for use by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Srpska, with the basic unit of analysis being the illustration in the textbook. The obtained research findings show that in both the first and the second triad, illustrations without humorous elements are more represented, although the number of humorous illustrations is at an enviable level, illustrations directly related to the content of the text predominate, drawings in both triads are most represented, and the largest number of illustrations have an intellectual value. A comparative analysis of the illustrations in the first and second triads shows that the differences can be read in terms of the categories of representation of illustrations on the pages and the functions of facilitating the memory or comprehension of the text. The obtained results are encouraging because they confirm the success of the assumptions for effective learning in accordance with age characteristics certain illustration requirements have been met, and the study can provide useful information to textbook developers, teachers, parents, and illustrators, given that illustrations are a structural element of a textbook to which students should be referred. The results can also be useful for the shaping and deeper operationalization of art and graphic requirements in the textbook and can influence the improvement of textbook quality standards.

Life cycle of innovation and assessment of intellectual property value in enterprises

The article examines the theoretical issues of the implementation of the life cycle of innovation and practical methods for assessing the loss of value of intellectual property in enterprises in the market. The method of the cost approach is disclosed, which assumes the accounting of the costs of reproduction of the assessed intellectual property in current prices, minus depreciation, as the most effective method for assessing intellectual property. Also considered are the rates of depreciation of fixed assets of industrial facilities, the coefficients of revaluation of the cost of fixed assets, depending on their depreciation. The article proposes the author’s approach to the gradation of the assessment of the lost usefulness of intellectual property in percentage and the relationship between the stages of the life cycle of an innovation and the state of the assessment of intellectual property..

Intellectual capital, profitability and market value of financial and non-financial services firms listed in Ghana

Intellectual capital, profitability and market value of financial and non-financial services firms listed in Ghana

The Stranger as Self and Other: Georg Simmel, Hermann Cohen, and the Significance of Jewish Difference

The Stranger as Self and Other:Georg Simmel, Hermann Cohen, and the Significance of Jewish Difference Adam Sutcliffe In his landmark 1908 essay "The Stranger," Georg Simmel links the Jews to his signature sociological type almost only in passing. In identifying the Jews as the "classic example" of an intruding outsider group that specializes in trade because all the productive economic niches in their host society are "already occupied," he makes clear that he considers this minority the strangers of history par excellence.1 He also associates the outsider stranger, in highly positive terms, with intellectual acuity and objectivity. He equates this objectivity with freedom, noting that the stranger, precisely because of his separation from the social world surrounding him, "is not bound by ties which could prejudice his perception, his understanding, and his perception of data."2 Objectivity was the most cherished intellectual value of the founding generation of German sociologists, among whom Simmel stood in the first rank. Alongside his colleagues Max Weber, Werner Sombart, and Ferdinand Tönnies, Simmel was deeply committed to establishing the credentials of this new discipline as an authentically scientific and "value-free" form of expert inquiry.3 In this context, Simmel's valorization of the objectivity of the stranger, as well as his association of this figure with the Jew, carried particular significance. Issues of ethnic and racial difference, which were attracting considerable attention in German public debate at [End Page 300] this time, posed a considerable challenge to the scientific aspirations of these early sociologists. Sombart and Weber argued that they could not neglect these topics—and in his The Jews and Modern Capitalism (1911), Sombart controversially engaged directly with them—while Simmel advocated a more cautiously aloof approach.4 Simmel absolutely did not want to argue directly for the exceptionalism of any particular ethnic group, and most certainly not of Jews. In his "Stranger" essay, he approached this topic obliquely and in a manner that was, on the surface, rigorously detached: he presents the Jewish case as simply one instance of the stranger phenomenon, straightforwardly explained by historical circumstances. Beyond this primary analysis, however, Simmel's essay also invites a highly personal reading. In associating the stranger with his own highest professional values, as well as with his ethnicity, Simmel theorized not only Jewish traders and financiers but also Jewish intellectuals such as himself. An unstated implication of the "The Stranger" is that Jews are particularly likely to be excellent sociologists—and perhaps especially baptized secular Jews such as Simmel, who were, in a sense, "double strangers," not fully belonging among either Jews or Christians. Simmel had already more extensively analyzed Jews as stranger traders eight years earlier, in his Philosophy of Money (1900). As a trading people in medieval Europe, he argued, the Jews were mentally shaped by their cultural isolation and their dependency on finance. This sharpened their logical faculties at the expense of their creative ones.5 Money, Simmel centrally argued in this book, promoted calculating, intellectual, "supra-personal" modes of thought. The Jews acquired this core characteristic of modernity precociously and with particular intensity. The "most brilliant example of this," he wrote, was Spinoza, whose philosophy gave expression to the most perfect objectivity of outlook: "nowhere are the incalculabilities of individuality allowed to break through the logical-mathematical structure of the unity of the world."6 Like many other secular Jewish intellectuals of his generation, Simmel identified with Spinoza, whose social position as a renegade Jew and highly original thinker in late seventeenth-century Holland seemed to foreshadow his own. Fascination with Spinoza's "Marrano" outsider [End Page 301] background and the association of this with the acuity and modernity of his insights has a long and enduring history.7 Standing firmly within this tradition, the heroization of Spinoza adorns Simmel's theory of Jewish distinctiveness, in which he combines a softly melancholy acceptance of inevitable cultural isolation and vulnerability with a discreet but nonetheless unmistakable assertion of intellectual superiority. The figure of the stranger features very differently in the almost contemporaneous work of another leading German Jewish thinker: Hermann Cohen. In his Religion of Reason out of the Sources of Judaism, published posthumously in...