The paper focuses on two research objectives. First, it aims to critically examine a reductio ad absurdum argument against incompatibilism whose main themes can be found in Peter F. Strawson’s Freedom and Resentment. The doubts raised about the argument are inspired by a thought experiment based on fictitious Ludovico’s technique described in Anthony Burgess’s novel A Clockwork Orange. The second objective consists in outlining a version of the compatibilist stance – the version which is immune to Strawson’s objections against the traditional rendering of compatibilism and enables deeper understanding of various possible interpretations of the controversy between compatibilists and their opponents. The proposed position includes a hypothesis on the function of the attitude of participation and the expressivist explications of the concepts crucial for the practice of ascribing moral responsibility. The important feature of the analyses in question is the central role of the states of mind whose content are plans for reactive moral sentiments.
In high-performance optical systems, small disturbances can be sufficient to put the projected image out of focus. Little stochastic excitations, for example, are a huge problem in those extremely precise opto-mechanical systems. To avoid this problem or at least to reduce it, several possibilities are thinkable. One of these possibilities is the modification of the dynamical behavior. In this method the redistribution of masses and stiffnesses is utilized to decrease the aberrations caused by dynamical excitations. Here, a multidisciplinary optimization process is required for which the basics of coupling dynamical and optical simulation methods will be introduced. The optimization is based on a method for efficiently coupling the two types of simulations. In a concluding example, the rigid body dynamics of a lithography objective is optimized with respect to its dynamical-optical behavior.