A thorough analysis of the Golden Rule (GR) is given including formal investigations of its logical structure and essential implications. Starting with the general distinction of positive and negative forms of GR a set of sixteen formal implications, one for each variant of the rule, is presented. The moral acceptability of the output of the different versions of GR is assessed in various problem contexts and in discussing several objections to GR with the conclusion that GR is hopelessly inadequate as (...) a general criterion of moral choice. (shrink)

At first sight one might be tempted to regard Descartes' "cogito ergo sum" as logically true by existential generalisation. This however would neither exhaust the specific epistemic content of "cogito" nor reveal the philosophical peculiarities of "sum" which the author takes to have two ontologically different meanings. The full sense of "cogito ergo sum" finally turns out to be "Credo* me* cogitare ergo scio* me* $\text{esse}_{1/2}$ ". Furthermore this proposition can formally be proved to be true by means of epistemic (...) logic. (shrink)

Ausgehend von der Tatsache, daß eine Kommunikation zwischen den verschiedenen Richtungen der Philosophie in Deutschland entweder gar nicht stattfindet oder bestimmten heutzutage zu fordernden Rationalitätsstandards nicht genügt, wird in einem ersten allgemeinen Teil auf die großen Vor- und geringen Nachteile aufmerksam gemacht, die ein vor allem an gewissen fundamentalen Einsichten der sprachanalytischen Philosophie orientiertermethodischer Minimalkonsens mit sich brächte, und in einem spezielleren und wichtigeren zweiten Teil eine sprachphilosophische Lokalisation aller Arten von Inexaktheiten, die in normalsprachlichen (nicht nur philosophischen) Texten vorkommen (...) können, mit dem praktischen Ziel vorgenommen, deren Vermeidung — soweit diese theoretisch überhaupt möglich ist — als zentralen Bestandteil des genannten Konsenses zu empfehlen. (shrink)

Die Arbeit wendet sich gegen die These, daß in nichtiterierten Gefangenendilemmata der Konsequentialismus als solcher die kollektive Erreichbarkeit seines eigenen Zieles der Nutzenmaximierung unterminiere und sich insofern ,,selbst aufhebe". Es sei daher rational, in GD-Konstellationen nichtkonsequentialistische, jene ineffizienten Folgezustände nicht nach sich ziehende Handlungsregeln zu wählen.Ausgehend vom Begriff der Effektivnutzenbewertung bei folgenorientiertem Handeln, von dem die - bei GD-Analysen üblicherweise allein betrachtete - Eigennutzenbewertung nur ein Spezialfall ist, betont die Arbeit demgegenüber folgendes: Es ist keineswegs der Konsequentialismus per se, sondern (...) lediglich eine, je nach CD-Auszahlungsmatrix, hinreichend stark egoistische Folgenbewertung, die jene fatale Implikation der ,,Selbstaufhebung" aufweist. Anhand von 2- bzw. von n-Personen-Dilemmata wird gezeigt, daß eine utilitaristische oder Maximin-Bewertung aller Spieler, aber auch jede nicht interpersonal invariante, hinreichend stark altruistische Folgenbewertung bei kollektiver Anwendung Ineffizienzen vermeidet, daß man also den GD-Klugheitsfallen auch im Rahmen des Konsequentialismus entgehen kann.Darüber hinaus wird der Begriff des nur partiellen Klugheitsdilemmas eingeführt, von dem die üblichen Klugheitsdilemmata nur Grenzfälle sind. (shrink)

Der Artikel klassifiziert erstens deskriptiv nach systematischen Gesichtspunkten die wichtigsten deontologischen some konsequentialistischen Ethiktypen. Er prüft diese zweitens kursorisch bezüglich ihrer normativen Leistungsfähigkeit als allgemeinverbindliche, metaphysikfreie Richtlinien rein ethischer Entscheidungsfindung für einen einzelnen Entscheider. (Einzig normativ-ethische Abwandlungen von spieltheoretischen Kooperations-, Verhandlungs- und Vertragsmoddhn werden insofern nicht mitbetrachtet.) Votiert wird am Ende für eine bestimmte Variante von universalistischem präferenzaggregierendem Konsequentialismus ("Gerechtigkeitsutilitarismus"). Dieser schreibt eine Nutzenniveau- statt nur eine Nutzenzwachsaggregation sowie eine Anreicherung der rein additiven utilitaristischen Aggregationsformel mit bestimmten Gerechtigkeitsparametern vor, die (...) auch Nicht-Nutzeninformation, wie die Streuung der Nutzenniveaus und die Berücksichtigungswürdigkeit bzw. das Verdientsein manifestierter Partikularnutzenzuwachswerte in die ethische Entscheidung einzubeziehen gestatten. (shrink)

Der Artikel klassifiziert erstens deskriptiv nach systematischen Gesichtspunkten die wichtigsten deontologischen some konsequentialistischen Ethiktypen. Er prüft diese zweitens kursorisch bezüglich ihrer normativen Leistungsfähigkeit als allgemeinverbindliche, metaphysikfreie Richtlinien rein ethischer Entscheidungsfindung für einen einzelnen Entscheider. (Einzig normativ-ethische Abwandlungen von spieltheoretischen Kooperations-, Verhandlungs- und Vertragsmoddhn werden insofern nicht mitbetrachtet.) Votiert wird am Ende für eine bestimmte Variante von universalistischem präferenzaggregierendem Konsequentialismus ("Gerechtigkeitsutilitarismus"). Dieser schreibt eine Nutzenniveau- statt nur eine Nutzenzwachsaggregation sowie eine Anreicherung der rein additiven utilitaristischen Aggregationsformel mit bestimmten Gerechtigkeitsparametern vor, die (...) auch Nicht-Nutzeninformation, wie die Streuung der Nutzenniveaus und die Berücksichtigungswürdigkeit bzw. das Verdientsein manifestierter Partikularnutzenzuwachswerte in die ethische Entscheidung einzubeziehen gestatten. (shrink)

Ethik und Seelsorge sind Bereiche, in denen menschliches Sein und Handeln reflektierend begleitet wird, um Orientierung, Unterstützung oder Trost zu geben. Bei Berufen, in denen Menschen auf eine gewaltverstrickte Lebenswelt treffen, ihrerseits staatlich legitimiert Gewalt ausüben und selbst von Gewalt betroffen sind, tauchen dabei besondere Widersprüche und Sinnfragen auf. Diese Herausforderungen in den Blick zu nehmen und an der Schnittstelle von Philosophie und praktischer Theologie zu erörtern, so wie es der Münsteraner Theologe Werner Schiewek richtungsweisend vorgezeichnet hat, ist das Ziel (...) des vorliegenden Bandes. (shrink)

In his book “Medical Philosophy: Conceptual issues in Medicine”, Mario Bunge provides a unique account of medical philosophy that is deeply rooted in a realist ontology he calls “systemism”. According to systemism, the world consists of systems and their parts, and systems possess emergent properties that their parts lack. Events within systems may form causes and effects that are constantly conjoined via particular mechanisms. Bunge supports the views of the evidence-based medicine movement that randomized controlled trials (RCTs) provide the best (...) evidence to establish the truth of causal hypothesis; in fact, he argues that _only_ RCTs have this ability. Here, we argue that Bunge neglects the important feature of patients being open systems which are in steady interaction with their environment. We show that accepting this feature leads to counter-intuitive consequences for his account of medical hypothesis testing. In particular, we point out that (i) the confirmation of hypotheses is inherently stochastic and affords a probabilistic account of both confirmation and evidence which we provide here; (ii) RCTs are neither necessary nor sufficient to establish the truth of a causal claim; (iii) testing of causal hypotheses requires taking into account background knowledge and the context within which an intervention is applied. We conclude that there is no “best” research methodology in medicine, but that different methodologies should coexist in a complementary fashion. (shrink)

Rainer Forst develops a critical theory capable of deciphering the deficits and potentials inherent in contemporary political reality. This calls for a perspective which is immanent to social and political practices and at the same time transcends them. Forst regards society as a whole as an ‘order of justification’ comprising complexes of different norms referring to institutions and corresponding practices of justification. The task of a ‘critique of relations of justification’, therefore, is to analyse such legitimations with regard to (...) their validity and genesis and to explore the social and political asymmetries leading to inequalities in the ‘justification power’ which enables persons or groups to contest given justifications and to create new ones. Starting from the concept of justification as a basic social practice, Forst develops a theory of political and social justice, human rights and democracy, as well as of power and of critique itself. In so doing, he engages in a critique of a number of contemporary approaches in political philosophy and critical theory. Finally, he also addresses the question of the utopian horizon of social criticism. (shrink)

Interactive social cognition theory and approaches of developmental psychology widely agree that central aspects of emotional and social experience arise in the unfolding of processes of embodied social interaction. Bi-directional dynamical couplings of bodily displays such as facial expressions, gestures, and vocalizations have repeatedly been described in terms of coordination, synchrony, mimesis, or attunement. In this paper, I propose conceptualizing such dynamics rather as processes of affective resonance. Starting from the immediate phenomenal experience of being immersed in interaction, I develop (...) the philosophical notion of affective resonance to refer to a dynamic entanglement of moving and being-moved in relation. The concept of affective resonance makes visible that the interaction dynamic itself creates an affective experience rather than transmitting internal feeling states between pre-existent individuals. This leads to a philosophical framework in which relationality and ontogeny are primary over separate individuals, and in which the naturalistic distinction of a fundamental physical level versus an emerging level of social processes has to be given up. (shrink)

Der Mensch ist das Wesen, das sich zu seiner Vergänglichkeit, seiner Sterblichkeit und Endlichkeit verhält. Das führt ihn zu Selbstdeutungen unterschiedlichster Art, aber die Frage, die der Mensch sich in Anbetracht von Geburt, Liebe und Tod selbst ist, bleibt letztlich offen. Rainer Marten zeigt, wie literarische, theologische und philosophische Entwürfe, die Seins- und Lebensfrage zu beantworten, kritisch besehen Gestaltungen ihrer Unbeantwortbarkeit sind. Von der Antike bis in die Gegenwart haben Dichter, Theologen und Philosophen kraft ihrer poetischen Selbstauslegung an das (...) Geheimnis endlichen menschlichen Lebens gerührt. Es ist der Mensch, der sich zum einen auf seine Endlichkeit zu besinnen vermag und der zum anderen anfängt zu verstehen, dass er mehr ist, als er weiß und wissen kann. (shrink)

Over the past 15 years, Rainer Forst has developed a fundamental research programme within the tradition of Frankfurt School Critical Theory. The core of this programme is a moral account of the basic right of justification that humans owe to one another as rational beings. This account is put to work by Forst in articulating - both historically and philosophically - the contexts and form of justice and of toleration. The result is a powerful theoretical framework within which to (...) address issues such as transnational justice and multicultural toleration. In this volume, Forst sets out his ideas in an extended essay, which is responded to be influential interlocutors including: Andrea Sangiovanni, Amy Allen, Kevin Olson, Anthony Laden, Eva Erman and Simon Caney. The volume concludes with Forst's response to his interlocutors. (shrink)

This chapter explores the relationship between republican democracy and justice by comparing Philip Pettit's notion of neo-republicanism with that of Immanuel Kant. It begins by describing a republican, political conception of justice as nondomination and explaining why the discourse of republicanism and that of theories of justice often remain at odds with one another. It then considers the basis of a republican conception of justice as nondomination and locates it within the principle of justification, along with Pettit's idea of autonomy (...) and respect. It also examines the notions of ‘arbitrariness’ and ‘domination’ as well as Pettit's ‘negative republicanism’ and its emphasis on legally and politically secure freedom of choice. The chapter argues that a Kantian interpretation of modern republicanism is more convincing than Pettit's ‘negative republicanism’. (shrink)

Keine ausführliche Beschreibung für "Existieren, Wahrsein und Verstehen" verfügbar.

Only rarely do foreign visitors find their way to the Temple Garden of Philosophy, located away from the busy shopping streets and off the beaten tourist track in the Japanese capital. In this book, the World Sages, to whose memory the shrine in the centre of the Garden is dedicated, are presented as existential thinkers in four essays by Japanese and German scholars. In a detailed introduction, the author and translator of the volume sketches an intellectual framework that places the (...) Four Sages within the parameters of global humanism. Perusing the recent contributions by Jan Assmann and Jürgen Habermas, the epilogue offers a discussion of the controversial thesis of a Eurasian Axial Age around 600 BCE. With contributions by Prof. em. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Volker Gerhardt, Prof. em. Dr. Makio Takemura and Prof. em. Dr. Kōhei Yoshida. (shrink)

Data analytics and data-driven approaches in Machine Learning are now among the most hailed computing technologies in many industrial domains. One major application is predictive analytics, which is used to predict sensitive attributes, future behavior, or cost, risk and utility functions associated with target groups or individuals based on large sets of behavioral and usage data. This paper stresses the severe ethical and data protection implications of predictive analytics if it is used to predict sensitive information about single individuals or (...) treat individuals differently based on the data many unrelated individuals provided. To tackle these concerns in an applied ethics, first, the paper introduces the concept of “predictive privacy” to formulate an ethical principle protecting individuals and groups against differential treatment based on Machine Learning and Big Data analytics. Secondly, it analyses the typical data processing cycle of predictive systems to provide a step-by-step discussion of ethical implications, locating occurrences of predictive privacy violations. Thirdly, the paper sheds light on what is qualitatively new in the way predictive analytics challenges ethical principles such as human dignity and the (liberal) notion of individual privacy. These new challenges arise when predictive systems transform statistical inferences, which provide knowledge about the cohort of training data donors, into individual predictions, thereby crossing what I call the “prediction gap”. Finally, the paper summarizes that data protection in the age of predictive analytics is a collective matter as we face situations where an individual’s (or group’s) privacy is violated using dataotherindividuals provide about themselves, possibly even anonymously. (shrink)

The chapter outlines an abstract theoretical framework that is currently (re-)emerging in the course of a theoretical convergence of several disciplines. In the first section, the fundamental problem of perception theory is formulated, namely, the generation, by the perceptual system, of meaningful categories from physicogeometric energy patterns. In the second section, it deals with basic intuitions and assumptions underlying what can be regarded as the current Standard Model of Perceptual Psychology and points out why this model is profoundly inadequate for (...) dealing with the fundamental problem of perception theory. In the third section, it discusses a level of analysis that promises to be fruitful for dealing, in conformity with established procedures of the natural sciences, with the problem of perceptual “meaning” and the problem of what constitutes a “perceptual object.” In the fourth section, it outlines a theoretical perspective on basic principles of the perceptual system which centers on the notions of complex data types and conceptual forms, and draws an entirely different theoretical picture of the role of the sensory input than traditional accounts. The final section focusses on the issue of material qualities and discusses, within the general theoretical framework outlined, some observations and results on the perception of certain material properties, namely, lustrous and glassy appearances. (shrink)

Gli esseri umani sono esseri giustificanti: offrono, chiedono ed esigono giustificazioni. Le norme e le istituzioni che seguono si basano su narrazioni di giustificazione storicamente date che, nel loro insieme, costituiscono un ordine normativo, dinamico e ricco di tensioni. Superando l’alternativa tra teorie “ideali” e teorie “realiste”, Rainer Forst dimostra in questo libro come i concetti di normatività e potere siano strettamente correlati: il potere si basa, infatti, sulla capacità di influenzare, determinare ed eventualmente restringere lo spazio delle giustificazioni. (...) Una teoria critica della giustificazione deve quindi porre in analisi le relazioni di potere in termini di giustificazioni, e da lì riflettere sulla loro validità. Tra filosofia, storia e scienze sociali, Forst rivaluta le teorie della giustizia, così come quelle del potere, fornendo gli strumenti per un nuovo approccio di teoria critica, come teoria critica della giustificazione. (shrink)