We all know what a voluntary action is - we all think we know when an action is voluntary, and when it is not. Yet, performing and action and defining it are different matters. What counts as an action? When does it begin? Does the conscious desire to perform an action always precede the act? If not, is it really a voluntary action? This is a debate that crosses the boundaries of Philosophy, Neuroscience, Psychology, and Social Science. This book brings (...) together some to the leading thinkers from these disciplines to consider this deep and often puzzling topic. The result is a fascinating and stimulating debate that will challenge our fundamental assumptions about our sense of free-will. (shrink)

This book opens up a new route to the study of knowledge dynamics and the sociology of knowledge. The focus is on the role of metaphors as powerful catalysts and the book dissects their role in the construction of theories of knowledge and will therefore be of vital interest to social and cognitive scientists alike.

‘Scientific advice to politics’, the ‘nature of expertise’, and the ‘relation between experts, policy makers, and the public’ are variations of a topic that currently attracts the attention of social scientists, philosophers of science as well as practitioners in the public sphere and the media. This renewed interest in a persistent theme is initiated by the call for a democratization of expertise that has become the order of the day in the legitimation of research funding. The new significance of ‘participation’ (...) and ‘accountability’ has motivated scholars to take a new look at the science – politics interface and to probe questions such as "What is new in the arrangement of scientific expertise and political decision-making?", "How can reliable knowledge be made useful for politics and society at large, and how can epistemically and ethically sound decisions be achieved without losing democratic legitimacy?", "How can the objective of democratization of expertise be achieved without compromising the quality and reliability of knowledge?" Scientific knowledge and the ‘experts’ that represent it no longer command the unquestioned authority and public trust that was once bestowed upon them, and yet, policy makers are more dependent on them than ever before. This collection of essays explores the relations between science and politics with the instruments of the social studies of science, thereby providing new insights into their re-alignment under a new régime of governance. (shrink)

not lie in the conceptual distinctions but in the perceived functions of metaphors and whether in the concrete case they are judged positive or negative. The ongoing debates reflect these concerns quite clearly~ namely that metaphors are judged on the basis of supposed dangers they pose and opportunities they offer. These are the criteria of evaluation that are obviously dependent on the context in which the transfer of meaning occurs. Our fundamental concern is indeed the transfer itself~ its prospects and (...) its limits. Looking at possible functions of metaphors is one approach to under standing and elucidating sentiments about them. The papers in this volume illustrate, by quite different examples, three basic functions of metaphors: illustrative, heuristic~ and constitutive. These functions rep resent different degrees of transfer of meaning. Metaphors are illustrative when they are used primarily as a literary device, to increase the power of conviction of an argument, for example. Although the difference between the illustrative and the heuristic function of metaphors is not great, it does exist: metaphors are used for heuristic purposes whenever "differences" of meaning are employed to open new perspectives and to gain new insights. In the case of "constitutive" metaphors they function to actually replace previous meanings by new ones. Sabine Maasen in her paper introduces the distinction between transfer and transforma tion. (shrink)

Currently, the neurosciences challenge the concept of will to be scientifically untenable, specifying that it is our brain rather than our "self" that decides what we want to do. At the same time, we seem to be confronted with increasing possibilities and necessities of free choice in all areas of social life. Based on up-to-date (empirical) research in the social sciences and philosophy, the authors convened in this book address this seeming contradiction: By differentiating the physical, the psychic, and the (...) social realm, the neuroscientific findings can be acknowledged within a comprehensive framework of selves in neoliberal societies. (shrink)

A review of the scientific method. In the scientific method, results must be capable of being reproduced to be valid.

How can we understand the intensifying interactions of science and society? The answers are found in part in the interdisciplinary field called science studies. This field provides us with a rich inventory of analytical approaches. It helps us explore science as a practice, a subsystem, a culture, and an institution. Its observation is that science today is part and parcel of what has come to be known as "knowledge society." Nine exemplary studies that inquire into, or are themselves examples of (...) the dynamics of scientific knowledge are included in this book. They cover issues as diverse as eugenics, climate research, and the role of historiography, and make use of different tools such as evolutionary reasoning, metaphor, and bibliometrics. Finally, they ponder the need for science to go public as well as for society to regulate knowledge and restructure universities as the building blocks of our science system. The message is that science studies can and should assume an active role in observing, reflecting, and communicating the intricate encounters of science and society today. Sabine Maasen teaches sociology at Basel University, Switzerland. Matthias Winterhager is senior researcher and coordinator of bibliometric studies at the Institute for Science and Technology Studies, University of Bielefeld, Germany. (shrink)

Human Brain Project: Ethics Management or Proceduralization of Reflexivity? Everywhere, the reflexivity and responsibility of research and innovation is called for – the neurosciences being no exception. Undesirable side effects of scientific‐technical developments should be recognized early on and opportunities for participation by non‐scientific actors should be made available. In addition to the well‐known reflective programs such as Technology Assessment, Public Understanding of Science, Ethical Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) of Science, Science Communication and Citizen Science, a new program is (...) emerging: Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). With the dimensions of anticipation, reflexivity, inclusiveness and responsiveness advocated here, social accountability of research has just been expanded again: factually (applying to the scientific practice of all domains), temporally (becoming more and more permanent) and socially (involving more and more actors). The following study will first reconstruct the current prominence of RRI as the dynamics of a changing relationship between science and society, then explore into the claim and reality of RRI as documented in publicly available material. The observation: While RRI at the level of its program aims at legitimacy through democratization of knowledge production, the organization of RRI demonstrates highly orchestrated bureaucratic arrangements and procedures. In the case of the Human Brain Project, it thus becomes clear that and how RRI is being put to the service of supporting neuroinformatic big science through targeted reductions: it is mainly framed as ‘ethics management’ and hardly integrated into research practice or even public discourse. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungIn massenmedialen Darstellungen wird das Hormon Oxytocin gegenwärtig als biochemische Basis von Sozialität und wirkmächtiger neuropharmakologischer Lösungsansatz für die (Wieder‑)Herstellung der gesellschaftlichen Kohäsion verhandelt. Mit Blick auf die ursprüngliche Bedeutung des Hormons als „Körperhormon“ zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts soll im vorliegenden Artikel die außergewöhnliche Karriere von Oxytocin vom Regulator des Geburtsvorgangs hin zum Regulator der Gesellschaft nachgezeichnet werden. Woraus bezieht eine solch voraussetzungsvolle Behauptung ihre Intelligibilität und Akzeptabilität? Unsere Analyse des wissenschaftlichen Diskurses um Oxytocin (1906–1990), des massenmedialen Diskurses seit (...) den 1990er Jahren sowie dessen Rückwirkungen auf den wissenschaftlichen Diskurs im gleichen Zeitraum verweist auf eine Serie von Re-Konfigurationen von wissenschaftlichen Theorien und Praktiken, sowie der Konzeption der Substanz an sich. Nachdem es sich in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts etabliert, wird Oxytocin bereits in den 1950er Jahren zum Neurohormon, findet in den folgenden Jahrzehnten jedoch kaum wissenschaftliche Aufmerksamkeit. Erst im Zuge des massenmedialen Interesses für die postulierten Wirkungen des Hormons in Zusammenhang mit Liebe und Bindung gerät die Substanz zunehmend in den Fokus empirischer Forschung. Die Rezeption von Oxytocin als neurohormonelle Basis der individuellen Soziabilität speist sich zum einen aus dem massenmedialen Diskurs, zum anderen aus bereits in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts gemachten biopolitischen Verknüpfungen, die auf die Regulierung des Lebendigen abzielen, sowie aus einem technowissenschaftlichen Modus der Oxytocinforschung: an ihrem Schnittpunkt avanciert Oxytocin zum Sozialhormon, so unsere These. (shrink)

As the cognitive neurosciences set out to challenge our understanding of consciousness, the existing conceptual panoply of meanings attached to the term remains largely unaccounted for. By way of bibliometric analysis, the following study first reveals the breadth and shift of meanings over the last decades, the main tendency being a more 'brainy' concept of consciousness. On this basis, the emergence of consciousness studies is regarded as a 'trading zone' (Galison) in which experimental, philosophical and experiential accounts are dialectically engaged. (...) Outside of academic discourse, a neurocognitive concept of consciousness is embraced by popular self-help literature that sweepingly adopts this new discourse and the novel neuropharmacological tools in the self-help toolbox. Consciousness studies are hence not only the product of epistemological and methodological struggles (scientific dimension) but also part of the current re-alignments regarding the notion of consciously acting selves in society (societal dimension). (shrink)

As the cognitive neurosciences set out to challenge our understanding of consciousness, the existing conceptual panoply of meanings attached to the term remains largely unaccounted for. By way of bibliometric analysis, the following study first reveals the breadth and shift of meanings over the last decades, the main tendency being a more 'brainy' concept of consciousness. On this basis, the emergence of consciousness studies is regarded as a 'trading zone' in which experimental, philosophical and experiential accounts are dialectically engaged. Outside (...) of academic discourse, a neurocognitive concept of consciousness is embraced by popular self-help literature that sweepingly adopts this new discourse and the novel neuropharmacological tools in the self-help toolbox. Consciousness studies are hence not only the product of epistemological and methodological struggles but also part of the current re-alignments regarding the notion of consciously acting selves in society. (shrink)

Technology takes an unprecedented position in contemporary society. In particular, it has become part and parcel of governmental attempts to manufacture life in new ways. Such ideas concerning the governance of life organize around the same contention: that technology and life are, in fact, highly interconnectable. This is surprising because if one enters the sites of techno-scientific experimentation, those visions turn out to be much frailer and by no means “in place” yet. Rather, they afford or enforce constant interfacing work, (...) a particular mode of manufacturing life, rendering disparate, sturdy, and often surprisingly incompatible things available for one another. Here, we contend that both of those aspects, pervasive rationalities of interconnectability and practices of interfacing mark the cornerstones of what we call a new techno-bio-politics of life. In order to grasp the government of life under the technological condition, we must understand how both human and non-human entities are being rendered interconnectable and re-worked through practices of interfacing. We take neuro-technology and care robotics as two illustrative cases. Our analysis shows that the contemporary government of life is not primarily concerned with life itself in its biological re-constitution but rather with life as it is interfaced with and through technology. (shrink)

Référence de la pensée critique contemporaine et de la lutte contre les discriminations sexuelles et « culturelles », Judith Butler passe pour une grande philosophe. En prise sur notre actualité, ce livre, dont le titre fait allusion à l'autorité usurpée des Jésuites moqués par Pascal dans Les Provinciales, questionne cette évidence, par une critique sévère et argumentée de la « pensée Butler ».

Research questions and backgroundThis study explores a highly controversial issue of medical care in Germany: the decision to withhold or withdraw mechanical ventilation in critically ill patients. It analyzes difficulties in making these decisions and the physicians’ uncertainty in understanding the German terminology of Sterbehilfe, which is used in the context of treatment limitation. Used in everyday language, the word Sterbehilfe carries connotations such as helping the patient in the dying process or helping the patient to enter the dying process. (...) Yet, in the legal and ethical discourse Sterbehilfe indicates several concepts: (1) treatment limitation, i.e., withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment (passive Sterbehilfe), (2) the use of medication for symptom control while taking into account the risk of hastening the patient’s death (indirekte Sterbehilfe), and (3) measures to deliberately terminate the patient’s life (aktive Sterbehilfe). The terminology of Sterbehilfe has been criticized for being too complex and misleading, particularly for practical purposes. Materials and methods An exploratory study based on qualitative interviews was conducted with 28 physicians from nine medical intensive care units in tertiary care hospitals in the German federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. The method of data collection was a problem-centered, semi-structured interview using two authentic clinical case examples. In order to shed light on the relation between the physicians’ concepts and the ethical and legal frames of reference, we analyzed their way of using the terms passive and aktive Sterbehilfe. Results Generally, the physicians were more hesitant in making decisions to withdraw rather than withhold mechanical ventilation. Almost half of them assumed a categorical prohibition to withdraw any mechanical ventilation and more than one third felt that treatment ought not to be withdrawn at all. Physicians showed specific uncertainty about classifying the withdrawal of mechanical ventilation as passive Sterbehilfe, and had difficulties understanding that terminating ventilation is not basically illegal, but the permissibility of withdrawal depends on the situation. Conclusions The physicians’ knowledge and skills in interpreting clinical ethical dilemmas require specific improvement on the one hand; on the other hand, the terms passive and aktive Sterbehilfe are less clear than desirable and not as easy to use in clinical practice. Fear of making unjustified or illegal decisions may motivate physicians to continue (even futile) treatment. Physicians strongly opt for more open discussion about end-of-life care to allow for discontinuation of futile treatment and to reduce conflict. (shrink)

Research questions and backgroundThis study explores a highly controversial issue of medical care in Germany: the decision to withhold or withdraw mechanical ventilation in critically ill patients. It analyzes difficulties in making these decisions and the physicians’ uncertainty in understanding the German terminology of Sterbehilfe, which is used in the context of treatment limitation. Used in everyday language, the word Sterbehilfe carries connotations such as helping the patient in the dying process or helping the patient to enter the dying process. (...) Yet, in the legal and ethical discourse Sterbehilfe indicates several concepts: (1) treatment limitation, i.e., withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment (passive Sterbehilfe), (2) the use of medication for symptom control while taking into account the risk of hastening the patient’s death (indirekte Sterbehilfe), and (3) measures to deliberately terminate the patient’s life (aktive Sterbehilfe). The terminology of Sterbehilfe has been criticized for being too complex and misleading, particularly for practical purposes. Materials and methods An exploratory study based on qualitative interviews was conducted with 28 physicians from nine medical intensive care units in tertiary care hospitals in the German federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. The method of data collection was a problem-centered, semi-structured interview using two authentic clinical case examples. In order to shed light on the relation between the physicians’ concepts and the ethical and legal frames of reference, we analyzed their way of using the terms passive and aktive Sterbehilfe. Results Generally, the physicians were more hesitant in making decisions to withdraw rather than withhold mechanical ventilation. Almost half of them assumed a categorical prohibition to withdraw any mechanical ventilation and more than one third felt that treatment ought not to be withdrawn at all. Physicians showed specific uncertainty about classifying the withdrawal of mechanical ventilation as passive Sterbehilfe, and had difficulties understanding that terminating ventilation is not basically illegal, but the permissibility of withdrawal depends on the situation. Conclusions The physicians’ knowledge and skills in interpreting clinical ethical dilemmas require specific improvement on the one hand; on the other hand, the terms passive and aktive Sterbehilfe are less clear than desirable and not as easy to use in clinical practice. Fear of making unjustified or illegal decisions may motivate physicians to continue (even futile) treatment. Physicians strongly opt for more open discussion about end-of-life care to allow for discontinuation of futile treatment and to reduce conflict. (shrink)

'A comprehensive and important collection that includes essays by some of the leading figures in the field....Essential reading for anyone interested in risk assessment.' Professor Kristin Shrader-Frechette, University of Notre Dame 'The editors are to be congratulated for bringing together a distinguished international group of theorists to reflect on the issues. This volume will be sure to raise the level of debate while at the same time showing the importance of philosophical reflection in approaches to the problems of the age.' (...) Professor Jonathan Wolff, University College London This volume brings together top authors from the fields of risk, philosophy, social sciences and psychology to address the issue of how we should decide how far technological risks are morally acceptable or not. The underlying principles are examined, along with methodological challenges, public involvement and instruments for democratization. A strong theoretical basis is complemented by a range of case studies from some of the most contentious areas, including medical ethics and GM crops. This book is a vital new resource for researchers, students and anyone concerned that traditional approaches to risk management don't adequately address ethical considerations. (shrink)

“Acceptable Risk” – On the Rationality of Emotional Evaluations of Risk What is “acceptable risk”? That question is appropriate in a number of different contexts, political, social, ethical, and scienti c. Thus the question might be whether the voting public will support a risky proposal or project, whether people will buy or accept a risky product, whether it is morally permissible to pursue this or that potentially harmful venture, or whether it is wise or prudent to test or try out (...) some possibly dangerous hypothesis or product. But complicating all of these queries, the “sand in the machinery” of rational decision-making, are the emotions. It is often noted that voters are swayed by their passions at least as much as they are convinced by rational arguments. And it is obvious to advertisers and retailers that people are seduced by all sorts of appeals to their vanities, their fears, their extravagant hopes, their insecurities. At least one major thread of ethical discourse, the one following Kant, minimizes the importance of the emotions in favor of an emphatically rational decision-making process, and it is worth mulling over the fact that many of those who do not accept Kant’s ethical views more or less applaud his rejection of the “moral sentiment theory” of the time, promoted by such luminary philosophers as David Hume and Adam Smith. (shrink)

As everyone knows, physicists have proved that free will doesn’t exist. That’s because we are made of tiny particles which follow strict laws, and human behavior is really just a consequence of these particles’ laws. At least that’s what I used to think. But some years ago I stumbled over a gap in this argument. In this essay I want to tell you what made me rethink and why you should rethink, too.

For valid informed consent, it is crucial that patients or research participants fully understand all that their consent entails. Testing and revising informed consent documents with the assistance of their addressees can improve their understandability. In this study we aimed at further developing a method for testing and improving informed consent documents with regard to readability and test-readers’ understanding and reactions. We tested, revised, and retested template informed consent documents for biobank research by means of 11 focus group interviews with (...) members from the documents’ target population. For the analysis of focus group excerpts we used qualitative content analysis. Revisions were made based on focus group feedback in an iterative process. Focus group participants gave substantial feedback on the original and on the revised version of the tested documents. Revisions included adding and clarifying explanations, including an info-box summarizing the main points of the text and an illustrative graphic. Our results indicate positive effects on the tested and revised informed consent documents in regard to general readability and test-readers’ understanding and reactions. Participatory methods for improving informed consent should be more often applied and further evaluated for both, medical interventions and clinical research. Particular conceptual and methodological challenges need to be addressed in the future. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungDie Einführung der Fallpauschalen-basierten Finanzierung der Krankenhäuser ist ein erneuter Versuch, die Kosten in diesem Bereich zu reduzieren. Folge dieses Anreizsystems ist u. a. eine deutliche Verkürzung der Verweildauer der Patienten im Krankenhaus. Das wiederum führt zu durchschnittlich kränkeren Patienten und einer deutlichen Arbeitsverdichtung für alle. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird anhand empirischer Daten die Situation der Pflege mit drastischen Einschränkungen beschrieben und es werden Hypothesen zur Begründung aufgestellt. Daran knüpft sich die Frage, welche Art der Versorgung die Patienten mit kürzer (...) werdender Verweildauer und immer häufiger auftretenden chronischen Krankheiten neben der ärztlichen Therapie benötigen. Dies baut auf der Theorie der Aufgaben zur Krankheitsbewältigung auf, die Patienten befähigen sollen, mit Krankheiten in ihrem eigenen Sinne umgehen zu können. Die Kernaufgaben der Pflege werden hier mit dem Ziel der forcierten Förderung der Entlassungsfähigkeit verbunden mit einem Empowerment der Patienten verknüpft. Organisatorisch bietet sich als Lösung der Einsatz von Primary Nurses an. Die derzeitige Situation in der Pflege widerspricht den genannten Sollvorstellungen diametral. Im Sinne einer sicheren und effektiven Versorgung von Patienten im Krankenhaus muss der Pflegedienst inhaltlich völlig anders aufgestellt und mit weiteren Kompetenzen ausgestattet werden. (shrink)

Not all countries do their fair share in the effort of preventing dangerous climate change. This presents those who are willing to do their part with the question whether they should 'take up the slack' and try to compensate for the non-compliers' failure to reduce emissions. There is a pro tanto reason for doing so given the human rights violations associated with dangerous climate change. The article focuses on fending off two objections against a duty to take up the slack: (...) that it is unfair and ineffective. We grant that it is unfair if some have to step in for others but argue that this does not amount to a decisive objection under conditions of partial compliance. With regard to the charge of emission reductions being ineffective, we argue that the empirical case for this claim is missing and that even if it were not, there still remains the option of taking up the slack in other forms. (shrink)

Using the example of architecture, this article defends the thesis that designing should not be regarded as a kind of experimenting. This is in contrast to a widespread methodological claim that design processes are equivalent to experimentation processes. The contrary thesis can be proven by focusing on actual practices, techniques and design strategies. Closely connected with the thesis is an even more important epistemological claim, which contends that designing serves not only to develop artefacts but is also a means of (...) acquiring genuine knowledge. When the epistemic relevance of said practices, techniques and strategies is reassessed, designing emerges clearly as an independent epistemic praxis. To defend the thesis, the present article draws on and analyses empirical material from an ethnographic field study in order to back up the conceptual analysis. (shrink)

Theories of practical reason must meet a psychological requirement: they must explain how normative practical reasons can be motivationally efficacious. It would be pointless to claim that we are subject to normative demands of reason, if we were in fact unable to meet those demands. Concerning this requirement to account for the possibility of rational motivation, internalist approaches are distinguished from externalist ones. I defend internalism, whilst rejecting both ways in which the belief‐desire model can be instantiated. Both the Humean (...) and the Kantian instantiation of that model fail to account for the internal connection between normative and motivating reasons required by internalism. The two classes of reasons rather come to be seen as mutually exclusive. Opposing the belief‐desire model, I argue that rational motivation can only be established by reference to emotion. Emotions are affective perceptions. They have motivational force so that they can contribute to the explanation of action. At the same time they can rationalise actions because they have an intentional content which resembles the content of sensory perception in being representational. Because of this, the emotions can noninferentially justify judgements, which in turn can justify actions. I conclude by outlining the Aristotelian account of practical reason and ethics that emerges from integrating the emotions into practical reasoning. Doing the right thing is much more a matter of seeing things right than of drawing the right inferences. Seeing things right, in its turn, is not only to justify an action: it necessarily implies to be motivated to act accordingly. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungDie Einführung der Fallpauschalen-basierten Finanzierung der Krankenhäuser ist ein erneuter Versuch, die Kosten in diesem Bereich zu reduzieren. Folge dieses Anreizsystems ist u. a. eine deutliche Verkürzung der Verweildauer der Patienten im Krankenhaus. Das wiederum führt zu durchschnittlich kränkeren Patienten und einer deutlichen Arbeitsverdichtung für alle. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird anhand empirischer Daten die Situation der Pflege mit drastischen Einschränkungen beschrieben und es werden Hypothesen zur Begründung aufgestellt. Daran knüpft sich die Frage, welche Art der Versorgung die Patienten mit kürzer (...) werdender Verweildauer und immer häufiger auftretenden chronischen Krankheiten neben der ärztlichen Therapie benötigen. Dies baut auf der Theorie der Aufgaben zur Krankheitsbewältigung auf, die Patienten befähigen sollen, mit Krankheiten in ihrem eigenen Sinne umgehen zu können. Die Kernaufgaben der Pflege werden hier mit dem Ziel der forcierten Förderung der Entlassungsfähigkeit verbunden mit einem Empowerment der Patienten verknüpft. Organisatorisch bietet sich als Lösung der Einsatz von Primary Nurses an. Die derzeitige Situation in der Pflege widerspricht den genannten Sollvorstellungen diametral. Im Sinne einer sicheren und effektiven Versorgung von Patienten im Krankenhaus muss der Pflegedienst inhaltlich völlig anders aufgestellt und mit weiteren Kompetenzen ausgestattet werden. (shrink)

I discuss two ways in which emotions explain actions: in the first, the explanation is expressive; in the second, the action is not only explained but also rationalized by the emotion's intentional content. The belief-desire model cannot satisfactorily account for either of these cases. My main purpose is to show that the emotions constitute an irreducible category in the explanation of action, to be understood by analogy with perception. Emotions are affective perceptions. Their affect gives them motivational force, and they (...) can rationalize actions because, like perception, they have a representational intentional content. Because of this, an emotion can non-inferentially justify a belief which in its turn justifies or rationalizes an action; so emotions may constitute a source of moral knowledge. (shrink)

Das Buch analysiert aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven die Frage nach dem Subjekt in der feministischen Erkenntnistheorie.

Im Mittelpunkt des Buchs steht die Frage, wie heute menschliches Leben im Medium des Unternehmens als geschöpfliches Leben erscheinen kann. Hierfür dienen neben biblischen Zeugnissen, Texten Martin Luthers und Arthur Richs sowie kirchlichen Schriften auch die ökonomischen Ethik-Theorien von Karl Homann, Peter Ulrich und Josef Wieland als Bezugspunkte. Außerdem werden exemplarisch die unternehmensethischen Profile dreier Firmen betrachtet. Die daraus gewonnenen Impulse für eine explorative Ethik geschöpflichen Lebens sind letztlich immer in der Unternehmenspraxis zu erproben, müssen sie sich doch im Unternehmensalltag (...) als tragfähig erweisen. (shrink)

La notion de temps occupe une place determinante dans l'oeuvre de Lucrece, alors que cet aspect a ete jusqu'alors peu explore. L'ambition de cet ouvrage est de demontrer que le temps unifie dans une vision complexe et ambivalente la physique, l'histoire, la morale et la poetique lucretiennes. Le present livre est fonde sur une etude de la fonction du temps au sein de ces differents domaines et montre comment la duree infinie qui caracterise les mouvements atomiques chez Epicure se traduit (...) pour son disciple latin par la permanence et l'invariance. Cette synthese d'ordre philosophique est soutenue par le genie poetique de Lucrece, qui parvient a reveler l'equilibre eternel, dissimule derriere le regne apparent du hasard et du desordre. L'auteur invite ainsi le lecteur de Lucrece a un parcours a la fois philosophique et poetique a travers le De rerum natura afin de decouvrir le lieu d'ou l'on contemple la permanence immobile du mouvement et l'eternite du temps. L'image de l'eclair immobile dans la plaine s'offre des lors comme un symbole fulgurant de la conception lucretienne du temps, qui concilie mouvement et repos dans la poesie. Sabine Luciani, nee en 1967, est maitre de conferences en langue et litterature latines a l'universite Paul Valery - Montpellier III. Elle est specialiste de philosophie epicurienne, a publie plusieurs articles concernant Lucrece et, plus generalement, l'influence de la philosophie hellenistique sur l'oeuvre des poetes latins. Elle poursuit actuellement des recherches sur les sources de Lucrece. (shrink)