Industrial (“white”) biotechnology promises to contribute to a more sustainable future. Compared to current production processes, cases have been identified where industrial biotechnology can decrease the amount of energy and raw materials used to make products and also reduce the amount of emissions and waste produced during production. However, switching from products based on chemical production processes and fossil fuels towards “biobased” products is at present not necessarily economically viable. This is especially true for bulk products, for example ethanol production (...) from biomass. Therefore, scientists are also turning to genetic modification as a means to develop organisms that can produce at lower costs. These include not only micro-organisms, but also organisms used in agriculture for food and feed.The use of genetic modification for “deliberate release” purposes, in particular, has met great opposition in Europe. Many industrial biotechnology applications may, due to their scale, entail deliberate releases of GM organisms. Thus, the biobased economy brings back a familiar question; is it ethically justifiable, and acceptable to citizens, to expose the environment and society to the risks associated with GM, in order to protect that same environment and to sustain our affluent way of life? For a successful innovation towards a biobased economy, its proponents, especially producers, need to take into account (take responsibility for) such issues when developing new products and processes. These issues, and how scientists can interact with citizens about them in a timely way, are further explored in projects at Delft University and Leiden University, also in collaboration with Utrecht University. (shrink)
The aim of this paper is to present a discussion of the issue of subjectivity as an important factor for the affirmation of religious belief in both the work of Kierkegaard and Plantinga. Despite some conceptual differences, we conclude that both authors are not interested in proving God’s existence, but rather focus on experience as a central factor. In addition, for both authors, and the C hristian tradition in general, the subjectivity is fundamental to the affirmation of belief. In Kierkegaard (...) the concept is the affirmation of faith as absurd. In Plantinga’s assertion “basical belief” makes room for the relationship of experience and expands the debate about belief, reaffirming its critical position to the foundations of modernity. Thus, from some specific approaches, we seek to establish a dialogue that, despite essential differences between the two authors, above all the theme of the absurdity of faith and Kierkegaard’s emphasis on faith as something passionate, can point out to a fruitful debate. (shrink)
la82 12.00 Normal 0 21 false false false PT-BR X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Um dos objetivos do presente artigo é analisar a temática da política e da secularizaçáo na obra do filósofo Kierkegaard (1813-1855). Duas obras do pensador dinamarquês seráo especialmente analisadas aqui: O Indivíduo e Exercício do cristianismo . O segundo objetivo, é promover o diálogo de suas teses, contrárias ao processo de secularizaçáo, com as teses de Gianni Vattimo (1936-), pensador italiano e entusiasta de um mundo secularizado. A despeito (...) de suas diferenças, a política e a secularizaçáo aparecem no pensamento dos dois autores. Ambos partem, na verdade, de análises muito próximas, isto é, do conceito paulino de kênósis . A partir dessa idéia, ambos constroem suas respectivas visões acerca da política e da secularizaçáo. Todavia, o foco principal deste artigo é analisar a filosofia de Kierkegaard. A filosofia de Vattimo será analisada apenas de forma secundária e em diálogo com as teses de Kierkegaard. (shrink)
Paula Modersohn-Becker, widely considered to have been one of the most important independent Expressionist painters of the early twentieth century, was thirty-one years old when she gave birth to her first child. Following the then-common practice of putting women to bed rest for two-four weeks after delivery, she died of massive pulmonary embolism when she was first allowed to stand, eighteen days after giving birth. Paula had foreseen her death at a young age and was apprehensive about her (...) pregnancy, yet she painted herself as pregnant in her best known self-portrait, thus underlining the importance of the pregnancy in her life. In the light of knowledge available at the time, the authors present a brief discussion of the life and death of Paula Modersohn-Becker as a reflection on the potential dangers of blindly following conventional wisdom in the medical profession. (shrink)
The following letters were written by the distinguished British chemist Professor Brian G. Gowenlock in response to Tibor Frank’s article on “Networking, Cohorting, Bonding: Michael Polanyi in Exile,” Tradition and Discovery 23:2 (2001-2002): 5-19. The two letters contribute to the history of the Manchester years of Michael Polanyi with interesting details concerning several of his colleagues and contemporaries. These informative comments by a former student of Michael Polanyi will improve our knowledge of the last years of Polanyi as a (...) physical chemist. (shrink)
Na przykładzie koncepcji rozumowania abdukcyjnego, autorstwa Paula Thagarda, w artykule niniejszym omawia się sposób pojmowania abdukcji charakterystyczny dla eksplanacyjno-koherencyjnego modelu tego typu rozumowań, który w chwili obecnej oferuje najbardziej satysfakcjonujące połączenie psychologicznej adekwatności oraz efektywności obliczeniowej definiowanych w jego ramach procedur generowania i oceny hipotez abdukcyjnych.
This new edition of William James’s 1909 classic, A Pluralistic Universe reproduces the original text, only modernizing the spelling. The books has been annotated throughout to clarify James’s points of reference and discussion. There is a new, fuller index, a brief chronology of James’s life, and a new bibliography—chiefly based on James’s own references. The editor, H.G. Callaway, has included a new Introduction which elucidates the legacy of Jamesian pluralism to survey some related questions of contemporary American society. -/- A (...) Pluralistic Universe was the last major book James published during his life time. It is a substantial philosophical work, devoted to a thorough-going criticism of Hegelian monism and Absolutism—and the exploration of philosophical and social-theological alternatives. Our world of some one hundred years on is much the better for James’s contributions; and understanding James’s pluralism deeply contributes even now to America’s self-understanding. At present, we are more certain that American is, and is best, a pluralistic society, than we are of what particular forms our pluralism should take. Keeping an eye out for social interpretations of Jamesian pluralism, this new philosophical reading casts light on our twenty-first century alternatives by reference to prior American experience and developments. -/- . (shrink)
This well-organized editorial material is useful especially for students and general educated readers coming to study these works for the first time, but also for the specialist who wants to check details or keep up with central literature. The editor's notes offer historical contextualization, terminological and etymological clarifications, and information on both the well-known and the relatively unknown authors cited by Emerson.... Callaway has modernized the spelling of the prose, but otherwise the editions follow the originals. ".
