Dieses Lehrbuch behandelt zentrale naturphilosophische Probleme, die durch Theorien der modernen Naturwissenschaften aufgeworfen werden. Es fragt, welches Bild von Raum, Zeit, Materie, Leben und Bewusstsein sich aus ihnen ergibt, aber auch nach den Konsequenzen der aktuellen Umweltkrise für unser praktisches Verhältnis zur Natur. Der Autor Prof. em. Dr. Andreas Bartels hat Mathematik, Physik und Philosophie studiert und ist emeritierter Professor für Natur- und Wissenschaftsphilosophie an der Universität Bonn.

In the controversy on the philosophical foundations of quantum mechanics Whitehead's philosophy of organism has an essential place. But its realistic position invalidates any attempt to relate it to the School of Copenhagen's “orthodox interpretation”. Unlike, the Eurhythmic Physics developed by the Lisbon School has notable theoretical tunings with Whitehead's philosophy. In both, the notion of passive matter disappears; entities are understood as ecstatic process of becoming arising from a continuum of potentialities; and they achieve physical persistence grace to a (...) set of synergistic interactions among their own regimes of rhythmical activity. The principle of Eurhythmy proposed by Prof. Croca then appears as the hypothesis, in contemporary theoretical physics, corresponding to the organicist vision of a universe in a developmental process of realization of the abstract potentiality of all possible worlds: a universe that, as a living organism, should be described as guided by an immanent teleological principle. (shrink)

Literatur ist Kommunikation! Die Frühe Neuzeit als Epoche des Übergangs zwischen Mittelalter und Moderne ist gekennzeichnet durch umfassende Veränderungen. Doch welchen Stellenwert hat dabei die Literatur? Der neue literaturwissenschaftliche Epochenband bietet eine so fundierte wie spannende Einführung in die Frühe Neuzeit, in der Literatur vor allem eines war: ein offenes Kommunikationssystem. Die unmittelbare Begegnung mit der Epoche: Umgang mit Originalen, Verstehen und Missverstehen frühneuzeitlicher Dokumente Der vermittelte Zugang zur Epoche: Epochenbegriff und Epochengrenzen, Forschungs- und Wirkungsgeschichte Der frühneuzeitliche Literaturbegriff: Text und (...) Intertextualität, Rhetorik und Schreibpraxis, Autor und Medien, Gattungen und Formdiskurse "Ars hermeneutica" in der konkreten Textanalyse: Wissenstransfer, Religiosität, Subjekt und Individualität, Herrschaftsdiskurs, Raum- und Zeiterfahrung, Naturbegriff Pressestimmen: "In seiner Abhandlung bietet Andreas Keller ein breites Spektrum unterschiedlicher Aspekte zu Literaturproduktion und Diskurstraditionen in der Frühen Neuzeit, die durch das Leitmotiv einer rhetorischen Interpretation geeint werden. [...] Die gesamte Aufbereitung des Textes ist auf den hochschuldidaktischen Verwendungszweck zugeschnitten. [...] Die Stärke der Studie liegt in ihrem literaturgeschichtlichen Gesamtkonzept [...]. Hervorzuheben ist, dass die Studierenden mit dem rhetorischen Grundwissen einen hermeneutischen Schlüssel für eigene Textanalysen erhalten." Regina Toepfer in: H-Soz-u-Kult, 18. Juni 2009 "Der Band präsentiert sich in jeder Hinsicht erfreulich. Er ist auf dem neuesten Stand der Forschung, präsentiert die Einzelaspekte der Epoche pointiert und dennoch nie vereinfachend oder banal, er führt die notwendigen philosophischen Grundlagen ebenso vor wie einzelne, beispielhafte Ergebnisse von Spezialuntersuchungen, er ist nicht zuletzt stilistisch glänzend formuliert - offenbar also kein 'Schnellschuss', sondern ein Ergebnis langer, sorgfältiger Arbeit. Insofern ist dem Band auch zu wünschen, dass er unter Studierenden, die sich mit der Frühen Neuzeit auseinandersetzen, die größtmögliche Verbreitung findet. Ein Konkurrenzprodukt, das auch nur annähernd die Qualität dieser Darstellung erreichen würde, ist jedenfalls derzeit nicht auf dem Buchmarkt erhältlich, auch nicht für Teilepochen wie das Barock." Prof. Dr. Ralf Georg Bogner in: KulturPoetik, Band 9,2 Kommentare zum Buch: "Ein richtiger Ansatz beim 'Rhetorischen', eine sehr gute Auswahl der Themen, gut balanciert und portioniert, eine hervorragende Auswahl der empfohlenen Sekundärliteratur, gut und sehr klar geschrieben. Kurzum: ein rundum gelungener Band." Prof. Dr. Martin Mulsow, Lehrstuhl für Wissenskulturen der europäischen Neuzeit und Direktor des Forschungszentrums Gotha der Universität Erfurt Schloss Friedenstein "Das Studienbuch stellt auch für den germanistischen Sprachhistoriker eine Fülle von interessanten, gut systematisierten Inhalten bereit." Prof. Dr. Jürgen Macha, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. (shrink)

The Arabic philosophical tradition played an important role in the formation of theological, philosophical and scientific thought in medieval Europe subsequent to the translations from Arabic into Latin in the 12th and 13th centuries. The influence of that Arabic classical rationalist tradition in works by al-Farabi, Avicenna, Averroes and the Liber de causis is evident in the thought of Thomas Aquinas, though the breadth and depth of that influence is often insufficiently noted and explained by scholars of Aquinas. This course (...) focuses on the metaphysics, epistemology and psychology of Aquinas in the development of his philosophical conceptions of soul and intellect in the context of his use of sources in Aristotle and works by philosophers of the Arabic tradition, particularly Avicenna and Averroes. Readings are selected from writings from each of the four major periods of his career starting with his first major work, the Commentary on the Sentences. The course was planned to be taught at Marquette, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the Universidad Panamericana as a hybrid course. That is, it was taught using online tools and resources and also in the classroom with face-to-face meetings once per week. And it was taught at Marquette, KU Leuven and the Universidad Panamericana simultaneously. On Thursdays students met online with video and audio for questions and discussion with Profs. Taylor, Robiglio and López-Farjeat and the student groups in Milwaukee, Leuven and Mexico City live. (shrink)

Der Sammelband nimmt erstmalig seit Ende des Kalten Krieges für den deutschsprachigen Raum eine komprimierte Bestandsaufnahme der aktuellen Aktivitäten, rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen, politischen und militärischen Konfliktlinien und Kooperationsräume sowie weiterführender Trends und Herausforderungen im Weltraum vor. Dabei werden zum einen die rechtlichen, militärischen, wirtschaftlichen und technologischen Herausforderungen des Bedeutungszuwachses dieses strategisch gewichtigen Raumes analysiert. Zum anderen werden Handlungsfähigkeit und -bedarf ausgewählter Weltraummächte, ihre Kooperationsmöglichkeiten und Konfliktpotenziale sowie der internationale politische Regulierungsbedarf herausgearbeitet und darauf aufbauend politische Handlungsempfehlungen dargelegt.,,Eine hervorragend gelungene Bestandsaufnahme der (...) umfassenden Bedeutung des Weltraums." Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Karl Kaiser, Harvard University Die Herausgeber PD Dr. Antje Nötzold ist Privatdozentin und wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin an der Professur Internationale Politik der TU Chemnitz. Dr. Enrico Fels ist Geschäftsführer des Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS) der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. Andrea Rotter ist Referatsleiterin für Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik bei einer politischen Stiftung. Dr. Moritz Brake ist Senior Fellow am Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS) und Experte für Maritime Sicherheit und Strategie am German Institute for Defence and Strategic Studies (GIDS) als Reserveoffizier der Deutschen Marine. (shrink)

Research on the ethics of algorithms has grown substantially over the past decade. Alongside the exponential development and application of machine learning algorithms, new ethical problems and solutions relating to their ubiquitous use in society have been proposed. This article builds on a review of the ethics of algorithms published in 2016, 2016). The goals are to contribute to the debate on the identification and analysis of the ethical implications of algorithms, to provide an updated analysis of epistemic and normative (...) concerns, and to offer actionable guidance for the governance of the design, development and deployment of algorithms. (shrink)

Research on the ethics of algorithms has grown substantially over the past decade. Alongside the exponential development and application of machine learning algorithms, new ethical problems and solutions relating to their ubiquitous use in society have been proposed. This article builds on a review of the ethics of algorithms published in 2016, 2016). The goals are to contribute to the debate on the identification and analysis of the ethical implications of algorithms, to provide an updated analysis of epistemic and normative (...) concerns, and to offer actionable guidance for the governance of the design, development and deployment of algorithms. (shrink)

Der Einsatz empirischer Forschungsmethoden in der Medizinethik hat zu Forderungen nach einem gewandelten Selbstverständnis der Medizinethik geführt, die sich mehr als eine integrierte Disziplin aus Sozialwissenschaften und Ethik verstehen solle. Dagegen wird hier die These vertreten, dass über Sinn und Unsinn des Einsatzes empirischer Methoden zunächst eine moralphilosophische Diskussion erforderlich ist. Medizinethiker müssen ausweisen können, welche empirischen Forschungsresultate zur Beantwortung normativer Fragen erforderlich sind. Ein solcher Ausweis beruht seinerseits jedoch auf normativen Annahmen, die ihrerseits moralphilosophischer Legitimation bedürfen. Der Beitrag untersucht (...) daher den Einsatz empirischer Methoden in der Medizinethik im Hinblick auf Verhältnis von ethischem Grundlagendiskurs und Methodologie der angewandten Ethik. Abschließend wird gefragt, ob nicht ein Großteil von empirischen Studien in der Medizinethik aus forschungsethischen Gründen problematisch ist. (shrink)

In der gegenwärtigen Diskussion um Patientenverfügungen dominieren die Fragen nach deren Reichweite und Verbindlichkeit. Diese bilden, ebenso wie die Kontroverse um diese beiden Themen, die professionsspezifische Sichtweise von Ärzten und Juristen ab. Aus Patientenperspektive jedoch, so die Ergebnisse einer Studie mit 272 Tumorpatienten, stellt sich die Situation anders dar: Hier fungieren Patientenverfügungen vielmehr als Türöffner für eine intensivere Kommunikation mit Ärzten, aber auch mit Angehörigen und mit sich selbst. Die Frage nach der Verbindlichkeit spielt demgegenüber nur eine nachgeordnete Rolle.

Zusammenfassung: Fehlinterpretierte Dokumente und ignorierte physikalische Fakten: Die Geschichte von,Hitlers Atombombe‘ muss korrigiert werden. Warum haben die deutschen Physiker während des Zweiten Weltkriegs keine Atombombe entwickelt? Seit mehr als 25 Jahren sind sich die Historiker einig, dass die deutschen Physiker wussten, wie eine Atombombe gebaut werden muss, dass aber ein Programm wie das amerikanische Manhattan‐Projekt zu ihrer Realisierung in Deutschland, erst recht während des Krieges, unmöglich war. Eine genaue Analyse aller erhaltenen Original‐Dokumente über die Arbeit an der Atombombe während des,Dritten (...) Reichs‘ zeigt jedoch erhebliche Fehler der Autoren durch unvollständige Analyse der Dokumente, falsches Verständnis naturwissenschaftlicher Erläuterungen und Ignorieren physikalischer Fakten. Es wird nachgewiesen, dass die deutschen Physiker bis zum Ende des Krieges nicht bemerkt hatten, dass eine Atombombe nur mit schnellen Neutronen realisiert werden kann. Nur Heisenberg hatte das richtige Prinzip spät erkannt, es aber nicht eindeutig kommuniziert und auch in keiner Weise physikalisch vertieft. Die physikalisch korrekte Interpretation der Dokumente zeigt, dass die deutschen Physiker während des Krieges erfolglos versuchten, einen Reaktor zu entwickeln, der auch eine Voraussetzung für den Bau einer Plutonium‐Bombe gewesen wäre. Aber sie wussten nicht, wie eine Bombe realisiert werden kann, weil sie nie an einer realistischen Theorie der Atombombe gearbeitet hatten. Summary: Misinterpreted Documents and Ignored Physical Facts: The History of ‘Hitler's Atomic Bomb’ needs to be corrected. Why have the German physicists not developed an atomic bomb during World War II? For more than 25 years, the historians agree that they knew how to build the bomb, but that a bomb‐development programme of the size of the US‐Manhattan‐Project would not have been possible in wartime Germany. A detailed analysis of all preserved documents on the German atomic bomb research during the ‘Third Reich’, however, reveals considerable mistakes by the authors due to incomplete analysis of documents, misinterpretations of scientific explanations and ignoring of physical facts. It is shown that until the end of the war the German physicists did not know that an atomic bomb can only be made with fast neutrons, except Heisenberg, who, however, discovered it rather late, did not communicate it clearly and did not study any bomb physics. The physically correct interpretation of the documents reveals that the German physicists worked unsuccessfully on a reactor, which would have been a prerequisite for a plutonium bomb. But they did not know how to build a bomb because they never worked on a realistic bomb theory. (shrink)

In this paper we want to reconcile two apparently conflicting intuitions: the first is that what a speaker means is just a function of his or her communicative intentions, independently of what the hearer understands, and even of the actual existence of a hearer; the second is that when communication is carried out successfully, the resulting meaning is, in some important sense, jointly construed by the speaker and the hearer. Our strategy is to distinguish between speaker’s meaning, understood as a (...) personal communicative intention, and joint meaning, understood as a joint construal of the speaker and the hearer. We define joint meaning as a type of propositional joint commitment, more precisely as the joint commitment of a speaker and a hearer to the extent that a specific communicative act has been performed by the speaker. Joint meaning is therefore regarded as a deontic concept, which entails obligations, rights, and entitlements, and cannot be reduced to epistemic and volitional mental states like personal belief, common belief, personal intention, and communicative intention. (shrink)

Während die terminale Sedierung neueren niederländischen Erhebungen zufolge bereits in mehr als 5% aller Sterbefälle zur Leidensminderung am Lebensende angewandt wird, sind viele der durch dieses Verfahren aufgeworfenen begrifflichen und ethischen Fragen weiterhin offen. Kontrovers ist insbesondere die begriffliche Einordnung der Kombination von terminaler Sedierung und Behandlungsabbruch sowie die Frage nach den dafür einschlägigen ethischen Kriterien. Ausgehend von einer Analyse von drei Szenarien mit unterschiedlicher kausaler Rollenverteilung argumentiere ich dafür, den Standardfall der Kombination von terminaler Sedierung und Behandlungsabbruch unter die (...) Kategorie der „passiven Sterbehilfe“ zu subsumieren und für sie dieselben ethischen Kriterien wie für den Behandlungsabbruch allein gelten zu lassen. Eine tentative vergleichende Bewertung ergibt, dass die terminale Sedierung als ultima ratio der Leidensminderung am Lebensende gegenüber der Alternative des assistierten Suizids insgesamt als ethisch vorzugswürdig gelten sollte, ohne jedoch die Alternative des assistierten Suizids als in toto unzulässig erscheinen zu lassen. (shrink)

Traditionally, the manufacturer/operator of a machine is held (morally and legally) responsible for the consequences of its operation. Autonomous, learning machines, based on neural networks, genetic algorithms and agent architectures, create a new situation, where the manufacturer/operator of the machine is in principle not capable of predicting the future machine behaviour any more, and thus cannot be held morally responsible or liable for it. The society must decide between not using this kind of machine any more (which is not a (...) realistic option), or facing a responsibility gap, which cannot be bridged by traditional concepts of responsibility ascription. (shrink)

This article works out the main characteristics of `practice theory', a type of social theory which has been sketched by such authors as Bourdieu, Giddens, Taylor, late Foucault and others. Practice theory is presented as a conceptual alternative to other forms of social and cultural theory, above all to culturalist mentalism, textualism and intersubjectivism. The article shows how practice theory and the three other cultural-theoretical vocabularies differ in their localization of the social and in their conceptualization of the body, mind, (...) things, knowledge, discourse, structure/process and the agent. (shrink)

O artigo apresenta uma analise a partir da renovação eclesiológica do Vaticano II, em seguida apresenta a pneumatologia como origem desta renovação. A comunhão na Igreja só será possível através do Espírito Santo.

To say that the liturgy is a question of faith means that your object is transcendent and has to do with God and with one unique feature, ie, the very act of celebrating an act of faith. The liturgy is not only motivated by faith, but it is their faith in words, which is a very peculiar dimension.

Confronted with mounting pressure to ensure accountability vis-à-vis customers, citizens and beneficiaries, organizational leaders need to decide how to choose and implement so-called accountability standards. Yet while looking for an appropriate standard, they often base their decisions on cost-benefit calculations, thus neglecting other important spheres of influence pertaining to more broadly defined stakeholder interests. We argue in this paper that, as a part of the strategic decision for a certain standard, management needs to identify and act according to the needs (...) of all stakeholders. We contend that the creation of a dialogical understanding among affected stakeholders cannot be a mere outcome of applying certain accountability standards, but rather must be a necessary precondition for their use. This requires a stakeholder dialogue prior to making a choice. We outline such a discursive decision framework for accountability standards based on the Habermasian concept of communicative action and, in the final section, apply our conceptual framework to one of the most prominent accountability tools (AA 1000). (shrink)

The story of Ted Honderich, philosopher, a story of a perilous philosophical life, marked by critical examination, and a compelling personal life full of human drama. This is the story of Ted Honderich's perilous progress from boyhood in Canada to the Grote Professorship of Mind and Logic at University College London, A. J. Ayer's chair. It is compelling, candid and revealing about the beginning and the goal, and everything in between: early work as a journalist on The Toronto Star, travels (...) with Elvis Presley, arrival in Britain, loves and friendships, academic rivalries and battles, marriages and affairs, self-interest and empathy. It sets out resolutely to explain how and why it all happened. It is as much a narrative of Ted Honderich's philosophy. He makes hard problems real. Philosophy from consciousness and determinism to political violence and democracy comes into sharp focus. Along the way, questions keep coming up. Does the free marriage owe anything to the analytic philosophy? What are the costs of truth? Are the politics of England slowly making it an ever-better place? Is an action's rightness independent of the mixture of motives out of which it came? (shrink)

Following an examination of the missions of industry and the university there is a comparison of the ‘wish-lists’ of industry and the university. These ‘wish-lists’ have both similarities and differences. Some of the differences are expressed in a further section on the kinds of interactions that neither institution wants from the other. In the canonical university, the culture values features such as openness, individuality and the de-emphasis of monetary matters, whereas in the archetypal industry the prevailing ethos tends towards secrecy, (...) teamwork and financial advancement. When two such cultures are juxtaposed under conditions where the survival of the university is dependent, in part, on receiving funds from industry, there is a danger of an erosion of academic standards as the university becomes more oriented to service the needs of industry as opposed to the development of its students and its independent scholastic and research activities. Industry, however, is in a position to derive benefit from the interaction without incurring an equivalent cost. These issues are discussed and some recommendations are made to improve the ethical nature of the interaction. (shrink)

Neste artigo interessa-nos abordar alguns aspectos sobre a relação entre a Sagrada Escritura e a Liturgia, de modo particular aqueles elementos concernentes à reorganização e confecção levadas a cabo pela reforma litúrgica do concílio Vaticano II do livro litúrgico que contém as perícopes bíblicas lidas na liturgia da Palavra durante as celebrações eucarísticas, isto é, o Lecionário da Missa. Para esta abordagem, nos servirá, em grande medida, o relato sobre os trabalhos da Reforma Litúrgica - relato este ainda inédito no (...) Brasil - escrito por D. Annibale Bugnini, Secretário do Consilium, a comissão encarregada para a aplicação dos princípios de reforma estipulados pela Constituição Sacrosanctum Concilium. (shrink)

I argue that moral philosophers have either misunderstood the problem of moral demandingness or at least failed to recognize important dimensions of the problem that undermine many standard assumptions. It has been assumed that utilitarianism concretely directs us to maximize welfare within a generation by transferring resources to people currently living in extreme poverty. In fact, utilitarianism seems to imply that any obligation to help people who are currently badly off is trumped by obligations to undertake actions targeted at improving (...) the value of the long-term future. Reflecting on the demands of beneficence in respect of the value of the far future forces us to view key aspects of the problem of moral demandingness in a very different light. GPI Working Paper No. 1-2020. (shrink)

The placebo drug reactions from controlled trials were studied for the first time systematically for efficacy and the safety in drug data pooled from randomized, placebo-controlled, multicentre studies. Results: The efficacy of placebo on clinical symptoms and outcome varied between the therapeutic indications. However, no placebo effects on laboratory values, as e.g. blood glucose or Hb1c in diabetics, were noted. The frequency and type of placebo-induced adverse reactions also varied between indication groups. The placebo side effect profile was largely similar (...) to the side effect profile of the active treatment. The mechanisms of placebo effects are manyfold and varied (e.g. endorphin release, conditioning), much lacks explanation. Conclusion: Since the prescription of non-evidence based medicines (= pseudoplacebos) may clearly also result in serious adverse effects, such practice may not only be non-beneficial but may even be harmful. In clinical research, the judicious use of placebo remains essential to establish the efficacy and safety, safeguarding that patients receiving placebo will not be subject to harm and are fully informed. (shrink)

I argue that many of the priority rankings that have been proposed by effective altruists seem to be in tension with apparently reasonable assumptions about the rational pursuit of our aims in the face of uncertainty. The particular issue on which I focus arises from recognition of the overwhelming importance and inscrutability of the indirect effects of our actions, conjoined with the plausibility of a permissive decision principle governing cases of deep uncertainty, known as the maximality rule. I conclude that (...) we lack a compelling decision theory that is consistent with a long-termist perspective and does not downplay the depth of our uncertainty while supporting orthodox effective altruist conclusions about cause prioritization. GPI Working Paper No. 2-2019. (shrink)

According to a two-level criterion for combination tests in the field of ordinary language, moral 'ought'-sentences may be taken to imply 'I intend'-sentences partly semantically and partly pragmatically. If so, a trenchant linguistic analysis of the concept of moral obligation cannot do without a non-classical logic which allows to model these important kinds of ordinary-language implications by means of purely syntactical derivations. For this purpose, an integrated logic of conviction and intention has been tentatively devised by way of a doxastically, (...) buletically, and pragmatically extended calculus of natural deduction. This system of buletic logic cannot even be launched without one or two derivation rules of deductive closedness. However, these very closedness rules appear to be responsible for buletic paradoxes which are analogous to paradoxes long since known from other, less exotic branches of logic but at first sight look much more virulent. After having scrutinized two potential strategies for coping with the paradoxes of buletic logic, finally we can convince ourselves that these paradoxes, as well as their familiar non-buletic counterparts, are but apparent paradoxes, provided we consistently lean on C-CT and do not let pragmatical considerations intrude into purely logical ones. (shrink)

Türkiye’de modernleşme süreci Avrupa’da ve dünyada yaşanan modernleşme sürecine paralel şekilde gelişmiştir. Bu sürecin anlaşılması, son dönem Osmanlı tarihinden günümüze kadar uzun soluklu bir okuma çabası ve detaylı bir bakış açısı gerektirmektedir. Bu çalışmada başlangıcından itibaren sürecin daha iyi anlaşılabilmesi için modernite kavramları, tarihsel dinamikleri ve Osmanlı modernleşmesinin tarihsel dönemleri ele alınarak modernleşmenin ve modernleşme sürecinde din anlayışlarının oluşum süreci değerlendirilmiştir. Bu doğrultuda araştırmada Osmanlı’nın küresel bir güç olmaktan uzaklaşması, yenilik girişimleri, modernleşme sürecinde öne çıkan akımlar, temsilcileri ve din anlayışları, (...) modernleşme-din ilişkisi, modernleşme sürecindeki siyasi ve ideolojik telakkiler ile dini düşüncenin seyrinde yaşanan değişim ve tüm bu sürecin toplum yapısı üzerindeki etkileri ele alınmıştır. (shrink)

This paper extends scholarship on multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) in the context of corporate social responsibility in three ways. First, I outline a framework to analyze the strength of couplings between actors participating in MSIs. Characterizing an MSI as consisting of numerous local networks that are embedded in a wider global network, I argue that tighter couplings (within local networks) and looser couplings (between local networks) coexist. Second, I suggest that this coexistence of couplings enables MSIs to generate policy outcomes which (...) address the conditions of a transnational regulatory context. I argue that MSIs’ way of organizing enables them to cope with three challenges: the stability, flexibility, and legitimacy of governance. Reflecting on these challenges, the article identifies a number of problems related to MSIs’ role in transnational governance. Third, I discuss the UN Global Compact as an illustrative case and examine problems and opportunities related to its stability, flexibility, and legitimacy. (shrink)

Many philosophers believe that there exist distinctive obstacles to relying on moral testimony. In this paper, I criticize previous attempts to identify these obstacles and offer a new theory. I argue that the problems associated with moral deference can't be explained in terms of the value of moral understanding, nor in terms of aretaic considerations related to subjective integration. Instead, our uneasiness with moral testimony is best explained by our attachment to an ideal of authenticity that places special demands on (...) our moral beliefs. (shrink)

O Concílio Vaticano II foi um dos eventos mais importantes da história da Igreja do século XX. Partindo de sua história e dos documentos aprovados pelos bispos conciliares, o pós-concílio caracteriza-se, nesses seus 40 anos, por um debate acalorado e por luta identitária sobre como ele deve ser recepcionado pela Igreja universal e pelas igrejas particulares. Dessa forma, o presente artigo tem como objetivo apresentar as principais linhas hermenêuticas do Vaticano II, apontando alguns autores e obras sobre a discussão.

Ethical conflicts have always been connected with new techniques of reproductive medicine such as in-vitro fertilization. The fundamental question is: When does human life begin and from which stage of development should the embryo be protected? This question cannot be solved by scientific findings only. In prenatal ontogenesis there is no moment during the development from the fertilized oocyte to a human being which could be recognized as an orientation point for all ethical problems connected with the question of the (...) right to dispose of prenatal life (interruption of pregnancy, research on embryos). The protection of an individual human life must be valid for all in the same manner and from the very beginning on. It must not depend on value judgments or on stages of development, so-called grades of humanity, because these would then become selection criteria. Procreated life must have the right to be born. These were the essential ethical arguments which led to the German Embryo Protection Law. (shrink)

Versuche zur Geschlechtswahl bei der Befruchtung führten in jüngerer Zeit zu anwendbaren, wenngleich noch eingeschränkt erfolgssicheren Techniken. Deren ethische und rechtliche Bewertungen stehen im Mittelpunkt dieser Abhandlung. In Gesellschaften und Kulturen mit traditioneller Bevorzugung männlicher Nachkommenschaft gibt es einerseits ein starkes Interesse für die Geschlechtswahl, andererseits wird in einigen westlichen Ländern der vorgeburtlichen Geschlechtswahl sehr geringe praktische Bedeutung beigemessen. Dabei unterscheidet sich die Verfügbarkeit der entsprechenden reproduktionsmedizinischen Verfahren von freier Zugänglichkeit zu allen Methoden (Präimplantationsdiagnostik, Spermatozoentrennung usw.) des Fortpflanzungsmedizinmarkts (USA) bis (...) hin zu strenger Reglementierung (Deutschland). Es wird anhand der wissenschaftlichen Literatur der Frage nachgegangen, welche für die Begründung rechtlicher Regelung beachtlichen sozialen oder gesundheitlichen Gefährdungen durch präkonzeptionelle Geschlechtswahl verursacht werden könnten, und welche Gründe es andererseits für die Zulässigkeit sozial motivierter präkonzeptioneller Geschlechtswahl gibt. (shrink)

Der Einsatz von Psychopharmaka im Altenpflegeheim unterliegt aufgrund institutioneller und struktureller Besonderheiten dieses Versorgungsbereiches, aber auch aufgrund der großen Abhängigkeit und Vulnerabilität eines großen Teils der Altenpflegeheimbewohner in besonderer Weise der Gefahr, in inadäquater und missbräuchlicher Weise durchgeführt zu werden. Die Beachtung der ethischen Grundprinzipien des Wohltuns und des Nichtschadendürfens sowie des Respekts vor der Autonomie der Bewohner (bzw. der Patienten) sollte für alle an der Versorgung unmittelbar und mittelbar Beteiligten handlungsleitend sein. Zum Schutz der Heimbewohner, aber auch mit dem (...) Ziel die Versorgungsqualität in diesem Bereich nachprüfbar zu verbessern, werden in diesem Beitrag Kriterien zur Definition einer inadäquaten bzw. adäquaten Anwendung von Psychopharmaka explizit formuliert, sowie deren Implementierung in prozessorientierte Handlungsalgorithmen und Behandlungsleitlinien vorgeschlagen. Darüber hinaus sollen die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen nicht-pharmakologischer, psychologischer Interventionen als Alternative zur Psychopharmakamedikation diskutiert und hinsichtlich ihrer ethischen Implikationen reflektiert werden. (shrink)

This fourth volume traces the history of Renaissance philosophy and seventeenth century rationalism, covering Descartes and the birth of modern philosophy.