The article offers a critical assessment of an article on "Corporate Legitimacy as Deliberation" by Guido Palazzo and Andreas Scherer in this journal. We share the concern about the precarious legitimacy of globally active corporations, infringing on the legitimacy of democracy at large. There is no quarrel with Palazzo/Scherer's diagnosis, which focuses on the consequences of globalization and ensuing challenges for corporate social responsibilities. However, we disagree with the "solutions" offered by them. In a first step we refute the idea (...) of a legitimacy of morals, maintaining that morality is a premodern mode of creating legitimacy. Even worse, moral is becoming a dangerous commodity under conditions of fundamental global disagreements and antagonisms. We secondly refute the concept of the "politicized corporation", maintaining that Palazzo/Scherer disregard the consequences of functional differentiation of modern societies and, in particular, disregard the wisdom of political restraint and constitutional guarantees for the autonomy of different spheres of society. Finally, we refute a seemingly romantic notion of deliberation, maintaining that deliberation and deliberative democracy is a worthy idea, which, however, has no place in the real world of globalized contexts. On the other hand, we also find enough common ground and common concern with Palazzo/Scherer to validate a fruitful discourse. (shrink)

This article explores the different uses of forms of direct verbal quotes in follow-up utterances delivered during the parliamentary debates after the inaugural speech of a new chancellor in the Austrian parliament and investigates their positioning effects for members of parliament who have the first opportunity of publicly ‘doing being a government or opposition MP’ in the new legislative term. Representing the first public confrontation between government and opposition MPs, the debates foreshadow topical and interpersonal aspects of the political frontstage (...) communication in the beginning legislative term. The main purpose of this article is to investigate the relations between formal properties of direct verbal quotes, recontextualization practices, their pragmatic function, and the specific aspect of the public personae speakers foreground by their use in the inaugural debates. Although direct quotations in follow-up utterances of MPs do not occur very often, the analyses demonstrate that this specific form of discourse representation deserves attention not only because it is mainly opposition MPs who use direct quotations in uptaking discourse units, but also because of the different semiotic aspects of direct quotes which are foregrounded in the investigated recontextualization practices. These practices result in MPs’ different public self-positionings toward their role of ‘being an opposition MP’, namely, either as policy-oriented arguers or as ironic evaluators. (shrink)

Art can be experienced in numerous ways, ranging from sensory pleasure to elaborated ways of finding meaning (Leder et al. 2004). However, rather ignored by Bullot & Reber (B&R), in empirical aesthetics several lines of research have studied how knowledge of artistic style, descriptive and elaborate information, expertise, and context all affect aesthetic experiences from art. Limiting aesthetics to rather rare experiences unnecessarily narrows the scope of a science of art.

Article Ansatzpunkte für eine normative Erweiterung der ökonomischen Rationalität - »Humanisierung« der ökonomischen· Theorie als Aufgabe einer sich als ethische Ökonomie verstehenden Wirtschaftsethik was published on February 1, 1984 in the journal Zeitschrift für Evangelische Ethik (volume 28, issue 1).

Electronic commerce has become an important factor in present-day business. The reflection ofbusiness ethics asks four questions: - To what extent does e-commerce improve the ethical quality of decision making and performing in the sphere of commerce? - Does e-commerce promote the »reason« for business? - Does e-commerce reinforce or endanger the market's functional value principles? -Will e-commerce side-Iine or establish the ethical reflexivity of business? The present considerations will not answer definitively the above questions. Although e-commerce comprises dangers as (...) weil as opportunities relative to those questions, it is basic to hold fast at the primacy ofpolitics and consequently demand the responsibility from business toward the »needs oflife«. (shrink)

The thoughts presented here describe the »Reality« of money and its Connections, in the sense oft he point of attachment, to an ethic of »Money«. The respective theological remarks to the descriptions integrate, strenghten and interpret these and thus present perspectives for the handling of money without, however, providing handling methods. A functional view of the social and economic sciences is not sufficient for a description of money by means of ethics. Although ethics must have knowledge of this »Rationality«, yet (...) the many methods of talking of and money are an indication for ethical reflections that behind the functional reality of money there lurks an »Ethical« dimension which require tobe deciphered and interpreted. (shrink)

As economic actions generate questions about justice, the duty of economicethical reflection consists in contributing to the search for answers to these questions. Justice is a complex ethical term, therefore the question for the ))right« idea of justice needs to asked. In doing so we give reasons for our view that justice cannot be defined without considering aspects of solidarity, thus emphasizing a specific perspective within theological ethics. Thereby we discuss interpretations of justice in utilitarianism als well as J. Rawls's (...) theory of justice, which succeeds in making the principle of brotherliness more tangible. Therefore this paper considers a topical economic-ethical problern - justice with or without aspects of solidarity?; the relation between teleology an deontology? and - offers at the same time a mediation between ethics an economics which is argumentative al weil as furthering understanding und dialogue. (shrink)

Keinen Menschen der Antike kennen wir so gut wie Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 v.Chr.). Wir verdanken dies dem Umstand, dass ein großer Teil seiner Korrespondenz überliefert ist, im ganzen etwa 780 Briefe, davon gut die Hälfte an seinen Freund Titus Pomponius Atticus (110-32 v.Chr.) gerichtet. Die Atticus-Briefe sind insofern eine historische Quelle außerordentlichen Ranges, als Cicero sich in ihnen unbefangen und vorbehaltlos äußert. So folgen wir in zahlreichen Krisen seines Lebens zuweilen Tag für Tag den wechselnden Stimmungen, erleben den Kampf (...) um gesellschaftliche und politische Anerkennung, erkennen aber auch Ciceros heiße Vaterlandsliebe, erhalten Einblick in die privaten Verhältnisse, kurzum, alle Züge seines Wesens erscheinen in klarer Kontur wie in einem Spiegel. Die Atticus-Briefe vermitteln uns das Bild eines antiken Menschen, der zwar nicht der Weltgeschichte ihren Lauf gewiesen hat, der aber doch zu den bedeutendsten Persönlichkeiten einer Zeit gehörte, in der Weltgeschichte gemacht wurde, und der darüber zu berichten weiß. Darin liegt der nicht zu schätzende Wert der Sammlung. Mit Einführung, Erläuterungen, Registern und Zeittafel. (shrink)

J. Gordon Melton. Magic, Witchcraft, and Paganism in America:. Bibliography. New York: Garland. 1982. Pp. xi. 231. $44.00. cloth. L.C. 81‐43343. ISBN 0‐8240‐9377‐1.

Raw Feeling:. Philosophical Account of the Essence of Consciousness. Robert Kirk. Oxford, NY: Clarendon Press, 1994‐ ix. 251 pp. 42.00 (cloth).

The Fate of Place:. Philosophical History. Edward S. Casey. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. 495 pages. 45.00 (cloth);. 19.95 (paper).

Yearbook of Cross‐Cultural Medicine and Psychotherapy, Volume 1, 1990. Walter Andritzky. ed. Verlag, Postfach 11 03 68, Markgrafenstrabe 67, Berlin. 1991. 201pp. ISBN 3‐927408‐60‐3. $40 (paperback).

A Paramecium cell has a stereotypically patterned surface, with regularly arranged cilia, dense‐core secretory vesicles and subplasmalemmal calcium stores. Less strikingly, there is also a patterning of molecules; for instance, some ion channels are restricted to certain regions of the cell surface. This design may explain very effective and selective responses, such as that to Ca2+ upon stimulation. It enables the cell to respond to a Ca2+ signal precisely secretion (exocytosis) or by changing its ciliary activity. These responses depend on (...) the location and/or type of signal, even though these two target structures co‐exist side‐by‐side, and normally only limited overlap occurs between the different functions. Furthermore, the patterning of exocytotic sites and the possibility of synchronous exocytosis induction in the sub‐second time range have considerably facilitated analyses, and thus led to new concepts of exocytotic membrane fusion. It has been possible to dissect complicated events like overlapping Ca2+ fluxes produced from external sources and from internal stores. Since molecular genetic approaches have become available for Paramecium, many different gene products have been identified only some of which are known from “higher” eukaryotes. Although a variety of basic cellular functions are briefly addressed to demonstrate the uniqueness of this unicellular organism, this article focuses on exocytosis regulation. BioEssays 24:649–658, 2002. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

The article offers a critical assessment of an article on “Corporate Legitimacy as Deliberation” by Guido Palazzo and Andreas Scherer in this journal. We share the concern about the precarious legitimacy of globally active corporations, infringing on the legitimacy of democracy at large. There is no quarrel with Palazzo/Scherer’s diagnosis, which focuses on the consequences of globalization and ensuing challenges for corporate social responsibilities. However, we disagree with the “solutions” offered by them. In a first step we refute the idea (...) of a legitimacy of morals, maintaining that morality is a premodern mode of creating legitimacy. Even worse, moral is becoming a dangerous commodity under conditions of fundamental global disagreements and antagonisms. We secondly refute the concept of the “politicized corporation”, maintaining that Palazzo/Scherer disregard the consequences of functional differentiation of modern societies and, in particular, disregard the wisdom of political restraint and constitutional guarantees for the autonomy of different spheres of society. Finally, we refute a seemingly romantic notion of deliberation, maintaining that deliberation and deliberative democracy is a worthy idea, which, however, has no place in the real world of globalized contexts. On the other hand, we also find enough common ground and common concern with Palazzo/Scherer to validate a fruitful discourse. (shrink)

The way physics and other parts of science work can be explained in the framework of radical constructivism. However, this constructivist view itself shows that a uniquily accepted epistemology, constructivism or any other, would not be an advantage for the developmentof science. Unlike physics some parts of science successfully use constructivist concepts inside their theories. Because this is the case particularly in learning theory, constructivist ideas can help to improve physics teaching.