Wenn Präsident Kennedy nicht erschossen worden wäre, hätte er dann Nordvietnam bombardiert? Das weiß Gott allein. Oder doch nicht? Weiß wenigstens Er, was Kennedy getan hätte? ... Die Jesuiten behaupteten unter anderem, daß viele menschliche Handlungen in dem Sinne frei seien, daß die Ausführenden nicht logisch oder kausal gezwungen seien, sie auszuführen. („Frei“ wird im vorliegenden Aufsatz stets in diesem Sinne verwendet werden.) Wie behält Gott dann die Kontrolle über die menschliche Geschichte? Nicht dadurch, daß Er menschliche Handlungen kausal determiniert, (...) wie die Dominikaner geglaubt zu haben scheinen , sondern indem Er Umstände herbeiführt, von denen Er weiß, daß wir in ihnen freiwillig Seinen Plänen entsprechend handeln werden. (shrink)

This is the first translation into English of a milestone in Nietzsche interpretation. Wolfgang Mller-Lauter examines Nietzsche's doctrines of the will to power and the overman in light of Nietzsche's philosophy of real contradictions.

Based on the thesis of R. Muller (doctoral)--Universite de Paris IV.

Symptom Checker Applications (SCA) are mobile applications often designed for the end-user to assist with symptom assessment and self-triage. SCA are meant to provide the user with easily accessible information about their own health conditions. However, SCA raise questions regarding ethical, legal, and social aspects (ELSA), for example, regarding fair access to this new technology. The aim of this scoping review is to identify the ELSA of SCA in the scientific literature. A scoping review was conducted to identify the ELSA (...) of SCA. Ten databases (e.g., Web of Science and PubMed) were used. Studies on SCA that address ELSA, written in English or German, were included in the review. The ELSA of SCA were extracted and synthesized using qualitative content analysis. A total of 25,061 references were identified, of which 39 were included in the analysis. The identified aspects were allotted to three main categories: (1) Technology; (2) Individual Level; and (3) Healthcare system. The results show that there are controversial debates in the literature on the ethical and social challenges of SCA usage. Furthermore, the debates are characterised by a lack of a specific legal perspective and empirical data. The review provides an overview on the spectrum of ELSA regarding SCA. It offers guidance to stakeholders in the healthcare system, for example, patients, healthcare professionals, and insurance providers and could be used in future empirical research to investigate the perspectives of those affected, such as users. (shrink)

Background Symptom checker apps (SCAs) are mobile or online applications for lay people that usually have two main functions: symptom analysis and recommendations. SCAs ask users questions about their symptoms via a chatbot, give a list with possible causes, and provide a recommendation, such as seeing a physician. However, it is unclear whether the actual performance of a SCA corresponds to the users’ experiences. This qualitative study investigates the subjective perspectives of SCA users to close the empirical gap identified in (...) the literature and answers the following main research question: How do individuals (healthy users and patients) experience the usage of SCA, including their attitudes, expectations, motivations, and concerns regarding their SCA use? Methods A qualitative interview study was chosen to clarify the relatively unknown experience of SCA use. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with SCA users were carried out by two researchers in tandem via video call. Qualitative content analysis was selected as methodology for the data analysis. Results Fifteen interviews with SCA users were conducted and seven main categories identified: (1) Attitudes towards findings and recommendations, (2) Communication, (3) Contact with physicians, (4) Expectations (prior to use), (5) Motivations, (6) Risks, and (7) SCA-use for others. Conclusions The aspects identified in the analysis emphasise the specific perspective of SCA users and, at the same time, the immense scope of different experiences. Moreover, the study reveals ethical issues, such as relational aspects, that are often overlooked in debates on mHealth. Both empirical and ethical research is more needed, as the awareness of the subjective experience of those affected is an essential component in the responsible development and implementation of health apps such as SCA. Trial registration German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS): DRKS00022465. 07/08/2020. (shrink)

Recent controversy about the use of the vertebrate fossil record for external calibration of molecular clocks centers on two issues, the number of dates used for calibration and the reliability of the fossil calibration date. Viewing matters from a palaeontological perspective, we propose three qualitative, phylogenetic criteria that can be used within a comparative framework for the selection of well-constrained calibration dates from the vertebrate fossil record. On the basis of these criteria, we identify three highly suitable new fossil calibration (...) dates for molecular clock estimates: the lungfish–tetrapod split (between 419 and 408 Ma), the bird–crocodile split (between 251 and 243 Ma), and the alligator–caiman split (between 71 and 66 Ma). Together with our previously suggested bird–lizard split (between 252 and 257 Ma), these four fossil dates span a range of very different ages. They are, in our opinion, more suitable for molecular clock calibration than the traditionally used mammal–bird split, which is less well constrained. We plea for closer interactions between paleontologists and molecular biologists in studying the timescale of vertebrate evolution. BioEssays 27:1069–1075, 2005. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Beaucoup repetent depuis Hegel que Platon aurait ignore la liberte; tout au plus se serait-il interesse a son aspect politique, mais, dans ce cas, pour la combattre. Jusqu'a present, aucune reflexion de fond n'a ete engagee sur ce theme. Le present travail voudrait combler cette lacune, et c'est pourquoi il ne se limite pas aux debats lies a l'interpretation politique de la pensee de Platon, mais tente d'apprehender la notion de liberte au coeur meme de la doctrine platonicienne. Constatant que, (...) de fait, Platon s'exprime beaucoup sur la liberte, et souvent de maniere favorable, on s'est ainsi propose de determiner le sens et la coherence philosophiques de l'ensemble de ses prises de positions sur le sujet. (shrink)

Consumer-targeted sleep tracking applications (STA) that run on mobile devices (e.g., smartphones) promise to be useful tools for the individual user. Assisted by built-in and/or external sensors, these apps can analyze sleep data and generate assessment reports for the user on their sleep duration and quality. However, STA also raise ethical questions, for example, on the autonomy of the sleeping person, or potential effects on third parties. Nevertheless, a specific ethical analysis of the use of these technologies is still missing (...) so far. The aim of the current analysis is to identify the characteristics of sleep tracking apps and to explore the specific ethical aspects associated with this form of self-tracking. Firstly, the field of mobile health applications was screened for STA to explore their typical functions and target user groups. Secondly, an ethical analysis was conducted focusing on the three ethical dimensions: (1) medicalization, (2) vulnerability, and (3) relationality. The analysis indicates that these three normative dimensions are decisive for assessing STA and that the ethical profile of this technology varies greatly depending on the respective user group. As the three dimensions medicalization, vulnerability, and relationality play a distinguishing role in the use of STA, they should be especially addressed in responsible development and implementation of STA. In addition, the analysis helps to evaluate the use of STA, in terms of different risks for specific user groups, the sensitive contexts of usage, and potential interference with the intimacy of third parties. (shrink)

Variations in human skin pigmentation are obvious, but how have skin colour differences evolved? Although clearly a polymorphic trait, the number and identity of key variants has remained unclear. Investigation of pigmentation phenotypes in model organisms provides a route to identify these genes and showed MC1R to be one key locus. Now, cloning of a classic zebrafish mutant, golden, identifies slc24a5 as a gene involved in fish skin pigmentation.1 Strikingly this study identifies the human orthologue, SLC24A5, as likely to make (...) a major contribution to the pale skin colouration of Western Europeans. BioEssays 28: 578–582, 2006. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

The paper explores the creative thinking process and throws light on creativity enhancement. From the perspective of possible creativity enhancement both the characteristics of creativity and the creative thinking process are discussed, together with an analysis of the process and its common factors. Constraints on innovation (as a special type of creativity), innovation management and the acceptance of change are discussed; creativity between cooperating individuals is also examined. Some possible computer-based tools to enhance creativity, including innovation, are discussed. A framework (...) of facilities to help promote and support the use of creativity enhancement techniques and tools (SOLI) is proposed. The paper is the result of a study undertaken by the author into creativity, innovation and cooperation. (shrink)

(1999). Globalization: The next development of the international system. World Futures: Vol. 53, Globalization and the Future of the Nation-State, pp. 165-187.

On dit et répète que, dans la République, Platon a chassé les poètes de la cité. L’affirmation n’est pas fausse, à condition d’ajouter plusieurs réserves et précisions qui, si on les prend au sérieux, donnent une image très différente de l’attitude de Platon envers la poésie. La cité a besoin de poètes : une partie essentielle de l’éducation des gardiens (livres II-III) repose sur la musique-poésie, et c’est bien pourquoi Platon s’attarde longuement sur les règles à respecter en la matière. (...) Cette poésie soumise à la censure n’est pourtant pas la seule admise : vis-à-vis de la poésie existante (Homère, les Tragiques), le philosophe adopte une position nuancée : elle a beaucoup de charme, et si elle a beaucoup de défauts, il n’est pourtant pas impossible de l’accueillir dans la cité pour peu que les citoyens soient munis de l’antidote fourni par l’éducation. C’est à cette dernière qu’on doit apporter tous ses soins, à celle des gardiens mais aussi à celle des citoyens ordinaires. (shrink)

Through a detailed analysis of ancient philosophical doctrines of liberty and careful examination of the ethymology of the term "eleutheria", the text gives its reader rich material for consideration which must eventually lead to a conclusion that Greek understanding of freedom as a specifically human entity, is the root of all modern views concerning liberty.

In this astonishingly rich volume, experts in ethics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, political theory, aesthetics, history, critical theory, and hermeneutics bring to light the best philosophical scholarship on what is arguably Nietzsche's most rewarding but most challenging text. Including essays that were commissioned specifically for the volume as well as essays revised and edited by their authors, this collection showcases definitive works that have shaped Nietzsche studies alongside new works of interest to students and experts alike. A lengthy introduction, annotated (...) bibliography, and index make this an extremely useful guide for the classroom and advanced research. (shrink)

Unser Beitrag stellt ein interaktives Ethik-Konzept vor, das in Zusammenarbeit der BruderhausDiakonie Reutlingen und der Universität Tübingen entwickelt wurde, um den Eigenheiten und Bedarfen einer komplexen Organisationsstruktur gerecht zu werden, die mehrere Geschäftsfelder und Standorte unter sich vereint. Wir skizzieren die Grundzüge des interaktiven Nijmegener Modells, in dem die Kooperation eines auf Leitungsebene angesiedelten Komitees und situationsbezogener Fallbesprechungen ein fruchtbares Zusammenspiel zweier unverzichtbarer Reflexionsweisen bewirken soll. Wir zeigen auf, welche Herausforderungen sich bei der Implementierung dieses Modells in die konkrete Aufbauorganisation (...) der BruderhausDiakonie ergaben, und mit welchen konzeptionellen oder „implementationstechnischen“ Mitteln ihnen begegnet wurde. Im Zentrum steht dabei die Erweiterung des Nijmegener Modells um ein Verbindungselement, welches die Zusammenarbeit zwischen zentralem Ausschuss und dezentralen Fallbesprechungen koordiniert und das interaktive Moment des Modells erst ermöglicht. (shrink)

Definition of the problemMedical and nursing care often takes place within complex organizational structures that comprise numerous facilities at numerous locations. We introduce an interactive ethical concept, designed in cooperation with the diaconal foundation BruderhausDiakonie Reutlingen and the International Centre for Ethics in Science, University of Tübingen, to address the particular needs of such organizations.ArgumentsTherefore we portray the interactive Nijmegen Model which combines an ethics committee located at the management level and situational ethical case deliberations on the ward in order (...) to bring together two indispensable ways of ethical reflection in organizations: “top-down”/“bottom-up”. We illustrate the challenges of implementing the said model into the organizational construction of the BruderhausDiakonie and how to address these by means of conception and implementation.ConclusionConsidering the implementational challenges that we encountered, the Nijmegen Model needs to be enhanced by introducing a link between the committee and the case deliberations. We delineate the basic elements and the requirements for such a position while reporting our initial practical experience with this model. (shrink)

For forty years, Harvey Mansfield has been worth reading. Whether plumbing the depths of MachiavelliOs Discourses or explaining what was at stake in Bill ClintonOs impeachment, MansfieldOs work in political philosophy and political science has set the standard. In Educating the Prince, twenty-one of his students, themselves distinguished scholars, try to live up to that standard. Their essays offer penetrating analyses of Machiavellianism, liberalism, and America., all of them informed by MansfieldOs own work. The volume also includes a bibliography of (...) MansfieldOs writings. (shrink)

Conscious awareness comprises two distinct states, autonoetic and noetic awareness. Schizophrenia impairs autonoetic, but not noetic, awareness. We investigated the strategic regulation of relevant and irrelevant contents of conscious awareness in schizophrenia using a directed forgetting paradigm. Twenty-one patients with schizophrenia and 21 normal controls were presented with words and told to learn some of them and forget others. In a subsequent test, they were asked to recognize all the words they had seen previously and give remember, know or guess (...) responses according to whether they recognized words on the basis of autonoetic awareness, noetic awareness, or guessing. Overall, patients showed the same degree of a directed forgetting effect as normal subjects. However, whereas the effect was observed both for remember and know responses in normal subjects, it was observed for know, but not for remember, responses in patients. These results indicate that patients with schizophrenia exhibit an impaired strategic regulation of contents of autonetic awareness for relevant and irrelevant information. (shrink)

Psychiatric disorders share an excess of seasonal birth in winter and spring, suggesting an increase of neurodevelopmental risks. Evidence suggests season of birth can serve as a proxy of harmful environmental factors. Given that prenatal exposure of these factors may trigger pathologic processes in the neurodevelopment, they may consequently lead to brain volume alterations. Here we tested the effects of season of birth on gray matter volume in a transdiagnostic sample of patients with schizophrenia and depression compared to healthy controls. (...) We found a significant effect of season of birth on gray matter volume with reduced right hippocampal volume in summer-born compared to winter-born patients with depression. In addition, the volume of the right hippocampus was reduced independent from season of birth in schizophrenia. Our results support the potential impact of season of birth on hippocampal volume in depression. (shrink)

The article reassesses the renown ‘critical iconology’ practiced by Aby Warburg and confronts it with recent theories regarding metadata and the curatorship of information. A close examination of Robert Kitaj’s portrait Warburg as a Maenad (1961–62) affirms Warburg’s ‘combinatory experiments’ (Christopher D. Johnson) to be a main characteristic of his practice. Warburg seems to have operated by applying what can now be described as metadata to the processes of transmission of culture he was accessing in form of migrating images. (...) Further, the insights he was able to gain, namely his famous notion of the ‘Pathosformel’, may have to be considered as a specific form of metadata too. This is of particular interest acknowledging that in the digital world the migration of images takes mainly place in the realm of metadata. Hence ideas put forward by Warburg are able contribute to a deeper understanding of such phenomena. (shrink)

The article reassesses the renown ‘critical iconology’ practiced by Aby Warburg and confronts it with recent theories regarding metadata and the curatorship of information. A close examination of Robert Kitaj’s portrait Warburg as a Maenad affirms Warburg’s ‘combinatory experiments’ to be a main characteristic of his practice. Warburg seems to have operated by applying what can now be described as metadata to the processes of transmission of culture he was accessing in form of migrating images. Further, the insights he (...) was able to gain, namely his famous notion of the ‘Pathosformel’, may have to be considered as a specific form of metadata too. This is of particular interest acknowledging that in the digital world the migration of images takes mainly place in the realm of metadata. Hence ideas put forward by Warburg are able contribute to a deeper understanding of such phenomena. (shrink)

Jerry Fodor has consistently cited the persistence of illusions--especially the M.

Violence seems to be the central preoccupation in the work of Heiner Müller: from the early plays on the painful birth of a new socialist state, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), built on the ruins of one and overshadowed by the rise of another totalitarian system, to the political parables and allegories borrowed from Greek and Shakespearean tragedy; from his adaptations of some of the bloodiest episodes of the French, Russian, and German revolutions to the late dramatic experiments bent on (...) shattering the theatrical form itself. The concern with violence is indeed so pervasive as to appear obsessive. Violence is.. (shrink)

In praise of cruelty : Bataille, Kafka, and Ling-Chi -- Fragmentary description of a disaster : Claude Simon -- The resistance to pathos and the pathos of resistance : Peter Weiss -- Medeamachine : the "fallout" of violence in Heiner Müller -- Epilogue : Francis Bacon, or, The brutality of fact.

De Vries and Müller-Salo begin with an interpretation of my view on the need for adequate secular reasons in supporting coercion in politics—specifically, in law-making and establishing public policies. Most laws and public policies are coercive. A public policy, for instance, may be established by a governmental or quasi-governmental institution such as a public university, and it may be enforced using sanctions that include fines and possible imprisonment. Even temporary policies established by agencies of government as opposed to legislative bodies (...) may have the authority to impose serious penalties for non-compliance. Müller-Salo and De Vries consider various problems my approach raises and conclude by offering a principle weaker than my principle of secular rationale but aimed at making a similar contribution to formulating an ethics of citizenship—a set of standards applicable both to individual citizens and to government officials. (shrink)

This volume presents, for the first time, an assemblage of contributions on the philosophical dimensions of the impersonal, the multiplicity of its linguistic, social, scientific, religious and artistic perspectives, as well as initial approaches to its unified definition. Linguistic and logical impersonality The “It" in K. Kraus “Impersonality” in the subject and in events The impersonal ontology of H. Rombach Levinas on the “Il y a” Organisation in non-egological consciousness The witness of consciousness in the Vedānta traditions Anonymous self-consciousness G. (...) Deleuzes figures of the impersonal The impersonal in G. Agamben's Philosophy Formal and collective thought in Spinoza Cusanus and the person as stake in the game of life Impersonal subjectivity and the comedy of solipsism Dimensions of the impersonal in T. Nagel, E. Husserl and H. Plessner On the figure of the impersonal in the Anthropocene Language and mask in F. Nietzsche Theodoros Terzopoulos on impersonality and theatre With contributions by Michael Astroh, Eric Ebner, Eric Eggert, Rolf Elberfeld, Katrin Felgenhauer, Ralf Gisinger, Annika Hand, Stefan Lang, Robert Lehmann, Enrico Müller, Daniel Neumann, Frank Raddatz, Christian Rößner, Thomas Schmaus, Fabian Strobel and Theodoros Terzopoulos. (shrink)

The problem of evil is an intellectual challenge for philosophers and theologians and an existential threat to many religious believers. It is sustained by the commitments of what is now called perfect being theology, which is above all a philosophical theology centered on the conception of God as creator of the cosmos and as omniscient, omnipotent, and perfectly good. With Kontny and Müller-Salo, I do not try to evade the problem by treating evil as illusory or subjective. I agree that (...) there are genuine evils of horrendous proportions. The question why there is evil at all is urgent enough in a world under an omnicompetent God—‘omnicompetence’ being shorthand for the conjunction of omniscience, omnipotence, and perfect goodness. But the question why there is so much and such excruciating evil seems on the face of it unanswerable. Kontny and Müller-Salo have contributed much to our understanding of the problem, and here, rather than elaborate on all of their points, I shall simply reply to those that indicate a need to reinforce or extend major theses I have defended. (shrink)

Foundationalism is now widely held in epistemology. In some version or other, it has been presupposed by many philosophers, including some who would not describe their view using the term ‘foundationalism’ or any equivalent. The view was set forth in some detail by Aristotle, with his version of the epistemic regress argument presented in Posterior Analytics 72b. My Architecture of Reason discusses these matters in detail). Since at least the late 1970s, I have argued that epistemological foundationalism can be moderate (...) in not requiring foundational beliefs to be infallible or even indefeasibly justified. For Müller and Seidel, at least, it appears that further clarification is needed. (shrink)

Staffan Müller-Wille & Hans-Jörg Rheinberger (Eds): Heredity Produced. At the Crossroads of Biology, Politics, and Culture, 1500–1870 Content Type Journal Article Category Book Review Pages 327-331 DOI 10.1007/s10441-011-9130-4 Authors Robert Olby, Department of the History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, 1017 Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh, PA 15236, USA Journal Acta Biotheoretica Online ISSN 1572-8358 Print ISSN 0001-5342 Journal Volume Volume 59 Journal Issue Volume 59, Numbers 3-4.

Summary In 1979, Robert C. Olby published an article titled ?Mendel no Mendelian??, in which he questioned commonly held views that Gregor Mendel (1822?1884) laid the foundations for modern genetics. According to Olby, and other historians of science who have since followed him, Mendel worked within the tradition of so-called hybridists, who were interested in the evolutionary role of hybrids rather than in laws of inheritance. We propose instead to view the hybridist tradition as an experimental programme characterized by (...) a dynamic development that inadvertently led to a focus on the inheritance of individual traits. Through a careful analysis of publications on hybridization by Carl Linnaeus (1707?1778), Joseph Gottlieb Koelreuter (1733?1806), Carl Friedrich Gärtner (1772?1850), and finally Mendel himself, we will show that this development consisted in repeated reclassifications of hybrids to accommodate anomalies, which in the end allowed Mendel to draw analogies between whole organisms, individual traits, and ?elements? contained in reproductive cells. Mendel's achievement was a product of normal science, and yet a revolutionary step forward. This also explains why, in 1900, when the report he gave on his experiments was ?rediscovered?, Mendel could be read as a ?Mendelian? (shrink)