A family reconstitution study of the Krummhörn population (Ostfriesland, Germany, 1720–1874) reveals that infant mortality and children’s probabilities of marrying or emigrating unmarried are affected by the number of living same-sexed sibs in farmers’ families but not in the families of landless laborers. We interpret these results in terms of a “local resource competition” model in which resource-holding families are obliged to manipulate the reproductive future of their offspring. In contrast, families that lack resources have no need to manipulate their (...) offspring and are more likely to benefit from allowing their offspring to capitalize on whatever opportunities to reproduce present themselves. (shrink)

In this article we try to give a philosophically reflected introductory overview of the current theoretical developments in the field of evolutionary aesthetics. Our aim is not completeness. Rather, we try to depict some of the central assumptions and explanatory tools frequently used in evolutionary accounts of human aesthetical preferences and address a number of currently debated, open research questions.

In Einklang und in Verlängerung der „Social Brain Hypothesis” wird hier das Argument entfaltet, dass die Freiheitsintuition evolutionär im Zuge der sozialen Evolution der Primaten entstanden ist. Der Hauptselektionsdruck lastete auf der Fähigkeit, soziales Wissen über andere zu generieren, um Sozialpartner in ihren Verhaltenstendenzen berechenbar zu machen und die eigene Verhaltensproduktion strategisch vorteilhaft darauf einstellen zu können. In der sozialen Evolution der Primaten wurde deshalb ein Fremdverstehen prämiert und nicht etwa eine zunehmende Fähigkeit zur Selbsterkenntnis. Die Intuition des freien Willens (...) kann deshalb besser als biologisch funktionale soziale Attribution denn als introspektiv gewonnene Einsicht verstanden werden. (shrink)

Based on historical data pertaining to the Krummhörn population (eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Germany), we compared reproductive histories of mothers according to whether the maternal grandmother (MGM) or the paternal grandmother (PGM) or neither of them was resident in the parents’ parish at the time of the mother’s first birth. In contrast to effects of PGMs, we discovered conditional differences in the MGM’s effects between landless people and wealthier, commercial farmers. Our data indicate that the presence of the MGM only (...) lowers the woman’s age at marriage (AAM) and her age at the birth of her first child (AFB) in the case of landless families. However, among commercial farmers, who can generally be characterized by a lower AAM and AFB, we found opposite tendencies for the MGM’s effect leading to a relatively small delay in AAM and AFB. Moreover, we also analyzed differences in the completed fertility (i.e., children ever born: CEB). Results indicate that landless families in general do have fewer CEB compared with commercial farmers except for those families in which the MGM has been present. Emphasizing that the adaptiveness of investment decisions should depend on the interaction of genetic, lineage-specific (intrinsic) and ecologically imposed (extrinsic) constraints, we conclude that kin strategies consequently address different fitness components under different conditions. (shrink)

The wealthy elite males of nineteenth-century Krummhörn (Ostfriesland, Germany) achieved an above-average reproductive success. Membership in the elite class was determined from a list of the 300 richest men in the Ostfriesland district compiled by authorities in 1812. The main components establishing the link between cultural success and reproductive success aredifferences in the number of offspring owing to differences both in time spent in fecund marriage (mating success) and in rate of reproduction;differences in the probabilities of one’s adult offspring marrying (...) locally vs. emigrating unmarried owing to differential ability to allocate resources that enhance the “social placement” of adult offspring; anddifferences in the probability of total reproductive failure (lineage extinction).Contrary to what might be expected, infant survivorship was lowest amongst the richest families. We conclude that to a great extent females’ reproductive decisions contribute to the greater reproductive success of the elite males. (shrink)

Dieser Beitrag widmet sich der Darstellung des systematischen Zusammenhangs des mit dem Aufkommen der Experimentellen Philosophie neu entstandenen Teilbereichs der Experimentellen Ethik mit der spätestens seit den 1980er Jahren wieder populär gewordenen Evolutionären Ethik, einer Teildisziplin des philosophischen Naturalismus. Nach einer kurzen Charakterisierung beider ethischer Teilbereiche wird am Beispiel der metaethischen Frage nach der Objektivität moralischer Urteile dafür argumentiert, dass die partikulären Ergebnisse experimenteller Methoden in der Moralphilosophie erst in einer umfassenderen Perspektive auf menschliches Handeln vollständig interpretierbar werden: Ohne eine (...) rahmenbildende Hintergrundtheorie moralischen Urteilens, wie z.B. die Evolutionäre Ethik, liefert die Experimentelle Ethik nicht mehr als proximate Erklärungen moralischer Urteilsmechanismen. Zweifelsohne sind dies wertvolle Erkenntnisse über die Funktionsweise moralischer Urteilsfindung – ohne Ordnungsrahmen drohen sie jedoch unverbunden nebeneinander stehen zu bleiben. Andererseits beinhaltet gerade die Evolutionäre Ethik empirische Hintergrundannahmen über menschliches moralisches Urteilen, die erst mit den Methoden der Experimentellen Ethik ihre unabdingbare empirische Überprüfung finden können. Diese zwei Teilbereiche der Moralphilosophie stehen daher in enger systematischer Beziehung. (shrink)

Commentary on J. Gowdy & L. Krall "The economic origins of ultrasociality": We question the sequence of evolutionary transitions leading to ultrasociality in humans proposed by Gowdy & Krall. Evidence indicates that families are, and likely always have been, the primary productive units in human agricultural economies, suggesting that genetic relatedness is key to understanding when the suppression of individual autonomy to the benefit of subsistence groups, i.e. extended families, evolved.

Self-deception may be the result of social manipulation and conflict management of social in-groups. Although self-deception certainly has offensive and defensive aspects, a full evolutionary understanding of this phenomenon is not possible until strategies of other parties are included into a model of self-perception and self-representation.

Life history theory predicts that exposure to high mortality in early childhood leads to faster and riskier reproductive strategies. Individuals who grew up in a high mortality regime will not overly wait until they find a suitable partner and form a stable union because premature death would prevent them from reproducing. Cox proportional hazard models were used to determine whether women who experienced sibling death during early childhood (0–5 years) reproduced earlier and were at an increased risk of giving birth (...) to an illegitimate child, with illegitimacy serving as a proxy for risky sexual behavior. Furthermore, we investigate whether giving birth out of wedlock is influenced by individual mortality experience or by more promiscuous sexual behavior that is clustered in certain families. Models are fitted on pedigree data from the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Krummhörn population in Germany. The results show a relationship between sibling death in early childhood and the risk of reproducing out of wedlock, and reproductive timing. The risk of giving birth out of wedlock is linked to individual mortality experience rather than to family-level effects. In contrast, adjustments in connubial reproductive timing are influenced more by family-level effects than by individual mortality experience. (shrink)

Limited health literacy is a pervasive and independent risk factor for poor health outcomes. Despite decades of reports exhibiting that the healthcare system is overly complex, unneeded complexity remains commonplace and endangers the lives of patients, especially those with limited health literacy. In this article, we define health literacy and describe the empirical evidence associating health literacy and poor health outcomes. We recast the issue of poor health literacy from within the ethical perspective of the least well-off and argue that (...) poor health outcomes deriving from limited health literacy ought to be understood as a fundamental injustice of the healthcare system. We offer three proposals that attempt to rectify this injustice, including: universal precautions that presume limited health literacy for all healthcare users; expanded use of technology supported communication; and clinical incentives that account for limited health literacy. (shrink)

The clinical vignette remains the standard means by which medical ethics are taught to students in the healthcare professions. Although written or verbal vignettes are useful as a pedagogic tool for teaching ethics and introducing students to real cases, they are limited, since students must imagine the clinical scenario. Medical ethics are almost universally taught during the early years of training, when students are unfamiliar with the clinical reality in which ethics issues arise. Film vignettes fill in that imaginative leap. (...) By providing vivid details with images, film vignettes offer rich and textured details of cases, including the patient’s perspective and the clinical reality. Film vignettes provide a detailed ethnography that allows for a more complete discussion of the ethical issues. Film can serve as an additional tool for teaching medical ethics to members of the healthcare professions. (shrink)

Die Geschichte der internationalen Beziehungen gehort derzeit zu den dynamischsten und innovativsten Feldern der deutschen Geschichtswissenschaft. Eine historische Teildisziplin, die lange Zeit als eher traditionell und konservativ galt, erweitert und erneuert sich. Diesen Prozess dokumentieren die Beitrage des vorliegenden Bandes. Sie leisten eine Bestandsaufnahme, entwickeln Perspektiven und reflektieren so die ganze Bandbreite einer modernen Geschichte der internationalen Beziehungen. Gepragt ist der Band durch den Dialog von Historikern, die sich mit unterschiedlicher Ausrichtung - politik-, wirtschafts-, sozial- oder kulturgeschichtlich - fur internationale (...) Geschichte interessieren. Das Spektrum der Beitrage reicht von der Erforschung von Globalisierungsprozessen uber Fragen des Kulturtransfers bis hin zu einer internationalen Politikgeschichte. (shrink)

Die Frage nach dem Subjekt politischen Handelnsist eines der aktuellen Themen politischer Theoriebildung. Das Neue Testament zeigt im Zuge seiner vielfältigen Interpretationen der Geschichte Jesu Christi aufschlussreiche Aspekte der Subjektwerdung. Dabei werden lohnende Perspektiven auf gegenwärtige Theorien des politischen Subjekts sichtbar, deren interdisziplinäre Reflexion einen Beitrag zum gegenwärtigen Diskurs des Politischen bildet.

This is the first book in English devoted entirely to Kant's Opus postumum and its place in the Kantian oeuvre.

Limited health literacy is a pervasive and independent risk factor for poor health outcomes. Despite decades of reports exhibiting that the healthcare system is overly complex, unneeded complexity remains commonplace and endangers the lives of patients, especially those with limited health literacy. In this article, we define health literacy and describe the empirical evidence associating health literacy and poor health outcomes. We recast the issue of poor health literacy from within the ethical perspective of the least well-off and argue that (...) poor health outcomes deriving from limited health literacy ought to be understood as a fundamental injustice of the healthcare system. We offer three proposals that attempt to rectify this injustice, including: universal precautions that presume limited health literacy for all healthcare users; expanded use of technology supported communication; and clinical incentives that account for limited health literacy. (shrink)

Demetrius of Phalerum (c. 355-280BCE) of Phalerum was a philosopher-statesman. He studied in the Peripatos under Theophrastus and subsequently used his political influence to help his teacher acquire property for the Peripatetic school. As overseer of Athens, his governance was characterized by a decade of domestic peace. Exiled to Alexandria in Egypt, he became the adviser of Ptolemy. He is said to have been in charge of legislation, and it is likely that he influenced the founding of the Museum and (...) the Library. This edition of the fragments of Demetrius of Phalerum reflects the growing interest in the Hellenistic period and the philosophical schools of that age. As a philosopher-statesman, Demetrius appears to have combined theory and practice. For example, in the work On Behalf of the Politeia, he almost certainly explained his own legislation and governance by appealing to the Aristotelian notion of politeia, that is, a constitution in which democratic and oligarchic elements are combined. In On Peace, he may have defended his subservience to Macedon by appealing to Aristotle, who repeatedly recognized the importance of peace over war; and in On Fortune, he will have followed Theophrastus, emphasizing the way fortune can determine the success or failure of sound policy. Whatever the case concerning any one title, we can well understand why Cicero regarded Demetrius as a unique individual: the educated statesman who was able to bring learning out of the shadows of erudition into the light of political conflict, and that despite an oratorical style more suited to the shadows of the Peripatos then to political combat. The new edition of secondary reports by Stork, van Ophuijsen, and Dorandi brings together the evidence for these and other judgments. The facing translation which accompanies the Greek and Latin texts opens up the material to readers who lack the ancient languages, and the accompanying essays introduce us to important issues. The volume will be of interest to those interested in Greek literature, Hellenistic philosophy, Hellenistic history, and generally to persons captivated by the notion of philosopher-statesman. (shrink)

Kant declared that philosophy began in 1781 with his Critique of Pure Reason. In 1806 Hegel announced that it had been completed. Förster assesses the steps that led from Kant’s “beginning” to Hegel’s “end” and concludes that both Kant and Hegel were indeed right. His study reveals Goethe’s significant contribution to post-Kantian thinking.

Kenneth Kipnis (2006) presents a normative defense of strict confidentiality, but it follows from an empirical claim that allowing breach would result in all parties being worse off, including, par...

The article provides a brief overview on Hans Mayer’s life and work and his several stays in Jerusalem and with Stéphane Mosès.

This paper is on dangerous human experimentations with drugs against trypanosimiasis carried out in the former German colonies of German East Africa and Togo. Victory over trypanosomiasis could not be achieved in Berlin because animals were thought to be unsuitable for therapeutic laboratory research in the field of trypanosomiasis. The colonies themselves were necessarily chosen as laboratories and the patients with sleeping sickness became the objects of therapeutical and pharmacological research. The paper first outlines Robert Koch's trypanosomiasis research in the (...) large sleeping sickness laboratory of German East Africa and then focuses on the escalating human experiments on trypanosomiasis in the German Musterkolonie Togo, which must be interpreted as a reaction to the starting signal given by Robert Koch in East Africa. (shrink)

The way in which a nation’s economy is structured is of great importance for the material welfare of its people as well as the people’s relationship with the state and the operation of the state itself. It is also important for the proper functioning of a nation as a people and its psychological welfare. If the gap between rich and poor increases, the structure of an economy, and therefore the welfare of the state and the nation, is at risk. Two (...) important documents of antiquity, Plato’s Nomoi and the Book of Deuteronomy, which even today influence life, dealt intensively with the fissures between rich and poor within society as a danger to political welfare and harmony. This article will examine these documents to make use of these two books for improving a societal situation. This will be done by a comparative perspective on both of these books. (shrink)