Within a state-space approach endowed with a generalized potential function, mental states can be systematically characterized by their stability against perturbations. This approach yields three major classes of states: (1) asymptotically stable categorial states, (2) marginally stable non-categorial states and (3) unstable acategorial states. The particularly interesting case of states giving rise to exceptional experiences will be elucidated in detail. Their proper classification will be related to Metzinger’s account of self-model and world-model, and empirical support for this classification will be (...) surveyed. Eventually, it will be outlined how Metzinger’s discussion of intentionality achieves pronounced significance within a dual-aspect framework of thinking. (shrink)

Strategies for disclosing investigators' financial interests to potential research participants have been adopted by many research institutions. However, little is known about how decisions are made regarding disclosures of financial interests to potential research participants, including what is disclosed and the rationale for making these determinations. We sought to understand the attitudes, beliefs, and practices of institutional review board chairs, conflict of interest committee chairs, and investigators regarding disclosure of financial interests to potential research participants. Several themes emerged, including general (...) attitudes toward conflicts of interest, circumstances in which financial interests should be disclosed, rationales and benefits of disclosure, what should be disclosed, negative effects of and barriers to disclosure, and timing and presentation of disclosure. Respondents cited several rationales for disclosure, including enabling informed decision making, promoting trust in researchers and research institutions, and reducing legal liability. There was general agreement that disclosure should happen early in the consent process. Respondents disagreed about whether to disclose the amounts of particular financial interests. Clarifying the goals of disclosure and understanding how potential research participants use the information will be critical in efforts to ensure the integrity of clinical research and to protect the rights and interests of participants. (shrink)

Following much work in linguistic theory, it is hypothesized that the language faculty has a modular structure and consists of two basic components, a lexicon of (structured) entries and a computational system of combinatorial operations to form larger linguistic expressions from lexical entries. This target article provides evidence for the dual nature of the language faculty by describing recent results of a multidisciplinary investigation of German inflection. We have examined: (1) its linguistic representation, focussing on noun plurals and verb inflection (...) (participles), (2) processes involved in the way adults produce and comprehend inflected words, (3) brain potentials generated during the processing of inflected words, and (4) the way children acquire and use inflection. It will be shown that the evidence from all these sources converges and supports the distinction between lexical entries and combinatorial operations. (shrink)

Pragmatic clinical trials offer important benefits, such as generating evidence that is suited to inform real-world health care decisions and increasing research efficiency. However, PCTs also present ethical challenges. One such challenge involves the management of information that emerges in a PCT that is unrelated to the primary research question, yet may have implications for the individual patients, clinicians, or health care systems from whom or within which research data were collected. We term these findings as?pragmatic clinical trial collateral findings,? (...) or?PCT-CFs?. In this article, we explore the ethical considerations associated with the identification, assessment, and management of PCT-CFs, and how these considerations may vary based upon the attributes of a specific PCT. Our purpose is to map the terrain of PCT-CFs to serve as a foundation for future scholarship as well as policy-making and to facilitate careful deliberation about actual cases as they occur in practice. (shrink)

Data documenting poor understanding among research participants and real-time efforts to assess comprehension in large-scale studies are focusing new attention on informed consent comprehension. Within the context of biobanking consent, we previously convened a multidisciplinary panel to reach consensus about what information must be understood for a prospective participant’s consent to be considered valid. Subsequently, we presented them with data from another study showing that many U.S. adults would fail to comprehend the information the panel had deemed essential. When asked (...) to evaluate the importance of the information again, panelists’ opinions shifted dramatically in the direction of requiring that less information be understood. Follow-up interviews indicated significant uncertainty about defining a threshold of understanding and what should happen when prospective participants are unable to grasp key information. These findings have important implications for urgently needed discussion of whether... (shrink)

Das Buch nimmt Heideggers Denkweg im Ganzen, veranlasst durch die seit 2015 an den "Uberlegungen. Schwarze Hefte" aufbrandende Diskussion, neu und im Sinn einer philosophischen Kritik in den Blick. Heidegger'sche Probleme, Texte und Kontexte werden auf Weichenstellungen, Ambivalenzen und Abbiegungen hin neu befragt. So gewinnen Zusammenhange wie Heideggers Verhaltnis zur Husserl'schen Phanomenologie, zur Metaphysik und ihrer Geschichte, aber auch zur Ideologiegeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts neue und systematische Konturen. Heideggers Texte, die "Wege - nicht Werke" sein sollten, werden in ihren Verflechtungen (...) als Zeugnisse einer unabgeschlossenen und unabschliessbaren Selbstverstandigung gelesen. Dabei werden elementare Fragen aufgeworfen: Wie lasst sich die Heidegger'sche Seinsfrage methodisch argumentativ rekonstruieren? Welchen Aussage- und Argumentationsweisen folgte Heidegger und wie zwingend oder kontingent sind sie? Worin besteht die Aktualitat seiner Frage nach Technik und Kunst? Ist es zutreffend, dass Heidegger nichts von Freiheit verstand, wie Jaspers dekretierte, und dass er keine Ethik entwickelte? So ergibt sich eine Revision des Heidegger'schen Denkens, die jedweder vereinfachenden Finalisierung nach der einen oder anderen Seite widerspricht. Sie wurdigt Heidegger als vorlaufig letzten Denker mit einer Jahrhundertperspektive und weist zugleich auf die Problematik und Aporetik seines Ansatzes, auch im Politischen, hin. (shrink)

Der Prozess biologischer wie anthropologischer Evolution ist heute Gegenstand gesicherter Theorie. In dieser Arbeit werden notwendige und zureichende -philosophische- Voraussetzungen derselben untersucht. Dichotomien (Geist - Materie) wie Reduktionismen (z.B. neo-empiristischer Provenienz) werden uberwunden durch ein Erklarungsmodell, das genannte Einseitigkeiten vermittels einer -strukturologischen- Reflexion auf das -Geist- wie -Materie- Gemeinsame hintergreift. - In diesem Zusammenhang werden endlich die herkommlichen Probleme von -Immanenz- und -Transzendenz- des Menschen im Sinn einer vollig neuen Fragestellung transformiert.".

In diesem Buch wird zunachst eine Topik asthetischer Begriffe entwickelt, die dann an wesentlichen Knotenpunkten der Geschichte von Asthetik und Kunstphilosophie von Platon bis in die Gegenwart erprobt und auf sie angewandt wird. Systematische und geschichtlich konturierte Uberlegungen erganzen einander. Von besonderem Interesse ist dabei die Reflexion von Kunsterfahrung und Kunstwerken durch philosophisches Denken. Auf diese Weise zeigt sich das fruchtbare Spannungsverhaltnis zwischen Theorieformen und der Vielfalt asthetischer Erscheinungsformen. Dem Verhaltnis tradierter Asthetik und der nicht-schonen Kunste der Moderne gilt ein (...) besonderer Fokus. Das Augenmerk der Studie begrenzt sich freilich nicht auf hohe und autonome Kunst; vielmehr richtet es sich besonders auch auf die Architektur und Gebrauchskunst. Auch der Asthetik des Performativen und ihrer Rolle in der Kunst der Moderne gelten eingehende Analysen. (shrink)

1,857 adults rated the grandparental solicitude they received in childhood. Through a simple model based on the evolutionary concepts of ontogenetically differentiated reproductive strategy and paternity confidence, an ordered discriminative pattern of grandparental caregiving was predicted and confirmed by solid main effects, based on 603 complete cases. The maternal grandmother was the most caring. Unlike prevalent gender stereotypes, she was followed by the maternal grandfather, the paternal grandmother, and the paternal grandfather. The preferential grandparental solicitude was not influenced by residential (...) distance, grandparent age, and availability of other grandparents. A predicted higher correlation for male than for female progenitors between solicitude and phenotypic resemblance could be confirmed. (shrink)

Bedarf die in Okonomie und durch mediale Vernetzung geeinte Welt auch einer gemeinsamen Grundphilosophie? Die Schwierigkeiten, auf einen tragfahigen Konsens in strittigen Grundfragen zu kommen, deuten in diese Richtung. Doch wie konnte jene Grundphilosophie aussehen? Das Buch von Harald Seubert nimmt programmatisch die Stromungen und Tendenzen interkultureller Philosophie auf und vertieft sie auf die Grundlinien einer Weltphilosophie, die sich, keineswegs eklektizistisch, auf westliche und ostliche Uberlieferungsstrome berufen kann. Dabei kommen namhafte westliche und ostliche Stimmen zu Wort, von Platon uber (...) Cusanus und Hegel bis zu Whitehead und Sri Aurobindo. Reflektiert werden aber auch die verschiedenen Disziplinen philosophischen Denkens, von der Naturphilosophie uber die Politische Philosophie und die Frage eines gemeinsamen Wertekonsenses bis zu Ontologie und Gottesfrage. (shrink)

Plato (ca. 427- ca. 347 BCE), the preeminent Greek philosopher, has been extensively studied. A major field of Plato's comprehensive work is his political philosophy, which is multifaceted and multidimensional. The discourse on gender issues forms an integral part of it. In this context, one is surprised to notice that Plato's elaborations have been interpreted in quite contrasting ways. In some feminist discussions of classical philosophy, Plato's intellectual enterprise is evaluated as reflecting Greek male chauvinism. Such identification carries all manner (...) of stereotyping, and this is neither enlightening nor helpful for an overall understanding of Plato's teachings and his world of ideas. In the scholarly literature, one can make the surprising discovery that Plato's contribution to the understanding of gender roles in society slips the attention of authors who specialize in this topic. Plato was neither feminist in the modern sense nor a sexist. Plato was not a liberal thinker, and he did not take the initiative to make a case for women's liberties. And yet, he elaborates amply on issues of what is subsumed under women's liberation in our time: What else would we call a philosopher who, under the conditions of Greek society in the classical age, advocated for the participation of women in sports competitions and approved of the access of women to public offices, even to political leadership? In this study, priority lies in reconstructing Plato's ideas on women's roles viewed against the zeitgeist of gender issues in Greek society of classical antiquity. The analysis shows that Plato's speculations about gender and gender issues in an ideal society were nothing short of revolutionary. Plato on Women is a major contribution to political philosophy and gender studies as well as an important book for collections of Plato's works and scholarly literature focusing on this philosopher. (shrink)

The ethical treatment of cancer patientsparticipating in clinical trials requiresthat patients are well-informed about thepotential benefits and risks associated withparticipation. When patients enrolled in phaseI clinical trials report that their chance ofbenefit is very high, this is often taken as evidence of a failure of the informed consent process. We argue, however, that some simple themes from the philosophy of language may make such a conclusion less certain. First, the patient may receive conflicting statements from multiple speakers about the expected (...) outcome of the trial. Patients may be reporting the message they like best. Second, there is a potential problem of multivocality. Expressions of uncertainty of the frequency type can be confused with expressionsof uncertainty of the belief type. Patients may be informed using frequency-type statements and respond using belief-type statements. Third, each speech episode involving the investigator and the patient regarding outcomes may subservemultiple speech acts, some of which may beindirect. For example, a patient reporting ahigh expected benefit may be reporting a beliefabout the future, reassuring family members,and/or attempting to improve his or her outcome by apublic assertion of optimism. These sources oflinguistic confusion should be considered injudging whether the patient's reported expectation isgrounds for a bioethical concern that there hasbeen a failure in the informed consent process. (shrink)

This essay argues that Oscar Wilde noticeably contributed to the emerging discourse about world literature, even though his views in this regard have to be unearthed from the margins of his works, from his early and unpublished American lectures and ‘between the lines’ of his major critical essays. Wilde’s implicit ideas around world literature can be understood as being closely related to his broader endeavour of redirecting and revaluing the pejorative discourse around ‘decadence’ in art and literature. More specifically, the (...) arch-aesthete preferred to use the word ‘romance’ rather than ‘decadence’, signalling a sensitivity attuned to what he called the ‘love of things impossible’. This reconceptualization of the decadent outlook was to inspire a critical ideal of literature which relied on creatively activating the other as Other, culminating in a vision of intersubjective, transcultural and unlimited literary communication. Wilde’s thought can be more specifically understood as anticipating central tenets of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s evocations of the planetary, thus preparing the way for an alterity-oriented understanding of literary cosmopolitanism. (shrink)

Da die beiden Begriffe "Kultur" und "Staat" uber eine groae inhaltliche Breite verfugen, ist das Feld der Interpretationsmoglichkeiten auaerordentlich weit. Wichtiger als der quantitative Umfang der Begriffe aber ist selbstverstandlich deren qualitative Bedeutung: Sowohl vom Begriff der Kultur als auch vom Begriff des Staates lasst sich sagen, dass sie im eigentlichen Wortsinne fundamental sind. Sie legen das Fundament fur das Zusammenleben der Menschen - mit Kultur ist dabei die (oft unsichtbare und doch uberall wirksame) Totalitat menschlicher Hervorbringungen gemeint, mit Staat (...) die institutionelle Grundordnung einer Gemeinschaft, welche die wichtigsten Regeln der Herrschaft in einem bestimmten Territorium verbindlich festschreibt. Der Zusammenhang zwischen Kultur und Staat, genauer: Die Abhangigkeit des Staates von der Kultur, ist offensichtlich: Staaten sind immer auch Ausdruck kultureller Werte und Ideale. Ein besonderes Kulturverstandnis schlagt sich in aller Regel auch in einem besonderen Staatsverstandnis nieder; dabei erweisen sich die primar ideellen Werte einer Kultur haufig sogar als prioritar gegenuber ihrer materiellen Verwirklichung in Institutionen. In jedem Fall gilt, dass beide, Staat und Kultur, aufs Engste miteinander verzahnt und ineinander verwoben sind. Wie dies von groaen (Kultur-)Theoretikern des 20. Jahrhunderts gesehen worden ist, dokumentiert dieser Band. (shrink)

Scepticism, a philosophical tradition that casts doubt on our ability to gain knowledge of the world and suggests suspending judgment in the face of uncertainty, has been influential since its beginnings in ancient Greece. Harald Thorsrud provides an engaging, rigorous introduction to the central themes, arguments, and general concerns of ancient Scepticism, from its beginnings with Pyrrho of Elis to the writings of Sextus Empiricus in the second century A.D. Thorsrud explores the differences among Sceptics and examines in particular (...) the separation of the Scepticism of Pyrrho from its later form—Academic Scepticism—the result of its ideas being introduced into Plato's Academy in the third century B.C. Steering an even course through the many differences of scholarly opinion surrounding Scepticism, the book also provides a balanced appraisal of the philosophy's enduring significance by showing why it remains so interesting and how ancient interpretations differ from modern ones. _Copub: Acumen Publishing Limited _. (shrink)

The considerable attention to financial interests in clinical research has focused mostly on academic medical centers, even though the majority of clinical research is conducted in community practice settings. To fill this gap, this article maps the practices and policies in 73 community hospitals and several hundred specialized facilities around the country for reviewing clinical investigators’ financial relationships with research sponsors. Community hospitals face a substantially different mix of issues than academic medical centers do because their physician researchers are usually (...) not employees, and more of their studies are later-phase, multicenter trials. Accordingly, community physicians stand to benefit personally from per capita payments, but they tend to have less direct influence over research findings when compared with their academic peers. These and other contrasts require separate guidance for community-based organizations that takes into account their particular needs, circumstances, and institutional capacities. (shrink)

A Companion to the Spanish Scholastics offers a much-needed survey of the entire field of early modern Spanish scholastic thought. The volume introduces main themes and contexts of scholastics inquiry (theology, philosophy, ethics, politics, economics, law, science and the senses) through close examination of a wide range of texts, debates, methods, and authors, as well as in-depth discussion of the relevant literature. Each chapter includes a useful bibliography and serves as point of departure for future research. The volume not only (...) draws the sum of existing research, but also challenges established notions and breaks new ground. (shrink)

Bioscientists generate far more data than their minds can handle, and this trend is likely to continue. With the aid of a small set of versatile tools for mathematical modeling and statistical assessment, bioscientists can explore their real-world systems without experiencing data overflow. This article outlines an approach for combining modern high-throughput, low-cost, but non-selective biospectroscopy measurements with soft, multivariate biochemometrics data modeling to overview complex systems, test hypotheses, and making new discoveries. From preliminary, broad hypotheses and goals, many relevant (...) samples are selected and measured with respect to many informative variables. The resulting tables represent a “cacophony” of data. From these, the most relevant and reliable “underlying harmonies and rhythms” are extracted and tested statistically, displayed for interpretation, and used for prediction. Outliers are detected automatically. Interesting subsets of samples can then be chosen for in-depth analyses in subsequent research cycles. This pragmatic, top-down approach takes advantage of developments in both “soft,” data-driven modeling and “hard,” knowledge-driven cultures. Data analytical examples show how information-rich biospectroscopy can be used for characterizing and quantifying known and unknown chemical constituents and physical phenomena in intact biosamples. This is based on a combination of deductive “hard” and inductive “soft” modeling. The examples represent NIR spectra of biochemical mixtures, FTIR spectra of a microbiological fermentation process, and FTIR analysis of fatty acids in milk for functional genomics. (shrink)