This article captures and critiques a recurring and prominent political argument against animal welfare improvements in Switzerland which we term the “ranking argument”. This states that Swiss animal welfare law ranks among the strictest in the world, therefore no improvements are called for. This argument was advanced three times by Swiss government authorities in 2022 alone, but also in a case dating back to 1984, to advise the electorate on popular initiatives aiming at animal welfare improvements. We argue that, while (...) the argument commits a fallacy of relative privation and is ethically dubious, it can be deployed to great effect by agents opposed to norm change in animal welfare regulation. We conclude with some thoughts on how the ranking argument can and should be challenged in public discourse. (shrink)

A model of when and where saccades are made necessarily incorporates a model of the “When” and “Where” of target selection. We suggest that the framework proposed by Findlay & Walker does not specify sufficiently how selection processes contribute to the spatial and temporal determinants of saccade generation. Examples from across-trial priming in visual search and from the inhibition of temporally segmented distractors show linkage between the processes involved in computing when and where selection operates, so that there is cooperation (...) rather than competition between so-called Where and When pathways. Aspects of spatial selection may also determine the remote distractor effect on saccades. The detailed relations between the processes involved in selection and saccade generation may be best understood in relation to detailed computational accounts of the processes. (shrink)

This volume presents a series of studies that expand laws, invariants, and principles of psychophysics beyond its classical domain of sensation.

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)

Most people who are regular consumers of psychoactive drugs are not drug addicts, nor will they ever become addicts. In neurobiological theories, non-addictive drug consumption is acknowledged only as a “necessary” prerequisite for addiction, but not as a stable and widespread behavior in its own right. This target article proposes a new neurobiological framework theory for non-addictive psychoactive drug consumption, introducing the concept of “drug instrumentalization.” Psychoactive drugs are consumed for their effects on mental states. Humans are able to learn (...) that mental states can be changed on purpose by drugs, in order to facilitate other, non-drug-related behaviors. We discuss specific “instrumentalization goals” and outline neurobiological mechanisms of how major classes of psychoactive drugs change mental states and serve non-drug-related behaviors. We argue that drug instrumentalization behavior may provide a functional adaptation to modern environments based on a historical selection for learning mechanisms that allow the dynamic modification of consummatory behavior. It is assumed that in order to effectively instrumentalize psychoactive drugs, the establishment of and retrieval from a drug memory is required. Here, we propose a new classification of different drug memory subtypes and discuss how they interact during drug instrumentalization learning and retrieval. Understanding the everyday utility and the learning mechanisms of non-addictive psychotropic drug use may help to prevent abuse and the transition to drug addiction in the future. (shrink)

Science has needed a dispassionate valuation of psychoactive drugs, but a motivational analysis should be conducted with respect to long-term reward rather than reproductive fitness. Because of hyperbolic overvaluation of short-term rewards, an individual's valuation depends on the time she forms it and the times she will revisit it, sometimes making her best long-term interest lie in total abstinence.

The drug-reinforcement theory explains why humans get engaged in drug taking behavior. This theory posits that drugs of abuse serve as biological rewards by activating the reinforcement system. Although from a psychological and neurobiological perspective this theory is extremely helpful, it does not tell us about the drug-taking motives and motivation of an individual. The definition of drug instrumentalization goals will improve our understanding of individual drug-taking profiles.

The rapid evolution of drug resistance remains a major obstacle for HIV therapy. The capacity of the virus for recombination is widely believed to facilitate the evolution of drug resistance. Here, we challenge this intuitive view. We develop a population genetic model of HIV replication that incorporates the processes of mutation, cellular superinfection, and recombination. We show that cellular superinfection increases the abundance of low fitness viruses at the expense of the fittest strains due to the mixing of viral proteins (...) during virion assembly. Moreover, we argue that whether recombination facilitates the evolution of drug resistance depends critically on how resistance mutations interact to determine viral fitness. Contrary to the commonly held belief, we find that, under the most plausible biological assumptions, recombination is expected to slow down the rate of evolution of multi‐drug‐resistant virus during therapy. BioEssays 26:180–188, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain (...) in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

Proposing a change to the view on psychoactive drug use in non-addicts touches a sensitive issue because of its potential implications to addiction prevention, therapeutic practice, and drug policy. Commentators raised nine questions that ranged from clarifications, suggested extensions of the model to supporting data previously not regarded, to assumptions on the implications of the model. Here, we take up the suggestions of the commentators to expand the model to behavioral addictions, discuss additional instrumentalization goals, and review the evidence from (...) laboratory animal studies on drug instrumentalization. We consider further the role of sociocultural factors and individual development in the establishment in drug instrumentalization and addiction. Finally, we clarify which implications we think this model may have. We conclude that drug instrumentalization theory can be further applied to other behaviors but will require a sensitive debate when used for drug and addiction policy that directly affects prevention and treatment. (shrink)

Epistemic theories of truth, such as those presumed to be typical for anti-realism, can be characterised as saying that what is true can be known in principle: p → ◊Kp. However, with statements of the form “p & ¬Kp”, a contradiction arises if they are both true and known. Analysis of the nature of the paradox shows that such statements refute epistemic theories of truth only if the the anti-realist motivation for epistemic theories of truth is not taken into account. (...) The motivation in a link of understandability ans meaningful- ness suggests to change the above principle and to restrict the theory to logically simple sentences, in which case the paradox does not arise. This suggestion also allows to see the deep philosophical problems for anti-realism those counterexamples are pointing at. (shrink)

Collaborative consumption activities like saving food and buying used clothes are an important and rapidly growing part of sustainable consumer behavior. Many political and commercial campaigns promote collaborative consumption practices by highlighting subsets of normative motives, such as sustainable, social, and ecological effects. Whether or not consumers can comprehend these claims and incorporate them into their decision-making process is, however, unclear. This article introduces a new experimental study design to ethical consumer research—an adapted version of the Defining Issues Test—that enables (...) to assess consumers’ ability to cognitively and intuitively understand moral arguments in collaborative consumption contexts. The experiment was conducted with N = 435 collaborative consumers from Germany. The findings indicate that in different collaborative consumption contexts, consumers consider different moral arguments as important. Furthermore, the findings also indicate that consumers can incorporate the provider’s point of view in their moral judgment. (shrink)

Behavioural phenotypes have been explained by genetic and environmental factors (E) and their interaction. Here we suggest a rethinking of the E factor. Passively incurred environmental influences (E pass) and actively copied information and behaviour (E act) may be distinguished at shared and non-shared level. We argue that E act underlies mutation and selection and is the base of gene-independent heritability.

Este artículo examina el desarrollo histórico y la jurisdicción del "inspector de la policía y del mercado" (sahib al-surta wa-l-suq) en Córdoba a través de los casos judiciales tomados de la colección de dictámenes jurídicos de Ibn Sahl al-Ahkam al-Kubrà y de fuentes biográficas e históricas. Durante el período de Taifas, esta expresión omeya dio paso al "inspector de sentencias jurídicas" (sahib al-ahkam). A través de más de veinte casos, datables entre los años 456 / 1064 y 464 / 1072, (...) se demuestra cómo este juez, que no era qadi, seguía en sus sentencias el fiqh malikí, tanto en las leyes procesales como en la ley sustantiva. (shrink)

Este artículo examina el desarrollo histórico y la jurisdicción del «inspector de la policía y del mercado» {ṣāḥib al-šurṭa wa-l-sūq) en Córdoba a través de los casos judiciales tomados de la colección de dictámenes jurídicos de Ibn Sahl al-Aḥkām al-Kubrà y de fuentes biográficas e históricas. Durante el período de Taifas, esta expresión omeya dio paso al «inspector de sentencias jurídicas» {sāḥib al-aḥkām). A través de más de veinte casos, datables entre los años 456/1064 y 464/1072, se demuestra cómo este (...) juez, que no era qāḍī, seguía en sus sentencias el fiqh mālikī, tanto en las leyes procesales como en la ley sustantiva. (shrink)

The formation of citizenship as a concept to define the rights of participation in the formation processes of modern territorial states is well known. But the transnational dimensions of defining citizenship and how to combine national legislations with enlightened universal and natural law rules in the mid-19th century is not very well known. The article aims to explore the transnational discourses on the political, economic and moral rights and duties of the citizen in the pan—European liberal Association Internationale pour le (...) Progrès des Sciences Sociales. During the 1860s, its congresses should serve as a vast commission of enquiry and should eventually lead to a general definition of citizenship in Europe which could be implemented in national legislations. The article shows how the Association Internationale tried to deduce universal moral rules from national legislations and peculiarities by the means of moral or positive social science. In combining moral unity with national and regional diversities, the Association Internationale tried to give an elastic framework for a European civil society in which national subjects should become active citizens. (shrink)

Parental mental disorders increase the risk for insecure attachment in children. However, the quality of caregiver–infant interaction plays a key role in the development of infant attachment. Dyadic interaction is frequently investigated via global scales which are too rough to uncover micro-temporal mechanisms. Prior research found that the latency to reparation of uncoordinated dyadic states is associated with infant behavioral and neuroendocrine regulation. We investigated the hypothesis that this interactive mechanism is critical in predicting secure vs. insecure attachment quality in (...) infancy. We also assessed the predictive quality of infant attachment regarding neuroendocrine reactivity later in childhood. A subsample of N = 58 dyads from a larger study were analyzed. At 3–8 months postpartum, maternal anxiety disorders were diagnosed via a structured clinical interview as well as dyadic interaction during the Face-to-Face-Still-Face was observed and coded on a micro-temporal scale. Infant attachment quality was assessed with the strange situation paradigm at 12–24 months of age. In an overlapping subsample of N = 39, we assessed child cortisol reactivity at 5 to 6 years of age. Generalized linear modeling revealed that longer latencies to interactive reparation during the reunion episode of the FFSF as well as maternal diagnosis at 3–8 months of age predict insecure attachment in children aged 12–24 months. Cox regressions demonstrated that dyads with infants who developed insecure attachment at 12–24 months of age were 48% less likely to achieve an interactive reparation at 3–8 months of age. Mixed models revealed that compared to securely attached children, children who had developed an insecure attachment at 12–24 months of age had an increased cortisol reactivity at 5 to 6 years of age during free play. The results confirm the hypothesis that the development of attachment is affected by experienced micro-temporal interactive patterns besides diagnostic categories. They also showed that infants of mothers with postpartum anxiety disorders have a more than fivefold increased risk of developing an insecure attachment than the infants of the control group. Moreover, results imply that these patterns may influence neurohormonal regulation even in preschool aged children. (shrink)

Digital literature is playing an increasingly important role in children's everyday lives and opening up new paths for family literacy and early childhood education. However, despite positive effects of electronic books and picture-book apps on vocabulary learning, early writing, or phonological awareness, research findings on early narrative skills are ambiguous. Particularly, there still is a research gap regarding how app materiality affects children's story understanding. Thus, based on the ViSAR model for picture-book app analysis and data stemming from 12 digital (...) reading dyads containing German monolingual 2- to 3-year-olds and their caregivers this study assessed the narrative potential of a commercial picture-book app and how this is used in interaction. Results of the media analysis showed that the app provides a high number of narrative animations. These animations could be used interactively to engage the child in the story. However, results of the interaction analysis showed that adult readers do not exploit this potential due to their strong concentration on operative prompts and instructions. Furthermore, an explorative analysis of the relation between adults' utterances and children's story comprehension provided preliminary indicators regarding how the length of reading duration and the number of utterances might relate to children's understanding of the story. Findings and methodological limitations of the study are discussed and combined didactically with practical recommendations on how to use narrative animations in interaction effectively. (shrink)

Hat die Scharia eine Geschichte? Und welche gesellschaftliche Rolle spielt das Rechtsdenken im Islam? Hierauf bietet dieses Buch fundierte Antworten aufgrund neuer Fakten und Fragestellungen. Die chronologisch ausgerichtete Grundlagenforschung des Autors in Bereichen der Rechtsregeln, juristischer Hermeneutik und Rechtsurkunden ermöglicht eine Revision bisheriger Überzeugungen vom islamischen Recht. Die umfassende Synthese stellt das Juristenrecht aus dogmatischer sowie anwendungsbezogener Sicht zudem in den Rahmen historischer Rechtsordnungen seit der Frühzeit bis zu den Umbrüchen im 19. Jahrhundert. Nachgezeichnet wird die Entwicklung von Institutionen, Regelverständnis (...) und Legitimation durch Rechtsgelehrte. Die Wandlung „islamischen Rechts“ vom Kalifatsrecht zum Juristenrecht und dessen schariatischer Phase ab dem 13. Jahrhundert sind Ausdruck der gewandelten Bedeutung des Rechtsdenkens für die Praxis. Die juristische Ausgestaltung des Offenbarungsrechts, die auch in Theologie und Philosophie hineingriff, widerspricht der Vorstellung des prophetischen Vorbilds als alleinige Richtschnur im Frühislam – und damit Teilen des heutigen Verständnisses von „Scharia“. (shrink)

Este artículo analiza el corpus de 900 documentos del Haram al-�ari-f desde la perspectiva de la conservación de archivos. En su mayoría, estos documentos están relacionados con el juez de Jerusalén �araf al-Di-n ?I-sa- b. Ga-nim y con el periodo en el que se mantuvo en el cargo, entre 793/1391 y 797/1395. La muestra de documentos estudiada, sobre todo inventarios de bienes, pero también documentos relacionados con otras áreas del derecho que pertenecen a la competencia del qa-di-, contradicen la hipótesis (...) de que los documentos del corpus del Haram al-�ari-f son registros del tribunal compilados sistemáticamente en un archivo. Los certificados judiciales sobre ventas de bienes inmuebles y otras transacciones que se han conservado de otros periodos en el corpus no aparecen precisamente para el periodo que va entre los años 793/1391 y 797/1395. De esta época abundan también documentos relativos a las transacciones financieras realizadas dentro de instituciones para las que el juez tenía jurisdicción. La necrología realizada por el cronista contemporáneo Ibn Hiy^y^i- (d. 816/1413) abre una perspectiva interesante para explicar la selección de documentos relacionados con �araf al-Di-n, que estuvo involucrado en un enorme asunto de corrupción. (shrink)

BereitsGleichheitUngleichheitinGerechtigkeitUngerechtigkeit der Antike wird Gerechtigkeit im engen Zusammenhang mit Ungleichheit und Ungerechtigkeit diskutiert. Im Dialog Georgias beispielsweise erläutert Platon, inwiefern StrafeStrafeRechtfertigung, Funktion, Wirksamkeit von Strafe eine vergangene Ungerechtigkeit ausgleicht und dadurch wieder eine harmonische Gleichheit herstellt (Georgias 466a–480e). Auch in seinem Hauptwerk Politeia verteidigt er, dass Gerechtigkeit die Tüchtigkeit der Seele sei und sich Ungerechtigkeit daher niemals lohnen könne.

Hegels Kritik an Kants praktischer Philosophie wurde in der Rezeptionsgeschichte zumeist anhand des Begriffspaares "Moralit t und Sittlichkeit" er rtert. Die Frage, welche Auswirkungen diese Kritik auf die einzelnen Kategorien der Rechtsmetaphysik hat, wurde demgegen ber kaum gestellt. Bestehen Unterschiede zwischen den Ausf hrungen beider Philosophen hinsichtlich der einzelnen Rechtsbegriffe? Lassen sich etwaige Differenzen auf die Verschiedenartigkeit der Freiheitskonzeptionen zur ckf hren? Und l sst sich Hegels allgemein gehaltene Kritik an Kant auf dessen Einzelausf hrungen in den "Metaphysischen Anfangsgr nden (...) der Rechtslehre" bertragen? Das Buch untersucht diese Fragen mit Blick auf die f r Kant wie Hegel zentrale Rechtskategorie des Eigentums. (shrink)

Este artículo examina el desarrollo histórico y la jurisdicción del «inspector de la policía y del mercado» {ṣāḥib al-šurṭa wa-l-sūq) en Córdoba a través de los casos judiciales tomados de la colección de dictámenes jurídicos de Ibn Sahl al-Aḥkām al-Kubrà y de fuentes biográficas e históricas. Durante el período de Taifas, esta expresión omeya dio paso al «inspector de sentencias jurídicas» {sāḥib al-aḥkām). A través de más de veinte casos, datables entre los años 456/1064 y 464/1072, se demuestra cómo este (...) juez, que no era qāḍī, seguía en sus sentencias el fiqh mālikī, tanto en las leyes procesales como en la ley sustantiva. (shrink)

The Lucas critique has been – and continues to be – the cornerstone of modern macroeconomic modelling. In this note we apply the Lucas critique to macroeconomic modelling using deep rational expectations. In conclusion, we point out that Lucas's critique reveals a fundamental flaw in Lucas's own, popular 'solution', i.e., the so-called forward-looking rational expectations models. Heeding Lucas's call for model-consistent policy advice eventually requires an ontological shift in economics – which throws the door wide open to an exciting, hardly-explored (...) field of economic research. (shrink)

We invite systematic consideration of the metaphors of cycles and circulation as a long-term theme in the history of the life and environmental sciences and medicine. Ubiquitous in ancient religious and philosophical traditions, especially in representing the seasons and the motions of celestial bodies, circles once symbolized perfection. Over the centuries cyclic images in western medicine, natural philosophy, natural history and eventually biology gained independence from cosmology and theology and came to depend less on strictly circular forms. As potent ‘canonical (...) icons’, cycles also interacted with representations of linear and irreversible change, including arrows, arcs, scales, series and trees, as in theories of the Earth and of evolution. In modern times life cycles and reproductive cycles have often been held to characterize life, in some cases especially female life, while human efforts selectively to foster and disrupt these cycles have harnessed their productivity in medicine and agriculture. But strong cyclic metaphors have continued to link physiology and climatology, medicine and economics, and biology and manufacturing, notably through the relations between land, food and population. From the grand nineteenth-century transformations of matter to systems ecology, the circulation of molecules through organic and inorganic compartments has posed the problem of maintaining identity in the face of flux and highlights the seductive ability of cyclic schemes to imply closure where no original state was in fact restored. More concerted attention to cycles and circulation will enrich analyses of the power of metaphors to naturalize understandings of life and their shaping by practical interests and political imaginations. (shrink)

Emergence of the novel pathogenic coronavirus SARS‐CoV‐2 and its rapid pandemic spread presents challenges that demand immediate attention. Here, we describe the development of a semi‐quantitative high‐content microscopy‐based assay for detection of three major classes (IgG, IgA, and IgM) of SARS‐CoV‐2 specific antibodies in human samples. The possibility to detect antibodies against the entire viral proteome together with a robust semi‐automated image analysis workflow resulted in specific, sensitive and unbiased assay that complements the portfolio of SARS‐CoV‐2 serological assays. Sensitive, specific (...) and quantitative serological assays are urgently needed for a better understanding of humoral immune response against the virus as a basis for developing public health strategies to control viral spread. The procedure described here has been used for clinical studies and provides a general framework for the application of quantitative high‐throughput microscopy to rapidly develop serological assays for emerging virus infections. (shrink)

Arguably, the religious use of hallucinogenic drugs stems from a human search of metaphysical insight rather than from a direct need for cognitive, emotional, social, physical, or sexual improvement. Therefore, the sacramental and spiritual intake of hallucinogenic drugs goes so far beyond other biopsychosocial functions that it deserves its own category in the drug instrumentalization list.

Hyperplasia and hypertrophy are elements of phenotypic plasticity adjusting organ size and function. Because they are costly, we assume that they are beneficial. In this review, the authors discuss examples of tissue and organ systems that respond with plastic changes to osmotic stress to raise awareness that we do not always have sufficient experimental evidence to conclude that such processes provide fitness advantages. Changes in hydranth architecture in the hydroid Cordylophora caspia or variations in size in the anal papillae of (...) insect larvae upon changes in medium salinity may be adaptive or not. The restructuring of salt glands in ducklings upon salt‐loading is an example of phenotypic plasticity which indeed seems beneficial. As the genomes of model species are recently sequenced and the animals are easy to rear, these species are suitable study objects to investigate the biological significance of phenotypic plasticity and to study potential epigenetic and other mechanisms underlying phenotypic changes. (shrink)

Die Beiträge des Bandes unterziehen Hegels 'Phänomenologie des Geistes' nicht vorrangig einer erneuten historischen und philologisch-hermeneutischen Interpretation. Sie lesen Hegels Frühwerk vielmehr primär kritisch aus der Erfahrung seiner Nachgeschichte und systematisch aus der Perspektive gegenwärtiger Philosophien. Das von den Autoren behandelte Spektrum reicht von der Anthropologie seit Ludwig Feuerbach über den symbolphilosophischen Ansatz Ernst Cassirers bis zu an Michel Foucault und Jacques Lacan orientierten Lesarten des Herr-Knecht-Kapitels. Mit Beiträgen von: Andreas Arndt, Wolfgang Bergande, Harald Bluhm, Brady Bowman, Veit Friemert, (...) class='Hi'>Christian Iber, Walter Jaeschke, Reinhard Mehring, Christian Möckel, Patience Moll, Ernst Müller, Erzsébet Rózsa, Christine Weckwerth u.a. (shrink)

DIE REIHE: SCHRIFTENREIHE ZU ORDNUNGSFRAGEN DER WIRTSCHAFT herausgegeben von Thomas Apolte, Martin Leschke, Albrecht F. Michler, Christian Müller, Rahel Schomaker und Dirk Wentzel Die Reihe diskutiert aktuelle ordnungspolitische und institutionenökonomische Fragestellungen. Durch die methodische Vielfalt richtet sie sich an Fachleute, an die Öffentlichkeit und an die Politikberatung.

Alfred Müller-Armack was one of the very important policy-makers who initiated the West-German economic recovery after WWII. He devised the underlying economic program of the so-called “German Miracle”, which was not a miracle at all. It was the outcome of a rigorous rule transformation from the bankrupt central planning of the Nazi- regime to a market economic order based on the principles of classical liberalism combined with a social safety net for all who suffered from the terrible consequences of war (...) destruction. He called his program “Social Market Economy”, thereby expressing that the risky game of the market needs a social safety net to make his program acceptable for the majority of the German citizens.Müller-Armack was not only the Head of the Central Policy Unit at the Federal Economic Ministry under Ludwig Erhard for twelve years but also a well-known university teacher of economics. In the tradition of Max Weber he combined this subject with the theory of economic sociology, and especially, the sociology of religion. In this respect he was an early author in the field which nowadays is named “cultural economics”. His publications on the impact of religious beliefs of greek-orthodox societies on the economic performance of South-East European countries are still of great interest for the present debates about the economic consequences of Islam.Alfred Müller-Armack fut l’un des très importants politiciens qui initièrent l’économie de l’ Allemagne de l’Ouest après la 2ème Guerre Mondiale. Il conçut dans ses grandes lignes le programme économique du soi disant « Miracle Allemand ». Ce fut le résultat d’une règle rigoureuse de transformation à partir de la faillite de la planification centrale du régime Nazi vers un ordre marchand fondé sur les principes du libéralisme classique combiné à un filet de sécurité sociale pour tous ceux qui avaient souffert des conséquences terribles des destructions de la guerre. Il appela son programme « Economie sociale de marché », exprimant ainsi que le jeu risqué du marché nécessite un filet de sécurité sociale pour rendre son programme acceptable par la majorité des citoyens allemands. Müller-Armack n’était pas seulement le chef de l’unité politique centrale au ministère fédéral de l’économie sous la direction de Ludwig Erhard pendant 12 ans, mais également un professeur très réputé d’économie à l’université. Dans la tradition de Max Weber, il associe ses sujets avec la théorie économique de la sociologie et plus particulièrement, la sociologie de la religion. Dans cette mesure, il fut un pionnier dans le champ de ce que l’on appelle aujourd’hui « l’économie de la culture ». Ses publications sur l’impact des croyances religieuses des sociétés grecques orthodoxes sur la performance économique des pays du Sud-Est Européen restent d’un grand intérêt pour les débats actuels au sujet des conséquences économiques de l’Islam. (shrink)

This book considers different forms of voluntarism developed from the 13th to 18th centuries. By crossing the conventional dividing line between the medieval and early modern periods, the volume draws important new insights on the historical development of voluntarism. Voluntarism places a special emphasis on the will when it comes to the analysis and explanation of fundamental philosophical questions and problems. Since the Middle Ages, voluntarist considerations and views played an important role in the development of different theories of action, (...) ethics, metaethics, and metaphysics. The chapters in this volume are grouped according to three distinct kinds of voluntarism: psychological, ethical, and theological voluntarism. They address topics such as the threat of irrationality as the standard objection to voluntarism, incontinent actions and their explanation, the nature of the will as rational appetite, the relationship between intellect and will, the implications of conceptions of the will for political freedom, and the relations between divine freedom and the modal status of eternal truths. The chapters not only consider towering figures of the Middle Ages--Thomas Aquinas, Henry of Gent, William of Ockham, Francisco de Vitoria--and early modern period--René Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Samuel Pufendorf--but also engage with less well-known figures such as Peter John Olivi, John of Pouilly, Catharine Trotter Cockburn, and Christian August Crusius. Varieties of Voluntarism in Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy will appeal to scholars and advanced students working in medieval philosophy, early modern philosophy, the history of ethics, and philosophy of religion. (shrink)

This is the first collection of essays devoted to the thought of Anselm W. Müller. It brings to the attention of the English-speaking world an influential and highly regarded philosopher who has made important contributions to a wide range of philosophical debates. The volume begins with a biographical sketch of Müller. Arguably, Müller's most important contributions are to the philosophy of action and virtue ethics. The contributors, which include friends, colleagues, and former students, engage with different aspects of Müller's thought (...) in these areas. Subjects include his interpretation of Aristotle and Wittgenstein, the teleology of thought and action, the Aristotelian distinction between poiesis and praxis and its application to ethical upbringing, and the possibility of practical knowledge and practical truth. Teleological Structures in Human Life will be of interest to researches and advanced students working on virtue ethics, philosophy of action, and practical reasoning. (shrink)