This article argues that corporate social responsibility may contribute to product differentiation in export markets and thus improve export performance. We test this argument by observing a period of decreasing export competitiveness in a leading emerging economy. Using a large-scale survey design with 252 questionnaires completed by mediumand large-sized Brazilian exporters, we used structural equations modelling to test our hypotheses. The results suggest that CSR product differentiation predicts export performance better than product quality differentiation and almost as well as product (...) innovation differentiation. Multi- group analysis further revealed that the positive and significant effect of CSR product differentiation on export performance is likely to be contingent on the number and type of countries that are targeted. Our study contributes to the literature on CSR and export performance by developing and empirically validating a model that explains under which conditions CSR-based product differentiation may lead to improved export performance. (shrink)

This article argues that corporate social responsibility (CSR) may contribute to product differentiation in export markets and thus improve export performance. We test this argument by observing a period of decreasing export competitiveness in a leading emerging economy (Brazil). Using a large-scale survey design with 252 questionnaires completed by medium- and large-sized Brazilian exporters, we used structural equations modelling to test our hypotheses. The results suggest that CSR product differentiation predicts export performance better than product quality differentiation and almost as (...) well as product innovation differentiation. Multi-group analysis further revealed that the positive and significant effect of CSR product differentiation on export performance is likely to be contingent on the number and type (developing vs. developed) of countries that are targeted. Our study contributes to the literature on CSR and export performance by developing and empirically validating a model that explains under which conditions CSR-based product differentiation may lead to improved export performance. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:The Rhetorical Sense of Philosophy by Donald Phillip VereneJeffrey Dirk WilsonVERENE, Donald Phillip. The Rhetorical Sense of Philosophy. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2021. xiii + 139 pp. Cloth, $49.95Rhetoric gives philosophy the ability to speak. Philosophy gives rhetoric something to say. They are mutually indispensable, and their rivalry at times descends into enmity. There are also occasions when only the one can rescue the other from (...) catastrophe. Those are the overarching dynamics of Verene's book.There is an introduction, then two parts, "Prolegomena Philosophiae," comprising four chapters, and "Three Rhetorics," comprising three chapters, followed by an epilogue, notes, and an index.Though Verene does not mention Hume in the introduction—and only twice in the book otherwise—it is difficult not to think of him when Verene speaks of philosophy as "a theater of memory," as if correcting Hume's "theater of the mind." It is also corrective to presentism, often attributed to Hume, when Verene claims that a chief task of the philosopher "is to keep us from always living in the present. For this labor to be accomplished the philosopher must go to school with both the poets and the orators." Rhetoric, rightly understood, helps philosophy to remain philosophy and prevents it from becoming sophistry.In chapter 1, "Philosophical Thinking," Verene reminds the reader that mortality is not a choice. The bounded nature of human life leads to the pursuit of happiness and, therefore, also to the pursuit of meaning. The human responds in two ways, by creating both arguments and stories, but arguments as well as stories need words.The "and yet" comes in the second chapter, "Philosophy and the Muses." Verene writes, "The philosopher knows that the real always outstrips language." Philosophy and its kin, poetry, point beyond themselves. Writing is remembering, but what is written, even at its best, can never capture all that is remembered, and memory, even at its best, can never capture all that is.In "Philosophy and Eloquence," Verene maps a way of escaping Kant. Modern philosophy rejects rhetoric and memory in its pursuit of novelty as progress. Verene introduces the concept of ingenium, "a power philosophy shares with rhetoric." It "is the ability to perceive similarity in dissimilars.... the power to produce metaphor" and irony. Metaphor and irony are philosophy's response to the stale univocal predication of critical thinking that Verene sees as the reduction of reality to an analytic concept.In "Philosophical Style," he shows that as soon as a subject is joined to a predicate, the subject ceases to be only what it was. The predicate is an [End Page 369] otherness that is pulled into the subject such that ever after the subject has an inner dialectic. "The ball is red" is generative of a ball that is not merely a ball but also something else, something foreign to its ballness. The ball gives up nothing of what it was but, rather, gains something that it was not, and yet not in the deterministic way of necessity. The ball does not have to be red, but if it is red, then "ball" and "red" constitute an inner dialectic. The ball is red predicatively and not tautologically, but separating out the kinds of predication does not exhaust all the mystery of the inner dialectic; nothing can.The three rhetorics are of "Self-Discourse," "Absolute Thought," and "The Philosophical Frontispiece." These are chapters respectively about speech appertaining to man, God, and the political entity, though each considered slant rather than head-on.Verene juxtaposes Descartes and Vico with respect to self-discourse. Descartes reframes the human being in terms of the first-person singular pronoun, thereby transforming the personal into the categorical. Vico responds by writing not an "autobiography" but, rather, The Life of Giambattista Vico Written by Himself, thereby transforming the pronoun for the other, "he," into the self-identifier. There follows an essay on the essay and especially on the essays of Montaigne as autobiography. "To think," Verene writes, "is to move ideas in relation to each other and thus to illuminate what comes before the mind in experience." What emerges is a dialectic between the "I" and... (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie Jahrgang: 101 Heft: 1 Seiten: 61-91.

Unter dem Eindruck einer "Renaissance des Religiösen" einerseits und der zunehmenden Politisierung von Religionen andererseits rückt die Verhältnisbestimmung von Politik und Religion im staatlichen wie im internationalen Kontext verstärkt in den Fokus des politischen und gesellschaftlichen Interesses. In den letzten Jahren trägt auch die politische Philosophie dieser Situation vermehrt Rechnung, was sich in einer steigenden Zahl von Veröffentlichungen zu diesem Thema niederschlägt. Dabei kann sie auf eine reiche Tradition philosophischer Modelle zum Neben-, Mit- oder Gegeneinander von Politik und Religion zurückblicken. (...) Was in dieser Diskussion bisher jedoch fehlt, ist eine differenzierte Darstellung der für die Verhältnisbestimmung von Philosophie, Politik und Religion klassischen Modelle, angefangen von der griechischen Antike bis in die Liberalismus-Kommunitarismus-Debatte des ausgehenden letzten Jahrhunderts. Diese Lücke schließt der vorliegende Band: In 15 Beiträgen namhafter Experten werden klassische Modelle der Verhältnisbestimmung von Philosophie, Politik und Religion, beginnend mit Platon bis hin zu Charles Taylor, eingehend behandelt. (shrink)

This review traces recent developments in German Hobbes scholarship. Relevant publications are discussed along three major fields of inquiry: Hobbes and Liberalism, Hobbes on Politics and Religions, and Hobbes on the Passions, Politics, and Education.

Ein Ziel der Neuregelungen der Insolvenzordnung war es, die Anfechtungsmöglichkeiten auszuweiten. Zugunsten der Gläubiger sollten im Rahmen der neuen Ordnungsfunktion des Insolvenzrechts vermehrt Ansprüche zur Masse gezogen werden, die von den Insolvenzverwaltern gerichtlich durchgesetzt werden müssen. Wegen unzulänglicher Massen sind die Insolvenzverwalter, wie auch bereits zu Zeiten der Konkursordnung, jedoch meist auf eine Fremdfinanzierung angewiesen: Entweder durch staatliche Prozesskostenhilfe oder mit Hilfe der Finanzierungsbereitschaft von Insolvenzgläubigern. Da beide Finanzierungsmöglichkeiten in der Praxis eher theoretischer Natur sind, blieb den Insolvenzverwaltern oftmals nur (...) noch die Möglichkeit, das Klageverfahren auf eigene Kosten und eigenes Risiko zu führen und damit in unzulässiger Weise privates Vermögen mit dem Insolvenzverfahren zu verbinden. Seit der Jahrtausendwende haben sich nun gewerbliche Prozessfinanzierer auf dem Markt etabliert und stellen für Insolvenzverwalter eine sinnvolle Finanzierungsalternative dar. Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit den Problemen, die sich im Zusammenspiel des Insolvenzverwalters mit der gewerblichen Prozessfinanzierung und der staatlichen Prozesskostenhilfe ergeben. Sie soll all denjenigen Verfahrensbeteiligten eine sinnvolle Hilfe sein, die in der täglichen Praxis mit den aufgezeigten Problemen konfrontiert werden. (shrink)

On October 4, 1937, Zermelo composed a small note entitled “Der Relativismus in der Mengenlehre und der sogenannte Skolemsche Satz”(“Relativism in Set Theory and the So-Called Theorem of Skolem”) in which he gives a refutation of “Skolem's paradox”, i.e., the fact that Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory—guaranteeing the existence of uncountably many sets—has a countable model. Compared with what he wished to disprove, the argument fails. However, at a second glance, it strongly documents his view of mathematics as based on a world (...) of objects that could only be grasped adequately by infinitary means. So the refutation might serve as a final clue to his epistemological credo.Whereas the Skolem paradox was to raise a lot of concern in the twenties and the early thirties, it seemed to have been settled by the time Zermelo wrote his paper, namely in favour of Skolem's approach, thus also accepting the noncategoricity and incompleteness of the first-order axiom systems. So the paper might be considered a late-comer in a community of logicians and set theorists who mainly followed finitary conceptions, in particular emphasizing the role of first-order logic (cf. [8]). However, Zermelo never shared this viewpoint: In his first letter to Gödel of September 21, 1931, (cf. [1]) he had written that the Skolem paradox rested on the erroneous assumption that every mathematically definable notion should be expressible by a finite combination of signs, whereas a reasonable metamathematics would only be possible after this “finitistic prejudice” would have been overcome, “a task I have made my particular duty”. (shrink)

Nowadays, modernization, development and adaptation in society is more and more linked to primarily dromocratic teletopy, i.e. the ability and readiness to connect to networks. The process of modernization received a new and powerful impetus over the last decade. This impetus is increasing the speed of information translation (transfer). However inseparable from networks and meta-networks speed is, it can be studied relatively independently in a given context, as indicated by P. Virilio in his dromologic research. Dromologic research of “man’s status (...) in the world” shows that man – his perception, his language as well as his thinking is substantially changed by the speed of information translation. Virilio devoted a considerable part of his work to the changes of perception of reality. He studied how a new way of perception of reality is created owing to ever increasing speed of sequential information transfer, how new aesthetics – aesthetics of disappearing – is formed thanks to cinematographic (i.e. visualized) division. The following text aims at showing that ethics, those issues concerning moral values, ethical standpoints and substantiations of various social dilemmas and conflicts overnight have rapidly ended up in a new element created by the speed of information transfer in networks. (shrink)

We show that it is impossible in quantum mechanics to describe two separated physical systems. This is due to the mathematical structure of quantum mechanics. It is possible to give a description of two separated systems in a theory which is a generalization of quantum mechanics and of classical mechanics, in the sense that this theory contains both theories as special cases. We identify the axioms of quantum mechanics that make it impossible to describe separated systems. One of these axioms (...) is equivalent to the superposition principle. We show how these findings throw a different light on the paradox of Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen. (shrink)

The practice of ‘Philosophical Counselling’ (henceforth ‘PC’) is growing. But what exactly is PC? The variety of attempts to define PC can be summarised in terms of three overlapping sets of opposites: practical versus theoretical definitions; monistic versus pluralistic definitions; and substantive versus antinomous definitions. ‘Practical’ definitions of PC include descriptive accounts of its actual practice. ‘Theoretical’ definitions exclude such accounts. ‘Monistic definitions’ refers to definitions of PC that define it in terms of the work of one specific philosopher or (...) approach in philosophy. ‘Pluralistic’ definitions draw on the work of a variety of philosophers or approaches. ‘Substantive’ definitions are definitions that purport to say what PC is, while ‘antinomous’ definitions of PC say what it is not . My aim is not to define PC definitively. The aim of this article is rather to: (i) provide an overview of the wide variety of efforts to define PC; and, (ii) briefly suggest a preliminary understanding of PC that seems to cover most of the other definitions thereof. For David Fourie (1946-2013). (shrink)

Simplicius claims in his Commentary on Aristotle’s Categories that quality is prior to the qualified according to nature. However, in an interesting passage in the same commentary, Simplicius describes the relation between quality and qualified in such a way that it strongly suggests an ontological simultaneity. The aim of this paper is to clarify Simplicius’ notion of natural priority and to investigate the extent to which the assumption of a natural priority of the quality over the qualified is compatible with (...) the assumption of a co-existence of quality and qualified. (shrink)

“Sacra à Deo in corde discenda, natura ex natura.” Johann Christian Senckenberg's Observationes as a Medico-Theological Writing Method. In his early diaries, the pietist physician Johann Christian Senckenberg has taken down large amounts of observation data which mostly concentrated on his own body and soul. Earlier research has mistaken his diligent self-observation for hypochondria and unworldliness, especially since the author had never endeavoured to analyze and publish his work. The article shows that both his writing practice and his reluctance to (...) process and share its results are due to his deeply religious and firmly anti-rationalist conviction. The main purpose of his journal keeping was the attainment of religious self-knowledge and professional self-perfection. Scientific publications he considered to be hypothetical and dogmatic, be it in theology or medicine; moreover, their authors were often enough driven by their self-love and desire for fame. In his eyes, the only godly way of knowledge acquisition was the humble, diligent and minute study of divine creation according to the Hippocratic method. The most immediate and reliable way of achieving true wisdom, however, was the observation of God's work within one's own body and mind, which were subject to the effects of God's grace and punishment as well as to atmospheric, environmental and dietetic circumstances. (shrink)

Seit der frühen Aufklärung sind der Philosophie ihre außereuropäischen Traditionen zum Faszinosum geworden - aber auch zu einem historiographischen Problem. Denn sie mussten aus der Fülle der überlieferten Kenntnisse und Dokumente erst konstruiert werden. In diese Zeit fällt die Erfindung der Unterscheidungen von 'orientalischer', 'jüdischer' und 'abendländischer' Philosophie. 'Orientalismus' ist daher kein Streitbegriff postkolonialer Kulturwissenschaften, sondern stammt bereits aus den Kontroversen der Aufklärung, deren Philosophiegeschichtsschreibung das jüdische Denken als Schnittfläche orientalischer und europäischer Denkweisen begreift. Dabei rückt zunehmend eine Unterscheidung in (...) den Blick, die auf den jüdischen Platoniker Philo von Alexandrien zurückgeführt wird: die Differenz zwischen Gott und Logos, zwischen Substanz und Subjekt, zwischen Prinzip und Person im Absoluten selbst. (shrink)

The importance of digital technologies for social and economic developments and a growing focus on data collection and privacy concerns have made the Internet a salient and visible issue in global politics. Recent developments have increased the awareness that the current approach of governments and business to the governance of the Internet and the adjacent technological spaces raises a host of ethical issues. The significance and challenges of the digital age have been further accentuated by a string of highly exposed (...) cases of surveillance and a growing concern about issues of privacy and the power of this new industry. This special issue explores what some have referred to as the “Internet-industrial complex”—the intersections between business, states, and other actors in the shaping, development, and governance of the Internet. (shrink)