How should pragmatists respond to and contribute to the resolution of one of America's greatest and most enduring problems? Given that the most important thinkers of the pragmatist movement—Charles S. Peirce, William James, John Dewey, and George Herbert Mead—said little about the problem of race, how does their distinctly American way of thinking confront the hardship and brutality that characterizes the experience of many African Americans in this country? In 12 thoughtful and provocative essays, contemporary American pragmatists connect ideas with (...) action and theory with practice to come to terms with this seemingly intractable problem. Exploring themes such as racism and social change, the value of the concept of race, the role of education in ameliorating racism, and the place of democracy in dealing with the tragedy of race, the voices gathered in this volume consider how pragmatism can focus new attention on the problem of race. Contributors are Michael Eldridge, Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., Judith M. Green, D. Micah Hester, Donald F. Koch, Bill E. Lawson, David E. McClean, Gregory F. Pappas, Scott L. Pratt, Alfred E. Prettyman, John R. Shook, Paul C. Taylor, and Cornel West. (shrink)

The paradoxical affinities that research has managed to identify between the Epicurean philosophical ‘sect’ and the Christian sect in the early centuries of our era are recalled, then examined in detail in relation to the first document that attests to a specific encounter between the two sects, the narrative of the Acts of the Apostles, which shows Paul discussing with the Athens Epicureans and Stoics, then recovers for us Paul’s speech before the Areopagus in Athens. It seems that Paul sets (...) himself up as a philosopher to expound his doctrine in terms that are to a certain extent compatible with a materialist or even polytheistic doctrine. (shrink)

During the Covid‐19 pandemic, as resources dwindled, clinicians, health care institutions, and policymakers have expressed concern about potential legal liability for following crisis standards of care (CSC) plans. Although there is no robust empirical research to demonstrate that liability protections actually influence physician behavior, we argue that limited liability protections for health care professionals who follow established CSC plans may instead be justified by reliance on the principle of reciprocity. Expecting physicians to do something they know will harm their patients (...) causes moral distress and suffering that may leave lasting scars. Limited liability shields are both appropriate and proportionate to the risk physicians are being asked to take in such circumstances. Under certain narrow circumstances, it remains unclear that the standard of care is sufficiently flexible to protect physicians from liability. Given this uncertainty, the likelihood that physicians would be sued for such an act, and their desire for such immunity, this limited protection is morally legitimate. (shrink)

In den letzten Jahren ist der Begriff der ›Person‹ zu einem Schlüsselbegriff des philosophischen wie des gesellschaftlichen Diskurses geworden. Eine systematisch interessante und bisher vernachlässigte historische Rückversicherung in der Personendebatte bieten die Überlegungen Friedrich Heinrich Jacobis (1743–1819) und Johannes Paul Richters (1763–1825), genannt Jean Paul. Jean Paul ist um 1800 nicht nur ein erfolgreicher Autor humoristischer Romane, sondern auch ein gut informierter Beobachter der zeitgenössischen Philosophie und philosophischer Vertrauter Friedrich Heinrich Jacobis. Wie Jacobi in einer konstitutiv doppelsinnigen Bewegung Spinozas Ethik (...) und Fichtes Wissenschaftslehre als unwiderlegbare Entwürfe einer streng rationalen Immanenzphilosophie dechiffriert, um sie im Namen der ›Vernunft‹ zu überwinden, so verbindet auch Jean Pauls philosophisches und poetisches Werk die Wertschätzung der Transzendentalphilosophie unmittelbar mit einem transrationalen Widersprechen gegen die Ansprüche der neuen Systemphilosophie. Um Individualität, Zeitlichkeit und Handlungsfreiheit als Grunderfahrungen menschlichen Daseins philosophisch zureichend zu würdigen, bedarf es für Jean Paul wie für Jacobi einer grundsätzlichen Umwertung des Verhältnisses von individuellem personalem Dasein und rationaler Welt- und Selbsterklärung. (shrink)

This article deals with different kinds of family life and parenthood that have developed. It is pointed out that for their own and their child's sake the parents should regard their relationship as a Iasting commitment, so that a spirit ofreliability, mutual trust and love can grow. The ethical task in this respect is not so much that ofmeeting a mere demand but- since what is demanded for is, in the first place, a gift-tobe truly aware of one's commitment. The (...) article also reflects upon legal aspects and describes the law's task to support and stabilize the relations people undertake by becoming partners and parents. (shrink)

As in other European countries, in Denmark philosophy was an important factor in the cultural life of the nineteenth century. Kierkegaard lived and wrote in Copenhagen, where Hegelianism both flourished and met with serious criticism, and both of these elements can be found in his authorship. This chapter explores possible sources of inspiration for Kierkegaard's rejection of Danish Hegelianism and its follower, speculative theology, and discusses his influence on the fashionable Danish philosopher of the day, Rasmus Nielsen. By way of (...) conclusion, it is emphasized that Kierkegaard's understanding of Christianity and his struggle over it were decisive for a shift in Danish intellectual life around 1870. (shrink)

Alexander’s Treatises on Fate and on Providence have many features in common, so that Jaap Mansfeld referred to them as «twins treatises». One reason of this kinship is the method used by Alexander, who takes the doxographical presentation as a skeptical dissensus in order to establish the superiority of Aristotelian thesis. But another reason, perhaps more important, is their conceptual closeness : the peripatetic definitions of providence and fate, in these two treatises, are very similar and obviously seek to address (...) similar concerns. This proximity is so high that one could ask in which way the two concepts differ one from another. In this paper I will offer an overview of common features between the two treatises, especially Alexander’s attempts to find some textual grounds in Aristotle’s treatises for building a peripatetic theory of fate and providence consistent and strong enough to be held against the thesis developed on these topics since the Hellenistic period. Then I will propose a hypothesis on the relation between these two treatises and consequently between these two concepts. (shrink)

L’interprétation de l’Antiquité gréco-latine que Michel Foucault développe dans ses derniers ouvrages publiés et ses derniers cours au Collège de France fait peu de place au néoplatonisme. L’Herméneutique du sujet, seul texte où il en soit question avec quelque attention, le présente comme un simple prolon­gement de la philosophie de Platon, relevant du « modèle platonicien » du souci de soi, que Foucault confronte aux modèles hellénistico-romain et chrétien. Pour­tant, c’est chez les commentateurs néoplatoniciens de l’Alcibiade que Foucault trouve certaines (...) distinctions, en particulier entre « politique » et « cathartique », qui fondent la construction de ces trois modèles et leur articulation. Ce rôle archi­tectonique des néoplatoniciens tardifs, par ailleurs, va de pair avec l’absence quasi totale d’un autre néoplatonisme, celui de Plotin, qui pourtant semblerait à pre­mière vue mieux trouver sa place dans une approche placée sous le signe des « exercices spirituels ». Le traitement du néoplatonisme est par là symptomatique de la lecture foucaldienne de l’histoire de la philosophie antique, qui se construit tout autant par ses exclusions que par ses focalisations. (shrink)

How can literature and religion be understood together from a religious studies perspective? One possibility for a comparative basis is the social-ethical self-understanding that takes places within the literary medium. As an example of religious literature, the Book of Revelation is compared to Henning Mankell's contemporary crime fiction. The choice of,,apocalyptic" models in their literary and pragmatic form is suitable for religious and socio-crime literature to analyze the state of their respective periods and to socialize certain behavior through the reading (...) experience. Moreover, the essay provides an excurse on literature in European religious history and uses methodological theses to show interpretation as criminological,,investigation". (shrink)

Genetic testing has led to the establishment of the concept of the “previvor”: someone who is not yet sick, but who has a genetic predisposition to disease. The previvor experience demonstrates how the practice of medicine and medical decision making is evolving to render current law and policy increasingly inapplicable to modern medical practice. The introduction of previvorship to the medical landscape raises special issues for the physician-patient relationship and the legal doctrine of informed consent. It challenges some of the (...) most basic assumptions underlying the doctrine, is representative of the doctrine’s declining utility, and is illustrative of the need to transition to a shared decision-making model. Thus, we should begin to envision a legal doctrine that supports a robust shared decision-making approach to address individual preferences and values, the increasing complexity of risk/benefit assessment, and inherent (and sometimes irreducible) uncertainty. Such an approach should emphasize a new, more expansive, and inclusive model of illness. (shrink)

Die Erfahrung des Films ist abhängig von zwei Typen von Illusionen, einer technisch induzierten und einer ästhetischen. Beide spielen zusammen und generieren in diesem Zusammenspiel eine besondere Weise der Akzeptanz von ästhetischem Schein. Daraus resultieren sowohl verschiedene Modi der Bezugnahme auf Filme als auch verschiedene Weltbezüge.

While the therapeutic effect of post-classical philosophy in antiquity has recently been recognized, Cicero and his oeuvre have been mostly ignored in that respect, because he was deemed too compilatory and eclectic. However, the Tusculanae Disputationes are just that - a philosophical therapy for the soul that pervades all five books of this work - as is brought to light in this new interpretation. German text.

Les critiques que Plotin adresse à l’épistémologie stoïcienne visent à établir que les stoïciens ont tort de corporaliser l’âme, car cela leur interdit de concevoir correctement les perceptions sensibles et les intellections. On peut penser qu’il n’y a rien d’intéressant à attendre, philosophiquement, de cette polémique menée par un partisan de l’incorporéité de l’âme contre les matéria­listes de l’ἡγεμονικόν. Car l’opposition des principes respectifs est telle que l’ad­versaire peut ne pas s’estimer réfuté parce qu’il ne partage aucune des prémisses de (...) son objecteur. Il semble que Plotin a eu conscience de ce problème, et qu’il a cherché à formuler des objections contre le corporalisme stoïcien telles qu’elles ne le prennent pas pour cible immédiate tout en l’atteignant indirectement par leurs implications. Mon propos est d’examiner cette démarche sur deux cas exemplaires : la critique de l’explication stoïcienne de la sensation par une transmission ; et celle de l’analyse de la connaissance en termes de réception d’empreintes. (shrink)

Public opinion surveys and polls have a long history as tools for the reportage of public sentiment. Born in the “straw polls” of nineteenth century politics, their use expanded in the last century to include a range of commercial and social subjects. In recent decades, these have included issues of medico-legal uncertainty including, in a partial list, abortion, fetal tissue research, and the propriety of medical termination. Because public opinion surveys are assumed to be “scientific,” and thus unbiased, there has (...) been little discussion of either their suitability in areas of complex, medico-legal uncertainty or the ethics of their use in these areas. This paper reviews their general history and then their use in the debate over medical termination, often called “medical aid in dying.” In this review, two problems are highlighted. First, there is the ambiguous nature of polls and the manner of their construction. Second, there is the manner in which they are deployed as simple and definitive statements in areas of complex medico-legal debate. The result calls for caution in their use by ethicists and a clear duty by both academics and journalists to understand the limits of the medium in areas of medico-legal debate and discussion. (shrink)