Das Sterben wird längst nicht mehr verdrängt und verschwiegen, es gehört vielmehr zu den ausgiebig erörterten Themen unserer Zeit. Viele Debatten ranken sich um Sterbehilfe und um die Frage, was einen guten Tod ausmacht. Dabei scheinen wir uns bemerkenswert einig zu sein, dass gut stirbt, wer bis zuletzt er oder sie selbst bleibt. Wir wünschen uns, so die These dieses Buches, unseren 'eigenen Tod': ein Lebensende, wie es uns entspricht, ein authentisches Sterben. Dieses Ideal leitet in unterschiedlicher Weise die Palliativversorgung (...) und die Sterbehilfebewegung an. Doch Nina Streeck zeigt, dass sich das, was so erstrebenswert klingt, als anspruchsvoll entpuppt. Die Idee des 'eigenen Todes' droht sich in ihr Gegenteil zu verkehren: in einen Zwang zum authentischen Sterben."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Enttäuschung ist ein ambivalentes Phänomen: Sie kränkt, weil sie Erwartungen widerlegt und düpiert, aber sie bringt den Wirklichkeitssinn auch wieder zurecht, weil sie von Täuschungen befreit. Das gilt für die alltägliche, lebensweltliche Erfahrung genauso wie für die Wissenschaften, die sie methodisch herbeiführen, wenn sie auf Falsifikation setzen. Erkenntnis ist dann: Gewinn durch Verlust. Wie aber hält der Mensch seine Enttäuschungen aus, und was geben sie ihm zu denken? Der Band versammelt interdisziplinäre Erkundungen zu einem Phänomen, das lieber vermieden als thematisiert (...) wird. Die Beiträge (u.a. von Brigitte Boothe, Saskia Wendel, Tilmann Borsche, Marc Föcking, Philipp Stoellger, Karl-Siegberg Rehberg und Heinrich Assel) beschreiben Enttäuschung samt den Facetten von Resignation und Ressentiment. Von Selbstverständlichkeiten, die unter Problematisierungsdruck zerfallen ist genauso die Rede wie von intersubjektiven Verletzungen und nicht-eingehaltenen Versprechen. Der Band zeichnet aber auch Wege nach, auf denen Desillusionierungen ertragreich werden und neue Aufmerksamkeit für die Wirklichkeit entsteht. Die Studien zur Enttäuschung aus Philosophie, Literaturwissenschaft, Psychoanalyse, Theologie und Soziologie zeigen den Menschen als ein "Wesen, das trotzdem lebt" (H. Blumenberg). (shrink)

Der Band geht der wechselseitigen Durchdringung von visuellen Künsten und Naturwissenschaften bzw. Naturphilosophie im Kontext der europäischen Romantik nach.Die Romantik als eine geistige Bewegung entfaltete sich in Europa auf Grundlage der allgemeinen Überzeugung, dass Kunst eine Form von Wissenschaft sei und umgekehrt. Viele Dichter und Künstler sowie Naturwissenschaftler waren bestrebt, empirische und kreative Formen der Welterkundung miteinander zu verbinden. Die Aufsätze in diesem Sammelband untersuchen die Entstehung einer?romantischen Wissenschaft? und ihre Beziehung zur bildenden Kunst, worin objektive und subjektive Formen der (...) Forschung gleichgestellt wurden. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungDer Artikel wirft einen kritischen Blick auf die gegenwärtige Theorie und Praxis palliativer Versorgung, auf ihren Umgang mit dem Sterben und mit Sterbenden und auf die zugrundeliegende Leitvorstellung von einem guten Sterben. Dabei wird Foucaults Begriff der Biomacht als Beschreibungs- und Deutungskategorie zu Rate gezogen. Weil mit Palliative Care das Anliegen verfolgt wird, ein gutes Sterben zu ermöglichen, sind vielfältige Kriterienkataloge und Messinstrumente entstanden, um die Behandlungen nach wissenschaftlichen Maßstäben zu planen und ihren Erfolg zu bestimmen. Im Lichte des Begriffs (...) der Biomacht zeigen sich potenziell problematische Aspekte dieser Entwicklung, die im bioethischen Diskurs üblicherweise verborgen bleiben. Indem die Lebensqualität von Sterbenden verbessert und zu diesem Zweck nicht allein körperliche Beschwerden, sondern auch psychisches, soziales und spirituelles Leiden gelindert werden soll, verschreibt sich die Palliative Care-Bewegung in einer Weise der Steigerung des Lebens, die den Einzelnen überfordern kann und seinen eigentlichen Bedürfnissen womöglich nicht gerecht wird. (shrink)

Zusammenfassung In Körper schreiben sich Attraktivitätsnormen oder auch die Vorstellung der Verschiedenheit genau zweier Geschlechter ein - was ich hier als bodification verhandle. Auf der anderen Seite konzipiere ich beautification oder Schönheitshandeln als ein Medium der Kommunikation, das der Inszenierung der eigenen Außenwirkung zum Zweck der Erlangung von Aufmerksamkeit und Sicherung der eigenen Identität dient. In welcher Weise nun Bilder und Praxen des Schönheitshandelns mit Normalitätsvorstellungen verknüpft sind, wie diese hergestellt werden und auch unterlaufen werden können, ist Thema dieses Beitrags. (...) Dabei entwickle ich die These, dass nicht primär der Körperbezug und auch nicht das Geschlecht mit der Empfänglichkeit bzw. Resistenz gegenüber Ideologien und Naturalisierungen rund um Schönheitshandeln zu tun haben, sondern vielmehr der Bezug auf Sexualität, genauer: die offene und reflektierte Fähigkeit und Bereitschaft, über Sexualität zu sprechen. (shrink)

Diversität ist eines der zentralen Themen unserer Zeit. Sie durchdringt alle Lebensbereiche unserer Gesellschaften. Das Nachdenken über Diversität reicht von den Naturwissenschaften über die Geschichtswissenschaften, die Gesellschaftswissenschaften, die Philosophie bis zu den Künsten. Diversität ist zudem politisch und emotional beladen. Man denke an gesellschaftliche Minderheiten und ihre Rechte oder an das massive Artensterben unserer Tage. In diesem Buch wird nicht nur über Einzelaspekte von Diversität berichtet, es wird auch eine Synthese versucht. Drei einleitende Kapitel der HerausgeberInnen führen verständlich in komplexe (...) interdisziplinäre Problemzusammenhänge ein. Der Band versammelt 17 Beiträge namhafter Autorinnen und Autoren aus den Bereichen Kunst-, Kultur- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Medizin und Gesellschaftstheorie.00. (shrink)

Augustinus interpretiert als erster Denker in der zum Christentum be kehrten Welt das Geschehen auf Erden als sinnvolle Geschichte mit der Absicht, dem zentralen Dogma von Inkarnation und Erl6sung gerecht zu werden. Die Bibel beschreibt den Anfang der Welt und spricht auch von ihrem Ende. Die Zeit dazwischen umfasst nach Augustinus' Auffassung die Geschichte vom Slindenfall, von der Er- 16sung durch Christus und vom Wachsen der christlichen Gemeinschaft bis zu Christi erwarteter Wiederkehr. Christi Leben auf Erden ist flir Augustinus kein (...) Symbol, kein Mythos, sondern eine irdische Realitat, welche sich an einem bestimmten Ort zu einer bestimmten Zeit ab spielte. Das zentrale und einmalige Geschehnis der Inkarnation lasst die Vergangenheit als eine Vorbereitung flir dies en Moment erscheinen und sie gibt der Zukunft Richtung. Augustinus weist die antike Auf fassung der Geschichte als eine ewige Wiederholung und Verjlingung des Kosmos ab und stellt dieser die Auffassung eines Ablaufs des Weltgeschehens gegenliber, dessen einziges Ziel das Heil der Mensch heit ist. Augustinus ist der Grlinder der Geschichtstheologie. Das mittelalterliche Denken ist ganz von Augustinus' Weltkon zeption beherrscht. Der Glaubige weiss, dass das anscheinend will klirliche Geschehen auf Erden von Gott gelenkt wird. Flir ein naheres Verstandnis der verwirrenden Welt wendet man sich im Mittelalter also der Offenbarung zu, dem Schllissel flir jedes Verstehen der Welt. Die Interpretation der Geschichte auf Grund der Bibel gibt mit Hilfe von biblischen Vorbildern, Priifigurationen, Allegorien und Typolo gien, den konkreten Ereignissen einen religi6sen Sinn. (shrink)

Mit dem medizinisch-technologischen Fortschritt wandeln sich auch der soziale und gesellschaftliche Umgang mit Sterben und Tod. Zum Wandel des Sterbens haben insbesondere die Bemühungen der Hospiz- und Palliativbewegung beigetragen. Diese konnte sich erfolgreich für die Beachtung der Bedürfnisse Sterbender einsetzen. Die erzielten Selbstbestimmungsrechte im Sterben sind fraglos eine wertvolle Errungenschaft, sowohl für die Personen am Lebensende und ihre Angehörigen als auch für die Gesamtgesellschaft. Mit dieser Errungenschaft haben sich jedoch auch Vorstellungen von einem guten Sterben entwickelt, die eine selbstbestimmte Ausgestaltung (...) des Sterbeprozesses idealisieren. Nina Streeck zeigt in diesem Kontext, dass gerade die erfolgreiche Verbreitung der individualistischen Sterbeideale durch die Hospiz- und Palliativbewegung für die Entstehung sozialer Strukturen sorgte, die nun die Erwartung von außen an Sterbende herantragen können, auch im Sterben authentisch zu bleiben und den Sterbeprozess auf selbstbestimmte Art zu gestalten (Streeck 2020, 283). Im Anschluss an diese Erkenntnis von Streeck betrachtet der vorliegende Artikel die gesellschaftliche Funktion der modernen Sterbeideale. Um dabei eine gesellschaftstheoretische Perspektive zu wählen, die auch die individualistische Natur dieser Sterbeideale berücksichtigen kann, greift der Artikel auf die soziologische Systemtheorie zurück. Ziel ist es, eine gesellschaftstheoretische Perspektive mit in die ethische Debatte um die modernen Sterbeideale und deren Schwierigkeiten einzubringen, die die gesellschaftliche Funktion der Sterbeideale in den Fokus nimmt. (shrink)

Die Diskussion uber die rechtliche Ausgestaltung der Sterbehilfe wird kontrovers gefuhrt. Ein zentraler Streitpunkt ist die Frage des assistierten Suizids und seiner Vereinbarkeit mit dem arztlichen Standesethos. Dabei werden grundlegende Fragen beruhrt: Gibt es uberhaupt authentische, selbstbestimmte Wunsche zum assistierten Suizid und wie sind diese zu verstehen? Welche Bedeutung hat die Rede vom Leben als Gabe Gottes? Welcher Stellenwert kommt der Gewissensentscheidung der Betroffenen zu? Die Beitrage des Bandes sensibilisieren fur das weite Feld der theologisch-ethischen Herausforderungen und entwickeln Perspektiven fur (...) eine differenzierte Rede von christlicher Verantwortung. Mit Beitragen von Reinhard Bottcher, Reinhard Haubenthaler, Konrad Hilpert, Veronika Hoffmann, Adrian Holderegger, Hartmut Kress, Norbert Kuhn-Flammensfeld, Jochen Sautermeister, Hanspeter Schmitt, Josef Schuster SJ, Nina Streeck, Knut Wenzel und Markus Zimmermann. (shrink)

Als geronnene Wiederholungen prägen Rituale unseren Alltag und unser Zusammenleben maßgeblich. Nicht von ungefähr galten sie lange Zeit als Inbegriff des Konservativen, Starren und Förmlichen. Eine gänzlich durchritualisierte Welt wäre zweifellos eine unfreie Welt. Im Zeitalter der Deregulierung, der Hyperaktivität und des Aufmerksamkeitsdefizits wird nun ihre Halt gebende und strukturierende Seite wiederentdeckt.Die AutorInnen reflektieren gesellschaftskritisch Theorien und psychoanalytische Erfahrungen rund um das Thema Rituale und widmen sich den folgenden Fragen: Werden Rituale zu Widerstandsnestern gegen die allgemeine Flüchtigkeit? Können sie als (...) Angelpunkte des Innehaltens und als Wegbahner unbeirrten Denkens eine neue kritische Potenz erhalten?Mit Beiträgen von Thomas Dietzel, Gesa Foken, Dirk Hofmeister, Katharina Lacina, Konrad Paul Liessmann, Nina Reis Saroldi, Elisabeth Rohr, Jochen Schade, Hans-Ernst Schiller, Edgar Weiß, Laura Wolf und Carsten Wonneberger. (shrink)

Wissenschaftsreflexion: eine neue interdisziplinäre Perspektive auf die Geschichte, Theorie und Ethik der Wissenschaften sowie auf die praktischen Auswirkungen von wissenschaftlicher Forschung und Erkenntnis. Die Wissenschaften sehen sich gegenwärtig mit Blick auf ihre Geltungs- und Wahrheitsansprüche, ihre Vertrauenswürdigkeit und ihre Rolle in der Gesellschaft vor grundlegende Herausforderungen gestellt. Die Diskussionen betreffen dabei so unterschiedliche Themen wie Unsicherheit, Scheitern oder "Fake News“ in den Wissenschaften, Klimawandel, Gentechnik, Impfungen und Alternativmedizin oder Evolutionstheorien. Nur eine interdisziplinär angelegte Reflexion über die Rolle der Wissenschaften, ihren (...) Erkenntnisanspruch und ihre Methoden wird diesen neuen Herausforderungen gerecht. Mit dem vorliegenden Band wird erstmals der Begriff der Wissenschaftsreflexion differenziert eingeführt und interdisziplinär diskutiert. Der Band umfasst vielfältige Beiträge zu Grundlagen- und Anwendungsfragen aus unterschiedlichen Disziplinen, die gemeinsam eine pluralistische Perspektive eröffnen und konkrete Lösungsmöglichkeiten aufzeigen. Mit Beiträgen von: Michael Jungert, Andreas Frewer, Erasmus Mayr, Miguel Ohnesorge, Nina Janich, Jon Leefmann, Rainer Bromme, Sebastian Schuol, Kärin Nickelsen, Caterina Schürch, Julia Carina Böttcher, Bernd Flessner, Christoph Merdes, Martina Schmidhuber, Katrin Götz-Votteler, Simone Hespers, Alexander Christian, Alexander Reutlinger, Martin Carrier, Martin Kusch und Carsten Könneker. (shrink)

InhaltVorwort SiglenverzeichnisWerner Beierwaltes: Zum Tode von Reinhard Lauth am 23. August 2007 Marco Ivaldo: Nachruf auf Reinhard Lauth Wilhelm Lütterfelds: »Ich allein aber verstehe es recht.« Fichtes idealistischer Verstehensbegriff und seine Paradoxie Jean-François Goubet: Über die akademische Freiheit. Analyse eines sittlich, rechtlich und philosophisch grundlegenden Begriffs in Bezug auf Fichtes Antrittsrede zum Rektorenamt im Jahre 1811 Marco Rampazzo Bazzan: Idee und Gesicht in den Fünf Vorlesungen über die Bestimmung des Gelehrten Nina W. Gromyko: Das Transzendieren als grundlegende anthropologische Konstruktion (...) in Fichtes Vorlesungen über die Bestimmung des Gelehrten Valérie Kokoszka: L’Affektenlehre dans la dernière philosophie de Fichte Kaoru Hoshiba: Das Problem der Sprache bei Fichte Martin Siegel: Die Einforderung eines lebendigen Sprachvollzugs als Kennzeichen der späten Wissenschaftslehren FichtesRainer Adolphi: Die Tatsachen der Tathandlung. Über Fichtes implizite Auseinandersetzung mit den Anfängen einer ›anthropologischen‹ Depotenzierung der Vernunft Marina Bykova: Fichte’s Doctrine of the Self-Positing Subject Alexander Kudrjaschew: Die Entfaltung des Fichteschen Erfahrungsgrundes Peter L. Oesterreich: Fichte und die Kunst des PhilosophierensGiorgia Cecchinato: Fichtes Ästhetik. Eigene Reflexionen über Kunst und WissenschaftslehreManuel Jiménez Redondo: Die unzeitgemäße Aktualität Fichtes, aufgezeigt am Beispiel der Beziehung der theoretischen und praktischen Philosophie in seinem SpätwerkFranck Fischbach: De l’acte à l’être: la dernière philosophie de Fichte Marco Ivaldo: Sittlicher »Begriff« als wirklichkeitsbildendes Prinzip in der späten Sittenlehre Katja V. Taver: Interpersonalität. Von den Wolfskindern zu den Thatsachen des Bewusstseyns von 1810/11Ulrich Fritz Wodarzik: Prinzip Liebe – zwischen Natur und Freiheit beim späten FichteAlois K. Soller: Keine moralische Selbstbestimmung im Spätwerk Fichtes. Zur Genese eines VernunftdeterminismusJean-Marie Vaysse: Fichte, penseur de l’actualité. (shrink)

There is a widespread notion, both within the sciences and among the general public, that mental deterioration can rob individuals of their identity. Yet there have been no systematic investigations of what types of cognitive damage lead people to appear to no longer be themselves. We measured perceived identity change in patients with three kinds of neurodegenerative disease: frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Structural equation models revealed that injury to the moral faculty plays the primary role in (...) identity discontinuity. Other cognitive deficits, including amnesia, have no measurable impact on identity persistence. Accordingly, frontotemporal dementia has the greatest effect on perceived identity, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has the least. We further demonstrated that perceived identity change fully mediates the impact of neurodegenerative disease on relationship deterioration between patient and caregiver. Our results mark a departure from theories that ground personal identity in memory, distinctiveness, dispositional emotion, or global mental function. (shrink)

Vibrant Death links philosophy and poetry-based, corpo-affectively grounded knowledge seeking. It offers a radically new materialist theory of death, critically moving the philosophical argument beyond Christian and secular-mechanistic understandings. The book's ethico-political figuration of vibrant death is shaped through a pluriversal conversation between Deleuzean philosophy, neo-vitalist materialism and the spiritual materialism of decolonial, queerfeminist poet and scholar Gloria Anzaldua. The book's posthuman deexceptionalizing of human death unfurls together with a collection of poetry, and autobiographical stories. They are analysed through the (...) lens of a posthuman, queerfeminist revision of the method of autophenomenography (phenomenological analysis of autobiographical material). Nina Lykke explores the speaking position of a mourning, queerfeminine "I", who contemplates the relationship with her dead beloved lesbian life partner. She reflects on her enactment of processes of co-becoming with the phenomenal and material traces of the deceased body, and the new assemblages with which it has merged through death's material metamorphoses: becoming-ashes through cremation, and becoming-mixed-with-algae-sand when the ashes were scattered across a seabed made of fiftyfive million-year-old, fossilized algae. It is argued that the mourning "I"'s intimate bodily empathizing (theorized as symphysizing) with her deceased, queermasculine beloved life partner facilitates the processes of vitalist-material and spiritual-material co-becoming, and the rethinking of death from a new and different perspective than that of the sovereign, philosophical subject. (shrink)

A long tradition of psychological research has explored the distinction between characteristics that are part of the self and those that lie outside of it. Recently, a surge of research has begun examining a further distinction. Even among characteristics that are internal to the self, people pick out a subset as belonging to the true self. These factors are judged as making people who they really are, deep down. In this paper, we introduce the concept of the true self and (...) identify features that distinguish people’s understanding of the true self from their understanding of the self more generally. In particular, we consider recent findings that the true self is perceived as positive and moral, and that this tendency is actor-observer invariant and cross-culturally stable. We then explore possible explanations for these findings and discuss their implications for a variety of issues in psychology. (shrink)

Philosophers and scientists both ask questions about what the world is like. How do these fields interact with one another? How should they? Naturalism Beyond the Limits of Science investigates an approach to these questions called methodological naturalism. According to methodological naturalism, when coming up with theories about what the world is like, philosophers should, whenever possible, make use of the same methodology that is deployed by scientists. Although many contemporary philosophers have implicit commitments that lead straightforwardly to methodological naturalism, (...) few have a clear understanding of how widespread and disruptive methodological naturalism promises to be for the field. By way of a series of case studies involving laws of nature, composition, time and modality, and drawing on historical and contemporary scientific developments including the discovery of the neutrino, the introduction of dark energy, and the advent of relativity theory, this book demonstrates the ways in which scientists rely on extra-empirical reasoning and how that very same extra-empirical reasoning can yield surprising results when applied to philosophical debates. Along the way, Nina Emery's investigation illuminates the complex relationship between philosophy and the sciences, and makes the case that philosophers and scientists alike would benefit from a greater understanding of the connections between the two fields. (shrink)

Experience has shown that the application of ethical guidelines developed for research in developed countries to research in developing countries can be, and often is, impractical and raises a number of contentious issues. Various attempts have been made to provide guidelines more appropriate to the developing world context; however, to date these efforts have been dominated by the fields of bioscience, medical research and nutrition. There is very little advice available for those seeking to undertake collaborative social science or natural (...) science research in developing countries and what is there tends to be held within disparate sources. Charting the development of a set of ethics documentation for future use by the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation programme research community, this paper outlines past and present attitudes towards ethics procedures amongst this community and suggests ways in which ethics procedures might be made more relevant and user-friendly to researchers working in this area. (shrink)

In this paper, we present and defend the theoretical framework of an empirical model to describe people’s fundamental moral attitudes (FMAs) to animals, the stratification of FMAs in society and the role of FMAs in judgment on the culling of healthy animals in an animal disease epidemic. We used philosophical animal ethics theories to understand the moral basis of FMA convictions. Moreover, these theories provide us with a moral language for communication between animal ethics, FMAs, and public debates. We defend (...) that FMA is a two-layered concept. The first layer consists of deeply felt convictions about animals. The second layer consists of convictions derived from the first layer to serve as arguments in a debate on animal issues. In a debate, the latter convictions are variable, depending on the animal issue in a specific context, time, and place. This variability facilitates finding common ground in an animal issue between actors with opposing convictions. (shrink)

I present an argument for the view that laws ground their instances. I then outline two important consequences that follow if we accept the conclusion of this argument. First, the claim that laws ground their instances threatens to undermine a prominent recent attempt to make sense of the explanatory power of Humean laws by distinguishing between metaphysical and scientific explanation. And second, the claim that laws ground their instances gives rise to a novel argument against the view that grounding relations (...) are metaphysically necessary. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Temporal eliminativism is the view that the present is privileged because past and future entities do not exist. Temporal ersatzism is the view that the present is privileged because, although past and future entities exist, they are not concrete. I argue that shifting from temporal eliminativism to temporal ersatzism can help to address objections to the former theory that are due to relativity theory—but only if temporal ersatzism is understood in a fairly specific way and only in so far (...) as the temporal ersatzist is willing to take on some prima facie surprising commitments. I close by showing how the claims that I make with respect to temporal ersatzism generalise to other theories of time on which the present is privileged, including McDaniel’s [2018] presentist existential pluralism. (shrink)

In recent years, several countries have enacted guidelines and/or mandatory laws to increase the presence of women on the boards of companies. Through these regulatory interventions, the aim is to eradicate the social and labor grievances that women have traditionally experienced and which has relegated them to smaller-scale jobs. Nevertheless, and despite the advances achieved, the female representation in the boardroom remains far from the desired levels. In this context, it is now necessary to enhance the advantages of board gender (...) diversity from both ethical and economic points of view. This article examines the relation between board gender diversity and economic results in Spain: the second country in the world to legally require gender quotas in boardrooms and historically characterized by a minimal female participation in the workforce. Based on a sample of 125 non-financial firms listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange from 2005 to 2009, our findings show that in the period analyzed the increase of the number of women on boards was over 98 %. This suggests that compulsory legislation offers an efficient framework to execute the recommendation of Spanish codes of good governance by means of the increase in the number of women in the boards of firms. Furthermore, we find that the increase in the number of women on the boards is positively related to higher economic results. Therefore, both results suggest that gender diversity in boardrooms should be incremented, mandatory laws being a key factor to do so. (shrink)

This paper discusses the possibility of modelling inductive inference (Gold 1967) in dynamic epistemic logic (see e.g. van Ditmarsch et al. 2007). The general purpose is to propose a semantic basis for designing a modal logic for learning in the limit. First, we analyze a variety of epistemological notions involved in identification in the limit and match it with traditional epistemic and doxastic logic approaches. Then, we provide a comparison of learning by erasing (Lange et al. 1996) and iterated epistemic (...) update (Baltag and Moss 2004) as analyzed in dynamic epistemic logic. We show that finite identification can be modelled in dynamic epistemic logic, and that the elimination process of learning by erasing can be seen as iterated belief-revision modelled in dynamic doxastic logic. Finally, we propose viewing hypothesis spaces as temporal frames and discuss possible advantages of that perspective. (shrink)

I argue against the common and influential view that non-trivial chances arise only when the fundamental laws are indeterministic. The problem with this view, I claim, is not that it conflicts with some antecedently plausible metaphysics of chance or that it fails to capture our everyday use of ‘chance’ and related terms, but rather that it is unstable. Any reason for adopting the position that non-trivial chances arise only when the fundamental laws are indeterministic is also a reason for adopting (...) a much stronger, and far less attractive, position. I suggest an alternative account, according to which chances are probabilities that play a certain explanatory role: they are probabilities that explain associated frequencies. 1 Introduction2 A Paradigm Case3 The Incompatibilist’s Criterion4 Against the Incompatibilist’s Criterion5 The Explanatory Criterion6 Conclusion. (shrink)

Next SectionWe discuss the thesis formulated by Hintikka (1973) that certain natural language sentences require non-linear quantification to express their meaning. We investigate sentences with combinations of quantifiers similar to Hintikka's examples and propose a novel alternative reading expressible by linear formulae. This interpretation is based on linguistic and logical observations. We report on our experiments showing that people tend to interpret sentences similar to Hintikka sentence in a way consistent with our interpretation.

The volume documents, and makes an original contribution to, an astonishing period in twentieth-century philosophy—the progress of Arne Naess's ecophilosophy from its inception to the present. It includes Naess's most crucial polemics with leading thinkers, drawn from sources as diverse as scholarly articles, correspondence, TV interviews and unpublished exchanges. The book testifies to the skeptical and self-correcting aspects of Naess's vision, which has deepened and broadened to include third world and feminist perspectives. Philosophical Dialogues is an essential addition to the (...) literature on environmental philosophy. (shrink)

In her paper, “The Non-Governing Conception of Laws,” Helen Beebee argues that it is not a conceptual truth that laws of nature govern, and thus that one need not insist on a metaphysical account of laws that makes sense of their governing role. I agree with the first point but not the second. Although it is not a conceptual truth, the fact that laws govern follows straightforwardly from an important (though under-appreciated) principle of scientific theory choice combined with a highly (...) plausible claim about the connection between scientific theory choice and theory choice in metaphysics. I present and defend this argument and then show how the resulting understanding of governance gives rise to an especially strong version of recent explanatory circularity arguments against Humeanism about laws of nature. Finally, I present three options for a further understanding of the governance relation that are compatible with my argument. (shrink)

I argue against the common and influential view that non-trivial chances arise only when the fundamental laws are indeterministic. The problem with this view, I claim, is not that it conflicts with some antecedently plausible metaphysics of chance or that it fails to capture our everyday use of ‘chance’ and related terms, but rather that it is unstable. Any reason for adopting the position that non-trivial chances arise only when the fundamental laws are indeterministic is also a reason for adopting (...) a much stronger, and far less attractive, position. I suggest an alternative account, according to which chances are probabilities that play a certain explanatory role: they are probabilities that explain associated frequencies. (shrink)

Some theories of quantum mechanical phenomena endorse wave function realism, according to which the physical space we inhabit is very different from the physical space we appear to inhabit. In this paper I explore an argument against wave function realism that appeals to a type of simplicity that, although often overlooked, plays a crucial role in scientific theory choice. The type of simplicity in question is simplicity of fit between the way a theory says the world is and the way (...) the world appears to be. This argument can be understood as one way of spelling out the so-called “incredulous stare objection” that is sometimes leveled against surprising metaphysical theories. (shrink)

Palliative care names as one of its central aims to prevent and relieve suffering. Following the concept of “total pain”, which was first introduced by Cicely Saunders, PC not only focuses on the physical dimension of pain but also addresses the patient’s psychological, social, and spiritual suffering. However, the goal to relieve suffering can paradoxically lead to a taboo of suffering and imply adverse consequences. Two scenarios are presented: First, PC providers sometimes might fail their own ambitions. If all other (...) means prove ineffective terminal sedation can still be applied as a last resort, though. However, it may be asked whether sedating a dying patient comes close to eliminating suffering by eliminating the sufferer and hereby resembles physician-assisted suicide, or euthanasia. As an alternative, PC providers could continue treatment, even if it so far prove unsuccessful. In that case, either futility results or the patient might even suffer from the perpetuated, albeit fruitless interventions. Second, some patients possibly prefer to endure suffering instead of being relieved from it. Hence, they want to forgo the various bio-psycho-socio-spiritual interventions. PC providers’ efforts then lead to paradoxical consequences: Feeling harassed by PC, patients could suffer even more and not less. In both scenarios, suffering is placed under a taboo and is thereby conceptualised as not being tolerable in general. However, to consider suffering essentially unbearable might promote assisted dying not only on an individual but also on a societal level insofar as unbearable suffering is considered a criterion for euthanasia or PAS. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The future development of bioethics has been discussed in a number of articles in recent years, principally with regard to the trend towards empirical studies. However, what is meant by empirical studies in this context and how it is to be used concretely have been subject to varying interpretations. The purpose of this article is to develop what we term the microethical approach as a concrete method for an empirically driven bioethics. By adopting a microethical perspective, we will illustrate (...) an analytical concept for describing and demonstrating how, as a result of contextual circumstances and forms of understanding, different individuals in their everyday life adopt different coping strategies and behavior patterns in relation to ethical values. From a deepened perspective, the complexity of human behavior becomes apparent, and knowledge is gained about how moral problems are perceived and construed by those whom they in fact affect. We intend first and foremost to develop the microethical methodology by elucidating the methods and approaches that can help in clarifying moral dilemmas on a microethical level, and how the relationship between the empirical material and the ethical analysis evolves over the course of the analysis. This is exemplified by a study of caregivers’ entrance into patients’ private lives through the provision of care and assistance in the home. (shrink)

In this critical notice of Kment's _Modality and Explanatory Reasoning_, we focus on Kment’s arguments for impossible worlds and on a key part of his discussion of the interactions between modality and explanation – the analogy that he draws between scientific and metaphysical explanation.

Relational reasoning is a hallmark of human higher cognition and creativity, yet it is notoriously difficult to encourage in abstract tasks, even in adults. Generally, young children initially focus more on objects, but with age become more focused on relations. While prerequisite knowledge and cognitive resource maturation partially explains this pattern, here we propose a new facet important for children's relational reasoning development: a general orientation to relational information, or a relational mindset. We demonstrate that a relational mindset can be (...) elicited, even in 4‐year‐old children, yielding greater than expected spontaneous attention to relations. Children either generated or listened to an experimenter state the relationships between objects in a set of formal analogy problems, and then in a second task, selected object or relational matches according to their preference. Children tended to make object mappings, but those who generated relations on the first task selected relational matches more often on the second task, signaling that relational attention is malleable even in young children. (shrink)

Actualism is the view that only actually existing things exist. Presentism is the view that only presently existing things exist. In this paper, I argue that being an actualist without also being a presentist is not as easy as many philosophers seem to think. A common objection to presentism is that there is an unavoidable conflict between presentism and relativity theory. But actualists who do not wish to be presentists cannot point to this relativity objection alone to support their position. (...) Unless they have some antecedent reason for thinking that actualism is more plausible than presentism, anyone who is moved by the relativity objection to give up presentism should be moved by a related objection to give up actualism as well. If there is a reason to be an actualist without also being a presentist, it must go beyond the relativity objection to presentism. (shrink)

Several philosophers and psychologists have characterized belief in conspiracy theories as a product of irrational reasoning. Proponents of conspiracy theories apparently resist revising their beliefs given disconfirming evidence and tend to believe in more than one conspiracy, even when the relevant beliefs are mutually inconsistent. In this paper, we bring leading views on conspiracy theoretic beliefs closer together by exploring their rationality under a probabilistic framework. We question the claim that the irrationality of conspiracy theoretic beliefs stems from an inadequate (...) response to disconfirming evidence and internal incoherence. Drawing analogies to Lakatosian research programs, we argue that maintaining a core conspiracy belief can be Bayes-rational when it is embedded in a network of auxiliary beliefs, which can be revised to protect the more central belief from disconfirmation. We propose that the (ir)rationality associated with conspiracy belief lies not in a flawed updating method, but in their failure to converge toward well-confirmed, stable belief networks in the long run. This approach not only reconciles previously disjointed views, but also points toward more specific hypotheses explaining why some agents may be prone to adopting beliefs in conspiracy theories. (shrink)

Presentism is the view that only presently existing things exist. Actualism is the view that only actually existing things exist. Although these views have much in common, the position we take with respect to one of them is not usually thought to constrain the position that we may take toward the other. In this paper I argue that this standard attitude deserves further scrutiny. In particular, I argue that the considerations that motivate one common objection to presentism—the grounding objection—threaten to (...) give rise to an analogous grounding objection to actualism. Those who are moved by grounding considerations to give up presentism should either be moved by analogous considerations to give up actualism as well or be prepared to undertake quite a bit of further work in order to defend their position. (shrink)

The volume documents, and makes an original contribution to, an astonishing period in twentieth-century philosophy_the progress of Arne Naess's ecophilosophy from its inception to the present. It includes Naess's most crucial polemics with leading thinkers, drawn from sources as diverse as scholarly articles, correspondence, TV interviews and unpublished exchanges. The book testifies to the skeptical and self-correcting aspects of Naess's vision, which has deepened and broadened to include third world and feminist perspectives. Philosophical Dialogues is an essential addition to the (...) literature on environmental philosophy. (shrink)

Natural languages vary in their quantity expressions, but the variation seems to be constrained by general properties, so-calleduniversals. Their explanations have been sought among constraints of human cognition, communication, complexity, and pragmatics. In this article, we apply a state-of-the-art language coordination model to the semantic domain of quantities to examine whether two quantity universals—monotonicity and convexity—arise as a result of coordination. Assuming precise number perception by the agents, we evolve communicatively usable quantity terminologies in two separate conditions: a numeric-based condition (...) in which agents communicate about a number of objects and a quotient-based condition in which agents communicate about the proportions. We find out that both universals take off in all conditions but only convexity almost entirely dominates the emergent languages. Additionally, we examine whether the perceptual constraints of the agents can contribute to the further development of universals. We compare the degrees of convexity and monotonicity of languages evolving in populations of agents with precise and approximate number sense. The results suggest that approximate number sense significantly reinforces monotonicity and leads to further enhancement of convexity. Last but not least, we show that the properties of the evolved quantifiers match certain invariance properties from generalized quantifier theory. (shrink)

Indigenous people (IP) have faced multiple difficulties in education. Indigenous students often do worse academically than non-indigenous student peers. These stated the low enrollment rates showed a dropout rate, absenteeism, repetition rates, literacy rate, and thus the educational outcomes, with retention and completion being two significant issues. Further, this study explores the lived experiences and challenges faced by indigenous high school students amidst the new normal education. Employing the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, the findings of this study were: (1) The reason (...) why IP learners were not satisfied with their performance is that they cannot understand some of the lessons due to the language barrier. (2) IP learners are committed to finishing their studies, however, some of the students lack resources for studying, like gadgets for researching, and they do not have cell phones. And the other students may have gadgets or cellphones, but their internet connection is low or not accessible in some places at their location. (shrink)

BackgroundIt has been argued that ethics review committees—e.g., Research Ethics Committees, Institutional Review Boards, etc.— have weaknesses in reviewing big data and artificial intelligence research. For instance, they may, due to the novelty of the area, lack the relevant expertise for judging collective risks and benefits of such research, or they may exempt it from review in instances involving de-identified data.Main bodyFocusing on the example of medical research databases we highlight here ethical issues around de-identified data sharing which motivate the (...) need for review where oversight by ethics committees is weak. Though some argue for ethics committee reform to overcome these weaknesses, it is unclear whether or when that will happen. Hence, we argue that ethical review can be done by data access committees, since they have de facto purview of big data and artificial intelligence projects, relevant technical expertise and governance knowledge, and already take on some functions of ethical review. That said, like ethics committees, they may have functional weaknesses in their review capabilities. To strengthen that function, data access committees must think clearly about the kinds of ethical expertise, both professional and lay, that they draw upon to support their work.ConclusionData access committees can undertake ethical review of medical research databases provided they enhance that review function through professional and lay ethical expertise. (shrink)

Collective moods are ubiquitous in social life. People may experience the sharing of a mood at a large sporting event, a concert or a religious ceremony, but also at a small family celebration or as part of a tour group. However, in philosophical discussions, collective moods are often framed as experiences of ecstasy, intoxication or even disinhibition at mass events without examining other aspects. Yet we practice and cultivate the sharing of moods in quite varied forms. In this paper I (...) intend to offer a differentiating suggestion as to the levels and forms of the sharing of moods, drawing on discussions of shared feelings, work on the phenomenology of social understanding, and social theory. (shrink)