The terms “competency” and “decision making capacity” are often used interchangeably in the medical setting. Although competency is a legal determination made by judges, “competency” assessments are frequently requested of psychiatrists who are called to consult on hospitalised patients who refuse medical treatment. In these situations, the bioethicist is called to consult frequently as well, sometimes as a second opinion or “tie breaker”. The psychiatric determination of competence, while a clinical phenomenon, is based primarily in legalism and can be quite (...) different from the bioethics approach. This discrepancy highlights the difficulties that arise when a patient is found to be “competent” by psychiatry but lacking in DMC by bioethics. Using a case, this dilemma is explored and guidance for reconciling the opinions of two distinct clinical specialties is offered. (shrink)

The role of individual factors in behavioral neuroscience is an important, but still neglected, area of research. For example, the Elevated Plus-Maze Test has been one of the most used paradigms to gauge unconditioned aversively motivated behavior in rodents. However, despite a great number of experiments with this test there have been only few efforts to assess systematic individual variations in the elevated plus-maze and related neurobiological functions. The present review aims to give, first, a general overview and introduction about (...) the test, and second, an animal model of anxiety based on natural variance of plus-maze behavior within a given unselected population of rats. Finally, critical aspects of such approaches in animal research are discussed, and suggestions are given as to where to go from here. (shrink)

Rules konzeption der selbst-und fremderfahrung in "the concept of mind" wird kritisiert: es besteht ein grundsatzlicher unterschied zwischen dem zugang zum eigenen und fremden bewusstsein: wahrend mir das fremde bewusstsein als ein 2ensemble von verhaltensweisen gegeben ist, ist mein eignes bewusstsein identisch mit der vpon mir wahrgenommenen, fingierten etc. welt als solcher. eigenes unbewusstes erfahre ich im modus der mir selbst gegenuber eingenommenen ausseneinstellung, fremdes wird fur mich durch inkoharenz des fremden verhaltens thematisch.

The war in Kosovo is heartbreaking for everyone whose feelings are not limited by their convictions. Watching the daily television images of refugees and the NATO bombings, only dogmatists could be satisfied by their arguments for or against the war. Opponents and advocates of the invention alike should concede their mixed emotions, and there is no reason to deny similar scruples to the political leadership of the Western alliance. It is not useful to make moralizing distinctions in this war, such (...) as between good people, defenders of peace, and power-hungry militarists eager to use any chance to try out new…. (shrink)

Das, was gesehen, gehört oder gedacht wird, begreift der Band 23 Manifeste zu Bildakt und Verkörperung nicht als ein passives, sondern aktives Gegenüber. Dieses zeigt sich in Bildern, Objekten, Tönen, Materialien, Wörtern oder Schriftzeichen, welche die Beiträge des Bandes im Sinne einer Kulturtheorie des Entgegenkommenden deuten. Diese gründet auf einer analytischen Herangehensweise, die die Gegenstände der Betrachtung in ihrer Eigenständigkeit respektiert, um den Modus ihrer Aktivität angemessen beschreiben zu können. Die versammelten Untersuchungen aus den Bereichen Kunst- und Bildwissenschaft, Philosophie, Sprachphilosophie (...) sowie Musik- und Filmwissenschaft, nähern sich programmatisch zentralen Begriffen von Active Matter bis zu Verkörperung. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Klio Jahrgang: 97 Heft: 1 Seiten: 135-156.

The idea that sociology has the status of a strict science—that is, that sociology, like mathematics, has at its disposal a well-founded, deductive system of propositions—is nowadays rejected even more by its pragmatic advocates than by its skeptical practitioners; it is refuted both by the arbitrary manipulation of sociology’s internally constitutive, theoretical interconnections at the hands of practical interests and technocratic utility, and by the resultant increasing relativization of its findings. However, as we shall see, the arbitrariness of the treatment (...) of sociology does not correspond with any arbitrariness in its object. On the contrary, with all empirical relativity a structural constancy persists in the agency constructing, comparing, and evaluating the experience of the everyday world, as well as scientific experience. This was precisely Kant’s discovery, that the conditions making possible our primary experience of objects must be, at the same time, the constitutive structure of the objects themselves, and also the framework for the scientifically systematic treatment of them, because otherwise there could be no knowledge in the sense of the structural identification of object, experience, and reflection. This Kantian principle guarantees, then, that sociology is indeed possible as a strict science; that is, it is completely possible as an integral, deductive aspect of theory, as long as we reconstruct, by means of axioms and postulates, the constitution of the object of theory out of the structure of our direct interpersonal experience. In this vein, Rene König, a pioneer in modern German social science, states. (shrink)

The dilemma of incapacitated patients with acute medical problems who want or try to leave the hospital is a common problem in American clinical ethics. One need only listen to clinicians who work...

ABSTRACT Circa 1630, the Dutch painter Pieter Jakobsz Codde, created a painting that shows little more than a young man sitting in a chair. Yet an in-depth examination of the person, the design of the space and the objects located in the room reveal that different aspects of disturbances and tensions have been integrated into the presentation and open a discourse on the imagery of melancholy and acedia. The paper shows by way of example that this is not an iconographic (...) gimmick but rather a challenge to differentiate and then decide between political as well as social meanings. Should the painting’ viewer decide between temperament and vice in the meaning of the representations, he or she determines at the same stroke the defining characteristics of the subject. For while the melancholy enjoyed social acceptance, acedia remained a vice to be avoided. Decisive in this: by acknowledging one’s competence to distinguish between the two states, the observer was able to prove his or her own personal good character traits. The image and the handling of the image thereby constitute a situation in which decision-making authority could be practiced and positive character traits could be solidified. (shrink)