Druck der Zensur, nicht Aufhebung der Zielvorstellungen ist die richtige Begründung für das Vorherrschen der ober-flächlichen Assoziationen. Die oberflächlichen Assoziationen ersetzen in der Darstellung die tiefen, wenn die Zensur diese normalen Verbindungswege ungangbar macht. Es ist, wie wenn ein allgemeines Verkehrshindernis, z.B. eine Überschwemmung, im Gebirge die großen und breiten Straßen unwegsam werden läßt; der Verkehr wird dann auf unbequemen und steilen Fußpfaden aufrechterhalten, die sonst nur der Jäger begangen hat.

Health is a value-laden concept. The state of being that it designates is a fundamental human goal. As a value, the concept is normative, governing both clinical practice and the therapeutic treatment developed by medical research. Also, the promise of health plays a pivotal role in health-policy discourse. Almut Caspary considers philosophical and theological concepts of health in the context of its practical significance, both in the past and today. This conceptual analysis culminates in a preliminary sketch of a (...) concept of health; focusing on the stem-cell debate, it offers a discriminating approach to contemporary ethical problems in medicine. "Gesundheit" ist ein wertgeladener Begriff. Er bezeichnet einen grundsatzlich wunschenswerten Zustand menschlicher Existenz, der das arztliche Handeln im klinischen Alltag leitet. Daruber hinaus werden (gesundheits-)politische Debatten mit Verweis auf den Nutzen fur die Gesundheit entschieden. Vor diesem Hintergrund setzt sich Almut Caspary epochenubergreifend mit philosophischen und theologischen Uberlegungen zur Gesundheit auseinander. Die konzeptuelle Diskussion erlaubt die Skizzierung eines Gesundheitsverstandnisses, das - wie am Beispiel der Stammzelldebatte gezeigt wird - ein differenziertes Abwagen in medizinethischen Konfliktfallen zulasst. (shrink)

Background: Due to recent legislations on euthanasia and its current practice in the Netherlands and Belgium, issues of end-of-life medicine have become very vital in many European countries. In 2002, the Ethics Working Group of the German Association for Palliative Medicine (DGP) has conducted a survey among its physician members in order to evaluate their attitudes towards different end-of-life medical practices, such as euthanasia (EUT), physician-assisted suicide (PAS), and terminal sedation (TS). Methods: An anonymous questionnaire was sent to the 411 (...) DGP physicians, consisting of 14 multiple choice questions on positions that might be adopted in different hypothetical scenarios on situations of “intolerable suffering” in end-of-life care. For the sake of clarification, several definitions and legal judgements of different terms used in the German debate on premature termination of life were included. For statistical analysis t-tests and Pearson-correlations were used. Results: The response rate was 61% (n=251). The proportions of the respondents who were opposed to legalizing different forms of premature termination of life were: 90% opposed to EUT, 75% to PAS, 94% to PAS for psychiatric patients. Terminal sedation was accepted by 94% of the members. The main decisional bases drawn on for the answers were personal ethical values, professional experience with palliative care, knowledge of alternative approaches, knowledge of ethical guidelines and of the national legal frame. Conclusions: In sharp contrast to similar surveys conducted in other countries, only a minority of 9.6% of the DGP physicians supported the legalization of EUT. The misuse of medical knowledge for inhumane killing in the Nazi period did not play a relevant role for the respondents’ negative attitude towards EUT. Palliative care needs to be stronger established and promoted within the German health care system in order to improve the quality of end-of-life situations which subsequently is expected to lead to decreasing requests for EUT by terminally ill patients. (shrink)

The so-called quantum Zeno effect is essentially a consequence of the projection postulate for ideal measurements. To test the effect, Itanoet al. have performed an experiment on an ensemble of atoms where rapidly repeated level measurements were realized by means of short laser pulses. Using dynamical considerations, we give an explanation why the projection postulate can be applied in good approximation to such measurements. Corrections to ideal measurements are determined explicitly. This is used to discuss how far the experiment of (...) Itanoet al. can be considered as a test of the quantum Zeno effect. We also analyze a new possible experiment on a single atom where stochastic light and dark periods can be interpreted as manifestation of the quantum Zeno effect. We show that the measurement point of view gives a quick and intuitive understanding of experiments of the above type, although a finer analysis has to take the corrections into account. (shrink)

Hermann Cohen’s essay on Maimonides’ ethics is one of the most fundamental texts of twentieth-century Jewish philosophy, correlating Platonic, prophetic, Maimonidean, and Kantian traditions. Almut Sh. Bruckstein provides the first English translation and her own extensive commentary on this landmark 1908 work, which inspired readings of medieval and rabbinic sources by Leo Strauss, Franz Rosenzweig, and Emmanuel Levinas. Cohen rejects the notion that we should try to understand texts of the past solely in the context of their own historical (...) era. Subverting the historical order, he interprets the ethical meanings of texts in the light of a future yet to be realized. He commits the entire Jewish tradition to a universal socialism prophetically inspired by ideals of humanity, peace, and universal justice. Through her own probing commentary on Cohen’s text, like the margin notes of a medieval treatise, Bruckstein performs the hermeneutical act that lies at the core of Cohen’s argument: she reads Jewish sources from a perspective that recognizes the interpretive act of commentary itself. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Paragrana Jahrgang: 25 Heft: 1 Seiten: 13-19.

The aim of the present study is (1) to show, on the basis of a number of unpublished documents, how Heinrich Scholz supported his Warsaw colleague Jan ?ukasiewicz, the Polish logician, during World War II, and (2) to discuss the efforts he made in order to enable Jan ?ukasiewicz and his wife Regina to move from Warsaw to Münster under life-threatening circumstances. In the first section, we explain how Scholz provided financial help to ?ukasiewicz, and we also adduce evidence of (...) the risks incurred by German scholars who offered assistance to their Polish colleagues. In the second section, we discuss the dramatic circumstances surrounding the ?ukasiewiczes' move to Münster in the summer of 1944. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Paragrana Jahrgang: 23 Heft: 2 Seiten: 48-62.

Abstract„Erleuchtung“ ist einer der prominentesten Begriffe, mit dem in der europäischen Kultur- und Religionsgeschichte Ideen der Vervollkommnung des Menschen zum Ausdruck gebracht worden sind. Anhand ausgewählter Beispiele umreißt das vorliegende Papier seine Entwicklung von einer Metapher in der griechischen Philosophie hin zu einem transkonfessionellen Sammelbegriff, der im Zuge der Pluralisierung von Religionen seit den 1960er Jahren eine Konjunktur in neuen, durch Markt und Medien allgemein zugänglichen Sinnstiftungsangeboten der „populären Religion“ (Knoblauch) erfahren hat. In einer Tour d’horizon, die bei Platon einsetzt (...) und über Clemens von Alexandrien und Ps.-Dionysios Areopagita ins 18. Jahrhundert sowie in die Gegenwart führt, wird gezeigt, wie sich Vorstellungen von Licht und Erleuchtung und die Rede hierüber zu einem religiösen Begriff verdichtet haben, der über lange Zeit einen Ort im Christentum hatte, bevor er, begünstigt durch die Aufklärung, zu einer populären Kategorie wurde, die vor allem mit asiatischen, oder zumindest asiatisch inspirierten, Praktiken zur Erlangung von Heil in Verbindung gebracht wird. Der Beitrag rückt bei der Darstellung dieser Entwicklung in der Moderne Auswirkungen der Aufklärung in den Blick sowie asiatisch-euroamerikanische Beziehungsdynamiken der europäischen Kolonialzeit, die zur Entdeckung des Buddhismus als Religion führten. Haben diese doch maßgeblich dazu beigetragen, dass Erleuchtung im gegenwärtigen populären Verständnis, wie es sich beispielhaft in der sog. Satsang-Bewegung und populär-religiöser Erzähl- und Ratgeberliteratur findet, nicht mehr, wie in der neoplatonischchristlichen Prägung des Begriffs, als Zwischenstufe auf einem Weg zur Vervollkommnung gilt, sondern als Ziel und bleibender Besitz, der mit Vollendung assoziiert wird. (shrink)

This article extends the concept of symmetry to ethics. Using the case of canola in Canada, the authors argue that grades and standards simultaneously subject humans and nonhumans to rites of passage that test their "goodness. " Then, they further develop a tentative typology of standards. The authors argue that these standards allow something resembling the neoclassical market to be established, create the conditions for economic analysis, and allocate power among human actors.

Die Medikalisierung des Sterbens hat dazu geführt, dass ein „guter Tod“ zunehmend auch von medizinischen Interventionen erwartet wird. Die Möglichkeiten einer „terminalen Sedierung“ bis zum Tode werden von vielen als Ausweg angesehen, wenn bei unerträglichem Leid und aussichtsloser Prognose der Wunsch nach aktiver Sterbehilfe angesprochen wird. Durch eine Sedierung können zwar bei schwerstkranken Patienten schwerste therapierefraktäre Leidenszustände effektiv gelindert werden. Diese Therapieoption kann aber auch in der Absicht angewendet werden, den Todeseintritt medizinisch zu beschleunigen, so dass im Zusammenhang mit der (...) Euthanasiedebatte auch das Thema der terminalen Sedierung kontrovers diskutiert wird. Richtlinien zu Indikation, Technik und Dokumentation sind notwendig, um Stellenwert und Grenzen der terminalen Sedierung im Rahmen der palliativen Betreuung am Lebensende zu verdeutlichen und durch Transparenz Fehlentwicklungen zu vermeiden. (shrink)

The strict distinction and separation of mind and body is a particularly modern Western point of view that is routinely also applied to other cultures. Arguing against this dichotomy, the following contribution builds upon research on "implicit knowledge" and "knowing how" that allow us to view body and mind in their interaction. The focus is on Simeon Stylites the Elder, the most prominent representative of the Syrian ascetic movement, who, in a spectacular way and after incessant exercise, was able to (...) act from a sphere of internalized body-knowledge. Selected texts on him dating from Late Antiquity will illustrate how the ascetic body was represented as a body of knowledge with which the idea of Christian perfection was to be fulfilled. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungDie Medikalisierung des Sterbens hat dazu geführt, dass ein „guter Tod“ zunehmend auch von medizinischen Interventionen erwartet wird. Die Möglichkeiten einer „terminalen Sedierung“ bis zum Tode werden von vielen als Ausweg angesehen, wenn bei unerträglichem Leid und aussichtsloser Prognose der Wunsch nach aktiver Sterbehilfe angesprochen wird. Durch eine Sedierung können zwar bei schwerstkranken Patienten schwerste therapierefraktäre Leidenszustände effektiv gelindert werden. Diese Therapieoption kann aber auch in der Absicht angewendet werden, den Todeseintritt medizinisch zu beschleunigen, so dass im Zusammenhang mit der (...) Euthanasiedebatte auch das Thema der terminalen Sedierung kontrovers diskutiert wird. Richtlinien zu Indikation, Technik und Dokumentation sind notwendig, um Stellenwert und Grenzen der terminalen Sedierung im Rahmen der palliativen Betreuung am Lebensende zu verdeutlichen und durch Transparenz Fehlentwicklungen zu vermeiden. (shrink)

Despite increasing pressure to deal with climate change, firms have been slow to respond with effective action. This article presents a multi-level framework for a better understanding of why many firms are failing to reduce their absolute greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change. The concepts of short-termism and uncertainty avoidance from research in psychology, sociology, and organization theory can explain the phenomenon of organizational inaction on climate change. Antecedents related to short-termism and uncertainty avoidance reinforce one another at (...) three levels—individual, organizational, and institutional—and result in organizational inaction on climate change. The article also discusses the implications of this multi-level framework for research on corporate sustainability. (shrink)

Ethical concepts as a rule are alien to economists. Business is business, and ethics is ethics. Economics is one thing, and culture is quite another, and the fatal flaw of economic theory, as well as of contemporary attempts to determine the correct economic policy for a transition to the market, resides in this opposition.

The speech of Gregory Thaumaturgus to the Christian scholar and theologian Origen is a historical document of unusual importance, both in terms of its content, depicting the master-student relationship of the time from the perspective of the student, and in terms of form, providing an actual implementation of the theory of rhetoric that was a cornerstone of higher education. Yet disagreement persists to this day in the scholarly literature over the generic classification of this first example of Christian epideictic oratory. (...) It is most frequently found categorized as a speech of thanksgiving, of praise, or of farewell. This paper discusses the grounds for the various definitions, examines the text itself in search of such grounds, and shows, in reference to two treatises on epideictic attributed to Menander Rhetor, why the most plausible classification is as a logos syntaktikos – a farewell speech, in which a traveler, by means of portraying and arousing emotion, laments the necessary parting and praises the person or people of whom leave is taken. (shrink)

In both ancient tradition and modern research Pythagoreanism has been understood as a religious sect or as a philosophical and scientific community. Numerous attempts have been made to reconcile these pictures as well as to analyze them separately. The most recent scholarship compartmentalizes different facets of Pythagorean knowledge, but this offers no context for exploring their origins, development, and interdependence. This collection aims to reverse this trend, addressing connections between the different fields of Pythagorean knowledge, such as eschatology, metempsychosis, metaphysics, (...) epistemology, arithmology and numerology, music, dietetics and medicine as well as politics. In particular, the contributions discuss how the Pythagorean way of life related to more doctrinal aspects of knowledge, such as Pythagorean religion and science. The volume explores the effects of this interdependence between different kinds of knowledge both within the Pythagorean corpus and in its later reception. Chapters cover historical periods from the Archaic Period (6th century BC) to Neoplatonism, Early Christianity, the European and Arabic Middle Ages, and the Renaissance through to the Early Modern Period (17th century AD). (shrink)

Thema des Sammelbands ist der Zusammenhang von ubung und Wissen in religiosen und philosophischen Kontexten der Vormoderne. AN einzelnen regional und sozial differenzierten Fallbeispielen aus dem euro-asiatischen Raum werden ubungspraktiken, durch die Wissen hergestellt, vermittelt und bestatigt, aber auch hinterfragt und modifiziert wurde, klassifiziert und erortert. UNtersucht werden Materialien, Medien und Darstellungsweisen aus griechisch-romischer Philosophie, Christentum, Judentum und Islam, Hinduismus und Buddhismus, die von der wechselseitigen Verwiesenheit von ubung und Wissen zeugen. uBerlegungen zum Thema im Kontext globaler Austauschbeziehungen, wie sie (...) z.B. Den modernen Yoga pragen, runden den Band ab. (shrink)

Today there is considerable disagreement between the US and the EU with respect to food safety standards. Issues include GMOs, beef hormones, unpasteurized cheese, etc. In general, it is usually asserted that Europeans argue for the precautionary principle (with exceptions such as the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement where ``substantial equivalence,'' a form of familiarity, is used) while Americans defend risk analysis or what is sometimes described as the familiarityprinciple. This is not to suggest that EUmember countries agree on how the (...) precautionaryprinciple should be applied; considerabledifferences exist among nations as will benoted below.In this paper I review both positionsarguing that they are best understood asvariants of the homiletics of risk rather thanas differing scientific positions. I concludethat while science must necessarily enter intothe formulation of food and agriculturalstandards, state policy, private economicinterests, and the interface between the two(e.g., when democratic states are successfullylobbied to support particular privateinterests), play important roles in determininghow particular risks will be treated. Moreover,I argue that the role of science mustnecessarily be limited if its credibility is tobe preserved. (shrink)

The adoption of the French Duty of Vigilance law has been celebrated as a milestone for advancing the transnational business and human rights regime. The law can contribute to harden corporate accountability by challenging the “separation principle” of transnational companies and by obligating companies to report on their duty of vigilance. However, the question of whether the law actually contributes to human rights and environmental protection along global supply chains requires empirically grounded research that connects processes in home and host (...) state countries. This paper contributes to such a new research agenda by linking political ecology literature and empirical insights from the Global South to research on due diligence regulations. With reference to field research data on contestations between the oil and gas company Total E&P and indigenous communities in Bolivia, I argue that the burden of proof and contestations over valid knowledge represent major obstacles when trying to establish legal liability. (shrink)

What is good sex? This question can be evaluated in multiple dimensions, the moral dimension being only one of them. My main thesis in this paper is that a criterion for good sex is whether the participants are on a par with each other. This can be understood as a moral ideal. In order to make this argument, I first explain what is meant by “sex”. This is, on the one hand, to delineate clearly which phenome-na are included in the (...) definition for the purposes of this argument. It is, on the other hand, to repel the problematic image of sex as something exclusively physical. In a second step I will address the issue of consent. Consent is, in my view, a minimal condition for the moral quality of sexual activities. It is only when consent is given by all participants that sexual activity is legitimized. Of course many related questions arise in this context, but without consent, we cannot speak of the moral quality of sexual activities at all. But why is consent so important? It is important to protect people. The protection is more successful if we take into account the attitude with which people engage with each other sexually. Sexual activities where people are on a par with each other are morally better than those where people are not. Being on par means that each participant’s desires and wishes are respected equally. I develop this thesis further by engaging with different objections. If we set out to question whether a sexual activity is morally good, we will also have to answer the question whether the participants who are engaged in this activity are on a par with each other. (shrink)

The Straight Edge hardcore movement at the end of the twentieth century managed to achieve a remarkable inversion of lifestyle values. Turning their lifestyle choice of no drinking, smoking, and drugs into a cool thing, not a good thing, they exposed how rebellious ethics mixed with anger and aggressive youth culture can make a powerful and energetic mix. Their inversion of the lifestyle values of the rebel and hedonist generation just before them could in turn be folded upon itself in (...) continuously new ways, turning anger toward many social ills into processes of awareness-raising as well as social mobilization. In the realm of fashion, could a utopia of sustainable consumerism perhaps also be folded and queered in... (shrink)

For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills. Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.Fashion is a mimetic phenomenon. It thrives in the pleasures and desires of imitation. As sociologist Yuniya Kawamura notices in her book Fashion-ology, early sociologists, such as Veblen, Tarde, and Simmel, all regard fashion as (...) a "concept of imitation."1 Even if their specific theories differ, Veblen, Tarde, and Simmel saw fashion as an imitative "flow" most dominantly from the superior to inferior, and this became known as the... (shrink)

Organizations increasingly rely on algorithm-based HR decision-making to monitor their employees. This trend is reinforced by the technology industry claiming that its decision-making tools are efficient and objective, downplaying their potential biases. In our manuscript, we identify an important challenge arising from the efficiency-driven logic of algorithm-based HR decision-making, namely that it may shift the delicate balance between employees’ personal integrity and compliance more in the direction of compliance. We suggest that critical data literacy, ethical awareness, the use of participatory (...) design methods, and private regulatory regimes within civil society can help overcome these challenges. Our paper contributes to literature on workplace monitoring, critical data studies, personal integrity, and literature at the intersection between HR management and corporate responsibility. (shrink)