Purpose The purpose of this paper is clearly illustrate this convergence and the prescriptive recommendations that such documents entail. There is a significant amount of research into the ethical consequences of artificial intelligence. This is reflected by many outputs across academia, policy and the media. Many of these outputs aim to provide guidance to particular stakeholder groups. It has recently been shown that there is a large degree of convergence in terms of the principles upon which these guidance documents are (...) based. Despite this convergence, it is not always clear how these principles are to be translated into practice. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors move beyond the high-level ethical principles that are common across the AI ethics guidance literature and provide a description of the normative content that is covered by these principles. The outcome is a comprehensive compilation of normative requirements arising from existing guidance documents. This is not only required for a deeper theoretical understanding of AI ethics discussions but also for the creation of practical and implementable guidance for developers and users of AI. Findings In this paper, the authors therefore provide a detailed explanation of the normative implications of existing AI ethics guidelines but directed towards developers and organisational users of AI. The authors believe that the paper provides the most comprehensive account of ethical requirements in AI currently available, which is of interest not only to the research and policy communities engaged in the topic but also to the user communities that require guidance when developing or deploying AI systems. Originality/value The authors believe that they have managed to compile the most comprehensive document collecting existing guidance which can guide practical action but will hopefully also support the consolidation of the guidelines landscape. The authors’ findings should also be of academic interest and inspire philosophical research on the consistency and justification of the various normative statements that can be found in the literature. (shrink)

Economic environmental valuation remains a much debated and contested issue. Concerns have been voiced that it is unable to capture the manifold immaterial values of ecosystems due to conceptual and methodological issues. Thus, additional value categories (social values) as well as novel valuation approaches like deliberative (monetary) valuation are areas of growing interest, yet the theoretical foundations are rather weak. Against this background, this article aims to develop a consistent conceptual framework for making sense of social values in economic environmental (...) valuation. Based on a holistic view of society and individuals, the role of institutions, the social environment, culture and transcendental values is emphasised. To synthesise diverging concepts of value into an economic concept and to account for the multidimensionality of social values, the framework consists of three spheres: social, natural and contextual. The novel framework demonstrates that social values may be integrated into a preference-based utility framework when denoting a holistic understanding of social preferences and human embeddedness in nature and society. (shrink)

Band 1. Rechtsfindung im Rechtsstaat und Rechtsdogmatik als ihr Fundament -- Band 2. Täterschaft als Herrschaft über den Grund des Erfolges -- Band 3. Strafprozessrecht und Strafprozessreform.

The years covered by this volume of the Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell were among the most productive, philosophically speaking, of Russell's entire career. In addition to the papers reprinted here, he bought Principia Mathematica to its finished form and wrote The Problems of Philosophy, Theory of Knowledge and Knowledge of the External World . In October 1910 he began teaching at Cambridge, having accepted an appointment as lecturer in logic and the principles of mathematics at Trinity College for a (...) term of five years. A year later Ludwig Wittgenstein began to attend his lectures. Within a few months he was influencing Russell's philosophical thinking as much as, or more than, Russell was influencing his. (shrink)

Nietzsche gave it a sub-title: A Book for Everyone and No One. For Everyone does not, of course, mean for just anybody. For Everyone means for each man as man, in so far as his essential nature becomes at any given time an object worthy of his thought. And No One means for none of the idle curious who come drifting in from everywhere, who merely intoxicate themselves with isolated fragments and particular aphorisms from this work; who won't proceed along (...) the path of thought that here seeks its expression, but blindly stumble about in its half-lyrical, half-shrill, now deliberate, now stormy, often lofty and sometimes trite language. (shrink)

Background: Clinical ethics committees have been broadly implemented in university hospitals, general hospitals and nursing homes. To ensure the quality of ethics consultations, evaluation should be mandatory. Research question/aim: The aim of this article is to evaluate the perspectives of all people involved and the process of implementation on the wards. Research design and participants: The data were collected in two steps: by means of non-participating observation of four ethics case consultations and by open-guided interviews with 28 participants. Data analysis (...) was performed according to grounded theory. Ethical considerations: The study received approval from the local Ethics Commission (registration no.: 32/11/10). Findings: ‘Communication problems’ and ‘hierarchical team conflicts’ proved to be the main aspects that led to ethics consultation, involving two factors: unresolvable differences arise in the context of team conflicts on the ward and unresolvable differences prevent a solution being found. Hierarchical asymmetries, which are common in the medical field, support this vicious circle. Based on this, minor or major disagreements regarding clinical decisions might be seen as ethical conflicts. The expectation on the clinical ethics committee is to solve this (communication) problem, but the participants experienced that hierarchy is maintained by the clinical ethics committee members. Discussion: The asymmetrical structures of the clinical ethics committee reflect the institutional hierarchical nature. They endure, despite the fact that the clinical ethics committee should be able to detect and overcome them. Disagreements among care givers are described as one of the most difficult ethically relevant situations and should be recognised by the clinical ethics committee. On the contrary, discussion of team conflicts and clinical ethical issues should not be combined, since the first is a mandate for team supervision. Conclusion: To avoid dominance by physicians and an excessively factual character of the presentation, the case or conflict could be presented by both physicians and nurses, a strategy that strengthens the interpersonal and emotional aspects and also integrates both professional perspectives. (shrink)

PurposeThe paper aims to explore future and emerging information and communication technologies. It gives a general overview of the social consequences and ethical issues arising from technologies that can currently be reasonably expected. This overview is used to present recommendations and integrate these in a framework of responsible innovation.Design/methodology/approachThe identification of emerging ICTs and their ethical consequences is based on the review and analysis if several different bodies of literature. The individual features of the ICTs and the ethical issues identified (...) this way are then aggregated and analysed.FindingsThe paper outlines the 11 ICTs identified. Some of the shared features that are likely to have social relevance include an increase in natural interaction, the invisibility of technology, direct links between humans and technology, detailed models and data of humans and an increasing autonomy of technology that may lead to power over the user. Ethical issues include several current topics such as privacy, data protection, intellectual property and digital divides. New problems may include changes to the way humans are perceived and the role of humans and technology in society. This includes changing power structures and different ways of treating humans.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper presents a piece of foresight research which cannot claim exact knowledge of the future. However, by developing a detailed understanding of possible futures it provides an important basis for current decisions relating to future technology development and governance.Practical implicationsThe paper spells out a range of recommendations for both policy makers and researchers/industry. These refer to the framework within which technology is developed and how such a framework could be designed to allow the development of ethical reflexivity.Social implicationsThe work described here is likely to influence EU policy on ICT research and technology research and innovation more broadly. This may have implications for the type of technologies funded and broad implications for the social use of emerging technologies.Originality/valueThe paper presents a novel and important broad view of the future of ICTs that is required in order to inform current policy decisions. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungDie Palliative Sedierung als therapeutische Handlungsoption in anderweitig refraktären Behandlungssituationen wird in der Öffentlichkeit und in Fachkreisen in ihrer klinischen Wertigkeit grundsätzlich akzeptiert und weitgehend positiv konnotiert. Im Widerspruch dazu fallen sowohl die Quantität der empirischen Forschung als auch die Intensität der ethischen und klinischen Diskussion ins Auge, mit der konzeptuelle als auch durchführungsbezogene Aspekte der Palliativen Sedierung beschrieben und kontrovers erörtert werden. Anstatt eines distinkten Behandlungskonzeptes stellt sich hier eher ein komplexes Spektrum verschiedener Vorgehensweisen dar. Die folgende Übersichtsarbeit fasst (...) anhand der aktuellen Literatur zusammen, welche Aspekte im Kontext der Palliativen Sedierung als problematisch bewertet werden. (shrink)

The significance of Friedrich Nietzsche for twentieth century culture is now no longer a matter of dispute. He was quite simply one of the most influential of modern thinkers. The opening essay of this 1996 Companion provides a chronologically organised introduction to and summary of Nietzsche's published works, while also providing an overview of their basic themes and concerns. It is followed by three essays on the appropriation and misappropriation of his writings, and a group of essays exploring the nature (...) of Nietzsche's philosophy and its relation to the modern and post-modern world. The final contributions consider Nietzsche's influence on the twentieth century in Europe, the USA, and Asia. New readers and non-specialists will find this the most convenient, accessible guide to Nietzsche currently available. Advanced students and specialists will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of Nietzsche. (shrink)

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to provide a response to Christiansen's paper, Ellen Christiansen “From ‘ethics of the eye’ to ‘ethics of the hand’ by collaborative prototyping”,Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, Vol. 12 No. 1.Design/methodology/approach– Reflection and critique of Christiansen's position.Findings– The paper raises questions about the conceptual basis, the realisation of participation and the conditions required for participative practice to be more broadly employed.Originality/value– It is an original response.

Womit beschäftigt sich die medizinische Wissenschaft? Ich verstehe ja natürlich nichts davon, aber sie beschäftigt sich doch mit dem Menschen. Und die Juristerei, die Gesetzgebung und Rechtsprechung? Auch mit dem Menschen.

Die sozial- und kulturwissenschaftliche Erforschung auditiver Phänomene ist stets mit spezifischen Wissensformen konfrontiert. Die Rolle, die Musik und andere Klänge in verschiedenen sozialen und kulturellen Kontexten spielen, hängt mit dem Wissen zusammen, welches in bestimmter Weise (re)produziert und vermittelt wird. Wir können etwas über Klänge wissen, oder etwas durch Klänge wissen. Wir können Wissen über die spezifische Erzeugung von Klängen erwerben und weitergeben, oder aber Nachrichten – etwa eine Warnung – klanglich übermitteln. Diese vielfältigen Formen von Klangwissen können auf sehr (...) unterschiedliche Weisen zum Gegenstand wissenschaftlicher Untersuchungen gemacht werden. Der vorliegende Band zu auditiven Wissenskulturen ist ein Versuch, jene üblicherweise in verschiedenen Disziplinen wie Soziologie und Anthropologie, in Geschichte, Psychologie, Ethnologie und Philosophie der Musik oder in Medienwissenschaften verorteten Zugänge zu auditivem Wissen in ein produktives interdisziplinäres Gespräch zu bringen. (shrink)

Africa, along with Asia, is the continent with the highest number of ‘living’ indigenous languages. European languages, mainly English, French and Portuguese, have spread throughout all African nations during the last 200 years; however, until today, the use of these ‘foreign’ languages has been mostly restricted to certain domains, such as higher education, politics and business, and also to a relatively small number of people. According to Scotton (1982: 68) only 10 per cent or less of the rural African population (...) have a considerable competence in the imported languages, even though these are in many instances the official languages of their home countries. African vernaculars are generally not in danger of being replaced by European languages. However, we observe a diminishing use of African vernaculars, not only in an increasing number of domains, but also with regard to the absolute number of indigenous languages; that means, in short, that linguistic vitality and variety on the African continent is decreasing. (shrink)

Posner & Raichle's (1994) book is a fascinating and readable account of the studies the authors have conducted on the localization of cognitive functions in the brain mainly using PET and EEC evoked potential methods. Our criticism concerns the underrepresentation of some imaging techniques (magnetoencephalography) and some forms of brain activity (spontaneous activity). Furthermore, the book leaves the reader with the impression that the brain only responds to external events.

Three levels of trust as a social psychological construct are delineated: trust in a specific person (relational trust), trust in people in general (generalised trust) and trust in abstract systems. Whereas much research is available on relational trust and generalized trust, much less is known about trust in systems. From theory and research several assumptions are derived which are related to the development of trust in the Internet. For example, the reliability of information technology is assumed to be directly related (...) to the development of trust in the Internet. In addition, it is assumed that in situations in which it is hard to verify the justification for trust, people construct subjective beliefs which represent a transformation of relational trust into system trust. Applications of these assumptions for strengthening the trustworthiness of the Internet are discussed. (shrink)

The development of executive functions is recognizably correlated to culture, contextual and social factors. However, studies considering all the basic EF are still scarce in Brazil, most notably in the Northeast region, which is known for its social inequality and economic gap. This study aimed to analyze the developmental trajectories and structure of four EF, namely inhibition, flexibility, working memory and planning. In addition, the potential effects of socioeconomic status and gender were examined. The sample included 230 Brazilian children between (...) 7-12 years old, homogeneously distributed by age, gender and type of school. The EF were assessed through the Brazilian version of the Child Executive Functions Battery. A global effect of age was found for most of the EF measures evaluated. Gender effect was mostly non-significant, except for 4 of the 12 tasks. There was a significant SES effect on 8 tasks, all in favor of private school children. Exploratory factorial and correlation analysis showed a 4-factor EF structure, corroborating the theoretical distribution considered in the CEF-B. A developmental progression is evident in the results for all of the EF measures evaluated. While gender had little influence on EF, SES seems to significantly impact the development of EF. As normative data are still lacking in Northeast Brazil, this study may help to understand EF development trajectories and provide tools for neuropsychological evaluation. (shrink)

Metazoa are one of the great monophyletic groups of organisms. They comprise several major groups of organisms readily recognizable based on their anatomy. These major groups include the Bilateria (animals with bilateral symmetry), Cnidaria (jellyfish, corals and other closely related animals), Porifera (sponges), Ctenophores (comb jellies) and a phylum currently made up of a single species, the Placozoa. Attempts to systematize the relationships of these major groups as well as to determine relationships within the groups have been made for nearly (...) two centuries. Many of the attempts have led to frustration, because of a lack of resolution between and within groups. Other attempts have led to “a new animal phylogeny”. Now, a study by Dunn et al.,1 using the expresssed sequence tag (EST) approach to obtaining high‐throughput large phylogenetic matrices, presents an “even newer” animal phylogeny. There are two major aspects of this study that should be of interest to the general biological community. First, the methods used by the authors to generate their phylogenetic hypotheses call for close examination. Second, the relationships of animal taxa in their resultant trees also prompt further discussion. BioEssays 30:1043–1047, 2008. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Dieser Band dokumentiert die Vorträge einer Tagung, die im Oktober 2014 im Frankfurter Haus am Dom als Tagung der Katholischen Akademie Rabanus Maurus, der Kant-Gesellschaft und der Kant-Forschungsstelle der Universität Trier unter dem Titel "Das Verhältnis von Recht und Moral in Kants praktischer Philosophie" stattgefunden hat. Die Tagung war dem Problem der Gliederung der praktischen Philosophie Immanuel Kants, der systematischen Unterscheidung ihrer beiden Abteilungen, der Rechtslehre und der Ethik im engeren Sinne, sowie den daraus resultierenden Problemstellungen gewidmet. Naturgemäß steht Kants (...) Metaphysik der Sitten mit ihren beiden Systemteilen, den Metaphysischen Anfangsgründen der Rechtslehre und den Metaphysischen Anfangsgründen der Tugendlehre, im Zentrum der Beiträge, aber die Frage nach dem Verhältnis von Recht und Ethik spielt auch in anderen Schriften Kants eine zentrale Rolle. Die in diesem Band versammelten Beiträge beziehen sich in ganz unterschiedlicher Weise auf das übergreifende Thema der Tagung. Im Mittelpunkt stehen dabei vor allem die Probleme der Abgrenzung, wie sie sich innerhalb der Rechtslehre selbst ergeben. Dies ist dadurch bedingt, dass Fragen, die sich innerhalb der juridischen Sphäre stellen, in der Ethik in veränderter Perspektive ebenfalls behandelt werden. This volume documents the papers given at the conference “The Relationship between Law and Morality in Kant’s Practical Philosophy”, held by the Rabanus Maurus Catholic University, the Kant Society and the Kant Research Centre at the University of Trier. The conference was devoted to the problem of classifying Kant’s practical philosophy, of the systematic difference between ist two parts, the theory of law and ethics, and the questions that arrive from this. Naturally Kant’s metphysics are central to the contributions, which take different approaches to the theme of the conference. The focus is on the problems of demarcation as they arise within the theory of law in consequence of the fact that questions posed within the judicial sphere are similarly examined from a different perspective in the ethics. (shrink)