Medical imaging has provided insight into the living body that were not possible beforehand. With these methods a revolution in medical diagnosis and biomedical research has begun. Problematic aspects on the other hand are arising from the highly constructive properties of image production, which use complicated physical and physiological effects. Images are established via highly complicated combinations of technology and contingently chosen mathematical and algorithmic solutions. In addition, image construction follows properties of the human visual and cognitive system to allow (...) for the discrimination of the desired categories. It is no wonder that the visualizations referring to the body also show effects which have no physiological correlation within the body. Still such images are often used as if they were one-to-one correlates of the body. This has impacts, e.g. for their use as standardizing instances, resulting in new definitions of the normed healthy body, sickness or pathologies, maleness and femaleness and in determinisms as opposed to the brain's plasticity and variability, both in time and space, inter- as well as intra-individually. (shrink)

Considering two recent trends in the Humanities – the cultural turn and the increase of critical sociohistorical reflections on a global level – in this paper it should be looked at their influences especially on philosophy. One of these influences can be located in the emergence of “intercultural philosophy” since the 1990s which calls for a reorientation of philosophy in general. Regarding mainly one of the favored methods, the polylogue, it is important to take into account the postcolonial perspective, too. (...) For such an interculturally and postcolonially motivated approach there are two tasks which are highly relevant: 1) the deconstruction of history in direction towards a new critical historiography and 2) the due reflection of crucial philosophical concepts and categories in direction towards a conceptual decolonization. Mainly the latter, in my opinion, marks a necessary and already overdue project for rethinking the philosophical vocabulary and for overcoming its colonial impact. Perhaps this may finally become a really intercultural philosophical project in which philosophers engage wherever they may be from. (shrink)

Here moral problems created by the use of constructive imaging technologies within the life sciences are discussed. It specifically deals with the creation of dichotomies, such as gender, race and other differences, created and manifested through the contingent use of scientific and computational models and methods, channelling the production process of scientific results and images. Gender in technology studies has been concerned with destabilizing essentialist and dichotomous co-constructions of gender and technology. In the technological construction process gendered social constructions of (...) stereotypes and inequalities both of the technological models and of the presumptions in life sciences become structural properties of the artefacts, again flowing back into the seemingly objective results and knowledge of the life sciences. Here we will deal with the construction of gender differences via biomedical imaging and the creation of norms in atlases. Additionally, the de-contextualized images, showing idiosyncratic selections and reducing complexity are used to popularize gendered assumptions about biological facts. (shrink)

How do we switch between “playing along” and treating robots as technical agents? We propose interaction breakdowns to help solve this “social artifact puzzle”: Breaks cause changes from fluid interaction to explicit reasoning and interaction with the raw artifact. These changes are closely linked to understanding the technical architecture and could be used to design better human–robot interaction (HRI).

This paper focuses on the normative analysis—in the sense of the classic decision-theoretic formulation—of decision problems that arise in connection with forensic expert reporting. We distinguish this analytical account from other common types of decision analyses, such as descriptive approaches. While decision theory is, since several decades, an extensively discussed topic in legal literature, its use in forensic science is more recent, and with an emphasis on goals such as the analysis of the logical structure of forensic expert conclusions regarding, (...) for example, propositions of common source of evidential and known materials. Typical examples are so-called identification decisions, especially categorical conclusions according to which fingermarks come from a particular a person of interest. We will present and compare ways of stating forensic identification decisions in decision-theoretic terms and explain their underlying rationale. In particular, we will emphasize the importance of viewing this analysis as normative in the sense of providing a reflective rather than a prescriptive reference point against which people in charge of forensic identification decisions may compare their otherwise intuitive and informal reasoning, before acting. Normative decision analysis in forensic science thus provides a vector through which current practice can be articulated, scrutinized and rethought. (shrink)

Should high‐income countries engage in solar geoengineering research and possible deployment? On the assumption that the speed of the energy transition will be insufficient to abate catastrophic climate impacts, research into solar geoengineering begins to look like a technically and socially feasible route to mitigate such impacts. But on the assumption that a rapid and relatively just energy transition is still within the realm of political possibility, research into solar geoengineering looks more like an ideological tool designed to divert time (...) and resources from less risky climate solutions. At the heart of debates over solar geoengineering, then, is disagreement over what political actors can be expected to do in the future. In this article, I argue that both objectors to and proponents of solar geoengineering research often make background assumptions regarding expected future actions that are either (a) inaccurate or (b) inconsistent. I propose an account of expected future actions that avoids these problems and sketch what the debate over solar geoengineering looks like with these assumptions in place. (shrink)

Metaphors abound in descriptions of the COVID-19 pandemic: it is described, among other things, as a war, a flood, and a marathon. However, not all metaphors may resonate equally well with members...

Het einde van de juridische persoon? Het juridisch persoonsbegrip heeft in de loop der tijd verschillende gedaantes aangenomen. Recentelijk bepleiten verschillende auteurs wegens zorgen over onder meer klimaat, kolonialisme en dierenwelzijn echter niet zozeer een nieuwe gedaanteverwisseling, maar een algehele opheffing van het persoonsbegrip. De beoogde oplossing om de juridische persoon af te schaffen brengt evenwel ernstige problemen met zich. Niet alleen kan men zich afvragen hoe rechtsbescherming en verantwoordelijkheid tot stand kunnen komen in een rechtsorde zonder juridische persoonlijkheid, maar (...) ook is het goed mogelijk dat de verdwijning van de juridische persoon de weg vrijmaakt voor onderwerping van burgers aan de steeds verfijndere systemen van datasturing via big data en Big Tech. Om recht te doen aan de uitdagingen waarvoor het Antropoceen én technologische ontwikkelingen de rechtsorde stellen, wordt in deze beschouwing gepleit voor een verdere ontwikkeling van de juridische persoon in plaats van de afschaffing van dat begrip. (shrink)

The evolution of the understanding of evidence-based proof and decision processes in the law, especially criminal law, and standards of proof in this area, has a long-standing and controversial history. Competing accounts cause the legal scholarship to engage in critical and thoughtful exchanges. Some of the divergent views reflect different methodological perspectives similarly recognized in other fields, such as applied psychology and economy, and the broader interdisciplinary research fields of judgment and decision-making, system analysis and decision science. One such methodological (...) perspective asserts that accounts of juridical proof should provide a description and explanation of how the legal system actually works as a whole. Other—more mathematical and analytical accounts—concentrate on how, ideally, legal decision-making under uncertainty ought to be made in order be considered sensible. This paper focuses on the relative plausibility account advocated by Professors Allen and Pardo as an example of the former perspective. Its logical structure and argumentative implications are analysed using elements of decision theory, which is the prime representative of the latter, more mathematical approach to legal proof. Using formal diagrammatic schemes to depict the structural relationships between the core elements of the two accounts, it is demonstrated in what sense they can be considered logically related and congruent. The demonstration shows that the principal disagreements among the proponents of the two examined theories derive from differences in the criteria used to judge the adequacy of competing accounts of legal decision-making, and the level of formalization of the bases of decisions in each candidate account. This structural analysis supports the view that adherence to one or the other of the examined perspectives does not imply a contradiction, but reflects the coverage of different aspects of the same overall decision architecture. Using decision-theoretic notions, our analyses also provide a way to explain RP decisions through an explicit criterion, thus providing a reply to the recurrent critique that RP theory lacks specific means to justify its decisional framework. (shrink)

Attempts to determine the value and intergenerational importance of environmental goods have a difficult time accounting for the non-basic services that ecosystems provide. Discussions of ‘Critical Natural Capital’ deem some ecological goods ‘non-substitutable’: acting justly towards the future requires their preservation. These characterizations, however, often miss a crucial distinction between the type of non-substitutability exhibited by basic CNC and sociocultural CNC: the former is only technologically and practically non-substitutable while the latter is constructed as such by specific groups regarding token (...) natural spaces. In this thesis, I address whether sociocultural natural capital is a required component in the basket of goods we leave for future generations. While the constructed nature of the value of these goods makes their implication in a theory of intergenerational justice subject to a number of objections, I argue—employing the Rawlsian tools of the veil of ignorance and the original position—that they are indeed a required component of a just bequest. (shrink)

Die Kategorie des Menschseins wird aufgrund wechselnder Wissensbestände und Orientierungskrisen immer wieder neu bestimmt. Das Ästhetische ist damit eng verbunden. 'Aisthesis' ist erstens eine Form der sinnlichen und empfindenden Wahrnehmung, ein vorrationaler 'way of worldmaking' (Nelson Goodman), der den Bezug des Menschen zu sich und seiner Welt moduliert. Ästhetische Vorstellungen grundieren zweitens aber auch die Idee des Humanen und die Normen menschlicher Handlungs-weisen. Und drittens sind ästhetische Erkenntnis- und Ausdrucksformen Teil eines 'selbstgesponnenen Bedeutungsgewebes' (Clifford Geertz) der Kultur, das die Grenzen (...) und das 'Andere' des Menschen bestimmt. Der interdisziplinäre Sammelband vereint aus verschiedenen Fächern und Forschungsperspektiven heraus Einblicke in die Wechselwirkungen zwischen anthropologischen Fragestellungen und ästhetischen Formationen. Mit Beiträgen von Horst Bredekamp, Steffen Martus, Martin Seel, Christoph Wulf, Elisabeth Timm u.a. (shrink)

In the Australian context, all teachers are obliged, in accordance with the national curriculum, to engage students in critical and creative thinking in the classroom. Yet teachers often wonder ‘How do we facilitate the development of (critical and creative) thinking skills in our students?’ In our specific local context, a large-scale community consultation highlighted a need for a thorough, concerted strategic approach in relation to this obligation. In this paper we spell out our response to this need: the establishment of (...) a Centre for Critical Thinking and Ethics to implement a two-pronged strategic approach. It is our contention that the best way to cater for students’ growth in critical and creative thinking is to combine deliberative use of explicit critical thinking materials with the norms/tools/activities and strategies of the Philosophy in Schools pedagogy. Our innovation consists primarily in our 'detached' and 'embedded' approaches to critical thinking at Newington College. We aim to contribute to the ongoing discussion of best practice in critical and creative thinking, to improve capacity both in and beyond our own school. (shrink)

Suppose the present generation leaves future ones with a world depleted of all the natural resources required for many valuable human pursuits. Has the present generation acted unjustly? According to contemporary theories of liberal egalitarian intragenerational and intergenerational justice, the answer, it appears, is no. The explanation for this verdict lies in the liberal commitment to remaining neutral between different ways of life: many value-laden environ- mental sites and species are not an all-purpose means to any reasonable human end and (...) so their existence is not directly relevant in an assessment of whether justice obtains. Against this view, I argue that a commitment to neutrality and its underlying justification – the idea that individuals should be equipped to live lives of their own design – in fact supports the opposite conclusion. If justice requires that citizens can pursue whatever way of life they do or might value, then it will also demand the continued existence of the natural resources necessary for those pursuits. (shrink)