The central question of this book is whether the assignment of government functions to the individual jurisdictions in a federal state can ensure an optimal allocation of resources and a fair income distribution. The analysis thereby gives a new answer to the old question about the optimal degree of fiscal decentralization in a federal state. It shows that fiscal decentralization is a method to disclose the preferences of currently living and future generations for local public goods, to limit the size (...) of the government, and to avoid excessive public debt finance. While the allocative branch of the government benefits from fiscal decentralization, it is difficult to obtain a distribution of incomes that differs from the outcome that the market brings along. (shrink)

When seeking to coordinate in a game with imperfect information, it is often relevant for a player to know what other players know. Keeping track of the information acquired in a play of infinite duration may, however, lead to infinite hierarchies of higher-order knowledge. We present a construction that makes explicit which higher-order knowledge is relevant in a game and allows us to describe a class of games that admit coordinated winning strategies with finite memory.

Normative ethics concerns the criticism and justification of morality, law, and other systems of norms. This book develops a normative ethical theory based on individuals and offers a third way beyond the dominant paradigms of Kantianism and Utilitarianism. This theory can assist us in answering concrete ethical questions. The book discusses, for example, the existence of duties to oneself, the permissibility of paternalistic decisions for others, and the status of supererogatory actions. It also considers various problems in bioethics. Key features: (...) Development of a new normative ethical theory Up-to-date overview of the topic Written in clear and comprehensible style Provides answers to concrete ethical problems Also of interest for doctors, lawyers, and economists ". (shrink)

The prospect of creating and using human–animal chimeras and hybrids that are significantly human-like in their composition, phenotype, cognition, or behavior meets with divergent moral judgments: on the one side, it is claimed that such beings might be candidates for human-analogous rights to protection and care; on the other side, it is supposed that their existence might disturb fundamental natural and social orders. This paper tries to show that both positions are paradoxically intertwined: they rely on two kinds of species (...) arguments, “individual species arguments” and “group species arguments,” which formulate opposing demands but are conceptually interdependent. As a consequence, the existence of HACHs may challenge exactly those normative standards on which the protection of HACHs may eventually be based. This ethical paradox could constitute the ultimate source of the “moral confusion” that some authors have suspected HACHs to provoke. (shrink)

On the Habermasial Argument of Parasitism. In this article it is argued that throughout Habermas' various treatments of the problem of 'simple imperatives' one can find a remaining contradiction: namely between identifying them on the one hand, for logical reasons, as the 'unsocial' acts they are . On the other hand, for fitting into sociological descriptions, Habermas tries to rearrange threats etc. within a so-called 'continuum' of all social actions. These difficulties can only be avoided by recognizing the entirely unsocial (...) character of certain ways of acting. This premiss is applied in an alternative analysis of perlocutions and simple imperatives. It leads to the conclusion that for the sake of logical consistency the possibility of ethical ignorance - the Kantian 'evil'? - must be brought into the categorical account of a grammatical analysis of practical statements. (shrink)

Mündigkeit, verstanden als vernünftige Selbstbestimmung im Sinne einer Handlungsdisposition, sich ohne Anleitung von außen seiner Vernunft, Freiheit und Sprache zu bedienen, drückt sich in überlegungszugänglichen Entschlussfähigkeiten aufgrund eigener Willensbildungsprozesse aus. Gegenstand der in Grundzügen zu entwickelnden pädagogischen Theorie des Willens ist jene Kommunikation, die in allen Erziehungsbereichen (wie z. B. Umwelt-, Sexual- oder Spielerziehung) stattfinden kann. Ihr Ziel ist die Personwerdung. Als Erziehung zur Mündigkeit, also zur und durch Vernunft, Freiheit und Sprache, will und soll sie rationale Überlegungs- und Entschlussfähigkeiten (...) aufgrund emotionaler Bedingungen vermitteln, wobei sich - so die These - der Zu-Erziehende in jedem Erziehungsbereich einen freien und vernünftigen Willen aneignen kann. Grenzen dieser in Form von Sprachspielen stattfindenden Willenserziehung bestehen darin, dass die tatsächliche Aneignung im Sinne sozialisierender Willensbildung von außen nicht bewirkt, dagegen von Aporien der Vernunft und gesellschaftlichen Zwängen ständig behindert werden kann. (shrink)

First we give an overview about variants of visibility and related problems. Then we prove that some guarding and covering problems are NP-hard for ortho-polygons with holes, using a so-called vertex cover technique.

Dietmar Mieth (* 1940), profilierter Moraltheologe, Wissenschaftsorganisator und Meister Eckhart-Spezialist, schildert in diesem Buch seine Erfahrungen in Kirche und Gesellschaft. Die Auseinandersetzungen aus 50 Jahren, an denen der Autor selbst intensiv beteiligt war, werden dabei lebendig: von der Kindheit und Jugend in der vorkonziliaren Kirche, uber das Tubingen der spaten 60er-Jahre, die Diskussionen um die autonome Moral Alfons Auers, den Fall Pfurtner und die Kolner Erklarung, bis hin zur Grundung des Tubinger Internationalen Zentrums fur Ethik in den Wissenschaften und (...) zur ethischen Politikberatung. Ein spannendes Stuck Zeitgeschichte im Spiegel einer aussergewohnlichen Biographie! (shrink)

In his book Kant and the Problem of Self-Knowledge (New York, Abingdon: Routledge 2019, 214 pages) Luca Forgione argues that the semantic, epistemic and metaphysical analysis of Kant’s theory of self-knowledge is possible within the frame of a merely formal understanding of ‘I’. Although the author shows that for Kant self-knowledge is in fact knowledge of a formal thinking subject, there remains the difficulty that the formal analysis of self-knowledge entails the existence claim about the transcendental apperception. This claim is (...) incompatible, I argue, with Kant’s theory of the analytic and synthetic unity of apperception. (shrink)

Dietmar Zaefferer Institutfiir Deutsche Philologie Universitdt Munchen Schellingstr. 3 D-8000 Munchen 40 Semantic universals are the properties the ...

The constitutions of the decolonized new nations were marked by the process of the devolution of power. This process had an impact on the agenda setting and arena setting embedded in these constitutions. ‘Agenda’ refers to the conduct of political affairs and ‘arena’ to the delimitation of the powers of Parliament, the design of constituencies, etc. As a special feature, federalism was introduced by several constitutions. It emerged as a device for the gradual devolution of power. In some instances it (...) proved to be a permanent asset (India), in others it was contested (Nigeria) or rejected (Rhodesia). None of the new constitutions contained adequate provisions for the civilian control of the armed forces. The armed forces were simply taken for granted and their potential political role disregarded. But in many new nations political power was soon usurped by the armed forces and constitutional government was suspended. (shrink)

Nicht zu Unrecht gilt die Behandlung von Angsterkrankungen als die Paradedisziplin der Verhaltenstherapie. Hier wie auch generell zeigt sich die VT dabei aber als zersplittert in eine Vielzahl von Einzelmethoden: Verschiedene Lernformen – Einsichtslernen, Konditionierungslernen und Habituationslernen - werden in ihrem Beitrag zu Angsterkrankungen isoliert voneinander konzipiert. Entsprechend stehen auch auf diesen Lernformen basierende Therapiemethoden für sich. Dadurch werden wichtige Synergiepotenziale verschenkt. Menschliches Lernen, auch und gerade das Lernen und Verlernen von pathologischer Angst, ist aber immer ein ganzheitlicher Prozess. Der (...) Artikel skizziert eine ganzheitliche Psycho-Logik der Eskalation und Chronifizierung pathologischer Angst unter integrierendem Einbezug der o.g. Lernformen. Hieraus leitet sich eine verfahrensintegrierende VT ab, die die etablierten Behandlungsmethoden so kombiniert, dass Synergiegewinne entstehen, was an einem Fallbeispiel verdeutlicht wird. Den theoretischen Hintergrund bildet die Theorie der Selbstorganisation komplexer Systeme, insbesondere die Synergetik – ein Feld, in dem wichtige Aspekte der Gestalttheorie aufgehoben sind. It is not without reason that the treatment of anxiety disorders is considered the showpiece of behavioral therapy. Here as well as in general, however, the BT shows itself fragmented into a multitude of individual methods: Different forms of learning - insight learning, conditioning learning and habituation learning - are designed in isolation from each other in their contribution to anxiety disorders. Correspondingly, treatment methods based on these forms of learning stand for themselves. This gives away important synergy potential. Human learning, also and especially learning and unlearning of pathological anxiety, is always a holistic process. The paper outlines a holistic psycho-logic of the escalation and chronification of pathological anxiety, integrating the above mentioned forms of learning. This leads to the derivation of a method-integrating BT, which combines the established treatment methods in such a way that synergy gains are achieved, as illustrated by a case study. The theoretical background is formed by the theory of the self-organization of complex systems, in particular synergetics - a field in which important aspects of gestalt theory are implied. (shrink)

While video games have blossomed into the foremost expression of contemporary popular culture over the past decades, their critical study occupies a fringe position in American Studies. In its engagement with video games, this book contributes to their study but with a thematic focus on a particularly important subject matter in American Studies: spatiality. The volume explores the production, representation, and experience of places in video games from the perspective of American Studies. Contributions critically interrogate the use of spatial myths (...) ("wilderness," "frontier," or "city upon a hill"), explore games as digital borderlands and contact zones, and offer novel approaches to geographical literacy. Eventually, Playing the Field II brings the rich theoretical repertoire of the study of space in American Studies into conversation with questions about the production, representation, and experience of space in video games. (shrink)

: In the early twentieth century, psychoanalysis tries to investigate a specific logic of the appearance and the incident of what is taken to be unintended in everyday communication and human behavior. What before hardly seemed to be worth systematic research, now becomes a privileged field, in which the meaningful signs of a hidden and unwelcome past appear. For representing this new field of research Freud often makes use of archaeological metaphors. But in quoting the knowledge and the techniques of (...) archaeology, he evokes imaginary landscapes of a reappearing human past, which is not depraved and repressed but glorious and precious. This contradiction or gap between the character of analytical objects and their representation gives reason for an 'archaeological' investigation of psychoanalysis itself. To this end one of the heroes of nineteenth century archaeology, Heinrich Schliemann, will be confronted with two little works of Rudolf Virchow, in which he follows up the astonishing idea of an archaeology of refuse. Relating treasure troves and rubbish dumps it can be asked whether 'archaeological' practices in the late nineteenth century constituted a type of historical knowledge which runs counter to contemporary historicism and is crucial not only for Freud but also for today's theoretical reflections on archaeological perspectives in cultural studies. (shrink)

The main purpose of this thesis is to explore de Finetti's ideas and contributions to decision theory. Such ideas are not as well-known as his work on probability. ;The first part of the work is placed in a unisubjective decision-making context. It starts by including a discussion on predictivism, an approach to statistics which de Finetti insisted on and which has only recently been rediscovered and advocated. ;The second part is placed in the context of group, or multisubjective, decision-making. This (...) area is well-known for its negative results, starting with Arrow's impossibility theorem. While being aware of such difficulties, de Finetti made important contributions to this field, which he saw as the appropriate context to approach basic concepts such as "objectivity" and Wald's admissibility theorem. Such concepts, together with exchangeability, illuminate the Bayesian position by also making connection with the non-Bayesian approach. ;The last part of the work starts with a critical discussion of classical methods which are unacceptable for Bayesians. Finally, an important application problem--environmental stress screening--is solved from a Bayesian predictivist point of view. (shrink)

Dietmar Wetzel unternimmt eine diskurskritisch-vergleichenden Lektüre zweier Theorielinien der neueren Sozialphilosophie: identitäts- versus alteritätsorientierte Konzepte. Das Denken des Ethischen und des Politischen wird dabei anhand einer Beschäftigung mit Schlüsselbegriffen, Konstellationen und Figuren der Gegenwartsgesellschaft thematisch an Gerechtigkeit, Geschlecht, Dritte(m) und Gemeinschaft ausgerichtet. Soziologische Essays, dem Intellektuellen, der Hausfrau, dem Grenzpolizisten und dem Flüchtling gewidmet sind, komplementieren die Analysen. So kann gezeigt werden, daß differenztheoretische Positionen (Lévinas/Derrida) den Begriff der Gerechtigkeit um Aspekte der Fürsorge und der moralischen Gefühle erweitern müssen (...) (Benhabib, Cornell). Da im Übergang der Ich-Anderer-Beziehung zu "ordentlichen Bezügen" das Dritte eine grundlegende Rolle spielt, läßt sich Gemeinschaftsbildung nicht mehr im Sinne natural bzw. religiös begründeter Nachbarschaft (Kommunitarismus), sondern nur als stets neu zu legitimierende und variierende Kultivierung von Andersheit begreifen. (shrink)

This article improves our understanding of the reasons underlying the intellectual migration of scientists from existing cognitive domains to nascent scientific fields. To that purpose we present, first, a number of findings from the sociology of science that give different insights about scientific migration. We then attempt to bring some of these insights together under the conceptual roof of an actor-based approach linking expected utility and diffusion theory. Intellectual migration is seen as the choice of scientists who decide under uncertainty (...) and on the base of estimations about probabilities, costs, and benefits of the migration. The resulting choice model can be used as a heuristic base for further exploration of the subject. (shrink)

The debate about Kantian conceptualism and non-conceptualism has completely overlooked the importance of Kant’s aesthetics. I show how this debate can be significantly advanced by exploring Kant’s aesthetics, that is, the theory of judgments of taste and the doctrine of the aesthetic genius of the third Critique. The analysis of judgments of taste demonstrates that non-conceptual mental content is a condition of the possibility of aesthetic experience. The subsequent discussion of the doctrine of the aesthetic genius reveals that aesthetic ideas (...) must also be conceived in terms of non-conceptual mental content. I finally restrict Kant’s aesthetic non-conceptualism to the way aesthetic perceivers cognitively evaluate artwork, while the doctrine of the genius cannot count as a viable form of aesthetic non-conceptualism. (shrink)

By tradition, Byzantine dance is linked with both classical antiquity and today’s folk dances of the southern Balkans. Turkish influence on the latter seems limited primarily to musical instruments and melody but does not appear to include rhythm. In antiquity, and in Byzantine times, the simple rhythmic foot was divided into arsis and thesis, the ‘up’ and ‘down’ of a step, and the ratio of their lengths determined the rhythmic genus, 1:1 dactylic, 2:1 iambic, 3:2 paeonic and 4:3 epitrite. This (...) implies measures of 2, 3, 4, 5 or 7 units and certain multiples. In addition, there were also composite rhythmic feet which combined simple feet of different genera. In early Byzantium, for example, measures of 11 and probably of 9 units were used. These seem to correspond to the forms 3+3+2+3, 2+3+2+2+2 and 2+2+3+2. This would suggest that the asymmetric rhythms of Greek, Bulgarian and Macedonian folk dances derive from ancient and Byzantine predecessors. (shrink)

The target article by Byrne & Russon treats imitation as an achievement that originates from observation. In my commentary I propose extending the database to the role of listening. Referring to current studies on song learning in birds, I suggest that at least some features of this accomplishment also may be based on learning by imitation.

Soon after the book's publication in 1982, artist David Hockney read Lawrence Weschler's _Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: A Life of Contemporary Artist Robert Irwin _and invited Weschler to his studio to discuss it, initiating a series of engrossing dialogues, gathered here for the first time. Weschler chronicles Hockney's protean production and speculations, including his scenic designs for opera, his homemade xerographic prints, his exploration of physics in relation to Chinese landscape painting, his investigations into (...) optical devices, his taking up of watercolor—and then his spectacular return to oil painting, around 2005, with a series of landscapes of the East Yorkshire countryside of his youth. These conversations provide an astonishing record of what has been Hockney's grand endeavor, nothing less than an exploration of "the structure of seeing" itself. (shrink)

Zusammenfassung Für ältere und hochaltrige homosexuelle Menschen ist die Wahrung der Identität im Pflegekontext häufig erschwert. Neben der generell vorherrschenden Tabuisierung oder Abwertung von Sexualität im Alter sind homosexuelle Personen zusätzlich oft mit heteronormativen Strukturen bis hin zu Diskriminierungserlebnissen konfrontiert. Literatur zum ethischen Handeln im Gesundheitswesen greift den Anspruch der Nichtexklusivität auf. Achtung und Würde stehen hierbei an erster Stelle und sollen allen Personen gleichermaßen zukommen. Diese systematische Literaturübersicht verfolgt das Ziel, anhand von wissenschaftlicher Literatur ethische Ansätze und pflegerische Unterstützungsangebote (...) herauszuarbeiten, die bei der Wahrung der Identität älterer und hochaltriger (> 60) homosexueller Menschen helfen können. Forschungsfrage: „Wie kann die Identität homosexueller älterer Menschen durch die Unterstützung von Pflegepersonen gewahrt werden?“ Anhand eines narrativen Reviews konnten sechs relevante Studien identifiziert werden. Die Recherche wurde in den Datenbanken PubMed und CINAHL durchgeführt. Drei Hauptkategorien wurden identifiziert, die für das Thema Homosexualität im Alter mit seinen Herausforderungen übergreifende Maßnahmenempfehlungen darstellen: Aufklärung und Schulung von Fachkräften, strukturelle Rahmenbedingungen und ein sicheres Umfeld durch eine bedarfsgerechte Versorgung. Pflegepersonen können die Wahrung der Identität homosexueller älterer Personen durch Anerkennung in Form von Zuwendung durch pflegerische Betreuung und soziale Wertschätzung fördern. Zudem ist es wichtig, dass eine rechtliche sowie strukturelle Gleichstellung homosexueller Personen im Pflegekontext und darüber hinaus erfolgt. Eine Auseinandersetzung mit ethischen Grundsätzen und Ansätzen ist hierfür unerlässlich. (shrink)

The prospective introduction of autonomous cars into public traffic raises the question of how such systems should behave when an accident is inevitable. Due to concerns with self-interest and liberal legitimacy that have become paramount in the emerging debate, a contractarian framework seems to provide a particularly attractive means of approaching this problem. We examine one such attempt, which derives a harm minimisation rule from the assumptions of rational self-interest and ignorance of one’s position in a future accident. We contend, (...) however, that both contractarian approaches and harm minimisation standards are flawed, due to a failure to account for the fundamental difference between those ‘involved’ and ‘uninvolved’ in an impending crash. Drawing from classical works on the trolley problem, we show how this notion can be substantiated by reference to either the distinction between negative and positive rights, or to differences in people’s claims. By supplementing harm minimisation with corresponding constraints, we can develop crash algorithms for autonomous cars which are both ethically adequate and promise to overcome certain significant practical barriers to implementation. (shrink)