Boards of directors affect corporate strategy and decision-making through monitoring of management and resource provision. Recently, an increasing number of studies have examined the relationships between board characteristics and corporate social responsibility (CSR). These studies have yielded inconsistent findings. This article therefore reports the results of a study applying meta-analytical techniques to a sample of 82 empirical studies to help clarify the relationships between board characteristics and CSR. Although prior research has tended to apply relatively simplistic models investigating the impact (...) of individual board characteristics independently and only directly, we adopt a more complex perspective to shed new light on the board characteristics–CSR nexus. Specifically, we use a meta-analytic path model that accounts for the potential interplay between board characteristics in determining CSR and tests whether the presence of a CSR committee plays a meditating role. Our findings suggest that board size, board independence, and female board representation are partially interrelated with each other and jointly influence CSR directly as well as indirectly via the presence of a CSR committee. In addition, we find that country-level institutional factors act as moderators and that the relationships differ with regard to the specific dimension of CSR (i.e., social, environmental, or aggregate). (shrink)

This article explores the existential conditions for a transition towards socioeconomic degrowth through an analysis of a paradigm shift between two extreme polarities of socio-ecological positioning: the Dominant Social Paradigm (DSP) and the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP). It is suggested that the transition from one to the other – understood as the first collective step towards degrowth – requires a transformation in the way we, in western capitalist society, define ourselves in relation to nature. This identity transformation corresponds with the (...) reconnection between humans and nature that ecopsychology has been calling for since its emergence in the 1970s. However, according to recent empirical studies in existential psychology, such a transformation contains potentially disquieting aspects, since it implies recognising and accepting the idea of our own mortality. Staging a dialogue between ecopsychology and critical degrowth theories, this article argues that the necessary transition towards degrowth requires new ways of dealing with these existential fears – namely, confronting them in a ‘reflexive’ rather than ‘defensive’ way – so as to develop relationships with nature that respect the limits of the biosphere. (shrink)

"Special attention is paid to the sacred texts in each system, as well as to the life stories of such major figures as the Buddha, Confucius, and Lao-Tzu."--Cover.

Name der Zeitschrift: Frühmittelalterliche Studien Jahrgang: 46 Heft: 1 Seiten: 241-300.

Der Beitrag behandelt die Konzepte von Gerechtigkeit und Gleichheit im Kontext des gesellschaftspolitischen Diskurses der Moderne, in dem die Gestaltung staatlich organisierter Gesellschaften insgesamt, ihrer staatlichen Ordnung wie auch ihrer ökonomischen Verfassung, zur Debatte steht. Um die sehr komplexe Struktur der Ideen von Gerechtigkeit und Gleichheit zu erhellen, wird zunächst das Vokabular von Gerechtigkeit und Gleichheit untersucht, um seine vielfältigen Verwendungsweisen und die damit verbundenen normativen Forderungen herauszuarbeiten. Davon ausgehend wird dann die moderne Vorstellung sozialer Gerechtigkeit und Gleichheit in den (...) Blick genommen und ihre grundlegenden Postulate an die politische und ökonomische Ordnung moderner Staaten skizziert. (shrink)

With an inside view from an expert in the field and a clear and engaging writing style, Asian Philosophies, Seventh Edition invites students and professors to think along with the great minds of the Asian traditions. Eminent scholar and teacher John M. Koller has devoted his life to understanding and explaining Asian thought and practice. He wrote this text to give students access to the rich philosophical and religious ideas of both South and East Asia. New to this seventh (...) edition: Added material on Confucianism, including focused coverage of (1) the Analects and society and (2) ren and nature; Additional information on Theravada Buddhism, Vajrayana Buddhism, and Zen Buddhism as well as new in-depth coverage of ecological attitudes in Buddhism; Expanded coverage of ecological attitudes in all of the Asian traditions; Brief excerpts from primary sources to help better explain the key concepts; Added timelines for essential texts in each tradition; Improved Glossary and Pronunciation Guide; Additional text boxes, to help students quickly understand key ideas, texts, and concepts; Updated Further Reading sections. (shrink)

The relationship between human rights and civil rights is twofold: on the one hand these rights can be viewed as forming a unity, and on the other there is a significant difference between them. The unity of human and civil rights is based upon the widely shared view that both are fundamental and universal rights, inherent to all human beings without regard to any contingent factors. This unity, however, is weakened by the division of our world into a plurality of (...) separate and independent states. It thus becomes plausible to assume that the citizens of a particular state are endowed with certain fundamental rights towards each other and their state, which are stronger than the rights existing between human beings in general. In this respect, human and civil rights are significantly different.However positive law may draw the line between human and civil rights, any such delimitation needs moral justification and is questionable from an ethical point of view. Moreover, there is reason to doubt that traditional approaches are still suitable in a world in which different societies are merging in their economic, political and ecological affairs. This article considers the ethical foundation for human and civil rights in an attempt to determine whether the traditional delimitation between them is in need of revision. An argument is made that human and civil rights differ in their moral justification. While human rights can be justified by the basic principle of a universal morality, namely the principle of universalization, civil rights are based on our conception of social justice. The justification for civil rights, however, proceeds from the assumption that any given society is a self-sufficient and independent community. Since this assumption no longer corresponds to the conditions of our modern world, the article concludes that a new understanding of basic rights is imperative. (shrink)

The processing of metaphors and idioms has been the subject of neuroscientific research for several decades. However, results are often contradictory, which can be traced back to inconsistent terminology and stimulus control. In this systematic review of research methods, we analyse linguistic aspects of 116 research papers which used EEG, fMRI, PET, MEG, or NIRS to investigate the neural processing of the two figurative subtypes metaphor and idiom. We critically examine the theoretical foundations as well as stimulus control by performing (...) a systematic literature synthesis according to the PRISMA guidelines. We explicitly do not analyse the findings of the studies but instead focus on four primary aspects: definitions of figurative language and its subtypes, linguistic theory behind the studies, control for factors influencing figurative language processing, and the relationship between theoretical and operational definitions. We found both a lack and a broad variety in existing definitions and operationalisation, especially in regard to familiarity and conventionality. We identify severe obstacles in the comparability and validation potential of the results of the papers in our review corpus. We propose the development of a consensus in fundamental terminology and more transparency in the reporting of stimulus design in the research on figurative language processing. (shrink)

My paper consists of two parts. The first part deals with the fundamental normative standards of domestic social justice on the one hand and global justice on the other, standards that are requisite in order to identify injustices on both levels. On this basis, the second part focuses on the interrelations between domestic social justice and global justice with particular attention to the interdependencies between domestic and global injustices.

In this paper, I make an attempt to look for a thin and general concept of law that, as far as possible, should be neutral to the more substantial views of legal moralism and legal positivism, so that it is acceptable from both points of view. With this aim in view, I shall begin with a few remarks on concept formation and name a list of necessary requirements on an appropriate concept of law. On this basis, I intend to discuss (...) a number of contemporary legal theories in view to their respective interpretations of the concept of law. Finally, I want to propose a definition of law that not only satisfies the requirements of the concept of law, but is also general enough to be compatible with both camps of legal thinking. (shrink)

The long-awaited follow-up to Koller's bestselling chronicle of self-discovery An Unknown Woman outlines how Koller has used her personal philosophy to meet the challenges of everyday life and invites readers to make their own commitment to honest living. Topics include earning money, finding a home, mourning, and feeling good about living alone as well as with others.

Üblicherweise wird die Negation als logisch-grammatische Denkoperation verstanden, die den faktischen Geltungsanspruch von Vorstellungen und Aussagen aufheben soll. Das Buch geht über dieses etwas verkürzte Verständnis des Phänomens hinaus und nimmt primär die anthropologischen, erkenntnistheoretischen, semiotischen und sinnbildenden Funktionen von Negationsformen in den Blick, die bisher selten Gegenstand der Analyse waren.

Unser Wissen von Sprache können wir in Form von Begriffen, Erzählungen oder Bildern objektivieren, wobei die begriffliche Repräsentation üblicherweise als höchste Stufe der Wissensbildung gilt. Gleichwohl sollten wir die narrativen und sinnbildlichen Objektivierungen von Sprache keineswegs nur als defizitäre Vorstufen der begrifflichen ansehen, sondern eher als ergänzende Formen. Die begriffliche Erschließung von Sprache hilft uns, Sprache als Erfahrungsgegenstand kategorial einzuordnen und uns argumentativ über sie zu verständigen. Die narrative hilft uns, das pragmatische Funktionspotenzial der Sprache in konkreten Lebenszusammenhängen kennenzulernen. Die (...) sinnbildliche hilft uns, die komplexen Strukturen und Funktionen von Sprache über Analogien zu empirisch fassbaren Erfahrungsgegenständen in den Blick zu bekommen. Deshalb lassen sich Sinnbilder über Sprache als hermeutisch-heuristische Hypothesen verstehen, die mehr als ornamentale Funktionen haben. Sie gehen aus einem experimentellen Denken hervor und wollen unserer Nachdenken über Sprache dialektisch in Fluss halten. Sie veranschaulichen uns die Genese und die Substrukturen unseres Wissens von Sprache und wollen dieses nicht abschließend auf statische Begriffe bringen. (shrink)

The purpose of the article is to examine the development of skepticism in indian philosophical thought. A number of important vedic passages are analyzed in order to show that although the authors were concerned with questions about the origins and guarantees of knowledge claims, There was no developed philosophical skepticism in the vedic age. The skepticism of purandara is examined to illustrate the carvaka position. Jayarasi bhatta's thorough-Going skepticism is examined to show that complete skepticism is self-Contradictory--It involves claiming to (...) know that the criteria for valid knowledge "cannot" be met. It is suggested that recognition of the skeptic's inconsistency in holding that it is "known" that no knowledge is possible may have been one of the reasons why skepticism failed to take hold in india, Despite great emphasis on epistemological issues. (shrink)

This article explores the formal and functional characteristics of narratives of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ deaths as they were told by 13 UK-based hospice managers in the course of semi-structured interviews. The interviewees’ responses include a variety of remarkably consistent ‘narratives of successful/frustrated intervention’, which exhibit distinctive formal characteristics in terms of the starting point and core of the action, the choice of personal pronouns and metaphors, and the ways in which positive and negative evaluation is expressed. In functional terms, the (...) hospice managers’ narratives play an important role in representing and constructing their professional views, challenges and identities. Overall, the narratives argue for the role of hospices and professional hospice staff in facilitating a ‘good’ death, and, by presenting a relatively unified view, may potentially preclude alternative perspectives. (shrink)

Die Publikation hat das Ziel, Analogierelationen als heuristische Zauberstäbe bzw. als semiotische Universalien anzusehen, über die sich Unbekanntes mit Hilfe von Bekanntem heuristisch erschließen lässt. Das bedeutet, dass Analogien zugleich analysierende, synthetisierende und spielerische Grundfunktionen zukommen, die uns sehr vielfältige Resonanzräume eröffnen können. Es beinhaltet weiter, dass Analogieannahmen auch dazu dienlich sind, die Welt der Objekte in einen fruchtbaren Interaktionszusammenhang zu der Welt der Subjekte zu bringen. Dadurch lässt sich dann auch die These Cassirers sehr gut exemplifizieren, das der Mensch (...) ein genuines Zeichenwesen (animal symbolicum) ist, das sich seine Lebenswelt mit Hilfe kultureller Zeichen erschließen kann und muss. Deshalb richtet sich das Erkenntnisinteresse hier dann auch nicht nur auf die allgemeinen kulturgeschichtlichen, philosophischen und semiotischen Aspekte des Analogiephänomens, sondern insbesondere auch auf die Analogieimplikationen unserer lexikalischen, grammatischen, metaphorischen, funktionalen und textuellen Sinnbildungsmuster, um die Welt der Objekte mit der Welt der Subjekte in einen fruchtbaren Interaktionszusammenhang miteinander zu bringen. (shrink)

The paper aims at a critical discussion of Alexy’s conception of the relationship between law and morality, which is known to insist on their necessary connection. After a brief recapitulation of this conception, the author scrutinizes three of its essential elements: the thesis of the dual nature of law, the argument from law’s claim to moral correctness, and the idea of an objective morality. Finally, he sketches his own position which, in some respects, resembles Alexy’s view, but also differs from (...) it in certain relevant points. (shrink)