Ethical statements and position papers on genome editing often refer to “the public” that should get involved, and a public discussion that should take place. It is not self-evident what this reference to the public means and why such a public engagement should take place. This chapter explores the concept of the public as discussed in key position papers on genome editing and puts it into relationship with the notion of the public in political theory. The fuzzy notion of the (...) public is presented in these statements on genome editing as a tool to solve problems and to allow for hitherto unheard points of view to be considered. It is sometimes understood as a general tool for reciprocal education and social self-determination. Other times still it is used in an instrumental way to gain public support and foster an environment friendly to research and innovation. There is disagreement about the aims, the reason, and the norms guiding public discussion and the possibility of a neutral form of communication. Last but not least awareness is required for the way the public debate is framed by the very use of “genome” and “editing” rather than other concepts. (shrink)

The intensified nurse migration leads to severe problems for the health care systems in many developing countries. Using the Philippines as an example, this paper will address the question of global nurse migration from a philosophical perspective. John Rawls' liberal and Michael Walzer's communitarian theory of justice will be examined in view of the ethical problem of nurse migration. In line with Rawls' A Theory of Justice, nurse migration undermines the ability of the people in developing countries to make use (...) of their basic rights and liberties. Walzer's communitarian assessment of nurse migration, on the other hand, will stress the shared ‘thin’ morality, as well as the shared history between the ‘donating’ and receiving countries. This paper argues that the commonality of a shared history and common values implies the moral obligation to ensure a fairer distribution of nurses. (shrink)

Strategien der Angstbewältigung sind abhängig davon, was unter dem Phänomen der Angst verstanden wird. Als eines der grundlegendsten psychischen Phänomene ist die Angst ein Untersuchungsgegenstand unterschiedlicher Disziplinen, die dabei ihre jeweils eigenen Zugänge haben. Das interdisziplinäre Handbuch der Angst beispielsweise beschreibt in der Abteilung »Epistemologie der Angst« nicht weniger als elf unterschiedliche Disziplinen, die sich der Angst widmen: Theologie, Philosophie, Psychologie, Phänomenologie, Soziologie, Ethnologie, Politik, Ökonomie, Ökologie, Gender-Theorie und Biologie der Angst.

The public sphere plays a crucial role in the functioning of liberal democracy. As a sphere conceived ideally independent of state control and economic influence, it serves as the sounding board of social and political concerns, where communications take place, ideas are exchanged, and arguments are put forward. The liberal notion of the public sphere relies on values such as inclusivity, transparency, equality, and rationality. This paper explores the limits of the liberal notion of the public sphere by looking into (...) the recent media transformation, which blurry the boundary between public and private, change the form and content of the circulation of information, and are decoupling the communicative from the political realm. Taken together these media transformation ask for a reconsideration of the dominant model of the public sphere. (shrink)

The paper attempts to philosophically assess the recent U.S. presidential race and to look at some aspects of the underlying beliefs of Barack Obama that aided him in his campaign. The philosophical framework used in order to interpret the political events are mainly from the Critical Theory of Theodor W. Adorno and the neo-Marxist approach of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. Further observations will concentrate on the logic and attraction of the electoral process and the dialectical logic of Sarah Palin’s (...) statements. The first part will discuss the form of U.S. electoral politics, especially the perpetual campaign, whereas the second part will put the policies of the next U.S. president into a philosophical context. (shrink)

The first thing to note about Peirce’s semiotic aesthetics is that Peirce himself had very little to say about it. Two articles published in the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism are concerned with determining Pierce’s views on aesthetic theory. The first was by Max Oliver Hocutt, in 1962, called “The Logical Foundations of Peirce’s Aesthetics.” This article has something less than an auspicious start, however, since its first sentence reads, “There is a sense in which it might be said (...) that Charles Peirce had no aesthetics.” And since that sentence is followed in the next paragraph with one of the flattest—or, if you prefer, deadest of metaphors, to wit. (shrink)

Ambiguity is inherent in the concept of hope especially when used in the field of politics. While a functionalist view of politics can only understand hope in terms of manipulation, an Aristotelian view of politics may require hope for its operation. The ambiguity of hope, then, is traced to ancient Greek and Roman thought, in Hesiod and Ovid. This ambiguity can also be found in 20th century German philosophy. Ernst Bloch is just as enthusiastic about hope as Theodor W. Adorno (...) is skeptical about it. A reflection on their respective philosophies will lead to a better understanding of the potential and the danger of hope in the political field. (shrink)

The debate about the direction, coherence and possible imperialism of universal norms in global bioethics has been going on for years. Proponents of universal norms have fiercely stated their cases focusing on human rights, autonomy and/or further principles in bioethics. Equally forceful has been the opposition to such universal principles arguing mainly on grounds of cultural diversity. The alternative is commonly presented as one between moral relativism and moral imperialism; solutions that are equally unattractive. This paper suggests a way forward (...) for global bioethics by focusing on techniques of moral deliberation as well as on the specific social context from which moral dilemma arises. Such focus will show that the alternative between moral relativism and imperialism only arises when an unreflected notion of medical ethics is applied. The way forward for global bioethics is to acknowledge the way medical ethics is connected to a specific medical practice and to examine its cultural and conceptual foundation rather than insisting on context independent principles.If it is already doubtful whether bioethics exists, it is even more dubious for global bioethics. For almost two decades, discussion over such issue has been going on with hardly any progress. Some uphold the famous four principles as the universal standard; others would like to modify them while still hoping for universality; still others challenge the very notion of universality in the field of medical ethics. The discussion is trapped in a variety of antagonisms: between universalism and particularism, between liberalism and communitarism, between principalism and case-based-bioethics. This paper suggests a way forward beyond these antagonisms by asking about the very nature of medical ethics. First, however, we need to take a closer look on the issue at stake: the quest for a global bioethics and the debate over the identity of medical ethics. (shrink)

Parti PHENOMENOLOGICAL CRITICAL THEORY In these first five chapters, I attempt to establish the ground for the critical and metacritical essays to follow in ...

Opinion surveys were taken in an effort to determine the philosophical beliefs of students beginning philosophy. Correlated sets were made of those who took the survey before and after a first course in philosophy; and opinion shifts noted. The acquired information may be of interest to people in various disciplines. The authors tested the semantic usage of certain epistemological terms, the change in religious beliefs, the degree of consistency between general skepticism and particular knowledge claims. Finally, the authors proposed a (...) consistency test for the measure of the extent to which a sample of students “clarified their beliefs,”; and attempted to measure their own pedagogical efficiency with reference to this test. (shrink)

This text is composed of a Preface and an Index sandwiching ten articles by the author, spanning more than twenty years of his scholarly career, which was spent mostly at Boston College and at l'Université de Louvain. The essays were composed either in the author's native French or in a very readable visitor's English. One of the principal benefits of having this text is its insights into the original German culture that has inspired the essays. When the author himself uses (...) the term "German classicism" he intends specifically the work of Goethe, Schiller, and Hölderlin. Otherwise, the term is used to enclose the philosophical period moving from Kant through Hegel. (shrink)

What is understood by the term “bioethics” varieswidely. Whereas in Germany the focus of the discussioncentres on biotechnological issues like PreimplantationGenetic Diagnosis , research on human stem cellsand cloning, in Asia the concept is understood morebroadly including among others environmental ethics,animal rights and medical ethics. This article tries to setout the discussion going on in Germany on two ratherdifferent levels: On the one hand, it is a legal discussionon whether research on human stem cell should beallowed and whether to put (...) forward PGD. On the otherhand, this discussion is entangled with a highlyspeculative discussion on the issue of manipulation thehuman genes – if ever possible – in order to improve thehuman genes. The main aim of giving this account ofthe ongoing deliberations in Germany is to introducethis discussion to the Asian context in order to enrich thediscourse in bioethics going on here. (shrink)

Menschen leben ihr Leben in Beziehung mit anderen Menschen. Nicht zuletzt die Art und Weise, in der der Mensch mit anderen Menschen verkehrt, macht das Wesen des Menschen aus. Wie aus einer berühmten Passage aus der Politik des Aristoteles hervorgeht, zeichnet den Menschen die Zugehörigkeit zur Gemeinschaft der Polis aus: »Wer aber keine Gemeinschaft eingehen kann, oder einer solchen, weil er sich selbst genug ist, nicht bedarf, ist kein Glied des Staates, vielmehr entweder ein wildes Thier, oder ein Gott«. Gemeinschaft (...) setzt Fähigkeit zur personalen Bindung mit anderen Menschen voraus. (shrink)

Die Existenz von Organismen wird allgemein in Form eines Lebenszyklus dargestellt: Sie führt vom Stadium der Zygote über die Fortpflanzungsfähigkeit und das Alter bis zum Tod. Das Leben eines Individuums wird daher wesentlich als irreversibel von der Geburt bzw. der Entstehung auf den Tod gerichtet verstanden. Die philosophische Tradition hat lange Zeit versucht, wenn nicht diese Irreversibilität zu erklären, so doch zumindest ihr einen Sinn zu geben.

"Ist der Patient ein Mensch?" is a collection of articles. Its central topic is the question if the object of modern medicine is still the human being or if just organs and tissues are treated by medical doctors? The drawing on the book cover shows a lung instead of a human patient lying in a hospital bed. The approaches to this topic are diverse and surprising. E.g. the surgeon Ankersmit argues that it is impossible for him to see the human (...) being in the body lying on the operation table because then he would be unable to perform his work professionally. Other texts stretch the topic of the book to the questions whether medical doctors are human beings or if the human being of today is a "patient" in the sense of a current crisis of anthropology. Also questions like patient autonomy and communication with patients are tackled. The book is edited by Helmut Hofbauer, Lukas Kaelin, Hendrik Jan Ankersmit & Walter Feigl. Authors are: Lukas Kaelin, Gabriele Baumann, Hendrik Jan Ankersmit, Renate Heinz, Claus G. Krenn, Alexander Lapin, Sigrid Pilz, Margot Ham-Rubisch, Petra Herzeg, Klaus Spiess, Lucie Strecker, Paul Ferstl, Helmut Hofbauer & Peter Kampits. (shrink)