The paper tries to contribute to the discussion of the following problem: Nearly every government acts as if it has a natural right to collect taxes – if necessary by force. How legitimate is such an act of expropriation? To find an acceptable solution, three different theories of property are discussed – eventually favouring the Kantian approach. Subsequently, possible vindications of taxation are presented: (1) control of conduct, (2) financing public institutions, (3) reduction of social differences. All three justifications turn (...) out to be de ficient. What remains is John St. Mill's almost forgotten theory; he sees taxes as a sacrifice and, on this account, pleads for a proportional taxation. (shrink)

Auch als originar politischer Denker ist Karl Jaspers reich an Einsichten: Ausgehend vom Ethos der Freiheit jedes Einzelnen richtet er seinen Blick auf die konkrete politische Gestaltung einer Freiheitsordnung. Dabei steht fur ihn im Hinblick auf die noch junge Bundesrepublik die Selbsterziehung in Freiheit im Zentrum seiner oft mahnenden Worte. Ganz im sokratischen Sinne fordert er intellektuelle Redlichkeit und politische Wahrhaftigkeit ein, um den beiden grossen Gegenwartsherausforderungen gewachsen zu sein: einer atomwaffenbestuckten Welt, die sich jederzeit selbst ausloschen kann, und dem (...) modernen Totalitarismus, der in seiner Verherrlichung des Antipolitischen allen politischen Ordnungsbestrebungen die Vernichtung androht. Jeder Frieden, der mehr ist als die Friedhofsruhe eines Waffenstillstands, grundet fur Jaspers in der politischen Freiheit handelnder Burgerinnen und Burger, die gemeinsam Sorge fur die Integritat ihres politischen Gemeinwesens tragen. Mit Beitragen von Karl-Heinz Breier, Alexander Gantschow, Anton Hugli, Annabelle Petschow, Kurt Salamun, Reinhard Schulz, Bernhard Sutor, Bernd Weidmann. (shrink)

Zum Alltag gehort, dass nicht immer alles glatt lauft. Uberraschendes passiert, Routinen greifen nicht mehr, das Selbstverstandliche wird problematisch. Wie reagieren Menschen auf solche Irritationen, die aus dem "plotzlichen Einbruch des Neuen" (H. Schmitz) resultieren? Wie es scheint, haufig spontan, intuitiv, improvisierend. Was aber heisst Improvisation und wie gelingt sie? Und wie spielen Irritation und Improvisation in alltaglichen und beruflichen Situationen konkret zusammen? Die Beitrage des Buches behandeln diese Fragen aus der Perspektive der Neuen Phanomenologie. Mit Beitragen von Heinz (...) Becker, Walter Burger, Sabine Dorpinghaus, Jurgen Hasse, Henning Hintze, Robby Jacob, Robert Josef Kozljanic, Gudula Linck, Hermann Schmitz, Klaudia Schultheis, Viola Straubenmuller und Barbara Wolf. (shrink)

Ideology and politics were among the dynamics that shaped the scholarly reception of Friedrich Hölderlin and his work from the 1920s to 1940s. By taking the examples of research reports by Adolf von Grolman, Johannes Hoffmeister, and Heinz Otto Burger as well as of the controversy between Wilhelm Böhm and Ludwig Strauß, we outline the reciprocal function of Hölderlin and the DVjs. In doing so, we specifically focus on Paul Kluckhohn’s role in Hölderlin research, not only as an (...) editor but also as a public speaker and academic promoter in politically turbulent times. (shrink)

This compelling book contains a comprehensive analytical treatment of the theory of production in a long-period framework. Although the authors take a 'Classical' approach to their subject, the scope of investigation and methods employed should interest all economic theorists. Professors Kurz and Salvadori explore economic systems that are characterised by a particular kind of primary input in the production process, such as different kinds of labour and natural resources. These systems and the corresponding prices can be understood to reflect characteristic (...) features of a capitalist market economy in an ideal way: they express the pure logic of the relationship between value and distribution in an economic system. Specific chapters deal with prices and income distribution, economic growth, joint production, fixed capital, scarce natural resources, and heterogeneous labour. The historical origins of the concepts used are also discussed in considerable detail. (shrink)

The Role of Motivation in Complex Problem SolvingPrevious research on Complex Problem Solving (CPS) has primarily focused on cognitive factors as outlined below. The current paper discusses the role of motivation during CPS and argues that motivation, emotion, and cognition interact and cannot be studied in an isolated manner. Motivation is the process that determines the energization and direction of behavior (Heckhausen, 1991).Three motivation theories and their relation to CPS are examined: McClelland’s achievement motivation, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and Dörner’s (...) needs as outlined in PSI-theory. We chose these three theories for several reasons. First, space forces us to be selective. Second, the three theories are among the most prominent motivational theories. Finally, they are need theories postulating several motivations and not just one. A thinking-aloud protocol is provided to illustrate the role of motivational and cognitive dynamics in CPS. Problems are part of all the domains of human life. The field of CPS investigates problems that are complex, dynamic, and non-transparent (Dörner, 1996). Complex problems consist of many interactively interrelated variables. Dynamic ones change and develop further over time, regardless of whether the involved people take action. And non-transparent problems have many aspects of the problem situation that are unclear or unknown to the involved people. CPS researchers focus exactly on such kinds of problems. Under a narro... (shrink)

Die Krisenerfahrungen der Moderne führen zum Rückgriff auf vormoderne Ordnungsvorstellungen, die jene Legitimationsdefizite kompensieren sollen, die im Zuge einer Dialektik der Aufklärung entstanden sind: die emanzipatorische Kraft der Vernunft scheint sich in eine Instanz neuer Herrschaft zu verkehren, als deren Organ die als repressiv erfahrenen Ordnungsleistungen des Staates begriffen werden. Diese Situation begünstigt die Suche nach Kräften, die menschlichem Eingriff entzogen sind, und kommt der Rehabilitierung von Naturvorstellungen entgegen, die sich der Welt des Menschen als normative Ordnungsquelle anbieten. Inwieweit sich (...) gerade die Geschlechterbeziehungen als Ausdruck solch natürlicher Ordnung verstehen lassen, ist eine der zentralen Fragen einer kritischen feministischen Philosophie. Die Untersuchungen, die die AutorInnen dieses Bandes vorlegen, bewegen sich im thematischen Umkreis dieser Fragestellung: in der Art eines Kompendiums werden in Interpretationen von Texten der politischen Philosophie, die in der Epoche von 1600-1850 entstanden sind, paradigmatische Legitimationsfiguren herausgearbeitet und der feministischen Ideologiekritik zugänglich gemacht. (shrink)

Hofmann, Solbakk, and Holm's (2006) analysis of the use of analogies is an important contribution to the methods of bioethics scholarship. This type of analogical reasoning is certainly common in b...

This essay examines Orosius’s historical-theological perspectives on the basis of the theologumenon of the Pax Augusta. First, it studies the method of Orosius’s chronography and his understanding of salvific oikonomia. Then the Author analyzes the Imperium Romanum and its fulfillment in the Imperium Christianium. A third section treats the synchronism of the Incarnation of the Logos in the Pax Augusta. Finally, the essay demonstrates how Erik Peterson detached Augustus’s theology as political theology from its late ancient context, and contrasts it (...) with the emerging imperial church of National Socialism and Peterson’s denunciation of it. (shrink)

Up till now decisions about biotechnology as a social project has been made exclusively by natural scientists, government burocracies and by private industry. In the will formation process of political parties, social interests groups and parliaments that is currently beginning a value-conservative consensus concerning human genetics is adumbrating itself. At the same time, however, a liberal laisser-faire attitude toward industrial biotechnology is spreading. The last development threatens to trigger a portentos social conflict as the basic critics pointing to the risks (...) has not been taken into consideration sufficiently. From innovative processies of will formation a broader consensus on biotechnology could emerge. Such a more comprehensive will formation process would be beneficial to political culture as well as to a prudent approach to those technologies. (shrink)