This letter responds to a letter by Moti Gorin in the same issue, September‐October 2024, of the Hastings Center Report.

1. Einleitung Kants Aufsatz: „Über das Mißlingen aller philosophischen Versuche in der Theodizee” wird in der Forschungsliteratur sowohl sachlich als auch historisch diskutiert. In philosophiegeschichtlicher Perspektive steht zum einen das Verhältnis der Auffassung Kants zur Theodizee des 18. Jhdts., insbesondere zu Leibniz' Theodizee zur Debatte, zum anderen aber die Frage nach der Stellung des Theodizee-Aufsatzes im Werk Kants selbst, insbesondere im Vergleich zu früheren Äußerungen Kants zum Theodizee-Thema. Daß die Entwürfe der vorkritischen Zeit von denen der kritischen Phase zu trennen (...) seien, behauptete schon die ältere Literatur. Im jüngerer Zeit wurde jedoch argumentiert, in puncto Theodizee falle die entscheidende Grenzlinie nicht mit derjenigen zwischen vorkritischer und kritischer Philosophie zusammen. So meinen Chr. Schulte und G. Cavallar, daß die Vorlesungen über Rationaltheologie, obwohl nach Erscheinen der Kritik der reinen Vernunft gehalten, noch der älteren Phase des Theodizee-Denkens zuzurechnen seien, weil ihnen zufolge Theodizee gelinge, während erst mit dem Theodizee-Aufsatz die neue Phase beginne, für die die These vom Mißlingen der Theodizee kennzeichnend sei. Ausschlaggebend für die Entwicklung der neuen Position mit ihrer Leugnung der Möglichkeit einer Rechtfertigung Gottes könne somit nicht die Vernunftkritik als solche gewesen sein, sondern nur die kritische Reflexion auf das teleologische Denken, wie sie sich in der Kritik der Urteilskraft, also zeitlich in unmittelbarer Nachbarschaft zum Theodizee-Aufsatz findet. Die Ablehnung der Physikotheologie und die Verlegung des Endzwecks der Schöpfung in die Moralität des Menschen reißt Schulte zufolge eine Kluft auf „zwischen der intelligiblen Welt göttlicher Theologie und den Mißständen in der empirischen Welt”, deren Überbrückung mit den Mitteln endlicher Vernunft unmöglich werde. Dementsprechend verabschiede Kant im Theodizee-Aufsatz die Theodizee aus der Philosophie und verweise sie in das Feld des Glaubens. Damit ist über die Frage nach der historischen Einordnung hinaus die viel weiter reichende Frage nach der sachlichen Aussage des Theodizee-Aufsatzes gestellt. Versucht Kant zu zeigen, wie eine philosophische Theodizee mit Aussichtauf Erfolg zu argumentieren habe, oder will er nachweisen, daß nicht nur alle bisherigen Theodizeeversuche gescheitert seien, sondern daß auch alle nur denkbaren zukünftigen Ansätze ihr Ziel verfehlen müssen? (shrink)

Although the doctrine of the affections constitutes an essential part of both psychology and ethics for Classical Greek philosophy, the passion of sorrow was seldom discussed. The Bible, by contrast, frequently mentions the feeling of sorrow, and Christianity, unlike Stoic ethical ideals, assigns sorrow a positive significance—at least to a degree.While it is true that the Gospels generally prefer to paint a picture of Christ as a quiet teacher and master, a few pericopes—especially within the Gospel of John—narrate the sorrow (...) of Jesus in some detail. Integrating the Johannine depictions of Jesus’s sorrow proved quite a challenge for patristic and medieval exegetes, including Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. Both thinkers wrote a Commentary on the Gospel of John and, in their systematic works, both treated the emotions in a principled and philosophical manner. Having engaged Classical Greek and Hellenistic theories on the emotions, Augustine and Aquinas went on to develop a uniquely Christian understanding of the passiones animae, which, in turn, became paradigmatic for the generations that followed. Focusing on their respective commentaries on the Gospel of John, this essay explains what the passiones animae are and why they were seen as an ethical problem in the patristic and medieval periods. It highlights the connection between Augustine and Aquinas as well as their respective contributions both to the doctrine of affections in general and to Christianity’s understanding of sorrow in particular. (shrink)

International conference proceedings, December 2006, T'ubingen.

This book is a philosophical enquiry into the educational consequences of Spinoza’s political theory. Spinoza’s political theory is of particular interest for educational thought as it brings together the normative aims of his ethical theory with his realistic depiction of human psychology and the ramifications of this for successful political governance. As such, the book aims to introduce the reader to Spinoza’s original vision of civic education, as a project that ultimately aims at the ethical flourishing of individuals, while being (...) carefully tailored and adjusted to the natural limitations of human reason. This author-meets-critics includes scholars in philosophy, education and Spinoza studies. (shrink)

En général, on croit que dans De civitate dei 9 et 14 Augustin critique vigoureusement l'idéal d'apatheia et le refus des passions établis par les Stoïciens. Cependant, une comparaison avec les Tusculanae Disputationes de Cicéron prouve dans quelle mesure la théorie augustinienne des passions dépend justement de la tradition qu'Augustin avait reçu de son maître Cicéron. Une telle comparaison éclaircit de plus le concept de concupiscentia chez Augustin.

In participatory activities in the workplace, employees are invited to raise problems and suggest improvements to the management. Although it is widely acknowledged that employees rarely control decisions in these settings, little is known about the interactional resources that employees and managers draw upon when negotiating consensus about which initiatives to pursue in the future. We analyse interactions from participatory meetings in an industrial setting in relation to the topic of work shoes, showing how the participants orient to both their (...) relative deontic rights and epistemic rights. The analysis suggests that besides their low deontic status, employees’ fragile epistemic status constitutes an important but overlooked challenge to achieving improved working conditions through the participatory activities. (shrink)

Immigration is often associated with a situation in which would-be migrants and their countries of origin are put at the mercy of others’ decisions. The main objective of this article is to theorize this ‘being at the mercy’ in light of a republican definition of what freedom is about: the absence of domination. Immigration policy represents instances of domination on a wide spectrum of individuals and political communities. This article focuses on the procedural discretion claimed by states of destination in (...) their relations with would-be migrants. On the basis of a definition of the concept of ‘jurisdiction’, the article distinguishes 4 paradigmatic situations of immigration, which all display situations of domination. In each situation, the state of destination arbitrarily interferes with important interests of individuals and political communities. In light of this argument, existing mechanisms in national, transnational and international settings can be identified and justified as anti-domination measures. The argument offers a blueprint on how to further develop them in preventing domination in immigration. (shrink)

The essays in this book, by a variety of leading Augustine scholars, examine not only Augustine's multifaceted philosophy and its relation to his epoch-making theology, but also his practice as a philosopher, as well as his relation to other philosophers both before and after him. Thus the collection shows that Augustine's philosophy remains an influence and a provocation in a wide variety of settings today.

Covers the entire field of philosophy and its history. It not only defines and describes philosophical terms and ideas, it also shows the connections between the different definitions of a term or idea. All the representative schools or systems of philosophy of the past are included, and contemporary thought is extensively covered. As well, all the important philosophers, both ancient and modern, are treated in the frame of their thought.

Spinoza and Education offers a comprehensive investigation into the educational implications of Spinoza’s moral theory. Taking Spinoza’s naturalism as its point of departure, it constructs a considered account of education, taking special care to investigate the educational implications of Spinoza’s psychological egoism. What emerges is a counterintuitive form of education grounded in the egoistic striving of the teacher to persevere and to flourish in existence while still catering to the ethical demands of the students and the greater community. -/- In (...) providing an educational reading of Spinoza’s moral theory, this book sets up a critical dialogue between educational theory and recent studies which highlight the centrality of ethics in Spinoza’s overall philosophy. By placing his work in a contemporary educational context, chapters explore a counterintuitive conception of education as an ethical project, aimed at overcoming the desire to seek short-term satisfaction and troubling the influential concept of the student as consumer. This book also considers how education, from a Spinozistic point of view, may be approached in terms of a kind of cognitive therapy serving to further a more scientifically adequate understanding of the world and aimed at combating prejudices and superstition. -/- Spinoza and Education demonstrates that Spinoza’s moral theory can further an educational ideal, where notions of freedom and self-preservation provide the conceptual core of a coherent philosophy of education. As such, it will appeal to researchers, academics and postgraduate students in the fields of philosophy of education, theory of education, critical thinking, philosophy, ethics, and Spinoza studies. (shrink)

The genetically manipulated organism crisis demonstrated that technological development based solely on the law of the marketplace and State protection against serious risks to health and safety is no longer a warrant of ethical acceptability. In the first part of our paper, we critique the implicitly individualist social-acceptance model for State regulation of technology and recommend an interdisciplinary approach for comprehensive analysis of the impacts and ethical acceptability of technologies. In the second part, we present a framework for the analysis (...) of impacts and acceptability, devised—with the goal of supporting the development of specific nanotechnological applications—by a team of researchers from various disciplines. At the conceptual level, this analytic framework is intended to make explicit those various operations required in preparing a judgement about the acceptability of technologies that have been implicit in the classical analysis of toxicological risk. On a practical level, we present a reflective tool that makes it possible to take into account all the dimensions involved and understand the reasons invoked in determining impacts, assessing them, and arriving at a judgement about acceptability. (shrink)

Jag har brutit med vårt aktuella paradigm. Detta är varför. /Ihave broken with our present paradigm. This is why.

Enacting an AI system typically requires three iterative phases where AI engineers are in command: selection and preparation of the data, selection and configuration of algorithmic tools, and fine-tuning of the different parameters on the basis of intermediate results. Our main hypothesis is that these phases involve practices with ethical questions. This paper maps these ethical questions and proposes a way to address them in light of a neo-republican understanding of freedom, defined as absence of domination. We thereby identify different (...) types of responsibility held by AI engineers and link them to concrete suggestions on how to improve professional practices. This paper contributes to the literature on AI and ethics by focusing on the work necessary to configure AI systems, thereby offering an input to better practices and an input for societal debates. (shrink)

La recherche universitaire doit plus que jamais composer avec les intérêts d’un nombre croissant de partenaires. Le cas de la distinction entre soin expérimental et soin innovateur souligne l’importance de l’éthique de la recherche en tant que responsabilité partagée ; cela exige de repenser la frontière entre la pratique clinique et l’expérimentation sur l’humain. Or, définir ce qu’est une « nouvelle pratique » n’est pas chose simple. Selon quels critères – et ceux de qui, au nom de quoi? – juge-t-on (...) qu’une modification apportée à une pratique reconnue est suffisamment importante pour constituer de la recherche? Du bilan de la situation actuelle en France et au Canada, la présente étude entend faciliter le dialogue entre ceux qui ont à gérer ensemble cette responsabilité, soit le chercheur et le clinicien, l’institution où s’effectue leurs travaux ou celle qui les approuve, l’organisme privé ou public qui les finance, ainsi que les ministères et organismes professionnels concernés. (shrink)

Metaphysik i 100 [reproduction of Norwegian symbol for paragraphs], av J. S. Welhaven.--Innholdsgjennomgåelse, av E. A. Wyller.--Welhaven og filosofien, av A. H. Winsnes.--Welhavens estetikk, av A. Aarnes.--Welhaven-litteratur (p. 175-[176]).