The COVID-19 pathogen led to a fast expanding pandemic because it proved lethal in certain populations but could be transmitted by persons who appeared healthy. As a result, researchers came under unprecedented time pressure to develop a vaccine. This case study focuses on the first COVID-19 vaccine, which was approved for use in humans, known as Comirnaty, the BioNTech-Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine or Vaccine BNT162b2. With the benefit of hindsight, we show how close collaboration with regulators and trust-based decisions meant that (...) the race for a COVID-19 vaccine was won without purposefully infecting healthy participants with an infectious agent that can cause severe illness or death and for which no rescue therapy had existed. (shrink)

'Affective computing' is a branch of computing concerned with the theory and construction of machines which can detect, respond to, and simulate human emotional states. This book presents an interdisciplinary exploration of this rapidly expanding field, aimed at those in psychology, computational neuroscience, computer science, and AI. A Blueprint for Affective Computing: A sourcebook and manual is the very first attempt to ground affective computing within the disciplines of psychology, affective neuroscience, and philosophy. This book illustrates the contributions of each (...) of these disciplines to the development of the ever-growing field of affective computing. In addition, it demonstrates practical examples of cross-fertilization between disciplines in order to highlight the need for integration of computer science, engineering and the affective sciences. (shrink)

Although depression is characterized as a mood disorder it turns out that, like moods in general, it cannot be explained independently of a theory of emotion. In this paper I outline one promising theory of emotion and show how it deals with the phenomenon of depressive mood. An important aspect of MAT is the role it assigns to peripheral information processing systems in setting up emotional responses. The operations of these systems are automatic and opaque to consciousness, but they represent (...) information about the significance of the environment for the subject, bias cognition and behaviour, and have a characteristic phenomenology. I show how understanding the nature of peripheral appraisal provides a principled way to link neurochemistry and mood via an information processing theory of the circuitry targeted by antidepressant treatment. The discussion is organized around Matthew Ratcliffe's distinction between pre-intentional and intentional feelings and suggests that the MAT might provide a way to link phenomenological and mechanistic accounts of feeling states characteristic of depression. (shrink)

Datafizierung, Publizierung, Metrisierung – unter diesen Stichpunkten untersuchen die AutorInnen des vorliegenden Bandes die Auswirkungen der zunehmenden Digitalisierung auf die Erzeugung, Auswahl, Bereitstellung und Bewertung wissenschaftlicher Erkenntnis. Wie wird Wissen aus den Weiten des digitalen Raums herausgefiltert? Wie wird es generiert? Was wird als Wissen verfügbar gemacht – und was nicht? Wie und von wem wird das digital erfasste Wissen evaluiert? Diese den Wissenschaftsbetrieb herausfordernden Fragen diskutieren ExpertInnen aus Philosophie, Informations- und Bibliothekswissenschaft sowie Informatik. Ihre Beiträge reflektieren in kritischer und (...) konstruktiver Weise die Gestaltung und Folgen der digitalisierten Wissenschaftspraxis. (shrink)

In Reverse Mathematics, the axiom system DNR, asserting the existence of diagonally non-recursive functions, is strictly weaker than WWKL0.

This chapter first argues against the widely accepted “mentalist” interpretation of Aristotle’s conception of the perception of external objects. On that view, the perception of objects results from an act of synthesis of the diverse perceptual input provided by the different sense modalities. I argue that Aristotle’s conception of perception does not require such mental “construction” of external objects. For him, we unfailingly perceive external objects by way of modally specific perception: perception without qualification is primarily of external 3-D objects, (...) while modally specific perception is of perceptual qualities. As the special senses cannot operate in isolation from the perceptual system as a whole, it follows that we see colors, hear sounds, etc., and thereby perceive the objects whose colors and sounds they are. The second part offers a causal interpretation of Aristotle’s definition of perception as “reception of the form without the matter,” according to which the causal history of sensory affection fixes the content of the resulting act of perception: perception is cognitive in virtue of being the matterless presence of external things’ qualities in the perceiver. (shrink)

This paper contributes to a theory of rational choice for decision-makers with incomplete preferences due to partial ignorance, whose beliefs are representable as sets of acceptable priors. We focus on the limiting case of `Complete Ignorance' which can be viewed as reduced form of the general case of partial ignorance. Rationality is conceptualized in terms of a `Principle of Preference-Basedness', according to which rational choice should be isomorphic to asserted preference. The main result characterizes axiomatically a new choice-rule called `Simultaneous (...) Expected Utility Maximization'. It can be interpreted as agreement in a bargaining game (Kalai-Smorodinsky solution) whose players correspond to the (extremal) `acceptable priors' among which the decision maker has suspended judgment. An essential but non-standard feature of Simultaneous Expected Utility choices is their dependence on the entire choice set. This is justified by the conception of optimality as compromise rather than as superiority in pairwise comparisons. (shrink)

Traditional eschatology clashes with the theory of entropy. Trying to bridge the gap, Robert John Russell assumes that theology and science are based on contradictory, yet equally valid, metaphysical assumptions, each one capable of questioning and impacting the other. The author doubts that Russell's proposal will convince empirically oriented scientists and attempts to provide a viable alternative. Historical‐critical analysis suggests that biblical future expectations were redemptive responses to changing human needs. Apocalyptic visions were occasioned by heavy suffering in postexilic times. (...) Interpreted in realistic terms, they have since proved to be untenable. The expectation of a new creation without evil, suffering, and death is not constitutive for the substantive content of the biblical message as such. Biblical future expectations must be reconceptualized in terms of best contemporary insight and in line with a dynamic reading of the biblical witness as God's vision of comprehensive optimal well‐being that operates like a shifting horizon and opens up ever new vistas, challenges, and opportunities. (shrink)

Das »Performative« ist in den vergangenen Jahren zu einer festen Größe im Theorierepertoire der Geisteswissenschaften geworden. Seine nachgerade ubiquitäre Verwendung verdankt sich dabei vielfach einem wenig präzisen Verständnis, das – teilweise gegenstrebige – Aspekte von Performanz, Wirklichkeitskonstitution, Emergenz und Präsenzeffekten verbindet. Dieser Band zieht eine kritische Bilanz, ohne dabei ein bestimmtes Verständnis zu verabsolutieren. Die Beiträge bereiten das aktuelle Theoriefeld erstmals so auf, dass es einem breiteren, interdisziplinären Leserkreis zugänglich wird.

This book brings key authors in anthropology together to debate and transgress anthropological expectations.

Throughout the Homo Sacer series, Giorgio Agamben takes seriously the political and philosophical significance of Christian ritual in his archaeology of Western political discourse. In Opus Dei, Agamben argues for the sacrifice of the Mass as the paradigm for the ontology of effectivity, an ontology he sees as still regnant in the West. This ontology depends on the discourse of duty or office, and it begins with the priestly office. The priest’s duty is to be an “animate instrument” in the (...) Mass. However, Agamben’s archaeology contains a massive gap between scholastic theology and Enlightenment political theory—the Protestant Reformation. I argue that Agamben’s hypothesis requires attending to the reformation of the Mass. Examining the works of Luther and Zwingli, I show that in spite of their rejection of the priesthood, the discourse of duty and operativity not only persists but expands through their respective sacramental theologies. (shrink)

„Wenn die utopischen Oasen austrocknen, breitet sich eine Wüste von Banalität und Ratlosigkeit aus“, sagt Jürgen Habermas. Klaus Kufelds Vorträge und Schriften sind allesamt im Ton der denkbaren und erfüllbaren Utopien gehalten. Entstanden im Wirkungskreis des renommierten Ernst-Bloch-Zentrums sind seine breit aufgestellten utopischen Themen zeitlos zu lesen – und repräsentieren eine diagnostische Zeitkritik. Ergänzt wird der Band mit Streitgesprächen zu den Themen Utopie und Heimat mit namhaften Persönlichkeiten aus Wissenschaft und Politik. Mit Beiträgen von Heiner Geißler, Alfred Grosser, Konrad (...) Paul Liessmann, Mark Terkessidis und Sahra Wagenknecht. (shrink)

Dieser abschliessende Band der Bockmühl-Werkausgabe präsentiert 16 Aufsätze zur Grundlegung evangelischer Ethik: Von der Frage der biblischen Grundlage evangelischer Ethik, der theologischen Bewertung der Situationsethik bis hin zum Verhältnis von Reich Gottes und Humanismaus und der Auseinandersetzung mit der Ethik des Marxismus. Die Aufsätze bauen auf den biblischen und reformatorischen Grundlagen auf, versuchen aber auch, in ökumenischer Offenheit den Herausforderungen der nachchristlichen Gegenwart gerecht zu werden. Der Band veranschaulicht eindrucksvoll Bockmühls lebenslanges Bemühen, eine konsequent biblische Ethik darzulegen, auch wenn diese (...) dem Mainstream der zeitgenössischen protestantischen Ethik widerspricht oder sogar zur Modifikation und Korrektur reformatorischer Ethik nötigt. (shrink)

Featuring essays by some of the most prominent names in contemporary political and cultural theory, _Sovereignty in Ruins_ presents a form of critique grounded in the conviction that political thought is itself an agent of crisis. Aiming to develop a political vocabulary capable of critiquing and transforming contemporary political frameworks, the contributors advance a politics of crisis that collapses the false dichotomies between sovereignty and governmentality and between critique and crisis. Their essays address a wide range of topics, such as (...) the role history plays in the development of a politics of crisis; Arendt's controversial judgment of Adolf Eichmann; Strauss's and Badiou's readings of Plato's _Laws_; the acceptance of the unacceptable; the human and nonhuman; and flesh as a biopolitical category representative of the ongoing crisis of modernity. Altering the terms through which political action may take place, the contributors think through new notions of the political that advance countermodels of biopolitics, radical democracy, and humanity. Contributors. Judith Butler, George Edmondson, Roberto Esposito, Carlo Galli, Klaus Mladek, Alberto Moreiras, Andrew Norris, Eric L. Santner, Adam Sitze, Carsten Strathausen, Rei Terada, Cary Wolfe. (shrink)

Die Jahrestagung 2018 der Arbeitsgemeinschaft deutschsprachiger Philosophiedozentinnen und -dozenten im Studium der Katholischen Theologie an wissenschaftlichen Hochschulen fand vom 20.-22. Februar 2018 in der Katholischen Akademie Schwerte statt. Die Fachtagung stand unter dem Thema "Welt - Geist - Gott. Erkundungen zu Panpsychismus und Panentheismus" und widmete sich der Frage, wie sich das Gott-Welt-Verhaltnis religionsphilosophisch und unter Berucksichtigung der heutigen naturwissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse adaquat bestimmen lasst. Der Fokus lag dabei auf zwei alternativen Gottes- und Geistkonzeptionen: Panentheismus und Panpsychismus. Beide Forschungsprogramme wurden intensiv (...) diskutiert und auf ihr jeweiliges philosophisches und theologisches Potential hin befragt, das Verhaltnis von Gott und Welt sowie Geist und Materie auf eine Art und Weise zu denken, die jenseits des bekannten Dualismus von Gott und Welt auf der einen Seite und Geist und Materie auf der anderen Seite liegt. (shrink)