In "The Quest for Consciousness," Caltech neuroscientist Christof Koch explores the biological basis of consciousness.

In the age of the digital generation, written public data is ubiquitous and acts as an outlet for today's society. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn have profoundly changed how we communicate and interact. They have enabled the establishment of and participation in digital communities as well as the representation, documentation and exploration of social behaviours, and had a disruptive effect on how we use the Internet. Such digital communications present scholars with a novel way to detect, observe, analyse (...) and understand online communities over time. This article presents the formalization of a Social Observatory: a low latency method for the observation and measurement of social indicators within an online community. Our framework facilitates interdisciplinary research methodologies via tools for data acquisition and analysis in inductive and deductive settings. By focusing our Social Observatory on the public Facebook profiles of 187 federal German politicians we illustrate how we can analyse and measure sentiment, public opinion, and information discourse in advance of the federal elections. To this extent, we analysed 54,665 posts and 231,147 comments, creating a composite index of overall public sentiment and the underlying conceptual discussion themes. Our case study demonstrates the observation of communities at various resolutions: “zooming” in on specific subsets or communities as a whole. The results of the case study illustrate the ability to observe published sentiment and public dialogue as well as the difficulties associated with established methods within the field of sentiment analysis within short informal text. (shrink)

Starting from a reconstruction of the origins of the concept of “modernity” in the late Nineteenth century and of the different interpretations of it in the context of the German social sciences, the essay articulates its radical ambivalences. After establishing that modernity cannot be measured on a scale of progress, neither can it be identified with a specific value, Christof Dipper suggests that there are many conceptions of modernity as there are societies, and that these are not necessarily following (...) a common path. The concept of modernity, that includes anti-modernity as well, embraces therefore actors, representations, and constellations, offering an overall reading of history. (shrink)

Commons enjoy recognition as an alternative to the dichotomy of state and market. In contrast to liberal market theorists who frame the commons as resource-based, we build on alternative and critical conceptions that describe the commons as processual, social, and inherently relational. Our analysis adds to these accounts an articulation of the contemporary commons as “social infrastructure” in the urban spatial conditions where the social processes of commoning take place. We argue that the relational features of urban commons depend on (...) social interactions and cross-sector partnerships in physical places that promote social cohesion, suggesting that the urban commons fold together the spatial and social in hitherto undertheorized ways. To theorize this relationship, we articulate the idea of the relational urban commons as sites of social interaction and relationship building—social infrastructure. This conceptualization suggests that the commons can be governed indirectly by enabling access, participation, and partnerships across sectors, fostering mixed uses and the provision of maintenance and repair. As a result, the commons are both maintained by and conducive to place-based cross-sector partnerships, anchored in place in ways that transcend resources, issues, and ownership. (shrink)

Is the concept of open society still relevant in the 21st century? Do the current social, moral, and political realities call for a drastic revision of this concept? Here fifteen essays address real-world contemporary challenges to open society from a variety of perspectives. What unites the individual authors and chapters is an interest in open society's continuing usefulness and relevance to address current problems. And what distinguishes them is a rich variety of geographical and cultural backgrounds, and a wide range (...) of academic disciplines and traditions.While focusing on probing the contemporary relevance of the concept, several chapters approach it historically. The book features a comprehensive introduction to the history and current 'uses' of the theory of open society. The authors link the concept to contemporary themes including education, Artificial Intelligence, cognitive science, African cosmology, colonialism, and feminism. The diversity of viewpoints in the analysis reflects a commitment to plurality that is at the heart of this book and of the idea of open society itself. (shrink)

What drives Chinese MNEs’ global CSR integration and local CSR responsiveness? Drawing on institutional theory, we argue that both antecedents reflecting globally isomorphic patterns of adaptation and antecedents mirroring the distinct characteristics of China’s institutional context are relevant. We support our argument using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis on a sample of 29 of China’s globally most influential companies. We find that state influence and global CSR associations affect global CSR integration, whereas presence in the West and internationalization through mergers and (...) acquisitions predict local CSR responsiveness. Our study thus suggests that home-country characteristics are an important co-determinant of the CSR approaches of emerging-market MNEs. We further find that multicultural experience in top management teams is associated with both global CSR integration and local CSR responsiveness, supporting notions of transnational CSR. (shrink)

This article analyses ChatGPT from the perspective of the philosophy of education. It explores ChatGPT’s implications for universities, focussing on the intertwined concepts of critical thinking, the crisis of higher education, and humanity. Does ChatGPT sound the death knell for critical thinking and, thus, exacerbate the oft-diagnosed ‘crisis in education’? And is ChatGPT really a convenient, but dangerous, tool to outsource humanity to machines?. In addressing these questions, the article’s two main arguments offer an alternative to both triumphalist and overly (...) pessimistic narratives: first, ChatGPT can lead to a revitalisation of critical thinking in higher education. However, it arrives at this conclusion not from the triumphalist viewpoint that celebrates ChatGPT’s (allegedly) limitless potential, but from the more sober perspective that ChatGPT combines remarkable strengths with considerable weaknesses and built-in limitations. Secondly, ChatGPT can prompt a return to the qualities that distinguish humans from calculating machines and (re)instate critical thinking as the pivotal virtue of higher education. The article arrives at this conclusion by rejecting the overly pessimistic concern with ‘outsourcing humanity’ and endorsing the idea that ChatGPT lays bare a ‘crisis in education’ that constitutes, simultaneously, a precious opportunity. Finally, the article stresses that this opportunity inevitably comes at a price. There will be winners and losers of the ChatGPT revolution and there is a danger that ChatGPT reintroduces elitism through the back door. One urgent task of the near future, therefore, will be to keep this danger in check. (shrink)

Natural disaster events such as drought affect the broader economy and inflict adverse consequences for firms because of spill-over effects in an integrated economy. Contrary to the expectation that firms would engage in higher levels of corporate tax avoidance strategies when they experience a negative cash flow shock, we document consistent evidence that firms engage in less corporate tax avoidance when their headquarter states experience drought. Reduced tax avoidance is more pronounced among firms with higher CSR performance and among firms (...) operating in states that experience a GDP decline. Collectively, the findings of our study demonstrate prosocial and ethical behavior of U.S. firms when they experience natural disaster events. (shrink)

Recently, the increasing interest in responsible leadership (RL) has produced a research field rich in theoretical and conceptual potential, with diverse research foci, theoretical foundations, and methodological approaches. While these developments have demarcated the field from other leadership-oriented disciplines, they have equally courted fragmentation and ambiguity in terms of the field’s positioning within the greater body of leadership studies. To map the theoretical, methodological, and empirical state of the art of the RL field, we outline recent developments and delineate important (...) research gaps and directions for future theory development and empirical research. We emphasize the transition of RL research from micro-level perspectives with normative roots to research spanning multiple levels of analysis, vis-à-vis both antecedents and outcomes. We discuss the implications of our mapping, highlighting the necessity of not only conceptualizing RL across multiple levels of analysis, but also to actively focus on interactions among RL antecedents and outcomes across these levels. Through these, we aim to contribute to the field by strengthening its conceptual foundations and anchoring it more clearly within leadership studies overall. (shrink)

A study of the work of three monumental artists living during different historical periods, providing a rich understanding of the role of images created in dangerous times.

Bringing together such thinkers as Ulrich Beck, Bruno Latour, Michael Redclift and Ted Benton, this important book discusses critical themes in the development ...

Die beiden Werke Rhetorik und Poetik wurden in der Tradition immer wieder als verwandte Projekte eingestuft und bisweilen auch gemeinsam überliefert. Der spätantike Aristoteles-Kommentator Ammonios nahm an, dass die beiden Werke gemeinsam den asyllogistischen Teil des aristotelischen Organons ausmachen. Der Codex Parisinus 1741 aus dem 10. Jh. überliefert Rhetorik und Poetik gemeinsam und stellt die älteste erhaltene handschriftliche Quelle für beide Werke dar.

Preface : consciousness redux -- What is consciousness? -- Who is conscious? -- Animal consciousness -- Consciousness and the rest -- Consciousness and the brain -- Tracking the footprints of consciousness -- Why we need a theory of consciousness -- Of wholes -- Tools to measure consciousness -- The uber-mind and pure consciousness -- Does consciousness have a function? -- Computationalism and experience -- Computers can't simulate experience -- Consciousness : here, there but not everywhere -- Coda : why this (...) matters -- References -- Notes. (shrink)

Purpose The paper aims to investigate whether dissent—within hospices and palliative care units—can be observed with regard to typical characteristics of “good dying”, how statements about dying processes that are not perceived as good are expressed, and finally which ethically significant normative consequences arise from this. Method The study is conducted on the basis of a qualitative interview study in different groups of actors and the relationships of these groups are compared with each other. Results Notions of good and bad (...) dying are articulated—even dissented upon—not so much by the patients and their relatives themselves as by the professional actors. This is connected with the requirements of a practice, which evidently evokes a need for accountability, namely for communicative assurance. Conclusion An abstract designation of “good dying” is in danger of losing sight of the contextual characteristics of the practice associated with it, which can lead to situations that are problematic from an ethical viewpoint. (shrink)

This book originated at a small and informal workshop held in December of 1992 in Idyllwild, a relatively secluded resort village situated amid forests in the ...

This monograph aims to explicate Schleiermacher's early theory of religion in relation to his reception of Spinoza.

Viele meinen, die Seele habe sich in der von der Wissenschaft geleiteten Moderne verloren. Es gibt von ihr kein deutliches Bild mehr. Aber sie interpretiert sich selbst immer wieder neu - nicht, damit man sie am Ende nicht mehr versteht, sondern damit man in ihr wieder das sieht, was sie immer war: die Individuen ins Leben bringende, sie zusammenhaltende und in ihre innere Einigung rufende Kraft. Christof Gestrich untersucht den Paradigmenwechsel, der sich mit Bezug auf die Geschichtlichkeit der Seele (...) eingestellt hat, und der keineswegs zuerst aus der Philosophie oder der Theologie - den alten "Zustandigen" - hervorgegangen ist. In der neuen Erscheinung der Seele lassen sich sogar Religion und Wissenschaft vereinbaren. (shrink)

Christof Koch explores the only thing we directly experience: consciousness. At the book's heart is integrated-information theory, the idea that the essence of consciousness is the ability to exert causal power over itself, to be an agent of change. Koch investigates the physical origins of consciousness in the brain and how this knowledge can be used to measure consciousness in natural and artificial systems.

Richard Hookers starting point was the question of a new social order, the establishment of which long seemed necessary as a result of the various confessional splits and formation of nation states occurring prior to and during his lifetime. His thoughts on these matters were decisively influenced by one particular political occurrence, one that had important consequences for the formation of modern democracy, the Dutch revolution. So Hooker discusses the normative foundations of society. Each person has the right of freedom (...) of conscience and as a necessary consequence must respect the differing beliefs of others. It is not a question here of simply affirming the existing principle of freedom of religion, but much more a matter of shaping the principle into an enforceable right. This position was complemented by the state guaranteed rights of freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. Criticism of the puritans and of Catholicism expressed in defence of the Anglican church and for the maintenance of the political status quo is thus combined with the fundamental question of the normative basis of modern democracy. The question arising for Hooker from this analysis of the scholastic and puritanical positions is: what may be viewed as law and where does law find it justification? What may the legislature decide upon and what are the boundaries of its application? For Hooker the emphasis of moral theoretical observation has been shifted from behaviour itself to the rules underlying behaviour. With the transition, it is these rules that have been placed under systematic scrutiny and for which justification has been sought. The question is: where do these rules find their justification and what underpins their binding nature? The significance and importance of Hooker's new approach is to be found in the question of the specific function of law and state in light of two facts. Firstly, that it is now possible to question the normative function of values and secondly, that rules may be laid down through the machinery of politics. (shrink)

In der neueren Forschung gehören die Substanzbücher der Metaphysik zu den meistdiskutierten Aristotelischen Texten. In den letzten zweieinhalb Jahrzehnten entwickelte sich eine umfangreiche Diskussion, die zu einem ganz neuen Bild von der Aristotelischen Substanzlehre führte. Eine für die Seminararbeit zugängliche Übersicht über diese Diskussion und den neuesten Stand der Forschung lag aber bisher im deutschen Sprachraum nicht vor. Der Band hilft diesem Mangel ab. Seine Beiträge geben unterschiedliche Standpunkte wieder und reflektieren den jeweiligen Forschungsstand, so dass sowohl für die Seminardiskussion (...) als auch für die eigene Beschäftigung mit diesem Thema eine direkt aus der Forschung gewonnene Grundlage vorliegt. MIT BEITRÄGEN VON: Andreas Anagnostopoulos, Thomas Buchheim, Mary Louise Gill, Donald Morrison, Christof Rapp, Holmer Steinfath, Walter Mesch und Michael V. Wodin. (shrink)

Originally presented as the author's Habilitationsschrift--Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitèat, Munich.