Previous research in Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) suggests that a main aim of explainability approaches is to satisfy specific interests, goals, expectations, needs, and demands regarding artificial systems (we call these “stakeholders' desiderata”) in a variety of contexts. However, the literature on XAI is vast, spreads out across multiple largely disconnected disciplines, and it often remains unclear how explainability approaches are supposed to achieve the goal of satisfying stakeholders' desiderata. This paper discusses the main classes of stakeholders calling for explainability (...) of artificial systems and reviews their desiderata. We provide a model that explicitly spells out the main concepts and relations necessary to consider and investigate when evaluating, adjusting, choosing, and developing explainability approaches that aim to satisfy stakeholders' desiderata. This model can serve researchers from the variety of different disciplines involved in XAI as a common ground. It emphasizes where there is interdisciplinary potential in the evaluation and the development of explainability approaches. (shrink)

„On 23rd February 2022, when the editors had worked out topical issues of dispute relating to politics, ethics, technology and religion for a Hans Jonas Centre conference on responsibility for the future and discourse ethics, it was suddenly foreseeable that Russia would invade the core area of Ukraine the next night. We immediately informed our Ukrainian colleagues that we would allow them asylum, if desired, and invite them to the conference in Bad Kissingen as keynote speakers. In no time at (...) all, the new programme for the confer-ence was ready: After commemorating Hans Jonas' honorary doctorate in Berlin under the motto ‘Fatalism would be a mortal sin’ exactly 30 years ago, we now focus on ‘Discourse despite war’. After that, we discuss digitalisation as well as theology, philosophy and commitment". With contributions by Prof. Dr. Claus Altmayer; Harald Asel, M.A.; Dorothee Bär, MdB; Dr. Thomas Bausch; Prof. Dr. Dietrich Böhler; Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt; Wolfgang Freese; Bernadette Herrmann, M.A.; Sebastian Höpfl; Bischof em. Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang Huber; Dr. Grigori Katsakoulis; Pfarrer Wolfgang Klein; Wolfgang Korb; Dr. Lena Kornyeyeva; Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Klaus Leisinger; Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans Lenk; Prof. Dr. Ulf Liedke; Prof. Dr. Alfons Matheis; Dr. Olaf Meyer; Dr. Jürgen Naeher-Zeiffer; Stephanie von Dallwitz; Dr. Marianne Rabe; Dr. Manuela Rottmann, MdB; PD Dr. Dr. Thomas Rusche; Prof. Dr. Johann Michael Schmidt; Dr. Eva-Maria Schwickert; Maritta Strasser, M.A.; OB Dr. Dirk Vogel and Prof. Dr. Anatoliy Yermolenko. (shrink)

Do non-human animals have an interest in sociopolitical freedom? Cochrane has recently taken up this important yet largely neglected quest ion. He argues that animal freedom is not a relevant moral concern in itself, because animals have a merely instrumental but not an intrinsic interest in freedom (Cochrane 2009a, 2012). This paper will argue that even if animals have a merely instrumental interest in freedom, animal freedom should nonetheless be an important goal for our relationships with animals. Drawing on recent (...) work on the value of freedom, it will be argued that freedom is non-specifically instrumentally valuable. Accordingly, freedom is a means to other goods, but often it is not possible to identify those goods in advance or aim for them directly. Some of the reasons that make freedom non-specifically valuable for human relationships, it will be argued, also apply to relationships between humans and animals. Amongst other implications, it will be shown how this argument provides a response to those who fear that stricter animal protection policies might undermine people’s freedom: A concern for freedom actually requires stricter protection policies rather than speak against them. (shrink)

Is it a stronger interference with people's freedom to withdraw options they currently have than to withhold similar options they do not have? Drawing on recent theorizing about sociopolitical freedom, this article identifies considerations that often make this the case for public policy. However, when applied to tobacco control, these considerations are shown to give us at best only very weak freedom-based reason to prioritize the status quo. This supports a popular argument for so-called “endgame” tobacco control measures: If we (...) believe that cigarettes would and should be withheld from entering markets in hypothetical scenarios in which they do not yet exist, then we also have reason to seek their abolition in situations, such as ours, in which cigarettes do exist—if necessary by banning their sale. The same considerations are then used to disarm objections that have recently been raised to using nudges in public policy. (shrink)

Recently, there has been a lot of enthusiasm for mindfulness practice and its use in healthcare, businesses and schools. An increasing number of studies give us ground for cautious optimism about the potential of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) to improve people's lives across a number of dimensions. This paper identifies and addresses some of the main ethical and political questions for larger-scale MBIs. First, how far are MBIs compatible with liberal neutrality given the great diversity of lifestyles and conceptions of the (...) good characteristic of modern societies? It will be argued that the potential benefits of contemporary secular mindfulness practice are indeed of a sufficiently primary or all-purpose nature to qualify as suitable goals of liberal public policy. Second, what challenges are brought up if mindfulness is used in contexts and applications—such as military settings—whose goals seem incompatible with the ethical and soteriological views of traditional mindfulness practice? It will be argued that, given concerns regarding liberal neutrality and reasonable disagreement about ethics, MBIs should avoid strong ethical commitments. Therefore, it should, in principle, be applicable in contexts of controversial moral value. Finally, drawing on recent discussions within the mindfulness community, it is argued that we should not overstate the case for mindfulness and not crowd out discussion of organisational and social determinants of stress, lowered well-being, and mental illness and the collective measures necessary to address them. (shrink)

This book offers a bold challenge to modern liberal ethics by exposing its inability to confront the inexorable advance of technology. Contemporary books on technology generally fall into three categories: those that offer optimist projections of a glorious future, those that provide radical critiques of specific techniques, and those that express alarm about the dehumanizing effects of a culture dominated by technology. The End of Ethics in a Technological Society offers a deeper assessment of the modern West's commitment to technological (...) progress. It argues that modern technology, ethics, and politics are all expressions of the enlightenment view that there are no principles of truth or goodness higher than the free human will. Technological advances are, on this view, merely extensions of the range of human freedom. Modern ethics thus fails to give voice to our often inchoate moral intuition that, in the realm of techno science, some possibilities simply ought not to be pursued. The authors develop their challenge by examining typical ethical approaches to such urgent contemporary concerns as environmental degradation, nuclear energy, high tech militarism, and fetal genetic testing. They relate our social crises to the transformation of ethics that has taken place as technology has become the house in which we all live. (shrink)

Excerpt from Epikurs Philosophie der Lebensfreude ber nicht nur Die 3ibifienicbaft, auch hu' er tva benbe Beben fnpit mieber an ben richtig Der. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, (...) such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. (shrink)

(2006). Flexible heuristics for simplification with conditional lemmas by marking formulas as forbidden, mandatory, obligatory, and generous. Journal of Applied Non-Classical Logics: Vol. 16, No. 1-2, pp. 209-239.

Die Analyse von Klangphänomenen und ihrer (inter)kulturellen Funktion ist inzwischen zu einem wichtigen Forschungsfeld avanciert. Grundlage der Aufsätze dieses Bandes ist eine anthropologische Perspektive, die darauf abzielt, auch den naturwissenschaftlich-empirischen Diskurs produktiv einzubeziehen. Die Beiträge gehen dem Verhältnis von Klang und Kognition, Kulturtheorie, Literaturästhetik, Medialität, Kunstpraxis sowie Transzendenz nach.

Der klassische Liberalismus geht davon, dass die Freiheit des einzelnen Menschen ihre Grenze erst an der Freiheit der anderen finden soll. Eingriffe in die Freiheitsrechte müssen gerechtfertigt werden. Im Zentrum der politischen Theorie des Liberalismus steht daher die Aufgabe, die staatliche Rechtsordnung durch vernünftige Gründe zu legitimieren.

Arabidopsis thaliana (Thale cress, Arabidopsis) is an ideal model organism for the molecular genetic analysis of many plant processes. The availability of a complete physical map would greatly facilitate the gene cloning steps in these studies. The small genome size of Arabidopsis makes the construction of such a map a feasible goal. One of the approaches to construct an overlapping library of the Arabidopsis genome takes advantage of the many mapped markers and the availability of Arabidopsis yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) (...) libraries. Mapped molecular markers are used to identify corresponding YAC clones and thereby place them on the genetic map. Subsequently, these YAC clones provide the framework for directed walking experiments aimed at closing the gaps between the YAC contigs. Adopting this strategy, YAC clones comprising about 10% of the genome have been assigned to the top halves of Arabidopsis chromosomes 4 and 5. Extensive walking experiments in a 10 cM interval of chromosome 4 have resulted in two contiguous regions in the megabase size range. (shrink)

Any determination of Hans‐Georg Gadamer's place in Continental philosophy needs to begin by noting that his contribution to that tradition is associated with the style of philosophizing designated as “hermeneutics.” But while a presentation of Gadamer's thought is well‐advised to begin with a discussion of his conception of hermeneutics, it must not end with that theme. In fact, what is perhaps most notable about Gadamer's work is both its historical and disciplinary breadth as well as the wide range of issues (...) that it addresses. That engagement with the history of philosophy and such a diverse collection of issues is itself a reflection of the project of hermeneutics as Gadamer has developed it: not a “method,” Gadamer's hermeneutics is more aptly described as the effort to solicit the experience of limits harbored by all experience, and to demonstrate that this experience of finitude is not restricted only to some forms of experience. So one turns to his body of work and finds significant texts on ancient Greek philosophy and literature, all forms of art, translation, questions of contemporary culture and politics, theology, as well as issues in medicine and health. Just as one finds a remarkable pluralization of the fields in which Gadamer's hermeneutics can take root, so too one finds a similar situation with respect to the formative influences upon Gadamer's thought: while he is most frequently associated with the name of his teacher, heidegger (Article 18), it is clear that Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Holderlin, kant (Article 2), hegel (Article 6), dilthey (Article 37), husserl (Article 15), Rilke, and Celan need to be understood as providing many of the decisive impulses for Gadamer's own original philosophic contributions. (shrink)

Purpose: The paper provides an overview of Ernst von Glasersfeld's life and theory, concentrating on subjects such as the acquisition of knowledge, language and communication, ethical questions, and aspects of teaching and learning. Conclusion: Ernst von Glasersfeld interests cover a wide range of disciplines. Therefore his work is genuinely rooted in interdisciplinarity.

Instrumentalism is the view that all requirements of practical reason can be derived from the instrumental principle, that is, from the claim that one ought to take the suitable means to one's ends. Rationalists, by contrast, hold that there are requirements of practical reason that concern the normative acceptability of ends. To the extent that rationalists put forward these requirements in addition to the instrumental principle, rationalism might seem to go beyond instrumentalism in its normative commitments. This is why it (...) is sometimes thought that rationalism is stronger than instrumentalism in a way that entails that instrumentalism is the default view, while rationalists carry the burden of proof. In this paper, I explore and discuss different ways of spelling out this idea. I argue that rationalism is not stronger than instrumentalism in a way that has implications for matters of justification and differences in prima facie defensibility of the two sorts of views. (shrink)