The use of placebos in randomised controlled trials is a subject of considerable ethical debate. In this paper we present a set of considerations to evaluate the ethics of placebo controlled trials that includes: social value of the study; need for a randomised controlled trial and placebo; standards of care; risks of harm due to administration of placebo and the harm benefit balance; clinical equipoise; and double standards. We illustrate the application of these considerations using a case study of a (...) large ongoing multicentre, placebo-controlled, double-blinded, randomised trial to determine primaquine anti-relapse efficacy in vivax malaria. There is an urgent need for primaquine anti-relapse studies in order to rationalise the management of a potentially fatal disease. An ethical justification for the use of the placebo arm is provided on the grounds that the actual current applied standard of care in most endemic places does not include primaquine. It has also been argued that there is clinical equipoise among the primaquine study arms and that the risk of harms of being in the placebo arm is the risk of having relapse, which is no more than not being included in the trial, and that there are no double standards. Based on our set of considerations, we conclude that a placebo arm is not only justified but imperative in this study. We propose that similar considerations should be prospectively applied to other placebo controlled trials and observational control arms where no treatment is offered. (shrink)

This article draws on Elias’s observations on the origins of political economy and sociology as well as his theory of involvement and detachment to supplement standard accounts of the history of sociology. It shows how, in the 1840s, sociology bifurcated into two tracks. Track I was the highly ‘involved’ partisan track associated with Marx and Engels and track II was the relatively ‘detached’, non-partisan track pursued by Saint-Simon, Comte, Lorenz von Stein and others. These two tracks continue to shape (...) contemporary sociology as basic orientations. The polarization of class conflict predicted in Marx’s theory is contrasted with the class interdependence model in Lorenz von Stein, in particular. Elias’s work is understood as a synthesis of later developments in track II in which he strongly reaffirmed the historical separation of sociology from philosophy. Elias’s work is presented as a central theory of society and as a promising alternative to the prevailing practice of theoretical eclecticism in sociology. (shrink)

Der Begriff „Globalisierung“ wird zunehmend nicht nur in den Disziplinen der Ökonomie und der Kommunikationswissenschaft diskutiert, sondern auch in den Gesellschafts- und Erziehungswissenschaften sowie insbesondere in der Interkulturellen Philosophie. Der Diskurs über Globalisierung verläuft dabei teilweise analog demjenigen über Inter- und Multikulturalität. Die Beiträge dieses Bandes geben ein breites Spektrum wieder. Sie reichen von der Konstatierung der Globalisierung als einer Rahmenbedingung, zu der man sich als Wissenschaftler reflexiv oder reaktiv zu verhalten habe, über die Analyse diverser Teilaspekte und über visionäre (...) Einforderungen utopischer Globalisierungsauslegungen bis zur Negierung ihrer erkenntnistheoretischen Bedeutung. Das Gemeinsame dieser Vielfältigkeit ist die Bestimmung des Globalen als eines Szenarios der Begegnung. (shrink)

We investigate incomplete symbols, i.e. definite descriptions with scope-operators. Russell famously introduced definite descriptions by contextual definitions; in this article definite descriptions are introduced by rules in a specific calculus that is very well suited for proof-theoretic investigations. That is to say, the phrase ‘incomplete symbols’ is formally interpreted as to the existence of an elimination procedure. The last section offers semantical tools for interpreting the phrase ‘no meaning in isolation’ in a formal way.

Kant's body of works on logic has two sides. On the one hand it reflects the philosophy of the Enlightenment. Anyone wanting to gain vivid insights into the intellectual world of the German Enlightenment cannot ignore Kants works on logic. On the other hand these works, which include his reflections on his legacy, transcripts of his lectures and the Jasche-Handbuch, cover a period of more than 40 years and are of great interest for his developmental history. They are at the (...) same time the nucleus of critical philosophy and provide fundamental insight into the origins of the Critique of Pure Reason, thus contributing more than any commentary to the understanding of the work. Kants Logikcorpus tragt ein Janusgesicht: Auf der einen Seite spiegelt es die Philosophie der Aufklarung. Wer einen plastischen Einblick in die Gedankenwelt der deutschen Aufklarung gewinnen mochte, darf an Kants Logikcorpus nicht vorbeigehen. Auf der anderen Seite aber ist Kants Logikcorpus, das mit seinen Nachlassreflexionen, Vorlesungsnachschriften und dem Jasche-Handbuch einen Zeitraum von mehr als vierzig Jahren umfasst, von hochstem entwicklungsgeschichtlichem Interesse. Es ist zugleich die Keimzelle der kritischen Philosophie. Es gewahrt grundlegende Einblicke in die Entstehungsgeschichte der Kritik der reinen Vernunft und tragt damit besser als mancher Kommentar zum Verstandnis des Werkes bei.'Das Buch zeichnet sich durch eine analytische Kraft und einen umfassenden Uberblick uber die behandelten Themen und Autoren aus, den nur ein Autor wie Hinske vorlegen kann, der der deutschen Aufklarung und der kritischen Philosophie Jahrzehnte der Forschung gewidmet hat.' Rivista di Filosofi. (shrink)

In this article, I critically deal with Savulescu’s suggestion that human beings have a “moral obligation to create children with the best chance of the best life”, p. 274). I progress as follows. In part one, I will briefly describe the procedures with which Savulescu is concerned, and I will present Savulescu’s argument in favour of the principle of procreative beneficence which is the basis of his argumentation in favour of the aforementioned moral obligation. In part two, I will show (...) that the principle is inconsistent and that it violently attacks human beings who disagree with it which is the reason why I regard it as an immoral principle. In the conclusion, I will put forward some reasons for regarding the principle of procreative autonomy as morally more plausible than Savulescu’s principle of procreative beneficence concerning the questions he deals with. (shrink)

Drive en Mille Sons (Drifting in a Thousand Sounds)is a musical work that uses mobile media technology to artistically examine the relationship between music and the listener. Contemporary media technologies, be they at work, home or in your pocket, emphasize playback. These devices are designed to facilitate the storage and retrieval of pre-made media assets. This work leverages the processing capabilities that rest dormant within these technologies. Drawing from the writings of Guy Debord and the situationist/surrealist practice of the drive, (...) drifting becomes a metaphor for instrumental performance in which the openness and emergence of interactivity is articulated through sound, as music. (shrink)

¿Qué es bueno? O más importante aún, ¿por qué debemos hacer lo que es bueno? Esa es la gran pregunta que se hace la ética y sobre la que gira esta obra del catedrático Norbert Bilbeny. Introducirse en la ética consiste en una andadura filosófica donde se desgrana, paso a paso, el complejo entramado de ideas y creencias que constituyen el hecho moral. Todo ello con la fuerza y la claridad expositivas características del autor. Bilbeny recupera su obra Aproximación (...) a la ética, acomodándola a los nuevos tiempos y cuestiones fundamentales que la disciplina hoy se plantea. Es un texto útil, pues, para todo aquél que esté interesado por la ética, por la razón como fundamento y límite de nuestro obrar de las decisiones y acciones que encaramos como seres humanos. Y por supuesto es una obra esencial para todo estudioso de la ética y la filosofía. (shrink)