This paper shows the relevance of hermeneutic philosophy to understand how info­communication technologies frame our contemporary lifeworld. It demonstrates that the programming languages are the result of collective interpretations of the general lifeworld of programmers, management and political decision-makers. By having been inscribed into the processes of language use, this general interpretation permeates the particular practices of understanding that are possible within the language framework.

The paper points to gaps in the conceptualization of bullshit as offered by Harry Frankfurt and Jerry Cohen. I argue that one type of bullshit, obscurantism, the deliberate exercise of making one’s text opaque for the purposes of deceiving the readership in various ways, escapes Frankfurt’s radar in tracking those judgments that are unconcerned with truth, and is not given distinct status in Cohen’s framework, which pays more attention to the product of bullshit than its producers and their techniques. First, (...) I offer on overview of the expanding literature on bullshit, with special attention given to accounts by Frankfurt and Cohen. I claim that Frankfurt’s essentialism and Cohen’s product-oriented account are not successful in exhausting our common understanding of what bullshit entails, neither separately, nor in conjunction. In particular, I claim that obscurantist bullshit pushes the envelope of the current conceptual frameworks. Second, following Boudry’s and Buekens’s work on obscurantism, I discuss the usual mechanisms utilized by obscurantists. Third, I reflect on an objection to my argument based on tweaking the permissibility for producing obscurantism by placing the production of obscurities into different contexts of writing style. I argue that there is an important normative difference between being an obscurantist and someone who merely writes obscurely, and that the distinction should bear weight regardless of constraining our capacities to tell between the two. I finish by discussing whether our understanding of obscurantist bullshit aids us in following a principle of clarity. (shrink)

In this article, we distinguish between three approaches to ethics in school, each giving an interpretation of the expression ‘ethics in school’: the descriptive facts about ethics approach, roughly consisting of teaching empirical facts about moral matters to students; the moral fostering approach, consisting of mediating a set of given values to students; and the philosophical ethics (PE) approach, consisting of critically discussing and evaluating moral issues with students. Thereafter, three influential arguments for why there ought to be ethics in (...) school are discussed, and each argument is interpreted given each approach to ethics in school, respectively. Thereby, we evaluate which interpretation of ‘ethics in school’ produces the strongest arguments, and thus, which approach is best supported by these arguments. The conclusion is that there ought to be PE in school. (shrink)

This article provides a critical evaluation of the central components of Integrative Bioethics, a project aiming at a bioethical framework reconceptualization. Its proponents claim that this new system of thought has developed a better bioethical methodology than mainstream Western bioethics, a claim that we criticize here. We deal especially with the buzz words of Integrative Bioethics – pluriperspectivism, integrativity, orientational knowledge, as well as with its underlying theory of moral truth. The first part of the paper looks at what the (...) claims of a superior methodology consist in. The second reveals pluriperspectivism and integrativity to be underdeveloped, hazy terms, but which seem to be underpinned by two theses – the incommensurability and the inclusiveness theses. These theses we critically scrutinize. We then consider strategies the project's proponents might apply to curb these theses in order to acquire minimal consistency for their framework. This part of the article also deals with the conception of moral truth that drives the theory, a position equally burdened with inconsistencies. In the last part of the article, we observe the concept of orientational knowledge, and develop two interpretations of its possible meaning. We claim that, following the first interpretation, Integrative Bioethics is completely descriptive, in which case it is informative and important, but hardly bioethics; if it is normative, following the second interpretation, it is bioethics as we already know it, but merely clad in rhetorical embellishments. We conclude that there is nothing new about this project, and that its inconsistencies are reason enough for its abandonment. (shrink)

An argument to love is a verbal construction, containing appeal to human emotions and feelings. According to philosophical and rhetoric traditions, the argument is a very important means of convincing and (or) persuasion and value’scommunication. The argument to love bases on optimum internal unity of authority (and an argument to authority), good, friendship, beauty and desire of human. The argument to love demands, at least, a minimal positive value audience’s reaction to itself. An audience response to an argument to love (...) is in direct proportion to its verbal expression. The argument to love depends on common world-view, national mentality as well as on an intellectual tradition where we are. (shrink)

I am honored to respond to Paul Guyer’s elaboration on the role of examples of perfectionism in Cavell’s and Kant’s philosophies. Guyer’s appeal to Kant’s notion of freedom opens the way for suggestive readings of Cavell’s work on moral perfectionism but also, as I will show, for controversy.There are salient aspects of both Kant’s and Cavell’s philosophy that are crucial to understanding perfectionism and, let me call it, perfectionist education, that I wish to emphasize in response to Guyer. In responding (...) to Guyer’s text, I shall do three things. First, I shall explain why I think it is misleading to speak of Cavell’s view that moral perfectionism is involved in a struggle to make oneself intelligible to oneself.. (shrink)

Seyla Benhabib vermag es mithilfe ihres Konzepts der „demokratischen Iteration“ das Prinzip der Volkssouveränität mit den moralischen Ansprüchen von Migrierenden auf Augenhöhe zu vermitteln. Dies gelingt ihr, weil sie „demokratische Iterationen“ als diskursive Aushandlungsprozesse unter Bedingungen der Öffentlichkeit versteht. Der Begriff der Öffentlichkeit bezeichnet, wohl verstanden, nämlich einen konstitutiv offenen Kommunikationsraum, in dem sich die diskursive Klärung des demokratischen „Wir“ immer schon unter prinzipiellem Einbezug „des Anderen“ vollzieht. Bereits John Dewey, Hannah Arendt und Jürgen Habermas haben diese konstitutive Offenheit der (...) Öffentlichkeit herausgestellt und damit die migrationsgesellschaftliche Struktur des Begriffs der Öffentlichkeit theoretisch entfaltet. Angesichts gegenwärtiger Abschottungsversuche westlicher Demokratien gegenüber Migrationsbewegungen stellt sich allerdings die Frage, ob der Begriff der Öffentlichkeit mehr darstellt, als ein normatives Ideal, das realen Tendenzen einer anti-migrantischen Abschließung politischer Kommunikationsräume bloß ohnmächtig gegenübersteht. Dieser Aufsatz argumentiert, dass dem nicht so ist: Dem Begriff der Öffentlichkeit lässt sich auch als einer Idee im Sinne Hegels habhaft werden. Er lässt sich als eine Logik der Öffnung rekonstruieren, die sich aufgrund einer immanenten Nötigung der Praxis selbst aufdrängt und nur durch eine destruktive Spirale aus Widerstand, Repression, Regression und Nihilismus unterdrückt werden kann. Ich werde auf dem Wege einer sozialphilosophischen Integration kommunikationstheoretischer und radikaldemokratischer Erkenntnisse abschließend zeigen, dass migrantische oder postmigrantische „Gegenöffentlichkeiten“ diese immanente Nötigung hervorrufen. Die Nötigung objektiviert sich wiederum daran, dass der fortgesetzte Ausschluss von „Gegenöffentlichkeiten“ zu einer krisenhaften Struktur „systematisch verzerrter Kommunikation“ führt. (shrink)

What is the nature and role of competition in markets and politics? This book examines the institutional dimension of markets and the rules and institutions that condition the operation of market economies. Particular attention is paid to the the role of the state, specifically the role of governments in shaping and maintaining the economic constitution of their societies.

In the mid-1950s, the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs made an effort to break free of the isolation brought about by the military defeat and communist takeover after WWII. One of the main priorities of Hungarian foreign policy was the developing world, including Africa. Although the revolution and subsequent reprisals of 1956 temporarily halted the opening up, at the end of the decade Hungary launched a new diplomatic offensive. Ethiopia, which symbolized African independence and power, was among the main targets. (...) In spite of the setbacks and challenges, and thanks to the determination of Hungarian diplomats, Hungarian-Ethiopian relations were normalized in 1959–60. This paper examines this process by analyzing documents from the Hungarian National Archive and explains why establishing diplomatic connections proved valuable to both parties. (shrink)

At the end of the twentieth century. the realization that the inexhaustibility of the conflict-related nature of religion affects not only the less affected by the modernization of the civilizational habitats of the planet, but also the main regional actors of this process, is gaining more and more strength. After the advent of S. Huntington's work, even the most consistent critiques of the theory of collision of civilizations as the main conflict axis of contemporary global development are still forced to (...) recognize the seriousness of the religious factor and release him some part of the space in their own theoretical constructions and in their understanding of the present. (shrink)

Interview of Illia Davidenko, Kateryna Kruhlyk, Daria Popil with Viktor Kozlovskyi.

Interview of Illia Davidenko, Kateryna Kruhlyk, Daria Popil with Viktor Kozlovskyi.

Interview of Illia Davidenko, Kateryna Kruhlyk, Daria Popil with Viktor Kozlovskyi.

Nudges have been criticized for working ‘in the dark’, influencing people without their full awareness. To assess whether this property renders nudging an illegitimate policy tool in liberal democracies, we argue that in scrutinizing nudge transparency, we should adequately divide our focus between nudging techniques, the nudgers employing them, and the nudgees subjected to them. We develop an account of what it means for nudgees to be ‘watchful’, a disposition that enables them to resist and circumvent nudges. We argue that (...) such ‘watchfulness’ should be cultivated if we want to implement nudges in legitimate, accountable, and democratic ways. (shrink)

Dr. Viktor Dörfler combines his background in developing and implementing AI with scholarly research on knowledge and cultivating talent to address misconceptions about AI. The Element explains what AI can and cannot do, carefully delineating facts from beliefs or wishful thinking. Filled with examples, this practical Element is thought-provoking. The purpose is to help CEOs figure out how to make the best use of AI, suggesting how to extract AI’s greatest value through appropriate task allocation between human experts and (...) AI. The author challenges the attribution of characteristics like understanding, thinking, and creativity to AI, supporting his argument with the ideas of the finest AI philosophers. He also discusses in depth one of the most sensitive AI-related topics: ethics. The readers are encouraged to make up their own minds about AI and draw their own conclusions rather than accepting opinions from people with vested interests or an agenda. (shrink)

Journal Name: Apeiron Issue: Ahead of print.

У статті зроблена спроба привернути увагу фахівців до такого напряму економіки й розваг, як гральний бізнес. Описано розвиток i стан цього бізнесу в США, Росiйськiй Федерацiї й Українi. Наголошено на перспективності розвитку грального бізнесу в Україні.