In this review, I discuss Balibar’s ‘proposition of equaliberty’ with regard to its theoretical status and contribution, its relationship to other contemporary theories of radical democracy as well as to the problematic of bourgeois versus communist emancipation in Marx. The primary interest of this essay is to develop a detailed understanding of Balibar’s analytical schema, which draws a complex picture of our contemporary ‘human condition’, and to place it within his own theoretical development since his contribution toReading Capitalin the 60s. (...) On that basis, it will be possible to assess his contribution to thinking politics with and after Marx and place it more concretely within the generalised radical-democratic turn in post-Marxist theory. (shrink)

Conceiving legal obligations towards future generations is challenging—especially from a positivist stance and if obligations and claims are understood as being correlative in nature. Legal obligations towards future generations are often rejected from the outset if (and insofar as) there is no explicit acknowledgement or established doctrine. This neglects the power of sound legal interpretation. I argue that obligations towards future people and generations are grounded in the relational character of human rights and that their positivity is not a problem (...) in a legal order containing norm texts that can reasonably be interpreted as acknowledging human rights; no additional enactment is necessary for these obligations to be part of the positive law. This claim is based on a (novel) concept of fundamental rights which is compatible with legal positivism. (shrink)

While Specific Informed Consent has been the established standard for obtaining consent for medical research for many years, it does not appear suitable for large-scale biobank and health data research. Thus, alternative forms of consent have been suggested, based on a variety of ethical background assumptions. This article identifies five main ethical perspectives at stake. Even though Tiered Consent, Dynamic Consent and Meta Consent are designed to the demands of the self-determination perspective as well as the perspective of research as (...) a public good, they are still also criticized from both perspectives. In addition, criticisms based on concerns of justice, participation and democratic deliberation, and relational concerns have been levelled at each of the models. As all of these perspectives have valid points to make, the task at hand lies in balancing these ethical perspectives. What constitutes an adequate balancing depends on contextual factors. These factors include digital infrastructure and digital literacy, data safety regulation, good scientific and clinical practice, transparent debates on ethically relevant features of research, social inequalities, anti-discrimination laws and practices, trust in health care institutions and recognition of patient preferences, and consensus on unethical research. We argue that the role of context in determining acceptable models of consent puts the ethical importance of models of consent into perspective. Since altering contextual factors can help to live up to the ethical concerns at stake in debates about models of consent, opting for such a shift of focus comes without ethical loss. (shrink)

This paper examines the influence of service learning as a pragmatic skills-based teaching intervention. Conceptually, it builds on literature, legitimizing servicelearning in terms of four educational logics– civic engagement, practical relevance, skill development, and responsibility. We investigate whether service learning can always achieve this broad range of educational objectives, in view of students being increasingly exposed to a logic of ‘educational performance’, which they may perceive to be in conflict with the logics of 'civic engagement' and ‘responsibility’. The theoretical part (...) of this paper reviews the evolution of service learning literature and summarizes insights from experiential learning literature. We also report findings from a controlled field experiment with postgraduate management students. We find that service learning influences students’ self-assessment of management skills and awareness stakeholder needs. Surprisingly, our findings provide no evidence for its influence on attitudes to responsibility. (shrink)

In this article, I argue that Habermas’s method of rational reconstruction faces limitations when it comes to analysing newly emerging and contested political practices. As rational reconstruction aims to criticize existing practices by determining their normative meaning as reflected in the participants’ idealizing presuppositions, it reaches its limits where emerging and contested practices make it impossible to identify a shared self-understanding and a single participants’ perspective. Using the example of membership politics, I argue that this is often the case where (...) nationally constituted forms of politics become controversial or are fundamentally questioned. Building on the work of Benhabib and Fraser, I develop an alternative reconstructive method of plural reconstruction, which modifies the basic premises of rational reconstruction, adjusting it to emerging and contested political contexts. (shrink)

Philosophy & Social Criticism, Volume 48, Issue 5, Page 703-725, June 2022. In this article, I argue that Habermas’s method of rational reconstruction faces limitations when it comes to analysing newly emerging and contested political practices. As rational reconstruction aims to criticize existing practices by determining their normative meaning as reflected in the participants’ idealizing presuppositions, it reaches its limits where emerging and contested practices make it impossible to identify a shared self-understanding and a single participants’ perspective. Using the example (...) of membership politics, I argue that this is often the case where nationally constituted forms of politics become controversial or are fundamentally questioned. Building on the work of Benhabib and Fraser, I develop an alternative reconstructive method of plural reconstruction, which modifies the basic premises of rational reconstruction, adjusting it to emerging and contested political contexts. (shrink)

Zusammenfassung Im Jahr 2003 gingen Jürgen Baur und Ulrike Burrmann der Frage nach, inwieweit sich Sportengagements von Jugendlichen individualisiert haben. Die meisten Annahmen mussten verworfen werden. Vor dem Hintergrund aktueller gesellschaftlicher Entwicklungen wird im vorliegenden Beitrag anhand von Zeitreihendaten dieser Frage erneut nachgegangen. Hinterfragt wird aber auch, ob sich der Einfluss vertikaler sozialstruktureller Merkmale auf die Beteiligung am Sport seit den 1970er Jahren abgeschwächt hat und ob dieser Zusammenhang in den letzten Jahren wieder enger geworden ist. Die Befunde werden diskutiert, (...) wobei zum einen auf methodische Probleme der Datenbasis und zum anderen auf Unschärfen der Individualisierungsthese eingegangen wird. (shrink)

Over the last years several European patents were opposed for protecting technology violating the morality requirement under Article 53(a) EPC. Attempts have been made by the Appeal Boards of the European Patent Office (EPO), as well as by amendments introduced into the Implementing Regulations of the European Patent Convention (EPC), to address this sensitive patentability requirement more precisely. The most recent hot topic coming up in this context is the patentability of stem cells. It is to be expected that this (...) discussion will still go on in the field of biotechnological inventions for the next several years. (shrink)

In Probabilistic Knowledge Sarah Moss proposes that our credences and subjective probability judgments (SPJs) can constitute knowledge. Mossean probabilistic knowledge is grounded in probabilistic beliefs that are justified, true, and unGettiered. In this paper I aim to address and solve two challenges that arise in the vicinity of the factivity condition for probabilistic knowledge: the factivity challenge and the challenge from probabilistic arguments from ignorance (probabilistic AIs). I argue that while Moss's deflationary solution to the factivity challenge formally works, it (...) leaves us ill-equipped to handle probabilistic AIs. An account of probabilistic knowledge that cannot overcome probabilistic AIs makes knowledge of thoroughly probabilistic contents a rare and unstable phenomenon, at best, or, at worst, impossible. I hold that establishing a metaphysically enriched account of probabilistic truth is therefore mandatory. I go on to develop a truth-conditional approach on probabilistic factivity that is relativistic in its nature and centers on objective chances. I show that while the approach is still compatible with Moss's overall semantics for probabilistic knowledge, it provides us with a simple but forceful answer to probabilistic AIs. (shrink)

The Tongan language has honorific registers, called a ‘language of respect’ (Churchward 1953). These are two limited sets of lexemes used to refer to people of chiefly and kingly rank and thus honour the societal stratification. Anthropological-linguistic research reveals that these honorifics are atapu-motivated linguistic practice. The Polynesian concept oftapu(source of the loanwordtaboo) means that entities with moremana(‘supernatural power’) such as persons of higher rank and their personal belongings are ‘sacred’, and it is ‘forbidden’ to get in physical touch with (...) them. The respectful terminology (hou‘eikiandtu‘i) is restricted to suchtapuentities (signifiers), and its generic character shows that direct verbal contact with the commonkakaisignifier is avoided. Thus, the honorific registers function as a verbal taboo in its emic sense. (shrink)

The paper addresses the highly controversial subject of the nature of law. It attempts to present a post-modern positivist concept of law that rejects objectivism and the postulation of a unified legal order entirely and merges elements of system and discourse theory.

Der Beitrag befasst sich mit der Frage, ob eine Verantwortung ggü. zukünftigen Grundrechtsträgern/Generationen nicht nur moralisch, sondern auch rechtlich begründbar ist. Dazu wird auf ein grundrechtstheoretisches Konzept zurückgegriffen, das mit einem positivistischen Verständnis des Rechts kompatibel ist. Der Beitrag führt zu dem Ergebnis, dass eine Rechtfertigungslast gegenüber künftigen Grundrechtsträgern grundrechtlich begründbar ist und angesichts der positivrechtlichen Anerkennung von Menschenrechten auch bereits besteht. Die Pflichten der jeweils gegenwärtig Lebenden zugunsten künftiger Grundrechtsträger besteht allerdings grundrechtstheoretisch nicht in die ganz ferne Zukunft; hier (...) gibt es konzeptionelle Grenzen. Der Beitrag zeigt, dass sich die ontologische Ebene und die damit zusammenhängende normative Ebene konzeptionell von der epistemischen Problematik und dessen normativer Bewältigung trennen lässt. (shrink)

If we are to better understand and negotiate current and future problems in the food supply chain, it will be essential to pay more attention to the role and position of professionals involved. 'Professionals in food chains' addresses questions as: What are the main ethical challenges for professionals in the food supply chain? Who within this complex field holds responsibility for what? What does it mean for the food-related professions to operate in an atmosphere of immense social tension and high (...) expectations? Which virtues are required to do a 'good' job? In brief: What can be said about the roles, responsibilities, and ethics of professionals across this dynamic field? Topics covered include general issues on professional roles and responsibility, sustainable food supply chains, novel approaches in food production systems, current food politics, the ethics of consumption, veterinary ethics, pedagogical/educational and research ethics, as well as aquacultural, agricultural, animal, and food ethics. (shrink)

-/- Policy regulations of ethically controversial genetic technologies should, on the one hand, be based on ethical principles. On the other hand, they should be socially acceptable to ensure implementation. In addition, they should align with ethical theory. Yet to date we lack a reliable and valid scale to measure the relevant ethical judgements in laypeople. We target this lacuna. -/- We developed a scale based on ethical principles to elicit lay judgments: the Genetic Technologies Questionnaire (GTQ). In two pilot (...) studies and a pre-registered main study, we validated the scale in a representative sample of the US population. -/- The final version of the scale contains 20 items but remains highly reliable even when reduced to five. It also predicts behaviour; for example, ethical judgments as measured by the GTQ predicted hypothetical donations and grocery shopping. In addition, the GTQ may be of interest to policymakers and ethicists because it reveals coherent and ethically justified judgments in laypeople. For instance, the GTQ indicates that ethical judgments are sensitive to possible benefits and harms (in line with utilitarian ethics), but also to ethical principles such as the value of consent-autonomy. -/- In conclusion, the GTQ can be recommended for research in both experimental psychology and applied ethics, as well as a tool for ethically and empirically informed policymaking. (shrink)

It is a commonplace for historians to write that physicists came out of their World War II radar service with microwave engineering superadded to their knowledge of quantum physics. But what exactly was the content of this new amalgam? How fully was it achieved and by what processes? I suggest that one approach to these questions is via a study of noise and coherence in the 1950s. In these years, novel instruments were proposed and/or operated that were of interest for (...) both engineering and physics; among them various forms of the maser. These instruments required the deployment of both engineering and quantum physics concepts. At the same time, they raised problems for both physics and engineering notions of noise. (shrink)

In this collection of essays, Bromberger explores the centrality of questions and predicaments they create in scientific research. He discusses the nature of explanation, theory, and the foundations of linguistics.

This review will discuss how STAT (Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription) proteins, a group of transcription factors that transmit signals from the extracellular surface of cells to the nucleus, are involved in growth control. I will discuss the anatomy of a STAT protein, how it works as a transcription factor, the molecules that regulate its “activity”, the phenotypes of mice that lack individual STAT proteins and their involvement in growth, differentiation, apoptosis, and transformation. Finally, a number of examples will (...) be presented of how dysregulated STAT signaling may be involved in the pathogenesis of cancer. BioEssays 23:161–169, 2001. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (shrink)

The article discusses the impact different concepts of solidarity can have on debates on models of consent for non-interventional research. It introduces three concepts of solidarity that have been referenced in bioethical debates: a purely descriptive concept, a concept that claims some derivative value for most but not all practices of solidarity, as well as a clearly normative concept where solidarity is tied to justice and taken to ground moral duties. It shows that regarding the rivalling models of study-specific consent, (...) tiered consent and broad consent, the first two concepts can be taken to favour tiered consent while only normative solidarity supports a model of broad consent—or an argument to allow non-interventional research without requiring consent at all. As normative solidarity is tied to considerations of justice, however, the argument appears less straightforward than one might expect: It presupposes that the research contributes to overcoming existing social injustices. (shrink)

The laser, first operated in 1960, produced light with coherence properties that demanded explanation. While some attempted a treatment within the framework of classical coherence theory, others insisted that only quantum electrodynamics could give adequate insight and generality. The result was a sharp and rather bitter controversy, conducted over the physics and mathematics that were being deployed, but also over the criteria for doing good science. Three physicists were at the center of this dispute, Emil Wolf, Max Born’s collaborator on (...) a canonical text on optics as a branch of classical electromagnetism, Roy J. Glauber, a student of Julian Schwinger and a high-energy particle theorist, and Leonard Mandel, both experimentalist and theorist and versed in the physics of photodetection. The story told here is thus one of three distinct research trajectories and of the explosion that occurred when, pushed into the well-financed field of laser studies, these trajectories collided. (shrink)

ContextIn many cases, informed consent of participants is considered a prerequisite even for exclusively data-based medical research. In this context, a model of broad consent is being discussed. In Germany, the Medizininformatik-Initiative (Medical Informatics Initiative) has developed a proposal for broad consent for German hospitals which suggests a validity period of 30 years.Definition of the problemAgainst this background, the article discusses how the claim of consent beinginformedhas to be regarded in a temporal perspective. The practice of consent is here understood (...) to be oriented towards the realization of well-being, personal sovereignty, and trust. In the context of medical research, an asymmetry of access to information between research participants, researchers, and data-storing institutions has to be assumed.Argument and conclusionThe article argues that in order to appropriately address this information asymmetry, a continuous dissemination of comprehensibly prepared information to research participants is necessary to enable personal sovereignty. (shrink)

Zusammenfassung Die informierte Einwilligung von Teilnehmer:innen gilt in vielen Fällen als Voraussetzung auch für die rein datenbasierte medizinische Forschung. In diesem Kontext wird ein Modell der breiten Einwilligung (_Broad Consent_) diskutiert. In Deutschland hat die Medizininformatik-Initiative einen konkreten Vorschlag für deutsche Kliniken ausgearbeitet, der eine Gültigkeit der Einwilligung für einen Zeitraum von 30 Jahren vorsieht. Der vorliegende Artikel diskutiert vor diesem Hintergrund die Frage, wie der Anspruch der Informiertheit in dieser zeitlichen Perspektive einzuordnen ist. Die Praxis der Einwilligung wird dabei (...) so verstanden, dass sie auf die Verwirklichung von Wohlergehen, persönlicher Souveränität und Vertrauen ausgerichtet ist. Eine anzunehmende Informationsasymmetrie zwischen Forschungsteilnehmenden, Forschenden, und datenspeichernden Institutionen wird dabei als spezifisches Kontextmerkmal herausgestellt. Um dieser Informationsasymmetrie in angemessener Weise zu begegnen, so die These, ist eine kontinuierliche Weitergabe von verständlich aufbereiteten Informationen an Forschungsteilnehmende notwendig, um die Wahrnehmung persönlicher Souveränität zu ermöglichen. (shrink)

Although convergence in emotion expressions within small groups is well documented, the motives that explain why members converge are rarely explicated. We approach expressive convergence from a conformity perspective and introduce the Emotional Conformity Framework, in which we posit that members match their groupmates’ emotion expressions because they are motivated to gain an accurate understanding of reality (informational conformity motive) or to form and maintain social relationships (normative conformity motive). These motives determine members’ standards for correctness, social responses, and plausible (...) convergence mechanisms, while members’ personalities and situational properties shape the relative strength of the two motives. By explicating these motivational underpinnings, the Framework improves our capacity to understand, predict, and regulate expressive convergence and emphasizes its functionality. (shrink)

Over the last years several European patents were opposed for protecting technology violating the morality requirement under Article 53(a) EPC. Attempts have been made by the Appeal Boards of the European Patent Office (EPO), as well as by amendments introduced into the Implementing Regulations of the European Patent Convention (EPC), to address this sensitive patentability requirement more precisely. The most recent hot topic coming up in this context is the patentability of stem cells. It is to be expected that this (...) discussion will still go on in the field of biotechnological inventions for the next several years. (shrink)