Building on conceptual insights from the history and sociology of numbers, media and surveillance studies, and theories of governance and risk, this article analyzes the forms of transparency produced by the use of numbers in social life. It examines what it is about numbers that often makes their ‘truth claims’ so powerful, investigates the role that numerical operations play in the production of retrospective, real-time and anticipatory forms of transparency in contemporary politics and economic transactions, and discusses some of the (...) implications resulting from the increasingly abstract and machine-driven use of numbers. It argues that the forms of transparency generated by machine-driven numerical operations open up for individual and collective practices in ways that are intimately linked to precautionary and pre-emptive aspirations and interventions characteristic of contemporary governance. As such, these numerical operations raise important political and ethical questions that deserve further conceptual and empirical scrutiny. (shrink)

In this introductory article we explore the relationship between statehood and governance, examining in more detail how non-state actors like MNCs, international NGOs, and indigenous authorities, often under conditions of extreme economic scarcity, ethnic diversity, social inequality and violence, take part in the making of rules and the provision of collective goods. Conceptually, we focus on the literature on Areas of Limited Statehood and discuss its usefulness in exploring how business-society relations are governed in the global South, and beyond. Building (...) on insights from this literature, among others, the four articles included in this special issue provide rich illustrations and critical reflections on the multiple, complex and often ambiguous roles of state and non-state actors operating in contemporary Syria, Nigeria, India and Palestine, with implications for conventional understandings of CSR, stakeholders, and related conceptualizations. (shrink)

Recurrent, unvarying, and seemingly purposeless patterns of action and cognition are part of normal development, but also feature prominently in several neuropsychiatric conditions. Repetitive stereotyped behaviors can be viewed as exaggerated forms of learned habits and frequently correlate with alterations in motor, limbic, and associative basal ganglia circuits. However, it is still unclear how altered basal ganglia feedback signals actually relate to the phenomenological variability of RSBs. Why do behaviorally overlapping phenomena sometimes require different treatment approaches−for example, sensory shielding strategies (...) versus exposure therapy for autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder, respectively? Certain clues may be found in recent models of basal ganglia function that extend well beyond action selection and motivational control, and have implications for sensorimotor integration, prediction, learning under uncertainty, as well as aesthetic learning. In this paper, we systematically compare three exemplary conditions with basal ganglia involvement, obsessive-compulsive disorder, Parkinson’s disease, and autism spectrum conditions, to gain a new understanding of RSBs. We integrate clinical observations and neuroanatomical and neurophysiological alterations with accounts employing the predictive processing framework. Based on this review, we suggest that basal ganglia feedback plays a central role in preconditioning cortical networks to anticipate self-generated, movement-related perception. In this way, basal ganglia feedback appears ideally situated to adjust the salience of sensory signals through precision weighting of new sensory information, relative to the precision of predictions based on prior generated models. Accordingly, behavioral policies may preferentially rely on new data versus existing knowledge, in a spectrum spanning between novelty and stability. RSBs may then represent compensatory or reactive responses, respectively, at the opposite ends of this spectrum. This view places an important role of aesthetic learning on basal ganglia feedback, may account for observed changes in creativity and aesthetic experience in basal ganglia disorders, is empirically testable, and may inform creative art therapies in conditions characterized by stereotyped behaviors. (shrink)

In hi s exegesis Calvin aimed at a living expression of the Scriptures in the confident expectation that God's Word in its unity would be given through them.

With the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), global researchers were confronted with major challenges. The German National Pandemic Cohort Network (NAPKON) was launched in fall 2020 to effectively leverage resources and bundle research activities in the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We analyzed the setup phase of NAPKON as an example for multicenter studies in Germany, highlighting challenges and optimization potential in connecting 59 university and nonuniversity study sites. We examined the ethics application (...) process of 121 ethics submissions considering durations, annotations, and outcomes. Study site activation and recruitment processes were investigated and related to the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections. For all initial ethics applications, the median time to a positive ethics vote was less than two weeks and 30 of these study sites (65%) joined NAPKON within less than three weeks each. Electronic instead of postal ethics submission (9.5 days (Q1: 5.75, Q3: 17) vs. 14 days (Q1: 11, Q3: 26), p value = 0.01) and adoption of the primary ethics vote significantly accelerated the ethics application process. Each study center enrolled a median of 37 patients during the 14-month observation period, with large differences depending on the health sector. We found a positive correlation between recruitment performance and COVID-19 incidence as well as hospitalization incidence. Our analysis highlighted the challenges and opportunities of the federated system in Germany. Digital ethics application tools, adoption of a primary ethics vote and standardized formal requirements lead to harmonized and thus faster study initiation processes during a pandemic. (shrink)

Aunque durante años hemos asistido a un persistente interés sociológico por la dimensión subjetiva de las prácticas de clase, hasta la fecha pocos son los estudios que han abordado esta problemática desde la perspectiva fenomenológica. Tomando como punto de partida autores que nos antecedieron en esta tarea, el objetivo del presente trabajo es reflexionar sobre los fundamentos de la teoría fenomenológica de Schutz sobre la acción social y su conceptualización de las tipificaciones para el análisis del sentido común y las (...) prácticas de clase. En la primera sección proponemos una breve discusión conceptual en torno a la definición del mundo de la vida proveniente de la teoría de Schutz y su utilidad para el análisis de la estructura social en la línea teórico-metodológica que analiza la reproducción intra-clase y las relaciones entre clases. A continuación resumimos las ideas y conceptos de Weber sobre las clases sociales, acción social y tipo ideal, para luego establecer sus nexos y relaciones con Schutz. Por último, e incorporando la resignificación y complejización que Schutz da a los términos weberianos, proponemos el uso de herramientas fenomenológicas para el análisis de clase. (shrink)

Die Untersuchungen betreffen die Rezeption von kantischem Denken in der Hispanidad. Es handelt sich um Akten eines Kongresses, der 1983 an der Universitat zu Koln stattfand. Die verschiedenen Reaktionen (positive wie auch kritische) auf das kantische Denken von Autoren wie M. Nieto Serrano, J.M. Rey y Heredia, K.C.F. Krause, J. Sanz del Rio, J. Zubiri und R. Torretti werden thematisiert.".

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)

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

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)

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)

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)

ZusammenfassungWährend die juristische und medizinethische Rechtfertigung des Verzichts auf Wiederbelebung in Deutschland akademisch hinreichend geklärt ist, zeigen sich doch erhebliche Unterschiede und zahlreiche Probleme bei der praktischen Umsetzung in der Klinik. Innerhalb des interdisziplinären Behandlungsteams gehören Kommunikationsdefizite und die Intransparenz der ethischen Entscheidungsprozesse zu den häufigsten Schwierigkeiten, die in der Medizinischen Klinik für Nephrologie und Hypertensiologie am Klinikum Nürnberg mit der Implementierung einer hausinternen Leitlinie, der Anordnung zum Verzicht auf Wiederbelebung, behoben werden sollten.Die Evaluationsstudie, die 118 VaW-Anordnungen bei 4718 Behandlungsfällen (...) im Zeitraum von November 2004 bis Juli 2005 einschloss, verfolgte einen dualen Forschungsansatz. Eine quantitative Dokumentationsanalyse aller VaW-Protokolle wurde mit der leitfadengestützten Befragung von 16 Ärzten und Pflegekräften kombiniert.Teambesprechungen waren in 62,4 %, Entscheidungsgründe in 74,6 % aller VaW-Protokolle dokumentiert. Die Interviews ergaben eine positive, aber berufsgruppendifferente Bewertung der Kommunikation, wobei die Pflegenden kritischer eingestellt waren als ihre medizinischen Kollegen. Die VaW-Dokumentation bewirkte nach Auffassung aller Befragten eine hohe Nachvollziehbarkeit und Transparenz. Die VaW-Anordnung wurde darüber hinaus als gut anwendbar und praxistauglich betrachtet. Nahezu alle Befragten sprachen sich für eine Beibehaltung des VaWVerfahrens in der Klinik aus.Die Implementierung der VaW-Anordnung als hausinterne Leitlinie und Dokumentationsstandard hat zu einer Förderung des interdisziplinären Dialogs und zu einer erheblichen Verbesserung der Transparenz der ethischen Entscheidungsprozesse im Rahmen des Verzichts auf Wiederbelebung geführt. Hilfreich und praxistauglich erfreut sich die VaW-Anordnung einer hohen Akzeptanz bei Pflegenden und Medizinern und wird seit drei Jahren in der Nephrologie am Klinikum Nürnberg konsequent angewendet. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungWährend die juristische und medizinethische Rechtfertigung des Verzichts auf Wiederbelebung in Deutschland akademisch hinreichend geklärt ist, zeigen sich doch erhebliche Unterschiede und zahlreiche Probleme bei der praktischen Umsetzung in der Klinik. Innerhalb des interdisziplinären Behandlungsteams gehören Kommunikationsdefizite und die Intransparenz der ethischen Entscheidungsprozesse zu den häufigsten Schwierigkeiten, die in der Medizinischen Klinik für Nephrologie und Hypertensiologie am Klinikum Nürnberg mit der Implementierung einer hausinternen Leitlinie, der Anordnung zum Verzicht auf Wiederbelebung, behoben werden sollten.Die Evaluationsstudie, die 118 VaW-Anordnungen bei 4718 Behandlungsfällen (...) im Zeitraum von November 2004 bis Juli 2005 einschloss, verfolgte einen dualen Forschungsansatz. Eine quantitative Dokumentationsanalyse aller VaW-Protokolle wurde mit der leitfadengestützten Befragung von 16 Ärzten und Pflegekräften kombiniert.Teambesprechungen waren in 62,4 %, Entscheidungsgründe in 74,6 % aller VaW-Protokolle dokumentiert. Die Interviews ergaben eine positive, aber berufsgruppendifferente Bewertung der Kommunikation, wobei die Pflegenden kritischer eingestellt waren als ihre medizinischen Kollegen. Die VaW-Dokumentation bewirkte nach Auffassung aller Befragten eine hohe Nachvollziehbarkeit und Transparenz. Die VaW-Anordnung wurde darüber hinaus als gut anwendbar und praxistauglich betrachtet. Nahezu alle Befragten sprachen sich für eine Beibehaltung des VaWVerfahrens in der Klinik aus.Die Implementierung der VaW-Anordnung als hausinterne Leitlinie und Dokumentationsstandard hat zu einer Förderung des interdisziplinären Dialogs und zu einer erheblichen Verbesserung der Transparenz der ethischen Entscheidungsprozesse im Rahmen des Verzichts auf Wiederbelebung geführt. Hilfreich und praxistauglich erfreut sich die VaW-Anordnung einer hohen Akzeptanz bei Pflegenden und Medizinern und wird seit drei Jahren in der Nephrologie am Klinikum Nürnberg konsequent angewendet. (shrink)