Emotion is conceptualised as an emergent, dynamic process based on an individual's subjective appraisal of significant events. It is argued that theoretical models of emotion need to propose an architecture that reflects the essential nature and functions of emotion as a psychobiological and cultural adaptation mechanism. One proposal for such a model and its underlying dynamic architecture, the component process model, is briefly sketched and compared with some of its major competitors. Recent empirical evidence in support of the model is (...) reviewed. Special emphasis is given to the dynamic aspect of emotion processes, in particular the sequence of appraisal checks and the synchronisation of response systems, as well as the capacity of the model to predict individual differences in emotional responding. (shrink)

Argumentar constituye un quehacer cotidiano para los diferentes operadores jurídicos y, de modo especial, para quienes desempeñan la función judicial. Dado que las decisiones de los jueces están sometidas a un cierto control de racionalidad, es posible concebir las argumentaciones jurídicas empleadas en la aplicación del derecho como un modo institucionalizado de ejercitar la racionalidad práctica. Sin embargo, esto no implica, en contra de lo que a menudo se suele afirmar, que los procesos argumentatívos jurídicos estén sujetos en exclusiva a (...) las leyes de la lógica deductiva. Cabe sostener el carácter racional de la aplicación del derecho sin caer en un logicísmo a ultranza ni en una defensa de las artes de la retórica y de la tópica: ahí está, entre otras, la vía defendida por la teoría discursiva de la argumentación jurídica elaborada por Robert Alexy a partir de presupuestos básicamente habermasianos, así como las correcciones contextualistas de la misma llevadas a cabo por Klaus Günthcr. (shrink)

Positive and negative feelings were central to the development of economics, especially in utility theory in classical economics. While neoclassical utility theory ignored feelings, behavioral economics more recently reintroduced feelings in utility theory. Beyond feelings, economic theorists use full-fledged specific emotions to explain behavior that otherwise could not be understood or they study emotions out of interest for the emotion itself. While some analyses display a strong overlap between psychological thinking and economic modelling, in most cases there is still a (...) large gap between economic and psychological approaches to emotion research. Ways how to reduce this gap are discussed. (shrink)

The location of verbally reported feelings in a three-dimensional affective space is determined by the results of appraisal processes that elicit the respective states. One group of participants rated their evaluation of 59 pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) on a profile of nine appraisal criteria. Another group rated their affective reactions to the same pictures on the classic dimensions of affective meaning (valence, arousal, potency). The ratings on the affect dimensions correlate differentially with specific appraisal ratings. These (...) results can be interpreted as showing that the reactions to the IAPS pictures are predictably produced through appraisal of picture content. The relevance of the findings for emotion induction paradigms and for emotion theory in general is discussed. (shrink)

Attention is automatically allocated to stimuli that are opposite in valence to the current motivational focus (Rothermund, 2003; Rothermund, Voss, & Wentura, 2008). We tested whether this incongruency effect is due to affective–motivational counter-regulation or to an increased salience of stimuli that mismatch with cognitively activated information. Affective processing biases were assessed with a search task in which participants had to detect the spatial position at which a positive or negative stimulus was presented. In the motivational condition, positive or negative (...) affective–motivational states were induced by performance feedback after each trial. In the cognitive activation condition, participants memorised the word “good” or “bad” during the search task. The affective incongruency effect was replicated in the motivational condition, whereas an affective congruency effect obtained in the cognitive activation condition. These findings support an explanation of affective incongruency effects in terms of automatic counter-regulation that is motivational in nature. (shrink)

Friedrich Nietzsche has emerged as one of the most important and influential modern philosophers. For several decades, the book series Monographien und Texte zur Nietzsche-Forschung (MTNF) has set the agenda in a rapidly growing and changing field of Nietzsche scholarship. The scope of the series is interdisciplinary and international in orientation reflects the entire spectrum of research on Nietzsche, from philosophy to literary studies and political theory. The series publishes monographs and edited volumes that undergo a strict peer-review process. The (...) book series is led by an international team of editors, whose work represents the full range of current Nietzsche scholarship. (shrink)

Nichts anderes meint die romantische Ironie, als das Spiel des Lebens, das ein Widerspiel der Welt ist, auch wirklich als Spiel zu nehmen und darzustellen, aber: »Darstellung ist Sache der Kunst« und »Darstellen kann nur der Mensch.« So avanciert in der ästhetisch gedeuteten Tathandlung das allein zur Darstellung befähigte Bewußtsein zum »complementum existentiae« der äußeren Welt, indem es Darstellungen einer Welt hervorbringt, die nur in den Darstellungen ihre vielfältige Wirklichkeit oder wirkliche Vielfalt zum Dasein bringt. Jenseits und vorgängig dieser Darstellungen (...) liegt das Nichts der Möglichkeiten zur unendlichen Fülle, das Chaos, aus dem der Verstand diese eine unendliche Welt von Welten bildet. Aus dem Zusammenspiel von Chaos als der Grundlage aller Natur, also auch der menschlichen, in der es sich in der »schönen Verwirrung der Fantasie« manifestiert, und Verstand, der ebenso auch als natürlicher, im Sinne von Energie, aufzufassen ist, entspringt erst die eine Welt in der Unendlichkeit ihrer verdichteten Darstellungen. Diese Strukturierungsleistung aber obliegt der Poesie, eine Aufgabe, die sie wiederum mit der Natur selbst verbindet. Dieses mit bedenkend wird sich die Poesie nicht nur ihrer eigenen Voraussetzungen bewußt, sondern sie wird diese in ihr Produkt aufnehmen. Sie wird »Transzendentalpoesie« oder »progressive Universalpoesie«, deren eigentliches Wesen darin besteht, nie vollendet werden zu können, deren Unvollendung eben die Unvollendung der Welt darstellt. (shrink)

In this article we explore the contribution from social anthropology to the medical ethical debates about the use of informed consent in research, based on blood samples and other forms of tissue. The article springs from a project exploring donors’ motivation for providing blood and healthcare data for genetic research to be executed by a Swedish start-up genomics company. This article is not confined to empirical findings, however, as we suggest that anthropology provides reason to reassess the theoretical understanding of (...) autonomy as generally defined by Beauchamp and Childress. Careful consideration of the trust expressed by donors through the act of donation, furthermore, suggests that there is reason to redirect the ethical scrutiny from informed consent to issues concerning institutional arrangements and social responsibility. In particular, we suggest that an anthropological approach could facilitate a reconsideration of the political implications of using informed consent as a regulatory practice in tissue-based research. (shrink)

This book provides insight into the work of Oswald Spengler (1880-1936), one of the most prophetic minds of the 20th century, whose dire historical predictions - world wars, ecological disasters, gigantic cities with unrestrained urban sprawl, increasing race conflicts, failure of nerve among the ruling elites, and rapid decline of cultural norms - have more than passed the test of time. Besides focusing on Spengler the prophet and the controversies which surrounded his name in the 1920s, this book also emphasizes (...) Spengler's pioneering role in the development of a comparative study of cultures based on biological principles. (shrink)

Social health disparities are increasing in most countries around the world. During the past two decades, a large amount of evidence has emerged about the health consequences of social inequalities. Despite such evidence, the concept of medical fairness, as traditionally defined by the World Medical Association, has remained unchallenged and even reinforced by some scholars who emphasize that doctors should remain neutral to the socioeconomic status of their patients when providing clinical care. The inconsistency between public health and clinical care (...) perspectives raises tension between a narrow interpretation of the ethics of justice, which stresses the importance of equality and impartiality, and the ethics of care, which highlights the importance of particularity and individuality in clinical practice. This article analyzes the concept of medical fairness using the emerging evidence that demonstrates the impact of social health disparities on clinical care. It proposes a new approach of medical fairness based on equity rather than on equality and provides a consistent ethical framework based on Paul Ricoeur’s three levels of medical judgments. This integrative framework provides a better balance between public health and clinical care in medical practice. (shrink)

Wie muss ein ethischer Beratungsdienst strukturiert sein, damit er in moralischen Konfliktsituationen im klinischen Alltag angefragt wird und die Ratsuchenden ergebnisorientiert unterstützen kann? Nach welchen Kriterien lassen sich die Beratungsgespräche auswerten und bewerten? Zur Beantwortung dieser Fragen werden theoretisch fundierte Konzepte ethischer Fallbesprechung aus Nimwegen, Leuven und Basel herangezogen; dies geschieht vor dem Hintergrund der Erfahrungen mit der über zehnjährigen Entwicklung der ethischen Arbeit im Ev. Krankenhaus Bielefeld (EvKB). Als Resultat stellen wir einen strukturierten, multidisziplinären Ansatz vor, mit dem in (...) den Beratungsgesprächen die ethischen Dimensionen unterschiedlicher Vorstellungen herausgearbeitet und möglichst einvernehmlichen Lösungen zugeführt werden. Am Beispiel des EvKB lässt sich zeigen, dass der ethische Beratungsdienst auch in Zeiten knapper Ressourcen implementiert und praktiziert werden kann und eine Gesprächskultur schafft, die zu neuen Zielvariablen führt; hier spielen der Perspektivenwechsel und die Prozessgerechtigkeit eine zentrale Rolle und liefern zugleich Ansatzpunkte für unsere eigene Evaluationsstrategie. Zum aktuellen Stand der Evaluation klinischer Ethikberatung wird die internationale Literatur kritisch gewürdigt. Erste konzeptionelle Ansätze und Ergebnisse einer eigenen Evaluationsstrategie werden vorgestellt. Durch die Offenlegung hoffen wir, die Auseinandersetzung mit diesen Themen zu intensivieren. (shrink)

The article critically assesses Ulrich Beck’s body of work and its importance for contemporary sociology. It demonstrates that Beck’s elaboration of his original theory of the ‘risk society’ into a theory of the ‘world risk society’, ‘cosmopolitanism’ and ‘metamorphosis’ involved several key theoretical innovations. Firstly, Beck adjusted his notion of risk to include the threat of international terrorism in his diagnosis of the risk society. Secondly, he introduced a distinction between ‘cosmopolitanism’ and ‘cosmopolitization’ in order to capture the specificity of (...) contemporary social change. Thirdly and most recently, Beck outlined a theory of ‘the metamorphosis of the world’ which marks an important shift of emphasis from ‘the negative side effects of goods’ to ‘the positive side effects of bads’. In conclusion, the article identifies a number of theoretical ambiguities and unresolved questions in Beck’s theory. (shrink)

In this paper we propose a theoretical framework for analysing the history and function of ethics as a form of regulation. Ethics in the form of codes, rules and declarations, constitutes regulatory policies, and we wish to suggest analysing such policies from an organizational perspective. In many instances ethics policies are reactions to particular events involving harm of patients or research participants. As such they seem to come forward as solutions to specific problems. However, not all such events that instigate (...) the making of new policies, and policies often have other effects and are used for other purposes than what we might expect from the events preceding them: when ethics takes on the form of policy making, the relationship between problems and solutions is more complex. We suggest that an organizational perspective on ethics codes, rules and declarations can deliver a relevant framework for future studies of the implications of wanting to address ethical problems through policy making. (shrink)

En la Filosofía del Derecho, Hegel dedica especial atención a uno de los problemas más preocupantes de las sociedades y los estados modernos: la inequitativa distribución de la riqueza y la consiguiente secuela de inequidades e injusticias sociales. En su análisis, Hegel enfatiza la idea de que la conformación de una sociedad civil justa y de un estado racional o de derecho, depende enteramente del reconocimiento, por parte de esas esferas, de los derechos de todos los individuos a gozar de (...) una vida material digna, que les permita no sólo el aseguramiento de las condiciones elementales de existencia, sino también la participación y el disfrute de los bienes materiales y espirituales que sustentan y dinamizan la vida en común. De acuerdo con el diagnóstico de Hegel, tal reconocimiento tiene, ciertamente, su punto de partida en la esferas del derecho abstracto y se prolonga en la esfera de la moralidad, en las que el individuo es reconocido como persona o sujeto moral, pero es sólo en la esfera superior de la eticidad donde el reconocimiento de todos los derechos que garantizan una vida digna, alcanza validez y necesidad universales, dado que es en dicha esfera, concretamente en la esfera del estado, donde dicho reconocimiento logra asegurarse en las diferentes instancias legales y jurídicas que lo componen. Tal es la vía por la cual la filosofía política de Hegel intenta ofrecer una salida a un problema que, como el señalado, sigue siendo una amenaza a las sociedades del presente y un cuestionamiento a las estructuras mismas del poder. Independientemente de la viabilidad de la solución ofrecida, la filosofía política de Hegel recaba aquí una vigencia pertinente e incuestionable. (shrink)

L'article est consacré à la procréation médicalement assistée et aux techniques médicales qui la concernent: les concepts bioéthiques, l'option anthropologique, le dialogue interdisciplinaire et la philosophie de la nature impliqués sont étudiés. Les problèmes concrets du diagnostic préimplantatoire, de la sélection de l'embryon, du clônage, et de la compétence du médecin en matière de conseil sont analysés par l'A.