Empirische Daten belegen, dass die moderne Geburtsmedizin Schwangerschaft und Gebären vorrangig als krankhaft wahrnimmt, was zu einem Legitimationsdefizit führt: Eine primär invasive Geburtsmedizin verletzt das Prinzip der Nichtschädigung, verursacht vermeidbare Kosten und ist nicht ohne weiteres durch das Autonomieprinzip gedeckt. Von den unmittelbar Beteiligten ist diese Pathologisierung als eine solche jedoch kaum wahrgenommen worden. Daher stellt sich die Frage, wie es zur sozialen Akzeptanz einer derart drastischen Wahrnehmungsverschiebung kommen konnte. Da Begriffe unsere Wahrnehmung strukturieren, interessiert uns vor allem die konzeptionelle (...) Dimension dieser geburtsmedizinischen Verkehrung des Normalen ins Krankhafte, die in einer Reflexion auf die zwei Quellen legitimen ärztlichen Handelns erkennbar wird. Sowohl der Krankheitsbegriff als auch das moderne Verständnis von Selbstbestimmung weisen eine interne Unschärfe auf, die pathologisierende Tendenzen begünstigt. Der moderne Krankheitsbegriff erschwert eine klare Abgrenzung zwischen krank und gesund. Und Autonomie ist ein mehrdeutiges Konzept, das in einer spezifischen Auslegung die Pathologisierung fördert. Da beide Konzepte ärztliches Handeln rechtfertigen, bleibt ihr delegitimierendes Potential in der Praxis unscheinbar. Erst reflexiv und polylogisch lässt sich dieser blinde Fleck beobachten, so dass eine Korrektur der Pathologisierung möglich wird. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungDass unsere Gesellschaften den Tod verdrängen, ist eine weit verbreitete Überzeugung. Sie lässt sich jedoch soziologisch weder belegen noch widerlegen: A) Die Moderne ist sich des Todes wohl bewusst. Zum einen kennt sie aufgrund ihrer funktionalen Differenzierung viele Todesbilder. Zum anderen ist sie stark individualisiert, so dass der Tod eine neue Bedeutung gewinnt. Er wird zum irreversiblen Verlust einer unersetzbaren und in sich wertvollen Person. B) Die Moderne wird aber auch als todesverdrängend erlebt, insofern viele ihrer Todesbilder diesen individuellen Tod (...) ignorieren. Diese Ambivalenzen lassen sich in einer Betrachtung moderner Medizin genauer aufklären: A) Diese thematisiert den Tod durchaus, aber vorrangig erfahrungswissenschaftlich, so dass die Person und der ihr eigene Tod gerade ausgeklammert werden. Da die subjektive Dimension auch für Schmerzphänomene konstitutiv ist, grenzt eine solche Medizin diese ebenfalls aus. Sie gelten als tendenziell sinnlos und werden ignoriert oder aber beseitigt. B) Zugleich ist moderne Medizin stets schon mehr als reine Naturwissenschaft, da sie auch einer Logik individuellen Fallverstehens folgt. Beide Logiken sind spannungsvoll, können einander ergänzen, aber auch konfligieren. Während eine dominante Orientierung an den Naturwissenschaften weder den Schmerzen noch dem individuellen Tod gerecht wird, ermöglicht das individuelle Fallverstehen eine reflexive Kritik. Derzeit ist es vor allem die Palliativmedizin, die sich für eine neue Balance dieser Handlungslogiken einsetzt, wobei offen ist, ob sie einen verdrängenden Umgang mit dem Tod überwinden kann. (shrink)

Rawls strictly distinguishes between political or neutral conceptions of Liberalism and liberal justice on one hand side and moral or metaphysical on the other. His claim is, that a political understanding of Liberalism and justice has to be and could be free standing, independent of special conceptions of a good life. First of all this work shortly presents the main topics of Rawls’ Political Liberalism. Next, it formulates an antithesis: the political integration of plural modern societies does not depend on (...) an „overlaping consensus“ but on a strong liberal ethos, i.e. a political and metaphysical conception of a liberal way of good life. Furthermore I consider external objections and discuss internal problems of Rawls’ political philosophy. Finally it will be shown, that the description of an original position, given by Rawls, especially the metaphorical „veil of ignorance“, presupposes a certain „metaphysical“ concept of person, that includes what it means to lead a good life from a liberal point of view. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungEmpirische Daten belegen, dass die moderne Geburtsmedizin Schwangerschaft und Gebären vorrangig als krankhaft wahrnimmt, was zu einem Legitimationsdefizit führt: Eine primär invasive Geburtsmedizin verletzt das Prinzip der Nichtschädigung, verursacht vermeidbare Kosten und ist nicht ohne weiteres durch das Autonomieprinzip gedeckt. Von den unmittelbar Beteiligten ist diese Pathologisierung als eine solche jedoch kaum wahrgenommen worden. Daher stellt sich die Frage, wie es zur sozialen Akzeptanz einer derart drastischen Wahrnehmungsverschiebung kommen konnte. Da Begriffe unsere Wahrnehmung strukturieren, interessiert uns vor allem die konzeptionelle (...) Dimension dieser geburtsmedizinischen Verkehrung des Normalen ins Krankhafte, die in einer Reflexion auf die zwei Quellen legitimen ärztlichen Handelns erkennbar wird. Sowohl der Krankheitsbegriff als auch das moderne Verständnis von Selbstbestimmung weisen eine interne Unschärfe auf, die pathologisierende Tendenzen begünstigt. Der moderne Krankheitsbegriff erschwert eine klare Abgrenzung zwischen krank und gesund. Und Autonomie ist ein mehrdeutiges Konzept, das in einer spezifischen Auslegung die Pathologisierung fördert. Da beide Konzepte ärztliches Handeln rechtfertigen, bleibt ihr delegitimierendes Potential in der Praxis unscheinbar. Erst reflexiv und polylogisch lässt sich dieser blinde Fleck beobachten, so dass eine Korrektur der Pathologisierung möglich wird. (shrink)

Rawls strictly distinguishes between political or neutral conceptions of Liberalism and liberal justice on one hand side and moral or metaphysical on the other. His claim is, that a political understanding of Liberalism and justice has to be and could be free standing, independent of special conceptions of a good life. First of all this work shortly presents the main topics of Rawls’ Political Liberalism. Next, it formulates an antithesis: the political integration of plural modern societies does not depend on (...) an „overlaping consensus“ but on a strong liberal ethos, i.e. a political and metaphysical conception of a liberal way of good life. Furthermore I consider external objections and discuss internal problems of Rawls’ political philosophy. Finally it will be shown, that the description of an original position, given by Rawls, especially the metaphorical „veil of ignorance“, presupposes a certain „metaphysical“ concept of person, that includes what it means to lead a good life from a liberal point of view. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungEine Entscheidungspflicht fordert, dass jeder Bürger die Frage nach der Organspende mit Ja oder Nein beantworten muss. Der Aufsatz prüft, ob sich eine solche Verbindlichkeit ethisch rechtfertigen lässt. Betrachtet werden mehrere Begründungsversuche: die Berufung auf das Prinzip der Hilfeleistung, die Vereinbarkeit mit dem Selbstbestimmungsprinzip, ein Konsistenzargument sowie die Frage, ob die gegenwärtige Belastung der Angehörigen für eine solche Verpflichtung spricht. Zusätzlich wird eine im Organspendediskurs verbreitete Begriffskonfusion zwischen Wollen und Wünschen untersucht. Alle Argumente für eine Erklärungspflicht erweisen sich im Vergleich (...) mit der bestehenden gesetzlichen Regelung als nicht überzeugend. (shrink)

Dass unsere Gesellschaften den Tod verdrängen, ist eine weit verbreitete Überzeugung. Sie lässt sich jedoch soziologisch weder belegen noch widerlegen: A) Die Moderne ist sich des Todes wohl bewusst. Zum einen kennt sie aufgrund ihrer funktionalen Differenzierung viele Todesbilder. Zum anderen ist sie stark individualisiert, so dass der Tod eine neue Bedeutung gewinnt. Er wird zum irreversiblen Verlust einer unersetzbaren und in sich wertvollen Person. B) Die Moderne wird aber auch als todesverdrängend erlebt, insofern viele ihrer Todesbilder diesen individuellen Tod (...) ignorieren. Diese Ambivalenzen lassen sich in einer Betrachtung moderner Medizin genauer aufklären: A) Diese thematisiert den Tod durchaus, aber vorrangig erfahrungswissenschaftlich, so dass die Person und der ihr eigene Tod gerade ausgeklammert werden. Da die subjektive Dimension auch für Schmerzphänomene konstitutiv ist, grenzt eine solche Medizin diese ebenfalls aus. Sie gelten als tendenziell sinnlos und werden ignoriert oder aber beseitigt. B) Zugleich ist moderne Medizin stets schon mehr als reine Naturwissenschaft, da sie auch einer Logik individuellen Fallverstehens folgt. Beide Logiken sind spannungsvoll, können einander ergänzen, aber auch konfligieren. Während eine dominante Orientierung an den Naturwissenschaften weder den Schmerzen noch dem individuellen Tod gerecht wird, ermöglicht das individuelle Fallverstehen eine reflexive Kritik. Derzeit ist es vor allem die Palliativmedizin, die sich für eine neue Balance dieser Handlungslogiken einsetzt, wobei offen ist, ob sie einen verdrängenden Umgang mit dem Tod überwinden kann. (shrink)

© 2019 The Author. Background: The phenomenon of being 'with woman' is fundamental to midwifery as it underpins its philosophy, relationships and practices. There is an identified gap in knowledge around the 'with woman' phenomenon from the perspective of midwives providing care in a variety of contexts. As such, the aim of this study was to explore the experiences of being 'with woman' during labour and birth from the perspective of midwives' working in a model where care is provided by (...) a known midwife. Methods: A descriptive phenomenological design was employed with ten midwives working in a 'known midwife' model who described their experiences of being 'with woman' during labour and birth. The method was informed by Husserlian philosophy which seeks to explore the same phenomenon through rich descriptions by individuals revealing commonalities of the experience. Results: Five themes emerged 1) Building relationships; 2) Woman centred care; 3) Impact on the midwife; 4) Impact on the woman; and 5) Challenges in the Known Midwife model. Midwives emphasised the importance of trusting relationships while being 'with woman', confirming that this relationship extends beyond the woman - midwife relationship to include the woman's support people and family. Being 'with woman' during labour and birth in the context of the relationship facilitates woman-centred care. Being 'with woman' influences midwives, and, it is noted, the women that midwives are working with. Finally, challenges that impact being 'with woman' in the known midwife model are shared by midwives. Conclusions: Findings offer valuable insight into midwives' experiences of being 'with woman' in the context of models that provide care by a known midwife. In this model, the trusting relationship is the conduit for being 'with woman' which influences the midwife, the profession of midwifery, as well as women and their families. Descriptions of challenges to being 'with woman' provide opportunities for professional development and service review. Rich descriptions from the unique voice of midwives, provided insight into the applied practices of being 'with woman' in a known midwife model which adds important knowledge concerning a phenomenon so deeply embedded in the philosophy and practices of the profession of midwifery. (shrink)

The sense of agency is a basic feature of our subjective experience. Experimental studies usually focus on either its attributional aspects or on its motoric aspects. Here, we combine both aspects and focus on the subjective experience of the time between action and effect. Previous studies [Haggard, P., Aschersleben, G., Gehrke, J., & Prinz, W.. Action, binding and awareness. In W. Prinz, & B. Hommel, Common mechanisms in perception and action: Attention and performance. Oxford: Oxford University Press] have shown a (...) temporal attraction in the perceived times of actions and effects, but did directly not study the relation between them. In three experiments, time estimates of an interval between an action and its subsequent sensory effect were obtained. The actions were either voluntary key press actions performed by the participant or kinematically identical movements applied passively to the finger. The effects were either auditory or visual events or a passive movement induced to another finger. The results first indicated a shortening of the interval between one’s own voluntary action and a subsequent effect, relative to passive movement conditions. Second, intervals initiated by observed movements, either of another person or of an inanimate object, were always perceived like those involving passive movements of one’s own body, and never like those involving active movements. Third, this binding effect was comparable for auditory, somatic and visual effects of action. Our results provide the first direct evidence that agency involves a generalisable relation between actions and their consequences, and is triggered by efferent motor commands. (shrink)

Explains the ethical principles of the ancient Greek philosophy known as Stoicism and shows how it can change our understanding of contemporary issues such as environmental sustainability, social justice, and global capitalism.

The positivists defined analyticity as truth in virtue of meaning alone and advocated the view that the notion of analyticity so defined is co-extensive with both the notion of an a priori truth an...

Many find the prospect of death distressing at least partly because they believe that death deprives its subject of life’s benefits. Properly qualified, the belief is surely true. But should its truth lead us to conclude that there is something dreadful or awful about death, something that merits distress?

Tradução de "The Shifting Contours of Philosophy. In the wake of Hegel”. In: Rinaldi, G.; Cerretani, G. Etica, Politica, Storia universale. Atti del Congresso Internazionale (Urbino, 24-27 ottobre 2018). Canterano: Aracne editrice, 2020, p. 135-156.

Drawing on insights of thinkers in the natural rights tradition, Draper analyzes numerous hypothetical cases including those involving a runaway trolley, then seeks to determine if killing civilians in war is ever justified. In his consideration of this issue he avoids appealing to the principle of double effect. Having considered hypothetical cases at length, he leaves it to others to decide if any option to go to war is justifiable. In this regard he himself is sceptical.

African ethics is primarily concerned with community and harmonious communal relationships. The claim is frequently made on behalf of African moral beliefs and customs that African society does not objectify and exploit nature and natural existents, unlike Western moral attitudes and practices. This book investigates whether this claim is correct by examining religious and philosophical thought, as well as traditional cultural practices in Africa. Through exploration of what kind of status is reserved for other-than-human animals in African ethics, Horsthemke argues (...) that moral perceptions and attitudes on the African continent remain resolutely anthropocentric, or human-centred. Although values like ubuntu (humanness) and ukama (relationality) have been expanded to include nonhuman nature, animals have no rights, and human duties to them are almost exclusively 'indirect'. Animals and African Ethics concludes by asking whether those who, following their own liberation, continue to exploit and oppress other creatures, are not thereby contributing to their own dehumanization. (shrink)

Biographical note: Kai Ginkel (Dr.), geb. 1981, ist Projektmitarbeiter an der Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz. Der Soziologe promovierte an der Katholischen Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. Zuvor war er PhD-Scholar im postgradualen Lehrgang”Sociology of Social Practices“am Institut für Höhere Studien Wien.

This book, first published in 2002, is a systematic critical overview of German aesthetics from 1750 to the present. It begins with the work of Baumgarten and covers all the major writers on German aesthetics that follow, including Kant, Schiller, Schelling, Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Gadamer and Adorno. The book offers a clear and non-technical exposition of ideas, placing these in a wider philosophical context where necessary. Such is the importance of German aesthetics that the market for this book will extend (...) far beyond the domain of philosophy to such fields as literary studies, fine art and music. (shrink)

In this paper, we discuss three probabilistic arguments for the existence of multiple universes. First, we provide an analysis of total evidence and use that analysis to defend Roger White's "this universe" objection to a standard fine-tuning argument for multiple universes. Second, we explain why Rodney Holder's recent cosmological argument for multiple universes is unconvincing. Third, we develop a "Cartesian argument" for multiple universes. While this argument is not open to the objections previously noted, we show that, given certain highly (...) plausible assumptions about evidence and epistemic probability, the proposition which it treats as evidence cannot coherently be regarded as evidence for anything. This raises the question of whether to reject the assumptions or accept that such a proposition cannot be evidence. (shrink)

Hitchcock advances a diachronic Dutch Book argument (DDB) for a 1/3 answer to the Sleeping Beauty problem. Bradley and Leitgeb argue that Hitchcock’s DDB argument fails. We demonstrate the following: (a) Bradley and Leitgeb’s criticism of Hitchcock is unconvincing; (b) nonetheless, there are serious reasons to worry about the success of Hitchcock’s argument; (c) however, it is possible to construct a new DDB for 1/3 about which such worries cannot be raised.

Stephen Barker (The Philosophical Quarterly, 47 (1997), pp. 195–211) has presented a new argument for a pure material implication analysis of indicative conditionals. His argument relies crucially on the assumption that general indicatives such as ‘Every girl, if she gets a chance, bungee‐jumps’ are correctly analysed as having the formal structure (for all x)(if x gets a chance, x bungee‐jumps). This paper argues that an approach first proposed by David Lewis must be pursued: the ‘if’‐clause in these sentences restricts the (...) quantifier. Only the Lewis‐style analysis can deal with sentences involving non‐universal quantifiers such as ‘Most letters are answered if they are shorter than 5 pages’. I show that Barker's reasons for rejecting the restrictor analysis are not cogent and that the restrictor analysis connects widely with recent work in natural language semantics. (shrink)

African ethics is primarily concerned with community and harmonious communal relationships. The claim is frequently made on behalf of African moral beliefs and customs that, in stark contrast with Western moral attitudes and practices, there is no comparable objectification and exploitation of other-than-human animals and nature. This article investigates whether this claim is correct by examining the status of animals in religious and philosophical thought, as well as traditional cultural practices, in Africa. I argue that moral perceptions and attitudes on (...) the African continent remain resolutely anthropocentric. Although values like ubuntu or ukama have been expanded to include nonhuman nature, animals are characteristically not seen to have any rights, and human duties to them are almost exclusively “indirect.” I conclude by asking whether those who, following their own liberation, continue to exploit and oppress other creatures—simply because they can—are not thereby contributing to their own dehumanization. (shrink)

Four Distinctions for the Auditory “Wastebasket” of Timbre1.

Metaphilosophy is itself philosophy about philosophy. It is not something before or independent of philosophy. Both Kai Nielsen and Richard Rorty are deeply concerned (someone might say obsessively preoccupied) with metaphilosophy. They both are thoroughly historicist and contextualist resolutely rejecting any form of a transcendental or metaphysical turn. They argue against claims to absolute validity (as well as against absolutism in any form) and a natural order of reasons: some 'Reason' to which any rational agent must be committed. They both (...) see philosophy as a transitional genre first (historically speaking) from religion then metaphysics and more latterly from scientistic conceptions of the world. But they differ about what philosophy is transitional to. For Rorty it is historical narrative and utopian proposals; for Nielsen it is critical theory. Rorty claims this, Nielsen's intentions to the contrary notwithstanding, commits him to enlightenment rationalism. Nielsen replies that his form of critical theory is deeply historicist and contextual without being resolutely atheoretical. This plays out in political orientation to Nielsen's being a socialist while Rorty is a social democrat. (shrink)

The rapid spread of judicially-enforced constitutional rights has been one of the most dramatic developments in modern law. This book argues that there is now a global model for how such rights should function, and develops an original, philosophically grounded, account of their nature and scope.

Paired associative stimulation at the spinal cord has been shown to increase muscle force and dexterity by strengthening the corticomuscular connection, through spike timing dependent plasticity. Typically, transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcutaneous peripheral nerve electrical stimulation are often used in spinal PAS. PNS targets superficial nerve branches, by which the number of applicable muscles is limited. Alternatively, a muscle can be activated by positioning the stimulation electrode on the “motor point”, which is the most sensitive location of a muscle to (...) electrical stimulation. Although this can increase the number of applicable muscles for spinal PAS, nobody has tested whether MPS can be used for the spinal PAS to date. Here we investigated the feasibility of using MPS instead of PNS for spinal PAS. Ten healthy male individuals received spinal PAS on two separate days with different stimulation timings expected to induce facilitation of corticospinal excitability or no effect on the soleus. The motor evoked potentials response curve in the soleus was measured prior to the spinal PAS, immediately after and at 10, 20, 30 min post-intervention as a measure of corticospinal excitability. The post-intervention MEP response curve areas were larger in the REAL condition than the CONTROL conditions. Further, the post-intervention MEP response curve areas were significantly larger than pre-intervention in the REAL condition but not in the CONTROL condition. We conclude that MPS can facilitate corticospinal excitability through spinal PAS. (shrink)

This open access book is a superb collection of some fifteen chapters inspired by Schroeder-Heister's groundbreaking work, written by leading experts in the field, plus an extensive autobiography and comments on the various contributions by Schroeder-Heister himself. For several decades, Peter Schroeder-Heister has been a central figure in proof-theoretic semantics, a field of study situated at the interface of logic, theoretical computer science, natural-language semantics, and the philosophy of language. -/- The chapters of which this book is composed discuss the (...) subject from a rich variety of angles, including the history of logic, the proper interpretation of logical validity, natural deduction rules, the notions of harmony and of synonymy, the structure of proofs, the logical status of equality, intentional phenomena, and the proof theory of second-order arithmetic. All chapters relate directly to questions that have driven Schroeder-Heister's own research agenda and to which he has made seminal contributions. The extensive autobiographical chapter not only provides a fascinating overview of Schroeder-Heister's career and the evolution of his academic interests but also constitutes a contribution to the recent history of logic in its own right, painting an intriguing picture of the philosophical, logical, and mathematical institutional landscape in Germany and elsewhere since the early 1970s. The papers collected in this book are illuminatingly put into a unified perspective by Schroeder-Heister's comments at the end of the book. Both graduate students and established researchers in the field will find this book an excellent resource for future work in proof-theoretic semantics and related areas. (shrink)

This pathbreaking work argues that the major intellectual trend in China from the seventeenth through to the early nineteenth century was Confucian ritualism, as expressed in ethics and classical learning. Through the performance of rites, the early Qing scholars believed they could cultivate Confucian virtues and achieve social order. The author shows how Confucian ritualism, with its emphasis on lineage, became a broad movement of social reform that stressed conformity and clearly prescribed rules of behavior, expressed notably in the growing (...) cult of female chastity. (shrink)