Confronted with mounting pressure to ensure accountability vis-à-vis customers, citizens and beneficiaries, organizational leaders need to decide how to choose and implement so-called accountability standards. Yet while looking for an appropriate standard, they often base their decisions on cost-benefit calculations, thus neglecting other important spheres of influence pertaining to more broadly defined stakeholder interests. We argue in this paper that, as a part of the strategic decision for a certain standard, management needs to identify and act according to the needs (...) of all stakeholders. We contend that the creation of a dialogical understanding among affected stakeholders cannot be a mere outcome of applying certain accountability standards, but rather must be a necessary precondition for their use. This requires a stakeholder dialogue prior to making a choice. We outline such a discursive decision framework for accountability standards based on the Habermasian concept of communicative action and, in the final section, apply our conceptual framework to one of the most prominent accountability tools (AA 1000). (shrink)

In der Tugendlehre Kants findet die allgemeine ethische Orientierung, wie sie der Kategorische Imperativ ausdrückt, Anwendung auf die Bedingungen der menschlichen Existenz. Die vorliegende Untersuchung rekonstruiert den Kantischen Ansatz vor dem Hintergrund der gegenwärtigen, vor allem aristotelischen Tugendethik und löst dabei den Kantischen Tugendbegriff kritisch von seinen zeitbedingten Prägungen. Auf so erneuerter Grundlage wird eine transzendentalphilosophische Ethikkonzeption entfaltet, die den methodischen und inhaltlichen Einsichten der jüngeren Theorieentwicklung Rechnung trägt. Zu den Ergebnissen zählt die Bestimmung einzelner Tugenden, deren ethische Orientierung an (...) konkreten Strukturen unserer alltäglichen Praxis demonstriert wird. (shrink)

In positive theories, we have an axiom scheme of comprehension for positive formulas. We study here the “generalized positive” theory GPK∞+. Natural models of this theory are hyperuniverses. The author has shown in [2] that GPK∞+ interprets the Kelley Morse class theory. Here we prove that GPK∞+ + ACWF and the Kelley-Morse class theory with the axiom of global choice and the axiom “On is ramifiable” are mutually interpretable. This shows that GPK∞+ + ACWF is a “strong” theory since “On (...) is ramifiable” implies the existence of a proper class of inaccessible cardinals. (shrink)

An interesting positive theory is the GPK theory. The models of this theory include all hyperuniverses (see [5] for a definition of these ones). Here we add a form of the axiom of infinity and a new scheme to obtain GPK∞+. We show that in these conditions, we can interprete the Kelley‐Morse theory (KM) in GPK∞+ (Theorem 3.7). This needs a preliminary property which give an interpretation of the Zermelo‐Fraenkel set theory (ZF) in GPK∞+. We also see what happens in (...) the original GPK theory. Before doing this, we first need to study the basic properties of the theory. This is done in the first two sections. (shrink)

Many classical philosophical texts contain passages that are to be judged as discriminatory and degrading, and by today’s standards even as racist, sexist or anti-Semitic. How we should deal appropriately with this heritage – be it in teaching or in research – is by no means undisputed. Some researchers are of the opinion that the passages in question are terminological idiosyncrasies of the respective authors related to the time they lived in and therefore philosophically irrelevant: they can be disregarded. Others (...) doubt that such a separation can actually be made. They are of the opinion that the philosophical parts of the respective work are always affected if racist, sexist or anti-Semitic ideas can be detected in passages. In analogy to the current discussion on how to deal with problematic works of art, memorials, street names or linguistic expressions, the question can also be addressed to philosophical works: what should be done with philosophical texts if they contain racist, sexist and anti-Semitic thoughts and their reception preserves so-called racist knowledge in our society? The contributions in the section ‘Philosophie aktuell’ take a stand on these questions from different perspectives and thereby show that one can also deal critically with this topic on the basis of philosophical methods. (shrink)

M. Forti and F. Honsell showed in [4] that the hyperuniverses defined in [2] satisfy the anti-foundation axiom X1 introduced in [3]. So it is interesting to study the axiom AFA, which is equivalent to X1 in ZF, introduced by P. Aczel in [1]. We show in this paper that AFA is inconsistent with the theory GPK. This theory, which is first order, is defined by E. Weydert in [6] and later by M. Forti and R. Hinnion in [2]. It (...) includes all general hyperuniverses as defined in [5]. In order to achieve our aim, we need to define ordinals in GPK and to study some of their properties. (shrink)

AbstractKant’s formal conditions for aesthetic judgment do not limit aesthetic reflection to certain aesthetic traditions and cultures. Moreover, these conditions open up the possibility of applying aesthetic reflection in the context of different approaches. From this perspective, Kant’s analytic of aesthetic judgment might furnish a useful basis for trans-cultural dialogues in the field of aesthetics and reflection on the arts. Yet the theory also has its limits, especially insofar as it neglects the somatic dimension of aesthetic experience. These two questions (...) are the primary concerns of the paper. (shrink)

Kant’s famous motto of enlightenment, “Sapere aude!”, is inseparably entwined with the demand for the “public use of reason”. There is no doubt that this also embraces the notion of a free and unrestricted exchange of ideas and indicates the potential beginning of a process in which “subjects” of the state and passive citizens are capable of developing into citizens of the world, and in which nation states are capable of developing into a kind of world community. This conception of (...) the public sphere also receives further concrete articulation in Kant’s Critique of Judgement, as Hannah Arendt already clearly recognized. In particular, the doctrine of reflective judgement, which is developed in that work, also allows us to derive several critical insights from Kant’s conception of enlightenment and the public sphere which are highly relevant to the contemporary intercultural discussion regarding the issue of the “Public Sphere”. (shrink)

This paper is concerned with topological set theory, and particularly with Skala's and Manakos' systems for which we give a topological characterization of the models. This enables us to answer natural questions about those theories, reviewing previous results and proving new ones. One of these shows that Skala's set theory is in a sense compatible with any ‘normal’ set theory, and another appears on the semantic side as a ‘Cantor theorem’ for the category of Alexandroff spaces.

Ein sicheres Kriterium für den menschlichen Tod gibt es nicht. Die neu entfachte Diskussion über den Hirntod zeigt, dass allein aus einem medizinisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Verständnis heraus keine angemessene Bestimmung des Todes zu gewinnen ist. Die Beiträge des Bandes verdeutlichen: Um den Tod begrifflich angemessen zu fassen, muss die personale Dimension des menschlichen Lebens berücksichtigt werden.

The concept of autonomy was and still is one of the central notions of practical philosophy. The current discussion often identifies autonomy with free or rational self-determination of a person. But a person must always be seen as being integrated in social and institutional contexts. Therefore the concept of autonomy has to be developed from an integrative perspective which includes both perspectives: the individual and the institutional one. Moreover, this integration cannot be constituted by shared affects and feeling of individuals, (...) but has to refer to the idea of “lawfulness” and guiding norms and orientations. This essay tries to show that Hermann Cohen′s understanding of “autonomy as a task” is a theory worthy of being followed, as it develops the principles as well as the concrete conditions of an integrative concept of autonomy on the basis of a “hypothetical” method which is both: critical and dynamical. (shrink)

(1) It remains to be seen if in the field of Psychiatry just as in that of Psychology the verbal output of a subject can be submitted to verification. Many statements of a highly emotional character being merely symptoms of certain dispositions have no direct communicative sense at all.(2) It being one of the characteristics of the mentally ill to loose contact and exchange of ideas with other people, the question naturally suggests itself if this symptom may be at the (...) bottom of the phenomenon of these persons taking refuge in logical and ideological terminologies, their talk being a kind of verbal autism. (shrink)

An aim of science is to increase our understanding of the natural world. A primary means for doing so is by providing explanations, which often proceed by tracing the causes of phenomena. How can a causal explanation lead to understanding? While explanations can take many forms, I argue that to succeed they must embody a conception of causation shared with their audience. The challenge then, is to describe this conception and detail its role in explanation. While there is good evidence (...) that scientists employ more than one causal concept, I argue that the concept of productive causation (centered on the notion of bringing about change via a connection) has a primary role in natural science explanations. After critiquing other philosophical accounts, I develop a new theory of productive causation and show how it provides an underpinning for successful explanations. The heart of the theory is a network of persisting processes that possess dispositions toward change-producing mutual interactions. I argue that in a good explanation, the scientific entities, properties and activities invoked will correspond to the theory’s depiction of causal structure. One important dimension of the theory describes how repeated patterns of interaction can give rise to a hierarchy of composite processes. This allows the theory to account for stabilized entities at various spatio-temporal scales. In turn, this enables the approach to be applicable throughout the natural sciences. After starting with simple examples, I show how the theory deals with more challenging cases from physics to biology. I conclude that the approach illuminates how explanations of various forms across diverse disciplines can lead to scientific understanding. (shrink)

In this paper, we study when a set-continuous operator has a fixed-point that is the intersection of a directed family. The framework of our study is the Kelley-Morse theory KMC– and the Gödel-Bernays theory GBC–, both theories including an Axiom of Choice and excluding the Axiom of Foundation. On the one hand, we prove a result concerning monotone operators in KMC– that cannot be proved in GBC–. On the other hand, we study conditions on directed superclasses in GBC– in order (...) that their intersection is a fixed-point of a set-continuous operator. Finally, we illustrate our results with a solution to the liar paradox and a construction of maximal bisimulations. (shrink)

The comment deals with the relevance of Coleman’s Foundations of Social Theory for so called ‘sociological theory’. On the one hand Coleman’s work is an extraordinary contribution to the solution of some of the most important ‘classical’ questions of sociology. On the other hand it is to be expected that the enormous potential of the book probably has only limited effects within the wider sociological profession. One reason for that estimation is the unfamiliarity of many sociologists with Coleman’s instruments of (...) aggregation of collective effects. The other - more important - reason is that Coleman almost completely leaves out any discussion of the importance of ‘symbolic’ and ‘cultural’ processes. Insofar the book is indeed a ‘Foundation of Social Theory’ but not a foundation of ‘sociology’ in its past and present understanding. (shrink)