Following the revival in the last decades of the concept of “organism”, scholarly literature in philosophy of science has shown growing historical interest in the theory of Immanuel Kant, one of the “fathers” of the concept of self-organisation. Yet some recent theoretical developments suggest that self-organisation alone cannot fully account for the all-important dimension of autonomy of the living. Autonomy appears to also have a genuine “interactive” dimension, which concerns the organism’s functional interactions with the environment and does not simply (...) derive from its internal organisation. Against this background, we focus on a family of natural philosophical approaches that historically have already strongly taken in account this aspect of autonomy, notably going beyond Kant’s perspective on self-organisation. We thus review Hegel, Plessner, and Jonas’ different perspectives on living beings, focussing in particular on four points: the distinction between organic and inorganic, the theory of biological organisation, the processuality of the living, and the “boundary” between inside and outside, through which the organism establishes its relationship to the environment. We, then, compare the three perspectives on these four points, and finally address the question of what advantages their contribution present—especially compared to Kant’s theory—with respect to the topic of organism’s autonomy. This could help—we hope—to better understand what is at the stake still today. (shrink)

After preliminarily pointing to the undeniable differences between Jonas’ philosophical biology and Schelling’s philosophy of nature, I contend that, besides their divergencies, the two philosophers agree on several important points. I then show to what extent, based on these elements of convergence, their two approaches could even be taken as complementary. In the core of my paper I lay emphasis on what I believe to be the main ground for the complementarity of the two philosophical inquiries, that is to say, (...) their common radicalization and superseding of Kant’s principle of self-organization. In this respect – all differences considered – they both can be said to delineate a philosophy of the organic that can fruitfully contribute, even better than Kant’s input, to the currently widely discussed topic of biological autonomy. (shrink)

This collection presents stimulating and diverse essays by scholars from several different fields; the contributors have made important contributions to the ...

Scientific disagreements sometimes persist even if scientists fully share results of their research. In this paper we develop an agent-based model to study the impact of diverging diagnostic values scientists may assign to the evidence, given their different background assumptions, on the emergence of polarization in the scientific community. Scientists are represented as Bayesian updaters for whom the diagnosticity of evidence is given by the Bayes factor. Our results suggest that an initial disagreement on the diagnostic value of evidence can, (...) but does not necessarily, lead to polarization, depending on the sample size of the performed studies and the confidence interval within which scientists share their opinions. In particular, the more data scientists share,the more likely it is that the community will end up polarized. (shrink)

The early literature on base of the pyramid strategies argued that multinational enterprises can contribute significantly to poverty alleviation of the poorest population in the world. An emergent perspective suggests that the solution to poverty lies within the BOP itself. Here, entrepreneurship within the BOP population is seen as the more credible solution to poverty. In this Special Issue introduction, we briefly present how the literature has further shifted the discussion of BOP strategies toward issues such as innovation, networks, business (...) models, and sustainability at the BOP. This analysis signals a gap in our knowledge related to the success factors in business models of BOP entrepreneurs, with attention to economic, social, and environmental impacts. We present the five articles accepted for publication in this Special Issue, of which three contribute to our knowledge of BOP business models and two to our knowledge of sustainability at the BOP. In conclusion, we propose several avenues for future research. (shrink)

Die Philosophie Helmuth Plessners hat in den letzten Jahren eine Renaissance erfahren: Plessner wurde als relevanter Vertreter einer Biophilosophie (wieder) entdeckt, die nicht nur die uberkommene Trennung von Natur und Kultur, sondern auch die Gegenuberstellung disjunkter Wissenschaftskulturen in Frage stellt und ihr Verhaltnis neu bestimmt. DAs Buch nimmt die verschiedenen disziplinaren Faden auf, die die Konzeption von Plessners Biophilosophie insbesondere in den Stufen des Organischen und der Mensch (1928) verstandlich machen. ES stellt Plessners uberlegungen im Kontext von naturwissenschaftlichen (von Uexkull, (...) Buytendijk, Driesch, von Weizsacker, Portmann, Kohler) sowie philosophischen (Bergson, Misch, Hartmann, Scheler, Heidegger, Jonas) Theorien seiner Zeit vor. (shrink)

With the concept of commom good reference has been made, along history, to those material and immaterial goods which are not circumscribed to a person, but remit to each and every member of society. Among those goods, basic elements for biological human survival, such as air and water, are usually included, but also the right to participate of the profits of cultural goods. In some cases, commom good has been made equivalent to common wellfare; in others, to the summation of (...) particular interests or to the benefit of the majority. Beyond the diverse interpretations, the promotion of common good continues at present to be a key aim of State in the democratic ideary and a recurrent issue in public ethics. In what follows, the concept of traditional common good has been reconstructed, making special reference to the works of Plato, Aristotle and St. Thomas, with the purpose of setting the basis for a new comprehension of the idea of common good in pluralist and democratic societies.Con el concepto de bien común se ha hecho referencia, a través de la historia, a aquellos bienes materiales e inmateriales que no se circunscriben a una persona sino que remiten a todos y cada uno de los miembros de la sociedad. Entre esos bienes suelen contarse elementos básicos para la supervivencia humana biológica, como el aire y el agua, pero también el derecho a participar en el usufructo de los bienes de la cultura. En algunos casos, el bien común es equiparado al bienestar general; en otros, a la suma de intereses particulares o al beneficio de la mayoría, como cuando se busca el mayor bien para el mayor número posible de individuos. Más allá de las diversas interpretaciones, la promoción del bien común sigue siendo en la actualidad un objetivo clave del Estado en el ideario democrático y un tema recurrente de la ética pública. En lo que sigue, se reconstruye críticamente el concepto tradicional de bien común, haciendo especial referencia a las obras de Platón, Aristóteles y Santo Tomas, con el fin de sentar bases para una nueva comprensión de la idea de bien común en sociedades pluralistas y democráticas. (shrink)

Platonic dialogues are self-concealing, presenting ideas by indirection or in riddling form, often exploring a difficulty or aporia without arriving at a solution. Since philosophers have begun to see Plato's work as imbued with irony, double meaning, and ambiguity, literary techniques that accommodate such layered meanings become a necessary adjunct to interpretation. The dialogue Politicus explores through an aporetic process a central Platonic concern, the relation between ideal and real. Close analysis of the important section dealing with law and constitutions (...) reveals some of the complexity. By his wayward conduct of the argument, the Eleatic stranger repeatedly forces reevaluation of earlier arguments or conclusions. At the close of the cosmic myth , the Stranger warned against confusing the divine monarch, a true shepherd, with his mortal counterpart, the best ruler, whose discovery is the aim of the dialogue. The distinction that was made then is simple in context, but complex in view of the conclusion at 303b8-c5 that the participants in all governments except the ideal monarchy are supreme wizards and fakers. The truly real statesman thus recedes into a distance remote from the world of practical politics, while the familiar regimes are marked as irretrievably flawed and inauthentic. The ability of the fake statesmen to deceive by impersonating the true king also means that it may be impossible to make the crucial distinction between king and tyrant, since either may disregard the laws. The strange fable of legalism run wild confirms the ludicrous and destructive results of rigid obedience to law, but concludes that rigidity is necessary to the false regimes. The corollary is that seekers after truth, like Socrates or even the Stranger himself, must always be rejected by law-based societies. (shrink)

The extent to which people anticipate and are influenced by the potential future consequences of their current behavior is called Consideration of Future Consequences. A well-established tool to measure this construct is the 14-item Consideration of Future Consequences Scale. The CFC-14 has shown appropriate psychometric properties in several languages. This scale comprises two factors: the CFC-Immediate and the CFC-Future. The main goal of this study was to assess the psychometric properties and internal consistency of the CFC-14 Scale in Spanish, using (...) an Argentine sample. A secondary goal was to determine its convergent validity with impulsivity, and determine differences across gender and age groups. Using a web-based survey, we collected data from 512 participants aged 13-74 years. Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed a 2-factor model as the best solution for 13-items version. Standardized regression weights ranged from.50 to.66 for CFC-F and between.43 and.83 for CFC-I. Composite reliability was also adequate: CFC-F achieve? =.80 and CFC-I? =.82. There were no differences across gender and age. The CFC-F subscale and UPPS-P subscales correlations, were negative and significant, highlighting the negative and moderate correlation between CFC-F and the lack of premeditation, a dimension strictly related to intertemporal decisions making. Thus, CFC-14 has adequate psychometric properties in an Argentinian population, although more studies are necessary to determine the robustness of these findings. (shrink)

El presente texto aborda la problemática del aborto como una cuestión moral, y deja de lado otros enfoques relevantes, dado que estos, en opinión del autor, no tienen como horizonte último el punto de vista moral. A partir de los presupuestos conceptuales y metodológicos de la Ética del discurso, en tanto que ética de la corresponsabilidad solidaria no rigorista, se presentan conceptos ético-discursivos que pueden fundamentar las dos tesis siguientes: a) La interrupción arbitraria de la vida humana en la etapa (...) inicial de desarrollo es una práctica injusta; b) En determinados contextos de interacción y en situaciones específicas de decisión, el principio moral que exige no interrumpir voluntariamente la vida humana inicial puede ser no aplicable o su aplicación no exigible. The present text addresses the problem of abortion as a moral issue, and leaves aside other relevant approaches, since these, in the author's opinion, do not have the moral point of view as their ultimate horizon. From the conceptual and methodological assumptions of Discourse Ethics, as ethics of non-rigorous solidary co-responsibility, discourse-ethical concepts are presented that can support the following two theses: a) The arbitrary interruption of human life in the initial stage of development is an unjust practice; b) In certain contexts of interaction and in specific situations of decision, the moral principle that demands not voluntarily interrupting the initial human life may not be applicable or its application may not be enforceable. (shrink)

El artículo expone sintéticamente, en primer término, algunas ideas clave de la teoría ético-discursiva en relación con la resolución de conflictos. Luego se presentan las observaciones críticas que realiza Julio De Zan a la Ética del discurso en el sentido de que los discursos prácticos no serían aptos para resolver los conflictos de valores, los conflictos de intereses y los conflictos político-sociales, como también su propuesta de complementar la Ética del discurso con un aporte hermenéutico y una estrategia de cooperación (...) mutua para la solución de aquellos conflictos que no pueden ser resueltos mediante el discurso argumentativo. Esta estrategia no estaría orientada a alcanzar un consenso entre las partes, sino a lograr un modus vivendi razonable y pacífico. El artículo cierra con una ponderación crítica de las reflexiones de Julio De Zan y con la mención de algunos interrogantes que se plantean a partir de su propuesta de complementación de la Ética del discurso. (shrink)

el artículo presenta algunos de los conceptos clave de las teorías de la democracia deliberativa y la política discursiva, de Habermas, y de la política de la liberación, de Dussel, con el fin de establecer coincidencias y divergencias en vista de una interpretación actual de la democracia y de lo político.

Justina Gregory, Euripides and the Instruction of the Athenians, University of Michigan Press, ISBN - 9780472102303Charles Segal, Euripides and the Poetics of Sorrow: Art, Gender, and Commemoration in Alcestis, Hippolytus, and Hecuba, Duke University Press, ISBN - 9780822313601Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz, Anxiety Veiled: Euripides’ Traffic in Women, Cornell University Press, ISBN - 9780801428456.

Summary Within the health-related promotion of physical activity forms of sport activities are not seen as a necessary option. In this paper, this position is compared with the perspective of the sport system on sport as medium of health promotion. Within a systems theoretical framework, the German Olympic Sports Confederation and German Health Ministry programmes are analysed and contrasted. The documents reveal different perspectives on sport as a medium of health promotion. Moreover, different systemic logics lead to communications which often (...) aim to protect organisational meanings and competences from the external interference of other systems. In this context, the health system's logic appears to be more dominant. This may lead to an evolution of sport system programmes that is shaped by reacting to the operations of the health system. (shrink)

SummaryThis article explores the representation of Yusra Mardini as a refugee Olympic athlete. Her participation in the 2016 Olympic Games is analyzed through different areas of programming of the mass media and, specifically, through Mardini’s autobiography, documents of the International Olympic Committee, and German newspapers. A qualitative content analysis is carried out and a systems theoretical framework applied. The results reveal that Mardini’s refugee background was both an obstacle and an advantage for her career within the sport system. The establishment (...) of the Refugee Olympic Team generated positive response from the International Olympic Committee but also exposed contradictions in its inclusion rules. The newspapers showed a strong interest in Mardini and presented her as a hero, downplaying her performances and emphasizing her life story. Following an analysis of the interconnections between these different representations, the discussion turns to the mechanisms that go beyond the inclusion of Mardini in professional sports and focuses on the latent information within the materials. (shrink)