Attitudes toward repository projects cannot be explained merely on the basis of perceived risks, trust, or technical information. Issues of justice and fairness frequently arise when burdens and benefits are to be allocated. A fair distribution across the various parts of a given territory of the waste to be stored is unlikely to be accomplished as it is contingent on appropriate geological formations and other factors. The process by which the specific distribution is determined and accomplished needs to be taken (...) into account as well. Thus, justice evaluations of both the distributive outcome and the process itself, by which the outcome is accomplished, are likely to affect people’s attitudes toward and acceptance of siting decisions. Data from a number of methodically different studies conducted over the last eight years on site selection in Switzerland suggest that a fair procedure is more essential than a fair distribution to a consensus about the decisions made. As a consequence, even normative assessments of the fairness of a distribution of nuclear waste must consider procedural justice as a valuable indicator, independently of the particular shape of the distribution. However, contextual factors, such as the wider nuclear energy strategy of a country, may compete with procedural fairness in terms of importance. Even though fairness is a requirement it does not guarantee acceptance. It may, however, enhance acceptability from a moral standpoint. (shrink)

Asomatognosia designates the experience that one’s body has faded from awareness. It is typically a somaesthetic experience but may target the visual modality. Frequently associated symptoms are the loss of ownership or agency over a limb. Here, we elaborate on the rigorous nosographic classification of asomatognosia and introduce a structured interview to capture both its core symptoms and associated signs of bodily estrangement. We additionally report the case of a pure left-sided hemiasomatognosia occurring after surgical removal of a meningioma in (...) the right atrium. Despite the wide lesions of the right angular gyrus and of the temporo-parietal junction, the patient did not present visuospatial deficits or bodily awareness disorders other than hemiasomatognosia. The patient and 10 matched controls’ motor imagery was formally assessed with a limb laterality task in which they had to decide whether hands and feet presented under different angles of rotation depicted a left or a right limb. Bayesian statistics showed that patient’s reaction times were significantly impaired exclusively for the left foot and especially for mental rotations requiring somatomotor rather than visual limb representations. This was in accordance with a more enduring left-sided hemiasomatognosia for the lower limbs confined to the somesthetic modality. Our findings shed new light on motor imagery in asomatognosia and encourage the future use of the structured interview introduced here. In addition, the limb laterality task may capture phenomenological elements of a case by chronometric means. This allows a more standardized reporting of phenomenological detail and improves communication across different clinical facilities. (shrink)

Introduction.--Illustrations of manuscripts and printed books.--Pettas, W. Notes on English translations of Phaedrus.--Lee, P. On the wings of Thymós.--Blaisdell, G. A nobler seduction.--Appendix: The Parmenides fragments.

To achieve the very specific goal of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, many technical challenges and conflicts of interest must be overcome. How can a strategy be developed that is politically and socially acceptable? Research is needed to support societal efforts to rethink the links between energy use and human well-being.

ZusammenfassungDer Beitrag baut auf Niklas Luhmanns Unterscheidung zwischen verschiedenen Typen sozialer Systeme auf, nämlich Interaktionen, Organisationen und einer durch funktionale Teilsysteme strukturierten Gesellschaft. Auf dieser Basis wird der Fall zweier Schüler in einer Schweizer Sekundarschule analysiert, die ihren Lehrerinnen mit religiöser Begründung den Handschlag verweigerten. Gezeigt wird, wie dieses Ereignis von verschiedenen Systemtypen als Problem bearbeitet und jeweils unterschiedlich beobachtet wurde, wobei speziell auch die Frage nach dem Stellenwert des Teilsystems Religion gestellt wird. Insbesondere der Zeitbedarf und der Stellenwert schriftlicher (...) Kommunikation der verschiedenen Systeme erweisen sich als Faktoren, über die sich die unterschiedliche Rolle verschiedener Systemtypen in der Affäre verstehen lässt. Religion beeinflusste zunächst zwar die Interaktion im Klassenzimmer, schließlich fungierte sie aber eher als Thema von Recht, Politik und Massenmedien, als dass sich religiöse Kommunikation über den ursprünglichen Interaktionszusammenhang hinaus als einflussreich erwiesen hätte. (shrink)