According to quality theories of love, love is fitting by virtue of properties of the loved person. Despite their immediate plausibility, quality theories have met with many objections. Here I focus on two that strike at the heart of what makes the quality theory an appealing account of love, specifically, the theory’s ability to accommodate the fact that loving someone is a way of valuing them for who they are. The fungibility objection and the problem of love’s object maintain that (...) if a person is loved on the basis of their qualities, they are not valued in the right kind of way. I propose a new kind of quality theory which both answers these objections and is independently well-motivated. Specifically, I argue that to love a person as a whole, one must value them as an organic unity. (shrink)

One of the most controversial areas of animal research is the use of nonhuman primates for fundamental research. At the centre of the controversy is the question of whether the benefits of research outweigh the harms. We argue that the evaluation of harms and benefits is highly problematic. We describe some common procedures in neurological research using nonhuman primates and the difficulties in evaluating the harm involved. Even if the harm could be quantified, it is unlikely that it could be (...) meaningfully aggregated over different procedures, let alone different animals. A similar problem arises for evaluating benefits. It is not clear how benefits could be quantified, and even if they could be, values for different aspects of expected benefits cannot be simply added up. Sorting harms and benefits in three or four categories cannot avoid the charge of arbitrariness and runs the risk of imposing its structure on the moral decision. The metaphor of weighing or balancing harms and benefits is inappropriate for the moral decision about whether to use nonhuman primates for research. Arguing that the harms and benefits in this context are incommensurable, we suggest describing the moral consideration of harms and benefits as a coherent trade-off. Such a decision does not require commensurability. It must be well-informed about the suffering involved and the potential benefits, it must be consistent with the legal, regulatory and institutional framework within which it is made, and it must cohere with other judgments in relevant areas. (shrink)

Novel neurotechnologies like deep brain stimulation and brain-computer interfaces promise clinical benefits for severely suffering patients. Nevertheless, such electroceuticals raise several ethical issues on different levels: while on the level of clinical neuroethics issues with direct relevance for diagnosis and treatment have to be discussed, on the level of research neuroethics questions regarding research and development of these technological devices like investigating new targets and different diseases as well as thorough inclusion criteria are dealt with. On the level of theoretical (...) neuroethics more general questions are examined including anthropological considerations on “normal” human functioning as well as implications on personality, personal identity and authenticity. This paper presents a brief review on ethical issues of deep brain stimulation and brain computer interfacing and simultaneously introduces to this themed issue with thirteen contributions dealing from different perspectives with ethical implications of electroceuticals for the human brain. (shrink)

Abstract:Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) can enable communication for persons in severe paralysis including locked-in syndrome (LIS); that is, being unable to move or speak while aware. In cases of complete loss of muscle control, termed “complete locked-in syndrome,” a BCI may be the only viable solution to restore communication. However, a widespread ignorance regarding quality of life in LIS, current BCIs, and their potential as an assistive technology for persons in LIS, needlessly causes a harmful situation for this cohort. In addition (...) to their medical condition, these persons also face social barriers often perceived as more impairing than their physical condition. Through social exclusion, stigmatization, and frequently being underestimated in their abilities, these persons are being locked out in addition to being locked-in. In this article, we (1) show how persons in LIS are being locked out, including how key issues addressed in the existing literature on ethics, LIS, and BCIs for communication, such as autonomy, quality of life, and advance directives, may reinforce these confinements; (2) show how these practices violate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and suggest that we have a moral responsibility to prevent and stop this exclusion; and (3) discuss the role of BCIs for communication as one means to this end and suggest that a novel approach to BCI research is necessary to acknowledge the moral responsibility toward the end users and avoid violating the human rights of persons in LIS. (shrink)

This paper emphasizes a need to recognize sexual refusals both in public discourse and in the context of particular interactions. I draw on sociolinguistic work on the structure of refusals to illuminate a much-discussed case of alleged sexual violence as well as to inform how we ought to think and talk about sexual consent and refusal more generally. I argue on empirical and ideological grounds that we ought to impute the same significance to refusals uttered in sexual contexts as we (...) do to those uttered in nonsexual contexts. Finally, I propose an amendment to the definition of affirmative consent that would put it in line with the conclusions drawn in the rest of the paper. (shrink)

Safety factor rules are used for drawing putatively reasonable conclusions from incomplete datasets. The paper attempts to provide answers to four questions: “How are safety factors used?”, “When are safety factors used?”, “Why are safety used?” and “How do safety factor rules relate to decision theory?”. The authors conclude that safety factor rules should be regarded as decision methods rather than as criteria of rightness and that they can be used in both practical and theoretical reasoning. Simplicity of application and (...) inability or unwillingness to defer judgment appear to be important factors in explaining why the rules are used. (shrink)

The social shaping of technology (SST) approach to analysing technological development lends itself to an understanding of the relatively negotiated, heterogeneous, and local character of technologies, politicising the mediated nature of sociotechnical change. Here, conditions of actor engagement lie at the heart of analysing technology in social context—that is, the occasions, strategies, and scope of influence that are afforded different actors, by way of how particular problems come to be defined and resolved. In this paper we examine the framing of (...) a number of concrete technology assessments (TAs) from Denmark, from the realms of general TA and health technology assessment (HTA). Our examination of the TA initiatives is directed towards the relatively open-ended and consequently explorative and qualitative stance that SST takes in characterising the boundaries between the technical and the social. The paper goes on to discuss a possible place of ethical inquiry in TA, based on the understanding of technological development that SST affords. In the reflexive approach to addressing technology's relation to society, technology no longer maintains a universally reducible character in time or in social space. Through the possibility of analytically and practically opening up for otherwise seemingly locked actor-positions SST gives room for a more differentiated questioning and treatment of ethical issues in which technology may be implicated. (shrink)

"Spanning many historical and literary contexts, Moral Imagination brings together a dozen recent essays by one of America's premier cultural critics. David Bromwich explores the importance of imagination and sympathy to suggest how these faculties may illuminate the motives of human action and the reality of justice. These wide-ranging essays address thinkers and topics from Gandhi and Martin Luther King on nonviolent resistance, to the dangers of identity politics, to the psychology of the heroes of classic American literature. Bromwich demonstrates (...) that moral imagination allows us to judge the right and wrong of actions apart from any benefit to ourselves, and he argues that this ability is an innate individual strength, rather than a socially conditioned habit. Political topics addressed here include Edmund Burke and Richard Price's efforts to define patriotism in the first year of the French Revolution, Abraham Lincoln's principled work of persuasion against slavery in the 1850s, the erosion of privacy in America under the influence of social media, and the use of euphemism to shade and anesthetize reactions to the global war on terror. Throughout, Bromwich considers the relationship between language and power, and the insights language may offer into the corruptions of power.Moral Imagination captures the singular voice of one of the most forceful thinkers working in America today"--. (shrink)

Nanomedicine promises unprecedented innovations for diagnosis and therapy as well as for predicting and preventing diseases. On the other hand it raises fears linked to new and unknown characteristics of nanoscale materials. Both, promises and fears, are closely linked to the realm of uncertainty. To a large extent it is currently not known which expectations could become reality and which suspected adverse events might come true. Medicine is quite familiar with decision-making under uncertainty. Rules and regulations for clinical research have (...) been developed to reduce possible harm for research participants without abandoning necessary investigations. Here we examine whether clinical research trials of nanomedicine need new regulations and conclude that the established rules should suffice. (shrink)

Der vorliegende Schwerpunkt beschäftigt sich mit dem Zusammenhang von Zeit und gutem Leben. Er verfolgt das Ziel, die systematische Auseinandersetzung mit den Themen, Problemen und Fragestellungen voranzubringen, die das Verhältnis zwischen den zeitlichen Strukturen der menschlichen Existenz auf der einen und den Bedingungen guten, sowohl subjektiv erfüllten als auch objektiv gelingenden Lebens auf der anderen Seite betreffen. Die verschiedenen Beiträge spannen ein breites Spektrum theoretischer Ansätze, thematischer Ausrichtungen und praktischer Bezüge auf. Es reicht von der philosophischen Erörterung grundlegender Fragen der (...) zeitlichen Verfasstheit guten Lebens über die Auseinandersetzung mit psychopathologischen Phänomenen gestörter Zeiterfahrung bis hin zur sozialund erziehungswissenschaftlich angeregten ethischen Beschäftigung mit konkreten Lebensphasen und praktischen Anwendungsfeldern. (shrink)

The article on crater cratera creterra in T.L.L. iv. 1108–10 is imperfect: several examples are omitted and no clear and coherent account of these forms is given. crater appears first in Ennius' Annales ; and very likely it was Ennius who, finding cratera too ordinary for poetry, transliterated . For several centuries crater remained a poets' word. It may have been introduced into prose by the elder Pliny, who affects poetic vocabulary; in later prose it is found more frequently than (...) either cratera or creter. (shrink)

Brain-Computer interfacing is a highly promising and fast developing field of modern life sciences. Recent advances in neuroscience together with progressing miniaturization in micro systems provide insights in structure and functioning of the human brain and enable connections of technical components to neuronal structures as well. This possibly offers a future therapy for paralysed patients through neuronal motor pros-theses. This paper identifies central ethical aspects which have to be considered in further progressing research in this scientific field and the development (...) of neuronal motor prostheses. (shrink)

Menschliche Existenz ist wesentlich zeitlich verfasst. Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft bilden keine lineare Abfolge, sondern durchdringen einander in der jeweiligen Gegenwart. Diese Durchdringung ist von entscheidender Bedeutung für das Gelingen unserer Existenz. Es liegt jedoch auf der Hand, dass wir darüber nicht vollständig verfügen. Um die zeitlichen Bedingungen für das Gelingen oder Scheitern unserer Existenz zu verstehen, ist es daher wichtig, eine Erfahrungsebene jenseits der Kontrolle des bewussten Ichs zu berücksichtigen. Ich untersuche drei Ansätze, die dazu auf unterschiedliche Weise beitragen: (...) (1) Freud denkt, dass das Unbewusste, das er als zeitlos versteht, die Fähigkeit des bewussten Ichs beeinträchtigen kann, die Vermittlung mit der Realität zu leisten. Im Gegensatz dazu (2) beschreibt Bergson die innere „Dauer“ (die systematisch an die Stelle von Freuds Unbewusstem tritt) als ein Werden, von dem verstandesmäßig getroffene Entscheidungen das Subjekt entfremden können. Schließlich (3) ist Subjektivität Levinas zufolge durch eine „Diachronie“ konstituiert, einen Prozess des Verlusts oder Vergehens einer Zeit, die das Ich nicht wieder einholen kann, die aber gerade deshalb das Subjekt von sich selbst zu befreien vermag. Ich argumentiere, dass jeder der Autoren etwas zum Ausdruck bringt, das für unsere zeitliche Existenz von großer Bedeutung ist, und biete eine Möglichkeit an, ihre Einsichten zu integrieren. (shrink)

In the mid-eighties a first endeavour was initiated to institutionalise Tönnies studies. The Ferdinand Tönnies Society in Kiel and the later Ferdinand Tönnies Research Unit at the University of Hamburg Institute for Sociology undertook to process and promote the works of the Nestor of German sociology. On the basis of the preparatory work done, a complete edition of Tönnies’ works (TG) was planned in 24 volumes. This critical complete edition will include the published authentic and authorised German and foreign-language texts (...) as well as hitherto unpublished material in so far as it is in independent literary form. The first 22 volumes of the TG present the published works, the 23rd volume contains the un-published material, and the final volume provides the general indexes and lists. Besides the edited texts, the volumes contain list(s) of contents, a list of abbreviations and grammalogues, a critical apparatus, name and subject indexes, and a bibliography. The editor’s preface gives brief information on sources, the condition of material, the degree of authorisation, and author corrections. (shrink)

In this book, Andrea Clausen intends to reconcile Kripke's point according to which conceptual content has to be considered as being constituted by social, normative practice - by a process of mutual assessments - with the view that the content of empirical assertions has to be conceived as objective. She criticizes approaches that explicate content-constitutive practice in non-normative terms, namely in terms of sanctioning behavior (Haugeland, Pettit, Esfeld). She also rejects a pragmatist reading of Heidegger that proceeds from thoroughly normative (...) but pre-conceptual practice. She develops and defends a particular reading of an approach that conceives normative, conceptually articulated practice - giving and asking for reasons - as primitive (Brandom, McDowell). (shrink)

Harvesting human embryonic stem (hES) cells is a highly controversial field of research because it rests on the destruction of human embryos. Altering the procedure of nuclear transfer (NT) is suggested to generate hES cell lines without ethical obstacles by claiming that no embryo would be involved. While discussing the nature of an embryo and related central questions concerning their moral status and the respect they deserve, this paper argues that the entity created by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) or (...) altered nuclear transfer (ANT) is an embryo and has the same moral status as a natural embryo. Respect for the embryo is expressed by the ethical principles of proportionality, probability and subsidiarity. This paper argues that the human embryo should only be taken for research with high ranking goals, which are proven in animal experimentation and for which there are no alternatives. This makes ANT obsolete and shows that SCNT to produce hES cells is premature at the present time. (shrink)

To Munro's conjecture, which has been accepted by Diels , S. B. Smith , Bailey , Büchner , Martin , and M. F. Smith , there is a serious, possibly a fatal, objection: the genitive plural of hiems is a grammarians' figment and never occurs in classical Latin ; while Lachmann's conjecture is palaeographically improbable. Read ad gelidas rigidasque pruinas; rigidas was omitted by haplography, a fecund source of corruption, and hiemis then supplied from the context to repair the metre. (...) Cf. 2.431 denique iam calidos ignis gelidamque pruinam, 2.521 hinc flammis Mine rigidis infesta pruinis, and, for the collocation of the two adjectives, 2.858 nec frigus neque item calidum tepidumque uaporem. (shrink)