Previous research has found a rich lexicon of shame and guilt terms in Chinese, but how comparable these terms are to “shame” or “guilt” in English remains a question. We identified eight commonly used Chinese terms translated as “shame” and “guilt”. Study 1 assessed the Chinese terms’ intensities, social characteristics, and action tendencies among 40 Chinese speakers. Testing term production in the reverse direction, Study 2 asked another Chinese-speaking sample (N = 85) to endorse emotion terms in response to eight (...) eliciting scenarios generated using each term’s social characteristics from Study 1. A native English-speaking sample (N = 83) was also included to examine the production of English emotion terms and compare motivational tendencies cross-culturally. Using this cross-referencing method, we found that some of the Chinese terms shared similar social-functional characteristics to their English translation, but some had distinct profiles. The two large shame-like and guilt-like term categories yielded in Study 1 were replicated in Study 2’s Chinese term-production task where larger-scale correspondences between categorised elicitors and term clusters were found. Meanwhile, English speakers’ term use provided further evidence for the equivalence between some Chinese terms and “shame” or “guilt” both in terms of their social and motivational characteristics. (shrink)

In the past few decades, a lot of optimization methods have been applied in estimating the parameter of photovoltaic models and obtained better results, but these methods still have some deficiencies, such as higher time complexity and poor stability. To tackle these problems, an enhanced success history adaptive DE with greedy mutation strategy is employed to optimize parameters of PV models to propose a parameter optimization method in this paper. In the EBLSHADE, the linear population size reduction strategy is used (...) to gradually reduce population to improve the search capabilities and balance the exploitation and exploration capabilities. The less and more greedy mutation strategy is used to enhance the exploitation capability and the exploration capability. Finally, a parameter optimization method based on EBLSHADE is proposed to optimize parameters of PV models. The different PV models are selected to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method. Comparison results demonstrate that the EBLSHADE is an effective and efficient method and the parameter optimization method is beneficial to design, control, and optimize the PV systems. (shrink)

The technology of undersea communications, from stranded-wire telegraph cables in the 1850s to fiber-optic cables at the end of the twentieth century, and its social, political, and economic impact. By the end of the twentieth century, fiber-optic technology had made possible a worldwide communications system of breathtaking speed and capacity. This amazing network is the latest evolution of communications technologies that began with undersea telegraph cables in the 1850s and continued with coaxial telephone cables a hundred years later. Communications under (...) the Seas traces the development of these technologies and assesses their social, economic, and political effects. If we cannot predict the ultimate consequences of today's wired world--its impact on economic markets, free expression, and war and peace--or the outcome of the conflict between wired and wireless technology, we can examine how similar issues have been dealt with in the past. The expert contributors to this volume do just that, discussing technical developments in undersea cables, management of the cables by private and public interests, and the impact on military and political activities. Chapters cover such topics as the daring group of nineteenth-century entrepreneurs who wove a network of copper wires around the world ; the opening of the telegraphic network to general public use; the government- and industry-forced merger of wireless and cable companies in Britain; and the impact of the cable network on diplomacy during the two world wars. (shrink)

It could be said that chinese aesthetics merges together three cornerstones of the western tradition. It might be intended as the study of beauty in the Platonic sense, because of the vaste debate on the topic rooted back in chinese’s ancient times; it could match the sense of aesthetics as intended by Baumgarten, because of the long tradition of chinese perceptual studies, and it may also be compared to the Hegelian philosophy of art, given the abundance of chinese artistic manufacts (...) and theories. Chinese aesthetics is distinctive and very different from the western one. While the latter tries to grasp the inner beauty of things by breaking them and accounts for beauty as an object, chinese aesthetics considers beauty as a subject, rather aiming at feeling the beauty of things for what they are. Compared to the occidental tradition, which is rooted in sensation but deviates from sensation to pursue a rational goal, chinese aesthetics originates from the sensation and adheres to it all the time. Therefore, the chinese stance makes for a unique and genuine approach to the discipline. (shrink)

Im 18. Jahrhundert bestand ein uberraschend grosses Interesse am Denker, Schriftsteller und Menschen David Hume (1711-1776), das die ganze Vielheit in den Voraussetzungen und Zielen der deutschen Aufklarung widerspiegelt. Zunachst standen die religionsphilosophischen Thesen Humes im Vordergrund; sie wurden durchweg abgelehnt und haufig nur polemisch zuruckgewiesen. Gerade als sich die Chance einer sachgerechteren Beurteilung Humes bot, revolutionierte Kant die gesamte Philosophie, und Hume wurde nur noch als der auslosende Faktor der Kantischen Metaphysikkritik gesehen. Die umstrittene Frage, wann und durch welches (...) seiner Werke Hume Kants dogmatischen Schlummer unterbrach, wird zur Entscheidung gebracht und damit zugleich eine neue These zu Kants philosophischer Entwicklung prasentiert. In the 18th century there was a surprisingly large amount of interest in the thinker, author and human being David Hume (1711-1776), and this interest reflected the entire range of requirements and goals of the German Enlightenment. To begin with, the focus was on Humes theories of the philosophy of religion, theories which were rejected without exception and often only polemically repudiated. Just when there was a chance of having an objective assessment of Humes work, Kant revolutionized philosophy, and Hume was seen merely as the factor which triggered Kants metaphysics. The controversial question of when and in which of his works Hume interrupted Kant's dogmatic slumber is brought to a head, and thus at the same time a new theory pertaining to Kant's philosophical development is presented. (shrink)

The reasons conception is the most prominent account of the nature of critical thinking. It consists in responding appropriately to reasons. Responding to reasons can be following a rule, it can be making an exception to a rule, it can be responding to a situation that is unique. It depends on the context each time what is the appropriate response. Critical thinking is the educational cognate of rationality and is a sine qua non for a reasonable life in a modern (...) democratic society. Reasons are generally normative. If this is true then it is to be expected that critical thinking is normative and also rationality. Critical thinking consists in being appropriately moved by reasons. The normative element of reasons moves us to beliefs or actions. It depends on our character how reasons move us. This indicates that our character must be well formed to enable us to be appropriately moved. (shrink)

In diesem Band der Reihe wird das Verständnis von Moral und Recht von international anerkannten Experten der jeweiligen Fächer dargestellt. Dabei steht die historische Perspektive im Vordergrund. Durch die Beiträge des Buches soll ein neuer Diskurs zwischen den Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften eröffnet werden.

Die Beiträge des vorliegenden Bandes erkunden das Phänomen der Musse in seiner Räumlichkeit und in seinem Verhältnis zur Zeit. Im mussetypischen Verweilen tritt das Nacheinander der Zeit zurück, während der Raum mit seinen Ordnungen des Nebeneinander bestimmend wird. Diese spezifische Raumzeitlichkeit wird in vier Abschnitten ausgelotet: Der erste ist Konzepten und Theorien der Musse gewidmet, der zweite der ästhetischen Erfahrung von Räumen der Natur und Kunst, der dritte gebauten Räumen der Musse, der vierte der Musseerfahrung, wie sie sich in Kommunikations- (...) und Schreibprozessen darstellt. Die Bandbreite der Untersuchungen reicht von der philosophischen, begriffsanalytischen Reflexion über die phänomenologische Analyse sowie von der literaturwissenschaftlichen Falluntersuchung hin zur kunsthistorischen Betrachtung. (shrink)

In einer kühnen Metapher haben einst Hieronymus, Erasmus und Luther die Heilige Schrift als ein Labyrinth bezeichnet, das die Leser bei fortgesetztem Lesen in eine sich sogar steigernde Verwirrung stürze. Beinah im selben Atemzug wird eben dieselbe Heilige Schrift von eben denselben Autoren als der einzige Faden gepriesen, der die Leser aus dem Labyrinth ihres Lebens herausführe. Eines und dasselbe als Labyrinth und als Faden: Diese Figur ist paradigmatisch. Im Labyrinth der Ethik geht es nicht anders zu. Nur wer sich (...) ihm überläßt, findet aus ihm heraus. 24 Beiträge von namhaften Theologen und Theologinnen zur Theologischen Ethik finden sich in den fünf Abschnitten des vorliegenden Buches, das nacheinander "Biblische Grundlagen", "Theologische Systematik", "Ethische Modelle", "Ethische Leitbegriffe" und "Ethik und die Religionen" behandelt: Hans-Dieter Bastian: Zwischen Glauben und Handeln: Bibel-Lesen - Werner H. Schmidt: Glaube und Handeln. Aspekte des Alten Testaments - Wolfgang Schrage: Der 1. Korintherbrief als Paradigma paulinischer Ethik - Michael Wolter: Der Kompromiß bei Paulus - Jörg Haustein: Beobachtungen zum Schriftverständnis ökumenischer Dokumente - Gerhard Sauter: "Schrifttreue" in ethischer Urteilsbildung Günter Bader: Handeln im Namen Gottes - Erich Gräßer: Die ersten und die letzten Dinge. Bemerkungen zur theologischen und ethischen Schöpfungswahrnehmung - Marcin Hintz: Glaube, Tradition, Vernunft: Auf den Spuren theologischer Urteilsbildung im polnischen Protestantismus - Rolf Schäfer: Christliche Glaubens- und Sittenlehre bei Schleiermacher - Karl-Wilhelm Dahm: Herausforderungen für Selbstverständnis und Rolle des protestantischen Pfarrers im Zuge des Modernisierungsprozesses Traugott Jähnichen: Sozialethik auf dem Weg der Ausbildung von Bereichsethiken - Historische Traditionen und perspektivische Herausforderungen - Ulrich Eibach: Christengemeinde und christliches Leben und Handeln in der pluralistischen Gesellschaft - Ludger Honnefelder: Gesundheit unser "höchstes Gut"? Wertentscheidungen im Rahmen der Ressourcenallokation im Gesundheitswesen - Jörg Hübner: Kollektives Handeln im Zeitalter der Globalisierung. Perspektiven für eine zukünftige politische Ethik - Gottfried Hütter: Menschenwürde und Menschenrechte für Tiere? - Tobias Schlingensiepen: Adam, wo bist du? Die Entkontextualisierung menschlichen Lebens als Problem u. Herausforderung evangelischer Ethik Edgar Thaidigsmann: "Ehrfurcht vor dem Leben". Das Problem der Begründung einer Ethik der Verantwortung für das Lebendige bei Albert Schweitzer und Hans Jonas - Konrad Stock: Laster - der "vielnamige Frevel". Eine theologische Erinnerung an ein vergessenes Problem - Ulrich H. J. Körtner: Bildung und Wertebewußtsein. Anmerkungen zum Wertbegriff in der aktuellen Bildungsdiskussion - Hans G. Ulrich: Güter oder Werte? Zur Aufgabe der Theoriebildung in der evangelischen Sozialethik - Hartmut Kreß: Toleranz als Verpflichtung protestantischer Ethik Hans Waldenfels: Unterwegs zu einer interreligiösen Theologie - Sung-Hee Lee-Linke: Interreligiöse Ethik. Ein Modell für die Zukunft? (shrink)

A revision of the author's thesis, Z'urich, 1973.

As the rising costs of lifestyle-related diseases place increasing strain on public healthcare systems, the individual’s role in disease may be proposed as a healthcare rationing criterion. Literature thus far has largely focused on retrospective responsibility in healthcare. The concept of prospective responsibility, in the form of a lifestyle contract, warrants further investigation. The responsibilisation in healthcare debate also needs to take into account innovative developments in mobile health technology, such as wearable biometric devices and mobile apps, which may change (...) how we hold others accountable for their lifestyles. Little is known about public attitudes towards lifestyle contracts and the use of mobile health technology to hold people responsible in the context of healthcare. This paper has two components. Firstly, it details empirical findings from a survey of 81 members of the United Kingdom general public on public attitudes towards individual responsibility and rationing healthcare, prospective and retrospective responsibility, and the acceptability of lifestyle contracts in the context of mobile health technology. Secondly, we draw on the empirical findings and propose a model of prospective intention-based lifestyle contracts, which is both more aligned with public intuitions and less ethically objectionable than more traditional, retrospective models of responsibility in healthcare. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:VIOLENT MEMES AND SUSPICIOUS MINDS: GIRARD'S SCAPEGOAT MECHANISM IN THE LIGHT OF EVOLUTION AND MEMETICS Guömundur Ingi Markússon Reykjavik, Iceland The present article is an attempt to bring mimetic theory into dialogue with certain evolutionary approaches to human culture, i.e., evolutionarypsychology and memetics. That which immediately suggests a consonance between these approaches is a shared concern for the fundamental aspects ofhuman culture, or "fundamental anthropology." My discussion aims at (...) reconsidering Girard's startling insight concerning the significance of scapegoating in the formation of human culture, ritual and myth—or, in short, his concept of the scapegoat mechanism. Two alternative approaches will be explored: (1) On the basis of evolutionary psychology, scapegoating is considered as a cognitive side-effect; (2) with reference to memetics, it is suggested that the scapegoat mechanism is a memetic parasite. The former account is an interpretation ofPascal Boyer's ideas about group mentality and fundamentalist violence in his recent book ReligionExplained(2001). The latter consideration is inspired byTerrence W. Deacon's concept of language evolution and symbolic reference in his book The Symbolic Species (1997). It should be emphasized at the outset that neither Boyer nor Deacon are concerned with scapegoating and, needless to say, the application and interpretation oftheir ideas is entirely my own. 1. The Scapegoat Mechanism as a Cognitive Side Effect The following is an attempt to formulate a cognitive account of scapegoating based on Pascal Boyer's ideas about fundamentalism (2001, 292ff). Guömundur Ingi Markússon89 1.1. The Coalitional Reasoning ofthe Social Mind Boyer's theory of religion is firmly rooted in evolutionary psychology (2001, 118, passim)} A key concept in evolutionary psychology is the environment ofevolutionary adapteäness (EEA) which is centered around the claim that our cognitive apparatus evolved in response to ecological problems faced by our ancestors in the Pleistocene period (which lasted from ca. 2 million-10,000 years ago). In other words, the cognition of modern humans is geared to the ancestral environments of our huntergatherer past. The key issue in evolutionary psychology is to gain insight into the adaptive problems faced by our ancestors, and figure out the necessary cognitive capabilities needed to solve them. The resulting models of how the mind works can then be tested experimentally. Evolutionary psychologists also emphasize the áomain specificity of our psychological mechanisms, i.e., in simple terms, that our mind is a collection of specialized mechanisms wrought by natural selection to deal with specific features of our environment, such as detecting predators, keeping track of social relations, etc. In Boyer's account, the mixed stock of our evolutionary heritage includes a complex array of psychological mechanisms for keeping track ofa wide spectrum ofsocial relations, the social mina (2001, 122). An essential aspect of our social intelligence is "intuitive psychology" or a "theory of mind," i.e., seeing others as intentional agents, realizing what they are up to, what their beliefs and desires are, being able to predict their behavior, etc. According to evolutionary psychologists we are adapted for social exchange. We easily calculate the costs and benefits of our interactions with others. Experiments have shown that logical problems are much more transparent to people when presented as social exchange problems. In such cases, the logical rule in question is restated as a "check for cheaters" rule, i.e., the problem is to figure out whether people respect social conventions or not. Evolutionary psychologists interpretthese results to the effect that our cognition is geared to evaluate social exchange, and we have evolved a disposition to check for cheaters in social exchange situations (2001, 124f; Cosmides 1989; Cosmides & Tooby 1992).2 1 On evolutionary psychology, see Barkow et al. and Laland and Brown (ch. 5). 2 Cosmides, one of the pioneers of evolutionary psychology, characterizes "check for cheaters" thus: "cheating can be defined as the violation of a rule established, explicitly or implicitly, by acceptance ofa social contract. A social contract relatesperceived benefits to 90Violent Mêmes and Suspicious Minds Evaluation oftrust is essential to human interaction: "That humans depend on cooperation creates strategic problems, where the value (the expected benefit) of a particular move depends on whether someone else makes a particular move...." (2001, 125... (shrink)

Günthers Untersuchungen zu Hegels Kritik der »formalen« Logik und ihrer metaphysischen Voraussetzungen demonstrieren die Begrenzung der klassischen, zweiwertigen Logik auf das Thema »Objektivität« (»Sein des Seienden«). Zum Verständnis des zweiten logischen Fundamentalthemas »Subjektivität und Reflexion« in der Philosophie des Deutschen Idealismus ist eine grundsätzliche Erweiterung der Konzeption der Logik unumgänglich. In ausführlicher systematischer Analyse der Reflexionstheorie Hegels arbeiten die »Grundzüge einer neuen Theorie des Denkens« den für den Aufbau einer transklassischen Logik grundlegenden Begriff der »logischen Thematik« heraus. Und damit ist (...) dieses Buch als Hegel-Interpretation zu verstehen und zugleich der Einstieg in die Günthersche Theorie exakter operativer Dialektik. (shrink)

What makes philosophy metaphysical? Understood as the search for truth, philosophy has led those seeking it to the question of Being, says Gunter Figal. He shows that because this devotion to truth and Being are the heart of metaphysics, it is what makes up philosophy's metaphysical character. Figal embraces this, and, leaving arguments for simple affirmation aside, offers instead a critical discussion of the positions adopted by metaphysical philosophy's founding fathers, Parmenides, Plato and Aristotle. Alongside a phenomenological transformation of the (...) latter's ontology, Figal also sets out why he regards metaphysics as just one philosophical perspective among others, and not as a dominating `first philosophy?. The outcome is philosophy as a de-centered, non-hierarchical and liberating project. (shrink)

Firms are under increasing pressure from external forces to do what is right and behave ethically. However, we have only a limited understanding of how ethical and responsible business practices impact the value of the firm, both in the short and the long term. In this study, we examine 196 firms that were recognized as the world's most ethical firms from 20 countries over a 14-year span. Results show that ethical behavior may have little effect on a firm's profitability in (...) the short term. However, it has a positive effect on a firm's market value, reflecting the market's positive assessment of its long-term performance. We also find that firms frequently listed among the world's most ethical companies tend to have higher market value than firms listed only once. (shrink)

This book is a compilation of some of the wise sayings of M Fethullah Gülen, each of which is a criterion or pearl of wisdom by which we may seek and find our way in todays world, or a light illuminating our way, to live as a responsible ...

Kaynardağ, Arslan, 1923-; intellectual; criticism and interpretation; Turkey; modern philosophy; 20th century.

Das grab von Kivik in Südschweden als denkmal altgermanischen totenglaubens.--Das wesen des germanischen götterglaubens.--Sein und werden.