This paper presents and defends Kant’s non-voluntarist conception of political obligations. I argue that civil society is not primarily a prudential requirement for justice; it is not merely a necessary evil or moral response to combat our corrupting nature or our tendency to act viciously, thoughtlessly or in a biased manner. Rather, civil society is constitutive of rightful relations because only in civil society can we interact in ways reconcilable with each person’s innate right to freedom. Civil society is the (...) means through which we can rightfully interact even on the ideal assumption that no one ever succumbs to immoral temptation. (shrink)

Few subjects have generated so many newspaper headlines and such heated controversy as the treatment, or non-treatment, of handicapped newborns. In 1982, the case of Baby Doe, a child born with Down's syndrome, stirred up a national debate in the United States, while in Britain a year earlier, Dr. Leonard Arthur stood trial for his decision to allow a baby with Down's syndrome to die. Government intervention and these recent legal battles accentuate the need for a reassessment of the complex (...) issues involved. This volume--by two authorities on medical ethics--presents a philosophical analysis of the subject based on particular case studies. Addressing the doctrine of the absolute sanctity of life, Singer and Kuhse examine some actual cases where decisions have been reached; consider the criteria for making these decisions; investigate the differences between killing and letting die; compare Western attitudes and practices with those of other cultures; and conclude by proposing a decision-making framework that offers a rational alternative to the polemics and confusion generated by this highly controversial topic. (shrink)

Kimberlé Crenshaw arrived at her famous phrase “intersectionality” by carefully thinking through speeches and writings given to us by early Black feminists, such as like Sojourner Truth and Anna J. Cooper. In this paper, I expand on this groundbreaking work in two somewhat surprising ways. First, I bring the ideas of these early Black feminists together with important, related proposals from W.E.B. Du Bois, Karl Marx, Hannah Arendt, and Simone de Beauvoir. Second, I relate these works to central ideas in (...) Kant’s practical philosophy in an effort to develop a Kantian theory of intersectionality. In addition to grasping the distinctive, destructive directions of oppressive forces aimed at women, the poor, and minorities, I seek to understand better the new, violently destructive elements found in European modernity, as evidenced both in European colonialization as well as the Holocaust. (shrink)

Spirituality is as an individual, dynamic, and a complex concept. Meleis's theory includes spirituality in many aspects, and looking at this dimension within this specific theory may help in understanding spirituality as a critical dimension in transitions, as processes, but also as a dimension of self–transition as individual development and growing. Therefore, spirituality is an inherent and integral element of the several foundations of this theory, especially in nursing therapeutics, patterns of responses and transition conditions (facilitators and inhibitors).

Karl Hahn, Jahrgang 1937, war bis zu seiner Emeritierung im Jahr 2003 Professor für Politische Theorie und Ideengeschichte an der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster. Hierbei hat er die Klassiker der abendländischen Geistesgeschichte nicht in einem kanonisch-schematischen Profil gelehrt, sondern die jeweiligen Themen und Theoreme mit lebensfüllender Leidenschaft vermittelt. Seine Vorlesungen und Seminare an der Universität zeugen, wie auch seine Vorträge und Tagungsbeiträge, von einem streitbaren Geist, der stets auch um die aktualisierende Bezugnahme bemüht war. Stets hat er pointiert Stellung bezogen, (...) auch gegen den Mainstream des Faches, das er kritisch hinterfragt hat. Ob Platon, Fichte oder auch Simone Weil: Bei Karl Hahn stehen philosophische Überlegungen für eine Suche nach der Vollendung des Daseins in seinen unendlich vielen und offenen Aussagemöglichkeiten. Hahns großes Lebensthema war und ist hierbei das tragische Element des menschlichen Wesens, dessen Kleinheit und Begrenztheit angesichts der großen Fragen der menschlichen Existenz. Das hat er seinen Studierenden mit auf den Weg gegeben. Und auch den Kolleginnen und Kollegen, die bereit waren, zuzuhören. Mit dem vorliegenden Band wird der Wissenschaftler zum Anlass seines 80. Geburtstages geehrt, der seine Verdienste nicht in der flüchtigen Wertschätzung des Feuilletons, sondern grundsätzlich im Diskurs der Seminarräume und Kongressveranstaltungen erworben hat. (shrink)

Metaphysics, geometry, and the problems with diagrams -- The Pythagorean theorem: Euclid I.47 and VI.31 -- Thales and geometry: Egypt, Miletus, and beyond -- Pythagoras and the famous theorems -- From the Pythagorean theorem to the construction of the cosmos out of right triangles.

The philosophical debate over the moral difference between killing and letting die has obvious relevance for the contemporary public debate over voluntary euthanasia. Winston Nesbitt claims to have shown that killing someone is, other things being equal, always worse than allowing someone to die. But this conclusion is illegitimate. While Nesbitt is correct when he suggests that killing is sometimes worse than letting die, this is not always the case. In this article, I argue that there are occasions when it (...) is better to kill than to let die. (shrink)

ABSTRACT If a doctor kills a severely handicapped infant, he commits an act of murder; if he deliberately allows such an infant to die, he is said to engage in the proper practice of medicine. This is the view that emerged at the recent trial of Dr Leonard Arthur over the death of the infant John Pearson. However, the distinction between murder on the one hand and what are regarded as permissible lettings die on the other rests on the Moral (...) Difference Myth, according to which deliberate lettings die in the practice of medicine are not instances of the intentional causation of death. I argue that a doctor who refrains from preventing a handicapped infant's death, causes that infant's death and does so intentionally. He commits an act of murder. But, I suggest, not all instances of the intentional causation of death are morally wrong. To the extent that they are not, killing rather than letting die will often be the preferable option because more economical of suffering. Hence what is required is the abolition of the Moral Difference Myth and legislation to the effect that those doctors who justifiably cause a patient's death—whether by an action or by an omission—commit no offence. (shrink)

Yoga teacher, podcaster, and blogger Kori Hahn presents a new-age guide for harnessing the principles of yoga to manifest a better life. The book teaches readers how to develop simple, personalized rituals using techniques such as affirmations, breath work, meditation, journaling, and visualization.

Auch die subtilsten geistigen Kompetenzen haben eine organische Basis. Mag es auch zunächst überraschen, so besteht daher doch eine entscheidende Verbindung zwischen Gedächtnis und Körper. Es geht also darum, Gedächtnis und Erinnerung nicht als bloßes Wissen misszuverstehen. Vor allem als soziale Tatsache bedarf Erinnerung stets wiederholter Beschwörungen, um nicht zu verschwinden. Spricht man vom individuellen Gedächtnis und der persönlichen Erinnerung, denkt man im Allgemeinen an bewusste Prozesse, dabei ist es häufig viel eher so, dass bestimmte Lernerfahrungen gar nicht mehr bewusst, (...) sondern gleichsam zum weitestgehend unbewussten Moment geistiger und vor allem auch körperlicher Prägungen geworden sind. Diese Verbindung zwischen Körper und Gedächtnis faltet der vorliegende Band systematisch aus. (shrink)

This collection of essays discusses the work of Jurgen Habermas - the philosopher and exponent of the tradition known as Critical Theory. His works defend the Enlightenment ideas of rationality, humanism, and the possibilities of discourse.

Uncertainty is interwoven into human existence. It is a powerful incentive in the search for knowledge and an inherent component of scientific research. We have developed many ways of coping with uncertainty. We make promises, manage risks and make predictions to try to clear the mists and predict ahead. But the future is inherently uncertain - and the mist that shrouds our path an inherent part of our journey. The burning question is whether our societies can face up to uncertainty, (...) learn to embrace it and whether we can open up to a constantly evolving future. In this new book, Helga Nowotny shows how research can thrive at the cusp of uncertainty. Science, she argues, can eventually transform uncertainty into certainty, but into certainty which remains always provisional. Uncertainty is never completely static. It is constantly evolving. It encompasses geological time scales and, at the level of human experience, split-second changes as cells divide. Life and death decisions are taken in the blink of the eye, while human interactions with the natural environment may reveal their impact over millennia. Uncertainty is cunning. It appears at unexpected moments, it shuns the straight line, takes the oblique route and sometimes the unexpected short-cut. As we acknowledge the cunning of uncertainty, its threats retreat. We accept that any scientific inquiry must produce results that are provisional and uncertain. This message is vital for politicians and policy-makers: do not be tempted by small, short-term, controllable gains to the exclusion of uncertain, high-gain opportunities. Wide-ranging in its use of examples and enriched by the author’s experience as President of the European Research Council, one of the world’s leading funding organisations for fundamental research. The Cunning of Uncertainty is a must-read for students and scholars of all disciplines, politicians, policy-makers and anyone concerned with the fundamental role of knowledge and science in our societies today. (shrink)

Auf der Suche nach objektiver Wahrheit wurde in den Wissenschaften das Prinzip der Relationalitat popular: Gegenstandsbereiche gleich welcher Art werden als reine Beziehungsgeflechte beschrieben, nach dem Vorbild der Mathematik (diese Notwendigkeit entstand nicht zuletzt durch die Relativitatstheorie). Um Reales theoretisch zu erfassen, etwa um Dinge zahlen zu konnen, braucht man ein Identitatsprinzip fur Gegenstande. Das formal beste und einzig universelle ist die Identitat der Ununterscheidbaren. In Verbindung mit dem modernen Strukturalismus fuhrt dies aber zum geisterhaften Verschwinden realer Dinge in der (...) Beschreibung, wenn beziehungsmassig Symmetrie vorliegt. Objektive Beschreibungen erfassen also nur asymmetrische Strukturen korrekt. Manches Reale wird somit nicht objektiv erfasst.". (shrink)

In Abortion and Infanticide, Michael Tooley argues that it is not wrong to destroy potential persons, such as fetuses and newly born infants. His argument presupposes the following: 1)that the destruction of potential persons is not directly wrong because potential persons do not have a right to life; 2)that destroying a potential person—a fetus or an infant—is morally the same as preventing the existence of an possible person by, for example, using a contraceptive or refraining from, intercourse during a woman's (...) fertile period; and 3)that it is not wrong to prevent the existence of additional persons who are likely to lead happy or satisfying lives. Here I am concerned with the third presupposition. On this presupposition, the prima facie permissibility of abortion and infanticide hinges on the “moral neutrality” of those of our reproductive decisions on which the existence of additional people depends. (shrink)