The idea of a final end of human conduct – the highest good – lies at the centre of important parts of Kant’s philosophy, such as his moral theory, his philosophy of religion, his views on the historical progress of the human species, and his conception of human rationality. This collection of new essays attempts to re-evaluate the doctrine of the highest good and to determine its relevance for contemporary philosophy.

This work is a Festschrift to celebrate the sixtieth birthday of Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, Bishop of the Catholic diocese of Umuahia, Nigeria. Its title draws from his Episcopal Coat of Arms - <I>Caritas et Veritas. The focus of this book is Moral Theology. It contains fifteen diverse essays which indicate the spread and nuances of contemporary moral theological reflections. Their contributors are from three continents - Africa, Europe and North America. Firstly, this publication pays tribute to the efforts of Bishop (...) Ugorji to inspire interest in Moral Theology in Nigeria and deepen its reflections. Secondly, it hopes to provide more resource materials for students and researchers in the field of Moral Theology and Theological Ethics in Nigeria and beyond. (shrink)

Der Mensch sei von Natur aus politisch, sagt Aristoteles, nur im geordneten Gemeinwesen der Polis finde er seine Bestimmung. Seit der Antike dient die menschliche Natur zur Legitimierung sehr verschiedener, keineswegs 'natürlicher' politischer Ordnungen. In historischen Fallstudien vom Alten Orient bis zur Frühen Neuzeit untersuchen die Beiträge, wie das Verhältnis von Menschennatur und politischer Ordnung gedacht und dargestellt wurde, welche normative Kraft es entfaltete, welche Hierarchien, Machtverhältnisse und Herrschaftsformen es stützte und wo es an seine Grenzen stieß. Denn nicht allein (...) Ordnung, sondern auch ihr Gegenteil kann als naturhaft identifiziert werden. In der Geschichte der politischen Anthropologie zeigt sich der Rekurs auf Natur als ebenso wirkmächtig wie ambivalent. Gerade ihre Bruchlinien und Widersprüche machen vormoderne Auseinandersetzungen um das Verhältnis von Menschennatur und politischer Ordnung für heutige Diskussionen interessant. (shrink)

In this volume the editors gather diverse perspectives on one agreed-upon condition: that the computational power of today's world has fundamentally transformed all aspects of this very world. This requires the investigation and questioning not only of the possible sites of critique but also of the concept of critique as such. If there used to be a critical subject constituted in the cultural techniques of modernity, and if digitality, as a condition, indicates itself as a product of modernity while at (...) the same time somehow being its very ending, what are the determinable ramifications? Digitality severely alters the critical subject and its spatio-temporal relations, and therefore interferes with its potentiality to be a critical subject. The authors of this volume therefore do not proclaim a crisis of critique, but rather ask how and what critique in the digital might be, to then look at specific settings of critique and critical practices. With contributions by Clemens Apprich, Timon Beyes, Mark Hansen, Erich Hörl, Holger Kuhn, Luciana Parisi, Ying Sze Pek, Claus Pias, Nelly Y. Pinkrah, Judith Sieber, Lotte Warnsholdt. (shrink)

Among the classics of the history of philosophy, the Scienza nuova (New Science) by Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) was largely neglected and generally misunderstood during the author's lifetime. From the nineteenth century onwards Vico's views found a wider audience, and today his influence is widespread in the humanities and social sciences. The New Science is often taught in courses at colleges and universities, both in philosophy and Italian departments and in general humanities courses. Despite the excellent English translations of this enigmatic (...) book and numerous studies in English of Vico, many sections of the work remain challenging to the modern reader. Vico's New Science of the Intersubjective World offers both an in-depth analysis of all the important ideas of the book as well as an evaluation of their contribution to our present understanding of the social world. In the first chapter, Vittorio Hosle examines Vico's life, sources, and writings. The second and third chapters discuss the concerns and problems of the Scienza nuova. The fourth chapter traces the broader history of Vico's reception. Hosle facilitates the understanding of many passages in the work as well as the overarching structure of its claims, which are often dispersed over many sections. Hosle reformulates Vico's vision in such a way that it is not only of historical interest but may inspire ongoing debates about the nature of the humanities and social sciences as well as many other issues on which Vico sheds light, from the relation of poetry and poetics to the development of law. This book will prepare students and scholars for a precise study of the Scienza nuova, equipping them with the necessary categories and context and familiarizing them with the most important problems in the critical debate on Vico's philosophy. "Vico's New Science of the Intersubjective World delivers a comprehensive treatment of Vico, which is neither too detailed and technical nor too superficial. The book gives a clear picture of what Vico wanted to say, where he might have been wrong or become obsolete, and what his true achievements are for which he still deserves praise." --Peter Konig, University of Heidelberg. (shrink)

Los ensayos de Otfried Hffe reunidos en El proyecto politico de la modernidad giran en torno a temas fundamentales de la etica, la filosofia politica, la filosofia del derecho y la antropologia filosofica, que se encuentran en el centro del debate contemporaneo. Las reflexiones desarrolladas a lo largo de los trabajos se inscriben en un dialogo productivo y continuo tanto con Aristoteles como con Kant. Asi, analiza si la etica aristotelica es una filosofia practica o un arte de vivir y (...) comprende la filosofia practica kantiana como capaz de ofrecer un parametro normativo no etnocentrico, multicultural, capaz de elucidar el estado del derecho y la democracia en el mundo globalizado actual. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This paper critically examines the liberal model of decision making for the terminally ill and contrasts it with the familial model that can be found in some Asian cultures. The contrast between the two models shows that the liberal model is excessively patient‐centred, and misconceives and marginalises the role of the family in the decision making process. The paper argues that the familial model is correct in conceiving the last journey of one's life as a sharing process rather than (...) a process of exercising one's prior or counterfactual choice, and concludes by suggesting a policy framework for the practice of familialism that can answer the liberal challenge that familialism cannot safeguard the patient from abuse and neglect. (shrink)

An introduction to Thomas Hobbes as a systematic and not merely political philosopher. Best known for his contributions to political philosophy, Thomas Hobbes set out to develop a coherent philosophical system extending from logic and natural philosophy to civil and religious philosophy. In this introduction to Hobbes’s thought, Otfried Höffe begins by providing an overview of the entire scope of his work, making clear its systematic character through analysis of his natural philosophy, his individual and social anthropology, and his political (...) thought. He then offers an innovative examination of religious and ecclesiastical questions, touching not only on the political implications of religion so important to Hobbes, but also on his attempt to reconstruct Christianity in terms of a materialistic philosophy. He also explores Hobbes’s continuous critique of Aristotle and Aristotelian Scholastics, in which Höffe argues that Hobbes and Aristotle have much more in common philosophically than is normally supposed—and certainly more than Hobbes himself acknowledged. Finally, Höffe sketches the influence Hobbes had and continues to have on the development of legal and political philosophy. “A thoroughly successful introduction to the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes ” — Reinhard Brandt, in Süddeutsche Zeitung, in praise of the German edition. (shrink)

Was heißt Republikanismus heute? Die Diskussion ist sowohl in der politischenPhilosophie als auch in der praktischen politischen Auseinandersetzung aktuell. Philipp Hölzing entwirft in seiner ideengeschichtlichen Studie eine historisch tragfähige Begriffsbestimmung für die Gegenwart. Insbesondere James Madisons Plan für eine kontinentale, föderale, macht- und gewaltenteilige Republik und Kants kosmopolitischer Republikanismus mit dem Ziel eines Weltbürgerrechts in einer Weltrepublik sind für seine Begriffsdefinition in der postnationalen Konstellation zentral.

윤리와 사상의 흐름을 살펴보는 『보인다! 윤리와 사상』. 수능을 준비하는 학생들을 위해 윤리와 사상 중 ‘윤리의 흐름과 특징’에 대해 집중적으로 살펴보고 있다. 교과내용을 제대로 이해하지 못하고 외우는데 급급한 학생들이 교과 내용을 이해할 수 있도록 요약된 내용을 넘어 충실한 설명을 담아냈다.

The main purpose of this paper is to show that under globalization many traditional concepts are no longer acceptable, and may be preconceived. In Vietnam, the system of values Jriend-enemy, success-failure, chance-risk, endogenous-exotic has somehow changed in globalization. Globalization in se marks a new trend, a new change for humankind. A considerable difference in the consumption of goods exists between population strata. The "world of things" owned by the poor has become distant from that owned by the rich to such (...) an extent that no dialogue is possible. But the difference in the consumption of cultural values has to merit concern. This paper displays these value changes in Vietnam in the process of globalization: (a) the value of studiousness and the emphasis on education does not decline, but deviates; (b) the value of "diligence" tends to increase; (c) The value of family and community" tends to diminish. The process of globalization can only be understood in the context of the search for new values, and a critique of globalization is possible if one investigates the very root of the human search for new values: values are values only when they still generate their contributions to solving human problems. (shrink)

The main purpose of this paper is to show that under globalization many traditional concepts are no longer acceptable, and may be preconceived. In Vietnam, the system of values Jriend-enemy, success-failure, chance-risk, endogenous-exotic has somehow changed in globalization. Globalization in se marks a new trend, a new change for humankind. A considerable difference in the consumption of goods exists between population strata. The "world of things" owned by the poor has become distant from that owned by the rich to such (...) an extent that no dialogue is possible. But the difference in the consumption of cultural values has to merit concern. This paper displays these value changes in Vietnam in the process of globalization: (a) the value of studiousness and the emphasis on education does not decline, but deviates; (b) the value of "diligence" tends to increase; (c) The value of family and community" tends to diminish. The process of globalization can only be understood in the context of the search for new values, and a critique of globalization is possible if one investigates the very root of the human search for new values: values are values only when they still generate their contributions to solving human problems. (shrink)

In _God as Reason: Essays in Philosophical Theology_, Vittorio Hösle presents a systematic exploration of the relation between theology and philosophy. In examining the problems and historical precursors of rational theology, he calls on philosophy, theology, history of science, and the history of ideas to find an interpretation of Christianity that is compatible with a genuine commitment to reason. The essays in the first part of _God as Reason_ deal with issues of philosophical theology. Hösle sketches the challenges that a (...) rationalist theology must face and discusses some of the central ones, such as the possibility of a teleological interpretation of nature after Darwin, the theodicy issue, freedom versus determinism, the mind-body problem, and the relation in general between religion, theology, and philosophy. In the essays of the second part, Hösle studies the historical development of philosophical approaches to the Bible, the continuity between the New Testament concept of pneuma and the concept of Geist in German idealism, and the rationalist theologies of Anselm, Abelard, Llull, and Nicholas of Cusa, whose innovative philosophy of mathematics is the topic of one of the chapters. The book concludes with a thorough evaluation of Charles Taylor’s theory of secularization. "_God as Reason_ makes a powerful contribution to the task of the philosophical assessment of religion and theology, and indeed to the task of arriving at a philosophically defensible account of God. Vittorio Hösle here addresses key questions concerning teleology in nature, theodicy, freedom and determinism, and the mind-body problem in essays of exemplary clarity and economy of expression that are equally informed by the full breadth of the philosophical tradition of the West and by the most important contemporary developments in both philosophy and the natural sciences." —_Jennifer A. Herdt, Yale Divinity School_. (shrink)

Kant ascribed an important role to pleasure in human action. This study provides a comprehensive interpretation of Kant's concept of practical pleasure based on a detailed analysis of his theories of feelings, desire, and practical consideration. In this way, the author not only provides a new perspective on Kant's action theory and moral philosophy, but also elucidates Kant's contribution to resolving key problems in the theory of emotions.

This paper examines the practice of informed consent in Hong Kong by drawing on structured interviews conducted with eleven physicians, three patients, and four family members primarily at a well-established public hospital in Hong Kong. The findings of this study show that the Hong Kong approach to medical decision-making lies somewhere between that of America on the one hand, and mainland China on the other. It is argued that the practice of medical decision-making in Hong Kong can be modeled by (...) a moderate familism that is directed towards achieving the best interests of the patient (1) as understood by the physician, (2) in consultation with the family, (3) under the prima facie presumption that consent is not required for disclosure of information to the family, (4) while aiming at an eventual albeit frequently partial and vague disclosure to the patient. (shrink)

Biometric technologies are becoming more pervasive in the workplace, augmenting managerial processes such as hiring, monitoring and terminating employees. Until recently, these devices consisted mainly of GPS tools that track location, software that scrutinizes browser activity and keyboard strokes, and heat/motion sensors that monitor workstation presence. Today, however, a new generation of biometric devices has emerged that can sense, read, monitor and evaluate the affective state of a worker. More popularly known by its commercial moniker, Emotional AI, the technology stems (...) from advancements in affective computing. But whereas previous generations of biometric monitoring targeted the exterior physical body of the worker, concurrent with the writings of Foucault and Hardt, we argue that emotion-recognition tools signal a far more invasive disciplinary gaze that exposes and makes vulnerable the inner regions of the worker-self. Our paper explores attitudes towards empathic surveillance by analyzing a survey of 1015 responses of future job-seekers from 48 countries with Bayesian statistics. Our findings reveal affect tools, left unregulated in the workplace, may lead to heightened stress and anxiety among disadvantaged ethnicities, gender and income class. We also discuss a stark cross-cultural discrepancy whereby East Asians, compared to Western subjects, are more likely to profess a trusting attitude toward EAI-enabled automated management. While this emerging technology is driven by neoliberal incentives to optimize the worksite and increase productivity, ultimately, empathic surveillance may create more problems in terms of algorithmic bias, opaque decisionism, and the erosion of employment relations. Thus, this paper nuances and extends emerging literature on emotion-sensing technologies in the workplace, particularly through its highly original cross-cultural study. (shrink)

Previous studies of children’s counterfactual reasoning have focused on scenarios in which a single causal event yielded an outcome. However, there are also cases in which an outcome would have occurred even in the absence of its actual cause, because of the presence of a further potential cause. In this study, 152 children aged 4-9 years reasoned counterfactually about such scenarios, in which there were ‘doubly-determined’ outcomes. The task involved dropping two metal discs down separate runways, each of which was (...) sufficient to knock over a toy pig. One of the runways was shorter than the other, meaning that one of the discs actually knocked over the pig whereas the other always arrived too late to do so. Children were asked whether the pig would have been knocked over in the absence of the first metal disc descending the runway. We found that children could accurately answer such counterfactual questions by 6-7 years. (shrink)

Die "Theorie der Gerechtigkeit" ist der wichtigste Beitrag des englischen Sprachraums, vielleicht sogar der wichtigste Beitrag zur Politischen Ethik des 20. Jahrhunderts überhaupt. John Rawls entwirft hier nicht nur eine weithin überzeugende Theorie zur Schnittmenge von Ethik und Politischer Philosophie. Ihm gelingt es darüber hinaus, in der philosophischen Debatte eine Reihe von grundlegenden Paradigmenwechseln vorzunehmen. Nach einer Generation intensiver Diskussion ist der Zeitpunkt gekommen, Bilanz zu ziehen. Das geschieht nicht als rein deskriptiver Überblick über die bisherige Debatte, sondern in Form (...) eines kooperativen Kommentars. Autoren unterschiedlicher philosophischer Herkunft stellen sich die Frage, wie Rawls’ Gedanken zu verstehen sind und welche Tragweite, welche Überzeugungskraft sie für den künftigen Diskurs haben. (shrink)