In this essay I describe how my involvement in the political struggles of an immigrant domestic workers' collective inspired me to hang out not only with the workers, but also with the writings of María Lugones and Hannah Arendt. The essay invites the reader to engage in a playful rereading of Arendt's notion of the worldlessness of laboring in the private realm by putting her into dialogue with Lugones's notion of the hangout that defies the public–private split Arendt adamantly insists (...) on in all her writings. By following the complex physical, mental, and emotional itineraries of immigrant domestic workers to, from, and in-between a number of places and spaces, I demonstrate how their stories blur the line between public and private, and therefore also between the unfreedom of the body and the presumed escape into the political public. I describe the women's experiences as the living promise of a world that allows for an embodied fluid movement between labor, work, and the freedom “inherent in action” (Arendt 193, 153). (shrink)

Using Habermas’s latest major work Between Facts and Norms (1996), this paper contrasts his explicit views on jurisprudence in the Occident with implied statements about the native Other. I wish to show that there’s an embedded agonistic (combative) — if not imperial — theme, not only in his theory of communicative competence, but also in his larger project of critical theory.

This chapter contains sections titled: I II III IV V VI VII VIII.

Prisons & Punishment focuses on cross-national perspectives about penal theories and empirical studies. It brings together African, European and North American social philosophers, sociologists, political scientists, legal practitioners, prisoners and abolitionist activists. The contributors reflect on carceral society, most notably in the United States, and on the re-conceptualisation of punishment.

Masking the Abject traces the beginnings of the malediction of play in Western metaphysics to Aristotle. Mechthild Nagel's innovative study demonstrates how play has served as a 'castaway' in western philosophical thinking: It is considered to be repulsive and loathsome, yet also fascinating and desirable. The book illustrates how play 'succeeds' and proliferates after Hegel—despite its denunciation by classical philosophers—entering Marxist, phenomenological, postmodern, and feminist discourses. This work provides the reader with a superb analyisis of how the distinction between (...) the serious and the playful has developed over time, charting play's changing ontological status, and ethical and aesthetic dimensions, from the logocentric to the bacchnalian. (shrink)

In this much-anticipated work, distinguished authors Mary Beth Ingham and Mechthild Dreyer present an accessible introduction to the philosophy of the thirteenth century Franciscan John Duns Scotus.

Bernard of Clairvaux lives in a geographic region and in a century, where politicians and intellectuals both look upon the Islam and its supporters as a religious and military danger for Western Europe and its culture. Unlike many contemporary theologians and philosophers Bernard does not engage in an intellectual controversy with Islamic positions. Even the explicit invitation of his friend, Peter the Venerable, who has let the Koran be transited into Latin, does not encourage him for such an effort. On (...) the contrary he accepts the papal order to promote the second crusade. Why does act Bernard in this way? The article wants to show that Bernard's theological basic assumptions, especially his epistemological convictions make it impossible, to defend the truths of the Christian religion by the help of rational arguments. (shrink)

Objective: To report results from a national survey of coordinators and managers of clinical research studies in the US on their perceptions of and experiences with scientific misconduct.Methods: Data were collected using the Scientific Misconduct Questionnaire-Revised. Eligible responses were received from 1645 of 5302 surveys sent to members of the Association of Clinical Research Professionals and to subscribers of Research Practitioner, published by the Center for Clinical Research Practice, between February 2004 and January 2005.Findings: Overall, the perceived frequency of misconduct (...) was low. Differences were noted between workplaces with regard to perceived pressures on investigators and research coordinators, and on the effectiveness of the regulatory environment in reducing misconduct. First-hand experience with an incident of misconduct was reported by 18% of respondents. Those with first-hand knowledge of misconduct were more likely to report working in an academic medical setting, and to report that a typical research coordinator would probably do nothing if aware that a principal investigator or research staff member was involved in an incident of misconduct.Conclusion: These findings expand the knowledge on scientific misconduct by adding new information from the perspective of research coordinators. The findings provide some data supporting the influence of workplace climate on misconduct and also on the perceived effectiveness of institutional policies to reduce scientific misconduct. (shrink)

‘Was ist Wahrheit?’ — diese Frage des Pilatus bezeichnet eines der Grundprobleme menschlicher Existenz. Anders als das Tier ist der Mensch genötigt, sein Leben zu führen. Angesichts der Unwägbarkeiten, die seine Lebensführung bedrohen, hat er ein vitales Interesse daran, seinem Leben Sicherheit und Zuverlässigkeit zu geben, Gewissheiten zu finden, auf die er bauen kann. Das, was ihm bei seiner Suche nach Sicherheiten als fest und verbindlich aufscheint, das, was ihm Orientierung gibt, pflegt er mit dem Wort ‘wahr’ zu bezeichnen.

Moulages are contact media – images made by contagion in the most literal sense: their production relies on a process in which the object to be reproduced is touched by the reproducing material. In the case of dermatological moulages, the plaster touches the infected skin of the sick and, once dried, serves as the negative form for the waxen image of a disease. Focussing on the collection of the Hôpital Saint-Louis in Paris, the article situates the production of dermatological moulages (...) within the visual culture of 19th-century medicine and raises the question how an ancient technique of image production could become such a prevalent tool for the documentation of skin diseases during a period usually associated with the rise of scientific medicine and a reconsideration of theories of contagion in medical aetiology. (shrink)

The paper aims to investigate the effects of corporate social performance (CSP) on bankruptcy likelihood in times of economic upswing. This is important because prior related literature focused on data containing times of economic crises. We measure bankruptcy likelihood with the Altman Z score and CSP with Refinitiv ESG scores. By applying static panel data regressions and instrumental variable regressions on a sample of 6696 US-firm-year observations from 2010 to 2019 our main findings are: (i) In contrast to existing research, (...) the level of firms’ CSP seems to have no (positive) effect on the likelihood of bankruptcy during times of economic upswing. (ii) Increasing a firm’s CSP in times of economic upswing leads to a rise in bankruptcy likelihood. We conclude that the positive effects of CSP on stakeholder relationships fail to materialize in flourishing business environments. The costs of increasing CSP, thus, exceed their immediate positive effects and raise bankruptcy likelihood. However, as they reduce financial default risk in subsequent crises, CSP investments can be seen as a balancing measure. Our findings bear implications for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. (shrink)

For the Introduction of a Conceptual Perspective in Mathematics: Dedekind, Noether, van der Waerden. „She [Noether] then appeared as the creator of a new direction in algebra and became the leader, the most consistent and brilliant representative, of a particular mathematical doctrine – of all that is characterized by the term ‚Begriffliche Mathematik‘.“2 The aim of this paper is to illuminate this “new direction”, which can be characterized as a conceptual [begriffliche] perspective in mathematics, and to comprehend its roots and (...) trace its establishment. Field, ring, ideal, the core concepts of this new direction in mathematical images of knowledge, were conceptualized by Richard Dedekind (1831–1916) within the scope of his number theory research and associated with an understanding of a formation of concepts as a “free creation of the human spirit”3. They thus stand for an abstract perspective of mathematics in their entirety, described as ‘modern algebra’ in the 1920s and 1930s, leading to an understanding of mathematics as structural sciences. The establishment of this approach to mathematics, which is based on “general mathematical concepts” [allgemein‐mathematische Begriffe]4, was the success of a cultural movement whose most important protagonists included Emmy Noether (1882–1935) and her pupil Bartel L. van der Waerden (1903–1996). With the use of the term ‘conceptual’, a perspective is taken in the analysis which allows for developing connections between the thinking of Dedekind, the “working and conceptual methods” [Arbeits‐ und Auffassungsmethoden]5 of Noether as well as the methodological approach, represented through the thought space of the Noether School as presented under the term “conceptual world” [Begriffswelt]6 in the Moderne Algebra of van der Waerden. This essay thus makes a contribution to the history of the introduction of a structural perspective in mathematics, a perspective that is inseparable from the mathematical impact of Noether, her reception of the work of Dedekind and the creative strength of the Noether School. (shrink)

Isidor von Sevilla sammelte in seinen Etymologien um 600 vorhandenes Wissen aus historischen und zeitgenössischen Quellen. Rund 300 Wörter aus dem Arbeitsbereich Textil werden mit Kurzkommentaren erläutert. Ca. 1050 findet sich dieses Wissen überarbeitet im Summarium Heinrici 1. Am Beispiel des Komplexes "Kleidung" liefert der Band neben den Quellen und hervorragenden Übersetzungen zum ersten Mal auch ausführlicheKommentare und Überblicksdarstellungen, die eine Fülle von Informationen bringen. Dazu gehören u. a. neue Erkenntnisse über Herstellung der griechischen, bombycina genannten, Seide oder die Beschreibung (...) der Vielzahl der Purpurfarben von Gelb und Himmelblau bis zum exklusiven Schwarz. (shrink)

Margaret McLaren’s ethnographic study that is ostensibly about Indian women’s activism also presents a nuanced critique of liberal human rights discourse and advances a relational cosmopoli­tanism. Her defense of Tagore’s decolonial worldview has much in common with an African Ubuntu ethics, which also eschews pos­sessive individualism in favor of a sociocentric social justice praxis philosophy. McLaren’s book provides an important contribution to questions of women’s empowerment, women’s rights, cultural rites, and situated knowledges.

This book brings together a collection of social justice scholars and activists who take Foucault’s concept of discipline and punishment to explain how prisons are constructed in society from nursing homes to zoos. This book expands the concept of prison to include any institution that dominates, oppresses, and controls. Criminologists and others, who have been concerned with reforming or dismantling the criminal justice system, have mostly avoided to look at larger carceral structures in society. In this book, for example, scholars (...) and activists question the way patriarchy has incapacitated women and imagine the deinstitutionalization of people with disabilities. In a time when popular sentiment critiques the dominant role of the elites, the state’s role in policing dissenting voices, school children, LGBTQ persons, people of color, and American Indian Nations, needs to be investigated. A prison, as defined in this book, is an institution or system that oppresses and does not allow freedom for a particular group. Within this definition, we include the imprisonment of nonhuman animals and plants, which are too often overlooked. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the meaning of Du Bois’s concept of “abolition democracy” and on the ideology of the abstract rights-bearing subject. In Abolition Democracy, Angela Y. Davis calls for the abolition of oppressive institutions, such as U.S. prisons, in order to engender abolition democracy. She also questions how subjects appear before the law, which justifies and normalizes inhumane practices, such as the death penalty. In conclusion, the paper explores ideas on how to conceptualize thinking “beyond” the prison industrial complex (...) not only in North America but globally. (shrink)

Using three paradigm cases of persons living with Parkinson's Disease (PD) the authors make a case for augmenting and enriching a Cartesian medical account of the pathophysiology of PD with an enriched understanding of the lived body experience of PD, the lived implications of PD for a particular person's concerns and coping with the illness. Linking and adding a thick description of the lived experience of PD can enrich caregiving imagination and attunement to the patient's possibilities, concerns and constraints. The (...) work of Merleau-Ponty is used to articulate the middle terms of the lived experience of dwelling in a lifeworld. Examining lived experience of embodied intentionality, skilled bodily capacities as highlighted in Merleau-Ponty's non-mechanistic physiology opens new therapeutic, coping and caregiving possibilities. Matching temporal rhythms can decrease the stress of being assisted with activities of daily living. For example, caregivers and patients alike can be taught strategies for extending their lived bodily capacities by altering rhythms, by shifting hyperactivity to different parts of the body and other strategies that change the perceptual experience associated with walking in different environment. A medical account of the pathophysiology of PD is nessessary and useful, but not sufficient for designing caregiving in ways that enrich and extend the existential skills of dwelling of persons with PD. The dominance of mechanistic physiology makes caregivers assume that it is the 'real discourse' about the disease, causing researchers and caregivers alike to overlook the equally real lived experience of the patient which requires different descriptive discourses and different sources of understanding. Lack of dialogue between the two discourses is tragic for patients because caregivers need both in order to provide attuned, effective caregiving. (shrink)

Presenteeism—going to work while ill—is a widespread phenomenon worldwide. Previous research has concentrated mainly on its negative effects. This study investigates the positive consequences of presenteeism derived from a comprehensive content model of presenteeism that was developed on the basis of negative effects. In a quantitative online-survey employees rated the degree of experienced or potential positive effects depending on whether they had worked while ill or not during the previous year. Results revealed that all postulated positive effects described in the (...) content model were relevant. Most positive effects were rated significantly higher by participants who had shown presenteeism in comparison to those who had not. The positive effects significantly predicted presenteeism propensity for participants having shown presenteeism. In addition, an overall rating of positive effects was significantly related to presenteeism, however, to a lesser degree. Overall, the results demonstrate the applicability of the content model to positive effects of presenteeism. They point to the need for further investigation of them and their consideration for the management of presenteeism. (shrink)