From 1995 to 1998, the European Commission supported the “Basic Ethical Principles in European Bioethics and Biolaw” research project. The project was based on cooperation between 22 partners coming from most EU countries. Its aim was to identify the ethical principles relating to autonomy, dignity, integrity and vulnerability as four important ideas or values for a European bioethics and biolaw. An important resume of the BIOMED project was the partner’s Policy Proposals to the European Commission, the Barcelona Declaration of 1998, (...) which is unique as a philosophical and political agreement between experts in bioethics and biolaw from many different countries. In this article, we want to compare the Barcelona Declaration with some other recent international Documents on bioethics and biolaw. We will relate the Barcelona Declaration to the framework of different international documents and codes of conduct about bioethics and biolaw. In particular, we will look at the similarities and differences when compared with the Council of Europe’s Convention for the Protection on of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with Regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine, adopted by the Committee of Ministers in 1996. Moreover, we will look at The UNESCO Declaration on the Humane Genome from 1997. Thus, the Barcelona Declaration does not only represent European ethical principles for bioethics and biolaw, but the document should also be conceived as a conceptual clarification and articulation of major ethical principles, which are central to international concerns for a universal bioethics and biolaw. (shrink)

Philosophy of education is regarded as an art of hermeneutics that integrates a theory of mimesis in its understanding of the educational transmission. The idea of the master is reconsidered in this perspective in order to overcome the old opposition between classicism and romanticism. In that way the author attempts to respond to the question: What is the secret to pedagogically sound education?

Philosophy of education is regarded as an art of hermeneutics that integrates a theory of mimesis in its understanding of the educational transmission. The idea of the master is reconsidered in this perspective in order to overcome the old opposition between classicism and romanticism. In that way the author attempts to respond to the question: What is the secret to pedagogically sound education?

In this overview of the cosmopolitan ideal, philosopher Peter Kemp argues that in the twenty-first century cosmopolitanism is the only viable guiding ideal for politics and education in an increasingly interdependent world.

The Ambiguity of Globalization -- The Paradox of the Nation -- The Utopia of Sustainability -- The Premodern Cosmopolitan -- The Modern Cosmopolitan -- Cultivation With and For Others -- Hermeneutics as Cultivation : Mimesis -- Philosophy of Education as Hermeneutics -- The Global Cosmopolitan.

The aim of this paper is to show why the humanities are more necessary than ever as part of the university education in our contemporary cosmopolitan age. We need the humanities if our educational institutions are to overcome the threats from narrow-minded politicians and business people to reduce education in schools and universities to simple instruction in management without guidance from the cultures of the world as expressed in art and literature, knowledge of languages, history, and philosophy. Keywords: education; university; (...) humanities; institution; cosmopolitanism. (shrink)

There is no education, which can avoid being political. Still, the question is in which sense education is political, and if all education must be politics, or, if not, to what extent politics must be made the explicit telos of the formation and upbringing, and how the relation might be between the principles needed for education and those of the political sphere. -/- Today, after the successive collapses of the modern models of the good society, first realised socialism and then (...) neo-liberal market society, the question is what the standards should be for education and especially what the relation should be between these standards and politics. Do we for instance have to raise human beings to become citizens of a civic republic, a world society or a league of nations? Can education limit itself to local concerns or must it transcend the limits to become international, transnational or even global? Should we educate to a global social democracy? (shrink)

This collection of essays is dedicated to the prolific career of Paul Ricoeur. Honoring his work, this anthology addresses questions and concerns that defined Ricoeur’s.

Ethische Grundprinzipien in der europäischen Bioethik und im Biorecht” ist der Titel eines Forschungsprojekts, das von 1995 bis 1998 von der EU-Kommission unterstützt wurde. Das Projekt gründete sich auf die Zusammenarbeit von 22 Partnerorganisationen aus der Mehrzahl der EU-Staaten. Es sollten ethische Grundprinzipien ermittelt werden, die sich ableiten aus Autonomie, Würde, Integrität und Verwundbarkeit als den vier Ausschlag gebenden Ideen bzw. Werten, die in der Bioethik und im Biorecht in Europa zum Tragen kommen sollen. Aus dem Resümee des EU-BIOMED-Projektes wurde (...) ein Rahmenprogramm der EU-Kommission abgeleitet und 1998 in der Deklaration von Barcelona festgehalten . Bei dieser Deklaration handelt es sich um einen einzigartigen Text, der die philosophische und politische Übereinstimmung von Experten aus dem Bereich der Bioethik und des Biorechts aus vielen Staaten dokumentiert. Im vorliegenden Artikel soll die Barcelona-Deklaration mit einigen internationalen Dokumenten zu Bioethik und Biorecht jüngeren Datums verglichen werden. Die Autoren stellen die Deklaration in Zusammenhang mit den Richtlinien, die in verschiedenen anderen internationalen Dokumenten und Rechtsvorschriften zum Vorgehen im Bereich der Bioethik und des Biorechts vorgegeben sind. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit gilt dem Vergleich mit der Konvention zum Schutz der Menschenrechte und der Würde der Menschen im Hinblick auf die Bereiche Biologie und Medizin, die 1996 vom EU-Ministerrat verabschiedet wurde. Sodann wurde die UNESCO-Deklaration betreffend des menschlichen Genoms und der Menschenrechte aus dem Jahre 1997 näher untersucht. Die Barcelona-Deklaration präsentiert also nicht nur die in Europa angestrebten ethischen Grundsätze in Bioethik und Biorecht, sondern erläutert und artikuliert ethische Grundprinzipien, die sich weltweit im Mittelpunkt des Interesses für universale Bioethik und Biorecht befinden. (shrink)

Europska komisija je od 1995. do 1998. podupirala istraživački projekt »Temeljni etički principi u europskoj bioetici i biopravu« . Projekt se temeljio na suradnji 22 partnera iz većine država Europske unije. Cilj projekta bio je identificirati etičke principe povezane s autonomijom, dostojanstvom, integritetom i ranjivošću kao četirima važnim idejama ili vrijednostima za europsku bioetiku i biopravo. Važan sažetak BIOMED projekta bio je Prijedlog Smjernica Europskoj komisiji – Deklaracija iz Barcelone iz 1998. godine – koja je jedinstvena jer predstavlja filozofsku i (...) političku suglasnost stručnjaka za bioetiku i biopravo iz mnogih država. U ovome tekstu želimo usporediti Deklaraciju iz Barcelone sa nekim drugim novijim međunarodnim dokumentima o bioetici i biopravu. Povezat ćemo Deklaraciju iz Barcelone sa okvirom koji nude različiti međunarodni dokumenti i propisi o djelovanju u bioetici i biopravu. Posebno ćemo se usmjeriti na sličnosti i razlike sa Konvencijom o zaštiti ljudskih prava i dostojanstva ljudskih bića u pogledu primjene biologije i medicine, koju je prihvatilo Vijeće ministara 1996., te ćemo promotriti i UNESCOvu Deklaraciju o ljudskom genomu iz 1997. Dakle, Deklaracija iz Barcelone ne predstavlja samo europske etičke principe u bioetici i biopravu, nego ujedno pojašnjava i artikulira osnovne etičke principe koji se nalaze u središtu međunarodnog interesa za univerzalnu bioetiku i biopravo. (shrink)

The main theme of volume 6 of Eco-ethica is "Ethics and Justice" which focuses on the idea of "justice" in a metaphysical, social, and personal sense. Justice is considered as a balance between opposite ambitions in interdependent persons, and as equity in legislation, but not as blind justice. Today it is valuable not only on the national, but also on the cosmopolitan level. Before it became personal justice, the idea of justice was considered metaphysical and social, both in European and (...) Chinese culture. However, in modern times, it is often reduced to a moral duty without meta-ethical responsibility. The last section considers the importance of the philosophy of Paul Ricoeur (1913-2005) for clarifying the idea of justice. (Series: Eco-Ethica, Vol. 6) [Subject: Philosophy, Ethics]. (shrink)

This paper deals with an important aspect of ethics in computer society: isolation in communication systems. In the first part the author analyses the notion of self-help intimated by the computer’s many possibilities for “do-it-yourself” and working at home. Some experiments concerning “the electronic cottage” prove that modern electronic communication entails the risk of being isolated and perverted by the narcissistic love of privacy. The second part focuses on some moral philosophers in order to define an ethics of help in (...) interpersonal relations. This ethics is opposed to the ethics of self-help and may constitute a foundation for an ethical criticism of computer society. In the third part the limits of the personalist ethics of help are recognized: this ethics stresses face-to-face relations, but today it is necessary to take new considerations into account regarding responsibility at long distance in the space and time of electronic society. (shrink)

If ‘power’ means cultural and political influence, philosophy has become a global world power. Philosophical argumentation and reflection constitute a non-economical, non-technological, and non-military power by the word that is capable of challenging the other powers, exposing lies and illusions, and proposing a better world as dwelling for humanity.Often the power of the philosophical word has been ignored, when philosophy was seen as pure description, pure reference, an innocent mirror, that forgets itself and make us present to things. However, if (...) philosophy has the power of the word, not all kinds of philosophizing are necessarily good for humanity. It can be very seducing for a group, and give food for mass suggestion making that appeals to the worst part of ourselves. We have learnt to understand how philosophy in itself may not only enlighten and liberate, but also seduce and manipulate. Today, philosophy has lost its innocence; we cannot philosophize without reflection on our linguistic practice. But we philosophers are not only called to understand ourselves. We must also contribute to developing an understanding of the power of the word more generally. And as citizens of the world, we must recognize that humiliation of others might be the most brutal violence we can practice without directly killing. (shrink)