Theories of epistemology make reference—via the perspective of an observer—to the structure of information transfer, which generates reality, of which the observer himself forms a part. It can be shown that any epistemological approach which implies the participation of tautological structural elements in the information transfer necessarily leads to an antinomy. Nevertheless, since the time of Aristotle the paradigm of mathematics—and thus tautological structure—has always been a hidden ingredient in the various concepts of knowledge acquisition or general theories of (...) information transfer. We hold that Darwin’s Evolutionary Theory is the first scientific theory which consistently presupposes a non-tautological structure for the information transfer and, at the same time, keeps it strictly distinct from the tautological metric of scientific observation. The consequences of this technique—namely the dissociation of information from intentionality—have not yet been fully drawn. (shrink)

Theories of epistemology make reference—via the perspective of an observer—to the structure of information transfer, which generates reality, of which the observer himself forms a part. It can be shown that any epistemological approach which implies the participation of tautological structural elements in the information transfer necessarily leads to an antinomy. Nevertheless, since the time of Aristotle the paradigm of mathematics—and thus tautological structure—has always been a hidden ingredient in the various concepts of knowledge acquisition or general theories of (...) information transfer. We hold that Darwin's Evolutionary Theory is the first scientific theory which consistently presupposes a non-tautological structure for the information transfer and, at the same time, keeps it strictly distinct from the tautological metric of scientific observation. The consequences of this technique—namely the dissociation of information from intentionality—have not yet been fully drawn. Erkenntnistheorien beziehen sich über die Perspektive eines Beobachters auf die Struktur des Informationstransfers, der die Realität erzeugt, von der der Beobachter selbst ein Element ist. Man kann zeigen, dass jeder erkenntnistheoretische Ansatz, der an diesem Transfer von Information tautologische Strukturelemente teilnehmen lässt, zu einer Antinomie führt. Dennoch bilden das Paradigma der Mathematik—und damit tautologische Strukturen—seit Aristoteles einen festen Bestandteil von Erkenntnistheorien und generell von Theorien des Informationstransfers. Unserer These zufolge ist Darwins Evolutionstheorie die erste wissenschaftliche Theorie, die den Informations-transfer ausschließlich als nicht-tautologische Struktur auffasst und diese zugleich strikt von der tautologischen Struktur der Beobachtungsmetrik getrennt hält. Die Konsequenzen für die Erkenntnistheorie—namentlich die Trennung von Information und Intentionalitätsind bisher nicht gezogen worden. (shrink)

The organ donation and transplantation (ODT) system heavily relies on the willingness of individuals to donate their organs. While it is widely believed that public trust plays a crucial role in shaping donation rates, the empirical support for this assumption remains limited. In order to bridge this knowledge gap, this article takes a foundational approach by elucidating the concept of trust within the context of ODT. By examining the stakeholders involved, identifying influential factors, and mapping the intricate trust relationships among (...) trustors, trustees, and objects of trust, we aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of trust dynamics in ODT. We employ maps and graphs to illustrate the functioning of these trust relationships, enabling a visual representation of the complex interactions within the ODT system. Through this conceptual groundwork, we pave the way for future empirical research to investigate the link between trust and organ donation rates, informed by a clarified understanding of trust in ODT. This study can also provide valuable insights to inform interventions and policies aimed at enhancing organ donation rates. (shrink)

In this chapter we argue that emotions are mediated in an incomplete way in online social media because of the heavy reliance on textual messages which fosters a rationalistic bias and an inclination towards less nuanced emotional expressions. This incompleteness can happen either by obscuring emotions, showing less than the original intensity, misinterpreting emotions, or eliciting emotions without feedback and context. Online interactions and deliberations tend to contribute rather than overcome stalemates and informational bubbles, partially due to prevalence of anti-social (...) emotions. It is tempting to see emotions as being the cause of the problem of online verbal aggression and bullying. However, we argue that social media are actually designed in a predominantly rationalistic way, because of the reliance on text-based communication, thereby filtering out social emotions and leaving space for easily expressed antisocial emotions. Based on research on emotions that sees these as key ingredients to moral interaction and deliberation, as well as on research on text-based versus non-verbal communication, we propose a richer understanding of emotions, requiring different designs of online deliberation platforms. We propose that such designs should move from text-centred designs and should find ways to incorporate the complete expression of the full range of human emotions so that these can play a constructive role in online deliberations. (shrink)

The article analyses what we term governmental ethics regimes as forms of scientific governance. Drawing from empirical research on governmental ethics regimes in Germany, Franceand the UK since the early 1980s, it argues that these governmental ethics regimes grew out of the technical model of scientific governance, but have departed from it in crucial ways. It asks whether ethics regimes can be understood as new ‘‘technologies of humility’’ and answers the question with a ‘‘yes, but’’. Yes, governmental ethics regimes have (...) incorporated features that go beyond technologies of prediction and control, but the overcoming of the technical model also bears some ambivalence that needs to be understood. The article argues that governmental ethics regimes can be understood as a form of ‘‘reflexive government’’ in that the commitment to techno-scientific innovation is stabilized not through an elitist, technocratic exclusion of non-scientific actors and knowledges or a depreciation of normative and emotional dimensions, but through their inclusion, involvement and mobilization. (shrink)

The human-centered AI approach posits a future in which the work done by humans and machines will become ever more interactive and integrated. This article takes human-centered AI one step further. It argues that the integration of human and machine intelligence is achievable only if human organizations—not just individual human workers—are kept “in the loop.” We support this argument with evidence of two case studies in the area of predictive maintenance, by which we show how organizational practices are needed and (...) shape the use of AI/ML. Specifically, organizational processes and outputs such as decision-making workflows, etc. directly influence how AI/ML affects the workplace, and they are crucial for answering our first and second research questions, which address the pre-conditions for keeping humans in the loop and for supporting continuous and reliable functioning of AI-based socio-technical processes. From the empirical cases, we extrapolate a concept of “keeping the organization in the loop” that integrates four different kinds of loops: AI use, AI customization, AI-supported original tasks, and taking contextual changes into account. The analysis culminates in a systematic framework of keeping the organization in the loop look based on interacting organizational practices. (shrink)

Capacity : environment in a century of space -- Containment : the ship as a figure of enclosure and expansion -- Circulation : ecological life support systems -- Storage : the lifeboats of human ecology -- Classification : biosphere reserves -- Departure : the habitats of tomorrow.

Die Frage der »guten Behandlung im Alter« gehört zu den Schlüsselthemen unserer Gesellschaft. Wie können wir gute Pflege für ältere Menschen, eine adäquate medizinische Versorgung im Alter und ganz allgemein Generationengerechtigkeit erreichen? Wie kann Inklusion auch für Menschen mit Demenz oder stigmatisierenden psychischen Erkrankungen erreicht werden? Dieser Band versammelt Expert*innen aus Philosophie, Soziologie, Medizin, Ethik, Psychogerontologie und Pflegewissenschaft sowie weiteren Feldern, die Möglichkeiten gelingender Therapie für Ältere - und damit auch Grundfragen von Menschenrechten und Ethik auf allen gesellschaftlichen Ebenen - (...) diskutieren. (shrink)

We study L∞κ-freeness in the variety of Boolean algebras. It is shown that some of the theorems on L∞κ-free algebras which are known to hold in varieties such as groups, abelian groups etc. are also true for Boolean algebras. But we also investigate properties such as the ccc of L∞κ-free Boolean algebras which have no counterpart in the varieties above.

In 2014 the Essex Autonomy Project undertook a six month project, funded by the AHRC, to provide technical advice to the UK Ministry of Justice on the question of whether the Mental Capacity Act is compliant with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Over the course of the project, the EAP research team organised a series of public policy roundtables, hosted by the Ministry of Justice, and which brought together leading experts to discuss and debate (...) the issues. A one-day public conference was held at the Institute for Government in July. In September 2014, the EAP research team submitted its findings to the Ministry of Justice. (shrink)

In 2014 the Essex Autonomy Project undertook a six month project, funded by the AHRC, to provide technical advice to the UK Ministry of Justice on the question of whether the Mental Capacity Act is compliant with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Over the course of the project, the EAP research team organised a series of public policy roundtables, hosted by the Ministry of Justice, and which brought together leading experts to discuss and debate (...) the issues. A one-day public conference was held at the Institute for Government in July. In September 2014, the EAP research team submitted its findings to the Ministry of Justice. (shrink)

In 2014 the Essex Autonomy Project undertook a six month project, funded by the AHRC, to provide technical advice to the UK Ministry of Justice on the question of whether the Mental Capacity Act is compliant with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Over the course of the project, the EAP research team organised a series of public policy roundtables, hosted by the Ministry of Justice, and which brought together leading experts to discuss and debate (...) the issues. A one-day public conference was held at the Institute for Government in July. In September 2014, the EAP research team submitted its findings to the Ministry of Justice. (shrink)

Abstractp53 has a determinant role in cancer prevention and is among the most studied proteins in the world. The majority of studies devoted to this protein are carried out in cell lines because they are easy to use and have naturally emerged as the main research tool in laboratories. However, the p53 pathway is commonly deregulated in cancer cells, from which the experimental cell lines are generally derived. The fact that the pathway is deregulated challenges the relevance of using cancer‐derived (...) cell lines to study wild‐type p53 activities, or, in a broader sense, to study any normal cellular process. In the present article, we identify and discuss a number of limitations of cell lines using examples related to p53. Finally, we point out the general limitations of cell lines and propose solutions as alternatives to these cells. (shrink)

A partial ordering P is said to have the weak Freese-Nation property if there is a mapping tf : P → [P]0 such that, for any a, b ε P, if a b then there exists c ε tf∩tf such that a c b. In this note, we study the WFN and some of its generalizations. Some features of the class of Boolean algebras with the WFN seem to be quite sensitive to additional axioms of set theory: e.g. under CH, (...) every ccc complete Boolean algebra has this property while, under b 2, there exists no complete Boolean algebra with the WFN. (shrink)

Dicer is a key player in microRNA (miRNA) and RNA interference (RNAi) pathways, processing miRNA precursors and doublestranded RNA into ~21-nt-long products ultimately triggering sequence-dependent gene silencing. Although processing of substrates in vertebrate cells occurs in the cytoplasm, there is growing evidence suggesting Dicer is also present and functional in the nucleus. To address this possibility, we searched for a nuclear localization signal (NLS) in human Dicer and identified its C-terminal double-stranded RNA binding domain (dsRBD) as harboring NLS activity. We (...) show that the dsRBD-NLS can mediate nuclear import of a reporter protein via interaction with importins β, 7, and 8. In the context of full-length Dicer, the dsRBD-NLS is masked. However, duplication of the dsRBD localizes the full-length protein to the nucleus. Furthermore, deletion of the N-terminal helicase domain results in partial accumulation of Dicer in the nucleus upon leptomycin B treatment, indicating that CRM1 contributes to nuclear export of Dicer. Finally, we demonstrate that human Dicer has the ability to shuttle between the nucleus and the cytoplasm. We conclude that Dicer is a shuttling protein whose steady-state localization is cytoplasmic. (shrink)

Die Frage der »guten Behandlung im Alter« gehört zu den Schlüsselthemen unserer Gesellschaft. Wie können wir gute Pflege für ältere Menschen, eine adäquate medizinische Versorgung im Alter und ganz allgemein Generationengerechtigkeit erreichen? Wie kann Inklusion auch für Menschen mit Demenz oder stigmatisierenden psychischen Erkrankungen erreicht werden? Dieser Band versammelt Expert*innen aus Philosophie, Soziologie, Medizin, Ethik, Psychogerontologie und Pflegewissenschaft sowie weiteren Feldern, die Möglichkeiten gelingender Therapie für Ältere - und damit auch Grundfragen von Menschenrechten und Ethik auf allen gesellschaftlichen Ebenen - (...) diskutieren. (shrink)

Giorgia Pozzi’s feature article1 on the risks of testimonial injustice when using automated prediction drug monitoring programmes (PDMPs) turns the spotlight on a pressing and well-known clinical problem: physicians’ challenges to predict patient behaviour, so that treatment decisions can be made based on this information, despite any fallibility. Currently, as one possible way to improve prognostic assessments of patient behaviour, Machine Learning-driven clinical decision support systems (ML-CDSS) are being developed and deployed. To make her point, Pozzi discusses ML-CDSSs that are (...) supposed to deliver physicians an accurate estimation of the likelihood of narcotic, sedative and stimulant opioid misuse by a given patient (like, e.g., ‘NarxCare’). Regarding cases of deviating assessment between human evaluators and automated systems, the medico-ethical discussion has so far mainly focused on disagreement between clinicians and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms,2 for example in ‘second opinions’ that have been reconstructed as disagreements between physician testimony and ML-CDSS testimony.3 Examples such as those of PDMPs, by contrast, draw attention to situations in which patient testimony potentially contradicts ML-CDSS testimony. Pozzi examines decision-making situations in which ML-CDSS testimony factually overrides the testimony of the person affected. Thus, in the presented case of patient Kathryn, the testimony of her own physical and mental condition was insufficient to overturn the unfavourable outcome for …. (shrink)

Recent philosophical work on children and childhood has revealed many new questions concerning minors’ rights. This special issue of Moral Philosophy and Politics offers new contributions to the topics of paternalism, the nature of the right to parent and children’s voting. It also contains articles about the so far less explored questions of adolescents’ parental rights, minors’ rights against the harms of parental imprisonment, and their right to veto their own parents’ decision to relocate.

2021 jährte sich zum zwanzigsten Mal die Einführung des Lebenspartnerschaftsgesetzes und damit der Eingetragenen Lebenspartnerschaft als das erste Rechtsinstitut für gleichgeschlechtliche Paare. 2017 löste die Ehe die Lebenspartnerschaft ab, allerdings nicht mit allen Rechten einer Ehe wie zwischen heterosexuellen Personen. Der Aushandlungsprozess zur sogenannten Ehe für alle ist insbesondere für religionswissenschaftliche Fragestellungen erkenntnisreich. Am Beispiel des Diskurses um die Einführung der gleichgeschlechtliche Ehe in Deutschland 2015 und dem Referendum in Irland als diskursivem Ereignis zeigt die Autorin, wie politische Akteur*innen in (...) einem zeitgenössischen Deutungskampf um die Bedeutung von Ehe wetteifern und dabei mit der Diskursprämisse einer angenommenen Moderne die Dichotomie von religiös vs. säkular sowie weitere Narrative von und über Religion(en) zur Selbst- und Fremdpositionierungen sowie für ihre Koalitions- und Oppositionsbildungen einsetzen. Die Analyse verwendet einen zeit-, akteurs- und arenaspezifischen Ansatz und verknüpft methodologisch die Wissenssoziologische Diskursanalyse (WDA) mit einem religionswissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisinteresse. (shrink)

On croit souvent que les Big data et l’univers d’internet et des réseaux sociaux constituent une forme nouvelle de pouvoir dictatorial des contrôleurs d’internet. Mais, en fait, ce à quoi nous assistons est à une nouvelle dictature du prolétariat, celle des multitudes et du populisme.

On croit souvent que les Big data et l’univers d’internet et des réseaux sociaux constituent une forme nouvelle de pouvoir dictatorial des contrôleurs d’internet. Mais, en fait, ce à quoi nous assistons est à une nouvelle dictature du prolétariat, celle des multitudes et du populisme.

A myriad of sensations inform and direct us when we engage with the environment. To understand their influence on the development of our habitus it is important to focus on unifying processes in sensing. This approach allows us to include phenomena that elude a rather narrow view that focuses on each of the five discrete senses in isolation. One of the central questions addressed in this volume is whether there is something like a sensual habitus, and if there is, how (...) it can be defined. This is especially done by exploring the formation and habituation of the senses in and by a culturally shaped habitat. Two key concepts, Synaesthesia and Kinaesthetics, are addressed as essential components for an understanding of the interface of habitat and the rich and multisensory experience of a perceiving subject. At a Berlin-based conference Synaesthesia and Kinaesthetics, scholars from various disciplines gathered to discuss these issues. In bringing together the outcome of these discussions, this book gives new insights into the key phenomena of sensory integration and synaesthetic experiences, it enriches the perspectives on sensually embedded interaction and its habituation, and it expands this interdisciplinary inquiry to questions about the cultures of sensory habitus. (shrink)

Fruit of collaboration between EFA and UMR 5060 of CNRS, the programme of study of the ancient Amathusian pottery concerned various aspects of the craft, from the use of raw materials to the techniques for making vases. This article deals with methods of decoration, specifically three typically Amathusian styles : 'Blackened', 'Bichrome Amathusian' and an imitation of the black-figure technique. The scientific analyses throw into relief the expertise of Amathusian potters and painters who, by playing with a number of simple (...) techniques, notably firing methods, successfully renewed the Cypriot repertoire without breaking free of the traditional manufacturing methods. (shrink)