Solidarity is commonly invoked in the justification of public health care. This is understandable, as calls for and appeals to solidarity are effective in the mobilization of unison action and the willing- ness to incur sacrifices for others. However, the reference to solidarity as a moral notion requires caution, as there is no agreement on the meaning of solidarity. The article argues that the refer- ence to solidarity as a normative notion is relevant to health-related moral claims, but that it (...) does not provide a convincing foundation of claims to universal health care. References to universal soli- darity obliterate an important distinction between those moral demands that are founded on principles like justice, recognition, or humanity, and those demands that stem from partisan rela- tions in communities. While there is no ‘separate essence’ of solidarity that could be referred to in order to argue for the conceptual necessity of solidarity’s partiality, some features may reasonably be stipulated as being essential to solidarity with a view to its systematic function within moral phi- losophy. The normative and motivational force of the ties invoked by solidarity is particularly relevant when basic moral demands are not met, and societies are in need of significant forms of communal relatedness. (shrink)

The review article examines the relation of solidarity and cosmopolitanism in contemporary political philosophical and sociological debates. In some contexts solidarity and cosmopolitanism are closely related, in others they are understood to be incompatible. The main body of the report is divided into three parts displaying a tentative classification of the reviewed literature on the subject. The first part serves to outline a general account of solidarity, the communal obligations that follow from it, and its opposition to the moral arguments (...) grounding cosmopolitan obligations. The second part deals with the actual development and realization of solidarity and cosmopolitanism, as well as the tension between both within the European Union. The third part considers some arguments for the extension of solidarity relations beyond state or nation towards cosmopolitan affiliations, obligations and institutions. Finally, a reading of solidarity and cosmopolitanism is offered in which both are compatible with each other. (shrink)

The article provides a moral analysis of the commercial trade of financial claims against private debtors. Secondary debt markets process a type of object that differs from regular commodities. The specificity of debt lies in its peculiar relationality that is in tension with its legal constitution as a commercial object, or with its treatment as a mere thing. The constitution of a credit claim presupposes a corresponding financial liability. Thus, debt relations are constituted by polar correlates of deontic modalities. Debt (...) buyers do not obtain mere monadic objects, but intersubjective rights of action against debtors. In turn, they arguably do not become mere owners of abstract claims, but successors to a position in a preceding social relation that is imbued with moral limitations and responsibilities. Markets for debt should thus be subjected to the deontic logic of credit relations, not to the norms of ownership in things. (shrink)

The emergence of H1N1 in 2009 shows that it is a mistake to regard the scenario of having to implement pandemic plans as merely hypothetical. This recent experience provides an opportunity to inquire into the current state of pandemic preparedness plans with regard to their ethical adequacy. One aspect that deserves consideration in this context is the disclosure of ethical reasoning. Accordingly, the following is an analysis of examples of pandemic plans and drafts of plans from Southeast Asia and the (...) Western Pacific. It is an analysis of the occurrence of explicit ethical reflection in these documents as well an inquiry into the related question of how ethical reflection can be understood as a constitutive element of ethical pandemic preparedness.In the analysis, different fields of ethical consideration concerning equity, personal rights and accountability are distinguished. There are both pragmatic and genuinely ethical reasons to explicitly address issues of these types in pandemic plans. The extent to which ethical language appears in the national plans in South East Asia and the Western Pacific suggests that there is limited awareness of ethical considerations, or at least insufficient ethical substantiation of pandemic action. The aim of the analysis is to show that further inclusion of ethical considerations into pandemic plans is ethically demanded. It is of particular significance that these considerations are formulated and remain discernible as instances of ethical deliberation. (shrink)

Ontario’s Bill 178 proposing a Voluntary Blood Donations Act declares the offer or acceptance of payment for the donation of blood a legal offence and makes it subject to penalty. The bill reinvigorates a fundamental debate about the ethical problems associated with the payment of money for blood. Scarcity of blood donors is a recurring problem in most health systems, and monetary remuneration of the willingness to donate blood is regularly discussed—and sometimes practiced—as a means to overcome scarcity in blood. (...) However, making blood an object of economic exchange has long aroused ethical concerns that often refer to the specific meaning of blood. From the perspective of a modern understanding of money as a metric of economic value, the exchange of money for blood—shed or given—is seen as ethically troubling, because it appears to imply a commensurability of the value of human life and economic wealth. In this paper, we begin with a general taxonomy of the types of arguments that speak in favour or against compensating donors for giving blood. We then describe the context in which the discussion about payment for blood arises, and of the specific aims and concerns that are brought forward in this context. This is used to reconstruct the normative background that supports the rejection of payment for blood as it is envisaged in Bill 178 and the aims of the proposal. We then argue that while a payment indeed changes the nature of a blood donation in an ethically considerable way, we do not believe that decisive arguments against the monetary remuneration of blood donations can be substantiated, at least not independently of assuming specific societal circumstances. Thus it may be possible to establish a stable and safe blood supply through just gratification while at the same time taking strong provisions against social disconnection, injustice, exploitation or heteronomy. (shrink)

The Subjection of Women sollte nicht ohne Weiteres als Teil des Werks von John Stuart Mill behandelt werden. Wenn auch weniger explizit und emphatisch als Mill es etwa in der Vorbemerkung zu On Liberty festhält, bekräftigt er in seiner Autobiography den maßgeblichen Beitrag Harriet Taylor MillsTaylor, Harriet an der Entstehung von Subjection. Mill benennt Harriet zwar nicht als Mitverfasserin der Schrift, aber doch als Miturheberin der entwickelten Thesen und Argumente. Die Abhandlung, die Mill 1869 auf Anraten seiner Stieftochter Helen TaylorTaylor, (...) Helen veröffentlicht, entsteht in den Jahren 1860–1861. Mill beginnt mit der Niederschrift also zwei Jahre nach Harriets Tod. Subjection formuliert gleichwohl eine Position, die über Jahre hinweg Gegenstand ausgedehnter Diskussionen zwischen beiden ist. (shrink)

Susan Wolf, Meaning in Life and Why it Matters Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-2 DOI 10.1007/s10677-011-9321-8 Authors Simon Derpmann, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Philosophisches Seminar, Domplatz 23, 48143 Münster, Germany Journal Ethical Theory and Moral Practice Online ISSN 1572-8447 Print ISSN 1386-2820.

The contribution examines Karl Polanyi’s analysis of the fictitiousness of the commodity description of money, and its suitability as a reference for the analysis of the commodification of money within contemporary markets for credit and finance. Any critique of the commodification of money that draws on Polanyi’s influential argument should distinguish between two fundamentally different meanings of the occurrence of money as a commodity: the institutional system that makes some commodity money versus the commercial practice that turns money into a (...) commodity. Only a particular strand of Polanyi’s analysis provides a point of reference for a comprehensive critique of the commodification of money, rather than the monetization of some type of commodity. Departing from the aspects of Polanyi’s analysis that are specific to the political economy of the gold standard, the article draws on Polanyi’s material account of the essential contributions of public organization and social convention in the constitution of money. On these grounds, the commodification of money is potentially objectionable as the social disembedding of a common public institution. (shrink)

Franz Petrys 1916 erschienene Abhandlung zum sozialen Gehalt der Marxschen Werttheorie widmet sich mit bemerkenswerter Klarheit der systematischen Bedeutung des Marxschen Wertbegriffs für die philosophische Analyse wirtschaftlicher Kooperation und der korrespondierenden gesellschaftlichen Verhältnisse. Die Abhandlung macht über diesen zentralen Begriff des Werts die Marxsche Sozialtheorie insgesamt und deren Konzeptionalisierung ökonomischer Geltungsrelationen zum Gegenstand. Petrys Auseinandersetzung ist von besonderem Interesse, insofern sie noch vor der Kanonisierung der Marxrezeption in den 1920er Jahren erfolgt, weshalb sie von den für diese Zeit zunehmend prägenden (...) ideologischen Interventionen und politischen Abhängigkeiten weitgehend unbeeinflusst ist. Petry formuliert seine kritische Analyse weder aus einer dezidiert liberalen Perspektive noch von einem marxistischen Standpunkt, sondern ist vielmehr unter Rückgriff auf Positionen von Riehl und Rickert vordringlich durch die Grundannahmen der neukantianischen Wissenschaftstheorie geprägt. (shrink)

Solidarität ist kein genuiner Begriff der Moralphilosophie. Vielmehr findet sich der Verweis auf Solidarität meist in juristischen Normen, in soziologischen Theorien und in gemeinschaftlichen Appellen. Das Buch versucht, den systematischen Ort von Solidarität innerhalb der Moralphilosophie zu bestimmen. Diese Bestimmung zeigt auf, dass die Parteinahme, die in Gründen der Solidarität enthalten ist, nicht zwingend grundlegenden Anforderungen moralischer Allgemeinheit entgegensteht. Solidarität verbindet und verbündet Personen in Demonstrationen, Korporationen und Verbänden. Bestimmte Einstellungen und Beziehungen, die von den Angehörigen von Solidargemeinschaften als bindend (...) begriffen werden, lassen sich auch aus moralphilosophischer Perspektive als bedeutsam begründen. Den Begriff ›Solidarität‹ der beliebigen Verwendung zu überlassen, bedeutet daher, ein für moralisches Überlegen und Begründen bedeutsames Prinzip aus den Augen zu verlieren; es bedeutet, sich der Ressourcen zu berauben, die notwendig sind, um mit Argumenten für eine besondere Form gemeinschaftlicher Bindung eintreten zu können. (shrink)

Die Philosophie des Geldes und der Preise befasst sich mit sozialontologischen Fragen der Konstitution und Natur von Geldvorkommnissen, sowie der Bedeutung und der Bedingungen monetärer Wertzuschreibungen. Eine zentrale Demarkationslinie konkurrierender Positionen verläuft entlang der Frage, ob Geldvorkommnisse Warenwerte repräsentieren oder Verhältnisse von Kredit und Schuld anzeigen. Darüber hinaus werden in der Philosophie des Geldes moralphilosophische und politische Fragen thematisch. So kommt Geld eine zentrale Rolle in der Organisation ökonomischer Kooperation durch Märkte und in der Entwicklung und Innovation wirtschaftlicher Produktivkräfte zu. (...) Geld wird außerdem im Übergang von der Standesgesellschaft zur bürgerlichen Gesellschaft als freiheitsstiftende Institution wahrgenommen. So ersetzt die Geldvermittlung traditionelle Machtverhältnisse durch freiheitliche, und zumindest potenziell emanzipatorische Vertragsbeziehungen. Gleichzeitig erzeugt die zunehmende Bedeutung des Geldes soziale Ungleichheiten und neue Abhängigkeiten. Schließlich gehen das Streben nach Geld als Handlungsmotiv, die Verkäuflichkeit von nicht marktgeeigneten Gegenständen, sowie die Geldvermittlung außermarktlicher Verhältnisse mit moralischen Bedenken einher. (shrink)

Innerhalb des Gesamtsystems der praktischen Philosophie John Stuart Mills erfüllt der Begriff der Lebenskunst, oder der „art of life“ und der dazugehörigen „theory of life“, eine zentrale systematische Funktion. Die Abschnitte über die Kunst oder das Handwerk des Lebens haben in der Rezeption der Mill’schen Philosophie besondere Bedeutung, weil in ihnen Ansatzpunkte zu finden sind, mit denen sich die mitunter sehr disparaten Positionen Mills innerhalb der praktischen Philosophie in ein kohärentes Gesamtsystem fassen lassen. So werden Grundunterscheidungen innerhalb dieses Theorieelements angeführt, (...) um die Spannung zwischen dem Nutzenprinzip, das die axiologische Grundlage der gesamten praktischen Philosophie Mills darstellt, mit spezifischeren Normen der Gleichheit, Gerechtigkeit und Freiheit aufzulösen. (shrink)

This article is concerned with the structure of monetary denominations of economic value. Marx and Simmel analyze this structure by means of references to objects of mere catallactic validity. These objects are ontologically atypical insofar as they are particulars of the genus commodity. Understanding money through generic particulars elucidates the conceptual link between money as a unit of account and money as a means of payment. This initially perplexing idea captures a fundamental characteristic of money without committing to either a (...) commodity theory or a claim theory of money. A modification of the notion ‘commodity’ allows for a conception of money as a generic particular that is consistent with contemporary accounts of money as abstract purchasing power residing in different forms of liabilities and claims denominated in a common quantitative scale. (shrink)

John Stuart Mill lesen und verstehen: In der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jhds. war Mill der einflussreichste Philosoph Englands. Seine Schriften zu Wissenschaftstheorie, Ökonomik, Politik und Ethik wurden zu Standardwerken und machten Mill zum Klassiker, den heute jeder Philosophiestudierende kennen muss. Simon Derpmann erläutert nicht nur die Grundlinien von Mills Philosophie, sondern liefert die wichtigsten Texte gleich mit. So können sich auch Anfänger eigenständig damit auseinandersetzen.

Die Verortung von Moses Hess innerhalb der Ideengeschichte der Anerkennung ist am ehesten über seine Beziehung zur frühsozialistischen und junghegelianischen Gesellschaftskritik, insbesondere hinsichtlich der Gattungswesen- und Entfremdungskonzeptionen von Feuerbach und Marx, zu begreifen. So lässt sich das Gesellschaftsmodell, für das Hess in seiner Zurückweisung von Geldwirtschaft und Marktgesellschaft eintritt, sinnvoll über den Übergang der Feuerbachschen Religionskritik zur Marxschen Kritik der kapitalistischen Wirtschaftsordnung einordnen. Anerkennung besteht demnach in einem geteilten Bewusstsein eines übergeordneten menschlichen Gattungszusammenhangs, der in seiner angemessenen institutionellen Verwirklichung die (...) Abschaffung von Wettbewerb, Geldvermittlung und Privateigentum erfordern würde. (shrink)

A philosophical inquiry into the ethics or the morals of distress has to address a distinction regarding its very own scope. On the one hand, situations of distress can be understood to involve particular moral considerations. On the other hand, distress can be understood as the presence of specific characteristics that may allow for a divergence from what is obliged from the moral point of view. The article reflects on the idea of distress as setting limits to moral reflection and (...) obligation, considering particular examples that illustrate the meaning of integrity and personal ties and their practical relevance in situations of distress. In the light of these reflections it seems inadequate to claim that distress exempts one from relying on moral reasoning altogether, but rather that situations of distress engender specific moral considerations. (shrink)

This volume documents the 16th Münster Lectures in Philosophy and examines five themes that are prominent in the work of philosopher and political theorist Philip Pettit. These themes are: Epistemology and Semantics, Philosophy of Mind, Consequentialism, Group Agency, and Republicanism. The book provides insight into Pettit's work and demonstrates the central role his work plays in a number of contemporary philosophical debates. Pettit’s contributions to the philosophy of mind and action, rational choice theory, the philosophy of the social sciences, as (...) well as metaethics, normative ethics and political philosophy are main points of reference, and have advanced ongoing and initiated new discussions. The book shows that a striking feature of Pettit's work has been the depth of his analyses and arguments regarding individual topics – ranging from rule-following to free will, from group agency to social ontology and the methodology of the social sciences, from a defense of consequentialism to the revival of the republican tradition in the theory of democracy and to value theory, but also their systematic overall coherence. The book contains Pettit’s lecture "Freedom and Other Robustly Demanding Goods", nine critical papers on Pettit’s philosophy, and a reply article entitled "Self-Defense on Five Fronts: A Reply to My Commentators". (shrink)

The article looks at competing conceptions of solidarity. The main focus lies on the universality or partisanship that is associated with moral obligations stemming from solidarity. It appears that the reference to a 'solidum', or a uniting commonality, is crucial to understanding solidarity. In the article, solidarity is defended as a morally significant relation that is wider and more inclusive than direct or intimate relations of friendship, love or loyalty, but simultaneously narrower and more exclusive than universal notions of justice (...) or humanity. Due to their basis in uniting communalities, relations of solidarity are normatively dependent, i.e. the moral content of the shared identifications that ground solidarity determine its moral valence. (shrink)