Despite the opening of the market and partial privatization of state‐owned companies in China, the state still represents the controlling shareholder in larger companies. By analyzing the weaknesses of Chinese corporate governance we illustrate the framework for harmful corruption. China is characterized by a weak legal system and strong influences of traditions such as guanxi. In this article we analyze the influence of guanxi on the Chinese corporate governance system. We find that guanxi is in general a double‐edged sword, but (...) business‐to‐government guanxi in particular can harm the weak Chinese corporate governance system and hamper its further economic development and growth. (shrink)

Often conflicts arises between stakeholders of a firm. Instances where one stakeholder’s needs conflict with the rights of other stakeholders can put managers in a precarious situation. Strict adherence to contract rules, for example, may be the absolute right of the firm but at the same time enforcement of that contractual right or rule may be unduly damaging to another stakeholder. Managers in these situations may seek to find a balancing act between the two conflicting sides in order to maintain (...) the balance that prioritizes the competing and conflicting responsibilities. The following case study, based on an actual managerial decision in an industrial setting, seeks to bring the lessons of balancing competing interests into harmony, as best as possible, in order to pursue the survival and success of the enterprise while realizing that all stakeholders are vital to the said success and survival. (shrink)

Recent research on grapheme-colour synesthesia has focused on whether visual attention is necessary to induce a synesthetic percept. The current study investigated the influence of synesthesia on overt visual attention during an oculomotor target selection task. Chromatic and achromatic stimuli were presented with one target among distractors among multiple ‘5’s ). Participants executed an eye movement to the target. Synesthetes and controls showed a comparable target selection performance across conditions and a ‘pop-out effect’ was only seen in the chromatic condition. (...) As a pop-out effect was absent for the synesthetes in the achromatic condition, a synesthetic element appears not to elicit a synesthetic colour, even when it is the target. The synesthetic percepts are not pre-attentively available to distinguish the synesthetic target from synesthetic distractors when elements are presented in the periphery. Synesthesia appears to require full recognition to bind form and colour. (shrink)

Colour has been shown to facilitate the recognition of scene images, but only when these images contain natural scenes, for which colour is ‘diagnostic’. Here we investigate whether colour can also facilitate memory for scene images, and whether this would hold for natural scenes in particular. In the first experiment participants first studied a set of colour and greyscale natural and man-made scene images. Next, the same images were presented, randomly mixed with a different set. Participants were asked to indicate (...) whether they had seen the images during the study phase. Surprisingly, performance was better for greyscale than for coloured images, and this difference is due to the higher false alarm rate for both natural and man-made coloured scenes. We hypothesized that this increase in false alarm rate was due to a shift from scrutinizing details of the image to recognition of the gist of the image. A second experiment, utilizing images without a nameable gist, confirmed this hypothesis as participants now performed equally on greyscale and coloured images. In the final experiment we specifically targeted the more detail-based perception and recognition for greyscale images versus the more gist-based perception and recognition for coloured images with a change detection paradigm. The results show that changes to images are detected faster when image-pairs were presented in greyscale than in colour. This counterintuitive result held for both natural and man-made scenes and thus corroborates the shift from more detailed processing of images in greyscale to more gist-based processing of coloured images. (shrink)

Film festivals have become key agents in the movie business, with major competitive festivals enjoying outstanding importance. Based on this assumption, this paper focuses on the example of Germany and asks to what extent the Berlin International Film Festival offers a venue for domestic films, and which types of filmmakers, in particular, benefit from this springboard and gatekeeping mechanism. More precisely, given the diverging interests confronting the Berlinale as a platform for the film community, a quantitative program analysis was conducted (...) of the festival’s most significant sections (Competition, Panorama, Forum, Generation, Perspective German Cinema, Lola@Berlinale) from 1980 to 2016. The findings demonstrate that even good-faith efforts to strengthen domestic filmmaking in regard to weight and diversity have hardly changed the power structures that underlie the curatorial decision-making process. Respectively, the share of national film productions has been stagnating for many years. Moreover, female and young filmmakers are still broadly underrepresented. (shrink)

This case study attempts to frame the ethical considerations between hiring a known smoker over a non-smoker in today’s cultural climate. Referenced data from a parallel project gauging the likelihood of Human Resources representatives to hire smokers and accommodate them in the workforce could help manage the response and critical thinking components of the case scenario. Questions also arise as to whether it is advisable for employers to take particular attitudes toward smoking in the workplace. This is not only in (...) the interest of the health of employees, customers and clients, but is also on the basis of a concern that employers may otherwise expose themselves to lawsuits where employees may, on the basis of illness contracted due to a smoking environment supported by an employer, sue for the costs of care and income. (shrink)

The essays in this book engage the original and controversial claims from Michael Boylan's A Just Society. Each essay discusses Boylan's claims from a particular chapter and offers a critical analysis of these claims. Boylan responds to the essays in his lengthy and philosophically rich reply.

Visual neglect has been associated with an imbalance in the level of activity in the saccadic system: activity in the contralesional field is suppressed, which makes target selection unlikely. We recorded eye movements of a patient with hemispatial neglect and a group of healthy participants during an oculomotor distractor paradigm. Results showed that the interfering effects of a distractor were very strong when presented in her ipsilesional visual field. However, when the distractor was presented in her contralesional field, there were (...) no interfering effects when the target was presented in her ipsilesional field. These findings could not be explained by the presence of a visual field defect as revealed by the results of two hemianopic patients. Our results are in line with an imbalance in the level of activity in the saccadic system in visual neglect because visual elements presented in the contralesional field did not compete for saccadic selection. (shrink)

The 2013 Rostock Symposium on Systems Biology and Bioinformatics in Aging Research was again dedicated to dissecting the aging process using in silico means. A particular focus was on ontologies, as these are a key technology to systematically integrate heterogeneous information about the aging process. Related topics were databases and data integration. Other talks tackled modeling issues and applications, the latter including talks focussed on marker development and cellular stress as well as on diseases, in particular on diseases of kidney (...) and skin. (shrink)

This article provides an analysis of moral emotions from an attributional point of view, guided by the metaphors of man as a naïve scientist (Heider, 1958) and as a moral judge (Weiner, 2006). The theoretical analysis focuses on three concepts: (a) The distinction between the actor and the observer, (b) the functional quality of moral emotions, and (c) the perceived controllability of the causes of events. Moral emotions are identified (admiration, anger, awe, contempt, disgust, elevation, embarrassment, envy, gratitude, guilt, indignation, (...) jealousy, pity, pride, rage, regret, remorse, resentment, respect, schadenfreude, scorn, shame, and sympathy). A classification of these moral emotions is suggested and the empirical evidence briefly summarized. In discussing our results, we identify unresolved issues awaiting further analyses and research. (shrink)

Preoperative informed consent is a legal and ethical requirement that ensures patients understand a procedure, its associated risks and benefits, alternative treatment options, and potential complications to make an informed decision about their care. This cross‐sectional study evaluated the informed consent process for major orthopaedic surgeries at a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. A self‐administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 120 adult participants. Results showed that many patients do not read the consent form before signing it, and surgeons do (...) not adequately explain the alternatives to surgery, potential risks, and available anaesthetic options. Higher‐educated patients are more likely to read the consent form. Surgeons performed well in explaining the nature of the condition and prognosis, the procedure's potential benefits, and answering patients' questions. The study emphasises the need to improve the informed consent process to ensure patients understand and can make rational decisions about their healthcare. (shrink)

Greek mythology developed ideas about the mythical birth of Athena from the head of Zeus in enigmatic allusions. Hephaestus performed the obstetrics. This cryptic mythologem, an imaginative structure of strange shape, contains a message from archaic Greece of unfathomable depth and furthermore has an extensive history of influence. After introductory remarks, the first part (A) of this paper contains a collection of the most important written sources that convey basic elements of the birth myth of Athena. Its allegorical interpretation was (...) initially undertaken by Stoic philosophers. Therefore, the second part (B) first reconstructs the integration and transformation of traditional myths into Stoic philosophy. Because the Stoics used basic aspects of their psychology for this purpose, investigations into Stoic psychology and localisation theory follow in the third part (C). Chrysippus used these constructions for an allegorical interpretation of the birth myth of Athena. Therefore, the fourth part (D) analyses his exegesis of this mythologem, about which extensive information is available, and subsequently Galen’s criticism of it. The famous philosophising physician moreover developed his own allegorical interpretation of the birth myth of Athena, drawing on his wealth of knowledge about the anatomy and physiology of the brain. The analysis of some significant statements on the ‘cerebral birth of Athena’ then follows in the fifth and last part (E). Documents from late antique literature, from Byzantine exegetes of Homer, comments from early medieval writers, the reflection of a modern brain anatomist and interpretations of this myth from the 19th century are discussed. An outlook with information on interdisciplinary brain research concludes the study. (shrink)

Zusammenfassung a. Angeregt von den Hinweisen aus dem armenischen Kloster in St. Lazzaro, bemerkten einige, auf die kaukasischen Hochkulturen spezialisierte europäische Orientalisten, die Rezeption der proklischen Philosophie in Armenien. 1874, nach fast fünfzig Jahren Forschungsarbeit, standen folgende Ergebnisse fest: I. Im 9. Jahrhundert übersetzte der Georgier Petrizi die Στοιχείωσις θεολογική ins Georgische und fügte Kommentare hinzu. Diese Vorlage nutzte der Armenier Simeon für eine erste armenische Übersetzung des proklischen Opusculums. Später, in der Frühen Neuzeit, erkannte dann ein anderer armenischer Gelehrter, (...) der ebenfalls den Namen Simeon‘ trug, die Fehler dieser ersten Translation, verbesserte sie und verfasste ebenfalls einen Kommentar dazu. Handschriften dieser zweiten Fassung befanden sich in Westeuropa sowie in armenischen Klöstern. b. Eine umfangreiche Auseinandersetzung mit den armenischen Procliana fand in Europa allerdings nicht statt. Die Ursache für diese verpasste Gelegenheit liegt vor allem am mangelnden Interesse an einem vertieften Studium der armenischen Philosophie und an fehlenden philologischen Fachkenntnissen. Nur C. F. Neumann kann dabei als Ausnahme gelten. Er wäre aufgrund seiner philosophischen und philologischen Ausbildung zu einer qualifizierten Auswertung der armenischen Procliana in der Lage gewesen. Er suchte sogar nach diesen Materialien, aber seine Recherchen führten nicht zum gewünschten Erfolg. Später verlor er die Philosophie der Armenier aus den Augen und überließ das Feld anderen. Deren Kenntnis des Proklos und seiner Philosophie hielt sich dagegen in engen Grenzen und ging nicht über die Informationen lexikalischer Handbücher hinaus. Das entsprach dem Geist der Zeit, die im Neuplatonismus keine bedeutende philosophische Strömung sah. Dennoch führten diese Untersuchungen zu Einsichten in die Geschichte der armenischen Philosophie. c. Die armenischen Procliana standen im 19. Jahrhundert niemals im Mittelpunkt der Forschung. Daran hat sich bis heute kaum etwas geändert. Ein Umdenken kann jedoch nur dann gelingen, wenn sich die Erkenntnis durchsetzt, dass auch Translationen als Dokumente der interkulturellen Philosophie eine hohe Bedeutung besitzen und die Rekonstruktion derartiger Transfers zu wichtigen Ergebnissen führt; Übersetzungen verknüpfen nicht nur Sprachwelten, sondern auch differente Weltdeutungen. Die armenischen Procliana bestätigen jedenfalls die These, dass die Auffassung von separaten philosophischen Traditionen in Armenien und Georgien nur bedingt Gültigkeit besitzt. (shrink)

Zusammenfassung a. Angeregt von den Hinweisen aus dem armenischen Kloster in St. Lazzaro, bemerkten einige, auf die kaukasischen Hochkulturen spezialisierte europäische Orientalisten, die Rezeption der proklischen Philosophie in Armenien. 1874, nach fast fünfzig Jahren Forschungsarbeit, standen folgende Ergebnisse fest: I. Im 9. Jahrhundert übersetzte der Georgier Petrizi die Στοιχείωσις θεολογική ins Georgische und fügte Kommentare hinzu. Diese Vorlage nutzte der Armenier Simeon für eine erste armenische Übersetzung des proklischen Opusculums. Später, in der Frühen Neuzeit, erkannte dann ein anderer armenischer Gelehrter, (...) der ebenfalls den Namen Simeon‘ trug, die Fehler dieser ersten Translation, verbesserte sie und verfasste ebenfalls einen Kommentar dazu. Handschriften dieser zweiten Fassung befanden sich in Westeuropa sowie in armenischen Klöstern. b. Eine umfangreiche Auseinandersetzung mit den armenischen Procliana fand in Europa allerdings nicht statt. Die Ursache für diese verpasste Gelegenheit liegt vor allem am mangelnden Interesse an einem vertieften Studium der armenischen Philosophie und an fehlenden philologischen Fachkenntnissen. Nur C. F. Neumann kann dabei als Ausnahme gelten. Er wäre aufgrund seiner philosophischen und philologischen Ausbildung zu einer qualifizierten Auswertung der armenischen Procliana in der Lage gewesen. Er suchte sogar nach diesen Materialien, aber seine Recherchen führten nicht zum gewünschten Erfolg. Später verlor er die Philosophie der Armenier aus den Augen und überließ das Feld anderen. Deren Kenntnis des Proklos und seiner Philosophie hielt sich dagegen in engen Grenzen und ging nicht über die Informationen lexikalischer Handbücher hinaus. Das entsprach dem Geist der Zeit, die im Neuplatonismus keine bedeutende philosophische Strömung sah. Dennoch führten diese Untersuchungen zu Einsichten in die Geschichte der armenischen Philosophie. c. Die armenischen Procliana standen im 19. Jahrhundert niemals im Mittelpunkt der Forschung. Daran hat sich bis heute kaum etwas geändert. Ein Umdenken kann jedoch nur dann gelingen, wenn sich die Erkenntnis durchsetzt, dass auch Translationen als Dokumente der interkulturellen Philosophie eine hohe Bedeutung besitzen und die Rekonstruktion derartiger Transfers zu wichtigen Ergebnissen führt; Übersetzungen verknüpfen nicht nur Sprachwelten, sondern auch differente Weltdeutungen. Die armenischen Procliana bestätigen jedenfalls die These, dass die Auffassung von separaten philosophischen Traditionen in Armenien und Georgien nur bedingt Gültigkeit besitzt. (shrink)

“Partout et nulle part”. L’ambiguïté explorée à partir de la phénoménologie et de la danseOn ménage ici, à l’aide du concept d’ambiguïté, une rencontre entre le théâtre dansé de Pina Bausch et la phénoménologie de Merleau-Ponty. Le concept d’ambiguïté est au centre de la philosophie de Merleau-Ponty, qu’on a d’ailleurs pu considérer comme une « philosophie de l’ambiguïté ». Néanmoins, le concept phénoménologique d’ambiguïté n’a pas encore été discuté dans la littérature secondaire. Cette étude distingue plusieurs sens de l’ambiguïté dans (...) la Phénoménologie de la perception, avant de se tourner vers la différence entre bonne et mauvaise ambiguïté, telle que Merleau-Ponty a pu la proposer.Il apparaîtra que la chorégraphie de Pina Bausch et la philosophie de Merleau-Ponty sont deux voies d’approche complémentaires des différentes dimensions de l’ambiguïté :les dimensions corporelle, spatiale et culturelle. L’étude montre que l’approche merleau-pontienne de l’ambiguïté et l’approche par Pina Bausch du théâtre dansé parviennent toutes deux à instaurer un type de communication humaine ne s’évanouissant ni dans un relativisme vide ni dans un universalisme formel : « Ce qu’il faut comprendre, c’est que je suis présent ici et maintenant et, pour la même raison, présent ailleurs et toujours, et aussi que je m’absente d’ici et de maintenant, ainsi que de tout lieu et de tout temps. L’ambiguïté n’est pas une imperfection de la conscience ou de l’existence, c’est leur définition même » (PhP).“Ovunque e in nessun luogo”. Esplorare l’ambiguità con la fenomenologia e la danzaProponiamo qui, sul filo del concetto di ambiguità, un incontro tra il teatro danza di Pina Bausch e la fenomenologia di Merleau-Ponty. Il concetto fenomenologico di ambiguità, pur non essendo stato veramente discusso nella letteratura critica, risulta centrale nella filosofia di Merleau-Ponty, che è stata appunto definita filosofia dell’ambiguità.Questo saggio individua i diversi significati di ambiguità contenuti in Fenomenologia della percezione, prima di rivolgersi alla differenza tra buona e cattiva ambiguità, così come viene proposta da Merleau-Ponty.Si scoprirà come il lavoro coreografi co di Pina Bausch e la filosofia merleaupontiana siano due modi complementari di approcciare le diverse dimensioni dell’ambiguità: ambiguità corporea, ambiguità spaziale, ambiguità culturale. Il saggio sostiene infatti la tesi che l’approccio merleaupontiano all’ambiguità e l’approccio di Pina Bausch al teatro-danza trovino entrambi delle modalità per stabilire un tipo di comunicazione umana che riesca a non collassare né in un vuoto relativismo né in un universalismo formalistico: “Dobbiamo comprendere che la medesima ragione mi rende presente qui ed ora e presente altrove e sempre, assente da qui e da ora e assente da ogni luogo e da ogni tempo. Questa ambiguità non è un’imperfezione della coscienza o dell’esistenza, ma ne è una definizione” (Fenomenologia della percezione). (shrink)

“Partout et nulle part”. L’ambiguïté explorée à partir de la phénoménologie et de la danseOn ménage ici, à l’aide du concept d’ambiguïté, une rencontre entre le théâtre dansé de Pina Bausch et la phénoménologie de Merleau-Ponty. Le concept d’ambiguïté est au centre de la philosophie de Merleau-Ponty, qu’on a d’ailleurs pu considérer comme une « philosophie de l’ambiguïté ». Néanmoins, le concept phénoménologique d’ambiguïté n’a pas encore été discuté dans la littérature secondaire. Cette étude distingue plusieurs sens de l’ambiguïté dans (...) la Phénoménologie de la perception, avant de se tourner vers la différence entre bonne et mauvaise ambiguïté, telle que Merleau-Ponty a pu la proposer.Il apparaîtra que la chorégraphie de Pina Bausch et la philosophie de Merleau-Ponty sont deux voies d’approche complémentaires des différentes dimensions de l’ambiguïté :les dimensions corporelle, spatiale et culturelle. L’étude montre que l’approche merleau-pontienne de l’ambiguïté et l’approche par Pina Bausch du théâtre dansé parviennent toutes deux à instaurer un type de communication humaine ne s’évanouissant ni dans un relativisme vide ni dans un universalisme formel : « Ce qu’il faut comprendre, c’est que je suis présent ici et maintenant et, pour la même raison, présent ailleurs et toujours, et aussi que je m’absente d’ici et de maintenant, ainsi que de tout lieu et de tout temps. L’ambiguïté n’est pas une imperfection de la conscience ou de l’existence, c’est leur définition même » (PhP).“Ovunque e in nessun luogo”. Esplorare l’ambiguità con la fenomenologia e la danzaProponiamo qui, sul filo del concetto di ambiguità, un incontro tra il teatro danza di Pina Bausch e la fenomenologia di Merleau-Ponty. Il concetto fenomenologico di ambiguità, pur non essendo stato veramente discusso nella letteratura critica, risulta centrale nella filosofia di Merleau-Ponty, che è stata appunto definita filosofia dell’ambiguità.Questo saggio individua i diversi significati di ambiguità contenuti in Fenomenologia della percezione, prima di rivolgersi alla differenza tra buona e cattiva ambiguità, così come viene proposta da Merleau-Ponty.Si scoprirà come il lavoro coreografi co di Pina Bausch e la filosofia merleaupontiana siano due modi complementari di approcciare le diverse dimensioni dell’ambiguità: ambiguità corporea, ambiguità spaziale, ambiguità culturale. Il saggio sostiene infatti la tesi che l’approccio merleaupontiano all’ambiguità e l’approccio di Pina Bausch al teatro-danza trovino entrambi delle modalità per stabilire un tipo di comunicazione umana che riesca a non collassare né in un vuoto relativismo né in un universalismo formalistico: “Dobbiamo comprendere che la medesima ragione mi rende presente qui ed ora e presente altrove e sempre, assente da qui e da ora e assente da ogni luogo e da ogni tempo. Questa ambiguità non è un’imperfezione della coscienza o dell’esistenza, ma ne è una definizione” (Fenomenologia della percezione). (shrink)

_50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists presents_ a collection of original essays drawn from an international group of prominent voices in the fields of academia, science, literature, media and politics who offer carefully considered statements of why they are atheists. Features a truly international cast of contributors, ranging from public intellectuals such as Peter Singer, Susan Blackmore, and A.C. Grayling, novelists, such as Joe Haldeman, and heavyweight philosophers of religion, including Graham Oppy and Michael Tooley Contributions range from (...) rigorous philosophical arguments to highly personal, even whimsical, accounts of how each of these notable thinkers have come to reject religion in their lives Likely to have broad appeal given the current public fascination with religious issues and the reception of such books as _The God Delusion_ and _The End of Faith_. (shrink)

50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists presents a collection of original essays drawn from an international group of prominent voices in the fields of academia, science, literature, media and politics who offer carefully considered statements of why they are atheists. Features a truly international cast of contributors, ranging from public intellectuals such as Peter Singer, Susan Blackmore, and A.C. Grayling, novelists, such as Joe Haldeman, and heavyweight philosophers of religion, including Graham Oppy and Michael Tooley Contributions range from (...) rigorous philosophical arguments to highly personal, even whimsical, accounts of how each of these notable thinkers have come to reject religion in their lives Likely to have broad appeal given the current public fascination with religious issues and the reception of such books as The God Delusion and The End of Faith. (shrink)

BackgroundEverybody has the right to decide whether to receive specific medical treatment or not and to provide their free, prior and informed consent to do so. As dementia progresses, people with Alzheimer’s dementia (PwAD) can lose their capacity to provide informed consent to complex medical treatment. When the capacity to consent is lost, the autonomy of the affected person can only be guaranteed when an interpretable and valid advance directive exists. Advance directives are not yet common in Germany, and their (...) validity is often questionable. Once the dementia diagnosis has been made, it is assumed to be too late to write an advance directive. One approach used to support the completion of advance directives is ‘Respecting Choices’®—an internationally recognised, evidence-based model of Advance Care Planning (ACP), which, until now, has not been evaluated for the target group of PwAD. This study’s aims include (a) to investigate the proportion of valid advance directives in a memory clinic population of persons with suspected AD, (b) to determine the predictors of valid advance directives, and (c) to examine whether the offer of ACP can increase the proportion of valid advance directives in PwAD.MethodWe intend to recruit at leastN = 250 participants from two memory clinics in 50 consecutive weeks. Of these, the first 25 weeks constitute the baseline phase (no offer of ACP), the following 25 weeks constitute the intervention phase (offer of ACP). The existence and validity of an advance directive will be assessed twice (before and after the memory clinic appointment). Moreover, potential predictors of valid advance directives are assessed.DiscussionThe results of this study will enhance the development of consent procedures for advance directives of PwAD based on the ACP/Respecting Choices (R) approach. Therefore, this project contributes towards increasing the autonomy and inclusion of PwAD and the widespread acceptance of valid advance directives in PwAD.Trial RegistrationDRKS, DRKS00026691, registered 15th of October 2021,https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial.HTML&TRIAL_ID=DRKS00026691. (shrink)

50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists presents acollection of original essays drawn from an international group ofprominent voices in the fields of academia, science, literature,media and politics who offer carefully considered statements of whythey are atheists. Features a truly international cast of contributors, rangingfrom public intellectuals such as Peter Singer, Susan Blackmore,and A.C. Grayling, novelists, such as Joe Haldeman, and heavyweightphilosophers of religion, including Graham Oppy and MichaelTooley Contributions range from rigorous philosophical arguments tohighly personal, even whimsical, accounts (...) of how each of thesenotable thinkers have come to reject religion in their lives Likely to have broad appeal given the current publicfascination with religious issues and the reception of such booksas The God Delusion and The End of Faith. (shrink)

Die „seelische Krankheit Friedlosigkeit“ ist der Ausgangspunkt für die psychologische Begründung einer Streitkultur, die auf Dialog und nicht auf Durchsetzung aufbaut. Intimität und intimer Dialog sind Schlüsselbegriffe zur Formulierung eines „Lernmodell Liebe“ , das einerseits die psychische Funktionalität von Streit betont und andererseits die Konfliktlogik paardynamischer Verflechtungen als Anstoß für ein sinnbezogenes dyadisches Lernen voneinander hervorhebt. C. F. v. Weizsäcker’s notion of a „mental illness of peacelessness“ is the starting point for a psychological theory of a „culture of constructive debates“ (...) based on dialogue as well as resonance instead of enforcement. Intimacy and intimate dialogue are keywords for formulating a “paradigm of love” . On the one hand this emphasises the psychological functionality of disagreements and on the other hand it highlights the logic of conflicts in relationships as an impulse for meaningful dyadic learning. (shrink)

The multifaceted work of the late Susan Leigh Star is explored through a selection of her writings and essays by friends and colleagues. Susan Leigh Star (1954–2010) was one of the most influential science studies scholars of the last several decades. In her work, Star highlighted the messy practices of discovering science, asking hard questions about the marginalizing as well as the liberating powers of science and technology. In the landmark work Sorting Things Out, Star and Geoffrey Bowker revealed the (...) social and ethical histories that are deeply embedded in classification systems. Star's most celebrated concept was the notion of boundary objects: representational forms—things or theories—that can be shared between different communities, with each holding its own understanding of the representation. Unfortunately, Leigh was unable to complete a work on the poetics of infrastructure that further developed the full range of her work. This volume collects articles by Star that set out some of her thinking on boundary objects, marginality, and infrastructure, together with essays by friends and colleagues from a range of disciplines—from philosophy of science to organization science—that testify to the wide-ranging influence of Star's work. Contributors Ellen Balka, Eevi E. Beck, Dick Boland, Geoffrey C. Bowker, Janet Ceja Alcalá, Adele E. Clarke, Les Gasser, James R. Griesemer, Gail Hornstein, John Leslie King, Cheris Kramarae, Maria Puig de la Bellacasa, Karen Ruhleder, Kjeld Schmidt, Brian Cantwell Smith, Susan Leigh Star, Anselm L. Strauss, Jane Summerton, Stefan Timmermans, Helen Verran, Nina Wakeford, Jutta Weber. (shrink)

Whether evolutionary change can occur by genetic assimilation, or more generally by genetic accommodation, remains controversial. Here we examine some of the experimental evidence for both phenomena. Several experiments in Drosophila suggest that assimilation is possible, and a new paper1 shows that a color polyphenism in the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, can evolve by genetic accommodation. We argue that genetic accommodation, including assimilation, is a plausible mechanism in evolution; however, more work is required to test how this mechanism acts and (...) how often it is involved in evolutionary change. BioEssays 28: 868–873, 2006. © 2006 Wiley periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

The basic idea underlying a precautionary principle is often summarized as “better safe than sorry.” Even if it is uncertain whether an activity will lead to harm, for example, to the environment or to human health, measures should be taken to prevent harm. This demand is partly motivated by the consequences of regulatory practices of the past. Often, chances of harm were disregarded because there was no scientific proof of a causal connection between an activity or substance and chances of (...) harm, for example, between asbestos and lung diseases. When this connection was finally established, it was often too late to prevent severe damage. However, it is highly controversial how the vague intuition behind “better safe than sorry” should be understood as a principle. As a consequence, we find a multitude of interpretations ranging from decision rules over epistemic principles to procedural frameworks. To acknowledge this diversity, it makes sense to speak of precautionary principles (PPs) in the plural. PPs are not without critices. For example, it has been argued that they are paralyzing, unscientific, or promote a culture of irrational fear. This article systematizes the different interpretations of PPs according to their functions, gives an overview about the main lines of argument in favor of PPs, and outlines the most frequent and important objections made to them. (shrink)

Friedrich Nietzsche has emerged as one of the most important and influential modern philosophers. For several decades, the book series Monographien und Texte zur Nietzsche-Forschung (MTNF) has set the agenda in a rapidly growing and changing field of Nietzsche scholarship. The scope of the series is interdisciplinary and international in orientation reflects the entire spectrum of research on Nietzsche, from philosophy to literary studies and political theory. The series publishes monographs and edited volumes that undergo a strict peer-review process. The (...) book series is led by an international team of editors, whose work represents the full range of current Nietzsche scholarship. (shrink)

Several non-naturalist philosophers look for ways to maintain the objectivity of morals without making any ontological commitments. Recently Derek Parfit proposed an account of non-ontologically existing irreducible moral properties. My first aim in this paper is to outline that such an account is doomed to fail. My second aim in this paper is to argue that irreducible moral properties can be integrated with adaptions into an ontological framework such as E.J. Lowe’s four-category ontology. If it can be shown that irreducible (...) moral properties have a proper place in such an ontology, then there is no need to distinguish between an ontological and non-ontological mode of existence, which, in turn helps to eschew the obscurities that this distinction brings in its wake. (shrink)

We used a multi-dimensional framework to assess current stereotypes of men and women. Specifically, we sought to determine (1) how men and women are characterized by male and female raters, (2) how men and women characterize themselves, and (3) the degree of convergence between self-characterizations and charcterizations of one’s gender group. In an experimental study, 628 U.S. male and female raters described men, women, or themselves on scales representing multiple dimensions of the two defining features of gender stereotypes, agency and (...) communality: assertiveness, independence, instrumental competence, leadership competence (agency dimensions), and concern for others, sociability and emotional sensitivity (communality dimensions). Results indicated that stereotypes about communality persist and were equally prevalent for male and female raters, but agency characterizations were more complex. Male raters generally descibed women as being less agentic than men and as less agentic than female raters described them. However, female raters differentiated among agency dimensions and described women as less assertive than men but as equally independent and leadership competent. Gender stereotypes also were evident in self-ratings, with female raters rating themselves as less agentic than male raters and male raters rating themselves as less communal than female raters, although there were exceptions (e.g., no differences in independence and sociability self-ratings for men and women). Comparisons of self-ratings and ratings of men and women in general indicated that women tended to characterize themselves in more stereotypic terms – as less assertive and less competent in leadership – than they characterized others in their gender group. Men, in contrast, characterized themselves in less stereotypic terms – as more communal. Overall, our results show that a focus on facets of agency and communality can provide deeper insights about stereotype content than a focus on overall agency and communality. (shrink)