Papers from a conference held August 2010.

At the beginning of the 21st century the conditio humana cannot be understood nationally or locally but only globally. This constitutes a revolution in the social sciences. The `sociological imagination' so far has basically been a nation state imagination. The main problem is how to redefine the sociological frame of reference in the horizon of a cosmopolitan imagination. For the purpose of empirical research I distinguish between three concepts: interconnectedness, liquid modernity and cosmopolitization from within. The latter is a kind (...) of class analysis after class analysis, which takes on board globalization internalized. For the purposes of social analysis, therefore, it is necessary to distinguish systematically between the national manifestation on the one hand and cosmopolitan reality of `global flows', currents of information, symbols, money, risks, people, social inequalities, on the other. This internal involuntary and often unseen cosmopolitanization from below of the national sphere of experience is occurring, however, with the power of economic globalization. So what does inner `cosmopolitanization' mean? The key concepts and questions of a way of life, such as nourishment, production, identity, fear, memory, pleasure, fate, power and politics, can no longer be located and understood nationally, but only globally whether in the shape of globally shared collective futures, capital flows, impending ecological or economic catastrophes, global foodstuff chains, transnational power games, or the `Esperanto' of pop music. In this article I look at transformation in the understanding of space-time, of identity, of the production paradigms, as well as at the resulting consequences for key sociological concepts like class and power and, within this frame, point to certain dilemmas of cosmopolitanism. (shrink)

https://www.amazon.ca/Philosophy-Manual-Workbook-Ulrich-Verster/dp/1872152007.

This paper assesses Sarkar's ([2003]) deflationary account of genetic information. On Sarkar's account, genes carry information about proteins because protein synthesis exemplifies what Sarkar calls a ‘formal information system’. Furthermore, genes are informationally privileged over non-genetic factors of development because only genes enter into arbitrary relations to their products (in virtue of the alleged arbitrariness of the genetic code). I argue that the deflationary theory does not capture four essential features of the ordinary concept of genetic information: intentionality, exclusiveness, asymmetry, (...) and causal relevance. It is therefore further removed from what is customarily meant by genetic information than Sarkar admits. Moreover, I argue that it is questionable whether the account succeeds in demonstrating that information is theoretically useful in molecular genetics. Introduction Sarkar's Information System The Pre-theoretic Features of Genetic Information 3.1 Intentionality 3.2 Exclusiveness 3.3 Asymmetry 3.4 Causal relevance Theoretical Usefulness Conclusion CiteULike Connotea Del.icio.us What's this? (shrink)

This article differentiates between three different axes of conflict in world risk society. The first axis is that of ecological conflicts, which are by their very essence global. The second is global financial crises, which, in a first stage, can be individualized and nationalized. And the third, which suddenly broke upon us on September 11th, is the threat of transnational terror networks, which empowers governments and states. Two sets of implications are drawn: first, there are the political dynamics of world (...) risk society. In an age where trust and faith in God, class and progress have largely disappeared, humanity's common fear has proved the last - ambivalent - resource for making new bonds. Second, the methodological nationalism that preoccupies the sociological imagination has to be overcome and a `methodological cosmopolitism' has to be created. (shrink)

This paper explores John Maynard Smith’s conceptual work on animal signals. Maynard Smith defined animal signals as traits that (1) change another organism’s behaviour while benefiting the sender, that (2) are evolved for this function, and that (3) have their effects through the evolved response of the receiver. Like many ethologists, Maynard Smith assumed that animal signals convey semantic information. Yet his definition of animal signals remains silent on the nature of semantic information and on the conditions determining its content. (...) I therefore compare three ways to specify the semantic content of animal signals. The first suggestion models semantic content on Maynard Smith’s theory of genetic information. On the second proposal, semantic content is equated with a condition identified by conventional content ascriptions. The third suggestion is to explain semantic content in terms of consumer-based teleosemantics. I show how these accounts equate semantic content with distinct kinds of conditions and how they differ with respect to the kinds of traits that qualify as carrying semantic information. (shrink)

philosophical investigations, reasoning, subject-matter.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philosophy-Future-Limits-Conditions-Philosophizing/dp/1872152104/ref=sr_1_9 ?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1494929448&sr=1-9.

Philosophical investigations, reasoning, subject-matter https://www.amazon.com/Philosophical-Notes-Explorations-Insights-v/dp/1874440999/ref=la_B001K87NZ6_1 _1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1494928623&sr=1-1 https://www.amazon.com/Philosophical-Notes-Explorations-Insights-v/dp/1874440999/ref=la_B001K87NZ6_1 _1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1494928623&sr=1-1.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pensee-Philosophizing-Philosophical-Thoughts-Investigations/dp/1874440700/r ef=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1494929448&sr=1-12.

This is a description and investigation of the pre-conditions and assumptions of philosophy, which are shown to be relative, not essential, as traditionally believed.

philosophical reasoning, style, arguments, subject-matter.

Les thèses développées par l’auteur dans La société du risque s’appliquent au monde d’après le 11 Septembre. La « société du risque globalisé » développe des risques calculables dus à des « hasards », par exemple les accidents nucléaires ou l’ESB, que les assurances peuvent prendre en compte. Mais les risques terroristes et tous ceux qui sont dus à un acteur qui n’accepte pas les règles du jeu échappent à tout calcul de probabilité. Ils ne peuvent être combattus que par (...) des mesures qui mettent en question les fondements de l’ordre démocratique lui-même.The author’s theses in Risk Society apply to the post-September 11th period. The « World Risk Society » works out calculable risks due to chance, such as nuclear accidents or BSE, that can be taken into consideration by insurance. But the terrorist risks, and all those due to an actor’s not submitting to the rules of the game stand beyond any theory of probability. They can only be fought by taking steps questioning the foundations of the democratic order itself. (shrink)

I agree with Van Parijs that a theory of justice must meet the condition of indicating institutions that eliminate compulsory unemployment, but argue that his basic income is another form of unemployment compensation with all the disadvantages such compensations suffer from. In particular, it does not advance real freedom, but is liable to contribute to narrow political ends. I indicate an alternative and explicate, since Van Parijs disregards it, the right to work and its basis in the common property of (...) natural resources. Finally, I compare the two competing conceptions of a good life that underlie his recommendation of a basic income and my rejection of it. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie Jahrgang: 59 Heft: 3 Seiten: 331-352.