Die folgende Untersuchung nimmt eine informationsethische und anthropologische Perspektive ein und legt einen Schwerpunkt auf die Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien (IKT) im Gesundheitsbereich. Zunächst beschreiben und problematisieren wir das Feld der Informationsethik, das im Wesentlichen heute als Ethik von umfassenden, digitalen Computersystemen als informationsprozessierenden Maschinen verstanden wird (Kap. 2). Im zweiten, anthropologischen Schritt untersuchen wir, wie informationelle Gesundheitstechnologien das menschliche Selbstverständnis beeinflussen (Kap. 3). Dies leitet über zur ethischen Fragestellung, die Überwachung, Kontrolle und Autonomie als Brennpunkte des Gesundheitsbereichs fokussiert (Kap. 4). (...) Zuletzt geben wir als Ausblick einige Hinweise, wie eine dezidiert theologische Perspektive auf die Herausforderungen aussehen kann (Kap. 5). -- Puzio, Anna/Filipovic, Alexander: Personen als Informationsbündel? Informationsethische Perspektiven auf den Gesundheitsbereich. In: Fritz, Alexis/Mandry, Christof/Proft, Ingo/Schuster, Josef (Hg.): Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion. Anthropologische und ethische Herausforderungen neuer Entwicklungen im Gesundheitsbereich (Jahrbuch für Moraltheologie, 5). Freiburg: Herder 2021, S. 89–114. (shrink)

In "The Quest for Consciousness," Caltech neuroscientist Christof Koch explores the biological basis of consciousness.

Christof Koch explores the only thing we directly experience: consciousness. At the book's heart is integrated-information theory, the idea that the essence of consciousness is the ability to exert causal power over itself, to be an agent of change. Koch investigates the physical origins of consciousness in the brain and how this knowledge can be used to measure consciousness in natural and artificial systems.

Preface : consciousness redux -- What is consciousness? -- Who is conscious? -- Animal consciousness -- Consciousness and the rest -- Consciousness and the brain -- Tracking the footprints of consciousness -- Why we need a theory of consciousness -- Of wholes -- Tools to measure consciousness -- The uber-mind and pure consciousness -- Does consciousness have a function? -- Computationalism and experience -- Computers can't simulate experience -- Consciousness : here, there but not everywhere -- Coda : why this (...) matters -- References -- Notes. (shrink)

This book originated at a small and informal workshop held in December of 1992 in Idyllwild, a relatively secluded resort village situated amid forests in the ...

This article analyses ChatGPT from the perspective of the philosophy of education. It explores ChatGPT’s implications for universities, focussing on the intertwined concepts of critical thinking, the crisis of higher education, and humanity. Does ChatGPT sound the death knell for critical thinking and, thus, exacerbate the oft-diagnosed ‘crisis in education’? And is ChatGPT really a convenient, but dangerous, tool to outsource humanity to machines?. In addressing these questions, the article’s two main arguments offer an alternative to both triumphalist and overly (...) pessimistic narratives: first, ChatGPT can lead to a revitalisation of critical thinking in higher education. However, it arrives at this conclusion not from the triumphalist viewpoint that celebrates ChatGPT’s (allegedly) limitless potential, but from the more sober perspective that ChatGPT combines remarkable strengths with considerable weaknesses and built-in limitations. Secondly, ChatGPT can prompt a return to the qualities that distinguish humans from calculating machines and (re)instate critical thinking as the pivotal virtue of higher education. The article arrives at this conclusion by rejecting the overly pessimistic concern with ‘outsourcing humanity’ and endorsing the idea that ChatGPT lays bare a ‘crisis in education’ that constitutes, simultaneously, a precious opportunity. Finally, the article stresses that this opportunity inevitably comes at a price. There will be winners and losers of the ChatGPT revolution and there is a danger that ChatGPT reintroduces elitism through the back door. One urgent task of the near future, therefore, will be to keep this danger in check. (shrink)

Recently, the increasing interest in responsible leadership (RL) has produced a research field rich in theoretical and conceptual potential, with diverse research foci, theoretical foundations, and methodological approaches. While these developments have demarcated the field from other leadership-oriented disciplines, they have equally courted fragmentation and ambiguity in terms of the field’s positioning within the greater body of leadership studies. To map the theoretical, methodological, and empirical state of the art of the RL field, we outline recent developments and delineate important (...) research gaps and directions for future theory development and empirical research. We emphasize the transition of RL research from micro-level perspectives with normative roots to research spanning multiple levels of analysis, vis-à-vis both antecedents and outcomes. We discuss the implications of our mapping, highlighting the necessity of not only conceptualizing RL across multiple levels of analysis, but also to actively focus on interactions among RL antecedents and outcomes across these levels. Through these, we aim to contribute to the field by strengthening its conceptual foundations and anchoring it more clearly within leadership studies overall. (shrink)

Commons enjoy recognition as an alternative to the dichotomy of state and market. In contrast to liberal market theorists who frame the commons as resource-based, we build on alternative and critical conceptions that describe the commons as processual, social, and inherently relational. Our analysis adds to these accounts an articulation of the contemporary commons as “social infrastructure” in the urban spatial conditions where the social processes of commoning take place. We argue that the relational features of urban commons depend on (...) social interactions and cross-sector partnerships in physical places that promote social cohesion, suggesting that the urban commons fold together the spatial and social in hitherto undertheorized ways. To theorize this relationship, we articulate the idea of the relational urban commons as sites of social interaction and relationship building—social infrastructure. This conceptualization suggests that the commons can be governed indirectly by enabling access, participation, and partnerships across sectors, fostering mixed uses and the provision of maintenance and repair. As a result, the commons are both maintained by and conducive to place-based cross-sector partnerships, anchored in place in ways that transcend resources, issues, and ownership. (shrink)

In der neueren Forschung gehören die Substanzbücher der Metaphysik zu den meistdiskutierten Aristotelischen Texten. In den letzten zweieinhalb Jahrzehnten entwickelte sich eine umfangreiche Diskussion, die zu einem ganz neuen Bild von der Aristotelischen Substanzlehre führte. Eine für die Seminararbeit zugängliche Übersicht über diese Diskussion und den neuesten Stand der Forschung lag aber bisher im deutschen Sprachraum nicht vor. Der Band hilft diesem Mangel ab. Seine Beiträge geben unterschiedliche Standpunkte wieder und reflektieren den jeweiligen Forschungsstand, so dass sowohl für die Seminardiskussion (...) als auch für die eigene Beschäftigung mit diesem Thema eine direkt aus der Forschung gewonnene Grundlage vorliegt. MIT BEITRÄGEN VON: Andreas Anagnostopoulos, Thomas Buchheim, Mary Louise Gill, Donald Morrison, Christof Rapp, Holmer Steinfath, Walter Mesch und Michael V. Wodin. (shrink)

What drives Chinese MNEs’ global CSR integration and local CSR responsiveness? Drawing on institutional theory, we argue that both antecedents reflecting globally isomorphic patterns of adaptation and antecedents mirroring the distinct characteristics of China’s institutional context are relevant. We support our argument using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis on a sample of 29 of China’s globally most influential companies. We find that state influence and global CSR associations affect global CSR integration, whereas presence in the West and internationalization through mergers and (...) acquisitions predict local CSR responsiveness. Our study thus suggests that home-country characteristics are an important co-determinant of the CSR approaches of emerging-market MNEs. We further find that multicultural experience in top management teams is associated with both global CSR integration and local CSR responsiveness, supporting notions of transnational CSR. (shrink)

Is the concept of open society still relevant in the 21st century? Do the current social, moral, and political realities call for a drastic revision of this concept? Here fifteen essays address real-world contemporary challenges to open society from a variety of perspectives. What unites the individual authors and chapters is an interest in open society's continuing usefulness and relevance to address current problems. And what distinguishes them is a rich variety of geographical and cultural backgrounds, and a wide range (...) of academic disciplines and traditions.While focusing on probing the contemporary relevance of the concept, several chapters approach it historically. The book features a comprehensive introduction to the history and current 'uses' of the theory of open society. The authors link the concept to contemporary themes including education, Artificial Intelligence, cognitive science, African cosmology, colonialism, and feminism. The diversity of viewpoints in the analysis reflects a commitment to plurality that is at the heart of this book and of the idea of open society itself. (shrink)

Natural disaster events such as drought affect the broader economy and inflict adverse consequences for firms because of spill-over effects in an integrated economy. Contrary to the expectation that firms would engage in higher levels of corporate tax avoidance strategies when they experience a negative cash flow shock, we document consistent evidence that firms engage in less corporate tax avoidance when their headquarter states experience drought. Reduced tax avoidance is more pronounced among firms with higher CSR performance and among firms (...) operating in states that experience a GDP decline. Collectively, the findings of our study demonstrate prosocial and ethical behavior of U.S. firms when they experience natural disaster events. (shrink)

Numerous studies indicate that observing or knowing about another's action automatically activates the same motor representations that are active when we perform the other's action by ourselves. We investigated how affect influences this mirror mechanism. Based upon findings that positive affect encourages and negative affect impairs spreading activation, we hypothesised that positive affect should increase and negative affect decrease the automatic co-representation of other individuals' actions during jointly performed tasks. Recent research has shown that joint-action effects in a go/no-go variant (...) of the Simon task provide a good index for co-representing another's action. Participants performed such a Simon task together with another person after the induction of neutral, positive, or negative affect. Consistent with our predictions, the joint Simon-like effect was strongest after positive affect induction and absent after negative affect induction. These results represent the first evidence of affect-induced differences in the mirroring of another's action and suggest that affect influences one of our essential abilities for successful social interactions. (shrink)

Although he does not provide a general analysis of argumentation, Aristotle is a highly influential source of modern argumentation theory. In his treatises the Topics, the Sophistical Refutations and the Rhetoric, Aristotle presents complementary aspects of a theory of sound arguments that are seen as the most effective means of persuasion. Aristotle’s central notion of a deductive argument (sullogismos) does not include references to an addressee, the situative context or non-verbal aspects of communication, and thus differs from some modern views (...) on argumentation. A deductive argument in the Aristotelian sense is a sequence of intellectual steps where the conclusion follows of necessity from the premises. Aristotle does not relativize or relax this notion but takes other factors into account by providing supplementary theoretical elements. For example, he reflects on acceptable premises (endoxa), the adjustment of rhetorical arguments to the horizon of the audience, methods of finding premises on the basis of argumentative schemes (topoi), the use of non-argumentative means of persuasion, and a framework of implicit discourse rules. Many of these themes are, albeit under a different name, still discussed in modern argumentation theory. (shrink)

Aristoteles wurde geboren, arbeitete und starb. Mit diesen Worten begann Heidegger seine Vorlesung über Aristoteles. Über das Leben des Philosophen liegen uns nur wenige verlässliche Informationen vor, sein Werk ist jedoch im Wesentlichen überliefert. Er nahm damit maßgeblich Einfluss auf sämtliche Wissenschaften von der Philosophie und Literatur über die Biologie bis zur Kosmologie. Das Handbuch gibt Einblick in sämtliche Werke Aristoteles , behandelt ausführlich die Rezeption und macht mit wiederkehrenden Begriffen wie Glück, Tugend, Freundschaft, Polis und Verfassung vertraut.

Zu den Vorsokratikern zählt man die frühgriechischen Philosophen, die vor allem im 6. und 5. Jh. v. Chr. Gewirkt haben; die Epoche wird im Allgemeinen durch das erste datierbare Auftreten von Thales im Jahr 585 v. Chr. und durch den Tod von Demokrit im Jahr 370 v. Chr. definiert.

We agree with Block's basic hypothesis postulating the existence of phenomenal consciousness without cognitive access. We explain such states in terms of consciousness without top-down, endogenous attention and speculate that their correlates may be a coalition of neurons that are consigned to the back of cortex, without access to working memory and planning in frontal cortex.

Starting from a reconstruction of the origins of the concept of “modernity” in the late Nineteenth century and of the different interpretations of it in the context of the German social sciences, the essay articulates its radical ambivalences. After establishing that modernity cannot be measured on a scale of progress, neither can it be identified with a specific value, Christof Dipper suggests that there are many conceptions of modernity as there are societies, and that these are not necessarily following (...) a common path. The concept of modernity, that includes anti-modernity as well, embraces therefore actors, representations, and constellations, offering an overall reading of history. (shrink)

Viele meinen, die Seele habe sich in der von der Wissenschaft geleiteten Moderne verloren. Es gibt von ihr kein deutliches Bild mehr. Aber sie interpretiert sich selbst immer wieder neu - nicht, damit man sie am Ende nicht mehr versteht, sondern damit man in ihr wieder das sieht, was sie immer war: die Individuen ins Leben bringende, sie zusammenhaltende und in ihre innere Einigung rufende Kraft. Christof Gestrich untersucht den Paradigmenwechsel, der sich mit Bezug auf die Geschichtlichkeit der Seele (...) eingestellt hat, und der keineswegs zuerst aus der Philosophie oder der Theologie - den alten "Zustandigen" - hervorgegangen ist. In der neuen Erscheinung der Seele lassen sich sogar Religion und Wissenschaft vereinbaren. (shrink)

Der Band untersucht das durch die Begriffe Musik, Kultur und Gedächtnis abgesteckte Feld in einer zweifachen Bewegung: Zum einen wird Musik als eine wichtige soziokulturelle Ausdrucksform quer durch alle Kulturen gefasst, ihre Bestimmung und Funktion ändern sich mit den jeweiligen soziokulturellen Kontexten und Praxen. Jedes Musikstück steht in spezifischen kulturell entwickelten Traditionen und Formen, die von ihm aktualisiert werden. Musik wirkt als "gemeinschaftsbildende Macht" (Adorno), als Ausdrucksmittel individueller oder kollektiver Identität. Zum anderen ist den vielfältigen Formen von Musik die mehrfache (...) Verbindung von Musik und Zeit gemeinsam: Die jeweilige musikalische Darbietung oder Reproduktion ist ein zeitlicher Ablauf und als solcher gedächtnishaft organisiert. Die ästhetische Erfahrung von Musik ist konstitutiv auf Gedächtnisleistungen angewiesen und Musik selbst eine temporale Kunstform. Neben dieser elementaren Zeitlichkeit zeigen sich in der Musik aber viele weitere Aspekte subjektiver und sozialer Zeit: die Geschichtlichkeit der einzelnen Stücke bzw. Werke selbst, die soziokulturelle zeitliche Lagerung von Ordnungsprinzipien wie Gattungen, Kunstformen, Stilen etc., der Wandel von basalen Formen des Musikmachens (etwa unter dem Einfluss von Medientechnologien). Der Band enthält auch die deutsche Erstveröffentlichung eines Artikels von Maurice Halbwachs zu diesem Themenfeld. Der Inhalt: Theoretische Überlegungen, "Analytische Betrachtungen. Die Herausgeber: PD Dr. Christofer Jost lehrt und arbeitet am Zentrum für Populäre Kultur und Musik der Universität Freiburg. PD Dr. Gerd Sebald ist am Institut für Soziologie der Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg tätig. (shrink)

Translation of the book "Metaphysik: Eine Einführung" by Christof Rapp published in C.H. Beck Verlag.

Although Aristotle’s name is regularly mentioned when it comes to the question of where the notion of the will historically derives from and although one of the most influential exponents of philosophical theories of the will, Thomas Aquinas, seems to think that he is just applying the Aristotelian theory, many historians of philosophy explicitly deny that Aristotle had a notion of the will. If we think that the notion of the will is among the notions that have been gradually developed (...) in the history of philosophy, nothing is strange about saying that some philosophers prior to this development lacked this particular notion. However, Aristotle’s case is peculiar, because the same historians, who are reluctant to describe such a notion to Aristotle, admit that he played some role in the formation of the same notion. The line-up of more or less recent philosophers and scholars who are of the opinion that Aristotle had no notion of the will is a very remarkable one. This could almost be called a standard or default position, while the list of exponents of the opposed position, i.e. that Aristotle did have a notion or theory of the will, is much shorter. (shrink)

Originally presented as the author's Habilitationsschrift--Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitèat, Munich.

Purpose The paper aims to investigate whether dissent—within hospices and palliative care units—can be observed with regard to typical characteristics of “good dying”, how statements about dying processes that are not perceived as good are expressed, and finally which ethically significant normative consequences arise from this. Method The study is conducted on the basis of a qualitative interview study in different groups of actors and the relationships of these groups are compared with each other. Results Notions of good and bad (...) dying are articulated—even dissented upon—not so much by the patients and their relatives themselves as by the professional actors. This is connected with the requirements of a practice, which evidently evokes a need for accountability, namely for communicative assurance. Conclusion An abstract designation of “good dying” is in danger of losing sight of the contextual characteristics of the practice associated with it, which can lead to situations that are problematic from an ethical viewpoint. (shrink)

In the age of the digital generation, written public data is ubiquitous and acts as an outlet for today's society. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn have profoundly changed how we communicate and interact. They have enabled the establishment of and participation in digital communities as well as the representation, documentation and exploration of social behaviours, and had a disruptive effect on how we use the Internet. Such digital communications present scholars with a novel way to detect, observe, analyse (...) and understand online communities over time. This article presents the formalization of a Social Observatory: a low latency method for the observation and measurement of social indicators within an online community. Our framework facilitates interdisciplinary research methodologies via tools for data acquisition and analysis in inductive and deductive settings. By focusing our Social Observatory on the public Facebook profiles of 187 federal German politicians we illustrate how we can analyse and measure sentiment, public opinion, and information discourse in advance of the federal elections. To this extent, we analysed 54,665 posts and 231,147 comments, creating a composite index of overall public sentiment and the underlying conceptual discussion themes. Our case study demonstrates the observation of communities at various resolutions: “zooming” in on specific subsets or communities as a whole. The results of the case study illustrate the ability to observe published sentiment and public dialogue as well as the difficulties associated with established methods within the field of sentiment analysis within short informal text. (shrink)

Im Gegensatz zum Idealbild des "mundigen Patienten" zeichnen sich viele Patienten gerade dadurch aus, dass sie die Fahigkeit zur Autonomieausubung vorubergehend oder dauerhaft verloren oder aber gar nicht erst erworben haben. Zu denken ist hier etwa an alte und demente Patienten, an Patienten, die sich aufgrund von Drogen- oder Medikamenteneinwirkung (z. B. auf der Intensivstation) nicht aussern konnen sowie auch an Kinder oder geistig behinderte Patienten. Daher besteht ein grosser Bedarf an ethisch gerechtfertigten und zugleich an der Praxis ausgerichteten Handlungsorientierungen (...) zur Entscheidungsfindung bei nicht einwilligungsfahigen Patienten. Das interdisziplinar angelegte Werk beleuchtet auf medizinethischer und rechtlicher Basis praxisorientiert die Frage sowie die Moglichkeiten, wie in Situationen, die keine eigene Entscheidung durch die Patienten uber die weitere Behandlung ermoglichen, dennoch die Patientenautonomie respektiert werden kann. (shrink)