It is held that absolute poverty causes approximately one third of all human deaths, some 18 million annually, and blights billions of lives with hunger and disease. This book develops universalizable norms aimed at tackling absolute poverty and the complex and multilayered problems associated with it.

Intimacy and sexuality expressed by nursing home residents with dementia remains an ethically sensitive issue for care facilities, nursing staff and family members. Dealing with residents’ sexual longings and behaviour is extremely difficult, putting a burden on the caregivers as well as on the residents themselves and their relatives. The parties in question often do not know how to react when residents express themselves sexually. The overall aim of this article is to provide a number of clinical-ethical considerations addressing the (...) following question: ‘How can expressions of intimacy and sexuality by residents with dementia be dealt with in an ethically responsible way?’ The considerations formulated are based on two cornerstones: the current literature on older peoples’ experiences regarding intimacy and sexuality after the onset of dementia, and an anthropological-ethical framework addressing four fundamental pillars of human existence namely the decentred self, human embodiment, being-in-the-world and being-with-others. The resulting considerations are oriented toward the individual sphere, the partnership sphere, and the institutional sphere. The continuous interaction between these spheres leads to orientations that both empower the residents in question and respect the complex network of relationships that surrounds them. (shrink)

Contemporary bioethics pays considerable attention to the ethical aspects of dementia care. However, ethical issues of sexuality especially as experienced by institutionalized persons with dementia are often overlooked. The relevant existing ethics literature generally applies an implicit philosophical anthropology that favors the principle of respect for autonomy and the concomitant notion of informed consent. In this article we will illustrate how this way of handling the issue fails in its duty to people with dementia. Our thesis is that a more (...) inclusive philosophical anthropology is needed that also heeds the fate of this growing population. Drawing on the tradition of phenomenology, we will chalk out an anthropological framework that rests on four fundamental characteristics of human existence: the decentered self, human embodiment, being-in-the-world and being-with-others. Our aim in this article is thus to tentatively put forward a broader perspective for looking at aged sexuality in institutionalized people with dementia. Hopefully the developed framework will mark the beginning of a new and refreshed ethical reflection on the topic at hand. (shrink)

Artificial Intelligence as a buzzword and a technological development is presently cast as the ultimate ‘game changer’ for economy and society; a technology of which we cannot be the master, but which nonetheless will have a pervasive influence on human life. The fast pace with which the multi-billion dollar AI industry advances toward the creation of human-level intelligence is accompanied by an increasingly exaggerated chorus of the ‘incredible miracle’, or the ‘incredible horror’, intelligent machines will constitute for humanity, as the (...) human is gradually replaced by a technologically superior proxy, destined to be configured as a functional (data) component at best, a relic at worst. More than half a century ago, Günther Anders sketched out this path toward technological obsolescence, and his work on ‘Promethean shame’ and ‘Promethean discrepancy’ provides an invaluable means with which to recognise and understand the relationship of the modern human to his/her technological products. In this article, I draw on Anders’s writings to unpack and unsettle contemporary narratives of our relation to AI, with a view toward refocusing attention on the responsibilities we bear in producing such immersive technologies. With Anders, I suggest that we must exercise and develop moral imagination so that the human capacity for moral responsibility does not atrophy in our technologically mediated future. (shrink)

With a focus on how national identity impacts the decision-making of the European Court of Justice, Elke Cloots provides an innovative adjudication scheme that purports to assist the ECJ in its search for a proper balance between respect for national identity and European integration.

Alles Bewusstsein ist auch Selbstbewusstsein -- so lautet die Grundthese, der Elke Steckkonig in diesem Buch nachgeht. Doch was ist das fur ein Bewusstsein, wenn das Subjekt sich seiner selbst gewahr wird? Weder Identifikation noch (Selbst-) Reflexion sind geeignete Konzepte, um die gesuchte Form von Selbstbewusstsein als Seiner-selbst-inne-Sein zu analysieren. Die Autorin gelangt zu einer Positivbestimmung des Selbstbewusstseins im subjektiv wertenden Selbsterleben, indem sie sich auf fruhromantische Uberlegungen zum "Selbstgefuhl" sowie auf aktuellere sprachanalytische Uberlegungen beruft und den phanomenalen Aspekt (...) des Bewusstseins vor allem mit Bezug auf Husserl untersucht. Erweitert wird die Analyse um die Aspekte der Selbstwahrnehmung sowie der Selbstvertrautheit. (shrink)

The study attempts to conduct a fundamental theological discussion with Feminist Theology, a new variety ofLiberation Theology. The basis for this discussion is R. R. Ruether's book Sexism and God- Talk, which can be viewed as the first attempt at a feminist dogmatic theology. The study concludes that the theological foundation of this Christian Feminism is a monistic-pantheistic understanding of God which results in an ethic with distinct totalitarian tendencies.

Musical ensemble performances provide an ideal environment to gain knowledge about complex human interactions. Network structures of synchronization can reflect specific roles of individual performers on the one hand and a higher level of organization of all performers as a superordinate system on the other. This study builds on research on joint singing, using hyperscanning of respiration and heart rate variability from eight professional singers. Singers performed polyphonic music, distributing their breathing within the same voice and singing without and with (...) physical contact: that is touching each other's shoulder or waist. The idea of singing with touch was motivated by historical depictions of ensemble performances that showed singers touching each other. It raises the question of the potential benefit of touch for group performances. From a psycho-physiological point of view, physical contact should increase the synchronization of singing coordination. The results confirm previous findings on synchronization of respiration and HRV during choir singing and extend those findings to a non-homophonic musical repertoire while also revealing an increase in synchronization in respiration during physical contact. These effects were significant across different frequency ranges. The effect of physical contact was stronger when all singers were singing in comparison to the partial ensemble. Importantly, the synchronization could not be fully explained by the singing action or by the standing position or touch. This finding suggests a higher level of organization of all singers, forming a superordinate system. (shrink)

La théorie économique est conventionnellement amorale, parce qu'elle repose sur une société naturelle d'individus égoïstes et se suffit du " bouclage macroéconomique ". Une éthique économique pourrait exiger, au nom de la vertu et de la responsabilité, une nouvelle morale économique. Cet ouvrage analyse au contraire une éthique positive. Il réfléchit sur les acteurs de la vie économique et le sens qu'ils accordent à son accomplissement. Il étudie les conséquences sur la théorie économique de la prise en compte de la (...) morale dans le calcul économique personnel. Plusieurs illustrations sont données dans le cadre extrême de la survie et de la pauvreté. (shrink)

This article deals with the incompatibility of Christian and Jewish stereotypes in asceticism and tries to establish new models for approaching ascetic tendencies within the latter. In the context of halachic regulations we examine different ascetic aspects within Judaism, with a special focus on medieval Spain. In this area we observe a certain interaction between Jewish and Sufi trends, esp. in the works of Bachja ibn Paquda, Abraham bar Chijja and Abraham Maimonides. In the works of these authors we find (...) tripartite models of asceticism which signify the path to the deity. In a comparison with Sufi texts such as those of Al-Gazali, the three levels of repentance/law, meditation/path and the recognition of the divine truth are shown to be intertwined in a similar way, and all describe the way of the philosopher or mystic to the highest knowledge. In a further section this tripartite schema is compared to kabbalistic texts with their ideas of ascent and union with the divine within ecstatic kabbalah. In the first example we observe how an erotic impulse may lead to an ascetic way of life and how the horizontal move out of society leads to a vertical ascent of the soul and the foundation of a new, mobile society. In the second text we also detect the three intertwined stages of our model and see how ascetic preparations lead to an erotic union of the mystic’s soul with the divine intellect. Asceticism is described in both texts as a mode of transformation and the path between two extremes, which finally leads to intimate knowledge of the deity. (shrink)

Background: Admission to a nursing home does not necessarily diminish an older person’s desire for sexual expression and fulfillment. Given that nursing staff directly and indirectly influence the range of acceptable sexual expressions of nursing home residents, their knowledge and attitudes toward aged sexuality can have far-reaching effects on both the quality of care they provide to residents and the self-image and well-being of these residents. Research objectives: To investigate nursing staff’s knowledge and attitudes toward aged sexuality, to determine whether (...) certain sociodemographic factors of the nursing staff relate to their knowledge and attitudes toward later-life sexuality, and to examine the relationship between knowledge and attitudes. Research design: Descriptive cross-sectional survey study. Research participants and research context: The administered questionnaire collected sociodemographic data and data from an adapted, Dutch version of the Aging Sexual Knowledge and Attitudes Scale. Data were collected from November 2011 through April 2012. A total of 43 geographically dispersed nursing homes in Flanders, Belgium, participated. Out of a potential research sample of 2228 nursing staff respondents, 1166 participated. Ethical considerations: The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine of the KU Leuven. Findings: Nursing staff appeared to be moderately knowledgeable about aged sexuality and displayed a rather positive attitude toward sexuality in older people. Significant relationships between various variables were found both at univariable and multivariable levels. Knowledge and attitudes proved to be positively related, indicating that a higher level of knowledge of aged sexuality is associated with a more positive attitude toward sexuality in later life. Discussion: Research findings are discussed within a broader international context. Conclusion: There is room for improvement for both nursing staff’s knowledge and attitudes toward aged sexuality. This might be aided by appropriate educational interventions. Our results identified different target groups of nursing home staff for these interventions. (shrink)

Emotions shape judgments and decisions, including actions in response to climate change. Despite growing interest in the cognitive, social, and political determinants of climate (in)action, the role of emotions has received limited attention. This review discusses the role of hope in climate action. While many emotional states are oriented to the past or present, hope offers a positive vision of the future. In exploratory analyses of a nationally representative survey of US residents, we identify the most important predictors of hope, (...) climate action, and policy support from a large set of potential variables. We find suggestive evidence that hope, a construct comprised of cognitive, emotional, and contextual factors, is an important motivator of future-oriented action. (shrink)

Was ist Wissen? Wie gelangen wir zu Wissen? Warum ist Wissen eigentlich erstrebenswert? Ist Wissen überhaupt möglich? Ausgehend von diesen traditionellen philosophischen Fragen nach der Natur, den Quellen, dem Wert sowie den Möglichkeiten und Grenzen des menschlichen Wissens, untersucht die Autorin die zentralen Positionen und aktuellen Debatten gegenwärtiger Wissenstheorien. Dabei werden wichtige epistemische Paradoxien des Wissens, der Wissensskeptizismus und die systematischen Beziehungen zwischen Wissen und Rationalität sowie zwischen Wissen und Zufall analysiert. Behandelt werden zudem Konzeptionen im Rahmen neuerer erkenntnistheoretischer Strömungen (...) (z. B. Reliabilismus, Kontextualismus, Tugenderkenntnistheorie und Soziale Erkenntnistheorie). Die Analyse zeigt, dass in einer philosophisch befriedigenden Wissenstheorie sowohl die sokratische Suche nach einer endgültigen Definition von Wissen als auch das cartesische Ideal von Wissen als Form einer absoluten Gewissheit aufgegeben werden muss. In ihrem eigenen Ansatz argumentiert Brendel für einen kontextabhängigen Wissensbegriff, der eine wahre und epistemisch nicht zufällige Überzeugung zum Ausdruck bringt. (shrink)

ArgumentThe question, how organisms obtain their specific complex and functional forms, was widely discussed during the eighteenth century. The theory of preformation, which was the dominant theory of generation, was challenged by different alternative epigenetic theories. By the end of the century it was the vitalist approach most famously advocated by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach that prevailed. Yet the alternative theory of generation brought forward by Caspar Friedrich Wolff was an important contribution to the treatment of this question. He turned his (...) attention from the properties of matter and the forces acting on it towards the level of the processes of generation in order to explain the constitution of organismic forms. By regarding organic structures and forms to be the result of the lawfulness of ongoing processes, he opened up the possibility of a functional but non-teleological explanation of generation, and thereby provided an important complement to materialist and vitalist approaches. (shrink)

Our contemporary condition is deeply infused with scientific-technological rationales. These influence and shape our ethical reasoning on war, including the moral status of civilians and the moral choices available to us. In this article, I discuss how technology shapes and directs the moral choices available to us by setting parameters for moral deliberation. I argue that technology has moral significance for just war thinking, yet this is often overlooked in attempts to assess who is liable to harm in war and (...) to what extent. This omission produces an undue deference to technological authority, reducing combatants, civilians and scenarios to data points. If we are to develop a maximally restrictive framework for harming civilians in war, which in my view should be a goal of just war thinking, then it is imperative that the scientific-technological dimension of contemporary war is given due attention. (shrink)

Our lives are increasingly intertwined with the digital realm, and with new technology, new ethical problems emerge. The academic field that addresses these problems—which we tentatively call ‘digital ethics’—can be an important intellectual resource for policy making and regulation. This is why it is important to understand how the new ethical challenges of a digital society are being met by academic research. We have undertaken a scientometric analysis to arrive at a better understanding of the nature, scope and dynamics of (...) the field of digital ethics. Our approach in this paper shows how the field of digital ethics is distributed over various academic disciplines. By first having experts select a collection of keywords central to digital ethics, we have generated a dataset of articles discussing these issues. This approach allows us to generate a scientometric visualisation of the field of digital ethics, without being constrained by any preconceived definitions of academic disciplines. We have first of all found that the number of publications pertaining to digital ethics is exponentially increasing. We furthermore established that whereas one may expect digital ethics to be a species of ethics, we in fact found that the various questions pertaining to digital ethics are predominantly being discussed in computer science, law and biomedical science. It is in these fields, more than in the independent field of ethics, that ethical discourse is being developed around concrete and often technical issues. Moreover, it appears that some important ethical values are very prominent in one field (e.g., autonomy in medical science), while being almost absent in others. We conclude that to get a thorough understanding of, and grip on, all the hard ethical questions of a digital society, ethicists, policy makers and legal scholars will need to familiarize themselves with the concrete and practical work that is being done across a range of different scientific fields to deal with these questions. (shrink)

This paper deals primarily with theDoctrine of Method(DM) of Kant’sDoctrine of Virtue. First, I present an overview of theDM(1.1) and an explanation of how it is possible to teach virtue (1.2). Second, I address the following issues: Why is aDMnecessary at all (2.1)? How does theDMrelate to what Kant calls casuistry (2.2)? I will argue that wide duties have two essential characteristics: They command the right kind of moral motivation in terms of a moral maxim, and they allow for latitude. (...) The fact that wide duties command the right kind of motivation leads to theDM; the latitude of wide duties, however, leads to casuistry. To unfold this interpretation, it must also be shown that both imperfect and perfect duties are wide duties. (shrink)

Background:Admission to a nursing home does not necessarily diminish an older person’s desire for sexual expression and fulfillment. Given that nursing staff directly and indirectly influence the range of acceptable sexual expressions of nursing home residents, their knowledge and attitudes toward aged sexuality can have far-reaching effects on both the quality of care they provide to residents and the self-image and well-being of these residents.Research objectives:To investigate nursing staff’s knowledge and attitudes toward aged sexuality, to determine whether certain sociodemographic factors (...) of the nursing staff relate to their knowledge and attitudes toward later-life sexuality, and to examine the relationship between knowledge and attitudes.Research design:Descriptive cross-sectional survey study.Research participants and research context:The administered questionnaire collected sociodemographic data and data from an adapted, Dutch version of the Aging Sexual Knowledge and Attitudes Scale. Data were collected from November 2011 through April 2012. A total of 43 geographically dispersed nursing homes in Flanders, Belgium, participated. Out of a potential research sample of 2228 nursing staff respondents, 1166 participated.Ethical considerations:The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine of the KU Leuven.Findings:Nursing staff appeared to be moderately knowledgeable about aged sexuality and displayed a rather positive attitude toward sexuality in older people. Significant relationships between various variables were found both at univariable and multivariable levels. Knowledge and attitudes proved to be positively related, indicating that a higher level of knowledge of aged sexuality is associated with a more positive attitude toward sexuality in later life.Discussion:Research findings are discussed within a broader international context.Conclusion:There is room for improvement for both nursing staff’s knowledge and attitudes toward aged sexuality. This might be aided by appropriate educational interventions. Our results identified different target groups of nursing home staff for these interventions. (shrink)

Action semantics enables us to plan actions with objects and to predict others' object-directed actions as well. Previous studies have suggested that action semantics are represented in a fronto-parietal action network that has also been implicated to play a role in action observation. In the present fMRI study it was investigated how activity within this network changes as a function of the predictability of an action involving multiple objects and requiring the use of action semantics. Participants performed an action prediction (...) task in which they were required to anticipate the use of a centrally presented object that could be moved to an associated target object (e.g., hammer—nail). The availability of actor information (i.e., presenting a hand grasping the central object) and the number of possible target objects (i.e., 0, 1, or 2 target objects) were independently manipulated, resulting in different levels of predictability. It was found that making an action prediction based on actor information resulted in an increased activation in the extrastriate body area (EBA) and the fronto-parietal action observation network (AON). Predicting actions involving a target object resulted in increased activation in the bilateral IPL and frontal motor areas. Within the AON, activity in the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL) and the left premotor cortex (PMC) increased as a function of the level of action predictability. Together these findings suggest that the left IPL represents stored hand-postures that can be used for planning object-directed actions and for predicting other's actions as well. (shrink)

Gemeinschaft ist ein Begriff, der in den Debatten der Moderne immer wieder infrage gestellt wurde. Im Moment ist eine Renaissance dieser Begriffsdebatte zu beobachten, sie steht in Verbindung zu den Diskussionen um ökologische Nachhaltigkeit und um die Grenzen des Wachstums. In dem Buch werden philosophisches Denken, politische Theorien, Theorien des Ästhetischen und die Künste zusammengeführt, um danach zu fragen, wie „Mit-Sein“ überhaupt denkbar und darstellbar ist, ob Gemeinschaft gegeben ist, wie sie sich ereignet und sich zeigt.

C.Z. Elgins Argumente zur Unbrauchbarkeit des Wissensbegriffes für epistemologische Untersuchungen und die damit begründete Ersetzung des Wissensdurch den Verstehensbegriff werden anhand einer Analyse der Funktion von Begriffsexplikationen zur Bildung wahrer gerechtfertigter Überzeugungen zurückgewiesen. Die Verwendung grober Begriffskategorien, die mit einer Reduktion der Irrtumsmöglichkeit und somit einer leichten Bildung vieler gerechtfertigter Überzeugungen einhergeht, erweist sich nur vordergründig als epistemischer Vorteil für die Laien, da die so gewonnenen Uberzeugungen kognitiv weniger gehaltvoll sind, Experten aber neben den feineren gewöhnlich auch über die groben (...) Begriffskategorien verfügen, und selbst bei eingestandener Irrtumsmöglichkeit und dem Verzicht auf definitive Überzeugungen der Art „Dieses x ist F" erheblich mehr und Gehaltvolleres wissen als Laien, da auch,,x ist definitiv kein F" oder,,x ist höchstwahrscheinlich F" Wissen ausdrücken. (shrink)

Utilitarianism has been widely accused of inadequately treating the problem of human rights. One main criticism has been, that it could not account for acceptable institutions of legal punishment. Though the utilitarian position seems to be untenable it contains some sound points - above all its consequentialist metaethics. The central weakness of “rightbased” justifications of the criminal sanction on the other hand seems to be that they do not give due place to the consequences of alternative institutional settings. But it (...) seems to be possible to establish a right-based and consequentialist moral theory of legal punishment leading to an acceptable practice of punishment - though not necessarily the one we are acquainted with. (shrink)

In this paper the difficulties arising out of a necessary examination of expert systems as to the ‘correctness’ of functioning are outlined. The argumentation is based on the problematic use of the knowledge term in expert system development and the design perspectives connected with the cognitivistic knowledge concept. It becomes obvious that fundamental problems in system development will involve negative consequences for utilization. The perspective developed from this analysis is assuming that these problems have to be taken into account in (...) development and have to be elucidated for utilization. (shrink)

Several authors have argued that traumatic experiences are processed and remembered in a qualitatively different way from neutral events. To investigate this issue, we interviewed 121 Croatian war veterans diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder about amnesia, intrusions , and the sensory qualities of their most horrific war memories. Additionally, they completed a self-report scale measuring dissociative experiences. In contrast to what one would expect on the basis of theories emphasizing the special status of traumatic memories, amnesia, and high frequency intrusions (...) were not particularly typical for our sample of traumatized individuals. Moreover, traumatic memories were not qualitatively different from neutral memories with respect to their stability and sensory qualities. The severity of PTSD symptoms was not significantly correlated with dissociative experiences. Our findings do not support the existence of special memory mechanisms that are unique to experiencing traumatic events. (shrink)