Social evolution theory provides a wide array of successful evolutionary explanations for cooperative traits. However and surprisingly, a number of cases of unexplained cooperative behaviour remain. Shouldn’t they cast doubt on the relevance of the theory, or even disconfirm it? This depends on whether the theory is akin to a research programme such as adaptationism, or closer to a theory – a set of compatible, confirmable hypotheses. In order to find out, we focus on the two main tenets of social (...) evolution theory, namely reciprocity explanations and kin selection. Reciprocity-based explanations are extremely hard to confirm. This is due, first to the multiple realisability of explanatory processes, factors and strategies, despite apparent reasons to the contrary; second, to the high quantity, and limited availability of data needed to eliminate or back up such explanations. One of our target cases vividly illustrates these limitations. Moreover, kin selection, while relatively easy to disconfirm in particular cases, seems to enjoy a more limited explanatory scope than previously thought. Overall, social evolution theory turns out to be neither a research programme nor a theory, but a heterogeneous scientific entity, composed of parts that are amenable to confirmation and others barely so. (shrink)

Current knowledge of the genetic, epigenetic, behavioural and symbolic systems of inheritance requires a revision and extension of the mid-twentieth-century, gene-based, 'Modern Synthesis' version of Darwinian evolutionary theory. We present the case for this by first outlining the history that led to the neo-Darwinian view of evolution. In the second section we describe and compare different types of inheritance, and in the third discuss the implications of a broad view of heredity for various aspects of evolutionary theory. We end with (...) an examination of the philosophical and conceptual ramifications of evolutionary thinking that incorporates multiple inheritance systems. (shrink)

The debate on abortion has tended to avoid the psychological significance of an unwanted pregnancy, dominated istead by the strong emotions the subject excites. Eva Pattis Zoja examines the thoughts that surround a woman's decision to end a pregnancy, and presents the challenging thesis that voluntary abortion can often be a violent and unconscious act of self-realisation. Treating a theme which is central to our existence, the author makes no attempt to argue for or against, or to deny the painful (...) nature of the subject which she tackles, but instead looks at the way in which a decision to abort can affect a woman's inner life. (shrink)

A comprehensive exploration of theories of citizenship and inclusiveness in an age of globalization. The authors analyze democracy and the political community in a transnational context, using new critical, conceptual and normative perspectives on the borders, territories and political agents of the state.

Propongo dilucidar en la filosofía práctica madura de Kant la relevancia del cultivo de la virtud y de la educación para el progreso de las comunidades políticas y ética y muestro que ello puede abordarse de forma integrada desde el paralelo ético-político. Primero, explicaré que la tarea y el deber del ser humano de realizar el fin del bien supremo ético y político se puede esclarecer en relación con el destino de la humanidad. Después argumentaré que la tarea de los (...) seres humanos radica en el cultivo de la virtud, que es un deber que podemos llamar ético-político en el sentido de que las disposiciones morales de los individuos se desarrollan socialmente y sirven a fines comunitarios. Por último, en una visión integrada del paralelismo ético-político, argumentaré que la educación es un medio necesario para lograr el progreso de las comunidades. (shrink)

Quantum set theory and topos quantum theory are two long running projects in the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics that share a great deal of conceptual and technical affinity. Most pertinently, both approaches attempt to resolve some of the conceptual difficulties surrounding QM by reformulating parts of the theory inside of nonclassical mathematical universes, albeit with very different internal logics. We call such mathematical universes, together with those mathematical and logical structures within them that are pertinent to the physical interpretation, (...) ‘Q-worlds’. Here, we provide a unifying framework that allows us to better understand the relationship between different Q-worlds, and define a general method for transferring concepts and results between TQT and QST, thereby significantly increasing the expressive power of both approaches. Along the way, we develop a novel connection to paraconsistent logic and introduce a new class of structures that have significant implications for recent work on paraconsistent set theory. (shrink)

This paper analyzes agency in Pettit’s republican conception of freedom. By understanding freedom intersubjectively in terms of agency, Pettit makes an important contribution to the contemporary debate on negative liberty. At the same time, some of the presumptions about agency are problematic. The paper defends the thesis that Pettit is not able to provide the sufficient conditions for freedom as non-domination that he sets out to do. In order to show why this is the case and how we can address (...) this shortcoming, a distinction is introduced between a thick and a thin intersubjective account of agency. It is argued that while Pettit’s freedom presupposes a thin account, he would need a thick account in order to elaborate not only the necessary but also the sufficient conditions of freedom as non-domination. (shrink)

This paper presents results of a qualitative study focussed on reconstructingcurrent reception processes of Tibetan Buddhist teachings and practicesas well as its representatives by the Swiss public since the mid 1990’s. Byexamining public discourses on Tibetan Buddhism in Switzerland, the paperaddresses issues concerning the social construction, representation and (re-)production of cultural and religious difference. It is argued that public receptionand representation of Tibetan Buddhism in the media clearly – even if implicitly– reflects disputes about conceptions of one’s own religious, cultural (...) and nationalidentity as well as about collectively shared values. It is shown that publicdiscourse on Tibetan Buddhism in Switzerland is characterized by opposingtendencies: on the one hand, it is clearly dominated by well-known positiveimages and stereotypes, which might be regarded as elements of an establishedrepertoire of knowledge about Tibet, Tibetans and the “World Religion of Buddhism”and which are reproduced as a matter of course within public discussionson the topic. On the other hand, nevertheless, these dominant topoi arecurrently being questioned by various social actors and on various levels. Theseefforts at deconstructing popular images and perceptions of Tibetan cultural andreligious traditions, however, have relatively small impact on wider social processesof constructing religious and cultural alterity – not nearly as much, forexample, as the construction of an Islamic “Other” culminating in the minaretreferendum of 2009. (shrink)

As strategies of suspicion, skeptical philosophies are themselves suspicious. Despite of their routinely anti-systematic rhetoric, skeptics raise the suspicion of secretly playing into the hands of the ruling regime . In his book Skepticism and Epistemology: The Development and Application of the Skeptical Method in Philosophy, Tim Köhne argues at length that a stabilizing, affirmative trait in fact characterizes all argumentative strategies of radical skepticism, for in the final instance it is not doubt that motivates skepticism but instead the desire (...) for coherence or for a system that would rise beyond all doubt. (shrink)

The way in which philosophers have thought about the scientific method and the nature of good scientific reasoning over the last few centuries has been consistently and heavily influenced by the examples set by physics. The astounding achievements of 19th and 20th century physics demonstrated that physicists had successfully identified methodologies and reasoning patterns that were uniquely well suited to discovering fundamental truths about the natural world. Inspired by this success, generations of philosophers set themselves the goal of taxonomising, codifying, (...) formalising and evaluating these reasoning patterns. Many will concede that this has been a tremendously fruitful exercise that has served both to illuminate characteristic methodological and epistemological features of the physical sciences, and to inform the way that philosophers think about the epistemic ideals served by science more generally. However, as has been widely noted, the great challenges confronted by contemporary physics have led to a number of fundamental shifts in the way that physicists formulate, assess and apply their theories of the physical world. The most prominent examples of this trend occur in the realm of theoretical high energy physics, where many of the most influential theories advocated by physicists lie beyond the reach of extant experimental methods, and are therefore extremely difficult to test empirically. The fact that whole communities of physicists have devoted so much time and effort to evaluating theories that are largely disconnected from experiments and empirical testing suggests that existing philosophical accounts of the epistemology of physics, based as they are on a broadly empiricist conception of physics, are no longer completely apt, or are at least somewhat out of date. This in turn suggests that it is time for philosophers to redirect their attention towards the characteristic reasoning strategies at play in contemporary physics. As well as clarifying the epistemic structure of 21st century physics and providing new stimulation for general debates surrounding the epistemology of science, this will also allow more philosophers to confront and engage with the existential methodological debates currently raging within physics. There is currently intense and wide spread disagreement surrounding what kinds of reasoning strategies can legitimately be employed in the assessment of competing physical theories and research programs. This special issue aims to facilitate the further engagement of philosophers in this crucial debate by collecting eight contributions that both highlight the deep philosophical issues at stake in debates surrounding the proper methodology for theory assessment in physics, and present novel philosophical perspectives on specific reasoning strategies in the physical sciences. (shrink)

This book is about the status of political equality under global political conditions. The overall aim is to revitalize the debate on the status of political equality in transnational democracy.

Agenda 21 of United Nations demands better situation of ecology, economy, health, etc. in all countries. An evaluation of scientific contributions in international congresses of fundamental anthropological sciences (philosophy, psychology, psychosomatics, physiology, genito-urology, radio-oncology, etc.) demonstratesevidence of large discrepancies in the participation not only of developing and industrial countries, but also between the last ones themselves. Low degree of research and education leads to low degree of economy, health, ecology, etc. [Lit.: Neu, Michailov et al.: Physiology in Agenda 21. Proc. (...) Int. Un. Physiol. Sci. San Francisco, Faseb J. 19/5, A1355, 2005; Agenda 21 in Psychol. 28th Int. Congr. Psychol. Beijing, 1028.62/3028.96, 2004]. CONCEPTION: The science is leading in the social and economic development of humanity, but the misuse of science causes disastrous repercussions (ecological and self-destruction). New models for scientific education, beginning with philosophy, followed by philosophical, pedagogical, medical, theological anthropology, and research are necessary tosupport Agenda 21 and prevent misuse of science. According to proposals on foundation of experimental schools (Immanuel Kant) and international universities (Bertrand Russell) the International Academy of Science/ICSD supports these ideas and initiated the creation of first (interdisciplinary) International Faculties forAnthropology as paradigm for humanization, higher effectiveness and pluralistic internationalization of science, leading to better education ("Erziehung und Ausbildung") and research in all countries, i.e. decrease of the gap between industrial and developing countries. CONCLUSION: Foundation of international institutes for general (philosophy, pedagogy, medicine) as well as for special anthropology (theology, informatics-logic-mathematics, culture, biology, (bio-) physics/chemistry) in context of an integralanthropology via networks of national ones from selected countries of Africa, America, Asia, Australia, Europe can permit the necessary implication of philosophy in education of anthropological sciences as well as research and education (post graduate) by common international research and educational programmes, lecturers, students, etc. in one country. This project needs political and financial support by UNO, European Union, governments, banks, industries to support the education of a homo sanus, humanus et spiritualis for the future humanity. (shrink)

Combining case studies with normative theory, this book analyzes the democratic credentials of transnational actors participating in global governance, ranging from corporations and philanthropic foundations to NGOs and social movements. This leads to innovative interpretations of democratic legitimacy in a transnational context.

Is musical practice 'real' - and how is it connected with everyday life? Eva-Maria Houben shows that making music changes as soon as its meaning is not sought in a purpose-oriented production of results, but in performing music as an activity - indeed, as play. Musical practice, Eva-Maria Houben contends, should be understood as open and never finished. Such an emphasis on repetition can free us from perfection, productivity, and purpose, allowing meaning to unfold in specific situations, places, and relationships. (...) Thus understood, musical practice can become a form of life and a reality in its own right. (shrink)

Metaphor's peculiar property to yield cognitive insight-- often in otherwise false sentences -- has been the focus of contemporary studies of metaphor. In Metaphor: Its Linguistic Structure and Cognitive Force, Eva Kittay develops the semantic field theory of metaphor (SFTM). The task of the present work is to formalize some of the central claims of SFTM. Formalization forces us to make the central concepts of SFTM precise and operational, and it enables us to evaluate the consistency and explanatory power of (...) SFTM through empirical testing. To empirically test our formalization of SFTM, we constructed a working computer program from it. This program, called NETMET, is highly successful in generating syntactically complex and semantically interesting metaphors. Its success provides empirical confirmation of SFTM. (shrink)

Research question The secondary research use of treatment data has the potential to expand medical knowledge and improve patient care. Hospitals play an important role in systematic secondary research use: they generate large amounts of treatment data and are supposed to establish the necessary structures for their use in research. This raises the ethical question: do hospitals have a moral duty to support secondary research use of treatment data by establishing and operating the necessary resources and infrastructure? Procedure Our aim (...) is to outline a conceptual framework to discuss the question and to propose a first normative position. Building on insights from business and organizational ethics, we develop a conceptual framework in which we view hospitals as moral actors. Our normative-ethical analysis is based on a reconstructive stakeholder approach, in which we identify the following general duties of hospitals: orientation towards patient wellbeing; cost efficiency; enabling employees to act in accordance with professional ethical standards; supporting public health and research. We examine whether these general duties provide reasons for a specific duty of hospitals to support secondary research use of treatment data. We discuss potential objections to such a duty arising from other, potentially conflicting general duties of hospitals (e.g., data protection), from practice (e.g., costs/resources), or related discourses (data ownership). Conclusion Certain general duties (orientation towards patient wellbeing, cost efficiency, support of public health) justify a duty of hospitals to support secondary research use of treatment data. The duty to enable employees to act in accordance with professional ethical standards is only an indirect reason; the duty to support research applies solely to university hospitals. Potential objections apply to a certain extent but can be mitigated through targeted measures. (shrink)

The Aleksanteri Institute of the University of Helsinki organized in 25–26 of September 2009 a special symposium Northern Lights — Facets of Enlightenment Culture with the aim to discuss form of Enlightenment thought in Sweden/Finland and Russia. The symposium, which was opened by Prof. Emeritus Matti Klinge, a renowned historian of 18th- and 19th-century Finland, had four participants from Russia, five from Finland and one from Germany; thus, it was yet a quite small event, but we hope that with it (...) the foundations of a fruitful co-operation, with annual symposia on questions of Enlightenment culture, will be laid. Of the speakers, Prof. Tatiana Artemyeva, Dr. Oili Pulkkinen and Prof. Vesa Oittinen focused on more general problems of study of Enlightenment ideas, while the other contributions dealt with different ―case studies‖ either in Sweden/Finland (Dr. Kimmo Sarje, Dr. Johan Sten), Russia (Prof. Mikhail Mikeshin, Dr. Johannes Remy, Dr. Larisa Agamalian), in France (Dr. Alla Zlatopolskaya) or Germany (Dr. Carola Häntsch). (shrink)

ZusammenfassungIn seinem Buch Einfache Formen entwickelt André Jolles in Auseinandersetzung mit Goethes Naturkunde die Vorstellung einer besonderen Zeitlichkeit der von ihm so genannten »Einfachen Formen«, die er als »Jedesmaligkeit« bezeichnet. Jolles greift damit den morphologischen Gedanken einer Vielgestaltigkeit von Form vor dem Hintergrund der sprachwissenschaftlichen Debatten seines politisierten akademischen Umfelds in Leipzig auf, das den Saussure’schen Systemgedanken der Sprache unter Rückbezug auf Wilhelm von Humboldt holistisch umdeuten wollte. Der Aufsatz verortet Jolles’ Überlegungen in der formorientierten Literatur- und Kulturtheorie der Zeit. (...) Anhand seiner Zeitbegriffe und seines Formkonzepts wird gezeigt, wie er die zeitgenössischen Ideen der Ganzheit und der Verzeitlichung von Form im Ausgang morphologischer Fragen auf eigenwillige Weise interpretierte.In his book Einfache Formen André Jolles develops the idea of a special temporality of so-called »simple forms«, which he calls »Jedesmaligkeit«, referencing Goethe’s reflections on the ›versatile forms‹ of nature. Jolles adopted the morphological idea of a versatility of form against the background of the linguistic debates of his politicized academic environment in Leipzig. In accordance with contemporary holistic thinking his colleagues reinterpreted Saussure’s idea that language is a system, drawing in particular on Wilhelm von Humboldt. The essay situates Jolles’ reflections in the form-oriented literary and cultural theory of the time. On the basis of his concepts of time and his thinking in terms of form, the article shows how he adapted the contemporary ideas of the wholeness and temporalization of form in an idiosyncratic way in the wake of morphological questions. (shrink)

Beauvoir's Second Sex seems to be acknowledged as one of the most influential books of the twentieth century. However, its relation to structuralism still has to be elaborated. The aim of this chapter is to analyze Beauvoir's reliance on Lévi‐Strauss, his elementary structures of kinship and the exchange of women (and not men). As the very asymmetry of sexual division became a target of Beauvoir's attack, she came close to asking Lévi‐Strauss the same question as Althusser, namely: Why is this (...) possible, and not something else? We conclude that the later Althusser's “repressed” aleatory materialism could account for Beauvoir's reasoning as to why the point of view of psychoanalysis and historical materialism are insufficient, and that Beauvoir's place could be identified with the repressed of the repressed. (shrink)

Στην παρούσα μονογραφία, η Εύα Μπόντα προτείνει μια νέα θεωρία για την αίσθηση της αφής, όπως αυτή διαφαίνεται στη θεμελιώδη πραγματεία του Αριστοτέλη ‘Περὶ Ψυχῆς’. Η συγγραφέας υποστηρίζει ότι μια εμβάθυνση στο Αριστοτελειακό λεξιλόγιο αποκαλύπτει μια εγγενώς διαλεκτική θεωρία των αισθήσεων, αυτής όλων των αισθήσεων αναγόμενων στην ‘αίσθηση της αφής’ είτε ως εμπειρία πολυαισθητηριακότητας ή συναισθησίας είτε ως απτική τηλεανίχνευση. Η ‘αφή’ αποτελεί στον Αριστοτέλη το μίτο που συνδέει την Υλη με τη μετάλλαξη της στον Αφηρημένο Νού. Στη βάση δεδομένων (...) Λειτουργικής Νευροαπεικόνισης, η συγγραφέας περιγράφει πως ο ανθρώπινος εγκέφαλος κωδικοποιεί, ως άυλα γνωστιακά φαινόμενα, την νοητική αναπαράσταση του σώματος στο χώρο και τη διαμόρφωση της απτικής μνήμης. Η μονογραφία βασίζεται στη συμμετοχή της συγγραφέα στο Παγκόσμιο Συνέδριο 2016 «Αριστοτέλης 2400 χρόνια από τη γέννησή του», που διοργανώθηκε από τον Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης στην Ελλάδα στις 23-28 Μαΐου 2016. Η Εύα Μπόντα έχει ειδίκευση στις Γνωσιακές Νευροεπιστήμες, Λειτουργική Νευροαπεικόνιση, Νευροανατομία και Κλινική Ψυχοθεραπεία. Σπούδασε και διεξήγαγε έρευνα στο Νευρολογικό Ινστιτούτο του Μόντρεαλ του Πανεπιστημίου Μαγκίλ του Καναδά, στο Πανεπιστήμιο Πιερ και Μαρί Κιουρί του Παρισιού, στο Πανεπιστημιακό Κολέγιο Λονδίνου και Κολέγιο Μπίρκμπεκ του Πανεπιστημίου του Λονδίνου καθώς και στο Πανεπιστήμιο της Καλιφόρνιας και Ιατρική Σχολή του Πανεπιστημίου της Ουάσινγκτον στο Σαίντ-Λούις των ΗΠΑ. Η Εύα Μπόντα πρωτοστάτησε σε vευρογνωσιακά πειράματα στον ανθρώπινο εγκέφαλο, μέσω τεχνικών Λειτουργικής Νευροαπεικόνισης. (shrink)

In this thesis, I attempt to reconcile two alternative approaches to justice: distributive and relational egalitarianism. When examining the two accounts, I claim that relational egalitarianism has distributive egalitarian implications. This implies an extensional overlap between the two accounts, namely a correspondence between the normative outcomes of relational and distributive egalitarianism. This work is addressed primarily to relational egalitarian scholars, as well as others who are convinced by the value of relational equality as a worthy moral and political ideal. My (...) aim is to prove that their goal implies embracing equality of distribution beyond relational equality. When making the case that relational egalitarians should take equality seriously, I claim that they should refrain from embracing distributive principles other than – or incompatible with – principles of distributive equality. This statement entails both a negative and a positive thesis. On the negative side, we should be critical toward the prominent tendency within the relational egalitarian debate, as influenced by the work of Elizabeth Anderson, to reject claims of distributive egalitarian justice in favour of sufficientarian claims of distribution. On the positive side, distributive equality is required by the logic of relational egalitarianism, although its normative significance exists independently of it. While presenting my statements, I provide support for the externalist understanding of relational equality as most recently advanced by Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, through which the egalitarian character of someone’s relation depends on features external to their relation, such as on the distribution of the relevant currency among them. Whether or not individuals relate to one another as equals – I maintain – depends not merely on the internal feature of their relation, that is, on how they perceive or regard one another, but also, significantly, on how goods such as resources, welfare or opportunities are distributed among them. On my account, individuals are only equals when they recognize each other as equal in status and grant one another an equal share of the justice-relevant good. In defending my thesis, I critically engage with the literature on both distributive egalitarianism and relational egalitarianism. In particular, in the first part, I reconstruct the egalitarian debate and its approach to equality as either a relational or a distributive ideal. In the second part, I question such either/or relation by arguing that relational equality implies distributive equality, because arbitrary distributive inequality violates the deliberative constraint of relating as equals. I strengthen this claim by looking at the particular instantiation of distributive inequality in the field of education, and unveil its theoretical implications while supporting the project of reconciling distributive egalitarian and relational egalitarian approaches to justice. In my view, relational and distributive egalitarianism are compatible theories within one and the same egalitarian framework. Their normative outcomes are – at least in part – equivalent. (shrink)

This paper discusses the role of cognitive factors in language change; specifically, it investigates the potential impact of argument ambiguity avoidance on the emergence of one of the most well-studied syntactic alternations in English, viz. the dative alternation. Linking this development to other major changes in the history of English like the loss of case marking, I propose that morphological as well as semantic-pragmatic ambiguity between prototypical agents and prototypical recipients in ditransitive clauses plausibly gave a processing advantage to patterns (...) with higher cue reliability such as prepositional marking, but also fixed clause-level order. The main hypotheses are tested through a quantitative analysis of ditransitives in a corpus of Middle English, which confirms that the spread of the PP-construction is impacted by argument ambiguity and demonstrates that this change reflects a complex restructuring of disambiguation strategies. (shrink)

Canadian video game developer BioWare’s critically acclaimed Mass Effect video game series has been called the most important science fiction universe of a generation. Whether or not one is inclined to agree, it cannot be denied that Mass Effect matters. It matters not only because of its brilliant narrative and the difficult questions it asks, but also because, as bioethicist Kyle Munkittrick writes, it reflects society as a whole. Mass Effect is a sci-fi epic in the truest sense, spanning over (...) years and across hundreds of planets tucked away in the darkest corners of the galaxy, populated with dozens of species with their own histories, beliefs, cultures, and technologies. Academics and dedicated fans have explored the numerous facets of the game, from its philosophy to time and temporality, fandom ethnographies, and ethics. This article proposes to explore the boundaries of alien sex and the desire for alien others as represented in sci-fi role playing games, and their reinterpretation by fans. Science fiction role playing games in particular enable the production of sexual modalities outside of the constraints of heterosexual norms. Alien sex, animal sex, or monstrous sex are common tropes in fantasy and sci-fi media—the vampire, the werewolf, and monstrous non/in-humans are eroticized and construed conduits of a mainly female sexual desire. However, the example I would like to approach is slightly more radical, both in terms of execution and in terms of media audience response: examples of “alien sex” as illustrated in the Mass Effect video game series, whose canonical representation of alien-human romances invite some interesting questions about either the potential exacerbation, or the rendering-unintelligible of sexual difference, as well as about cross-species desire and about the ontology of the natural and the artificial. (shrink)

Wie werden in einzelnen Disziplinen Heureka-Effekte hervorgerufen? Wann leuchtet Wissenschaftlern in einem Fach ein Argument, ein Gedanke ein, wie werden sie davon überzeugt. Was sind die disziplinären Standards und wie sieht die Praxis im akademischen Alltag dazu aus? 15 Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler aus den Natur-, Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften geben hierauf ihre Antworten in diesem Buch in einer Weise, dass alle, die das wissen wollen, sie auch verstehen.