This article investigates Public Understanding of Science (PUS) as an epistemic goal of science communication. It proposes to conceptualize PUS as a form of understanding and discusses what implications this has for science communication from a social epistemological perspective. Specifically, it is argued that 1) PUS can be conceptualized as an epistemic goal of science communication in a way that does not already imply the so-called deficit model, and 2) that interactive and dialogue- based forms of communication are also justified (...) for this goal from an epistemological perspective. (shrink)

This paper describes ongoing work towards a rich analysis of the social contexts of neologism use in historical corpora, in particular the Corpora of Early English Correspondence, with research questions concerning the innovators, meanings and diffusion of neologisms. To enable this kind of study, we are developing new processes, tools and ways of combining data from different sources, including the Oxford English Dictionary, the Historical Thesaurus, and contemporary published texts. Comparing neologism candidates across these sources is complicated by the large (...) amount of spelling variation. To make the issues tractable, we start from case studies of individual suffixes and people. By developing tools aiding these studies, we build toward more general analyses. Our aim is to develop an open-source environment where information on neologism candidates is gathered from a variety of algorithms and sources, pooled, and presented to a human evaluator for verification and exploration. (shrink)

Autonomy has been recognised as a key principle in healthcare, but we still need to develop a consistent understanding of older people’s perceived autonomy in residential care. This study aimed to identify, describe and synthesise previous studies on the perceived autonomy of older people in residential care. Ethical approval was not required, as this was a review of published literature. We carried out an integrative review to synthesise previous knowledge published in peer-review journals in English up to September 2019. Electronic (...) and manual searches were conducted using the CINAHL, Philosopher’s Index, PubMed, SocINDEX, Scopus and Web of Science databases. The data were analysed using the constant comparison method. The review identified 46 studies. Perceived autonomy referred to the opportunities that older people had to make their own choices about their daily life in residential care, and achieving autonomy promoted both health and quality of life. Autonomy was linked to older people’s individual capacities, including their level of independence, physical and mental competence, personal characteristics, and whether relatives shared and supported their perceived autonomy. Professionals could facilitate or hinder older peoples’ autonomy in a number of ways, including providing opportunities for autonomy, how daily care needs and activities were managed, and controlling older people’s choices. Professionals’ characteristics, such as education and attitudes, and the older people’s living environments were also associated with their perceived autonomy and included organisational characteristics and physical and social care facilitators. Older people’s perceived autonomy promoted health and quality of life in residential care. However, their autonomy was associated with a number of protective and restrictive individual and environmental factors, which influenced whether autonomy was achieved. (shrink)

Every second-countable regular topological space X is metrizable. For a given “computable” topological space satisfying an axiom of computable regularity M. Schröder [10] has constructed a computable metric. In this article we study whether this metric space can be considered computationally as a subspace of some computable metric space [15]. While Schröder's construction is “pointless”, i. e., only sets of a countable base but no concrete points are known, for a computable metric space a concrete dense set of computable points (...) is needed. But there may be no computable points in X. By converging sequences of basis sets instead of Cauchy sequences of points we construct a metric completion of a space together with a canonical representation equation image, equation image. We show that there is a computable embedding of in with computable inverse. Finally, we construct a notation of a dense set of points in with computable mutual distances and prove that the Cauchy representation of the resulting computable metric space is equivalent to equation image. Therefore, every computably regular space has a computable homeomorphic embedding in a computable metric space, which topologically is its completion. By the way we prove a computable Urysohn lemma. (shrink)

In recent years, there has been a growing public discourse regarding the influence AI will have on the future of work. Simultaneously, considerable critical attention has been given to the implications of AI on gender equality. Far from making precise predictions about the future, this discourse demonstrates that new technologies are instances for renegotiating the relation of gender and work. This paper examines how gender is addressed in news media discourse on AI and the future of work, focusing on Germany. (...) We approach this question from a perspective of feminist technology studies and discourse analysis, exploring a corpus of 178 articles from 2015 to 2021 from German newspapers and newsmagazines. The findings indicate that critical AI and gender knowledge circulates in public discourse in the form of specific discursive frames, thematizing algorithmic bias, automatization and enhancement, and gender stereotypes. As a result, we show that, first, the discourse takes up feminist and scholarly discourse on gender and discusses AI in a way that is informed by social constructivism and standpoint theories. Second, gender appears as a—to some extent intersectional—diversity category which is critical to AI, while at the same time omitting important perspectives. Third, it can be shown that there is a renegotiating of the ideal worker norm taking place, and finally, we argue that the gendered frame of the powerful men developer responsible for AI’s risk is a concept to be challenged. (shrink)

This article gives an overview about the ethical dispute on preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), its legal status and its practical usage in Europe. We provide a detailed description of the situation in Germany wherein prenatal diagnosis is routinely applied, but PGD is prohibited on the basis of the internationally unique embryo protection act (EPA) that was put into force in 1991. Both PGD and stem cell research were vigorously debated in Germany during the last four years. As regards the PGD (...) debate specifically, the voices of the ones directly affected were not adequately taken into consideration. We describe the predominant lines of argumentation in this debate and some essential results of our "bioethical field study" of opinions on and usage of PGD in Germany and their implications for the German legislation and ethical theory. (shrink)

Die Soziologie muss ihre gesellschaftliche Funktion, ihre interdisziplinäre Anschlussfähigkeit und ihr Interventionsspektrum im Kontext der aktuellen gesellschaftlichen Transformationsprozesse neu bestimmen. "Soziologischer Experimentalismus", verstanden als eine Umstellung des Faches von der Krisen- zur Erfahrungswissenschaft, ist eine Antwort auf diese Herausforderung. Experiment und Erfahrung gehören zusammen. Als Erfahrungswissenschaft wird Soziologie damit zu einer Praxis, die Erfahrungen nicht nur beobachtet, sondern zur Voraussetzung jeder Art von Erkenntnis macht. Die Zukunft des soziologischen Experimentalismus liegt folglich in der Aufgabe, attraktive Laboratorien für entsprechende Kooperationen zwischen (...) Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft dauerhaft bereit zu stellen. (shrink)

Social robots as companions play an increasingly important role in our everyday life. However, reaching the full potential of social robots and the interaction between humans and robots requires permanent collection and processing of personal data of users, e.g. video and audio data for image and speech recognition. In order to foster user acceptance, trust and to address legal requirements as the General Data Protection Regulation of the EU, privacy needs to be integrated in the design process of social robots. (...) The Privacy by Design approach by Cavoukian indicates the relevance of a privacy-respecting development and outlines seven abstract principle.In this paper two methods as a hands-on guideline to fulfill the principles are presented and discussed in the content of the Privacy by Design approach. Privacy risks of a typical robot scenario are identified, analyzed and solutions are proposed on the basis of theseven types of privacyand theprivacy protection goals. (shrink)

The focus of this chapter is the relationship between synaesthesia, attention and eye movements. The measurement of eye movements as a core experimental tool for gaining insight into complex cognitive processes in general and attentional mechanisms more specifically, is now firmly established. By means of eye movements, the neural basis of higher cognitive processes, such as target selection, working memory, and response suppression, can be investigated. It therefore seems logical that eye movement recordings can also be used to investigate a (...) complex phenomenon like synaesthesia. In this chapter, we will start with a section summarizing the relationship between eye movements and attention in general. Then the focus moves to synaesthesia and what we currently know about synaesthesia based on the method of measuring eye movements. Finally, we discuss pupillometry which provides a window on changes in the 'allocation' of attention and the 'consolidation' of perception. Consequently, it offers a useful technique for probing 'changes' in mental states due synaesthetic perceptions. (shrink)

Der Begriff der Intentionalität stellt einen der grundlegenden Begriffe in der Philosophie Webers dar. In Anlehnung an Brentano gibt er in seinen Frühwerken mehrere Unterscheidungsmerkmale zwischen Psychischem und Physischem an, welche er als Unterschied in der Gegebenheit, in der Realität, in der Erfassbarkeit, in der Beschaffenheit, in der Abhängigkeit und in der Gerichtetheit bezeichnet, wobei Unterschiede und Übereinstimmungen mit Brentano nahe liegen. Es wird gezeigt, dass sich Weber bei der Behandlung der Intentionalität vor allem auf Gedanken von Alexius Meinong und (...) dessen Schule stützt. Mit ihnen vertritt er jene Theorie, welche zwischen dem Inhalt und dem Akt einerseits und dem Gegenstand andrerseits unterscheidet – er nimmt den so genannten „gegenstandstheoretischen Dualismus“ an. Außerdem meint er in seinen Frühschriften, dass alle Erlebnisse einen Gegenstand besitzen, unabhängig davon, ob diesel tatsächlich existiert bzw. besteht. Um etwa 1930 hat Weber plötzlich seine Ansicht geändert und behauptet nun, dass es auch nicht-intentionale Erlebnisse gibt, welche auf keinen bestimmten Gegenstand hinweisen. In diesem Zusammenhang unterscheidet er vorintentionale und nachintentionale nicht-intentionale Erlebnisse, wie z.B. Instinkte bzw. Triebe und Stimmungen. (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)

This open access book provides the first explicit case study for an application of the method of reflective equilibrium (RE), using it to develop and defend a precautionary principle. It thereby makes an important and original contribution to questions of philosophical method and methodology. The book shows step-by-step how RE is applied, and develops a methodological framework which will be useful for everyone who wishes to use reflective equilibrium. With respect to precautionary principles, the book demonstrates how a rights-based precautionary (...) principle can be constructed and defended. The case study succeeds in demonstrating that RE can be successfully applied and puts real constraints on the justification process. This is all the more remarkable as the case study was designed as an open-ended process, without presupposing any specific results. This book will be highly relevant both to people interested in philosophical methodology and epistemology, as well as to researchers who are interested in using philosophical methods and tools and applying them to practical problems. (shrink)

Émile Durkheim zählt zu den Klassikern der Soziologie. Der Band greift erstmals unbekannte Rezeptionslinien Durkheims auf und zeigt ihn so in all seiner Komplexität und Aktualität: als Vorreiter einer transdisziplinären Sozialwissenschaft, als scharfsinnigen Theoretiker, als Denker des Materiellen und des Symbolischen. Neben ihm kommen auch seine Kollegen, Erben und zeitgenössischen Kritiker in den Blick. Dabei wird deutlich, dass Durkheims Werk nicht nur die Soziologie prägte, sondern auch der Ethnologie und der Philosophie grundlegende Impulse gab. Mit Beiträgen von Stéphane Baciocchi, Stefan (...) Beck, Tanja Bogusz, Heike Delitz, Emmanuel Désveaux, Jean-Louis Fabiani, Joachim Fischer, Marcel Fournier, Bruno Karsenti, Frédéric Keck, Wiebke Keim, Steven Lukes, Stephan Moebius, Lothar Peter, Devyani Prabhat, Anne W. Rawls, Thomas Scheffer, Michael Schillmeier, Robert Seyfert, Susan Stedman Jones und Jean Terrier. (shrink)

Tanja Klemm legt in dieser kunsthistorischen Studie ihr Augenmerkauf das Verhältnis von Bild, Wahrnehmung und Betrachterkörpern im Spätmittelalter und in der Renaissance. Medizin, Naturphilosophie, Theologie und Bildtheorie dieser Zeit nimmt sie unter der Perspektive einer historischen Phänomenologie der Verkörperung in den Blick: Sinnliche Wahrnehmung versteht sich vor dem Hintergrund zeitgenössischer Theorien vom lebendigen Körper (corpus animatum) in einem ganzkörperlichen Sinn; Wahrnehmung - in den Worten der Zeit perceptio bzw. conceptio - erfolgt als gesamtorganismischer Vorgang. In einem ersten Teil der (...) Studie liegt der Fokus auf der Lebendigkeit und Sinnlichkeit des corpus animatum aus medizinischer, theologischer und bildtheoretischer Sicht. Daraus entwickelt die Autorin eine Theorie des Bildes und der verkörperten Wahrnehmung, die bisher innerhalb der Renaissanceforschung nicht im Mittelpunkt des bild- und wahrnehmungsgeschichtlichen Interesses stand. In einem zweiten Teil exemplifiziert sie diese Theorie anhand von kunsthistorischen Studien zu Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Dürer und Martin Schongauer. (shrink)

Robots equipped with artificial intelligence pose a huge challenge to traditional ontological differentiations between the spheres of the human and the non-human. Drawing mainly from neo-animistic and perspectivist approaches in anthropology and science and technology studies, the paper explores the potential of new forms of interconnectedness and rhizomatic entanglements between humans and a world transcending the boundaries between species and material spheres. We argue that intelligent robots meet virtually all criteria Western biology came up with to define ‘life’ and that (...) it ultimately makes sense to recognize them as a new species that is part of our social universe. Contrasting dualistic concepts of man and nature with a monistic approach, we show that traditional properties of life (agency, self-replication, etc.) may apply to artefacts and that, once we accept the idea that social relationships are ultimately open connections to matter of any kind, the seemingly strict boundaries between species and material spheres can no longer be sustained. Instead, we propose to include ‘matter’ and ideas into the sphere of the social as agents in their own right to form a _relational ontology of multi-species assemblages_ (ROMA). (shrink)

Since Clinical Ethics Consultation has become important in the public health sector in the last decade in Germany, there are on-going questions about effectiveness. Targets have been established by the Ethics Committees, in regard to assisting patients, families and health care teams at times of ethical conflicts during the decision-making process in medical care. Of all the ethics consultations over the last eight years at Erlangen University Hospital the consultations carried out in the pediatric department were chosen to be reviewed (...) by a pediatrician and an ethicist. These were evaluated on the basis of team formation, interdisciplinary orientation, ethical criteria, completeness and methods of documentation. Results of the analysis of those records show a well-organized consultation team with regard to its personnel composition. Discrepancies with ethical questions posed in the literature are revealed, and also some partially incomplete documentation regarding medical facts and descriptions of the patients' or parents' opinion. (shrink)

We view agrobiodiversity as a social-ecological phenomenon and, therefore, an example of nature–gender relations within agrarian change, including social, economic, political and technical changes in agriculture and rural areas. As a result of the industrialization of agriculture, nature–gender relations in the field of agrobiodiversity have become characterized by separation processes such as conservation versus use or subsistence versus commodity production. We argue that the sustainable development paradigm, as currently implemented in European Common Agricultural Policy through the concept of multifunctionality, does (...) not necessarily overcome separation tendencies and lead towards integration, despite its claim to bring together different ecological, economic and social needs. In our paper we critically reflect this observation and develop a theory-based analytical framework at the interface of nature and gender relations. For analytical purposes we distinguish between three different agrarian structures and focus on the development of two separation tendencies within them and their effects on agrobiodiversity. Concerning nature, we discuss the effects of separating agrobiodiversity conservation and use. With regard to gender, we discuss the separation of subsistence and commodity production. Against this background, we claim for new rural economic rationalities characterized by processes whose qualitative, material and value dimensions maintain agrobiodiversity. (shrink)

How does pregnancy transform our embodiment? This question will be explored with the help of phenomenology and Butoh dance. Although Butoh has not yet been able to fulfil its true potential for disclosing female embodiment and particularly pregnant embodiment, it will provide us with helpful clues. In pregnancy, objects are less ready-to-hand, more out of reach - world as we know it becomes removed. The habit body vanishes away. But pregnancy is not just a loss of the ordinary: it also (...) opens up new dimensions. One such dimension is that of being touched from within. A phenomenology of the pregnant body thus leads to a removal of world, but also reveals new dimensions of world, and it even comes to disclose the other as a new world within. It means to carry something alien, like the stone in Butoh play Child’s Breath, which can only be carried slowly, awkwardly. (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)

The book is an interdisciplinary work shaped around films made by different workshop participants using film to access personal interpretations of space and place. It is focused on interacting and engaging with remembering through different memory sites.Travelling along a timeline of memory Tanja Sakota takes us on a journey through South Africa Germany Poland and Bosnia/Herzegovina. Using a camera and short film format Sakota hosts several workshops in different countries focused on interacting and engaging with remembering through different memory (...) sites. The author sits at the core but the book is an interdisciplinary work shaped around films made by different workshop participants using film to access personal interpretations of space and place. Questions that underpin the uncovering of memories are: How does one use a camera to make the invisible visible? How does one remember events that one hasnt necessarily experienced? How does one use film to interrogate the past from the future present? As the journey evolves workshop participants and readers alike enter into a conversation around practice-based research autoethnography and film. (shrink)

Do the mass media deliver what contemporary democracies require? This fundamental research question has been discussed for many decades and the body of literature is firmly rooted in the debate following from the Hutchins Commission 1947. In more recent years, monitoring of the relations between democracy and the mass media has concentrated on new or democracies in transition. Fewer monitoring efforts have been undertaken in mature democracies. The following text develops a social science based monitoring instrument for established democracies, the (...) Media for Democracy Monitor. It has been developed at the University of Zurich and tested in five European countries. (shrink)

Using diversity climate theory and research, this paper examines the relationships among an organization’s actions which indicate a value for age diversity and potential applicants’ reactions toward that organization. Specifically, we investigate the interactive effects of an organization’s age diversity, an organization’s age diversity management practices, and potential applicants’ individual attitudes toward age diversity on two outcome variables, organizational attractiveness and expected age discrimination. We conducted an experimental survey study with a sample of 244 German employees likely to be in (...) the job market again in their careers. Organizational age diversity and age diversity management practices were positively related to organizational attractiveness and negatively related to expected age discrimination. Results also support a three-way interaction of an organization’s age diversity, an organization’s age diversity management practices, and potential applicants’ attitudes toward age diversity on both dependent variables. The findings demonstrate the importance of considering individual attitudes toward age diversity in assessing the effectiveness of an organization’s age diversity and age diversity management practices. (shrink)

Hate is widespread online, hits everyone, and carries negative consequences. Crowd moderation—user-assisted moderation through, e. g., reporting or counter-speech—is heralded as a potential remedy. We explore this potential by linking insights on online bystander interventions to the analogy of crowd moderation as a (lost) public good. We argue that the distribution of costs and benefits of engaging in crowd moderation forecasts a collective action problem. If the individual crowd member has limited incentive to react when witnessing hate, crowd moderation is (...) unlikely to manifest. We explore this argument empirically, investigating several preregistered hypotheses about the distribution of individual-level costs and benefits of response options to online hate using a large, nationally representative survey of Danish social media users (N = 24,996). In line with expectations, we find that bystander reactions, especially costly reactions, are rare. Furthermore, we find a positive correlation between exposure to online hate and withdrawal motivations, and a negative (n-shaped) correlation with bystander reactions. (shrink)

Interpreters generally agree that the Fifth Cartesian Meditation fails to achieve its task, but they do not agree on what that task is. In my essay, I attempt to formulate the question to which the Fifth Cartesian Meditation gives the answer. While it is usually assumed that the text poses a rather ambitious question, I suggest that the text asks, How is the Other given to me on the most basic level? The answer would be that the Other is given (...) as accessible in the mode of inaccessibility. Husserl’s failure to convey this question clearly seems rooted in ambiguities concerning the concepts of solipsism and the sphere of ownness. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungEines der medizinischen Felder, in dem die ethische Diskussion um die „wunscherfüllende Medizin“ am intensivsten geführt wird, ist die Reproduktionsmedizin, die die Erfüllung des „Kinderwunsches“ verspricht. Strittig ist besonders, ob Sterilität als Krankheit definiert wird, die eine medizinische Intervention rechtfertigt, ob sich aus der Sterilität oder Infertilität lediglich ein Abwehr- oder auch ein positives Anspruchsrecht auf medizinische Ressourcen ergibt, ob legitime Fortpflanzungsmedizin Grenzen hat. Nach einer Übersicht über Eckpunkte der nationalen und internationalen Debatte beschreiben wir im zweiten Teil Ansichten zum (...) Status ungewollter Kinderlosigkeit, zum Recht auf Fortpflanzungsmedizin und zur möglichen Legitimität ihrer Begrenzung anhand der Ergebnisse unserer vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) geförderten Studien. Während der letzten fünf Jahre haben wir u. a. Paare mit und ohne Sterilitätsproblematik sowie verschiedene Expertengruppen qualitativ und standardisiert befragt. Die stark divergierenden Auffassungen konfrontieren wir im dritten Abschnitt mit internationalen Standards, zum anderen mit dem „Capability-Ansatz“ und dem freiheitsfunktionalen Liberalismus von Sen und Pauer-Studer. Dies ergibt, dass die Bereitstellung verschiedener Möglichkeiten der In-vitro-Fertilisations-(IVF-)Behandlung nicht lediglich einen Wunsch auf Elternschaft erfüllt sondern als die gesollte Erfüllung eines normativen Bedürfnissanspruchs begriffen werden muss. (shrink)