Name der Zeitschrift: Jahrbuch für Wissenschaft und Ethik Jahrgang: 16 Heft: 1 Seiten: 41-64.

The COVID-19 pandemic plunged economies into recessions and advancements in artificial intelligence create widespread automation of job tasks. A debate around how to address these challenges has moved the introduction of a universal basic income (UBI) center stage. However, existing UBI research mainly focuses on economic aspects and normative arguments but lacks an individual perspective that goes beyond examining the association between socio-demographic characteristics and UBI support. We add to this literature by investigating not only socio-demographic but also psychological predictors (...) of UBI acceptance in a multivariate analysis using a representative sample of the German working population collected in 2020 (N = 1986). Our results indicate that being more supportive of a UBI went along with being comparably younger, of East-German origin, and more in favor of equal living standards, as well as perceiving one’s economic situation to be worse and the threat of the corona-pandemic to be higher. (shrink)

Past research found performance differences between monolingual and bilingual children in the domain of executive functions. Furthermore, recent studies have reported advantages in processing efficiency or mental effort in bilingual adults and children. These studies mostly focused on the investigation of “cold” EF tasks. Studies including measures of “hot” EF, i.e., tasks operating in an emotionally significant setting, are limited and hence results are inconclusive. In the present study, we extend previous research by investigating performance in a task of the (...) “hot” EF domain by both behavioral data and mental effort via pupillary changes during task performance. Seventy-three monolingual and bilingual school children solved the Iowa Gambling Task in two different conditions. In the standard task, characterized by constant gains and occasional losses, children did not learn to improve their decision-making behavior. In a reversed task version, characterized by constant losses and occasional gains, both monolinguals and bilinguals learned to improve their decision-making behavior over the course of the task. In both versions of the task, children switched choices more often after losses than after gains. Bilinguals switched their choices less often than monolinguals in the reversed task, indicating a slightly more mature decision-making strategy. Mental effort did not differ between monolinguals and bilinguals. Conclusions of these findings for the bilingual advantage assumption will be discussed. (shrink)

Sleep helps to protect and renew hippocampus-dependent declarative learning. Less is known about forms of learning that mainly engage the dopaminergic reward system. Animal studies showed that exogenous melatonin modulates the responses of the dopaminergic reward system and acts as a neuroprotectant promoting memory. In humans, melatonin is mainly secreted in darkness during evening hours supporting sleep. In this study, we investigate the effects of a short period of daytime sleep (nap) and endogenous melatonin on reward learning. Twenty-seven healthy, adult (...) students took part in an experiment, either taking a 90-min afternoon nap or watching videos (within-subject design). Before and after the sleep vs. wake interval, saliva melatonin levels and reward learning were measured, and in the nap condition, a polysomnogram was obtained. Reward learning was assessed using a two-alternative probabilistic reinforcement-learning task. Sleep itself and subjective arousal or valence had no significant effects on reward learning. However, this study showed for the first time that an afternoon nap can elicit a small but significant melatonin response in about 41% of the participants and that the magnitude of the melatonin response predicts subsequent reward learning. Only in melatonin responders did a short nap improve reward learning. The difference between melatonin-responders and non-responders occurred very early during learning indicating that melatonin might have improved working memory rather than reward learning. Future studies should use paradigms differentiating working memory and reward learning to clarify which aspect of human feedback learning might profit from melatonin. (shrink)

aspirations, the rise of western monasticism was the most note worthy event of the early centuries. The importance of monasteries cannot be overstressed as sources of spirituality, learning and auto nomy in the intensely masculinized, militarized feudal period. Drawing their members from the highest levels of society, women's monasteries provided an outlet for the energy and ambition of strong-willed women, as well as positions of considerable authority. Even from periods relatively inhospitable to learning of all kinds, the memory has been (...) preserved of a good number of women of education. Their often considerable achievements and influence, however, generally lie outside even an expanded definition of philo sophy. Among the most notable foremothers of this early period were several whose efforts signal the possibility of later philosophical work. Radegund, in the sixth century, established one of the first Frankish convents, thereby laying the foundations for women's spiritual and intellectual development. From these beginnings, women's monasteries increased rapidly in both number and in fluence both on the continent and in Anglo-Saxon England. Hilda (d. 680) is well known as the powerful abbsess of the double monastery of Whitby. She was eager for knowledge, and five Eng lish bishops were educated under her tutelage. She is also accounted the patron of Caedmon, the first Anglo-Saxon poet of religious verse. The Anglo-Saxon nun Lioba was versed in the liberal arts as well as Scripture and canon law. (shrink)

In seinem Werk "Philosophie als Lebensform" vertritt Pierre Hadot (1922-2010) die These, dass die Philosophie bis zu Beginn der hochmittelalterlichen Scholastik nicht primar Wissenschaft mit Anspruch auf systematische Stimmigkeit und Objektivitat sei, sondern auf einen psychologisch-padagogischen Effekt fur die Lebenspraxis abziele: Die Philosophie der hellenistischen und romischen Epoche stellt sich als eine Lebensweise, eine Lebenskunst und eine Seinsweise dar. Es geht darum, das Sein des Menschen zu verwandeln und ihm zum Gluck zu verhelfen. Das fruhe Christentum sowie das mittelalterliche Monchtum (...) knupften daran an und verstanden das spirituelle Leben als philosophia, die durch die Praxis geistiger Ubungen in Christus den alten Menschen ablegt und den neuen anzieht (vgl. Eph 4,22-24). In der Mystik, die seit Dionysius Areopagita (ca. 500 n. Chr.) zu einem expliziten Inhalt des Denkens wird, spitzt sich dieses Spannungsverhaltnis zwischen Theorie und Praxis zu. Per definitionem ist Mystik eine uberwaltigende Erfahrung, die alle Affekte involviert. Aber genau diese Erfahrung wird schon in der vorchristlichen griechischen Philosophie zum Inhalt einer rationalen Reflexion. Dementsprechend oszilliert der Begriff einer theologia mystica zwischen unmittelbarem Erleben und systematischer Theorie. Mit Beitragen von Rolf Darge, Lioba Fau OSB, Paul D. Hellmeier OP, Johannes Herzgsell SJ, William J. Hoye, Johann Kreuzer, Isabelle Mandrella, Johannes Schaber OSB, Christian Schafer, Peter Sloterdijk, Wolfgang Speyer und Martin Thurner. (shrink)