ZusammenfassungHumes Enquiry concerning Human Understanding entfaltet eine Konzeption von Freiheit und Verantwortlichkeit, der zufolge beides mit der These der »Notwendigkeit« vereinbar ist. Hume wirft dabei die Frage auf, ob ein Mensch oder Gott für moralisch böses Handeln dieses Menschen verantwortlich ist, wenn Gott existiert und als Schöpfer der Welt auch das Handeln von Menschen bestimmt. Der Aufsatz untersucht, welche Antwort Hume auf diese Frage gibt und welche Folgen sich aus seiner Antwort für eine angemessene Konzeption von menschlicher Freiheit und Verantwortlichkeit (...) ergeben. Wie deutlich wird, legt Hume sich darauf fest, dass in dem Fall, den er beschreibt, sowohl der Mensch als auch Gott frei und verantwortlich Handelnde sind. Wenn das zutrifft, müssen die Kriterien für Freiheit und Verantwortlichkeit grundsätzlich anders aufzufassen sein, als es der Forderung nach einem »ersten« oder »absoluten« Anfang oder einer »letzten« oder »wahren« Verantwortlichkeit entspricht. Humes Diskussion verdeutlicht, dass wir diese Forderung in Frage stellen sollten. (shrink)

This book, first published in 1992, attempts to unify the economic analysis of the production process in order to understand the effects of technical change. It is both an analytical representation of the production process, taking into account the temporal, organizational, and qualitative dimensions of production, and a fact-finding model for studying the economic effects of technical change. The inclusion of temporal and organizational aspects allows the author to examine the analytical implications of research on the nature of firms and (...) the characteristics of technical change, whilst the model is used to analyse technical changes that involve variations of scale or degrees of flexibility. This book deals with themes much discussed in research in industrial economics and management studies and is an important contribution to bringing these two areas of research closer together, providing a general framework for the study of production processes. (shrink)

Historians of science and technology and STS practitioners have always taken intellectual property very seriously but, with some notable exceptions, they have typically refrained from looking “into” it. There is mounting evidence, however, that they can open up the black box of IP as effectively as they have done for the technosciences, enriching their discipline while making significant contributions to legal studies. One approach is to look at the technologies through which patent law construes its object – the invention – (...) in specific settings and periods by examining procedures, classifications, archives, models, repositories, patent specifications (in both their linguistic and pictorial dimensions), and the highly specialized language of patent claims. More ambitiously, we could treat intellectual property as a technology itself. Patent law does not evolve either by merely articulating its doctrine in response to technological developments. The line between what does and does not count as invention may be redrawn with the emergence of new objects and technologies, but is not determined by them. It is this constructive feature of the law that we are trying to capture with the notion of law as technology. We hope that thinking about the technologies of the law and the law as technology will bring into question what we mean by both “technology” and “law”. (shrink)

How do we react to uncomfortable futures? By developing the notion of chronopolitics, this article presents two ways that we typically react to future challenges in the present. At the core of the chronopolitics of prevention, we find a striving for normalization and conservation of the present vis-à-vis dangerous futures. In contrast, the chronopolitics of preemption are geared towards a reformation, if not even a revolution of the present. Two case studies in the field of science and technology policy illustrate (...) the difference between prevention and preemption. The debate on human embryonic stem cells illuminates prevention. The debate on nanotechnology clarifies preemption. (shrink)

La recepción que Heidegger tiene del idealismo alemán data de sus primeros años de formación y ejerce una influencia duradera hasta su pensar maduro. Al interior de ella un caso paradigmático es su interpretación del Freiheitschrift de Schelling en el Sommersemester de 1936. En el presente escrito nos ocuparemos de mostrar como su lectura tiene dos consecuencias centrales. La primera, a partir de su análisis del devenir divino eterno de Dios tal como lo plantea Schelling modifica su propia teoría de (...) la temporalidad originaria en un aspecto central: pasa a considerar a la eternidad ya no como una mera sucesión intemporal de ahoras, sino como núcleo central del tiempo. La segunda cónsecuencia radica en que el examen de las implicancias de este devenir divino articulado con una metafísica del mal permiten a Heidegger revisar el lugar del concepto de hombre que venia utilizando en su lectura de Kant hacia 1929. (shrink)

En este artículo se ofrece una re-lectura del ensayo de Moore “The refutation of idealism” que, oponiéndose a lo que es la tendencia mayoritaria, llama la atención sobre el hecho de que la crítica al idealismo remite en Moore, en última instancia, a la propuesta de una teoría de la subjetividad cuya base es introspectivo-fenomenológica.: In this paper a new reading of Moore’s essay “The refutation of idealism” is offered, which, in opposition to the main trend, stresses the fact that (...) Moore’s criticism of idealism is related ultimately to the proposal of a theory of subjectivity whose foundations are phenomenological and introspective.Keywords: Moore, idealism, subjectivity, phenomenology. (shrink)

Resumen: Este texto consiste básicamente en una presentación general de la corriente filosófica del nuevo realismo surgida en 2007 y en la que participan autores europeos y norteamericanos. Un punto en común de las diversas posiciones dentro de esta corriente es el deslinde crítico frente a la filosofía posmoderna y a la filosofía moderna en general. Explico esta crítica y sus implicaciones para la posibilidad de un restablecimiento en la filosofía contemporánea del pensamiento metafísico.: This text is basically an overview (...) of philosophical new realism which emerged in 2007 and involves European and American authors. A common point to the various positions within this current is a critical detachment from postmodern philosophy and modern philosophy in general. i explain this criticism and its implications for the possibility of a restoration in contemporary philosophy of metaphysical thought. (shrink)

Resumen En este ensayo ofrezco una comparación entre la filosofía del pensador marxista alemán Ernst Bloch y la del pensador francés Quentin Meillassoux a propósito del hecho de que ambos plantean una fundamentación ontológica de la esperanza y de una política de la esperanza. En el primer apartado, presento el concepto religioso de esperanza que critican los filósofos mencionados; en el segundo, abordo la concepción dialéctico-materialista de Bloch; en el tercer apartado, expongo la concepción de Meillassoux, que interpreto como una (...) radicalización crítica de una filosofía inmanente y materialista de la esperanza. A lo largo del ensayo y en la breve conclusión, muestro las semejanzas y diferencias entre las concepciones de ambos pensadores y apuesto por la superioridad, por su mayor consistencia teórica, de la perspectiva de Meillassoux.In this essay I offer a comparison between the philosophy of the German Marxist thinker Ernst Bloch and that of the French thinker Quentin Meillassoux apropos of the fact that both put forward an ontological foundation of hope and a politics of hope. In the first section I present the religious concept -criticized by Bloch and Meillassoux- of hope; in the second I explore the dialectical-materialist conception of Bloch, and in the third section I present the conception of Meillassoux, which I interpret as a critical radicalization of an immanent and materialist philosophy of hope. Throughout the essay and in the brief conclusion I show the similarities and differences between the conceptions of both thinkers and, due to its greater theoretical consistency, favor the perspective of Meillassoux. (shrink)

The paper investigates the problems whether a concrete individual can be defined as a set or be characterized by an abstract theory. In particular, Jesês Mosterín’s objection to a theory of things proposed by the present author is discussed. Also, the view of scientific theories held by Sneed, and adopted by Mosterln, is analyzed. It is concluded that any adequate description of a concrete individual calls for more than a mathematical formalism.

Background: Advance care planning gives patients and their family members the possibility to consider and make decisions regarding future care and medical procedures. Aim: To explore the view of people in the early stage of dementia on planning for future care. Research design: The study is a qualitative interview study with a semistructured interview guide. The data were analyzed according to the Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven. Participants and research context: Dementia nurses assisted in the recruiting of people with dementia (...) for participation in the study. Study information was mailed to 95 people with early stage dementia. Ten people with dementia and eight caregiver spouses participated in the study. Ethical considerations: People with dementia belong to a vulnerable patient group, and care was taken in the areas of informed consent and accessible information. Findings: The views of people with dementia are characterized by a complex storyline involving tensions and movement within the themes of wants, beliefs, and levels of insight. Participants wanted to think about the future but also wanted to live in the here and now. Discussion: High demands are placed on the advance care planning process for people with dementia and their family caregivers. A dignity-enhancing approach in dementia care emphasizes the dignity of and respect for this vulnerable and care-dependent patient group. Conclusion: The process of advance care planning in dementia care needs to go beyond person-centered care to a relationship-centered process. The illness trajectory and the impact on autonomy need to be taken into consideration. (shrink)

The paper intends to bridge the existing gap between aesthetic knowledge and contemporary society. The first part focuses on the cultural turn in aesthetics, the roots of which can already be found in the English criticism of the eighteenth century. This enterprise is inspired by a methodology that regards aesthetics as a "meeting place" of many disciplines and varying cultural traditions. A second type of cultural turn is carried out by writers (e.g. Baudelaire): the target of their polemic is the (...) concept of aesthetic disinterestedness. According to them, the beautiful, instead, has to create the greatest interest because it is none other than the promise of happiness. However, the two different approaches are not so incompatible as seems at first sight. Finally, the text focuses on the New Age and the culture of performance, which, even if presenting opposite traits, have one thing in common: they translate at the empirical and factual level experiences that originally belonged to another sphere, namely the spiritual and the symbolic. (shrink)

The text is looking for a political explanation of the turn in Western attitude to pornography which has taken place since the sixties and even more so since the seventies. More surprising than the liberalization of pornography itself appears the massive pornographic self-exposure even by minors since the turn of the millennium. In addition to the reasons for this extraordinary permissiveness, the paper questions the role of technical and audiovisual media in this social development.