The 2018 eligibility regulation for female competitors with differences of sexual development (DSD) issued by World Athletics requires competitors with DSD with blood testosterone levels at or above 5 nmol/L and sufficient androgen sensitivity to be excluded from competition in certain events unless they reduce the level of testosterone in their blood. This paper formalises and then critically assesses the fairness-based argument offered in support of this regulation by the federation. It argues that it is unclear how the biological advantage (...) singled out by the regulation as an appropriate target for diminishment, is relevantly different from other biological advantages that athletes may enjoy, and specifically that Sigmund Loland’s recent attempt to drive a wedge between heightened levels of blood testosterone and other biological advantages fails. The paper also suggests that even if heightened blood testosterone levels do differ relevantly from other types of biological advantage, the regulation is further challenged by studies indicating that athletes with blood testosterone at the high end of the normal range have a competitive advantage over athletes with blood testosterone levels at the low end of it. Finally, the paper contends that the premises of the fairness-based argument do not unequivocally support the conclusion that DSD athletes with heightened levels of testosterone should diminish those levels, since, just as powerfully, they support allowing athletes with normal levels of testosterone to use performance-enhancing drugs in the name of fairness. (shrink)

Saying that x is ineffable seems to be paradoxical – either I cannot say anything about x, not even that it is ineffable – or I can say that it is ineffable, but then I can say something and it is not ineffable. In this article, I discuss Alston’s version of the paradox and a solution proposed by Hick which employs the concept of formal and substantial predicates. I reject Hick’s proposal and develop a different account based on some passages (...) from Pseudo-Dionysius’ Mystica Theologia. ‘God is ineffable’ is a metalinguistic statement concerning propositions about God: not all propositions about God are expressible in a human language. (shrink)

Why do we seek out and enjoy uncertain success in playing games? Game designers and researchers suggest that games whose challenges match player skills afford engaging experiences of achievement, competence, or effectance—ofdoing well. Yet, current models struggle to explain why such balanced challenges best afford these experiences and do not straightforwardly account for the appeal of high- and low-challenge game genres like Idle and Soulslike games. In this article, we show that Predictive Processing (PP) provides a coherent formal cognitive framework (...) which can explain the fun in tackling game challenges with uncertain success as the dynamic process of reducing uncertainty surprisingly efficiently. In gameplay as elsewhere, people enjoydoing better than expected, which can track learning progress. In different forms, balanced, Idle, and Soulslike games alike afford regular accelerations of uncertainty reduction. We argue that this model also aligns with a popular practitioner model, Raph Koster’sTheory of Fun for Game Design, and can unify currently differentially modelled gameplay motives around competence and curiosity. (shrink)

The essay represents teaching as the coming to be of the human individual. In order to do so, it reflects on the character of human life by which it is knowledge of itself. Being knowledge of itself, human life is self-determining or free. Therefore generality and particularity come together in the human being in a distinctive way: a human being is not an exemplar, instance or specimen of a species, nature or life-form. Rather, she is her own principle. This is (...) captured in the idea of the human being as an individual. The essay reveals teaching to be the form of coming to be which is proper to what is an individual in this sense. In this way, the essay shows teaching to be internal to human freedom. (shrink)

Sebastian Schmidt (Zürich) fragt in seinem Beitrag »Wie vernünftig sind Verschwörungstheoretiker?«, wie es um die Vernunft derjenigen steht, die einer Verschwörungstheorie über die Corona-Pandemie anhängen. Im Umgang mit Corona scheint sich zu bestätigen, was die Psychologie seit Jahrzehnten lehrt: Menschen unterliegen in ihrem Denken kognitiven Fehlern und Verzerrungen. Doch ist verschwörungstheoretisches Denken, das solche Fehler ebenfalls begeht, deshalb irrational? Schmidt warnt davor, einander zu leichtfertig als irrational zu betrachten, und verweist auf die wichtige Rolle, die intellektuelles Vertrauen in Wissensgemeinschaften (...) spielt. Am Beispiel des sogenannten Bestätigungsfehlers führt er aus, dass Menschen, die ihre Überzeugungen nicht fortwährend kritisch prüfen, in diesem Verhalten durchaus rational sein können. (shrink)

Despite the efforts of meta-ethical expressivists to rebut such worries, one objection raised over and over again against expressivism is that, if the theory is true, matters of morality must be mind-dependent in some objectionable way. This paper develops an argument which not only shows that this is and cannot be the case, but also – and perhaps more importantly – offers a diagnosis why philosophers are nevertheless so often led to think otherwise.

Die Naturphilosophie und die Politische Philosophie werden gemeinhin als Disziplinen aufgefasst, die grundlegend verschiedene Problembereiche zum Gegenstand haben. Die Aporien zu überwinden, welche daraus resultieren, ist die Pointe von Plessners Philosophischer Anthropologie. In dieser Studie wird gezeigt, wie Plessner in der Aneignung elementarer Topoi der klassischen Ontologie eine strukturell neuartige "Ontologie des Organischen" entwickelt. Dieser von Plessner beiläufig verwendete Ausdruck wird in dieser Studie systematisch entwickelt. Was dabei elaboriert wird, ist eine komplexe naturphilosophische "Ontologie des Ausgleichs". In dieser Ontologie des (...) Ausgleichs werden elementare naturphilosophische Ausgleichsleistungen expliziert, die als solche einen Doppelsinn haben: was auf der organismischen Ebene strukturell als Ausgleich des organischen Körpers mit sich selbst und der Umwelt expliziert wird, nimmt im menschlichen Bereich die Gestalt einer Ontologie der Personen an, wo die strukturell identische Ausgleichsleistung als das Spiel der Personalisierung zu vollziehen ist. Plessners Ansatz wird hier als ein auf diese Fragen neuartig antwortender, gleichberechtigt als ontologischer und sozialphilosophischer Ansatz expliziert. (shrink)

During the period of military-backed government, South Korea faced various political and economic challenges: poverty and inequality in society; human rights abuses by military governments; and confrontation with the communist North. This article examines Psalm 85: 10 in the light of the political context of South Korea and the way minjung theologians and artists understood and utilized the passage for their struggle with the governments and mega-companies. The article argues that the fight for justice for the poor and oppressed is (...) what has brought a sustainable peace in South Korea, and that although justice seeking and peace-building should be implemented simultaneously as the Scripture implies, if one has to prioritize between the two, justice-seeking has to take precedence. (shrink)

Dalit studies are making a come back. This is also reflected in the field of Indian Christian theology where Dalit theology has emerged as a separate discipline and not simply as a branch of theology. Dominant forms of discourse have the disconcerting habit of raising questions like ‘relevance’ and ‘viability’ which forces people to enter into the ‘bypass mode’. Questions raising issues like ‘reality’ and ‘representation’, often lead to internecine conflicts that help no one but the dominant discourses. Although much (...) has been achieved, including major interventions in the field of Biblical studies and hermeneutics and the rediscovery of Dalit literature, there is much that still needs to be done in the field of Dalit theology. (shrink)

Die öffentliche Diskussion um die „personalisierte Medizin“ legt nahe, dass mit diesem medizinischen Ansatz hohe Erwartungen an einen Beitrag zur klinischen Versorgung verbunden werden. Über die Wahrnehmungen und Bewertungen klinisch tätiger Ärzte ist jedoch wenig bekannt. Die vorliegende qualitative Interviewstudie gibt einen Einblick bezüglich des Einflusses „personalisierter Medizin“ auf die klinische Praxis aus ärztlicher Perspektive. Die Ärzte im vorliegenden Sample nehmen „personalisierte Medizin“ zwar als einen medizinischen Fortschritt wahr, sehen allerdings keine grundsätzliche Veränderung der bisherigen medizinischen Praxis. Als zentrales Problem (...) wird die Handhabung und Verwertung von molekulargenetischen Informationen für Diagnose und Therapie in der klinischen Praxis thematisiert. In Anbetracht der Ergebnisse muss infrage gestellt werden, ob „personalisierte Medizin“ nicht das Gegenteil von dem, was ihr Name nahe legt – eine personenorientiertere Medizin – bewirkt. Die Strategien im Umgang mit den Informationsmassen produzieren selbst neue Herausforderungen, die ein Hindernis für eine personenorientierte Medizin darstellen könnten. (shrink)

In a series of essays, Bratman defines a concept, which we may call the concept of Bratmanian action by many. Our discussion of this concept, in section 1, reveals that it is not the one called to mind by the usual examples of joint action. Section 2 lays alongside it a different concept of doing something together. According to it, many are doing A together if and only if the principle of the actions in which they are doing A is (...) a joint intention to do A, an act of intending that is theirs. It seems fitting to call this joint intentional action. In distinction to Bratmanian action by many, joint intentional action is ubiquitous in human life. This raises the question what may be the interest of Bratman's concept. Its interest can reside only in a relation it bears to the concept of joint intentional action. Section 3 discusses the suggestion that Bratmanian action by many is a precursor of joint action in human phylogenesis. This is wrong because subjects are capable of Bratmanian action only in virtue of being subjects of joint action. (shrink)

Autor omawia ontologię polityczną współczesnego anarchizmu, nawiązujący przy tym do klasycznego anarchizmu oraz do myślicieli postanarchizmu, w szczególności do Saula Newmana. Wskazuje przy tym, jak współcześni filozofowie związani z postanarchizmem pracują nad statyczną ontologią polityczna anarchizmu poprzez myśl poststrukturalną oraz jak za pomocą współczesnych pojęć filozoficznych dekonstruują oświeceniowe podstawy anarchizmu. Zamiarem tekstu jest wskazanie nie tylko na różnice pomiędzy anarchizmem a postanarchizmem, ale raczej dostrzeżenie pomiędzy nimi silnej zależności. Tekst stanowi przegląd i omówienie koncpecji postanarchizmu w kontekście ontologii politycznej, współczesnej (...) filozofii politycznej oraz historii idei. (shrink)

In this paper, I argue that there are indispensable and irreducible metaphors in religious language and that this does not threaten a realist interpretation of religion. I first sketch a realist theory of religious language and argue that we cannot avoid addressing the problems metaphor poses to semantics. I then give a brief account of what it means for a metaphorical sentence to be true and how metaphors can refer to something even if what they mean is not expressible in (...) literal terms. Finally, I discuss how this realist theory of metaphor influences our understanding of negative theology and gives a new perspective on religious pluralism. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie Jahrgang: 65 Heft: 2 Seiten: 211-238.

Summary Until recently it was believed that Christian Huygens’ earliest publication of his pendulum invention was Horologium of 1658. He published the more famous general treatise, Horologium Oscillatorium, fifteen years later in 1673. Two years ago, an article1 suggesting an unknown collaboration in developing the clock pendulum between Huygens and the Paris clockmaker Isaac Thuret, presented the evidence of Benjamin Martin, an 18th century educationalist and retailer of scientific material. Martin described a Huygens publication of 1657 and reproduced the illustration (...) it contained. This illustration shows a different clock from the one drawn in Horologium and different also from those previously considered as Huygens’ earliest surviving examples. However, the illustration is similar to part of a plate in Horologium Oscillatorium and this similarity caused one historian to cast doubt on the existence of the 1657 publication.2 This article, with information presented for the first time, seeks to prove the existence of that work and thereby establish it in the canon of Huygens’ writings while re-examining the invention in the light that it casts. 1Whitestone, Sebastian, ‘The Identification and Attribution of Christiaan Huygens’ First Pendulum Clock', Antiquarian Horology, December (2008), 201–222. 2Plomp, R., ‘Letter', Antiquarian Horology, December (2009), 714–17. See also author's reply, ibid, 717–19. (shrink)

Human rights are a contested concept. One important strand of criticism concerns the charge of their Eurocentrism, formulated in particular by postcolonial theorists and scholars. Although postcolonial perspectives are now increasingly acknowledged, attempts to incorporate non-Western approaches into the discourse on human rights are still rare. This article considers whether Islamic human rights concepts can address the postcolonial critiques and decenter human rights discourse and politics from the West. Working within the methodological framework of comparative political thought, the article regards (...) Islamic approaches not simply as counter-discourses but analyzes their potential to supplement the dominant theory and practice of human rights and correct some of its inherent flaws. Informed by the critical analysis of Makau Mutua and Gayatri C. Spivak, the primary focus is on alternatives to the liberal individualist framework of human rights as evident in the concept of the autonomous individual subject of rights, and the balancing of individual rights with ethics and notions of responsibility in particular. (shrink)

Before an aggregation of persons can be said to constitute a community there must exist a sharing of a body of norms or values, or asystem of beliefs or morals. In sociology this conception frequentlyappears in the term “consensus,” and in political science a similar conception goes by the phrase “social contract.” The two conceptions are not identical and an important point of difference will be touched on later, but according to this position knowledge of and adherence to the fundamental (...) rules is necessary to group unity or cohesion. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie Jahrgang: 65 Heft: 2 Seiten: 267-282.

En este ensayo nos ocupamos del tema de la confesión protestante, en el marco de las tesis de Foucault sobre el saber y el poder. Para ello, nos apoyamos en dos tradiciones distintas: de un lado, el análisis de Weber de la relación entre la ascesis y el capitalismo en las sociedades reformistas; de otro lado, el análisis político de Foucault sobre la pastoral en cuanto estrategia de poder que está vinculada a la cuestión sobre la subjetividad. La hipótesis es (...) que la confesión protestante puede ser analizada a la luz de los postulados sobre el poder, para tratar de mostrar cómo la cuestión del uso del tiempo y la disciplina en la actividad son cuestiones que están, en parte, en el origen –en sentido genealógico– de los dispositivos de codificación moral de las sociedades modernas. En la primera parte, interesa ver cómo la confesión protestante constituye una estrategia de poder que articula los sujetos al problema del gobierno de sí. El objetivo es describir la emergencia de ciertas modalidades confesionales, relacionadas con los manuales casuísticos o tratados sobre el arte de gobernarse a sí mismo, que derivan en prácticas de control de la actividad. Luego, nos ocupamos del problema de la subjetividad, caracterizándola mediante el concepto de pliegue. Para cerrar, aprovechamos las reflexiones sobre la confesión protestante para responder a la pregunta de ¿cómo es que los enunciados devienen práctica social? (shrink)

Este ensayo nace de una intuición de Baudrillard según la cual en la actualidad asistimos a un régimen de la imagen que impone una cierta manera en la que se relaciona la sexualidad con la imagen del cuerpo. En el plano de la imagen, se pone al cuerpo en exhibición y, al tiempo, una particular pretensión de señalar al sexo. Lejos de circunscribirse a una experiencia íntima del deseo, la imagen anuncia que el sexo ha quedado detenido en una relación (...) simbólica que se caracteriza por la promesa del fetiche, por la posibilidad de la excitación y por la compulsión de ver; lo demás, dirá Baudrillard, es literatura. Pues bien, en este ensayo nos interesa tanto lo uno como lo otro. A través del concepto de erotismo tratamos de captar aquello que hace de la sexualidad una experiencia radicalmente interior; por medio del concepto de pornografía nos ocupamos de la relación entre el cuerpo, la imagen y el sexo. La primera parte está dedicada al concepto de pornografía como obscenidad a partir del análisis de Baudrillard en la Seducción y en El intercambio simbólico y la muerte. En la segunda, se trata de mostrar que el concepto de erotismo puede ser entendido como experiencia interior y conciencia de la “apuesta de sí”. La tercera parte, trata de poner en juego ambos conceptos a través del ejercicio literario de Miller y Jelinek con el fin de establecer el marco general del problema de la delimitación entre la imagen “porno” y el erotismo como experiencia interior. La parte final está dedicada a exponer algunas preguntas que nacen de la contraposición de los conceptos de erotismo y pornografía. (shrink)

In der Medizinethik haben sich moralische Gründe, die die Würde des Patienten betreffen, gerade auch in Fragen am Lebensende als wichtige Grundlage praktischen Überlegens neben solchen des Wohlergehens und der Autonomie fest etabliert. Dabei hat es sich eingebürgert, zwischen Gesichtspunkten zu unterscheiden, die die kontingente Würde einer Person in den Blick nehmen, und solchen, die sich auf eine nicht-kontingente Würde ihrer Träger beziehen. In diesem Aufsatz möchte ich auf eine weitere Grundlage aufmerksam machen, die von Überlegungen, die von der Menschenwürde (...) der Betroffenen in beiderlei Art ihren Ausgangspunkt nehmen, verdeckt zu werden drohen: Moralische Gründe, die sich der Bewahrung oder Vermehrung des Sinns verschrieben haben, den Menschen in ihrem Leben sehen oder vermissen. Diese Sinn-Gründe, so mein Argument, weisen einige strukturelle Gemeinsamkeiten zu Würde-Überlegungen auf, die auf eine gemeinsame ontologische Grundlage und überlappende Gehalte beider zurückzuführen sind. Dessen unbeschadet haben beide Arten von Gründen eigenständige Funktionen beim Nachdenken über medizinethische Probleme; tatsächlich haben Gründe des Sinns im Falle moralischer Herausforderungen am Lebensende oftmals sogar den Primat in dem Sinne, dass sie konstitutiv in Würde-Gründe eingehen können und auch unabhängig davon auf moralisch relevante Gesichtspunkte verweisen. (shrink)

Resumen: Este artículo tiene como objetivo presentar un diálogo entre los conceptos de red de Bruno Latour y malla de Tim Ingold. La presentación de este diálogo se funda en la exploración de los desafíos que surgen al poner en valor a los no-humanos y al tratar la cuestión de la experiencia. Esta noción se introduce para clarificar la forma en que el vínculo entre humanos y no-humanos se desarrolla temporalmente. Así, se observan diferencias entre un “cuerpo aplanado” y un (...) “organismo que experimenta”, alternativas a ideas de aprendizajes y habilidades como socialización o habitus. Finalmente, se trata la reubicación que realiza Latour de la noción de red en su obra tardía, en lo que se considera la existencia de un énfasis experiencial. Se concluye señalando que el desarrollo conceptual presentado debe verse menos como una contraposición entre modelos teóricos estabilizados, que como una reflexión en movimiento ligada a formas experimentales de investigación.: This article aims to present a dialogue between Latour's notion of network with Ingold's concept of meshwork. This dialogue is based on the exploration of the challenges that arise in valuing non-humans in the analysis of these authors. To clarify how the link between humans and nonhumans is specifically developed, I introduce the pragmatic notion of experience. In this line, I described the differences between a “flattened body” and a “body that experiences”, in what is considered an experiential emphasis. Finally, Latour's relocation of the notion of network in his later work is discussed. The article concludes by pointing out that the conceptual development presented should be seen less as a contrast between stabilized theoretical models, than as a reflection in movement linked to experimental forms of research. (shrink)

Assisted dying and human dignity are two extremely contested topics in Bioethics. This volume offers the first book-length attempt to bring both together. Its authors develop detailed philosophical analyses of dignity, and how it relates to assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Author: Kołodziejczyk Sebastian Tomasz Title: ON THE MUTUAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CONCEPT OF BEING AND THE PLURALITY OF METAPHYSICAL DISCOURSES (O związkach między wielością dyskursów metafizycznych a pojęciem bytu) Source: Filo-Sofija year: 2011, vol:.15, number: 2011/4, pages: 865-880 Keywords: METAPHYSICS, ARISTOTLE, BEING, CONCEPT OF BEING, CATEGORIES, UNIVERSALS, PARTICULARS, PARTICULARITY Discipline: PHILOSOPHY Language: POLISH Document type: ARTICLE Publication order reference (Primary author’s office address): E-mail: www:The aim of the paper is to argue that there is a mutual relationship between the (...) concept of being as it is conceived of in the classical Aristotelian metaphysics and the plurality of possible metaphysical discourses. That thesis is rooted in the inherent ambiguity of the concept of being and some consequences connected therewith. Three forms of metaphysical thinking are taken into account: the metaphysics of formal interpretation of the concept of being, metaphysics of existential determination of being, and metaphysics of the material content of every conceptual representation of being. (shrink)

Starting with an empirical study of several Jehovah’s Witnesses1 congregations we aim to highlight the social mechanisms of religious conversion and the phases an individual passes through before becoming a Witness. By applying Lewis Rambo’s systemic stage model of conversion we are able to identify a series of elements that characterize the conversion to this religion in Romania, such as: social filtering, delegitimation of the previous religion, and incipient identification with the Witnesses’ group. The article asserts that the Witnesses’ decision (...) to convert implies the deliberate assumption of the others’ disapproval and even social stigmatization. Nevertheless they opt for this religious status because the immediate benefits brought by the religious community and the future benefits of the earthly Heaven offer them sufficient motives for becoming Witnesses. (shrink)

This book argues that Adorno's writings allow us to address what is arguably the central challenge of modern philosophy: how to picture a world beyond suffering and injustice without betraying its vital impulse. By re-appraising his writings on politics, philosophy, and art, Sebastian Truskolaski reconstructs Adorno's overall project from a radically new perspective. Taking his 'standpoint of redemption' at its starting point, whilst also dealing with his recurrent reference to the Old Testament ban on images, this book brings Adorno's (...) central concerns to bear on debates about Utopia that have come to define political visions across the political spectrum. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie Jahrgang: 65 Heft: 2 Seiten: 367-380.