The term “synthetic biology” is a popular label of an emerging biotechnological field with strong claims to robustness, modularity, and controlled construction, finally enabling the creation of new organisms. Although the research community is heterogeneous, it advocates a common denominator that seems to define this field: the principles of rational engineering. However, it still remains unclear to what extent rational engineering—rather than “tinkering” or the usage of random based or non-rational processes—actually constitutes the basis for the techniques of synthetic biology. (...) In this article, we present the results of a quantitative bibliometric analysis of the realized extent of rational engineering in synthetic biology. In our analysis, we examine three issues: (1) We evaluate whether work at three levels of synthetic biology (parts, devices, and systems) is consistent with the principles of rational engineering. (2) We estimate the extent of rational engineering in synthetic biology laboratory practice by an evaluation of publications in synthetic biology. (3) We examine the methodological specialization in rational engineering of authors in synthetic biology. Our analysis demonstrates that rational engineering is prevalent in about half of the articles related to synthetic biology. Interestingly, in recent years the relative number of respective publications has decreased. Despite its prominent role among the claims of synthetic biology, rational engineering has not yet entirely replaced biotechnological methods based on “tinkering” and non-rational principles. (shrink)

Stefan Collini challenges the common claim that universities need to show that they help to make money in order to justify getting more money.

Not all truths are on a par. The realm of truths is structured: some propositions are only true because others are. The relation that endows the realm of truths with this structure is often called grounding. Grounding has achieved much attention in 21st century metaphysics, but the topic is arguably as old as philosophy itself. -/- This becomes apparent when investigating the works of the 19th-century philosopher Bernard Bolzano, who developed what is perhaps the first comprehensive theory of grounding, drawing (...) on a rich tradition that goes back to Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics. Roski’s book provides, for the first time, a comprehensive study of Bolzano’s theory of grounding in its entirety, paying more attention than previous studies to the interaction between grounding and the consequence-relation of deducibility. -/- . (shrink)

This article shows how activists in the open data movement re-articulate notions of democracy, participation, and journalism by applying practices and values from open source culture to the creation and use of data. Focusing on the Open Knowledge Foundation Germany and drawing from a combination of interviews and content analysis, it argues that this process leads activists to develop new rationalities around datafication that can support the agency of datafied publics. Three modulations of open source are identified: First, by regarding (...) data as a prerequisite for generating knowledge, activists transform the sharing of source code to include the sharing of raw data. Sharing raw data should break the interpretative monopoly of governments and would allow people to make their own interpretation of data about public issues. Second, activists connect this idea to an open and flexible form of representative democracy by applying the open source model of participation to political participation. Third, activists acknowledge that intermediaries are necessary to make raw data accessible to the public. This leads them to an interest in transforming journalism to become an intermediary in this sense. At the same time, they try to act as intermediaries themselves and develop civic technologies to put their ideas into practice. The article concludes with suggesting that the practices and ideas of open data activists are relevant because they illustrate the connection between datafication and open source culture and help to understand how datafication might support the agency of publics and actors outside big government and big business. (shrink)

The number of legal and nonlegal ethical regulations in the biomedical field has increased tremendously, leaving present-day practitioners and researchers in a virtual crossfire of legislations and guidelines. Judging by the production and by the way these regulations are motivated and presented, they are held to be of great importance to ethical practice. This view is shared by many commentators. For instance, Commons and Baldwin write that, within the nursing profession, patient care can be performed unethically or ethically depending on (...) the professional standards the nurses have set for themselves. They also hold that such standards are set when nurses become aware of the ethical codes available. As nurses are often not familiar with the codes, they do not all conform to them. Commons and Baldwin argue that nurses' ability to deal with ethical dilemmas is effectively secured with education on guidelines, creating a “barrier” between personal and professional values. (shrink)

For Aristotle, a just political community has to find similarity in difference and foster habits of reciprocity. Conventionally, speech and law have been seen to fulfill this role. This article reconstructs Aristotle’s conception of currency ( nomisma) as a political institution of reciprocal justice. By placing Aristotle’s treatment of reciprocity in the context of the ancient politics of money, currency emerges not merely as a medium of economic exchange but also potentially as a bond of civic reciprocity, a measure of (...) justice, and an institution of ethical deliberation. Reconstructing this account of currency ( nomisma) in analogy to law ( nomos) recovers the hopes Aristotle placed in currency as a necessary institution particular to the polis as a self-governing political community striving for justice. If currency was a foundational institution, it was also always insufficient, likely imperfect, and possibly tragic. Turned into a tool for the accumulation of wealth for its own sake, currency becomes unjust and a serious threat to any political community. Aristotelian currency can fail precisely because it contains an important moment of ethical deliberation. This political significance of currency challenges accounts of the ancient world as bifurcated between oikos and polis and encourages contemporary political theorists to think of money as a constitutional project that can play an important role in improving reciprocity across society. (shrink)

In this paper I offer an anti-Humean critique to Williamson and Russo’s approach to medical mechanisms. I focus on one of the specific claims made by Williamson and Russo, namely the claim that micro-structural ‘mechanisms’ provide evidence for the stability across populations of causal relationships ascertained at the (macro-) level of (test) populations. This claim is grounded in the epistemic account of causality developed by Williamson, an account which—while not relying exclusively on mechanistic evidence for justifying causal judgements—appeals nevertheless to (...) mechanisms, and rejects their anti-Humean interpretation in terms of capacities, powers, potencies, etc. By using (and expanding on) Cartwright’s basic critique against Humean mechanisms, I suggest that, in order to move beyond the level of plausibility, Williamson and Russo’s position is in need of a clarification as to the occurent reading of the components, functioning and interferences of mechanisms. Relatedly, as concerns Williamson’s epistemic account of causation, I argue that this account is in need of a more straightforward answer as to what truth-makers its causal claims should have. (shrink)

Why should governments or individuals invest time and resources in conserving biodiversity? A popular answer is that biodiversity has both instrumental value for humans and intrinsic value in its own right. Defending Biodiversity critically evaluates familiar arguments for these claims and finds that, at best, they provide good reasons for conserving particular species or regions. However, they fail to provide a strong justification for conserving biodiversity per se. Hence, either environmentalists must develop more compelling arguments for conserving biodiversity or else (...) they should modify their agenda. This short precis is an overview of the central findings of our book. (shrink)

The semantic valuations of classical logic, strong Kleene logic, the logic of paradox and the logic of first-degree entailment, all respect the Dunn conditions: we call them Dunn logics. In this paper, we study the interpolation properties of the Dunn logics and extensions of these logics to more expressive languages. We do so by relying on the \ calculus, a signed tableau calculus whose rules mirror the Dunn conditions syntactically and which characterizes the Dunn logics in a uniform way. In (...) terms of the \ calculus, we first introduce two different interpolation methods, each of which uniformly shows that the Dunn logics have the interpolation property. One of the methods is closely related to Maehara’s method but the other method, which we call the pruned tableau method, is novel to this paper. We provide various reasons to prefer the pruned tableau method to the Maehara-style method. We then turn our attention to extensions of Dunn logics with so-called appropriate implication connectives. Although these logics have been considered at various places in the literature, a study of the interpolation properties of these logics is lacking. We use the pruned tableau method to uniformly show that these extended Dunn logics have the interpolation property and explain that the same result cannot be obtained via the Maehara-style method. Finally, we show how the pruned tableau method constructs interpolants for functionally complete extensions of the Dunn logics. (shrink)

Die Verfassung von Ecuador enthält als weltweit erste Rechte der Natur. Natur wird neben Menschen und Körperschaften als Rechtsträger benannt. Ihr wird ein Recht auf Existenz und Regeneration zugesprochen, das unabhängig von menschlichen Rechten gilt und von allen Menschen weltweit eingeklagt werden darf. Die Verfassung stützt sich auf den indigenen Naturbegriff Pachamama und erläutert deren Schutzanspruch durch das andine Konzept des Guten Lebens. Die Umweltethik bezeichnet ein holisitisches Naturverständnis als „Ökozentrismus“, wenn der Natur als überindividueller Ganzheit ein irreduzibler Schutzstatus zugesprochen (...) wird. Der umweltethische Ökozentrismus der Verfassung von Ecuador lässt sich erfolgreich gegen drei Kritiken verteidigen. Ökozentrische Positionen seien, 1) unvereinbar mit dem methodischen Individualismus der Menschenrechte. Ökosysteme selbst seien 2) „bloß“ vom menschlichen Beobachter abhängige Entitäten, die 3) über kein inhärentes Kriterium für Schädigungen verfügten. Die Konkretisierung des Ökozentrismus in Bezug auf die Verfassung von Ecuador erlaubt drei Thesen: 1) Der Schutz der Natur als überindividueller Ganzheit darf nicht als alleiniges ethisches Prinzip missverstanden werden. Innerhalb eines pluralistischen Holismus besitzt der Ökozentrismus nicht per se Vorrang gegenüber den Interessen individueller Naturwesen und juristischer Personen. 2) Da Ökosysteme im Gegensatz zu individuellen Naturwesen keine ontologisch selbstständigen Entitäten sind, lassen sich deren Rechte nicht analog zu denen natürlicher Personen begründen. Die Environmental Personhood ist gemäß der Association Theory der Rechtspersönlichkeit als ein menschliches Konstrukt zu verstehen. 3) Der Maßstab für die Schädigung von Ökosystemen kann nicht als ein der Natur inhärentes, objektives Kriterium „aufgefunden“ werden. Ökologische Schäden an der „Integrität, Stabilität und Schönheit“ der Natur sind vielmehr Schäden an menschlichen Werten. Als solche entspringen sie im Falle der ecuadorianischen Verfassung vor allem nichtinstrumentellen menschlichen Bezugnahmen auf die Natur. Der Natur wird hierbei eudaimonistischer Wert und moralischer Selbstwert zugeschrieben. (shrink)

This article investigates corporate governance reform in South Africa in the context of the country’s international links with Anglo-American corporate governance and domestic pursuit of socioeconomic development. Two key questions are evaluated. (a) How has divergence within the Anglo-American model influenced corporate governance reform in South Africa? (b) Can South Africa’s historical closeness to the Anglo-American model be combined with increasing attention to stakeholder issues to produce a hybrid “African model” of corporate governance? Evaluating these questions, the following issues are (...) explored in turn: the contrast between shareholder and stakeholder models, divergence between U.S. and U.K. approaches to corporate governance as exemplified by Sarbanes-Oxley, locating a South African approach in context of the Anglo-American model, the King reports and an emerging “African” model of corporate governance, and the role of international and domestic factors in shaping South Africa’s ongoing reform process. (shrink)

This chapter contains section titled: Introduction General Scenario for the Transmission of Information and Its Application to Genetics Semiotic Dimensions of Biological Information Syntactic Dimension I: Measuring the Statistical Entropy of Signals and Messages Syntactic Dimension II: Estimating the Algorithmic Complexity of Signals and Messages Semantic Dimension: Classifying the Mutual Complexity of Transmitters and Receivers Acknowledgment References Further Reading.

The thesis that the probability of a conditional`if A, C' is the corresponding conditional probability of C, given A, enjoys wide currency among philosophers and growing empirical support in psychology. In this paper I ask how a probabilisitic account of conditionals along these lines could be extended to unconditional sentences, i.e., conditionals with interrogative antecedents. Such sentences are typically interpreted as equivalent to conjunctions of conditionals. This raises a number of challenges for a probabilistic account, chief among them the question (...) of what the probability of a conjunction of conditionals should be. I offer an analysis which addresses these issues by extending the interpretation of conditionals in Bernoulli models to the case of unconditionals. (shrink)

The concepts ‚Übersicht‘ (survey), ‚Übersichtlichkeit‘ (surveyability) and ‚Übersichtliche Darstellung‘ (surveyable representation) play a central role in Wittgenstein’s later philosophy. As Peter Hacker already noticed in 1972, an adequate English translation of these terms has “given Wittgenstein’s translators much trouble. They have chosen to translate it non-systematically in conformity with the demands of English style, thereby partially obscuring the significance and pervasiveness of the concept in Wittgenstein’s work, e. g. ‘command a clear view’ (Übersehen PI, § 122); ‘perspicious representation’ (Übersichtliche Darstellung (...) PI, § 122); ‘synoptic account’ (Übersichtliche Darstellung Z, § 273); ‘Survey’ (Übersicht Z, § 273); ‘synoptic view’ (Übersichtlichkeit Z, § 464); ‘perspicuity’ (Übersichtlichkeit RFM, p. 45);² ‘capable of being taken in’ (Übersehbar RFM, p. 81)3.” (Hacker 1972: 113 f. fn. 3) Since then other translations have been added to Hacker’s list, i.e. ‘surview’ for ‘Übersicht’ (Hacker’s own choice) and ‘overview’ for ‘übersehen’ (cf. PI 2009: 122). In his discussion of the notion ‚Übersichtliche Darstellung’ Alois Pichler suggests that “synopsis” and “synoptic view” might be the best translations for what Wittgenstein had in mind using the terms ‚Übersicht’ and ‚Übersichtliche Darstellung’ (cf. Pichler 2004: 181). Recently the problem of how to adequately translate the German words in question into English is also discussed by Mathieu Marion (cf. Marion 2011: 138 f. fn. 4). In what follows I shall argue - like Marion, but probably for different reasons - that the terms ‘survey’ (Übersicht), ‘surveyability’ (Übersichtlichkeit) and ‘surveyable representation’ (übersichtliche Darstellung) most adequately represent what Wittgenstein had in mind. As might become clear only this consistency in wording allows to grasp the connections in meaning Wittgenstein implicitly hints at, wherever he uses the terms ‘Übersicht’ and ‘Übersichtlichkeit’ in different parts of his ‘Nachlass’ and different periods of his philosophical development. (shrink)

Given the increasing potential of automation in the primary and industrial sectors of the economy, it is helpful to take a mesoeconomic, i. e. sectoral, look at the concept of a basic income. We present a thought experiment centred on societies in which labour takes place only in the service sector. We identify service sectors like prostitution in which it may be advantageous to shift away from the market and sectors like health services where public involvement is indispensable. Introducing a (...) basic income may also generate social capital, which usually accompanies service provision in the sphere of cooperation. (shrink)

This article reviews Theorie und Praxis in der Philosophie der Antike. Demokrit, die Sokratiker, Platon und Aristoteles 978-3-7705-6393-7.

Michael Novak’s concept of democratic capitalism in Poland aroused great interest for several reasons. The most important of them consisted in its close relation to the teaching of the Polish Pope John Paul II. The second was its temporal coincidence with the start of a political transformation in Poland, when a model of development consistent with Polish tradition and social expectations was sought. The third was related to its Slavic roots and origin, which gained in importance given a perceived civilizational (...) backwardness of the countries belonging to the former socialist bloc. For Polish Catholic thinkers, the concept of democratic capitalism initially seemed to promise a smooth transition to a market economy, protecting society from the shock of a possible collision with predatory capitalism. But the discussions of Michael Novak’s conception which took place in Poland at that time were unfortunately burdened with fears of cultural pluralism and with leaving individuals too much freedom in implementing their own ways of achieving happiness. Polish conservatives, who were in power at that time, did not seem to understand the important need for a dynamic moral and cultural system in a society that was just starting its modernization processes. It is paradoxical, but in these discussions what was most feared was the weakening of religious traditions in Polish society. According to the author, this fear caused distrust of the democratic conception, and especially its moral foundations, which continues to this day. This paper, therefore, also contributes to reflection on to what extent the teachings of John Paul II have been absorbed in Polish conservative circles. (shrink)

"Jürgen Habermas", so schrieb der amerikanische Philosoph Ronald Dworkin zum 80. Geburtstag des grossen europäischen Denkers, "ist nicht nur der berühmteste lebende Philosoph der Welt. Sein Ruhm selbst ist berühmt." Nach mehrjährigen Forschungen, intensiver Recherche und ausführlichen Gesprächen mit Weggefährten, Zeitzeugen sowie mit Habermas selbst legt Stefan Müller-Doohm nun die erste umfassende Biographie des bedeutendsten Intellektuellen unserer Zeit vor. Sie beleuchtet sowohl das Zusammenspiel von philosophischer Reflexion und intellektueller Intervention als auch das Wechselverhältnis von Lebens- und Werkgeschichte vor dem (...) Hintergrund historischer Ereignisse. Deutlich wird so das Bild eines einzigartigen Denkers, zu dessen wichtigsten philosophischen Errungenschaften eine Theorie verständigungsorientierten Handelns gehört, der, wenn er den Eindruck gewinnt, dass die Gesellschaft hinter ihren Möglichkeiten zur Gestaltung freier und gerechter Lebensverhältnisse zurückbleibt, zum unnachgiebigen Kritiker wird. (shrink)

When making an assessment of animal welfare, it is important to take environmental (housing) or animal-based parameters into account. An alternative approach is to focus on the behavior and appearance of the animal, without making actual measurements or quantifying this. None of these tell the whole story. In this paper, we suggest that it is possible to find common ground between these (seemingly) diametrically opposed positions and argue that this may be the way to deal with the complexity of animal (...) welfare. The model will have to be acceptable for the different parties that will be affected by it and real benefits for the animal should result from it. This will be the basis of a practical ethical approach. All this can be condensed into a model that essentially is made up out of three basic elements: the classical welfare analysis with an existing welfare assessment tool, an assessment of the stockholder, and an implementation of the Free Choice Profiling technique. This new framework does not pretend to be a different or better animal welfare matrix; it is intended to integrate existing knowledge and to provide a practical tool to improve animal welfare. It identifies whether there are welfare problems on a farm, if present whether these problems are caused by the housing system or the stockholder, and what can be done to improve the situation. (shrink)

Peter Railton argues that normative realism is justified because the non-moral goodness of an individual has explanatory uses. After having equated moral rightness with a kind of impersonal social rationality, he argues that rightness, so defined, helps to explain various social phenomena. If he is right, then moral realism would be justified, too. Railton’s argument fails, however, on both counts. Several crucial steps in his reasoning are unsupported and are likely to be false. The explanations he proposes may be dismissed (...) in favor of better explanations that do not use any normative or moral terms. Some of us may share RaiIton’s moral standards. There is no reason, however, to embrace his metaethical position as welI. His arguments do not support either normative or moral facts. (shrink)

"Insgesamt betrachtet handelt es sich bei dem vorliegenden Werk um eine Festschrift, die der Jubliar wirklich verdient hat. SIe wird aufgrund der brillanten Beitrage nicht in den Regalen verstauben, sondern vielfach zur Hand genommen werden. DIe darin enthaltenen Aufsatze werden in der Zukunft sowohl in wissenschaftlichen Beitragen als auch in der praktischen Arbeit rege zitiert werden." Bernd Wolfl in: Goltdammer's Archiv fur Strafrecht 12/2009 "Insgesamt: Eine wurdige, eine gehaltvolle Festgabe. JEder Beitrag bietet Anlass zum Nachdenken, zum Weiterdenken und kann so (...) die wissenschaftliche Diskussion befruchten. WIssenschaft und Praxis in einem fruchtbaren Dialog: Kann sich Rainer Hamm eine schonere Festgabe wunschen?" Karl Heinz Gossel in: Juristische Rundschau 10/2009. (shrink)

Justifying the existence of professional ethics in medicine is usually connected with the traditions of a profession and with a humanistic dimension of these ethics, pointing at the same time to their culture-forming character. With such an attitude, professional ethics is treated as a part of all mankind’s output, and its teaching turns out to be an important element of preparation for taking part in culture. Taking into account the cultural meaning of professional ethics, one should notice that all discussions (...) about the character of relations of medicine and ethics exceed the very health care system. The dilemma outlined in the article deals with the problem whether the existence of medical ethics requires external regulations or is this also a creation of the very representatives of medicine and only they can formulate it. If the latter is to be assumed, ethics in medicine would have to be independent of other detailed ethics and it would not need to be included in any other more general theory. In the first solution, medical ethics is becoming a part of general ethics and, therefore, it would be justified to include it in a more general theory – bioethics. The authors indicate that professional ethics does not limit freedom of the staff but gives a special opportunity to use it. Records constituting its contents are mostly standardized by a professional group which sets criteria of recruitment on its own and general duties resting on their members. (shrink)