Der Band dokumentiert eine Tagung, die sich am 11. und 12.10.2011 in der Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung dem Umgang der deutschen Staatsrechtslehre mit Hans Kelsen (1881-1973) gewidmet hat. Funf diskursleitende Annaherungsweisen wurden fur ein Urteil uber Rezeption und Rejektion von Lehre und Person Kelsens in der und durch die deutsche Staatsrechtslehre gewahlt: Kelsen als Diskurspartner wahrend der Weimarer Zeit, Kelsen als Stein des Anstosses in den ersten Jahrzehnten der bundesrepublikanischen Staatsrechtslehre, Kelsen durch die autobiographische Brille herausragender Nachkriegsstaatsrechtslehrer, die Wiederentdeckung (...) Kelsens seit Mitte der Achtziger Jahre sowie der heutige Umgang der Staatsrechtslehre mit einem ihrer Klassiker. Mit Beitragen von: Ernst-Wolfgang Bockenforde, Horst Dreier, Frieder Gunther, Stefan Korioth, Ulrike Lembke, Oliver Lepsius, Christoph Muller, Thomas Olechowski, Christoph Schonberger, Martin Schulte, Helmuth Schulze-Fielitz, Ewald Wiederin. (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)

We present the first comprehensive theory of fairness that conceives of fairness as having two dimensions: a comparative and an absolute one. The comparative dimension of fairness has traditionally been the main interest of Broomean fairness theories. It has been analysed as satisfying competing individual claims in proportion to their respective strengths. And yet, many key contributors to Broomean fairness agree that ‘absolute’ fairness is important as well. We make this concern precise by introducing the Fairness formula and the absolute (...) priority rule and analyse their implications for comparative fairness. (shrink)

The article aims to put on the table the ongoing works of the United Nations Organization and others like World Trade Organization being focused in their current and future challenges to build an effective and useful Multilateral Trading System. Apart from achievements and reforms undertaken, further ones - based on another approach: considering the diversity principle - are proposed in order to reach equitable and fair trading negotiations outcomes in benefits of all members.

The central aim of this paper is to argue that the main motivation for endorsing colour relativism – namely, the occurrence of so-called standard variation phenomena – constitutes, in the end, a problem for the view itself which is not significantly smaller than the problem these phenomena constitute for most of the view’s competitors. Section 1 provides a brief characterization of the relativist position in question. In Section 2, I provide a prima facie case for colour relativism in the light (...) of the occurrence of standard variation phenomena, and I argue that a certain version of the view can be defended against certain objections that have been raised against colour relativism. Section 3 provides an argument for the central claim of this paper, that is, an argument to the conclusion that standard variation phenomena do, in the end, not at all favour colour relativism over its main competitors. Finally, in Section 4, I suggest and tentatively defend a hitherto neglected account of the meaning of colour terms that accommodates the phenomena in question. (shrink)

This paper discusses the Indirect Duties View implying that, when our actions have no negative effects on humans, we can treat animals any way we wish. I offer several criticisms of this view. Subsequently, I explore some implications of rejecting this view that rise in the contexts of animal research and veterinarian ethics.

We investigate an approach to improving statistical text classification by combining machine learners with an ontology-based identification of domain-specific topic categories. We apply this approach to ad hoc disclosures by public companies. This form of obligatory publicity concerns all information that might affect the stock price; relevant topic categories are governed by stringent regulations. Our goal is to classify disclosures according to their effect on stock prices (negative, neutral, positive). In the study reported here, we combine natural language parsing with (...) a formal background ontology to recognize disclosures concerning particular topics from a prescribed list. The semantic analysis identifies some of these topics with reasonable accuracy. We then demonstrate that machine learners benefit from the additional ontology-based information when predicting the cumulative abnormal return attributed to the disclosure at hand. (shrink)

It is sometimes assumed that federal States are a novelty introduced at the end of the 18th century in America. The word «federal» is indeed a recent invention but since antiquity politica! structures have existed in Europe having characteristics which may be qualified as federal or confederal.Originally the only power given to the «supra-national institutions» was common defence, but later other powers were added such as external relations, money, federal taxation, direct applicability of federal decisions, common nationality. A bicameral parliament (...) was not introduced until the United Provinces of the Netherlands, but a federal chamber and executif were in existence since the early greek federations. In somecases, there even was what may be called a supreme court. (shrink)

The idea that human beings possess a moral sense is the characteristic of a certain branch of moral philosophy of the British Enlightenment. In this context, the question of tolerance appears as a condition that enables the moral sense to work properly. This article traces the connection between toleration and morality along Shatesbury's philosophy of politeness, via Hutcheson's conception of a moral philosophy based on “benevolence”, to Smith's development of the “impartial spectator”. Keywords: toleration, politeness, moral sense, humour, benevolence.

This book is an attempt to provide a philosophical answer to the simple question, "What is the law?" as well as address the various debates this question has spawned. Along the way, it develops a unique position within analytic jurisprudence by carefully distinguishing between a theory of the nature of a legal system and a theory of the nature of legal content. Finally, it applies the framework established in the first part of the book to two substantive areas within legal (...) theory: legal reasoning and international legal systems. The result is a unique introduction to the philosophy of law, one that presents and tests a theory of analytic jurisprudence, while it introduces students and others to this sub-field of philosophy. It explains and clarifies for students the views of the most significant scholars in the philosophy of law—those of H.L.A. Hart, Hans Kelsen, Joseph Raz, Ronald Dworkin, and John Finnis—and offers a critique of each. This approach should appeal to all types of philosophers--students and scholars alike--who are wary of wading into the field of legal theory as well as philosophers of law who wouldn’t find useful or interesting a mere survey of the field. (shrink)

Embargoes are usually considered a product of modernity. Attempts by some political scientists to argue the contrary have been made on an inadequate basis. Although medievalists have written about embargoes, they have typically considered this research subject only as a footnote to trade or crusade. This study first briefly defines embargo and then presents a broad view of its employment in the Middle Ages. Its argument is that early medieval imperial systems of export controls notwithstanding, embargo emerged as an instrument (...) of foreign policy alongside economic protectionism and trade wars in the wake of the Commercial Revolution of the central Middle Ages. (shrink)

This paper discusses the polemical question of whether explanations that produce understanding must be true. It argues positively for the role of truth in reaching explanatory understanding, by presenting three lines of criticism of alternative accounts. The first is that by rejecting truth as a criterion for evaluating explanations, any non-factual account thereby effectively cuts ties with the central theories of explanations, which provide at least partial criteria for explanatory understanding. The second line of criticism is that some of the (...) most well-known non-factual accounts implicitly operate over a notion of partial-truth, and as such, they do not provide a valid alternative. The final critical argument is that, in the place of truth evaluations, these accounts often offer a multiplicity of other criteria, and by changing a unitary criterion such as truth for a collection of other requirements, these non-factive theories introduce a level of ad hoc-ness, which diminishes their normative value. (shrink)

This manuscript describes the institutional and clinical considerations that apply to the question of whether to mandate opioid dose reduction in patients who have received opioids long-term. It describes how a calamitous rise in addiction and overdose involving opioids has both led to a clinical recalibration by healthcare providers, and to strong incentives favoring forcible opioid reduction by policy making agencies. Neither the 2016 Guideline issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor clinical evidence can justify or promote (...) such policies as safe or effective. (shrink)

The article discusses this intricate issue of women’s anti-Fascist/communist activism during World War II in Romania. I am particularly interested in the relationship that developed between the Romanian Communist Party and the women who joined the movement in the complicated context of World War II. The article is attempting to assess whether women’s increased involvement in the communist organization was due to the previous and continuous politics of the RCP, or it was a mere consequence of unprecedented circumstances. The article (...) also addresses issues related to the legacy of the anti-Fascist/communist women’s struggle during World War II, in their attempt to establish postwar public careers, but also the manner in which their efforts and activisms were recognized and/or recompensed after the war. (shrink)

Clarke and Beck argue that the ANS doesn't represent non-numerical magnitudes because of its second-order character. A sensory integration mechanism can explain this character as well, provided the dumbbell studies involve interference from systems that segment by objects such as the Object Tracking System. Although currently equal hypotheses, I point to several ways the two can be distinguished.

Un phénomène intéressant apparaît dans de multiples cultures juridiques : afin de concilier la lettre de la loi et son esprit, certaines lois sont contournées – légalement. Ce contournement, qui consiste à vider la loi de son esprit tout en faisant mine de respecter sa formulation (un loophole en anglais), pose d’un point de vue éthique la question de savoir s’il n’y a pas là hypocrisie. La loi juive est ici étudiée car les contournements qu’elle autorise sont critiqués par ses (...) détracteurs, mais également de l’intérieur : tous les contournements ne sont pas approuvés, loin s’en faut. Le présent texte, qui se veut seulement exploratoire, essaie de montrer quels contournements sont autorisés et pour quelles raisons. (shrink)

In the last decade a great amount of literature that elaborates on Leibniz’ cultural and philosophical openness has emerged. It is therefore odd that there has not been made any direct comments on Chung-Ying Cheng interesting analyses of Leibniz’s writings on Chinese philosophy (Cheng 2000, 2002). By giving a critical review of Cheng’s work on this topic, it is the aim of this paper to integrate some problems of Sino-western philosophical encounters into the Leibniz scholarship of today. In the course (...) of analyzing Cheng’s arguments the paper points to some problems in his approach to Leibnizian philosophy and its “encounter” with Chinese classics. After challenging Cheng’s reading of Leibniz and suggesting alternative interpretations, the paper discusses whether thisunderstanding of Leibniz could designate a positive approach to Sino‐western philosophical exchange. Central to this, the question is raised whether or not it can be shown that Leibniz remained open to rethink his own philosophy in the light of his meeting with Chinese philosophy. While the paper agrees with Cheng in the judgement that Leibniz did not arrive at a complete understanding of the Chinese classic Yijing, it claims that Cheng’s analysis contradicts some of Leibniz’s other writings on China as well as Leibniz’s general ambition of supporting global philosophical exchange. (shrink)