SummaryIn the 1940s a controversy developed between John H. Northrop (Nobel Laureate, 1946) and Max Delbrück (Nobel Laureate, 1969) on the formation of bacteriophage. From the historiography of molecular biology there emerges a picture of an obstinate Northrop who repudiated the ‘correct’ insights revealed by the experiments of Delbrück. The established reputation of Northrop confronts one with the question of why Delbrück's epoch-making experiments were not convincing for Northrop. It will be argued that this was a consequence of local incommensurability (...) between Northrop's physiological/chemical research style and Delbrück's bacteriological/genetic research style. The analysis of this controversy reveals the elements that made up these two research styles. (shrink)

This paper examines the vital role played by electron microscopy toward the modern definition of viruses, as formulated in the late 1950s. Before the 1930s viruses could neither be visualized by available technologies nor grown in artificial media. As such they were usually identified by their ability to cause diseases in their hosts and defined in such negative terms as “ultramicroscopic” or invisible infectious agents that could not be cultivated outside living cells. The invention of the electron microscope, with magnification (...) and resolution powers several orders of magnitude better than that of optical instruments, opened up possibilities for biological applications. The hitherto invisible viruses lent themselves especially well to investigation with this new instrument. We first offer a historical consideration of the development of the instrument and, more significantly, advances in techniques for preparing and observing specimens that turned the electron microscope into a routine biological tool. We then describe the ways in which the electron microscopic images, or micrographs, functioned as forms of new knowledge about viruses and resulted in a paradigm shift in the very definition of these entities. Micrographs were not mere illustrations since they did the work for the electron microscopists. Drawing extensively on primary publications, we adduce the role of the new instrument in understanding the so-called eclipse phase in virus multiplication and the unexpected spinoffs of data from electron microscopy in naming and classifying viruses. Thus, we show that electron microscopy functioned not only to provide evidence, but also arguments in facilitating a reordering of the world that it brought into the visual realm. (shrink)

This paper examines the vital role played by electron microscopy toward the modern definition of viruses, as formulated in the late 1950s. Before the 1930s viruses could neither be visualized by available technologies nor grown in artificial media. As such they were usually identified by their ability to cause diseases in their hosts and defined in such negative terms as “ultramicroscopic” or invisible infectious agents that could not be cultivated outside living cells. The invention of the electron microscope, with magnification (...) and resolution powers several orders of magnitude better than that of optical instruments, opened up possibilities for biological applications. The hitherto invisible viruses lent themselves especially well to investigation with this new instrument. We first offer a historical consideration of the development of the instrument and, more significantly, advances in techniques for preparing and observing specimens that turned the electron microscope into a routine biological tool. We then describe the ways in which the electron microscopic images, or micrographs, functioned as forms of new knowledge about viruses and resulted in a paradigm shift in the very definition of these entities. Micrographs were not mere illustrations since they did the work for the electron microscopists. Drawing extensively on primary publications, we adduce the role of the new instrument in understanding the so-called eclipse phase in virus multiplication and the unexpected spinoffs of data from electron microscopy in naming and classifying viruses. Thus, we show that electron microscopy functioned not only to provide evidence, but also arguments in facilitating a reordering of the world that it brought into the visual realm. (shrink)

Kritische bijdragen over ideologisch gekleurde vormen van westerse culturele antropologie.

This essay discusses Hume’s views on suicide and the value of life, also with an eye to their relevance to the present debate on euthanasia. I will first take a look at some of the more personal remarks Hume made in his letters on these subjects and the role they played in his own life. Next I will discuss his essay “Of Suicide” and look at what Hume aimed at with this, in his day certainly controversial, essay. For further clarification (...) I compare Hume’s views with those of Kant on the same issues and discuss their influence on today’s views on (assistance with) suicide and the value of life as found in the European Declaration of Human Rights and in relevant court rulings. Finally, I will illustrate the relevance of the views of both Kant and, increasingly, of Hume to the current debate on some of today’s most vital end-of-life questions. (shrink)

My main purpose in this article is to establish the meaning of a ‘good death’ when death is self-chosen. I will take as my point of departure the new notion of ‘self-euthanasia’ and the corresponding practice that has evolved in the Netherlands in recent years. Both physician-euthanasia and self-euthanasia refer to an ideal process of a good death, the first being ultimately the physician's responsibility, while the second is definitely the responsibility of the individual choosing to die. However, if we (...) also accept the existence of a fundamental moral difference between ending another person's life and ending your own life, and if we accept this moral difference to be also relevant to the normatively laden good death, then this difference represents a strong reason for preferring self-euthanasia to physician-euthanasia. (shrink)

Theorie en de praktijk, geënt op filosofieën en mediatatie-methoden uit Zen-kloosters en Hindoe-ashrams.

For further development of organic agriculture, it will become increasingly essential to integrate experienced innovative practitioners in research projects. The characteristics of this process of co-learning have been transformed into a research approach, theoretically conceptualized as “experiential science” (Baars 2007 , Baars and Baars 2007 ). The approach integrates social sciences, natural sciences, and human sciences. It is derived from action research and belongs to the wider field of transdiscliplinary research. In a dialogue-based culture of equality and mutual exchange the (...) principal of a “bottom-up” experiential learning process can be stimulated and fully reflective. It provides an opportunity to develop organic agriculture as multiple best-practices based on transdisciplinary projects, cases studies, and case series. The aim of the article is to describe the methodological characteristics and the theoretical and practical potential of experiential science for research in and development of organic farming. Three characteristic projects are outlined to illustrate the main elements of the methodology: the retrospective reflection on intuitive and experiential knowledge held by farmers; the knowledge derived from on-farm experimentation; the exchange of knowledge and experiences between farming pioneers within a “masterclass” setting. The study concludes that experiential science offers an important philosophical reconciliation process whereby a synthesis of different approaches to research becomes possible in solving real-life problems: quantitative and qualitative, subjective and objective, reductionistic and holistic, practice and science. Recognizing that there are multiple elements contributing to the process of acquiring knowledge, experiential science draws on a broad field of scientific methods thereby integrating the hermeneutic approach of social sciences and the Humanities with the established methods of contemporary natural science. (shrink)

Inleiding tot de fenomenologische methode van werkelijkheidsbenadering.

Miracle narratives are an essential part of nearly all religious traditions. The importance of miracles also applies to Christianity. The Gospels record thirty-five miracles that Jesus is said to have performed, including twenty-three miraculous healings and nine nature miracles (for example, stilling a storm and turning water into wine). At the heart of Christian faith lies the story of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. However, the factuality of these events has been increasingly problematised, especially since the period of the Enlightenment. (...) In this study, it is argued that the current debate between science-oriented critics of miracles and their religious opponents focuses predominantly on the question of factuality and evidence at the loss of the religious meaning of miracles. The suggestion that science and religion would be opposite approaches is denied in a proposal of a balanced hermeneutical approach of miracles that does justice to scientific findings, religious texts and experience. (shrink)

Amsterdam University Press is a leading publisher of academic books, journals and textbooks in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Our aim is to make current research available to scholars, students, innovators, and the general public. AUP stands for scholarly excellence, global presence, and engagement with the international academic community.

Why would eligible people decline an offer of welfare services? In regard to this question and in the context of changes in the welfare state, this paper discusses the shift 'from entitlements to provisions'. After sketching the size of non-take-up and the social composition of those declining the offer of services, some tentative reasons or motives for non-take-up are presented. The discussion is derived from various approaches including the capability approach, Dahrendorf's approach of the “modern social conflict”, and social quality (...) theory. These approaches are placed in the perspective of the “person,” as in the group/grid scheme developed by anthropologist Mary Douglas. The paper concludes that, in order to understand the phenomenon of non-take-up, a differentiated conception of the person, for which SQT is a prime inspiration, is a condition sine qua non. (shrink)

Social rights were to be the completion of the citizenship status of all members within a political community. Through a variety of causes the development of these rights has been arrested. The article sketches some of the origins of the present predicament of rights and citizenship. The article is informed by the hope that the arguments it puts forward may contribute to a renewed discussion on the necessity and promises of an EU form of citizenship that is worth instituting and (...) emulating. (shrink)

The conducive economy challenges both the conceptual foundations and the practices of present-day economies. In the Netherlands, a few initiatives during the 1980s and early 1990s looked promising, in particular, as these initiatives focused on work quality as one major precondition for reducing disability and enhancing labor participation. Prospects are less bright today. Ever larger slices of governmental monetary, financial, economic, and social policies become market oriented, as distinct from conducivity oriented. The instrument of the covenant, nonetheless, may prove worthwhile (...) in further promoting the banner of work quality. (shrink)

Cultuurfilosofisch essay over onze verhouding tot de natuur.

The article is focused on the profession of faith and the oath of fidelity, as has been formulated in 1989 by the Congregation of Faith. Catholic clergy as well as Catholic theologians are obliged to profess the Catholic faith and to take the oath before assuming an ecclesiastical office or function. The analyses and reflections are from the point of view of canon law. A retro prospective view makes clear that the profession and oath belong to the disciplinary tradition of (...) the Church. The Council of Trent offered the first more or less systematic regulation. The profession and the oath intend to guarantee that ecclesiastical ministers and Catholic theologians are in full communion with the Catholic Church. The three additional paragraphs of the profession and the text of the oath are condensed formulations of canons of the Code of Canon Law. In that way the profession and the oath are indirectly a part of the disciplinary corps of the Code. Their canonical disciplinairy significance has been investigated. The article ends with some general conclusions and considerations. (shrink)

Represents the first volume to consider the modern role of holism as a central anthropological concern across a wide range of anthropological traditions ...

Logicians treat assertions as true, believed or merely hypothesized sentences. The reasoner who uses them, however, is the sole referee who can validate their truth, their aptness to describe an actual situation, their strength (as beliefs) or the relevance of their use in the current logical context. Moreover, the reasoner actively counts on these factors, as part of the reasoning process itself, and should normally be capable, when asked to do so, to assign consistently relative strengths to the assertions used. (...) The paper assumes, first, that assertions have -each- an associated, measurable strength, and that, second, this strength has significant -and measurable- effects on the truth of the sentences, the validity of the conclusion and the soundness of the reasoning. The concepts and formulas required for this are explored, and a semantics and proof theory for a sentential calculus of assertions are proposed as a natural extension of ordinary two-valued reasoning. The resulting theory, though reminiscent of Probability,is autonomous, self-contained and of a purely logical nature. (shrink)

In his early work, the philosopher Stanley Cavell offers a sustained engagement with the threat of epistemological scepticism, shaped by the intuition that although (as the late Wittgenstein shows) ordinary language use is the practice within which alone meaning is possible (and which can thus not be further analysed or rationalised), it is also a basic human inclination to wish to escape the limitations of the ‘ordinary’. This, for Cavell, is the root of scepticism. Scepticism, on this view, thus appears (...) not primarily as an epistemological but as an (injurious) moral stance, which cannot be refuted but must be continually confronted and overcome. Vis-à-vis scepticism, ‘acknowledgement’ is the practice-based recognition of the world and other people in their continuing elusiveness, which ineluctably involves risk, but just so is the only way of knowing that is appropriate to and honours the (finite) human condition. One problematic aspect of this (very fertile) approach is that Cavell’s secular viewpoint makes it difficult for him to say both why the desire for a ‘beyond’ arises in the first place, and why its expression as denial is morally wrong (rather than merely misguided). His approach thus invites a theological ‘supplementation’ which grounds the human condition in an original and real relation to God that is meant to draw the believer, through Christ, into the divine life itself. Such a reinterpretation both elucidates the concepts of scepticism and acknowledgement, and makes these concepts available for a theological outlook that is able to accommodate Cavell’s profound insights into ‘the human’. (shrink)