What does it take for an individual to be personally responsible for behaviors that lead to increased risk of disease? We examine three approaches to responsibility that cover the most important aspects of the discussion of responsibility and spell out what it takes, according to each of them, to be responsible for behaviors leading to increased risk of disease. We show that only what we call the causal approach can adequately accommodate widely shared intuitions to the effect that certain causal (...) influences—such as genetic make-up or certain social circumstances—diminish, or undermine personal responsibility. However, accepting the causal approach most likely makes personal responsibility impossible. We therefore need either to reject these widely shared intuitions about what counts as responsibility-softening or undermining or to accept that personal responsibility for behaviors leading to increased risk of disease rests on premises so shaky that personal responsibility is probably impossible. (shrink)

The following article presents preliminary reflections on a processual theory of health and disease. It does this by steering the discussion more toward an ontology of organisms rather than conceptual analysis of the semantic content of the terms “health” and “disease.” In the first section, four meta-theoretical assumptions of the traditional debate are identified and alternative approaches to the problems are presented. Afterwards, the view that health and disease are constituted by a dynamic relation between demands imposed on an organism (...) and individual presuppositions for adequate response is developed. In the last section, the paper takes stock of three possible objections to and clarifies some implications of this approach to the notions of health and disease. (shrink)

The complex health and social circumstances of living-at-risk, frequent users of emergency departments (aREDFUs) in the health jurisdictions of high-income countries, and the related, significant challenges posed for emergency departments and the health care providers working within them, are identified and explored in the paper. Ethical analyses of a set of relevant domains are performed, i.e., individual and relational autonomy considerations, relevant social construction and personal responsibility conceptions, patient welfare principles (beneficence, nonmaleficence, continuity of care), harm reduction methodologies and their (...) applications, health equity, and justice considerations of the distributive, formal and social types. The outcomes of these analyses demonstrate that there are ethically compelling reasons for emergency departments to adopt an ethics-informed, policy-based approach to the longitudinal care and management of living-at-risk, frequent users of emergency departments. From a formal justice perspective, the development and uses of such an approach are justified by a demonstrable relevant difference between living-at-risk, frequent users of emergency departments and other persons and groups of patients who visit emergency departments. We propose an example of such a policy-based approach. Examples of possible, pragmatic applications of this approach, which help ensure that aREDFUs who present to the ED are managed in a fair and optimally consistent manner, are provided for the consideration of an urban emergency department’s policymaking working group. (shrink)

Summary The emergence of quantum theory in the early decades of the twentieth century was accompanied by a wide range of popular science books, all of which presented in words, and a few in images, new scientific ideas about the structure of the atom. The work of physicists such as Ernest Rutherford and Niels Bohr, among others, was pivotal to the so-called planetary model of the atom, which, still today, is used in popular accounts and in science textbooks. In an (...) attempt to add to our knowledge about the popular trajectory of the new atomic physics, this paper examines one book in particular, co-authored by Danish science writer Helge Holst and Dutch physicist and close collaborator of Niels Bohr, Hendrik A. Kramers. Translated from Danish into four European languages, the book not only explained contemporary ideas about the quantum atom, but also discussed unresolved problems. Moreover, the book was quite explicit in identifying the quantum atom with the atom as described by Bohr's theory. We argue that Kramers and Holst's book, along with other ‘atomic books’, was a useful tool for physicists and science popularisers in trying to understand the new quantum physics. (shrink)

This festschrift includes a dozen essays on issues that have been at the focus of Kai Nielsen's research, mainly issues in ethics and political philosophy. Among these are four essays on socialism and Marxism. There are also essays on philosophy of religion, epistemology, and meta-philosophy.

Cheyne and Girard characterize felt presence during sleep paralysis attacks as a pre-hallucinatory expression of a threat-activated vigilance system. While their results may be consistent with this interpretation, they are nonetheless correlational and do not address a parsimonious alternative explanation. This alternative stipulates that FP is a purely spatial, hallucinatory form of a common cognitive phenomenon—social imagery—that is often, but not necessarily, linked with threat and fear and that may induce distress among susceptible individuals. The occurrence of both fearful and (...) non-fearful FPs in a multiplicity of situations other than sleep paralysis attacks supports the notion that FPs are hallucinatory variants of social imagery and that they are not necessarily bound to threat-activated vigilance. Evidence linking FPs with anxiety disorders supports the notion that the distress they evoke may be mediated by a more general affective distress personality factor. To illustrate the predominantly spatial character of FP hallucinations, similarities between FP and phantom limbs are summarized and the possibility that these two phenomena are parallel expressions of a mirror neuron system is considered. (shrink)

Epistemic trust is crucial for science. This article aims to identify the kinds of assumptions that are involved in epistemic trust as it is required for the successful operation of science as a collective epistemic enterprise. The relevant kind of reliance should involve working from the assumption that the epistemic endeavors of others are appropriately geared towards the truth, but the exact content of this assumption is more difficult to analyze than it might appear. The root of the problem is (...) that methodological decisions in science typically involve a complex trade-off between the reliability of positive results, the reliability of negative results, and the investigation's power. Which balance between these is the ‘correct’ one can only be determined in light of an evaluation of the consequences of all the different possible outcomes of the inquiry. What it means for the investigation to be ‘appropriately geared towards the truth’ thus depends on certain value judgments. I conclude that in the optimal case, trusting someone in her capacity as an information provider also involves a reliance on her having the right attitude towards the possible consequences of her epistemic work. 1 Introduction2 Epistemic Reliance within the Sciences3 Methodological Conventionalism4 Trust in Science5 Conclusions. (shrink)

When interests and preferences of researchers or their sponsors cause bias in experimental design, data interpretation or dissemination of research results, we normally think of it as an epistemic shortcoming. But as a result of the debate on science and values, the idea that all extra-scientific influences on research could be singled out and separated from pure science is now widely believed to be an illusion. I argue that nonetheless, there are cases in which research is rightfully regarded as epistemologically (...) deficient due to the influence of preferences on its outcomes. I present examples from biomedical research and offer an analysis in terms of social epistemology. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungDieser Beitrag analysiert, basierend auf Essers (2009) vierdimensionalem Integrationskonzept, das Ausmaß der sozialen Integration von einheimischen und immigrierten Mitgliedern im Vereinssport (n = 780; MAlter = 20.62; 38.2 % weiblich; 38.5 % mit Migrationshintergrund). Dabei interessierte der Einfluss soziodemografischer, sportbezogener sowie soziokultureller Merkmale. Mitglieder der ersten Migrationsgeneration waren entlang dreier Integrationsdimensionen weniger stark integriert als einheimische und immigrierte Mitglieder der zweiten bzw. dritten Generation. Multiple Regressionsanalysen verdeutlichten, dass einige Merkmale signifikant mit den Integrationsdimensionen zusammenhängen (Mitgliedschaftsdauer, elterliche Sportvereinsaktivität, Wertorientierung, bikulturelle Integrationseinstellung) (...) und somit relevanter für die soziale Integration sind als andere (Identität, Nationalität). (shrink)

ZusammenfassungDie Neue Rechte betreibt seit 2000 eine umfangreiche Literaturpolitik. Aktionen im Literaturbetrieb, eigene Publikationen sowie ein expandierender Literaturjournalismus werden mit zunehmendem Geschick und Erfolg dazu genutzt, neurechte Ideologien im Kulturbetrieb zu verankern. Dies zeigte sich u.a. in der 2020 um die Schriftstellerin Monika Maron geführten Debatte, die der Aufsatz zum Ausgangspunkt nimmt, um die wichtigsten metapolitischen Strategien neurechter Literaturpolitik vorzustellen: eine Veränderung des Lektürekanons, eine politische Funktionalisierung von Ästhetik und ästhetischer Erziehung sowie literaturbetriebliche Aktionen. Abschließend wird am Streit um den (...) Debutroman von Simon Strauß diskutiert, wie sich angemessen auf neurechte Literaturpolitik reagieren lässt.The New Right is pursuing an extensive literary policy since 2000. Activities in the literary business, publications and an expanding literary journalism are used to implant new-right ideologies in the cultural establishment with increasing skill and success. This became apparent, among other things, in the 2020 debate surrounding the writer Monika Maron, which the essay takes as its starting point in order to present the most important meta-political strategies of new-right literary politics: a change in the reading canon, a political functionalization of aesthetics and aesthetic education, as well as activism in the literary business. Finally, the controversy surrounding the debut novel by Simon Strauß will be used to discuss how to react appropriately to new-right literary politics. (shrink)

Nicht erst im Zuge der CoVid19-Pandemie und ihrer Auswirkungen auf die Lebens- und Arbeitswirklichkeit vieler Menschen wird in der Öffentlichkeit die Idee eines bedingungslosen Grundeinkommens diskutiert. Begründungen sind vielfältig und reichen von Ideen zur Armutsprävention über Entwürfe eines guten Lebens und feministische Gesellschaftskritiken bis zu wirtschaftsliberalen Verweisen auf die zunehmende Digitalisierung der Arbeitswelt. Ebenso pointiert ist die Kritik, die vor der Unmöglichkeit der Finanzierbarkeit oder – gerade auch aus Sicht theologischer Sozialethik – vor dem Ende des Wohlfahrtsstaats warnt. Ist das (...) bedingungslose Grundeinkommen also problematische Utopie, sozialpolitisch begründbares Instrument oder sogar moralisch begrüßenswerte Forderung? Interdisziplinäre Beiträge diskutieren im Gespräch mit der theologischen Sozialethik Konzepte, Chancen und Grenzen der Idee eines Bedingungslosen Grundeinkommens. (shrink)

The notion of ecological rationality implies that the accuracy of a decision strategy depends on features of the information environment in which it is tested. We demonstrate that the performance of a group may be strongly affected by the decision strategies used by its individual members and specify how this effect is moderated by environmental features. Specifically, in a set of simulation studies, we systematically compared four decision strategies used by the individual group members: two linear, compensatory decision strategies and (...) two simple, noncompensatory heuristics. Individual decisions were aggregated by using a majority rule. To assess the ecological rationality of the strategies, we varied (a) the distribution of cue validities, (b) the quantity, and (c) the quality of shared information. Group performance strongly depended on the distribution of cue validities. When validities were linearly distributed, groups using a compensatory strategy achieved the highest accuracy. Conversely, when cue validities followed a J-shaped distribution, groups using a simple lexicographic heuristic performed best. While these effects were robust across different quantities of shared information, the quality of shared information exerted stronger effects on group performance. Consequences for prescriptive theories on group decision making are discussed. (shrink)

A common complaint against the increasing privatization of research is that research that is conducted with the immediate purpose of producing applicable knowledge will not yield knowledge as valuable as that generated in more curiosity‐driven, academic settings. In this paper, I make this concern precise and reconstruct the rationale behind it. Subsequently, I examine the case of industry research on the giant magnetoresistance effect in the 1990s as a characteristic example of research undertaken under considerable pressure to produce applicable results. (...) The example permits one to arrive at a more optimistic assessment of the epistemic merits of private, application‐driven research. I attempt to specify the conditions that, in this case, advanced the production of interesting and reliable knowledge. (shrink)

In various debates about science, appeal is made to the freedom of scientific research. A rationale in favor of this freedom is rarely offered. In this paper, two major arguments are reconstructed that promise to lend support to a principle of scientific freedom. According to the epistemological argument, freedom of research is required in order to organize the collective cognitive effort we call science efficiently. According to the political argument, scientific knowledge needs to be generated in ways that are independent (...) of the major political powers because of the important role it plays for the citizens and their capacity to form well-informed political preferences. Both arguments are examined critically in order to identify their strengths and limitations. I argue that the scientific freedom established by both rests on a number of critical preconditions, and that the arguments’ force must be weighed against competing societal interests and values in each case of their application. Appeal to a principle of scientific freedom should therefore never mark the end, but rather the beginning of a public debate about the ends and means of science. (shrink)

The late 19th century debate among German-speaking physicists about theoretical entities is often regarded as foreshadowing the scientific realism debate. This paper brings out differences between them by concentrating on the part of the earlier debate that was concerned with the conceptual consistency of the competing conceptions of matter---{}mainly, but not exclusively, of atomism. Philosophical antinomies of atomism were taken up by Emil Du Bois-Reymond in an influential lecture in 1872. Such challenges to the consistency of atomism had repercussions within (...) the physics community, as can be shown for the examples of Heinrich Hertz and Ludwig Boltzmann. The latter developed a series of counter-arguments, culminating in an ingenious attempt to turn the tables on the critics of atomism and prove the inconsistency of non-atomistic conceptions of nature. Underlying this controversy is a disagreement over specific goals of physical research which was considered crucially relevant to the further course of physical inquiry. It thereby exemplifies an attitude towards the realism issue that can be contrasted with a different, more neutral attitude of construing the realism issue as merely philosophical and indifferent with respect to concrete research programs in physics, which one also occasionally finds expressed in the 19th century controversy and which may be seen as the prevailing attitude of the 20th century debate. (shrink)

To study how religiosity affects family business goals, we merge literatures on goal setting, temporal orientation, and family business to argue that family business goals can be distinguished into short-term and long-term orientations and propose that religiosity affects both orientations, but to varying degrees. Drawing on a sample of private U.S. family businesses and applying partial least squares structural equations modeling, we find tentative support that religiosity has a stronger positive effect on long-term goal orientation than on short-term goal orientation. (...) We discuss implications for theory development and future research involving religiosity and family business goals. (shrink)

This paper advocates for making epistemic interests a central object of philosophical analysis in epistemology and philosophy of science. It is argued that the importance of epistemic interests derives from their fundamental importance for the notion of objectivity. Epistemic interests are defined as individuated by a set of objectives, each of which represents a dimension of the search for truth. Among these dimensions, specificity, sensitivity, and productivity are discussed in detail. It is argued that the relevance of productivity is often (...) overlooked in debates about the ends and means of science. A definition of the objectivity of inquiry is proposed that takes the notion of epistemic interest as its starting point. (shrink)

Scientific procedures are widely expected to be unbiased, in the sense that they do not single out one specific set of claims about which they yield false results more often than about others. This assumed feature of the practices of science can be called procedural objectivity. I argue that attempts to analyze procedural objectivity on the level of individual rationality fail. The appropriate balance of inductive risks for each scientific investigation hinges upon value judgments for which no binding, ‚neutral‘ standard (...) can be derived from universal principles. I make the case that the perspective of social epistemology offers a much more promising approach to establish a substantial conception of procedural objectivity. I examine two genuinely social elements of the sciences’ procedural objectivity. One consists in conventional standards, which are adopted by research communities in order to facilitate epistemic trust and which impose constraints on methodological choices that affect the balance of inductive risks. The other is constituted by the plurality of approaches within research communities and the mechanism of mutual criticism. Procedural objectivity in science thus becomes understandable as a social phenomenon. (shrink)

Geometric data models form the backbone of virtually all spatial information systems, such as GIS, CAD, and CAM. Yet a lot of spatial information from textual sources, including historical document...

Name der Zeitschrift: Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook Jahrgang: 2016 Heft: 1 Seiten: 39-50.

The following article presents a fully revised critical edition of Advayavajra’s Tattvaratnāvalī, one of the earliest and most influential texts that can be accredited to the genre of Buddhist siddhānta literature. In this text Advayavajra not only reveals his own overall perception of the Indian Buddhist schools of the eleventh century, but also supplies manifold insights into the various tenets of Buddhist philosophy, providing the first key for anyone interested in entering the vast spheres of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies. This newly (...) revised edition takes into account new textual material which to this day has never been taken into consideration. Further parallels to other texts have been identified. And thus, it was possible to improve upon several passages in the previous editions. (shrink)

Through contact algebras we study theories of mereotopology in a uniform way that clearly separates mereological from topological concepts. We identify and axiomatize an important subclass of closure mereotopologies called unique closure mereotopologies whose models always have orthocomplemented contact algebras , an algebraic counterpart. The notion of MT-representability, a weak form of spatial representability but stronger than topological representability, suffices to prove that spatially representable complete OCAs are pseudocomplemented and satisfy the Stone identity. Within the resulting class of contact algebras (...) the strength of the algebraic complementation delineates two classes of mereotopology according to the key ontological choice between mereological and topological closure operations. All closure operations are defined mereologically if and only if the corresponding contact algebras are uniquely complemented while topological closure operations highly restrict the contact relation but allow not uniquely complemented and nondistributive contact algebras. Each class contains a single ontologically coherent theory that admits discrete models. (shrink)

This book is a festschrift for Torsten Hagerstrand. "Through your work on migration, innovation diffusion, and time-geography you have helped demonstrate that geography's most profound insights are to be gained from the study of process rather than form.".

The essay deals with the Protestant approach towards the issue of wealth. While biblical statements tend to take a very critical stance towards riches and the rich, the protestant tradition and classical and contemporary imagery take a more favorable approach. For that reason, a closer look seems necessary. Three steps are taken. First of all, the concept of ›wealth‹ bears closer scrutiny. Secondly, the classical Protestant doctrine on wealth is given a short survey. Finally, the role of wealth in a (...) Protestant concept of the good life is discussed. As a result, prosperity and capital are distinguished from wealth: While economic prosperity and capital may well be used as means in a Christian concept of the good life, wealth - understood as intentional use of prosperity as means towards social distinction or as overwhelming economic power - should not be one of its ends. Rather, Christians should advocate the spread of a basic prosperity and capital to everyone. (shrink)