Dr. Udo Lenzig ist Schulreferent im Kirchenkreis Julich.

Explores the understanding of self-consciousness and personal identity - two fundamendtal features of human subjectivity - as it developed in early modern philosophy. Udo Thiel presents a critical evaluation of these features as they were conceived in the sevententh and eighteenth centuries. He explains the arguments of thinkers such as Descartes, Locke, Leibniz, Wolff, and Hume, as well as their early critics, followers, and other philosophical contemporaries, and situates them within their historical contexts. Interest in the issues of self-consciousness and (...) personal identity is in many ways characteristic [of] and even central to early modern thought, but Thiel argues here that this is also an interest that continues to this day, in a form still strongly influenced by the conceptual frameworks of early modern thought. In this book he attempts to broaden the scope of the treatment of these issues considerably, covering more than a hundred years of philosophical debate in France, Britain, and Germany while remaining attentive to the details of the arguments under scrutiny and discussing alternative interpretations in many cases"--Publisher's description, p. [4] of dust jacket. (shrink)

This essay inquires into the semantics of the term “experience” in a selection of prose novels from the early modern period. Against the background of a complex history of discourses about experience, ultimately leading to a fully articulated concept of “empiricism” and “experiment”, the author traces the term’s usages in Hartlieb’s ‘Alexander’, in the novel ‘Fortunatus’ as well as in Wickram’s ‘Of Good and Bad Neighbours’. Furthermore, he elaborates those cultural topoi of experience that are based principally on an understanding (...) of “memory” and “adaptation”. As a result, the author is able to show, that all three texts place varying emphases on the topics of experience. (shrink)

Der Verf. beschreibt die Einstellung Alberts zur Alchemie und die verschiedenen Phasen seiner Auseinandersetzung mit dieser ars. Alberts naturwissenschaftliche Schriften haben prozessualen Charakter. Er rezipiert alchemische Literatur seit der Mitte der 40er Jahre und sucht nach einem philosophischen Fundament zur Sicherung der neuen Wissenschaft. Grundlage ist für ihn die aristotelische Naturphilosophie. Nachdem er im Frühwerk De quattuor coaequaevis das Problem der Materie generell diskutiert und die über Augustin rezipierten platonischen Positionen zugunsten einer aristotelisch gestützten Theorie verworfen hatte, wird seit dem (...) Sentenzenkommentar die Transmutation ausführlich diskutiert, . Albert, dessen Positionen erkennbar an den Schriften des Avicenna orientiert sind, weist die Ansätze zeitgenössischer Alchemisten zurück, die eine antimetaphysische und materialistische Grundhaltung vertreten und damit gleichsam Ansätze zu einer autonomen Naturwissenschaft zeigen. Er kritisiert zudem die mangelnde Qualität der Produkte der künstlichen Transmutation und ihre fehlende geheime Wirksamkeit im Verhältnis zu den naturalia. Dennoch hat Albert ein differenziertes Bild von der Alchemie. Ihn interessiert allerdings weniger die praktische Nützlichkeit als ihr Stellenwert im Kontext der Naturphilosophie. - Der Verf. druckt die einschlägige Stelle aus Alberts Sentenzenkommentar ab und kommentiert sie ausführlich. (shrink)

Dieser Band stellt Abhandlungen von Udo Müllges (1926-1985), Universitätsprofessor an der RWTH Aachen, vor, die in ihrer Gesamtheit ein pädagogisches Programm spiegeln, das auf der geisteswissenschaftlichen Tradition fußt und sich dieser verpflichtet weiß. Der Bogen ist von der konstitutiv-kritischen Frage nach dem Wissenschaftscharakter der Pädagogik bis hin zu aktuellen schulpolitischen Problemen gespannt. In ihrer Gesamtheit bieten die Beiträge einen Einblick in das breite Feld pädagogischer Forschung und eröffnen die Möglichkeit zur produktiven Auseinandersetzung mit den von Udo Müllges erarbeiteten Konzepten zur (...) Klärung gegenwärtiger theoretischer und praktischer Fragen. Das Buch bietet gleichermaßen Anregungen für Fachkollegen, Studierende und Praktiker des pädagogischen Bereiches. (shrink)

The question of whether problems with the social determinants of health that might impact decision-making justify denying eligibility for assisted dying has recently come to the fore in debates about the legalisation of assisted dying. For example, it was central to critiques of the 2021 amendments made to Canada’s assisted dying law. The question of whether changes to a country’s assisted dying legislation lead to descents down slippery slopes has also come to the fore—as it does any time a jurisdiction (...) changes its laws. We explore these two questions through the lens of Canada’s experience both to inform Canada’s ongoing discussions and because other countries will confront the same questions if they contemplate changing their assisted dying law. Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying law has evolved through a journey from the courts to Parliament, back to the courts, and then back to Parliament. Along this journey the eligibility criteria, the procedural safeguards, and the monitoring regime have changed. In this article, we focus on the eligibility criteria. First, we explain the evolution of the law and what the eligibility criteria were at the various stops along the way. We then explore the ethical justifications for Canada’s new criteria by looking at two elements of the often-corrosive debate. First, we ask whether problems with the social determinants of health that might impact decision-making justify denying eligibility for assisted dying of decisionally capable people with mental illnesses and people with disabilities as their sole underlying medical conditions. Second, we ask whether Canada’s journey supports slippery slope arguments against permitting assisted dying. All data relevant to the study are included in the article. (shrink)

John Lockes Essay uber den menschlichen Verstand (zuerst 1690 erschienen) ist eines der einflussreichsten Bucher der Philosophiegeschichte. Es behandelt vorwiegend erkenntnis- und wissenschaftstheoretische Themen, nimmt aber auch Stellung zu Fragen aus der Philosophie des Geistes, der Religionsphilosophie und der Ethik. Locke war einer der Initiatoren und fuhrenden Kopfe der europaischen Aufklarung. Die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Essay wird auch in der Philosophie der Gegenwart vehement fortgesetzt. Die elf Beitrage dieses Bandes, die Bibliographie und ein ausfuhrliches Glossar machen das Buch zu einem (...) wichtigen Begleittext zu Lockes Werk. Mit Beitragen von: Michael Ayers, Reinhard Brandt, John Colman, Bertram Kienzle, Heiner F. Klemme, Lorenz Kruger, Michel Malherbe, Rolf W. Puster, G.A.J. Rogers, Rainer Specht, Jurgen Sprute und Udo Thiel". (shrink)

Recent economic and political advances in developing countries on the African continent and South East Asia are threatened by the rising death and morbidity rates of HIV/AIDS. In the first part of this paper we explain the reasons for the absence of affordable access to essential AIDS medication. In the second part we take a closer look at some of the pivotal frameworks relevant for this situation and undertake an ethical analysis of these frameworks. In the third part we discuss (...) a few of the proposed solutions to the problem and conclude with an argument in support of our preferred course of action. In this article we argue for compulsory licensing of essential AIDS medications in the current conditions of public health emergency. We argue on broadly consequentialist grounds that compulsory licensing is preferable both morally and pragmatically to the alternatives, notably the currently offered price cuts and drug donation schemes. (shrink)

Emotions are often met with suspicion in political debates about risky technologies, because they are seen as contrary to rational decision making. However, recent emotion research rejects such a dichotomous view of reason and emotion, by seeing emotions as an important source of moral insight. Moral emotions such as compassion and feelings of responsibility and justice can play an important role in judging ethical aspects of technological risks, such as justice, fairness, and autonomy. This article discusses how this idea can (...) be integrated into approaches for political decision making about risk. The article starts with an analysis of the dichotomous view of reason and emotion in risk theory, in approaches to participatory risk assessment as well as in relevant approaches to political philosophy. This article then presents alternative approaches in political philosophy and political theory that do explicitly endorse the importance of emotions. Based on these insights, a procedural approach for policy making is presented, in which emotional responses to technological risks, and the ethical concerns that lie behind them, are taken seriously. This approach allows for morally better political decisions about risky technologies and a better understanding between experts and laypeople. (shrink)

Der Autor untersucht das Paar Repräsentation/Nichtrepräsentation über mehrere Sprachen (Deutsch, Englisch, Französisch) und verschiedene theoretische Perspektiven hinweg (u. a. Lacan, Laplanche, Botella, Levine). Dabei kommt er zu dem Ergebnis, dass es unangemessen ist, Freuds Psychoanalyse als eine »Theorie der Repräsentation« zu bezeichnen: Weder gibt es im Unbewussten Repräsentationen, noch lässt sich das Unbewusste selbst repräsentieren. Die Sphäre des Unbewussten und die der Repräsentation sind miteinander radikal inkompatibel. Für den Autor benennt Lacans Begriff des Realen jene Zone des Psychischen, in der (...) die Darstellungsmittel des psychischen Apparates an seine Grenze stoßen. Dies wird an mehreren Traumbeispielen gezeigt. (shrink)

This paper makes a conceptual inquiry into the notion of ‘publics’, and forwards an understanding of this notion that allows more responsible forms of decision-making with regards to technologies that have localized impacts, such as wind parks, hydrogen stations or flood barriers. The outcome of this inquiry is that the acceptability of a decision is to be assessed by a plurality of ‘publics’, including that of a local community. Even though a plurality of ‘publics’ might create competing normative demands, its (...) acknowledgment is necessary to withstand the monopolization of the process of technology appraisal. The paper presents four ways in which such an appropriation of publicness takes place. The creation of dedicated ‘local publics’, in contrast, helps to overcome these problems and allows for more responsible forms of decision-making. We describe ‘local publics’ as those in which stakeholders from the different publics that are related to the process of technology implementation are brought together, and in which concerns and issues from these publics are deliberated upon. The paper will present eight conditions for increasing the effectiveness of such ‘local publics’. (shrink)

This article by one of the Editors of Bioethics, published in the 25th anniversary issue of the journal, describes some of the revolutionary changes academic publishing has undergone during the last decades. Many humanities journals went from typically small print-runs, counting by the hundreds, to on-line availability in thousands of university libraries worldwide. Article up-take by our subscribers can be measured efficiently. The implications of this and other changes to academic publishing are discussed. Important ethical challenges need to be addressed (...) in areas such as the enforcement of plagiarism-related policies, the so-called ‘impact factor’ and its impact on academic integrity, and the question of whether on-line only publishing can currently guarantee the integrity of academic publishing histories. (shrink)

50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists presents acollection of original essays drawn from an international group ofprominent voices in the fields of academia, science, literature,media and politics who offer carefully considered statements of whythey are atheists. Features a truly international cast of contributors, rangingfrom public intellectuals such as Peter Singer, Susan Blackmore,and A.C. Grayling, novelists, such as Joe Haldeman, and heavyweightphilosophers of religion, including Graham Oppy and MichaelTooley Contributions range from rigorous philosophical arguments tohighly personal, even whimsical, accounts (...) of how each of thesenotable thinkers have come to reject religion in their lives Likely to have broad appeal given the current publicfascination with religious issues and the reception of such booksas The God Delusion and The End of Faith. (shrink)

Between Wolff and Kant: Merian's Theory of Apperception UDO THIEL IT IS WELL KNOWN that the nodon of apperception or self-consciousness is central to Kant's theoretical philosophy. Kant introduces the notion in one of the crucial parts of the Critique of Pure Reason, the Transcendental Deduction of the Categories, and assigns it an important role in his critique of traditional metaphysics of the soul in the Transcendental Dialectic.' It is also well known that Kant did not invent the term "apperception." (...) Leibniz had introduced the French 'Tapperception" into philosophical terminology early in the eigh- teenth century. Kant scholars generally stress, rightly, that Kant's notion of apperception differs significandy from that of his predecessors. However, the precise relation between Kant's concept of apperception and earlier accounts has not been considered in any detail. Wolfgang Carl, for example, simply states that the main difference is that, prior to Kant, apperception was under- stood as relating only to mental acts and their contents, and not to the subject that thinks and has ideas, whereas in Kant apperception relates essentially to the thinking subject. 2 This very general thesis is questionable even in regard to some of the philosophers that Carl cites in this context . It is clearly not true of some other pre-Kantian philoso- phers who deal with self-consciousness. ' References to the Critique of Pure.. (shrink)

Knowing that technologies are inherently value-laden and systemically interwoven with society, the question is how individual engineers can take up the challenge of accepting the responsibility for their work? This paper will argue that engineers have no institutional structure at the level of society that allows them to recognize, reflect upon, and actively integrate the value-laden character of their designs. Instead, engineers have to tap on the different institutional realms of market, science, and state, making their work a ‘hybrid’ activity (...) combining elements from the different institutional realms. To deal with this institutional hybridity, engineers develop routines and heuristics in their professional network, which do not allow societal values to be expressed in a satisfactory manner. To allow forms of ‘active’ responsibility, there have to be so-called ‘accountability forums’ that guide moral reflections of individual actors. The paper will subsequently look at the methodologies of value-sensitive design and constructive technology assessment and explore whether and how these methodologies allow engineers to integrate societal values into the design technological artifacts and systems. As VSD and CTA are methodologies that look at the process of technological design, whereas the focus of this paper is on the designer, they can only be used indirectly, namely as frameworks which help to identify the contours of a framework for active responsibility of engineers. (shrink)

Despite the opening of the market and partial privatization of state‐owned companies in China, the state still represents the controlling shareholder in larger companies. By analyzing the weaknesses of Chinese corporate governance we illustrate the framework for harmful corruption. China is characterized by a weak legal system and strong influences of traditions such as guanxi. In this article we analyze the influence of guanxi on the Chinese corporate governance system. We find that guanxi is in general a double‐edged sword, but (...) business‐to‐government guanxi in particular can harm the weak Chinese corporate governance system and hamper its further economic development and growth. (shrink)

What should I do? What can I hope for? The essays are weighted towards the practical philosophy, which Kant himself described as the keystone of his complete philosophical system.

ZusammenfassungFür Eckhart ist das intelligere dei die Grundlage des Seins . Das intelligere dei unterscheidet sich von dem intelligere hominis dadurch, dass dieses verursacht ist und erleuchtet wird, während jenes verursacht und erleuchtet. Das Erkennen des einen Gottes ist unbegrenzt. Der Mensch ist in die Dialektik von Endlichkeit und Unendlichkeit gestellt. Endlichkeit kommt dem intellectus agens, Unendlichkeit dem intellectus passibilis resp. possibilis zu, da letztere operatio dei sind. Der durch die Gottesgeburt geprägte Mensch wird durch Gott qualifiziert, capax infiniti und (...) damit wizzender mensche zu sein. Denn: »Darin erkennen wir Gott […], dass er uns sehend und erkennend macht.«SummaryAccording to Eckhart intelligere dei is the principle of being . There is a difference between the principle and act of intelligere dei and intelligere hominis. The last one is caused and illuminated, whereas the first one causes it self. The knowledge that God has, is unlimited. The human is placed between the dialectic of limited and unlimited. The limited belongs to the intellectus agens and the unlimited to the intellectus passibilis respectively intellectus possibilis because the last one is an operatio dei. God makes the human to the capax infiniti by means of »Gottesgeburt« in the baptized human soul . This way the human accedes to the knowledge. (shrink)

Apoptosis is a physiological mechanism for the removal of unwanted or damaged cells. Apoptotic cells are rarely seen in living tissues, however, because of their rapid and efficient removal by phagocytosis. Phagocytotic cells such as macrophages or dendritic cells recognize apoptotic cells by specific changes of cell surface markers, which usually are not present on normal cells. One such event is the exposure of phosphatidylserine, which moves from the plasma membrane inner leaflet to the outer leaflet in preapoptotic cells. An (...) unresolved problem, however, was the nature of the phosphatidylserine receptor on the phagocytotic cells. In a recent issue of Nature, Fadok et al.(1) have reported the cloning of a phosphatidylserine receptor using an antibody raised against activated macrophages. Antibody treatment of these macrophages blocks this capacity to engulf. BioEssays 22:878–881, 2000. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (shrink)

This article briefly reviews the discussion over changes to the Declaration of Helsinki. It suggests that the final product the World Medical Association has adopted as its guiding research ethics document is superior to the version it has replaced, but falls short of what would be ethically desirable.

Developing World Bioethics, Volume 22, Issue 3, Page 125-125, September 2022.