Realizing that scientific knowledge was not based on a simple disclosure of reality, but was rather invented and developed in accordance with our own conceptions and prejudices, it should no longer be possible to consider matters as if they existed independently of us out there.Taking as examples the notions of memory and information we try to elucidate the relevance this perspective has with respect to neuro- and psychophysiological research.

This paper is a book review of "Drachen und Sirenen. Die Rationalisierung und Abwicklung der Mythologie an den europäischen Universitäten" by Bernd Roling.

Beside from the Collegio Romano, the Jesuit Province of Upper Germany with its universities at Dillingen and Ingolstadt was a centre of the intellectual dispute about Perera. Especially his pupil Anton Balduin and the theologian Gregorius de Valencia are central to the controversy. Despite the restraint of the Rector Theodoricus Canisius in the disputations of Balduinus about physics there are theses that show the influence of Balduinus: indeterminate dimensions of prime matter, the question of a maximum and minimum in the (...) natural species, the critics of the aristotelian definition of place, the persistence of forms in elementary mixture. Perera’s history of philosophy in book IV of his De communibus is used several times by Jacobus Pontanus in his discourses at Dillingen university and in his Progymnasmata Latinitatis. (shrink)

this paper is a review of 'Locutio angelica. Die Diskussion der Engelsprache als Antizipation einer Sprechakttheorie in Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit' by Bernd Roling.

This Festschrift in honour of Werner G. Jeanrond, currently Master of St Benet's Hall, University of Oxford, UK, investigates the challenge of alterity for Christianity, exploring and elaborating on this core concern in Jeanrond's hermeneutical theology. Blurring disciplinary boundaries, more than thirty of Jeanrond's colleagues and companions from ten countries track the dynamics of difference driven by the encounter with the self as other, the other as other, and God as the radical other. Who is my other? What do I (...) encounter when I encounter my other? And what responses and responsibilities does the encounter with my other evoke? Grappling with questions like these, the contributions to this compilation analyse alterity in the Bible, alterity in philosophy, alterity in theology, alterity in interreligious dialogues, and the radical alterity of God. Tying in with Jeanrond's explorations of the many faces and facets of the other, this Festschrift ultimately aims to advocate openness to the other as a necessity for both religion and reflections on religion. (shrink)

The procedure of ethical justification constitutes the focus for the question of how ethics becomes concrete. This very procedure seems also to be the crystallizing focus on an ernerging tradition in theological ethics. lt neither refers to a »good« reality, nor does it presuppose an ethics on unconditional imperatives. Rather, it belongs to an ethics of creatureliness, which is practiced explicitly as an inherent element of our life with God. The crucial marks of a moraljustification in accordance with this practice (...) of >)life with God« can be concretely described. They are the marks of a Christian freedom which is constituted by the very practice this article talked about. (shrink)

The paper describes the biblical understanding of God’s commanded law in its indispensable political form, i.e. the law of God’s people. This is distinct from a confinement of God’s commandments to a moral code independent from that political context as it is present as the ‘political worship’ of God’s people.This worship has to be seen as the ground for ethics. From here follow consequences for human laws and legislation concerning human life forms. That disposition of theological ethics has been elaborated (...) in a particular form by the Lutheran-Reformed tradition especially in its concepts of God’s twofold regiment and the estates. (shrink)

Background. Decisions to test, enrol and disclose HIV status are among the ethical challenges that may influence adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and HIV care and treatment in adolescents living with HIV. In the Tanzanian setting, how parental perceptions of ethical issues affect adolescents’ adherence to HIV care and treatment is not well known.Objective. To explore parental perceptions of ethical issues in adolescent HIV care and treatment. Methods. The study employed a descriptive qualitative exploratory design and was conducted at Temeke (...) Regional Referral Hospital in Dar es Salaam Care and Treatment Centre (CTC) in the Outpatient Department (OPD). The study population were parents and non-parent caregivers of HIV-infected adolescents 10 - 19 years of age. A total of 16 persons participated in semi-structured interviews after their consent was obtained. All interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim in Swahili and back-translated into English. An inductive content analysis was used, and standards of qualitative rigour applied. Results. Three qualitative themes emerged: balancing adolescents’ autonomy with parents’ desire to protect their children; parental dilemmas regarding disclosure of adolescents’ HIV status; and parental reasons for delayed disclosure.Conclusion. Participants perceived that parental authority should override adolescents’ autonomy in HIV care and treatment. Disclosure of HIV status to adolescents is a challenge to parents. Delays in disclosure often occur because parents feel guilty and because they have fears of rejection by their adolescent children. (shrink)

Looking for ‘the future of Christian ethics’ we have to be aware of different paradigms of theological ethics and its different implications for a theologically reflected notion of future. With regard to the Reformation heritage there can be identified a Protestant paradigm of a Christian moral subject, liberated for a universal rational responsibility related to the future of the human condition on the one hand, and—according to a Lutheran grammar—an ethics of Christian practices within a worshipping community, grounded in God’s (...) ongoing creational work. The future of Christian ethics, then, consists of the continuity of this Christian witness as it is rooted in God’s promises and faithfulness. (shrink)

Progressive supranuclear palsy is a movement disorder with prominent tau neuropathology. Brain diseases with abnormal tau deposits are called tauopathies, the most common of which is Alzheimer's disease. Environmental causes of tauopathies include repetitive head trauma associated with some sports. To identify common genetic variation contributing to risk for tauopathies, we carried out a genome-wide association study of 1,114 individuals with PSP and 3,247 controls followed by a second stage in which we genotyped 1,051 cases and 3,560 controls for the (...) stage 1 SNPs that yielded P ≤ 10-3. We found significant previously unidentified signals associated with PSP risk at STX6, EIF2AK3 and MOBP. We confirmed two independent variants in MAPT affecting risk for PSP, one of which influences MAPT brain expression. The genes implicated encode proteins for vesicle-membrane fusion at the Golgi-endosomal interface, for the endoplasmic reticulum unfolded protein response and for a myelin structural component. © 2011 Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved. (shrink)

Stanovich & West analyze individual differences with respect to response output (e.g., participants' numerical estimates). They do not analyze the underlying cognitive processes that led to the outputs; they thereby probably misclassify some non-normative responses as normative. Using base rate neglect and overconfidence as examples, I demonstrate the advantages of analyzing cognitive processes further.

Background The field of nursing has long been concerned with ethical issues. The history of the nursing profession has a rich legacy of attention to social justice and to societal questions regarding issues of fairness, access, equity, and equality. Some nurses have found that their clinical experiences spur an interest in ethical patient care, and many are now nurse bioethicists, having pursued additional training in bioethics and related fields (e.g., psychology, sociology). Purpose The authors describe how the clinical and research (...) experiences of nurses give them a unique voice in the field of bioethics. Results Authors present reasons for the relative invisibility of nurse bioethicists, compared with physician, theologian, or philosopher bioethicists, as well as current efforts to increase the visibility of nurse bioethicists. They also describe four specific areas where nurse bioethicists have made and continue to make important contributions: as ethics consultants to colleagues in hospitals and other settings; as bioethics researchers or as advisers to researchers conducting trials with human subjects; as educators of trainees, patients and families, healthcare providers, and the public; and in helping to draft humane and ethical policies for the care of vulnerable patients and underserved populations. Conclusion Nurse bioethicists are central to the future goals of healthcare bringing a unique perspective to the day-to-day ethical challenges of both clinical care and research, as well as to the education of health professionals and the public. (shrink)

We show how to extract effective bounds Φ for $\bigwedge u^1 \bigwedge v \leq_\gamma tu \bigvee w^\eta G_0$ -sentences which depend on u only (i.e. $\bigwedge u \bigwedge v \leq_\gamma tu \bigvee w \leq_\eta \Phi uG_0$ ) from arithmetical proofs which use analytical assumptions of the form \begin{equation*}\tag{*}\bigwedge x^\delta\bigvee y \leq_\rho sx \bigwedge z^\tau F_0\end{equation*} (γ, δ, ρ, and τ are arbitrary finite types, η ≤ 2, G0 and F0 are quantifier-free, and s and t are closed terms). If τ (...) ≤ 2, (*) can be weakened to $\bigwedge x^\delta, z^\tau\bigvee y \leq_\rho sx \bigwedge \tilde{z} \leq_\tau z F_0$ . This is used to establish new conservation results about weak König's lemma. Applications to proofs in classical analysis, especially uniqueness proofs in approximation theory, will be given in subsequent papers. (shrink)