Suchergebnisse
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Titel: The German Family Panel (pairfam). Research Potential and First Results of a Multi-Disciplinary Longitudinal Study on Partnership and Family Dynamics in Germany
Autor: Sabine Keller / Bernhard Nauck
Seite: 321-339
Abstract: The German Family Panel pairfam is a multidisciplinary, multi-actor, longitudinal study of partnership and family dynamics in Germany. The present paper illustrates the wide analytical potential inherent in the annually growing pairfam dataset by summarizing published analyses of pairfam data on the topics of partnership, parenthood, and intergenerational relationships. Since the panel is uniquely rich due to its longitudinal and multi-actor design, this selection of publications also provides a concise review of current developments in the sociology of family and partnership.
Titel: Herausforderungen und Perspektiven der empirischen Wahlforschung in Deutschland am Beispiel der German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES)
Autor: Ina E. Bieber / Evelyn Bytzek
Seite: 341-370
Abstract: Empirical electoral research in Germany has reached a high level of quality both with regard to theoretical approaches and methodological issues. Moreover, it is strongly linked to other disciplines in political science such as comparative political studies or political communication and also highly integrated in international electoral research. However, a changing context of voting and internal deficits are imposing challenges on electoral research in Germany which should be met in the next years and decades. Still, these challenges can also be regarded as perspectives for future electoral research. This paper thus describes the current standing of empirical electoral research in Germany and gives a detailed account of the challenges resulting from this. Further, using the example of the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) we show how these challenges can be and are actually met.
Titel: Health, Families, and Work in Later Life: A Review of Current Research and Perspectives
Autor: Karsten Hank / Martina Brandt
Seite: 303-320
Abstract: There is a rapid growth in published knowledge about different aspects of age and aging. While this is highly welcome, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep up even with the main insights provided by this literature. Our review thus aims to provide a compact overview of current social science research in three major domains of older people's life: health, families, and work. Moreover, we briefly discuss some theoretical issues and introduce the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The research findings discussed here demonstrate both the challenges and opportunities lying ahead of us as life expectancy is increasing steadily and as the proportion of older people in our societies will grow further. More generally, we find a great value of life course and cross-nationally comparative perspectives in aging research. We conclude with an outlook on perspectives for future studies in this field.
Titel: Soziale Ungleichheit in Deutschland in der Längsschnittperspektive. Befunde zur Armutsproblematik auf Basis des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels (SOEP)
Autor: Marco Giesselmann / Jan Goebel
Seite: 277-302
Abstract: In this article, we discuss and analyse poverty in Germany from a longitudinal perspective. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), we first show that the general poverty rate in Germany has constantly increased since the late 1990s. Shifting to a life-course perspective, we show that not only socio-structural characteristics have a strong impact on the poverty risk, but also critical life-events. While focusing on dynamics of poverty within individual life-courses, it appears that incidents like formation of a new household, birth of a child and separation from partner are associated with an immediate increase of the poverty risk. The event of becoming unemployed stands particularly out. Comparing longitudinal and fixed-effects approaches on the one hand with simple cross-sectional procedures on the other, our analyses finally emphasises that cross-sectional analyses are not sufficient to fully understand or to explain poverty. Therefore, our study can be interpreted as a claim to make stronger use of the benefits of longitudinal data in the context of poverty research.
Titel: Soziologische Gerechtigkeitsanalyse. Überlegungen zur theoretischen Fundierung eines Forschungsfeldes
Autor: Stefan Liebig / Carsten Sauer
Seite: 371-394
Abstract: During the last years the focus of sociological justice research has been on the measurement of justice attitudes of the people outside the laboratory via large scale and internationally comparative surveys. Within these surveys one attempt has been to identify the social determinants and the consequences of individual justice attitudes. However, the theoretical foundation of this research within exiting sociological theories and concepts has been neglected. Therefore, the sociological justice research is so far not able to provide theoretically sound answers to at least two questions: (1) why do people think justice is important, and (2) what are the reasons for substantively different justice attitudes? By using the theory of social production functions and the goal-framing theory this contribution tries to overcome this shortcoming and suggests an explanation why justice is seen as a desirable goal and why norms of justice are in the very own interest of the individual. Assumptions are derived under which conditions individuals declare themselves in favor of a specific principle of justice to solve conflicts of allocation and distribution. The aim of this paper is to derive theoretically substantive and empirically testable predictions based on a general theory of action and thus to contribute to a stronger theoretical foundation of sociological justice research.
Titel: Solidarität: Vorschlag für eine soziologische Begriffsbestimmung
Autor: Ulf Tranow
Seite: 395-421
Abstract: Although solidarity is a key issue in sociology, surprisingly little attention has been given to the question what constitutes solidarity from a sociological perspective. In this paper I suggest a concept of solidarity which might work as a general framework for theoretical and empirical investigations. The central idea is that solidarity norms make up the core of the concept. Solidarity norms demand from their addressees that they transfer resources without compensation either to a collective or to individuals. It is argued that there are two levels of solidarity to be distinguished: (1) the level of social systems where solidarity is manifested in solidarity norms and (2) the level of individuals where solidarity is embedded in commitment to solidarity norms. I differentiate between four universal solidarity norms which can be found in associations on every level of social aggregation: norms of provision, of sharing, of supporting, and of loyalty.
Titel: Kultur, soziale Institutionen und die ökonomische Entwicklung in China
Autor: Mengyue Liu
Seite: 423-447
Abstract: One of the main concerns of New Institutional Economics is to explain the pervasive existence of inefficient political or economic arrangements. However, quite different explanations of this phenomenon are offered. Some authors consider it a result of formally established rules, others think it is caused by traditional cultural beliefs, yet others ascribe it to evolved social relations. But each of these approaches can only cover part of the truth. In this paper I suggest that societal development and endurance can only be explained if we consider the dynamic interactions between formal, cultural and social institutions. In applying this theoretical framework to the development of the Chinese economy during the past thirty years, I will argue that the special relations between the socialist political system, Confucian familist culture and social relationships namely Guanxi have contributed to the rise and concomitant problems of the Chinese economy. On this basis it might be possible to answer two questions that have troubled scholars for decades: How could the Chinese private economy flourish without well-defined property rights? Why did the Chinese entrepreneurs fail to lead China to further political reform after having achieved huge success on the market?
Titel: Mobilisierung zu politischer Partizipation durch das Internet: Erwartungen, Erkenntnisse und Herausforderungen der Forschung
Autor: Tobias Escher
Seite: 449-476
Abstract: This article is focusing on the state of research into the extent to which the opportunities for information, communication and participation opened up by the Internet have led to greater mobilisation of the public for political participation. After briefly presenting the diversity of conflicting expectations towards the Internet’s role for the political process, the article discusses the relevance of digital media as a means for mobilising greater and more equal political participation from a liberal-representative perspective on democracy. At the core of the article is a discussion of the last 15 years of research empirically testing the mobilisation hypothesis as well as the theories proposed to explain the observed participation patterns. What becomes clear is that the Internet does indeed slightly increase rates of political participation but with few exceptions those newly mobilised come from parts of the population that are already politically active. At the same time, the explanations still exhibit considerable gaps that remain to be closed. To this end future research needs to address a number of challenges which are discussed in the final section of the article.
Titel: Property-Owning Democracy and the Difference Principle
Autor: Samuel Freeman
Seite: 9-36
Abstract: John Rawls says: ’The main problem of distributive justice is the choice of a social system.’ Property-owning democracy is the social system that Rawls thought best realized the requirements of his principles of justice. This article discusses Rawls’s conception of property-owning democracy and how it is related to his difference principle. I explain why Rawls thought that welfare-state capitalism could not fulfill his principles; it is mainly because of the connection he perceived between capitalism and utilitarianism.
Titel: The Property-Owning Democracy vesus the Welfare State
Autor: Albert Weale
Seite: 37-54
Abstract: The political theory of the property-owning democracy can be seen as a way of overcoming the ideological conflict between individualism and collectivism. Rawls offers the contemporary reference-point for this theory. Rawls contrasted the ideal-type of the property-owning democracy with the ideal-type of a capitalist welfare state. However, the terms of that contrast are not well drawn and raise a number of questions, in particular regarding Rawls’s a priori specification of the welfare state. An inductively derived specification of ideal-typical welfare states suggests that horizontal redistribution, in line with the principle of social savings, is more important than vertical redistribution. Rawls’s preference for a social dividend or negative income tax scheme can be contrasted with the use of social insurance, but the latter has a claim to instantiate Rawlsian ideals better than a social dividend. There is a potential problem with the pre-emption of private savings in the welfare state, but this turns out not to be troublesome empirically or conceptually. The irony of the discussion is that those who have interpreted Rawlsian theory as justifying the welfare state have the better of the argument, despite Rawls’s own views.
Titel: Thoughts on Arrangements of Property Rights in Productive Assets
Autor: John E. Roemer
Seite: 55-63
Abstract: State ownership, worker ownership, and household ownership are the three main forms in which productive assets (firms) can be held. I argue that worker ownership is not wise in economies with high capital-labor ratios, for it forces the worker to concentrate all her assets in one firm. I review the coupon economy that I proposed in 1994, and express reservations that it could work: greedy people would be able to circumvent its purpose of preventing the concentration of corporate wealth. Although extremely high corporate salaries are the norm today, I argue these are competitive and market determined, a consequence of the gargantuan size of firms. It would, however, be possible to tax such salaries at high rates, because the labor supply response would be small. The social-democratic model remains the best one, to date, for producing a relatively egalitarian outcome, and it relies on solidarity, redistribution, and private ownership of firms. Whether a solidaristic social ethos can develop without a conflagration, such as the second world war, which not only united populations in the war effort, but also wiped out substantial middle-class wealth in Europe thus engendering the post-war movement towards social insurance is an open question.
Titel: Comment on John E. Roemer
Autor: Martin Beckstein
Seite: 65-69
Egalitarian Political Economy beyond Market Socialism
Abstract: On reflecting about the prospects of advancing the egalitarian cause in the United States, John Roemer makes the case for more traditional strategies than the coupon socialism model he advocated in earlier work. First of all, he suggests, an ethos of solidarity must be developed and the super-rich be subjected to higher taxation. This comment assesses this proposal. On the one hand it is discussed whether the ethos of solidarity Roemer calls for in order to counteract the culture of greed among American elites requires nurturing an undesirable culture of envy among the rest of the population. On the other hand it is considered whether the neoclassical principal-agent model that Roemer believes must be contested in order to popularize a steep progressive income tax might be one of the more promising tools to restructure the incentives of economic elites and curb casino capitalism.
Titel: Property-Owning Democracy and the Priority of Liberty
Autor: Gavin Kerr
Seite: 71-92
Abstract: The distinction drawn by Rawls between the ideas of property-owning democracy and welfare state capitalism parallels his distinction between justice-based ’liberalisms of freedom’ (including his own conception of justice as fairness) and utilitarian-based ’liberalisms of happiness’. In this paper I argue that Rawls’s failure to attach the same level of significance to essential socio-economic rights and liberties as he attached to the traditional liberal civil and political rights and liberties gives justice as fairness a quasi-utilitarian character, which is incompatible with the fundamental objective of protecting the highest-order interests of citizens conceived as free and equal. I argue that in order fully to protect these interests, rights to access to non-human capital and productive resources should be assigned the same level of significance as that assigned to the civil and political rights and liberties, and prioritized over the lower-order rights and benefits regulated by Rawls’s second principle of justice.
Titel: Comment on Gavin Kerr
Autor: Ivo Wallimann-Helmer
Seite: 93-97
Not Losing Major Liberal and Rawlsian Insights
Abstract: In this comment I challenge Kerr’s claim that a coherent expression of a ’liberalism of freedom’ needs an extended first Rawlsian principle of justice incorporating the principle of fair equality of opportunity for two reasons. First, such an extended first principle leads to illiberal consequences by narrowing down the scope of individual responsibility for choice and effort way too much. Second, such an extended first principle misses a main Rawlsian insight, namely that in a theory of justice the principle securing basic liberties and the principle of fair equality of opportunity serve different purposes.
Titel: The Concept of Property in Rawls's Property-Owning Democracy
Autor: Tilo Wesche
Seite: 99-111
Abstract: Understanding the relationship of democracy and property ownership is one of the most important tasks for contemporary political philosophy. In his concept of property-owning democracy John Rawls explores the thesis that property in productive means has an indirect effect on the formation of true or false beliefs and that unequal ownership of productive capital leads to distorted and deceived convictions. The basic aspect of Rawls’s conception can be captured by the claim that for securing the fair value of the political liberties a widespread dispersal of property in productive resources is required that minimizes the formation of delusions and therefore improves the conditions of deliberative democracy.
Titel: Comment on Tilo Wesche
Autor: Jan Narveson
Seite: 113-119
On Property-Owning Democracy
Abstract: The gist of Welsche’s argument seems to be to pick up on an idea he attributes to Rawls, that in a true property-owning democracy, productive wealth would be distributed more broadly ’ex ante’ rather than, as now, ’ex post’, the point of demarcation being the use of capital to generate wealth and income. As against this, I argue that ex ante distribution of capital is impossible, because business activity creates wealth, and thus we don’t know what there is to distribute ex ante. Moreover, the prospect of greater wealth for the producers ex post is what especially motivates them to produce, and without production we are poor. It is also noted that Rawls’s ’difference principle’ does not in fact have the egalitarian implications he supposes, nor really any distributive implications, despite Rawls’s intentions.
Titel: The Place of the Market in a Rawlsian Economy
Autor: Jahel Queralt
Seite: 121-140
Abstract: Rawls identifies only two arrangements, the liberal socialist regime and the property-owning democracy, as being compatible with justice. Both are market-based economies, suggesting that a just society must include the market. This article questions this idea by looking at three Rawlsian arguments in favour of the market. Two arguments, which link the market to certain basic liberties, are unsound because the market is shown to be nonessential in protecting these liberties. A third argument points at the instrumental value of the market to make the least advantaged as well off as possible. It is based on an interpretation of the difference principle in which justice requires maximizing the position of the worst off within the most productive economic system. Although commonly accepted, this reading of the principle should be questioned, and thus the third argument is also inconclusive.
Titel: Between Sentimentalism and Instrumentalism. The Societal Role of Work in John Rawls's Property-Owning Democracy and Its Bearing upon Basic Income
Autor: Michael G. Festl
Seite: 141-162
Abstract: In recent years research on John Rawls has experienced a surge in interest in Rawls’s elaborations on the economic order of a just society. This research entails the treatment of the issue which societal role Rawls attaches to work. Somewhat dissatisfied with these treatments the article at hand develops an alternative account of the function Rawls has in mind for work. It will be argued that within Rawls’s idea of a just society the societal role of work consists of three components: an ’efficiency component’, a ’self-respect component’, and a ’sense of community component’. Based on that reconstruction of the Rawlsian position I will investigate whether such a position is reconcilable with the demand for an unconditional Basic Income. The article’s contribution is mostly exegetical albeit in dealing with Basic Income it elucidates how an oft-proposed policy consideration with a bearing upon work can and cannot be justified.
Titel: Fraternal Society in Rawls’ Property-Owning Democracy
Autor: Andrew Walton / Valeria Camia
Seite: 163-186
Abstract: This paper discusses what type of sociological context is appropriate for Rawls’ ’property-owning democracy’. Following certain suggestions offered by Rawls and in the work of Joshua Cohen, it explores, in particular, the kind of fraternity and social interaction suitable for citizens in Rawlsian society and the role of the state in engineering these bonds. Utilising a normative framework based on Rawls’ discussion of a property-owning democracy and various data sets, the paper argues that bonds of social trust, active participation in trade unions and enrolment in public schools, and the use of state policy to organise a mixture of public, cooperative, and private economic institutions would be suitable for a Rawlsian society to adopt because it appears that these structures are favourably connected to the ends of Rawlsian justice.
Titel: Comment on Andrew Walton
Autor: Carina Fourie
Seite: 187-192
The Basic Structure Objection and the Institutions of a Property-Owning Democracy
Abstract: Andrew Walton argues that a Rawlsian property-owning democracy (POD) requires a fraternal ethos and certain forms of social interaction, such as high trade union membership. The basic structure objection could be used to challenge these claims as it indicates that Rawls’s principles of justice should only be applied to the basic structure of society, and not, for example, to an ethos. Walton has two responses to the objection: firstly, that it does not apply to his argument, and, secondly, even if it were to apply, the objection itself is unconvincing. In this article I argue however that (1) the basic structure objection does apply as a fraternal ethos is difficult to reconcile with Rawls’s understanding of what should be included as part of the basis structure, and (2) although I do not defend the basic structure objection, it is not made explicit in Walton’s argument why the objection should be dismissed as unconvincing.
Titel: Background Justice over Time: Property-Owning Democracy versus a Realistically Utopian Welfare State
Autor: Michael Schefczyk
Seite: 193-212
Abstract: In Justice as Fairness, Rawls presents a case for property-owning democracy (POD) which heavily depends on a favourable comparison with welfare state capitalism (WSC). He argues that WSC, but not POD, fails to realise ’all the main political values expressed by the two principles of justice’. This article argues that Rawls’s case for POD is incomplete. He does not show that POD is superior to other conceivable forms of WSC. In order to present a serious contender, I sketch what I call a realistically utopian welfare state (RUWS) that (a) guarantees the fair equality of political liberties and opportunity and that (b) maximises the situation of the worst-off via a kind of participation income. The main aim of the article is to give credibility to the claim that RUWS is not obviously worse than POD by Rawlsian standards and therefore deserves a fair hearing in further research.
Titel: Comment on Michael Schefczyk
Autor: Fabian Schuppert
Seite: 213-217
In Search of a Just Political Economy: Why We Should Go beyond Rawls's POD and Schefczyk’s RUWS
Abstract: This commentary challenges Michael Schefczyk’s proposal for a realistically utopian welfare state (RUWS). As it stands, RUWS says too little about the concrete measures it will offer to avoid political domination and harmful inequalities. Moreover, RUWS follows Rawlsian Property-Owning Democracy (POD) by being silent on crucial issues such as banking regulation, the governance of investments and the issue of actual control over capital. Ultimately, it therefore seems that RUWS does not present an attractive alternative to POD since it suffers from very similar problems and shortcomings as POD.
Titel: Investing for a Property-Owning Democracy? Towards a Philosophical Analysis of Investment Practices
Autor: Emilio Marti
Seite: 219-236
Abstract: In this article I show why investment practices matter for a property-owning democracy (POD) and how political philosophers can analyse them. I begin by documenting how investment practices influence income distribution. Empirical research suggests that investments that force corporations to maximise shareholder value, which I refer to as ’shareholder value investing’, increase income inequality. By contrast, there is evidence that socially responsible investing (SRI) could bring society closer to a POD. Following that, I sketch how financial regulation fosters investment practices and discuss how SRI could be boosted if regulation attempted to influence investment decisions, although many people in the public discourse would see this as exceedingly patronising. Finally, I outline how political philosophers can evaluate financial regulation. I argue that drawing on Hegel or Rawls helps to justify efforts to influence investment decisions and that proponents of a POD should therefore develop and support regulatory ideas which foster SRI.
Titel: Constitutionalizing Property-Owning Democracy
Autor: Thad Williamson
Seite: 237-253
Abstract: This paper explores how a regime recognizable as a Rawlsian property-owning democracy might be enshrined constitutionally in the context of the U.S. Five specific constitutional amendments are proposed: establishing an equal right to education, establishing a guaranteed social minimum, clarifying the legitimacy of regulating corporate political speech for the sake of political equality; establishing an individual right to a share of society’s productive wealth, and assuring communities of significant size the right to remain economically viable over time. The substance and reasoning behind each proposal is discussed in length, and the paper also briefly discusses why a focus on constitutional amendments may be helpful both in clarifying how a property-owning democracy might be realized in practice and in establishing clear goals for social movements motivated by the aim of establishing a more equitable distribution of wealth, power, and opportunity in the United States.
Titel: Property-Owning Democracy and the Circumstances of Politics
Autor: Francis Cheneval
Seite: 255-269
Abstract: The article argues that Rawls’s property-owning democracy should not be understood as a necessary standard of democratic legitimacy. This position contradicts Rawls’s own understanding to some extent, but a rejoinder with elements of political liberalism is possible. He concedes that justice as fairness is a ’comprehensive liberal doctrine’ and that a well ordered society affirming such a doctrine ’contradicts reasonable pluralism’. Rawls makes clear that reasonable pluralism in combination with the burdens of judgment lead to rare unanimity in political life and to the necessity of majority and plurality voting procedures.
Titel: Spiritualität - Sozialwissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf ein umstrittenes Konzept
Autor: Pascal Siegers
Seite: 5-30
Abstract: Spirituality is a contentious concept in the social sciences. This is above all due to the increasing number of different definitions of spirituality that are used in the field. Some scholars argue that given this heterogeneity, spirituality is not an analytic concept. Scholars use the concept to denote forms of belief that are not part of conventional religiosity. Therefore, spirituality refers to transformations of religion in modern societies. This paper shows that spirituality is generally defined in relation to religion or religiosity. Thus, different concepts of spirituality can be distinguished according to the way they draw the boundaries between religiosity and spirituality. This approach reveals the most important communalities and differences of different perspectives on spirituality as a scientific concept which allows a better assessment of empirical results from research on spirituality.
Titel: Olivier Roys Thesen zum islamischen Neofundamentalismus auf dem Prüfstand. Eine empirische Analyse
Autor: Yasemin El-Menouar / Melanie Reddig
Seite: 31-59
Abstract: This paper tests three main theses by the French political scientist Olivier Roy concerning the social integration of Islamic neofundamentalists in Europe. Firstly, Roy assumes that Islamic neofundamentalists have a strong global identity, but only a weak national identity and are therefore uprooted. Secondly, Roy expects Islamic neofundamentalists to live segregated from the majority society and avoid respective contact. Thirdly, Roy presumes that Islamic neofundamentalists feel discriminated against. We test these assumptions with data based on a survey on different patterns of Muslim religiosity. The study was conducted in 2009 among Muslims in selected cities in North-Rhine Westphalia containing an oversample of highly religious Muslims (N=228). As a first step, we measure Islamic neofundamentalism by means of agreement with the main religious tenets. As a second step, we analyze the association of Islamic neofundamentalism with uprootedness, segregation and perceived discrimination.
Titel: Meinungsdynamiken in fundamentalistischen Gruppen. Erklärungshypothesen auf der Basis von Simulationsmodellen
Autor: Michael Baurmann / Gregor Betz / Rainer Cramm
Seite: 61-102
Abstract: If we want to understand how fundamentalist group ideologies are established, we have to comprehend the social processes which form the basis of the emergence and distribution of such beliefs. In our paper we present an innovative approach to examining these processes and explaining how they function: with the method of computer-based simulation of opinion formation we develop heuristic explanatory models which help to generate new and interesting hypotheses. The focus is thereby not on individuals and their idiosyncrasies but on the dynamic mutual adaptation of beliefs in a group. These dynamics can produce an incremental establishment of ’charismatic’ opinion leaders and an increasing radicalization and alienation. A prototype of such a simulation model has produced promising first results which are presented and discussed.
Titel: How Farsightedness Affects Network Formation
Autor: Dominik Morbitzer / Vincent Buskens / Stephanie Rosenkranz / Werner Raub
Seite: 103-133
Abstract: We develop a theoretical model of network formation where actors are limitedly farsighted. In this way we extend current models with a new set of micro-foundations. Computer simulations are used to predict the stable network structures that are likely to emerge under the new assumptions. The co-author model by Jackson/Wolinsky (1996) is used as an example. The co-author model formulates a tension between stability and efficiency when actors are myopic. Limitedly farsighted actors can overcome this tension but only if the network is small enough. Thus, changing the micro-foundations of the network formation model leads to new implications at the macro-level in the sense that different networks are predicted to be stable than for existing micro-foundations.
Titel: Strategic Network Formation, Games on Networks, and Trust
Autor: Werner Raub / Vincenz Frey / Vincent Buskens
Seite: 135-152
Abstract: This paper brings two major research lines in current sociology together. Research on social networks has long focused primarily on network effects but meanwhile also addresses the emergence and dynamics of networks. Research on trust in social and economic relations shows that networks have effects on trust. Using game theory, we provide a simple model that allows for an integrated and simultaneous analysis of network effects on trust and for the endogenous emergence of the network. The model also allows for characterizing the value of the network. We use standard assumptions on full strategic rationality. Testable implications of the model as well as model extensions are sketched.
Titel: Schönheitssoziologie - ein Überblick
Autor: Johannes Krause
Seite: 153-175
Abstract: Everybody is Doing Beauty (which refers to the German word Schönheitshandeln) - women use make-up daily and men shave. The first section of this paper deals with the differentiation of the various forms of Doing Beauty. On the one hand some of these actions are part of the daily routine and carried out in a rather unconscious way. On the other hand there are a number of actions where the result is durable, intended and product of a rational process. However they have one thing in common: Doing Beauty means both portraying yourself and securing one’s identity. In the following the focus is on the motives for it: conformity and individuality - the pursuit or refusal of the prevailing beauty ideal. Several gender-specific hypotheses are derived from these theoretical implications, for example: Females are more critical of their own body and therefore, attain a higher degree of Doing Beauty. In contrast, men are more content with themselves, which is also reflected by the extent and manner of their Doing Beauty. These differences are to be found for activities in a daily routine as well as a product of a rational process. The discrepancies between the sexes are evaluated with a student sample (N=621). The quantitative analyses clearly show the different levels of involvement in these actions. In fact females are more critical of their bodies, their amount of time spend on Doing Beauty habitually is larger, their consideration of durable actions is more pronounced as well as they perform these actions more often.
Titel: Physische Attraktivität und soziale Ungleichheit. Einige grundsätzliche Anmerkungen zu einem in der soziologischen Forschung kaum beachteten Prädiktor sozialer Ungleichheit
Autor: Ulrich Rosar / Markus Klein / Jörg Hagenah
Seite: 177-207
Abstract: The external appearance of a person is an important predictor for his or her social success. This finding has been verified by numerous - mostly social psychological oriented - empirical studies on physical attractiveness for many phases and areas of life. At the same time, sociological research on social inequality has hardly paid any attention to the social relevance of physical attractiveness. In order to begin to close this gap, the article provides insight into attractiveness research results and highlights the importance of further research into the impact of attractiveness on causing social inequality. We will first give an overview of the areas of life in which the efficacy of physical attractiveness has already been demonstrated. Then we will discuss the mechanisms through which the external appearance of a person develops its effect, until finally, we will explain how physical attractiveness can be measured.
Titel: Co-deliberation, Joint Decision, and Testimony about Reasons.
Autor: Karen Jones / François Schroeter
Seite: 209-216
Reply to Tobias Steinig, Experts, Teachers and Their Epistemic Roles in Normative and Non-normative Domains, in: Analyse & Kritik 34, 251-274
Abstract: We defend the claim that there can be testimonial transfer of reasons against Steinig’s recent objections. In addition, we argue that the literature on testimony about moral reasons misunderstands what is at stake in the possibility of second-hand orientation towards moral reasons. A moral community faces two different but related tasks: one theoretical (working out what things are of genuine value and how to rank goods and ends) and one practical (engaging in joint action and social coordination). In between, simultaneously theoretical and practical, lies the activity of co-deliberation. Virtuous participation in co-deliberation can require limited moral deference. Refusal to recognize this, combined with excess self-trust, can derail co-deliberation.
Titel: Ghettos in Slovakia. Confronting Roma Social and Enviromental Exclusion
Autor: Richard Filcak / Tamara Steger
Seite: 229-250
Abstract: More than half of the Roma population in Slovakia lives in spaces that are segregated or separated from dominant non-Roma communities. The socio-spatial marginalization of Roma is both generated and reinforced through open and discrete social processes and measures largely orchestrated by local governments, enabled by an ineffective state and reinforced by the general socio-economic policy framework. This article builds on extensive field research on predominantly Roma-occupied spaces (i.e., ’settlements’) in Slovakia and focuses on the nature and function of Roma segregation and separation in Slovakia from an ecological socio-political, and economic standpoint. Based on Loïc Wacquant’s work on ethno-racial segregation and the concept of environmental justice, we discuss social and environmental discrimination as one of the constituent elements in understanding Roma socio-spatial marginalization and its functions, and employ the neologism, ’hyper-osada’ as a tool to conceptually and analytically investigate the new impetus and recent trajectory of Roma segregation and separation.
Titel: Environmental Inequality in France: A Theoretical, Empirical and Policy Perspective
Autor: Éloi Laurent
Seite: 251-262
Abstract: This article highlights the challenge of environmental inequality in France within the framework of social-ecology, an approach relating ecological crises to social issues, especially inequality. It starts by defining the notions of environmental inequality and environmental justice within the framework of the ’capability approach’ and then reviews recent empirical studies that show how air pollution, chemical and noise pollutions, access to environmental resources and exposure to social-ecological disasters are socially differentiated in France and can be understood, under the definition adopted in this article, as a form of injustice. It concludes by reviewing issues raised by environmental inequality in France and exploring policy solutions able to address this challenge.
Titel: When Is ’Yes to the Mill’ Environmental Justice? Interrogating Sites of Acceptance in Response to Energy Development
Autor: Stephanie Malin
Seite: 263-285
Abstract: Though grassroots organizations have mobilized against US environmental injustices since the 1980s, academic definitions of environmental justice (EJ) remain limited in important ways, including: a tendency to privilege cases where activists achieve a successful, ’tidy’ outcome; inattention to roles natural resource dependence and free market systems play in structuring environmental inequality; and a tendency to under-analyze alternative notions of EJ that result, utilized by activists who prioritize local autonomy and procedural justice in land-use decision making. Here, I argue that these alternative notions of EJ help mobilize divergent forms of EJ activism ’sites of resistance’ to industrial production systems and their risks, and ’sites of acceptance’ to those same practices. To illustrate, I explore extensive mixed method data in the context of energy development and sites of acceptance related to uranium production in the southwestern United States. I show how alternative notions of EJ are shaped by identification with uranium production, persistent poverty and economic insecurity, and faith that increased uranium production will fuel US nuclear power production and help combat global climate change.
Titel: No Environmental Justice Movement in France? Controversy about Pollution in Two Southern French Industrial Towns
Autor: Christelle Gramaglia
Seite: 287-313
Abstract: This paper describes the emergence of a controversy concerning pollution and environmental and health risks in two southern French towns, Viviez and Salindres, which are both known for their long industrial history. It explores some of the reasons why the majority of the local populations resented the fact that the issues raised were addressed publicly. It also examines some of the coping strategies residents may have developed to avoid talking about risks and to distance themselves from them. It goes on to discuss the differences and similarities in the development of concerns for environmental inequalities in the North American and French contexts, asking, in the manner of Werner Sombart on socialism in the USA at the end of the nineteenth century, why environmental justice is not a strong concern (either as a social movement or frame of analysis) this side of the Atlantic.
Titel: Climate Change, Energy Policy and Justice: A Systematic Review
Autor: Jason Byrne / Chloe Portanger
Seite: 315-343
Abstract: Energy efficiency and energy security are emerging concerns in climate change policy. But there is little acknowledgment of energy justice issues. Marginalised and vulnerable communities may be disproportionately exposed to both climate change impacts (e.g. heat, flooding) and costs associated with energy transitions related to climate change mitigation and adaptation (e.g. particulate exposure from biofuel combustion). Climate change is producing energy-related impacts such as increased cooling costs. In some cases it threatens energy security. Higher electricity costs associated with ’climate proofing’ energy network infrastructure may exacerbate ’fuel poverty’ itself a form of injustice. In this paper we critically review the literature about multiple interrelations between energy policy, justice and climate change. We identify key issues, illuminate knowledge gaps, and synthesise findings to develop a conceptual model. We chart a research agenda and highlight policy implications.
Titel: Environmental Inequalities and Democratic Citizenship: Linking Normative Theory with Empirical Research
Autor: Fabian Schuppert / Ivo Wallimann-Helmer
Seite: 345-366
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to link empirical findings concerning environmental inequalities with different normative yard-sticks for assessing whether these inequalities should be deemed unjust, or not. We argue that such an inquiry must necessarily take into account some caveats regarding both empirical research and normative theory. We suggest that empirical results must be contextualised by establishing geographies of risk. As a normative yard-stick we propose a moderately demanding social-egalitarian account of justice and democratic citizenship, which we take to be best suited to identify unjust as well as legitimate instances of socio-environmental inequality.
Titel: Water Justice: A Multilayer Term and Its Role in Cooperation
Autor: Angela Kallhoff
Seite: 367-382
Abstract: In discussing water justice, this paper distinguishes four concepts of water justice: Distributive justice claims a fair share of water, ecological justice focuses on the integrity of water as a vulnerable resource, cultural justice addresses values attached to water reservoirs, and procedural justice explicates fair procedures in negotiating water conflicts. After having given an overview over recent contributions to the various meanings of water justice, the paper tries to answer the question of how standards of justice can be integrated into an approach that overcomes the alleged tragedies of the commons. It focuses on the example of a water reservoir whose access conditions provoke conflicts among neighbors.
Titel: Individual Moral Responsibility and the Problem of Climate Change
Autor: Richard Galvin / John R. Harris
Seite: 383-396
Abstract: The problems caused by anthropogenic climate change threaten the lives and well-being of millions, yet it seems that we, as individuals, are powerless to prevent or worsen these problems. In this essay we consider the difficulty of assigning moral responsibility in cases of collective action problems like the problem of anthropogentic climate change. We consider two promising solutions, the expected utility and rights based solution, and argue that both are incapable of explaining why individuals have moral obligations to address collective action problems. We believe, however, that this result does not justify inaction, instead it reveals a failure of moral philosophy to adequately address collective action problems. More work must be done to address the moral responsibilities that arise in cases of collective action problems and we close by pointing in the direction of some promising work in this area.
Titel: Why Participate in Pro-Environmental Action? Individual Responsibility in Unstructured Collectives
Autor: Anton Leist
Seite: 397-416
Abstract: The degradation of natural resources in the environment is, technically speaking, a form of depleting a public good. Public goods are notorious for free-riding among egoists, but the marginality of individual contributions provides no less an obstacle, both to moral duty and motivation. This article discusses the problems of minimized and missing causal involvement on the empirical side and, in the applicability of classical moral arguments, on the ethical side. It suggests that individual responsibility is derived on the basis of implicit advantage-taking from participation in collective action.
Titel: Marx and Mendacity: Can There Be a Politics without Hypocrisy?
Autor: Martin Jay
Seite: 5-21
As demonstrated by Marx’s fierce defence of his integrity when anonymously accused of lying in 1872, he was a principled believer in both personal honesty and the value of truth in politics. Whether understood as enabling an accurate, `scientific´ depiction of the contradictions of the present society or a normative image of a truly just society to come, truth-telling was privileged by Marx over hypocrisy as a political virtue. Contemporary Marxists like Alain Badiou continue this tradition, arguing that revolutionary politics should be understood as a `truth procedure´. Drawing on the alternative position of political theorists such as Hannah Arendt, who distrusted the monologic and absolutist implications of a strong notion of truth in politics, this paper defends the role that hypocrisy and mendacity, understood in terms of lots of little lies rather than one big one, can play in a pluralist politics, in which, pace Marx, rhetoric, opinion and the clash of values resist being subsumed under a singular notion of the truth.
Titel: Why Marxism Still Does Not Need Normative Theory
Autor: Brian Leiter
Seite: 23-50
Marx did not have a normative theory, that is, a theory that purported to justify, discursively and systematically, his normative opinions, to show them to be rationally obligatory or objectively valid. In this regard, Marx was obviously not alone: almost everyone, including those who lead what are widely regarded as exemplary `moral´ lives, decide and act on the basis of normative intuitions and inclinations that fall far short of a theory. Yet self-proclaimed Marxists like G. A. Cohen and Jürgen Habermas have reintroduced a kind of normative theory into the Marxian tradition that Marx himself would have ridiculed. This essay defends Marx’s position and tries to explain the collapse of Western Marxism into bourgeois practical philosophy, i.e., philosophizing about what ought to be done that is unthreatening to capitalist relations of production.
Titel: The Moral Legacy of Marxism
Autor: Raymond Geuss
Seite: 51-70
Marx would not have anything much to contribute to contemporary discussions of `normativity´, because he would reject various of the assumptions on which they rest. Thus, he does not believe it possible to isolate `moral normativity´ as a distinct object of decontextualised study so as to derive from it rationally grounded imperative to individual action. This does not mean that Marx can provide no orientation for human action, but this has a different nature and structure. Marx suspicions of ethical theories are well founded, but his own productivist assumptions should be revisited.
Titel: G. A. Cohen and Marxism
Autor: Fabien Tarrit
Seite: 71-95
The philosopher Gerald A. Cohen died on the 5th of August 2009. His contributions were at first based on Marx’s thought. He really appeared on the intellectual stage in 1978 with his Karl Marx’s Theory of History: A Defence. Later on, he gradually departed from Marx’s theory. He discussed the libertarian concept of self-ownership and the possibility of associating it with a Marxist approach, before entering into the normative debate around Rawls’s Theory of Justice, while his Marxism was withering away. Based on Kantian philosophy, his critique of Rawls was that he allowed too little autonomy to individual choices. This paper discusses the consistency of Jerry Cohen’s intellectual journey with regards to his relation with Marx’s work.
Titel: Thoughts on G. A. Cohen’s Final Testament
Autor: John E. Roemer
Seite: 97-112
I present briefly G. A. Cohen’s theory of distributive justice, discuss the relationship that I think he believed held between human nature and justice, and offer thoughts on the feasibility of Cohenesque justice, or Cohenesque socialism. I introduce the idea of Kantian equilibrium, as a way of explaining how people cooperate. Expanding the domain of activities in which humans cooperate will, I believe, go a long way towards achieving Cohenesque socialism, and the history of human society suggests it is feasible to do so.
Titel: Equality, Community, and Diversity in Cohen’s Socialist Ideal
Autor: Jason Brennan
Seite: 113-130
The `community principle´ is crucial to G. A. Cohen’s argument for socialism, because it is the best independent argument he has adduced for his strongly egalitarian conclusions. Cohen argues that even small differences in wealth ought to be prohibited because they bring us out of community with one another. In this paper, I show that his underlying premises lead to some repugnant conclusions, and thus should be rejected. If Cohen is right that even small differences in wealth can upset community, then, by the very psychological mechanisms he identifies, we should think that other differences, such as differences in religion, conceptions of the good, race, or taste, should also upset community. Cohen is thus caught in a trap: the more strongly egalitarian his community principle is, the more it not only prohibits differences of wealth, but diversity of any kind, including the forms of diversity we should celebrate rather than reject.
Titel: G. A. Cohen, Constructivism, and the Fact of Reasonable Pluralism
Autor: Julian Culp
Seite: 131-147
In this article I argue that G.A. Cohen is mistaken in his belief that the concept of justice needs to be rescued from constructivist theorists of justice. In doing so, I rely on insights of John Rawls’ later work Political Liberalism and Rainer Forst’s discourse theory of justice. Such critical engagement with Cohen’s critique of constructivism is needed, because Cohen bases his critique of constructivism almost exclusively on Rawls’s arguments and positions in A Theory of Justice. He thus neglects at least by and large that Rawls had further developed his constructivist method of justification in his later work Political Liberalism, as well as that Forst’s discourse-theoretical works offer elaborate versions of constructivism. These refined versions of constructivism recognize a plurality of reasonable conceptions of ideal justice and draw an important distinction between moral and political constructivism. Because of these features these advanced constructivist theories are not in need of Cohen’s rescue.
Titel: The Theory of Marxian Liberalism
Autor: Jeffrey Reiman
Seite: 149-169
Marxian Liberalism is a theory of justice that results from combining the liberal belief that people have a natural right to be free from unwanted coercion, with the Marxian belief that property is coercive. This combination implies that property must be consented to by all people who do or will exist and thus such consent must be theoretical. Theoretical consent occurs in a Marxian-liberal original position among parties whose knowledge includes Marxian and liberal beliefs. The parties find it rational to consent to a state that protects liberty, and to a system of property governed by the difference principle interpreted according to a moral version of the labor theory of value.
Titel: Freedom in Times of Struggle: Positive Liberty, Again
Autor: John Christman
Seite: 171-188
Many of those critical of traditional liberalism have focused on the notion of freedom at the center of that approach, namely the (negative) idea of liberty as the absence of interferences with action. Building a plausible and normatively acceptable positive alternative, however, has faced numerous criticisms and challenges. In this paper I discuss what such critics of liberalism see as the limitations of the traditional negative notion and sketch the core components of a positive alternative. Specifically I suggest that the dimensions of liberty should contain the positive elements of capabilities and agent authenticity. After laying out the core of these ideas I briefly defend them against standard objections. In doing so, I argue that such a positive notion is necessary to capture the dominance of the language of freedom in contexts of resistance and struggle in the actual, non-ideal, world.
Titel: Libertarianism on the Brink
Autor: James P. Sterba
Seite: 189-201
I argue that recent developments in my on-going debate with Jan Narveson have brought libertarianism to the brink where it is now able to cross over and join forces with welfare liberalism and even socialism. I summarize my debate with Narveson and then argue that a public concession Narveson made at recent meeting along with a new argument he advanced in response to that public concession have now brought libertarianism to this momentous brink where it can now be seen to cross over into the welcoming arms of welfare liberals and socialists.
Titel: Sterba on Liberty and Welfarism
Autor: Jan Narveson
Seite: 203-221
James Sterba advances several arguments designed to show that libertarianism, contrary to what this author and other libertarians think, actually implies support for welfarism and even egalitarianism. This discussion shows why his arguments do not work. There is preliminary discussion of our parameters: how much is Sterba claiming we have a minimum right to in the way of welfare? It is argued that if this is set very low, a libertarian society would easily eliminate the poverty he is concerned about, and if it is set very high, then the standard could be unmeetable and certainly could not have been met until very recently at the least. More abstractly, it is argue that Sterba is in error about the normative assumptions required for libertarianism’s strong distinction between nonharm and outright help. Once these are cleared up, it is seen that his case depends on equivocation. The duty not to harm simply does not imply a duty to help. In the closing pages, a contractarian framework is advanced to explain the libertarian’s disaffection for the kind of ’strong’ rights Sterba wants to uphold.
Titel: A Response to Jan Narveson: Why Libertarians Are and Are Not Like Turnips
Autor: James P. Sterba
Seite: 223-232
I show how Jan Narveson’s critique fails to unseat my central argument that harm cuts both ways in our assumed idealized conflict situations, such that sometimes the poor harm the rich and sometimes the rich harm the poor. I further show how this supports my overall argument that libertarianism has gone over the brink into the waiting arms of welfare liberals and socialists. I also reject the other reasons that Narveson provides for not recognizing the welfare rights of distant peoples and future generations which are independent of my argument about harm.
Titel: Myths about the State of Nature and the Reality of Stateless Societies
Autor: Karl Widerquist / Grant McCall
Seite: 233-257
This article argues the following points. The Hobbesian hypothesis, which we define as the claim that all people are better off under state authority than they would be outside of it, is an empirical claim about all stateless societies. It is an essential premise in most contractarian justifications of government sovereignty. Many small-scale societies are stateless. Anthropological evidence from them provides sufficient reason to doubt the truth of the hypothesis, if not to reject it entirely. Therefore, contractarian theory has not done what it claims to do: it has not justified state sovereignty to each person subject to it by demonstrating that they benefit from that authority. To be justified in contractarian terms, states have to do something to improve the living standards of disadvantaged people under their rule.
Titel: Horkheimer, Religion, and the Normative Grounds of Critical Theology
Autor: Christopher Craig Brittain
Seite: 259-280
This essay examines how the legacy of Marx’s emancipatory commitments continues to be intertwined with his critique of religion. This is illustrated with reference to Raymond Geuss’s claim that Marxism’s political failure is related its lack of an adequate moral theory, a view that leads him to suggest that Marxism needs to function more like a `pseudo-religion´. These issues are analysed by drawing from Max Horkheimer’s writing on Christianity, which imply that materialist critical theory will be resourced by attention to particular historical expressions of religion. The paper argues that such an approach requires a distinction between two strands of Marx’s critique of religion an `eliminationist´ and a `descriptive functionalist´ perspective and involves privileging the second strand over the first. The implication is not that religion resolves the question of the ground of Marxism’s normative critique; rather, what is advanced is view that the critical theory can be supported and resourced by a critique of the `religion of everyday life´.
Titel: Exploitation, Labor, and Basic Income
Autor: Michael W. Howard
Seite: 281-303
Proposals for a universal basic income have reemerged in public discourse for a variety of reasons. Marx’s critique of exploitation suggests two apparently opposed positions on a basic income. On the one hand, a basic income funded from taxes on labor would appear to be exploitative of workers. On the other hand, a basic income liberates everyone from the vulnerable condition in which one is forced to sell one’s labor in order to survive, and so seems to be one way of abolishing exploitation at its root. This paper will develop a conception of exploitation that resolves the conflict in favor of basic income. The conception of exploitation is grounded in a liberal egalitarian conception of justice rather than in Marx’s labor theory of value or an exclusive focus on the worker-capitalist relation. This position is not premised on an acceptance of the basic institutions of capitalism, but rather is a standpoint from which to evaluate them. It is not necessary to downsize our ideas of freedom and equality. But it is less obvious than it appeared in classic Marxist formulations that socialism is necessary for social justice. To quote the title of a famous article, there could be a `capitalist road to communism´, if a substantial basic income is feasible in a capitalist society.
Titel: In Company of the Funny Sunny Surfer off Malibu: A Response to Michael Howard (and Some Others)
Autor: Gijs van Donselaar
Seite: 305-317
In `Exploitation, Labor, and Basic Income´ Michael Howard undertakes to defend an Unconditional Basic Income (UBI) as non-exploitative, and on a revised conception of what Marx called `exploitation´. Without taking issue with the revision itself, I point out that Howard, like many others, fails to defend UBI as non-exploitative. All his arguments fail to establish that the so-called `Surfer off Malibu´, a figure who is full-time dedicated to leisure, is not an exploiter in receiving UBI. The strategies to include him as a rightful recipient of a labor-free income rely on the (sometimes far-fetched) attribution of certain contingent features to him that would entitle him to compensation or reward, but that he might also not have. I argue that the best strategy for UBI-advocates is to admit that `slackers´ should be merely tolerated as non-deserving recipients, because the UBI-policy will otherwise have good effects. Finally, I raise some questions about these good effects, as they are conceived by UBI-advocates such as Howard.
Titel: Entitled to Trust? Philosophical Frameworks and Evidence from Children
Autor: Caitlin A. Cole / Paul L. Harris / Melissa A. Koenig
Seite: 195-216
Abstract: How do children acquire beliefs from testimony? In this chapter, we discuss children’s trust in testimony, their sensitivity to and use of defeaters, and their appeals to positive reasons for trusting what other people tell them. Empirical evidence shows that, from an early age, children have a tendency to trust testimony. However, this tendency to trust is accompanied by sensitivity to cues that suggest unreliability, including inaccuracy of the message and characteristics of the speaker. Not only are children sensitive to evidence of unreliability, but they are also sensitive to the positive reasons a speaker may have for the reliability of their testimony. This evidence is discussed in relation to reductivist and non-reductivist viewpoints.
Titel: Moral Expertise
Autor: Karen Jones / François Schroeter
Seite: 217-230
Abstract: This paper surveys recent work on moral expertise. Much of that work defends an asymmetry thesis according to which the cognitive deference to expertise that characterizes other areas of inquiry is out of place in morality. There are two reasons why you might think asymmetry holds. The problem might lie in the existence of expertise or in deferring to it. We argue that both types of arguments for asymmetry fail. They appear to be stronger than they are because of their focus on moral expertise regarding all-in judgments about rightness. We reject this emphasis on all-in judgment in favor of an account of moral expertise as typically multi-stranded and domain limited. This account of moral expertise is better able to address the problem of how to identify those who have expertise. It also offers a more nuanced picture of the contrast between accepting a moral claim on one’s own and accepting it on testimony.
Titel: Comment on Karen Jones and François Schroeter
Autor: Alison Hills
Seite: 231-236
Abstract: In this comment I defend my account of moral understanding and its role in morally worthy action and claim that a fully virtuous person would have moral understanding. This means that deference to moral experts is not always appropriate. But there is still room for a social moral epistemology, whereby moral experts pass on moral understanding.
Titel: Can There Be Such a Thing as Ethical Expertise?
Autor: Dieter Birnbacher
Seite: 237-249
Abstract: Ethics in the 21st century is threatened by a split between practical philosophy as a full-blown academic discipline and applied ethics as pragmatic problem-solving inside the political process. The place of the professional philosopher sitting on medical and other ’ethics committees’ as an ’ethical expert’ is somewhere in between. But where exactly? How is his role defined? Is the expertise he brings to bear on practical decisions of a purely technical or of a substantially moral kind? These issues are discussed both ’from the outside’ and ’from the inside’. First, some of the theoretical controversies surrounding ’ethical expertise’ are discussed on the background of a rapidly growing literature in the field. These are then related to the realities of commission work as they confront the academic ethicist in practice.
Titel: Experts, Teachers and Their Epistemic Roles in Normative and Non-normative Domains
Autor: Tobias Steinig
Seite: 251-274
Comments on Dieter Birnbacher and Karen Jones & François Schroeter
Abstract: Goldman’s notions of expert and testimony in epistemological contexts are extended to normative issues. The result is a sketch of a conceptual framework: several types of experts and roles they can serve in informing not specially qualified recipients are distinguished; differences between experts in epistemological and moral contexts are highlighted. This framework then is the point of reference for claims about experts, expertise and moral testimony in Birnbacher’s and Jones & Schroeter’s contributions to this volume. First, Birnbacher’s worries about the legitimacy of moral philosophers sitting as experts on panels, etc. are allayed in one respect and aggravated in another: there are roles and qualifications open to informants about normative issues, but it is doubtful whether moral philosophers per se are up to each of them. Secondly, Jones & Schroeter’s objection to Hills’s claim that moral testimony cannot orient its recipient properly towards right-making reasons for acting is faulty.
Titel: Moral Expertise and Democratic Legitimacy
Autor: Frank Dietrich
Seite: 275-284
Abstract: In modern democracies, moral experts play an increasingly important role in law-making. Apart from the question of which competences characterize moral experts, their influence on the legitimacy of democratic procedures must be discussed. On the one hand, the contribution of moral experts promises to improve the quality of decision-making. On the other hand, however, moral experts cannot claim to represent the will of the people. In this essay, at first a concept of the moral expert will be sketched which does without the assumption of a privileged access to ’moral truths’. Then a procedural understanding of democratic legitimacy without epistemic components will be defended. Finally there will be a distinction between the purely consultative and the quasi-legislative tasks of ethics committees. Whereas councelling by moral experts does not influence the legitimacy of democratic procedures, giving them quasi-legislative functions is connected to risks in this respect.
Titel: A Sociological Speculation about Law and Ethics
Autor: Michael Baurmann
Seite: 285-297
Abstract: It is argued that ethics is undergoing a similar development in modern societies as law did in former times. If this development continues, it could be that in the future collective decisions in many areas will be justified by the application of ethical principles just as today judicial decisions are justified by the application of the rules of law. The paper describes some of the remarkable similarities between law and ethics in modern societies and considers possible causes of this development.
Titel: How to Identify Moral Experts? An Application of Goldman’s Criteria for Expert Identification to the Domain of Morality
Autor: Martin Hoffmann
Seite: 299-313
Abstract: How can laypeople justifiably distinguish between reliable experts and unreliable experts? This problem, usually called the ’problem of expert identification’, is highly debated in recent social epistemology. A great amount of work has been undertaken in order to find satisfactory criteria for identifying experts in different branches of the empirical sciences, but hardly in the domain of moral knowledge. This asymmetry between social and moral epistemology is the motivation behind my paper. I reconsider the epistemological problem of identifying moral experts by applying identification criteria developed in general social epistemology to the area of morality. As I will show, all of these criteria turn out to be inappropriate for identifying moral experts. This result seems implausible, because it conflicts with the observation that moral experts play an important role in public and scientific discourse, in ethics committees and boards. But this is not a real contradiction as I will illustrate by explaining which tasks these experts can, in my view, fulfil.
Titel: Simple Games of Information Transmission
Autor: Bernd Lahno
Seite: 315-338
Abstract: Communication is an inherently strategic matter. This paper introduces simple game theoretic models of information transmission to identify different forms of uncertainty which may pose a problem of trust in testimony. Strategic analysis suggests discriminating between trust in integrity, trust in competence, trust in (the will to invest) effort and trust in honesty. Whereas uncertainty about the sender's honesty or integrity may directly influence a rational receiver's readiness to rely on sender's statements, neither uncertainty about the competence of a sender nor uncertainty about his willingness to invest effort has any direct impact on rational reliance on its own. In this regard, trust in honesty and trust in integrity appear to be more basic than trust in competence or effort.
Titel: Meta-Induction and the Wisdom of Crowds
Autor: Paul D. Thorn / Gerhard Schurz
Seite: 339-365
Abstract: Meta-induction, in its various forms, is an imitative prediction method, where the prediction methods and the predictions of other agents are imitated to the extent that those methods or agents have proven successful in the past. In past work, Schurz demonstrated the optimality of meta-induction as a method for predicting unknown events and quantities. However, much recent discussion, along with formal and empirical work, on the Wisdom of Crowds has extolled the virtue of diverse and independent judgment as essential to maintenance of 'wise crowds'. This suggests that meta-inductive prediction methods could undermine the wisdom of the crowd inasmuch these methods recommend that agents imitate the predictions of other agents. In this article, we evaluate meta-inductive methods with a focus on the impact on a group's performance that may result from including meta-inductivists among its members. In addition to considering cases of global accessibility (i.e., cases where the judgments of all members of the group are available to all of the group's members), we consider cases where agents only have access to the judgments of other agents within their own local neighborhoods.
Titel: Meta-Induction and the Wisdom of Crowds
Autor: Christian J. Feldbacher
Seite: 367-382
Comment on Paul D. Thorn and Gerhard Schurz
Abstract: In their paper on the influence of meta-induction to the wisdom of the crowd, Paul Thorn and Gerhard Schurz argue that adding meta-inductive methods to a group influences the group positively, whereas replacing independent methods of a group with meta-inductive ones may have a negative impact. The first fact is due to an improvement of average ability of a group, the second fact is due to an impairment of average diversity within a group by meta-induction. In this paper some critical remarks to meta-inductive group expansion and replacement are made. In particular it is stressed that both ability and diversity are of equal importance to a group's performance.
Titel: Applying Formal Social Epistemology to the Real World
Autor: Carlo Martini
Seite: 383-398
Comment on Paul D. Thorn and Gerhard Schurz
Abstract: The claim that diversity and independence have a net positive epistemic effect on the judgments of groups has been recently defended formally by Scott Page, among others, and popularized in Surowiecki’s The Wisdom of Crowds. In Meta-Induction and the Wisdom of Crowds Thorn and Schurz take issue with the claim that more diversity and independence in groups leads to better collective judgments. I argue that Thorn and Schurz’s arguments are helpful in clarifying a number of over-generalizations about diversity and independence that are often circulated in the social epistemology literature. I also argue that the relevant formal arguments are easily misunderstood when presented ’in a vacuum’, that is, without a context of application in mind. I provide a different approach to understanding formal results in social epistemology: With the help of concrete scenarios and the formal literature, I focus on a trade-off between independence and dependence in groups. I show that the approach works well also for another principle in social epistemology; namely, the principle that ’more heads are better than few’.
Titel: Good Listeners, Wise Crowds, and Parasitic Experts
Autor: Jan-Willem Romeijn / Tom Sterkenburg / Peter Grünwald
Seite: 399-408
Comment on Paul D. Thorn and Gerhard Schurz
Abstract: This article comments on the article of Thorn and Schurz in this volume and focuses on, what we call, the problem of parasitic experts. We discuss that both meta-induction and crowd wisdom can be understood as pertaining to absolute reliability rather than comparative optimality, and we suggest that the involvement of reliability will provide a handle on this problem.
Titel: Précis of The Ethical Project
Autor: Philip Kitcher
Seite: 1-19
Zwei Seelen wohnen, ach! in meiner Brust,
Die eine will sich von den andern trennen:
Die eine hält in derber Liebeslust
Sich an die Welt mit klammernden Organen;
Die andre hebt gewaltsam sich vom Dust
Zu den Gefilden hoher Ahnen. (Goethe, Faust I)
Titel: The Ethical Project. A Dialogue
Autor: C. Mantzavinos
Seite: 21-38
Abstract: In this dialogue the position of Pragmatic Naturalism as defended in Philip Kitcher’s The Ethical Project is presented and criticized. The approach is developed dialectically by the two interlocutors and a series of critical points are debated. The dialogical form is intended to honor the main objective in The Ethical Project: to establish an ongoing conversation on ways to improve moral conceptions and processes, which grow naturally out of the very conditions of human life.
Titel: The Golden Age of the Campfire: Should We Take Our Ancestors Seriously?
Autor: Michael Baurmann
Seite: 39-50
Abstract: In his book The Ethical Project Philip Kitcher presents an ’analytical history’ of the development of human ethical practice. According to this history the first ethical norms were launched in the ancient world of the hunters and gatherers and their initial function was to remedy altruism failures. Kitcher wants to show that the emergence of ethical norms can in this case and in general be explained without referring to supernatural causes or philosophical revelation. Furthermore, he claims that the first manifestation of the ethical project still serves as an ideal. In my comment I will contest the plausibility of Kitcher’s analytical history and question whether the presumed characteristics of ethics in prehistoric times could still be binding for us today.
Titel: Deus Ex Machina: A Cautionary Tale for Naturalists
Autor: Cailin O'Connor / Nathan Fulton / Elliott Wagner / P. Kyle Stanford
Seite: 51-62
Abstract: In this paper we critically examine and seek to extend Philip Kitcher’s Ethical Project to weave together a distinctive naturalistic conception of how ethics came to occupy the place it does in our lives and how the existing ethical project should be revised and extended into the future. Although we endorse his insight that ethical progress is better conceived of as the improvement of an existing state than an incremental approach towards a fixed endpoint, we nonetheless go on to argue that the metaethical apparatus Kitcher constructs around this creative metaethical proposal simply cannot do the work that he demands of it. The prospect of fundamental conflict between different functions of the ethical project requires Kitcher to appeal to a particular normative stance in order to judge specific changes in the ethical project to be genuinely progressive, and we argue that the virtues of continuity and coherence to which he appeals can only specify rather than justify the normative stance he favors. We conclude by suggesting an alternative approach for ethical naturalists that seems to us ultimately more promising than Kitcher’s own.
Titel: Reconstruction in Moral Philosophy?
Autor: Matthew Braddock / Alex Rosenberg
Seite: 63-80
Abstract: We raise three issues for Kitcher’s Ethical Project: First, we argue that the genealogy of morals starts well before the advent of altruism-failures and the need to remedy them, which Kitcher dates at about 50K years ago. Second, we challenge the likelihood of long term moral progress of the sort Kitcher requires to establish objectivity while circumventing Hume’s challenge to avoid trying to derive normative conclusions from positive ones ’ought’ from ’is’. Third, we sketch ways in which Kitcher’s metaethical opponents could respond to his arguments against them.
Titel: The Open-ended Normativity of the Ethical
Autor: Allen Buchanan
Seite: 81-94
Abstract: In The Ethical Project, Kitcher has three main aim: (1) to provide a naturalistic explanation of the rise of morality and of its subsequent development, (2) to supply an account of moral progress that explains progressive developments that have occurred so far and shows how further progress is possible, and (3) to propose a further progressive development the emergence of a cosmopolitan morality and make the case that it is a natural extension of the ethical project. I argue that Kitcher does not succeed in achieving any of these aims and that he cannot do so given the meager resources of his explanatory model. The chief difficulty is that Kitcher equivocates in his characterization of the original (and still supposedly primary) function of ethics. Although he begins by characterizing it as (a) remedying altruism failures in order to avoid their social costs, he sometimes characterizes it instead as (b) remedying altruism failures simpliciter. Kitcher does not explain how a practice whose original function was (a) developed into one whose function is (b). Further, it appears that he cannot do so without significantly enriching his explanatory model to include a more robust account of how humans came to have the capacity to reflect on and revise norms.
Titel: Morality’s Dark Past
Autor: Kim Sterelny
Seite: 95-115
Abstract: Philip Kitcher’s The Ethical Project tries to vindicates ethics through an analysis of its evolutionary and cultural history, a history which in turn, he thinks, supports a particular conception of the role of moral thinking and normative practices in human social life. As Kitcher sees it, that role could hardly be more central: most of what makes human life human, and preferable to the fraught and impoverished societies of the great apes, depends on moral cognition. From this view of the role of the ethical project as a social technology, Kitcher derives an account of moral progress and even moral truth; a normative analogue of the idea that truth is the convergence of rational enquiry. To Kitcher’s history, I present an anti-history. Most of what is good about human social life depends on the expansion of our social emotions, not on our capacities to articulate and internalise explicit norms. Indeed, since the Holocene and the origins of complex society, normative thought and normative institutions have been more prominent as tools of exploitation and oppression than as mechanisms of a social peace that balances individual desire with collective co-operation. I argue that the vindication project fails in its own terms: even given Kitcher’s distinctive pragmatic concept of vindication, history debunks rather than vindicates moral cognition.
Titel: Kitcher’s Revolutionary Reasoning Inversion in Ethics
Autor: Christine Clavien
Seite: 117-128
Abstract: This paper examines three specific issues raised by The Ethical Project. First, I discuss the varieties of altruism and spell out the differences between the definitions proposed by Kitcher and the ways altruism is usually conceived in biology, philosophy, psychology, and economics literature. Second, with the example of Kitcher’s account, I take a critical look at evolutionary stories of the emergence of human ethical practices. Third, I point to the revolutionary implications of the Darwinian methodology when it is thoughtfully applied to ethics.
Titel: Kitcher on Natural Morality
Autor: Ken Binmore
Seite: 129-139
Abstract: This commentary on Philip Kitcher’s Ethical Project compares his theory of the evolution of morality with my less ambitious theory of the evolution of fairness norms that seeks to flesh out John Mackie’s insight that one should use game theory as a framework within which to assess anthropological data. It lays particular stress on the importance of the folk theorem of repeated game theory, which provides a template for the set of stable social contracts that were available to ancestral hunter-gatherer communities. It continues by drawing attention to the relevance of Harsanyi’s theory of empathetic preferences in structuring the fairness criteria that evolved as one response to the equilibrium selection problem that the folk theorem demonstrates is endemic in our species.
Titel: The Moral Realism of Pragmatic Naturalism
Autor: William Rottschaefer
Seite: 141-156
Abstract: In his The Ethical Project, Philip Kitcher offers a pragmatic naturalistic account of moral progress, rejecting a moral realist one. I suggest a moral realist account of moral progress that embraces Kitcher’s pragmatic naturalism and calls on moral realism to show how the pragmatic account is successful. To do so I invoke a hypothesis about moral affordances and make use of a cognitive account of emotions.
Titel: Genealogies of Ethics
Autor: Zed Adams
Seite: 157-165
Abstract: There have been many genealogies of ethics. Philip Kitcher’s The Ethical Project stands apart in its ability to incorporate the insights of earlier genealogies while avoiding their oversights and mistakes. In this essay, I compare and contrast Kitcher’s genealogy of ethics with two contemporary alternatives, those offered by Frans de Waal and Richard Joyce. Comparing Kitcher’s genealogy with these alternatives makes it easy to highlight his most useful contribution to our understanding of the origin of ethics: the idea of ethics as a social technology. I conclude by identifying an oversight of Kitcher’s own genealogy, a significant way in which the function of ethics-as-a-technology has been transformed from its origin to today.
Titel: Afterthoughts. Reply to Comments
Autor: Philip Kitcher
Seite: 167-189
Abstract: I attempt to respond to the many questions and objections raised by the commentaries. The responses are grouped by themes, rather than focusing on the essays in sequence. So there are sections on worries about my analytical history, concerns about my meta-ethical perspective, doubts about my normative stance and complaints about my perpetration of a ’naturalistic fallacy’.
Titel: Ideal Justice and Rational Dissent. A Critique of Amartya Sen’s The Idea of Justice
Autor: Wilfried Hinsch
Seite: 371-386
Abstract: In The Idea of Justice Amartya Sen criticises ’transcendental institutionalism’ for entertaining notions of ’ideal justice’ that are neither necessary nor sufficient for the advancement of justice in the real world. Sen argues in favor of a ’realization-focused’ and ’comparative’ understanding of justice that he associates with the names of Adam Smith, Marx, and J. S. Mill. Conceptions of ideal justice, Sen believes, are useless since in practice we do not need them to advance justice. And they are ’infeasible’ because all conceptions of ideal justice can be reasonably rejected for one reason or other. I shall address both complaints in turn and maintain that Sen’s rigid contraposition of ideal and comparative justice is overstated. It will also be discussed how the institutional focus of ’transcendental institutionalism’ links up with the need for an ideal conception of justice. Finally, some implications of rational dissent about justice and two common strategies to deal with it will be discussed.
Titel: Comment on Wilfried Hinsch: Ideal Justice and Rational Dissent: A Critique of Amartya Sen’s The Idea of Justice
Autor: Mathias Thaler
Seite: 387-393
Titel: What Good Is It? Unrealistic Political Theory and the Value of Intellectual Work
Autor: David Estlund
Seite: 395-416
Abstract: Suppose justice depends on some very unlikely good behavior. In that case the true (or correct, or best) theory of justice might have no practical value. But then, what good would it be? I consider analogies with science and mathematics in order to test various ways of tying their the value of intellectual work to practice, though I argue that these fail. If their value, or that of some political theory, is not practical then what is good about them? As for political theory, I consider the question of what would even count as an answer to this question, and I conclude with the tentative proposal that it is valuable to come to understand something that is, itself, important.
Titel: Comment on David Estlund: What Good Is it? Unrealistic Political Theory and the Value of Intellectual Work
Autor: Nora Kreft
Seite: 417-421
Titel: Justice, Peace and Compromise
Autor: Véronique Zanetti
Seite: 423-439
Abstract: Compromises are arrived at when, in spite of the efforts of those participating to mediate and defend their position in a rationally acceptable manner, each remains with his judgment while, at the same time, a decision must be made without further delay. What this means is that the parties agree to an option about which they are not, in their heart of hearts, entirely convinced. This article examines the notion of moral compromise, concentrating thereby on the case of political praxis. It asks whether, in view of the complexity and multiplicity of morally relevant decisions encountered in a pluralist society, it is at all realistic to expect much else from political institutions than what Rawls dismissively refers to as a modus vivendi and whether a conception of justice that is true or reasonable only given the reasonable pluralism of comprehensive doctrines is still a conception of justice, and not simply a compromise between the contending doctrines.
Titel: Comment on Véronique Zanetti: On Moral Compromise
Autor: Tim Waligore
Seite: 441-448
Titel: Individual Expectations and Climate Justice
Autor: Lukas Meyer / Pranay Sanklecha
Seite: 449-471
Abstract: Many people living in highly industrialised countries and elsewhere emit greenhouse gases at a certain high level as a by-product of their activities, and they expect to be able to continue to emit at that level. This level is far above the just per capita level. We investigate whether that expectation is legitimate and permissible. We argue that the expectation is epistemically legitimate. Given certain assumptions, we can also think of it as politically legitimate. Also, the expectation is shown to be morally permissible but with major qualifications. The interpretation of the significance of the expectation is compatible with the understanding that historical emissions should count in terms of fairly distributing the benefits of emission-generating activities over people’s lifetimes but constrains the way in which we may collectively respond to climate change.
Titel: Comment on Lukas Meyer and Pranay Sanklecha: Individual Expectations and Climate Justice
Autor: Julian Culp
Seite: 473-476
Titel: Stepping in for the Polluters? Climate Justice under Partial Compliance
Autor: Sabine Hohl / Dominic Roser
Seite: 477-500
Abstract: Not all countries do their fair share in the effort of preventing dangerous climate change. This presents those who are willing to do their part with the question whether they should ’take up the slack’ and try to compensate for the non-compliers’ failure to reduce emissions. There is a pro tanto reason for doing so given the human rights violations associated with dangerous climate change. The article focuses on fending off two objections against a duty to take up the slack: that it is unfair and ineffective. We grant that it is unfair if some have to step in for others but argue that this does not amount to a decisive objection under conditions of partial compliance. With regard to the charge of emission reductions being ineffective, we argue that the empirical case for this claim is missing and that even if it were not, there still remains the option of taking up the slack in other forms.
Titel: Comment on Sabine Hohl and Dominic Roser: Stepping in for the Polluters? Climate Justice under Partial Compliance
Autor: Thomas Pölzler
Seite: 501-508
Titel: Comment on Anton Leist: Comment on Anton Leist. Potentials of Cooperation (Analyse & Kritik 01/2011)
Autor: Gebhard Kirchgässner
Seite: 509-516
Abstract: I first discuss two aspects of a social order and cooperation which might be of high relevance: the problem of a spontaneous emerging of a social order, and the relation between exchange and cooperation. In doing so, I also discuss the role of production in separating areas of cooperation from those of competition. Second, I look more closely at the motivations for cooperative behaviour. It is argued that of the four kinds of motivation mentioned by Leist only two, self-interest and altruism, are really necessary to explain cooperation.
Titel: Potentials of Cooperation
Autor: Anton Leist
Seite: 7-33
Abstract: Since Hobbes' Leviathan was published in 1651, the 'problem of order' has been known for some time. Despite this long gestation period for social theory even today we do not have a universally agreed upon answer to this 'problem'. One of the reasons behind this lacuna may be the overly dispersed work being done in the economic and sociological traditions. Whereas one tradition favours 'collective action' as a central answer, the other thinks of the problem itself being dissolved by the acceptance of 'socialized man'. Here, an attempt is made to offer the phenomenon of 'cooperation' as a promising middle ground for both traditions. To underline the importance of cooperation as an elementary social activity, first, cooperation is shown as working in tandem with its rival 'competition'. Secondly, several conceptual analyses of what is included in collective action and cooperation are offered. These analyses, thirdly, are deepened by an overview of the motivational bases potentially advancing cooperation. Overall, an awareness of the self-creating character of cooperation is explored, and put forward as the most feasible way of answering the classical problem of order.
Titel: The Idiocy of Strategic Reasoning. Towards an Account of Consensual Action
Autor: Hans Bernhard Schmid
Seite: 35-56
Abstract: Practical reasoning is an agent's capacity to determine her course of behavior on the base of some evaluation of available alternatives. Reasoning is instrumental insofar as an agent decides over available alternatives by aiming to choose the best means to realize her own goals. Reasoning is strategic if the agent assumes that what the best means to realize her own goals is depends on what other agents will do. Strategic reasoning still plays a central role in influential accounts of social action. This paper first argues for the view that purely strategic reasoners are unable to achieve even the most basic and unproblematic forms of mutually beneficent coordination, and then gathers some elements of a richer account of relevant forms of practical reasoning.
Titel: Comment on Hans Bernhard Schmid: Coordination, Cooperation and the Origin of Normative Expectations
Autor: Fabian Schuppert
Seite: 57-64
Abstract: This comment suggests that coordination and cooperation are very different things, as the former simply is a device for problem-solving, while the latter relies on the existence of some shared intentionality. Similarly there exist different origins for the normative expectations an agent might form. Hence the comment argues that Schmid's taxonomy of action types, though helpful, needs to be extended and revised.
Titel: Cooperation as Joint Action
Autor: Raimo Tuomela
Seite: 65-86
Abstract: The paper studies cooperation as joint action, where joint action can, first, be conceptualized either individualistically in terms of the participants' individual goals and beliefs that the joint action is taken to serve. This is individualistic or 'I-mode' cooperation. Special version of it is 'pro-group I-mode' cooperation, where the goals are shared. Second, cooperation can be of the kind where a group of persons act together as a group in terms of the non-aggregative 'we' that they form. The results of the paper support the conjecture that we-mode conceptualization and an account of cooperation is needed to complement the individualistic (pro-group) I-mode account(s) in social science theorizing and experimentation.
Titel: Comment on Raimo Tuomela: Joint Action: How Rational? How Irreducible?
Autor: Cedric Paternotte
Seite: 87-92
Abstract: In his 'Cooperation as joint action', Tuomela presents a we-mode account of cooperation, which he argues has several advantages over an individual account. This commentary examines to what extent this is true. In particular, I assess three related characteristics of we-mode joint action: its possible rationality, its greater efficiency, and its alleged irreducibility to purely individual properties, which are recurring points of the article.
Titel: Justice as Fairness and Reciprocity
Autor: Andrew Lister
Seite: 93-112
Abstract: This paper tries to reconcile reciprocity with a fundamentally 'subject-centred' ethic by interpreting the reciprocity condition as a consequence of the fact that justice is in part a relational value. Duties of egalitarian distributive justice are not grounded on the duty to reciprocate benefits already received, but limited by a reasonable assurance of compliance on the part of those able to reciprocate, because their point is to constitute a valuable relationship, one of mutual recognition as equals. We have unconditional duty to help establish just global institutions, institutions which would allow us to share fairly in the burdens and benefits of global economic cooperation, but no unilateral duty to share fairly, where such institutions are not in place. Since non-contribution on the part of those unable to contribute involves no failure of recognition, the disabled do not fall outside the scope of distributive justice.
Titel: Comment on Andrew Lister: Just Distribution(s) for Mutual Recognition
Autor: Ivo Wallimann-Helmer
Seite: 113-122
Abstract: This comment questions Lister's reading of the reciprocity condition in three respects. First, it challenges the view that this condition necessarily leads to egalitarian claims about just distribution. Secondly, it questions Lister's argument that the reciprocity condition is linked to substantial schemes of egalitarian distribution irrespective of context. Thirdly, it claims that entitlements to justice for people with mental or psychological impairments cannot be based on a distinction between willingness and unwillingness to contribute to the cooperative venture of a society.
Titel: Cooperating to Promote the Good
Autor: Robert Myers
Seite: 123-139
Abstract: I argue that the aim of moral activity is to cooperate with others in the promotion of value, where the concept of cooperation denotes not a formal ideal to be given content through reasoning but a substantive way of engaging with others. I show how this approach to ethical theory can provide better accounts of many of our moral convictions than consequentialist or contractualists approaches can, and defend it against the objection that, by downplaying moral reasoning, it robs itself of any explanatory force.
Titel: Comment on Robert H. Myers: Finding Out What is Substantive in Cooperation
Autor: Anton Leist
Seite: 141-148
Abstract: Myers' offer of cooperation as a medicine for ailing moral theories is welcomed as potentially helpful, even if his handling of it is diagnosed as implicitly one-sided consequentialist. His search for an ethically "substantive way of engaging with others'' is shown as not coherent with his remarks on the tasks cooperation as an ethical concept has to fulfil. Instead, it is proposed that the concept be disentangled from the micro-problems Myers' wants it to solve, and that it be read more freely, from the perspective of Rawls' conception of cooperation.
Titel: Reply to Anton Leist: Keeping Constructivism in Its Place
Autor: Robert Myers
Seite: 149-153
Abstract: Leist worries that by tying the ideal of cooperation to the aim of promoting the good I exhibit a bias towards consequentialism, and that this in turn leads me to downsize the role to be played by the ideal of cooperation within moral theory. I maintain that no bias is exhibited towards consequentialism but acknowledge that realism is being favoured over constructivism. I further argue that the role assigned to the ideal of cooperation is as large as realism permits.
Titel: Cooperation for Economic Success: The Mondragon Case
Autor: Ramon Flecha / Ignacio Santa Cruz
Seite: 157-170
Abstract: The Mondragon Corporation, a group of cooperatives, is a thriving example of how cooperatives can succeed. The authors describe six features of the corporation and five 'successful cooperative actions' that they consider to be crucial in explaining its accomplishments. Both the specific features and the successful actions are contrasted with those of standard capitalist companies, to show how this case is unique in the field of corporate organization and management. Through a combination of democratic principles, the values of solidarity, and strong competitiveness, Mondragon has simultaneously achieved both efficiency and equity and has become an alternative to the organizational and governance models of traditional capitalist firms.
Titel: Comment on Ramon Flecha and Ignacio Santa Cruz: The Priority of Labor and Capital Accounts
Autor: David Ellerman
Seite: 171-174
Abstract: Two aspects of the fine Flecha-Cruz paper can be usefully elaborated. The Mondragon cooperatives differ not only from capitalist firms but also from most other cooperatives in the doctrine of the 'priority of labor over capital' which means that the people working in any sort of cooperative will be members and will not be rented as employees. Also the Mondragon system of internal capital accounts solves the equity-structure problem that has plagued many modern cooperatives structured as non-profits or traditional worker cooperatives with 'membership shares'.
Titel: Are Multinational Companies Responsible for Working Conditions in Their Supply Chains? From Intuition to Argument
Autor: Sonja Dänzer
Seite: 175-194
Abstract: Although many people seem to share the intuition that multinational companies (MNEs) carry a responsibility for the working conditions in their supply chains, the justification offered for this assumption is usually rather unclear. This article explores a promising strategy for grounding the relevant intuition and for rendering its content more precise. It applies the criteria of David Miller's connection theory of remedial responsibility to different forms of supply chain governance as characterized by the Global Value Chains (GVC) framework. The analysis suggests that the criteria for identifying MNEs as remedially responsible for bad working conditions in their direct suppliers are fulfilled in many cases, even though differentiations are required with regard to the different supply chain governance structures. MNEs thus have a duty to make sure currently bad working conditions in their suppliers are changed for the better. Moreover, since production in supply chains for structural reasons continuously generates remedial responsibility of MNEs for bad working conditions in their suppliers, it puts the prospective responsibility on them to make sure that their suppliers offer acceptable working conditions. Further, it is suggested that the remedial responsibility of MNEs might require them to make financial compensation to victims of bad working conditions and in grave cases initiate or support programs to mitigate disastrous effects suffered by them.
Titel: Comment on Sonja Dänzer: Structural Injustice in Global Production Networks: Shared Responsibility for Working Conditions
Autor: Mark Starmanns
Seite: 195-212
Abstract: This commentary's claim is that Dänzer's argument does not sufficiently take into account the complexities of the global production of goods, the current corporate responsibility practices and the problems of attributing responsibility to single actors. I argue in favour of a shared responsibility and briefly present a discursive approach for attributing MNE's share of responsibility in global supply chains, which requires obligatory transparency.
Titel: From Niche to Mass Markets: Rival Strategies in Promoting Fair Trade Organic Commodity Chains
Autor: Winfried Ruigrok
Seite: 213-233
Abstract: This article examines rival strategies employed by public, private and civil society actors to promote fair trade organic commodity chains. The article analyses the case of fair trade organic cotton as a produce that is on the brink of reaching a mass market, and compares this with patterns of the more widely documented fair trade organic fruit case. It is shown how variations in commodity chain configurations and interfaces reflect different stakeholder positions and interests, as well as development philosophies. The case of fair trade organic cotton chains illustrates how stakeholder involvement may speed up learning and thus facilitate mass-market entry. Finally, it is argued that rival commodity chain configurations make it difficult to agree upon common fair trade organic cotton certification strategies.
Titel: Recognition, Cooperation and the Moral Presuppositions of Capitalist Organization of Work
Autor: Hermann Kocyba
Seite: 235-259
Abstract: Starting from the current debate on work and recognition, the article describes how shifts within the cultural frames of work, the transformation of hierarchies into internal markets and the development of a service economy lead to problems which can take the form of a 'paradox of recognition'. This paradox cannot be dissolved simply by a conceptual distinction between equal respect for persons and qualifying esteem of performance and efficiency, at least as long as we are interested in a matching of empirical analysis and normative critique. The normative claims for visibility and transparency of work are described as a paradigmatic case for the entanglement of questions of respect and esteem. With respect to recent developments within critical theory, the article argues that the idea of immanent critique needs further elaboration in order to accentuate the relation between normative critique and functional analysis.
Titel: Comment on Hermann Kocyba: The Regime of Esteem, or Recognition as Affirmation
Autor: Christoph Henning
Seite: 261-269
Abstract: This comment on Kocyba's article discusses both his economic and moral assumptions, arguing that the shift from industrial capitalism towards a 'new spirit' of more autonomous forms of work is not captured by Kocyba's comparison between producing things alone and creating services together. Consequently, the main problem is not, as Kocyba believes, the determination of an individual's share in the (intangible) product, but the competitive mindset of this new spirit, which has many undesired consequences. Concerning the 'moral presuppositions' it is argued that the questionable self-restriction to 'immanent norms' induces a strong affirmative tendency which is at odds with Kocyba's critical aspirations. The idea that critical theory can only refer to norms which are already institutionalized needs to be dropped in order to revive the critical dimension. It is argued that Kocyba is already half way there and needs to make this break more explicit.
Titel: Contractarian Compliance and the 'Sense of Justice': A Behavioral Conformity Model and Its Experimental Support
Autor: Lorenzo Sacconi / Marco Faillo / Stefania Ottone
Seite: 273-310
Abstract: The social contract approach to the study if institutions aims at providing a solution to the problem of compliance with rational agreements in situations characterized by a conflict between individual rationality and social optimality. After a short discussion of some attempts to deal with this problem from a rational choice perspective, we focus on John Rawls's idea of 'sense of justice' and its application to the explanation of the stability of a well-ordered society. We show how the relevant features of Rawls's theory can be captured by a behavioral game theory model of beliefs-dependent dispositions to comply, and we present the results of two experimental studies that provide support to the theory.
Titel: Comment on Lorenzo Sacconi, Marco Faillo and Stefania Ottone: Contractarian Compliance, Welfarist Justice, and Conformist Utility
Autor: David Copp
Seite: 311-323
Abstract: This comment addresses two issues that arise in Sacconi/Faillo/Ottone's essay. The first is the problem of compliance as it arises in social contract theory. The second is the problem of avoiding an incoherence that arises in the formulation of welfarist principles of distributive justice if these principles are taken to be concerned with the distribution of welfare without restriction. Sacconi, Faillo, and Ottone define an interesting class of principles that govern only the distribution of 'material utility', which they distinguish from 'conformist utility'. Sacconi, Faillo, and Ottone are primarily concerned, however, to argue that there is a need to revise 'the utility maximization model of a rational economic man'. I discuss this claim briefly, in concluding the paper.
Titel: Equity and Efficiency in Multi-Worker Firms: Insights from Experimental Economics
Autor: Johannes Abeler / Steffen Altmann / Sebastian J. Goerg / Sebastian Kube / Matthias Wibral
Seite: 325-347
Abstract: In this article, we discuss recent evidence from experimental economics on the impact of social preferences on workplace behavior. We focus on situations in which a single employer interacts with multiple employees. Traditionally, equity and efficiency have been seen as opposing aims in such work environments: individual pay-for-performance wage schemes maximize efficiency but might lead to inequitable outcomes. We present findings from laboratory experiments that show under which circumstances partially incomplete contracts can create equitable work environments while at the same time reaching surprisingly efficient outcomes.
Titel: Reciprocity in Economic Games
Autor: Julian Culp / Heiner Schumacher
Seite: 349-364
Abstract: The evidence of laboratory experiments of behavioral economists shows that individuals behave reciprocally. These data put into question the pure self-interest thesis of human motivation of the homo oeconomicus model and call for alternative models. Focusing on the explanation of reciprocal behavior in Trust Games, this article proposes two directions that economists and other social scientists might want to consider in order to establish a more solid foundation for economic theory. First, it presents models that economic theorists developed to explain the laboratory evidence of reciprocal behavior. It highlights that all of these models subscribe to the Humean view that desires are at the source of any human motivation and suggests an alternative Kantian model where reasons have the capacity to motivate human action. Second, it emphasizes that a supplementary examination of the social background conditions would illuminate the analysis of the findings because of the connection between the 'local' and society-wide demands of reciprocity.
Titel: Scientific Knowledge and Scientific Expertise: Epistemic and Social Conditions of Their Trustworthiness
Autor: Martin Carrier
Seite: 195-212
Abstract: The article explores epistemic and social conditions of the trustworthiness of scientific expertise. I claim that there are three kinds of conditions for the trustworthiness of scientific expertise. The first condition is epistemic and means that scientific knowledge enjoys high credibility. The second condition concerns the significance of scientific knowledge. It means that scientific generalizations are relevant for elucidating the particular cases that constitute the challenges for expert judgment. The third condition concerns the social processes involved in producing science-based recommendations. In this context trust is created by social robustness, expert legitimacy, and social participation.
Titel: Social Objectivity and the Problem of Local Epistemologies
Autor: Anke Büter
Seite: 213-230
Abstract: The value-freedom of scientific knowledge is commonly hold to be a necessary condition for objectivity. Helen Longino's contextual empiricism aims to overcome this connection. She questions the suitability of the normative ideal of value-freedom and develops an alternative conception of objectivity, which integrates social and epistemic aspects of scientific enquiry. The function of this notion of 'social objectivity' is to make value-laden assumptions assessable through a process of criticism, even if there cannot be any guarantee of their elimination. This assessability requires common standards of evaluation, which are threatened by Longino's rejection of the distinction between cognitive and non-cognitive values guiding theory choice. I will argue that in order to resolve this inherent tension, social objectivity has to be understood as based on a procedural epistemology and, differing from Longino's own approach, must include the normative requirement to strive for consensus instead of allowing for epistemological pluralism.
Titel: The Division of Epistemic Labour
Autor: Geoffrey Brennan
Seite: 231-246
Abstract: The paper mobilizes Adam Smith's treatment of the division of labour in relation to the production, consumption and exchange of knowledge. One aspect of this mobilization deals with the epistemic demands that exchange makes on its participants. The other deals with increasing returns in the provision of knowledge itself, treating knowledge creation as just another example of specialization and exchange. These two aspects come together in relation to the epistemic demands associated with assessing knowledge quality. These demands differ according to whether the knowledge is embodied in products or whether the knowledge is an object for its own sake. It is argued that disciplines play a critical role as institutions for meeting the epistemic demands that the division of labour creates in the 'knowledge' case.
Titel: Critical Rationalism and Scientific Competition
Autor: Max Albert
Seite: 247-266
Abstract: This paper considers critical rationalism under an institutional perspective. It argues that a methodology must be incentive compatible in order to prevail in scientific competition. As shown by a formal game-theoretic model of scientific competition, incentive compatibility requires quality standards that are hereditary: using high-quality research as an input must increase a researcher's chances to produce high-quality output. Critical rationalism is incentive compatible because of the way it deals with the Duhem-Quine problem. An example from experimental economics illustrates the relevance of the arguments.
Titel: Governance by Numbers. Does It Really Work in Research?
Autor: Margit Osterloh
Seite: 267-283
Abstract: Performance evaluation in research is more and more based on numbers of publications, citations, and impact factors. In the wake of New Public Management output control has been introduced into research governance without taking into account the conditions necessary for this kind of control to work efficiently. It is argued that to evaluate research by output control is counterproductive. It induces to substitute the 'taste for science' by a 'taste for publication'. Instead, input control by careful selection and socialization serves as an alternative.
Titel: Withering Academia?
Autor: Bruno S. Frey
Seite: 285-296
Abstract: Strong forces lead to a withering of academia as it exists today. The major causal forces are the rankings mania, increased division of labor in research, intense publication pressure, academic fraud, dilution of the concept of 'university', and inadequate organizational forms for modern research. Academia, in a broader sense understood as 'the locus of seeking truth and learning through methodological inquiry', will subsist in different forms. The conclusion is therefore pessimistic with respect to the academic system as it presently exists but not to scholarly endeavour as such. However, the transformation predicted is expected to be fundamental.
Titel: A Provocative Thesis: Oil, Gas, Coal and Uranium Are Indispensable Energy Sources for the Poor Countries
Autor: Gerd Ganteför
Seite: 5-23
Abstract: An integrated approach of the topics 'population', 'energy' and 'climate' results in conclusions contrary to public opinion. Population growth will lead to disaster ten times faster than global warming. 2.5 billion people in the poor countries account for a population growth of one billion every 12 years. Fertility rates decrease with increasing gross domestic products (GDPs). Increasing GDPs correlate with increasing energy consumption. Wind power and solar energy are too expensive for the poor countries. Low-price energy can only be produced with coal, gas, oil and uranium. Therefore, many more coal-fired power stations and nuclear reactors need to be built and hopefully population growth will slow down. Once population is stabilized environmental issues can be addressed.
Titel: Climate Responsibility as a Distributional Issue
Autor: Dieter Birnbacher
Seite: 25-37
Abstract: It is evident that the problem of global climate change is closely bound up with questions of distributional justice, both intra- and intergenerational. Questions of justice are raised by two kinds of burdens: reductions in the emission of greenhouse gases, and the financial and knowledge transfers necessary to enable the poorest countries to compensate the harms suffered by the ongoing process. Both burdens involve considerable costs and opportunity costs. On the backdrop of a prioritarian version of utilitarianism, it is argued that the answer should be a split strategy. While reduction of emissions should be based on the polluter-pays principle, obligations of compensation should be based on the criteria of overall economic strength.
Titel: Climate Justice. A Contractualist Perspective
Autor: Peter Rinderle
Seite: 39-61
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to question the utilitarian hegemony in recent discussions about global climate change by defending the possibility of a contractualist alternative. More particularly, I will raise and try to answer two questions. First: How can we justify principles of climate justice? As opposed to the utilitarian concern with maximizing general welfare, a contractualist will look at the question whether certain principles are generally acceptable or could not reasonably be rejected. Second: What do we owe to future generations in these matters? Three principles of climate justice are suggested: a sufficiency principle securing basic human rights, a principle of justice giving each generation a right to realize its conception of justice, and a principle of reciprocity requiring us to take responsibility for the reception of benefits and the causation of harm.
Titel: Climate Migration. Cultural Aspects of Climate Change
Autor: Alexa Zellentin
Seite: 63-86
Abstract: This paper argues that climate migration in case of climate refugees in a strict sense differs from other forms of migration not only by its finality but also by the fact that entire communities are forced to resettle elsewhere. For such communities to migrate with dignity that is in a way that protects the social bases of their self-respect their host countries are required to ensure the necessary institutional arrangements enabling these people to become full and equal members within a reasonably short time. Ensuring that their equal participation rights are not merely formal but have ’fair value’ requires taking cultural differences into account to ensure that they do not pose substantial disadvantages for participation in the political and social sphere.
Titel: What's the Worst Case? The Methodology of Possibilistic Prediction
Autor: Gregor Betz
Seite: 87-106
Abstract: Frank Knight (1921) famously distinguished the epistemic modes of certainty, risk, and uncertainty in order to characterize situations where deterministic, probabilistic or possibilistic foreknowledge is available. Because our probabilistic knowledge is limited, i.e. because many systems, e.g. the global climate, cannot be described and predicted probabilistically in a reliable way, Knight's third category, possibilistic foreknowledge, is not simply swept by the probabilistic mode. This raises the question how to justify possibilistic predictions including the identification of the worst case. The development of such a modal methodology is particularly vital with respect to predictions of climate change. I show that a methodological dilemma emerges when possibilistic predictions are framed in traditional terms and argue that a more nuanced conceptual framework, distinguishing different types of possibility, should be used in order to convey our uncertain knowledge about the future. The new conceptual scheme, however, questions the applicability of standard rules of rational decision-making, thus generating new challenges.
Titel: On Non-Propositional Aspects in Modelling Complex Systems
Autor: Rafaela Hillerbrand
Seite: 107-120
Abstract: This paper aims to show that modeling complex systems inevitably involves non-propositional knowledge and thus the uncertainties associated with the corresponding model predictions cannot be fully quantified. This is exemplified by means of the climate system and climate modeling. The climate system is considered as a paradigm for a complex system, whereby the notion of complexity adopted in this paper is epistemic in nature and does not equate with the technical definition of a complex system as for example used within physics or complexity theory. The epistemic notion of complexity allows to view the climate system as complex with respect to some features, while simple with respect to others. This distinction is of practical significance for political decision making as it allows to treat some climate predictions as (fairly) certain, while acknowledging high uncertainties with others.
Titel: Social Reactions to the Climate Debate in Germany and Switzerland
Autor: Axel Franzen / Dominikus Vogl
Seite: 121-135
Abstract: In this contribution we take a look at the development of environmental concern and mobility behavior of the population in Germany and Switzerland. The proportion of survey participants who express concern about the state of the natural environment is high in both countries. However, this proportion did not increase during the last two decades despite the ongoing public debate about environmental issues. At the same time the demand for private transportation did increase in Germany by almost 20% (in Switzerland by 2.5%). However, fuel consumption per capita decreased in Germany by 6.5% and in Switzerland by 2.2%. Our time series analyses of these trends suggest that this reduction is due to the price increase of gasoline which was substantial in both countries and not due to any change in attitudes. We argue that further price increases are appropriate means to reduce fuel consumption. However, our analyses also show that the price elasticity for fuel is low.
Titel: Different Routes to Explain Pro-Environmental Behavior: an Overview and Assessment
Autor: Ulf Liebe
Seite: 137-157
Abstract: A variety of theoretical approaches have been taken in an attempt to understand, explain, and promote pro-environmental behavior. The present article gives an overview, including specific applications, and identifies and discusses various strategies used by researchers to deal with the availability of different approaches. The overview includes elementary rational choice theory, the theory of planned behavior, norm-activation theory, theories of habitual behavior, and theories within a social dilemma framework. Strategies identified are 'extending existing theories by single explanatory factors', 'comparing theories' in a competitive manner, and 'combining theories' in an integrative manner. It is argued that research would benefit from more standardization in empirical applications, from more competitive theory testing as opposed to integrative theory testing, and from an evaluation of approaches on theoretical grounds as opposed to focusing solely on empirical performance.
Titel: Climate Policy between Activism and Rationalism
Autor: Till Requate
Seite: 159-176
Abstract: This article discusses German and European climate policy, inquiring mainly whether the ambitious goals the EU has set itself can be achieved via the instruments presently employed for the purpose and whether these instruments are efficient. In particular we discuss shortcomings of the European emission trading system, we further level criticism at energy policy measures, notably subsidization for renewable energy sources and the overlap with emissions trading. Further we argue that while 20% reduction of CO2 is feasible at a reasonable cost, derived targets such as a share of 20% of renewable energy and 20% efficiency increase is expensive and not necessary. Finally, we scrutinize the latest climate-protection package proposed by Germany's environment minister.
Titel: Climate Change Politics in the United States: Melting of the Ice
Autor: Miranda Schreurs
Seite: 177-189
Abstract: This article examines the efforts of the Obama administration and many other actors ranging from non-governmental organizations, municipalities, and state governments to some Congressional representatives to put the United States back on track towards international climate leadership. Efforts to shift policy direction, however, still face many hurdles. Over the course of the better part of a decade or more, climate skeptics and policy change opponents were able to seed doubt about the urgency of the issue in the public’s mind, establish new organizations and strategies to fight against climate action, and institutionalize serious obstacles to meaningful policy change.
Titel: Experimental Philosophy
Autor: Adam Feltz
Seite: 201-219
Abstract: Experimental philosophy is a new approach to philosophy that incorporates the experimental methodologies of psychology, behavioral economics, and sociology. Experimental philosophers generally maintain that, in addition to traditional philosophical practices, these ways of gathering evidence can be instrumental in shedding light on philosophically important issues. Rather than relying on their own intuitions about specific cases, experimental philosophers perform systematic experiments to determine what intuitions people have about those cases. These intuitions are then used as evidence. In this context, four main approaches to experimental philosophy are introduced, a sample of experimental philosophy’s results is offered, and some of the philosophical importance of those results is explained.
Titel: Experimental Philosophy Is Here to Stay
Autor: Chris Weigel
Seite: 221-242
Abstract: Experimental philosophy is comprised of two broad projects, the negative project and the positive project, each of which is a response to a kind of armchair use of intuitions. I examine two examples of the negative project the analysis of knowledge and the theory of reference and two examples of the positive project free will and intentional action and review criticisms of each example. I show how the criticisms can be met and argue that even if they could not have been met, experimental philosophy raises important questions about methodology, opening the door on new questions and new ways of looking at old questions. For that reason, experimental philosophy as a movement is robust and full of potential.
Titel: Warum selber denken? Zum Problem und Begriff des epistemischen Individualismus
Autor: Ursula Renz
Seite: 243-259
Abstract: Since the last two decades of the 20th century it has been widely accepted that testimony has to be acknowledged as a source of knowledge. As a side effect, any form of epistemic individualism has been discredited. The article provides some arguments against the dismissive attitude towards epistemic individualism. I distinguish between three forms of epistemic individualism, and I argue that only the most extreme form can be flatly rejected while there are good reasons for maintaining the other two forms of epistemic individualism. I show that weak individualism, according to which individuals are the bearers of knowledge, is concerned with a necessary condition of the instantiation of knowledge. We only accept knowledge claims if there is good reason to believe that they are maintained by at least one individual. My main interest, however, is focused on a discussion of the third more challenging form of epistemic individualism, namely normative epistemic individualism, which claims that priority of one’s own epistemic experiences over the testimony of others. I first swow that such a priority claim can only be understood as a local device, i.e. if a belief based on our own experiences is challenged by other people’s assertations, then we are committed to trust our own experiences more than the words of others. In a second step, the relations between such a restricted version of the individualist priority claim and the ideal of rationality are discussed.
Titel: Die Objektivität der Wissenschaften als soziales Phänomen
Autor: Torsten Wilholt
Seite: 261-273
Abstract: 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.
Titel: Autonomy, Recognition, and Social Dislocation
Autor: John Christman
Seite: 275-290
Abstract: In numerous accounts of both autonomy and freedom, social or relational elements have been offered as conceptual requirements in addition to purely procedural conditions. In addition, it is claimed that social recognition of the normative authority or self-trust of the agent is conceptually required for autonomy. In this paper I argue that in cases where people find themselves completely dislocated from the social and cultural homes that had provided them with the language in which to formulate and express their values, it is clear that social recognition of the sort defended in relational models is causally but not conceptually required for agency to be (re-)established. This is shown by noting that often victims of human trafficking or smuggling find themselves in foreign settings where it is quite up for grabs where and how they will attempt to reconstruct a life narrative which they can generally embrace. Therefore, seeing social recognition as conceptually required for autonomous agency or freedom would ignore the variability in the ways that such recognition must be expressed.
Titel: The Motive of Commitment and Its Implications for Rational Choice Theory
Autor: Catherine S. Herfeld
Seite: 291-317
Abstract: This paper addresses the explanatory role of the concept of a motive for action in economics. The aim of the paper is to show the difficulty economists have to accommodate the motive of commitment into their explanatory and predictive framework, i.e. rational choice theory. One difficulty is that the economists’ explanation becomes analytic when assuming preferences of commitment. Another difficulty is that it is highly doubtful whether commitment can be represented by current frameworks while (pre-)serving the ’folk-psychological’ idea of what is commonly understood by the idea of a commitment. Both difficulties lead to the conclusion that, although motives do matter, conceptualizing the motive of commitment would cause trouble for rational choice theory.
Titel: Norms and the Agency of Justice
Autor: Justin Weinberg
Seite: 319-338
Abstract: In this paper I argue that when thinking about justice, political philosophers should pay more attention to social norms, not just the usual subjects of basic principles, rights, laws, and policies. I identify two widely-endorsed ideas about political philosophy that interfere with recognizing the importance of social norms ideas I dub ’compulsoriness’ and ’institutionalism’ and argue for their rejection. I do this largely by focusing on questions about who can and should be an agent of justice. I argue that careful reflection on these questions supports a kind of pluralism that reveals the importance of social norms, three types of which I discuss.
Titel: Achtung und ihre moralische Bedeutung
Autor: Rüdiger Bittner
Seite: 339-350
Abstract: While ,Achtung’ in ordinary German means either attention or esteem, Kant used the word, on the one hand, to indicate the attitude of those who do what is right for the reason that it is right (,respect for the law’), and on the other, to indicate an attitude that we are morally required to entertain towards all human beings (,respect for humanity’). What that attitude is and why we are bound to adopt it, does not become clear. Recent writers do give content to the notion, a rather arbitrary one, though, given the ordinary meaning of ,Achtung’. Contrary to what is widely believed, then, the moral significance of ,Achtung’ is limited; limited, that is, to the fact that attentiveness to others’ virtues is itself a virtue.
Titel: Wieso moralische Achtung wichtig ist
Autor: Peter Schaber
Seite: 351-361
Abstract: Bittner argues in his paper that the idea of a general duty to respect persons is of much less importance than some moral philosophers think. If respect plays a role in our lives it is mainly appriciation respect persons have to merit. Respecting persons as such is, Bittner thinks, not just irrelevant, but also incompatibel with personal relations. Against this it is argued that respect for persons should be seen as the basic moral duty we have towards persons. And in addition, it is argued, that you can only be a proper friend of someone, if the relation to her or him is based on moral respect.
Titel: Achtung und ihre moralische Bedeutung: Erwiderung auf Peter Schaber
Autor: Rüdiger Bittner
Seite: 363-365
Abstract: The present reply to Peter Schaber’s critique of my paper Achtung und ihre moralische Bedeutung argues, first, that Schaber has no good grounds for maintaining that we have an obligation to respect every human being. Second, it explains why respect is not a fruitful attitude to take in the face of social divisions.
Titel: Work and Social Justice
Autor: Peter Koller
Seite: 5-24
Abstract: In advanced societies, the sphere of work is subject to far-reaching changes which erode the system of gainful employment achieved in the second half of the last century, called ’typical work’, i.e. full-time employment for an indefinite period with collectively negotiated wages and working conditions. This development has lead to a proliferation of various kinds of ’atypical work’, most of which amount to poorly rewarded and insecure jobs with bad labour standards, and it has also weakened the traditional systems of social security. As a result, most advanced societies have experienced a significant increase in social inequality and poverty in recent decades, even though their overall social wealth has constantly grown, a state of affairs which may be deemed to be not merely undesirable, but also unjust. This judgment, however, presupposes a particular conception of social justice that submits the economic order and the working world to certain normative demands. The paper aims to illuminate these demands by proceeding in three steps. First of all, it starts with recapitulating the conditions of the rise of typical work and the features of its decay. Secondly, it seeks to sketch a conception of social justice and its requirements on the working world, on the basis of which the present situation may be considered as unjust. Finally, it will deal with the question of how to reform the present working world in a way that, as far as possible, meets the requirements of justice.
Titel: Critical Analysis of Some Well-Intended Proposals to Fight Unemployment
Autor: Gebhard Kirchgässner
Seite: 25-48
Abstract: In this paper it is asked whether it is meaningful to state a ’right to work’ as a basic human right to be written down in the constitution, for example, whether working time should generally be reduced, and whether those who do not have (or find) a job should get a guaranteed minimal income. All three demands have to be rejected, at least in the radical form in which they are often stated. They cannot be realised at all or at least not without impairing other basic human rights. Finally, it is asked what can be retained from these (usually well-intended) demands.
Titel: Basic Income and the Labor Contract
Autor: Claus Offe
Seite: 49-79
To Jürgen Habermas, June 18, 2009
Abstract: The paper starts by exploring the negative contingencies that are associated with the core institution of capitalist societies, the labour contract: unemployment, poverty, and denial of autonomy. It argues that these are the three conditions that basic income schemes can help prevent. Next, the three major normative arguments are discussed that are raised by opponents of basic income proposals: the idle should not be rewarded, the prosperous don’t need it, and there are so many things waiting to be done in the world. After demonstrating that proponents of basic income stand in no way empty-handed when facing these objections, a third part considers basic income in functional terms: would its introduction help to resolve problems of social and economic order that are unlikely to be resolved in more conventional ways?
Titel: Volenti Non Fit Iniuria? Contract Freedom and Labor Market Institutions
Autor: Richard Sturn
Seite: 81-99
Abstract: Various writers point out that accepting the terms of a contract does not imply consent to the background conditions of this contract. This is an important critical insight allowing for a critical perspective on the principle of free contract, according to which the state should not interfere with what adult agents contractually agree upon. In this paper I argue that the practical relevance of this critical insight depends on the availability of answers to three questions: (1) Which are the core features of baseline background conditions supporting a well-ordered labor market enhancing economic welfare? (2) In which cases and for which reasons are non-market institutions needed in order to support these features? (3) Under which conditions and at which levels can collective mechanisms be expected to support adequate non-market institutions ’curing market failure’? Some of the core properties of labor markets and labor contracts are discussed which need to be taken into account in attempts to answer these questions, most notably problems of contract enforcement, market failure and collective action.
Titel: The Right to Work and the Right to Develop One's Capabilities
Autor: Ulrich Steinvorth
Seite: 101-113
Abstract: I understand the claim that there is a right to work as the claim that involuntary unemployment is an injustice that requires of justice enforcement institutions to stop it. I argue that in present conditions of high productivity it is more consistent with the liberal tradition to proclaim a right to develop one’s capabilities than a right to work. The steps of my argument are: (1) An important though not the only reason for considering unemployment unjust has been what I call the Promethean idea of society. (2) The Promethean idea is implied by the liberal idea of rights. (3) There are two conceptions of the Promethean idea, the centralist and the autonomous one. (4) Only the latter is acceptable. (5) Involuntary unemployment is unjust even if the dole is decently high. (6) The injustice of unemployment can be stopped only by institutions that enable everyone to use their capabilities in realizing the Promethean idea. (7) One such institution is basic income. (8) As employment is not necessary for survival, we should replace the right to work with a right to develop one’s capabilities.
Titel: Why Labor is Important A Commentary on Steinvorth
Autor: Stephan Schlothfeldt
Seite: 115-118
Abstract: Steinvorth has changed his view from arguing for a right to work to arguing for a basic income. This change of mind is consistent with his idea of the ’Promethean venture’. It is, however, only convincing if one accepts his premise that labor is in general a burden. In this commentary, it is shown that this premise should be rejected. Since labor is an important source of recognition and therefore a prerequisite of a decent life, a basic income should be regarded as being only a second best solution as compared to a right to employment.
Titel: Reply to Schlothfeldt
Autor: Ulrich Steinvorth
Seite: 119-120
Abstract: Recognition is an important function of labour, as Schlothfeld claims, but only under given capitalist conditions. It is the very point of the introduction of basic income, if embedded in a suitable education system, that it would allow people to receive recognition from all kinds of activities they regard as meaningful rather than from stultifying wage labour.
Titel: Anti-Perfectionism, Market Economies and the Right to Meaningful Work
Autor: Russell Keat
Seite: 121-138
Abstract: Should perfectionist ideals of meaningful work play a significant part in the design of economic systems? In an influential article (Meaningful Work and Market Socialism), Richard Arneson rejected this traditional socialist view. Instead, he maintained, it should be left to the market, as a system that is consistent with the principle of neutrality, to determine the extent to which such work is available, and socialists should restrict their normative concerns primarily to issues of distributive justice. Against this it is argued here that market economies appear to be neutral only if understood in neo-classical, rather than institutionalist terms. From the latter perspective, market economies can be shown to take a number of institutionally distinct forms, which differ significantly in how far they favour the satisfaction of preferences for meaningful work. Collective choices between these alternative systems should take account of these differences, and the adoption of market economies does not avoid the need for perfectionist judgments in politics.
Titel: Meaningful Work and Market Socialism Revisited
Autor: Richard J. Arneson
Seite: 139-151
Abstract: If the economy consisted of labor-managed firms, so the workplace is democratic, and in addition the benefits and burdens of economic cooperation were shared equitably and the economy operated efficiently, might there still be a morally compelling case for further intervention into economic arrangements so as to increase the degree to which people gain meaningful or satisfying work? ’No!’, answers a 1987 essay by the author. This comment argues against that judgment, on the ground that morally required perfectionism or paternalism or simple fairness to the worse off might demand such intervention. It is plausible to hold the good life includes meaningful work, and that what we fundamentally owe one another is a fair distribution of good quality of life. However, this comment also takes issue with Russell Keats’s argument against Arneson in his essay in this issue of this journal.
Titel: Reply to Arneson
Autor: Russell Keat
Seite: 153-157
Abstract: Arneson says that he disagrees both with the main claims of Arneson (1987) and with my criticisms of these in Keat (2009). What is arguably the most important of the former disagreements is left until the final paragraphs, where he declares that he (now) rejects the principle of state neutrality and that we are comrades in believing that good perfectionist arguments for the promotion of meaningful work can be constructed (and may legitimately provide a basis for state action). I am more than happy to be counted a comrade in this respect. But otherwise I disagree with much of what he says in his response: I not only continue to support the criticisms I made in Keat (2009), but also disagree with another of Arneson’s main criticisms of Arneson (1987). So I shall both defend myself from his objections, and defend Arneson from his own.
Titel: Liberalism, Perfectionism and Workfare
Autor: Christoph Henning
Seite: 159-180
Abstract: Recent welfare reform has resulted in new work requirements for welfare recipients. These measures need to be justified, as they impair recipients’ freedom. This paper first repudiates economic justifications for these developments and argues that the dominant justification is perfectionist. But unlike workfare, perfectionism is not necessarily paternalistic. The second part of the paper outlines a liberal perfectionism which allows only for autonomy-enhancing politics. Though even such autonomy-enhancing politics cannot be made obligatory. The last section concludes that workfare’s paternalism cannot be attributed to perfectionist justifications, but rather stems from the narrow philosophy of work that is applied. The idea that enforced wage labour is a reliable tool for inducing autonomy is refuted. In the end, workfare needs to be rejected, as it is based on assumptions that are mistaken both normatively and empirically.
Titel: Knowledge Society or Contemporary Capitalism's Fanciest Dress
Autor: Peter Streckeisen
Seite: 181-197
Abstract: Scholars of social science have increasingly been describing advanced capitalist societies as knowledge societies, based on a series of key assumptions about ’post-industrialism’. My contribution challenges this new ’conventional wisdom’ (John K. Galbraith) on several points. I first argue that it veils the ’dark sides’ of capitalism, i.e. worker alienation, class relationships and class struggle. I then show how knowledge society experts all too often contribute to the individualization of social problems. Further on, I challenge the assumption according to which contemporary human resources management creates a new kind of work relationship based on mutual respect, objectivity and justice. Finally, I try to understand the very success of the new ’conventional wisdom’. The relative autonomy of science and education might be the most important reason why so many social science scholars as well as ordinary people today believe they are living in a knowledge society.
Titel: Social Criticism and the Exclusion of Ethics
Autor: Russell Keat
Seite: 291-315
Abstract: As Axel Honneth has recently noted, the critical concerns of social philosophers during the past three decades have been focused primarily on questions of justice, with ethical issues about the human good being largely excluded. In the first section I briefly explore this exclusion in both ’Anglo-American’ political philosophy and ’German’ critical theory. I then argue, in the main sections, that despite this commitment to their exclusion, distinctively ethical concepts and ideals can be identified both in Rawls’s Theory of Justice and in Habermas’s Theory of Communicative Action, taking these as exemplary, representative texts for each theoretical school. These ethical elements, and their implications for the critical evaluation of economic institutions, have gone largely unnoticed. In the final section I indicate the kinds of debates that might be generated, were these to be given the attention they arguably deserve. I focus especially on the significance of empirical issues, and hence on the role of social science in social criticism.
Titel: Practices: The Aristotelian Concept
Autor: Kelvin Knight
Seite: 317-329
Abstract: Social practices are widely regarded as the bedrock that turns one’s spade, beneath which no further justifications for action can be found. Followers of the later Wittgenstein might therefore be right to agree with Heideggerians and neo-pragmatists that philosophy’s traditional search for first principles should be abandoned. However, the concept of practices has played a very different role in the philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre. Having once helped lead the assault on foundationalism in both moral and social philosophy, his elaboration of an Aristotelian’ concept of practices in After Virtue has since led him to embrace a metaphysical teleology. This paper attempts to outline MacIntyre’s Aristotelian concept, and to identify its ethical, political and philosophical significance.
Titel: The Long Goodbye: On the Development of Critical Theory
Autor: Anton Leist
Seite: 331-354
Abstract: It is not easy to give up on a tradition that promises to rationalize, explain, and thereby ultimately help improve, society. This article narrates the history of Critical Theory in three stages, following the dynamics of its own self-criticism during distinct historical periods and within different societies. Horkheimer/Adorno, Habermas and Honneth are read as participating in a philosophical project of societal rationalism which can be criticized by appeal to a pragmatist view of social theories, and specifically the ’pragmatic maxim’. In spite of its post-metaphysical announcements, Critical Theory overextends itself when it seeks to reconcile fully the normative and the empirical. An alternative, and more explicitly ethical and empirically controllable, scheme for critical theories (plural!) is suggested.
Titel: Die Idee einer Hegelianischen ,Wissenschaft’ der Gesellschaft
Autor: Frederick Neuhouser
Seite: 355-378
Abstract: This paper sets out the kind of intellectual enterprise Hegel’s science of society is by explaining its aim (reconciliation) and the method it employs to achieve that aim. It argues that Hegel’s science of society, similar to Smith’s and Marx’s, offers an account of the good social order that is grounded in both an empirical understanding of existing institutions and a normative commitment to a certain vision of the good life. It spells out the criteria Hegel appeals to in his judgment that the modern social order is fundamentally good and worthy of affirmation, namely, that its three principal institutions the family, civil society, and the constitutional state form a coherent and harmonious whole that promotes the basic interests of all its members in a way that also realizes freedom in all three of the senses relevant to social theory: personal, moral, and social freedom.
Titel: Logical Empiricism as Critical Theory? The Debate Continues
Autor: John O'Neill / Thomas Uebel
Seite: 379-398
Abstract: Is logical empiricism incompatible with a critical social science? The longstanding assumption that it is incompatible has been prominent in recent debates about welfare economics. Sen’s development of a critical and descriptively rich welfare eco nomics is taken by writers such as Putnam, Walsh and Sen to involve the excising of the influence of logical empiricism on neo-classical economics. However, this view stands in contrast to the descriptively rich contributions to political economy of members of the left Vienna Circle, such as Otto Neurath. This paper considers the compatibility of the meta-theoretical commitments of Neurath and others in the logical empiricist tradition with this first-order critical political economy.
Titel: On Critical Theory
Autor: Ulrich Steinvorth
Seite: 399-423
Abstract: I propose a conception of critical theory that is an alternative to that of the Frankfurt School and Habermas. It is based on the assumptions that critical theory is not unique but started off with the 5th century BC movement of the sophists that aimed at an understanding of society free from superstition and prejudice, can be better understood by considering the history of social thinking, does not look for knowledge for knowledge’s sake but for solving practical problems, distinguishes basic social problems from dependent problems, looks for and defends a value to guide it both in its research and its solutions, prefers the value of capability development to that of happiness.
Titel: Ethics and Social Ontology
Autor: Gideon Calder
Seite: 427-443
’Philosophers such as Frege and Popper, and more recently Jürgen Habermas have said that we should think of reality as dividing up into three different worlds. My own view is that we should never have started counting.’ (Searle 1998, 144)
’Ethics is about human beings but it is about what they are like, not what they like.’ (Eagleton 2004, 126-127)
Abstract: Normative theory, in various idioms, has grown wary of questions of ontology social and otherwise. Thus modern debates in ethics have tended to take place at some distance from (for example) debates in social theory. One arguable casualty of this has been due consideration of relational factors (between agents and the social structures they inhabit) in the interrogation of ethical values. Part 1 of this paper addresses some examples of this tendency, and some of the philosophical assumptions which might underlie it. Parts 2 and 3 discuss two issues of growing prominence disability, and environmental concern due attention to which, I argue, highlights strong reasons why severing ethics from social ontology is neither possible nor desirable. I conclude by recommending a qualified ethical naturalism as a promising candidate through which, non-reductively, to reunite these two areas of theoretical focus.
Titel: Reconsidering Relational Autonomy. Personal Autonomy for Socially Embedded and Temporally Extended Selves
Autor: Holger Baumann
Seite: 445-468
Abstract: Most recent accounts of personal autonomy acknowledge that the social environment a person lives in, and the personal relationships she entertains, have some impact on her autonomy. Two kinds of conceptualizing social conditions are traditionally distinguished in this regard: Causally relational accounts hold that certain relationships and social environments play a causal role for the development and ongoing exercise of autonomy. Constitutively relational accounts, by contrast, claim that autonomy is at least partly constituted by a person’s social environment or standing. The central aim of this paper is to raise the question how causally and constitutively relational approaches relate to the fact that we exercise our autonomy over time. I argue that once the temporal scope of autonomy is opened up, we need not only to think differently about the social dimension of autonomy. We also need to reconsider the very distinction between causally and constitutively relational accounts, because it is itself a synchronic (and not a diachronic) distinction.
Titel: On the Concept of Basic Social Norms
Autor: Wolfgang Detel
Seite: 469-482
Abstract: In sociology, social philosophy, social ontology, and classical choice theory the notion of a social norm is usually introduced by using a rich normative, semantic, and social vocabulary, while the notions that evolutionary game theory proceeds from seem too poor to elucidate the idea of social norms. In this paper, I suggest to define a notion of social norms that is as basic as possible, in the sense that it relies only on notions like affects, feelings as well as regularities, standards, and corrections of behaviour. These notions suffice to explain non-linguistic traditions, practices, sanctions, and, finally, basic social norms. Two of the aims of the paper are, first, to clarify the idea of genuine normativity and second, to explore whether the sort of normativity involved in basic social norms is part of a bridge between nature and the social realm.
Titel: Two Approaches to Shared Intention: An Essay in the Philosophy of Social Phenomena
Autor: Margaret Gilbert
Seite: 483-514
Abstract: Drawing on earlier work of the author that is both clarified and amplified here, this article explores the question: what is it for two or more people to intend to do something in the future? In short, what is it for people to share an intention? It argues for three criteria of adequacy for an account of shared intention (the disjunction, concurrence, and obligation criteria) and offers an account that satisfies them. According to this account, in technical terms explained in the paper, people share an intention when and only when they are jointly committed to intend as a body to do such-and-such in the future. This account is compared and contrasted with the common approach that treats shared intention as a matter of the correlative personal intentions, with particular reference to the work of Michael Bratman.
Titel: Macht und Metamacht
Autor: Marco Iorio
Seite: 515-532
Abstract: In this paper a distinction is made between the concept of social power and the more basic concept of power. Because the more basic concept is not a social or sociological notion, it is analysed with the tools of action theory. In light of this analysis the concept of social power can be seen in a new and revealing light. Additionally, a special version of social power comes into view. I dub this phaenomenon ’meta-power’.
Titel: The Ontology of Social Agency
Autor: Frederick Stoutland
Seite: 533-551
Abstract: The main claim of the paper is that there are irreducibly social agents that intentionally perform social actions. It argues, first, that there are social attitudes ascribable to social agents and not to the individuals involved. Second, that social agents, not only individual agents, are capable of what Weber called ’subjectively understandable action.’ And, third, that although action (if not merely mental) presumes an agent’s moving her body in various ways, actions do not consist of such movements, and hence not only individual persons but social groups are genuine agents. We should be pluralists about individuation, rejecting both individualism and collectivism by granting that social agency is neither more nor less ultimate, well-founded, or basic than non-social agency.
Titel: Homo Ökonomikus als Idealtypus. Oder: Das Dilemma des Don Juan
Autor: Michael Baurmann
Seite: 555-573
Abstract: Neither the model of homo oeconomicus nor Max Weber’s concept of the ideal type have a good reputation these days - to try to combine the two does not seem a promising idea, therefore. It could result in the attempt to tie two sinking ships together - to borrow a metaphor of Alasdair MacIntyre’s which he used in a different context as a comment on the programme of Analyse & Kritik 30 years ago. But perhaps the reasons for the bad reputation of homo oeconomicus and ideal types are connected so that a common retrieval of their honour could be thinkable. I will contemplate this question in the following considerations that are not very systematical but rather exemplary and fragmentary.
Titel: General Equilibrium Theory and the Rationality of Economics
Autor: Carsten Köllmann
Seite: 575-599
Abstract: Most philosophers of economics are hostile towards neoclassical economics in general and general equilibrium theory in the vein of Arrow and Debreu in particular. Especially the latter’s dismissal is justified by pointing out its lack of direct relevance for an understanding of real economies. Many recommend a more pragmatic approach along the lines of Keynes instead. The criterion of scientific legitimacy underlying this approach derives from a philosophy of science developed along the lines of Popper and Lakatos. They, however, neglect the importance of conceptual problems and of the choice of adequate ’language-systems’ in science. Since these conceptual and ’linguistic’ aspects may be able to explain and to justify the rationale of the Arrow-Debreu approach, I recommend the more balanced philosophies of Carnap and Laudan, in which conceptual as well as empirical problems are allowed for, as a framework for methodological appraisal. I explain why such a balanced view is obstructed for most philosophers of economics and advocate a moderate pluralism leaving room for different theories, methodologies and language-systems, depending on the scientific aims that are pursued.
Titel: Was für ein Problem ist der hermeneutische Zirkel?
Autor: C. Mantzavinos
Seite: 601-612
Abstract: The hermeneutic circle serves as a standard argument for all those who raise a claim to the autonomy of the human sciences. The proponents of an alternative methodology for the human sciences present the hermeneutic circle either as an ontological problem or as a specific methodological problem in the social sciences and the humanities. In this paper I would like to check the soundness of this argument. I will start with listing and shortly sketching out three variations of the problem. I will then critically discuss these and appeal to alternative solutions and I will close with a short conclusion.
Titel: On the Relationship between Political Philosophy and Empirical Sciences
Autor: Thomas Schramme
Seite: 613-626
Abstract: In this paper, I will focus on the role that findings of the empirical sciences might play in justifying normative claims in political philosophy. In the first section, I will describe how political theory has become a discipline divorced from empirical sciences, against a strong current in post-war political philosophy. I then argue that Rawls’s idea of reflective equilibrium, rightly interpreted, leads to a perspective on the matter of justification that takes seriously empirical findings regarding currently held normative beliefs of people. I will finally outline some functions that empirical studies might have in political philosophy.
Titel: Analyse und Kritik aus Sicht soziologischer Handlungstheorie
Autor: Hans-Joachim Schubert
Seite: 627-646
Abstract: Social order and social change is based on social action. All sociological theories of action agree on this assumption. Beyond that insight action theories disagree on basic notions of how action can be explained, on basic principles clarifying the selection of action and on basic motivations of action as starting point to construct theories of social order and social change. Contemporary sociology accepts the multidimensionality of theoretical approaches. Open are questions of how action theories can be differentiated, related or combined to offer analytical instruments for empirical research. The idea this essay brings forward is that the classical dualism between utilitarism (homo oeconomicus) and normativism (homo sociologicus) is transcended in support of action theories concentrating on the meaning of culture (cultural turn), communication (linguistic turn), and on creativity (dialogical turn). Integrated as a new typology these five action theories provide an analytical framework to research social order and social conflicts of modern societies.
Titel: On Some Problems to Apply the Economic Model of Behaviour in Political Science
Autor: Gebhard Kirchgässner
Seite: 649-667
Abstract: After a short description of the economic model of behaviour it is shown that there are two reasons why problems arise if this model is applied to political processes and decisions. First, such decisions are often ’low cost’, i.e. ’wrong’ decisions have hardly any impact on the decision maker. Second, the behaviour of single individuals or small groups of individuals is to be explained. The common root of this problem is the difficulty to predict behaviour which is mainly preference governed and not guided by (changing) restrictions. Nevertheless, this should not lead to abolish the economic model because (i) it can be usefully applied also in this area and (ii) a better alternative is hardly available.
Titel: Social Rationality, Semi-Modularity and Goal-Framing: What Is It All About?
Autor: Siegwart Lindenberg
Seite: 669-687
’Our ability to selectively engage and disengage our moral standards [...] helps explain how people can be barbarically cruel in one moment and compassionate the next.’ (Albert Bandura)
Abstract: Human beings are not general problem solvers. Their mental architecture is modular and the microfoundations for the social sciences have to take that into consideration. Modularity means that there are hardwired and softwired functionally specific subroutines, such as face recognition and habits that make the individual particularly sensitive to a narrow range of information from both inside and outside. Goals are the most important creators of modules that contain both hard- and softwired submodules. Goals determine what we attend to, what information we are sensitive to, what information we neglect, what chunks of knowledge and what concepts are being activated at a given moment, what we like and dislike, what criteria for goal achievement are being applied, etc. Overarching goals govern large classes of submodules, and therefore the social sciences have to deal especially with these overarching goals. Three such overarching goals are identified: hedonic, gain, and normative goals. At every given moment one of them is focal (a goal-frame) and self-regulation is the process by which humans balance the dominance of goal-frames. In turn, self-regulation (here seen as the heart of ’social rationality’), depends much on social circumstances that are open to sociological investigation.
Titel: Theory and Empirical Research in Analytical Sociology: The Case of Cooperation in Problematic Social Situations
Autor: Werner Raub / Vincent Buskens
Seite: 689-722
Abstract: The integration of theory and empirical research in analytical social science has always been a core topic of Analyse & Kritik. This paper focuses on how analytical theory and empirical research have moved closer to each other in sociology, using rational choice theory and game-theoretic models as well as empirical research on problematic social situations (social dilemmas, collective action problems, etc.) as an example. We try to highlight the use of complementary research designs (surveys, vignette studies, lab experiments) for testing the same hypotheses. We also try to show that empirical research indicates the need for the development of more complex theoretical models.
Titel: Economic Imperialism
Autor: Kurt W. Rothschild
Seite: 723-733
Abstract: Economic Imperialism is the claim of some economists that the methodology of neoclassical economics has superior scientific qualities and should be adopted by most or all social sciences. The paper first shows why such a dominant claim could develop among economists but in no other science and then goes on to point out the shortcomings of this claim of methodological superiority. These critical remarks are also relevant for methodological controversies within economics between a mainstream and heterodox economists.
Titel: Inseln der Rationalität: Wie überwindet man fehlerhafte Entscheidungen auf dem Markt, in der Wissenschaft und in der Politik?
Autor: Erich Weede
Seite: 735-756
Abstract: Rationality is the attempt to cope with human fallibility. It presupposes individual freedom and responsibility where responsibility includes suffering from one’s errors. If humans are fallible, then one of the most important characteristics of a social order is whether or not it provides mechanisms for eliminating and correcting errors. It is easiest to institutionalize rationality in an economy. Contestable markets, competition and the threat of bankruptcy suffice. Within academia or science, rationality requires humans to give up the utopian quest for certainty, but nevertheless to continue to rely on logic and experience to make theories ever more consistent as well as compatible with observable facts. It is most difficult to achieve a minimum of rationality in the field of politics. In politics one always suffers from the errors of others rather than from one’s own errors.
Titel: MacIntyre and the Polis
Autor: Carey Seal
Seite: 5-16
Abstract: This paper traces Alasdair MacIntyre’s account of the development of the Greek polis as presented in A Short History of Ethics, After Virtue, and Whose Justice? Which Rationality?. The paper argues for the centrality of Aristotle’s conception of po- litics as an architectonic art to this account. It explores the foundations of MacIntyre’s presentation of moral rationality in Homer and offers the poems of Hesiod as an aid to understanding MacIntyre’s view of the post-Homeric crisis in Greek ethics. Aristotle is then invoked to show how MacIntyre represents the polis as a classical response to that crisis.
Titel: Men at Work: Politics and Labour in Aristotle and Some Aristotelians
Autor: Cary J. Nederman
Seite: 17-31
Abstract: In Book 3 of his Politics, and again in Book 7, Aristotle makes explicit his disdain for the banausos (often translated ’mechanic’) as an occupation qualified for full civic life. Where modern admirers of Aristotle, such as Alasdair MacIntyre, have taken him at face value concerning this topic and thus felt a need to distance themselves from him, I claim that the grounds that Aristotle offers for the exclusion of banausoi from citizenship are not consistent with other important teachings (found in the eighth book of the Politics as well as in several of his other writings) about the nature of poesis (’productive science’, which is the form of knowledge characteristic of the so-called ’mechanical arts’). I further support this claim with reference to the role played by the mechanical arts within the Aristotelian framework of knowledge that one encounters in medieval European thought between the twelfth and the fourteenth centuries, with particular reference to Hugh of St. Victor, John of Salisbury, and Marsiglio of Padua.
Titel: After Tradition?: Heidegger or MacIntyre, Aristotle and Marx
Autor: Kelvin Knight
Seite: 33-52
Abstract: Philosophical tradition has been challenged by those who would have us look to our own practice, and to nothing beyond. In this, the philosophy of Martin Heidegger is followed by the politics of Hannah Arendt, for whom the tradition of political philosophy terminated with Karl Marx’s theorization of labour. This challenge has been met by Alasdair MacIntyre, for whom the young Marx’s reconceptualization of production as a social activity can inform an Aristotelianism that addresses our shared practices in traditional, teleological terms. Looking to the social nature of our practices orientates us to common goods, to the place of those goods in our own lives, and to their place within political communities. MacIntyre’s Thomistic Aristotelian tradition has Heideggerian and other philosophical rivals, but he argues that it represents our best way of theorizing practice.
Titel: The Uniqueness of After Virtue (or ’Against Hindsight’)
Autor: Alex Bavister-Gould
Seite: 55-74
Abstract: The paper questions the extent to which MacIntyre’s current ethical and political outlook should be traced to a pro ject begun in After Virtue. It is argued that, instead, a critical break comes in 1985 with his adoption of a ’Thomistic Aristotelian’ standpoint. After Virtue’s ’positive thesis’, by contrast, is a distinct position in MacIntyre’s intellectual journey, and the standpoint of After Virtue embodies substantial commitments not only in conflict with, but antithetical to, MacIntyre’s later worldview mostly clearly illustrated in the contrasting positions on moral conflict and tragedy.
Titel: MacIntyre, Thomism and the Contemporary Common Good
Autor: Thomas Osborne
Seite: 75-90
Abstract: Alasdair MacIntyre’s criticism of contemporary politics rests in large part on the way in which the political communities of advanced modernity do not recognize common goals and practices. I shall argue that although MacIntyre explicitly recognizes the influence of Jacques Maritain on his own thought, MacIntyre’s own views are incompatible not only with Maritain’s attempt to develop a Thomistic theory which is compatible with liberal democracy, but also relies on a view of the individual as a part which is related to the whole in a way that is incompatible with Maritain’s understanding of the spiritual individual or person.
Titel: From Voluntarist Nominalism to Rationalism to Chaos: Alasdair MacIntyre’s Critique of Modern Ethics
Autor: Christopher Stephen Lutz
Seite: 91-99
Abstract: The purpose of this essay is to connect the ’Disquieting Suggestion’ at the beginning of After Virtue to a broader picture of Alasdair MacIntyre’s critique of modern moral philosophy. The essay begins with MacIntyre’s fictional scientific catastrophe, and uses four passages from the text of After Virtue to identify the analogous real philosophical catastrophe. The essay relates the resulting critique of modern moral philosophy to MacIntyre’s concern for recognizing the social practices of morality as human actions in ’Notes from the Moral Wilderness’. The essay concludes by considering the implications of MacIntyre’s philosophy for the study of history, realism, and tradition.
Titel: MacIntyre’s Search for a Defensible Aristotelian Ethics and the Role of Metaphysics
Autor: Marian Kuna
Seite: 103-119
Abstract: MacIntyre is a ma jor defender of the resurgence of the Aristotelian approach in ethical and political theory. He considers Aristotelianism not only a feasible, but also an intellectually superior alternative to most contemporary dominant ideologies, and to liberalism in particular. There is, however, an important and instructive modification to his view of what is admissible from Aristotle that should be accounted for. The paper traces MacIntyre’s search for a defensible restatement of the Aristotelian ethics and examines in particular his changing attitude to metaphysics as the basis for ethics within his pro ject. Different stages of the development to his proposed Aristotelian alternative are analyzed and evaluated. The paper tries to show that despite the fact that MacIntyre initially repudiated Aristotle’s metaphysical biology, nevertheless his account has always been (implicitly or explicitly) metaphysical.
Titel: MacIntyre’s Radical Intellectualism: The Philosopher as a Moral Ideal
Autor: Piotr Machura
Seite: 121-138
Abstract: The question I address in the paper is ’What is the ideal of MacIntyre’s moral philosophy? What is the telos of human nature?’ Considering MacIntyre’s critique of modern culture, politics and philosophy, anti-intellectualism emerges as the main reason for his refutation of these values. So is it a reason for moral and political distortion that leads to the interpassivity of the modern self. Taking into account MacIntyre’s idea of characters I pinpoint the character of the philosopher as a moral ideal of MacIntyre’s thought. For it is not only intellectual activity within any practice that enables us to develop our distinctively human nature but also philosophy that is the highest form of that kind of activity. From this point of view, it is crucial to grasp philosophy as a required way of life and the craft that enables us to be moral and political agents.
Titel: Traditional Moral Knowledge and Experience of the World
Autor: Benedict Smith
Seite: 139-155
Abstract: MacIntyre shares with others, such as John McDowell, a broad commitment in moral epistemology to the centrality of tradition and both regard forms of enculturation as conditions of moral knowledge. Although MacIntyre is critical of the thought that moral reasons are available only to those whose experience of the world is conceptually articulated, he is sympathetic to the idea that the development of sub jectivity involves the capacity to appreciate external moral demands. This paper critically examines some aspects of MacIntyre’s account of how knowledge is related to tradition, and suggests ways in which the formation of moral sub jectivity involves the ability to experience the world.
Titel: Unmasking MacIntyre’s Metaphysics of the Self
Autor: Seiriol Morgan
Seite: 157-175
Abstract: This paper focuses on Alasdair MacIntyre’s critique of the modern self, arguing that we are not as bereft of the resources to engage in rational thought about value as he makes out. I claim that MacIntyre’s argument presumes that philosophy has a much greater power to shape individuals and cultures than it in fact has. In particular, he greatly exaggerates the extent to which the character of the modern self has been an effect of the philosophical views of the self that have been influential during the period, leading him to be overly pessimistic about its nature and powers. Finally, I argue that MacIntyre has provided us with no strong reason for thinking that a moral tradition structured by modern values could not be viable.
Titel: Radical Disagreement: Utopias and the Art of the Possible
Autor: Timothy Chappell
Seite: 179-203
Abstract: I begin this paper by examining what MacIntyre has to tell us about radical disagreements: how they have arisen, and how to deal with them, within a polity. I conclude by radically disagreeing with Macintyre: I shall suggest that he offers no credible alternative to liberalism’s account of radical disagreements and how to deal with them. To put it dilemmatically: insofar as what MacIntyre says is credible, it is not an alternative to liberalism; insofar as he presents a genuine alternative to liberalism, this alternative is not credible. In large part the credibility problems that I see for MacIntyre’s pro ject arise from the history on which he bases it; it is with this history that I begin. Reflection on MacIntyre’s profound and subtle political philosophy thus fails to dislodge liberalism from its contemporary intellectual supremacy a supremacy which I think liberalism has well earned. If anything, such reflection enhances the hegemony of liberalism still further. And a good thing too.
Titel: Misunderstanding MacIntyre on Human Rights
Autor: Bill Bowring
Seite: 205-214
Abstract: This short article starts with Alasdair MacIntyre’s famous critical remarks on human rights in After Virtue, and proceeds to ask whether in fact MacIntyre can be read against himself, taking a range of his own texts. This provides the basis for a sketch of a substantive account of human rights, more historicised and political than those for which MacIntyre has so little time. The article engages with some leading English Aristotelians James Griffin and John Tasioulas in particular. MacIntyre has been a Marxist: this article suggests that perhaps he still is and that a consistent Aristotelian is a Marxist, especially where human rights are concerned.
Titel: Alasdair MacIntyre’s Contribution to Marxism: A Road Not Taken
Autor: Paul Blackledge
Seite: 215-227
Abstract: This essay questions, through a critique of his reading of classical Marxism, the path taken by Alasdair MacIntyre since his break with the Marxist Left in the 1960s. It argues that MacIntyre was uncharitable in his criticisms of Marxism, or at least in his conflation of the most powerful aspects of the classical Marxist tradition with the crudities of Kautskyian and Stalinist materialism. Contra MacIntyre, this essay locates in the writings of the revolutionary Left which briefly flourished up to and just after the Russian Revolution a rich source of dialectical thinking on the relationship between structure and agency that escapes the twin errors of crude materialism or political voluntarism. Moreover, it suggests that by reaching back to themes reminiscent of the young Marx this tradition laid the basis for a renewed ethical Marxism, and that in his youth MacIntyre pointed to the realisation of this project.
Titel: Why Business Cannot be a Practice
Autor: Ron Beadle
Seite: 229-241
Abstract: In a series of papers Geoff Moore has applied Alasdair MacIntyre’s much cited work to generate a virtue-based business ethics. Central to this pro ject is Moore’s argument that business falls under MacIntyre’s concept of ’practice’. This move attempts to overcome MacIntyre’s reputation for being ’anti-business’ while maintaining his framework for evaluating social action and replaces MacIntyre’s hostility to management with a conception of managers as institutional practitioners (craftsmen). I argue however that this move has not been justified. Given the importance MacIntyre places on the protection of practices, the result is that much of Moore’s contribution is misplaced. Business cannot name a practice but business institutions certainly do house practices. The task then is to try to understand the circumstances under which practices might flourish and those under which they might founder in a business context. This is not aided by Moore’s redescription of all businesses as practices.
Titel: Ethics, Markets and MacIntyre
Autor: Russell Keat
Seite: 243-257
Abstract: MacIntyre’s theory of practices, institutions, and their respective kinds of goods, has revived and enriched the ethical critique of market economies, and his view of politics as centrally concerned with common goods and human flourishing presents a ma jor challenge to neutralist liberal theorists’ attempts to exclude distinctively ethical considerations from political deliberation. However, the rejection of neutrality does not entail the rejection of liberalism tout court : questions of human flourishing may be accorded a legitimate role in political decisions including those about economic systems - provided that the powers of the state remain sub ject to certain recognizably liberal constraints. Further, although neutralist liberals often defend market economies on the mistaken grounds that they alone are consistent with the principle of ethical neutrality, a non-neutralist defence of them should not be ruled out, especially if the substantive theory of goods used to evaluate them is somewhat less restrictive than MacIntyre’s.
Titel: What More Needs to Be Said? A Beginning, Although Only a Beginning, at Saying It
Autor: Alasdair MacIntyre
Seite: 261-281
Abstract: The responses to my critics are as various as their criticisms, focusing successively on the distinctive character of modern moral disagreements, on the nature of common goods and their relationship to the virtues, on how the inequalities generated by advanced capitalist economies and by the contemporary state prevent the achievement of common goods, on issues concerning the nature of the self, on what it is that Marx's theory enables us to understand and on how some Marxists have failed to understand, on the differences between my philosophical stances and those both of John McDowell and of the physicalists, on the nature of human rights and of productive work, on the ancient Greek polis, and on the metaphysical commitments presupposed by my theorizing.
Titel: Aspiration Balancing Agreements: A New Axiomatic Approach to Bounded Rationality in Negotiations
Autor: Marlies Ahlert
Seite: 121-138
Abstract: A wealth of experimental findings on how real actors do in fact bargain exists. However, as long as there is no systematic general account of the several experiments bargaining theory remains dominated by axiomatic approaches based on normative requirements or on assumptions of full rather than bounded rationality. Contrary to that, the new axiomatic account of aspiration level balancing in negotiations of boundedly rational actors presented in this paper incorporates experimental findings systematically into economic bargaining theory. It thereby forms a descriptive theory of bargaining that has normative power as well.
Titel: Choice, Norms and Revealed Preference
Autor: Nicholas Baigent
Seite: 139-145
Abstract: This paper considers lexical combinations of choice functions where at least one is interpreted as arising from a norm. It is shown that in for all possibilities in which a norm is present, in general final choice may be consistent with preference optimization, but that it need not be so. It is concluded therefore that a fruitful approach to understanding the effect of norms on choice is to consider particular classes of norms rather than norms in general as in the work by Wulf Gaertner among others.
Titel: Indifferences and Domain Restrictions
Autor: Salvador BarberÃ
Seite: 146-162
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the extent to which allowing for individuals to be indifferent among alternatives may alter the qualitative results that are obtained in social choice theory when domain restrictions are defined on profiles of linear orders. The general message is that indifferences require attention and careful treatment, because the translation of results from a world without indifferences to another where agents may be indifferent among some alternatives is not always a straightforward exercise. But the warning is not one-directional: sometimes indifferences complicate the statement of results, but preserve their essential message. Some- times, they help to create domains where some rules work better than in the presence of linear orders. In other cases, however, their presence destroys the positive results that would apply in their absence. I provide examples of these three situations.
Titel: Non-deteriorating Choice without Full Transitivity
Autor: Walter Bossert / Kotaro Suzumura
Seite: 163-187
Abstract: Although the theory of greatest-element rationalizability and maximal-element rationalizability on general domains and without full transitivity of rationalizing relations is well-developed in the literature, these standard notions of rational choice are often considered to be too demanding. An alternative definition of rationality of choice is that of non-deteriorating choice, which requires that the chosen alternatives must be judged at least as good as a reference alternative. In game theory, this definition is well-known under the name of individual rationality when the reference alternative is construed to be the status quo. This alternative form of rationality of individual and social choice is characterized inthispaperongeneraldomainsandwithout full transitivity of rationalizing relations.
Titel: The Shortage of Human Organs: Causes, Consequences and Remedies
Autor: Friedrich Breyer / Hartmut Kliemt
Seite: 188-205
Abstract: There is an ever increasing shortage of human organ transplants in Germany. This paper aims at understanding the reasons for that shortage better and then discusses various ways to overcome it. After estimating the potential supply of donor organs it is discussed why actual supply remains far below potential supply. Insufficient reimbursement for hospitals, a lack of incentives to donate, and mistaken donation rules are diagnosed to cause the shortage. Thus, organ shortage is due not to natural constraints but to inappropriate social institutions. Introducing a presumed consent rule, reciprocity in organ allocation, better payments for hospitals and for donors seem potential remedies.
Titel: Multivariate Lorenz Ma jorization and Heterogeneity Measures: An Axiomatic Approach
Autor: Wolfgang Eichhorn / Manfred Krtscha
Seite: 206-225
Abstract: This work introduces two new curves that are multivariate generalizations of the ’classical’ Lorenz curve. All data of d-variate distributions can be visualized by drawing these curves in the plane, whereas Koshevoy’s and Mosler’s generalization by a lift zonoid in R^(d+1) can only be drawn for d = 2. The generalizations of the Lorenz curve induce partial orderings of d-variate distributions. Furthermore, two inequality or heterogeneity measures that are consistent with the induced rankings are proposed. They can be considered as new generalizations of the univariate Gini coefficient. For deciding which of the two measures is more appropriate for measuring a sort of convergence concerning different countries of an union or of regions of a country, we establish systems of axioms. Although these systems are reflecting natural properties, several of the axioms are new. Moreover, by means of these axioms well-known inequality measures are tested, too.
Titel: Living Standards and Capabilities: Equal Values or Equal Sets?
Autor: Marc Fleurbaey
Seite: 226-234
Abstract: Inspired by Gaertner and Xu (2006), this paper examines the possibility to construct a social ordering over distributions of capability sets, and a measure of the value of individual capability sets, such that perfect equality of sets, across individuals, is preferable to a simple equality of the value of sets. It is shown that this is a rather demanding requirement.
Titel: Distributing Indivisible Goods Fairly: Evidence from a Questionnaire Study
Autor: Dorothea Herreiner / Clemens Puppe
Seite: 235-258
Abstract: We report the results of a questionnaire study on the fair distribution of indivisible goods. We collected data from three different sub ject pools, first- and second- year students ma joring in economics, law students, and advanced economics students with some background knowledge of fairness theories. The purpose of this study is to assess the empirical relevance of various fairness criteria such as inequality aversion, the utilitarian principle of maximizing the sum of individual payoffs, the Rawlsian ’maximin’ principle of maximizing the payoff of the worst-off individual, and the criterion of envy-freeness (in the sense of Foley 1967).
Titel: A Critical Discussion of the Characteristic Properties of List PR and FPTP Systems
Autor: Eliora van der Hout / Jack Stecher / Harrie de Swart
Seite: 259-268
Abstract: This paper discusses the characteristic properties of List PR systems and FPTP systems, as given in Hout 2005 and Hout et al. 2006. While many of the properties we consider are common to both systems, it turns out (see Hout 2005) that the British system distinguishes itself by satisfying the district cancel lation property, while the Dutch system distinguishes itself by satisfying consistency and anonymity. For scoring rules, topsonlyness is equivalent to being party fragmentation-proof (see Hout 2005; Hout et al. 2006). One might present this as an argument in favour of requiring topsonlyness. However, we will also give counter-arguments against insisting upon the property of being party fragmentation-proof.
Titel: On Chaotic Consistent Expectations Equilibria
Autor: Jochen Jungeilges
Seite: 269-289
Abstract: The notion of consistent expectations equilibria (CEE) as propagated by Hommes/Sorger (1998) is reviewed. Focusing on their example of a chaotic CEE constructed in the context of a cobweb model, it is argued that such an equilibrium is a temporary one. Assuming that an agent modeled as an individual, versatile in applying the basic tools of linear time-series econometrics has learned the CEE, I analyze the duration of the time period over which the agent maintains her/his beliefs concerning the perceived law of motion (AR(1)). The analysis based on numerical simulations indicates that the use of techniques rooted in the linear paradigm is sufficient to generate convincing evidence against the underlying perceived law of motion.
Titel: On Measuring Personal Connections and the Extent of Social Networks
Autor: Prasanta K. Pattanaik / Yongsheng Xu
Seite: 290-310
Abstract: The notions of personal connection and social networks are key ingredients of the increasingly important concept of social capital in social sciences in general and in economics in particular. This paper discusses the problem of measuring personal connection and the extent of social networks that may exist in a society. For this purpose we develop several conceptual and analytical frameworks. In the process, we axiomatically characterize several measures of personal connection and social networks.
Titel: Instances of Indeterminacy
Autor: Ashley Piggins / Maurice Salles
Seite: 311-328
Abstract: This paper is a survey of how economists and philosophers approach the issue of comparisons. More precisely, it is about what formal representation is appropriate whenever our ability to compare things breaks down. We restrict our attention to failures that arise with ordinal comparisons. We consider a number of formal approaches to this problem including one based on the idea of parity. We also consider the claim that the failure to compare things is a consequence of vagueness. We contrast two theories of vagueness; fuzzy set theory and supervaluation theory. Some applications of these theories are described.
Titel: Norm-Constrained Choices
Autor: Yongsheng Xu
Seite: 329-339
Abstract: This paper develops a general and unified framework to discuss individual choice behaviors that are constrained by the individual’s internalized norms. We propose a new notion of rationalizablity of a choice function that incorporates such constraints, and axiomatically study several norm-constrained choice behaviors.
Titel: The Philosophy and Neuroscience Movement
Autor: Andrew Brook / Pete Mandik
Seite: 3-23
Abstract: A movement dedicated to applying neuroscience to traditional philosophical problems and using philosophical methods to illuminate issues in neuroscience began about twenty-five years ago. Results in neuroscience have affected how we see traditional areas of philosophical concern such as perception, belief-formation, and consciousness. There is an interesting interaction between some of the distinctive features of neuroscience and important general issues in the philosophy of science. And recent neuroscience has thrown up a few conceptual issues that philosophers are perhaps best trained to deal with. After sketching the history of the movement, we explore the relationships between neuroscience and philosophy and introduce some of the specific issues that have arisen.
Titel: Neuroökonomie - Grundlagen und Grenzen
Autor: Michael Pauen
Seite: 24-37
Abstract: According to a widespread view, neuroscientific basic research tells us more about the essence of the mind than psychology and may, in the long run, even replace those higher level approaches. Contrary to this view, it is demonstrated that many features can only be observed and explained on a certain level of complexity. This is particularly obvious in the case of neuromarketing and neuroeconomics. In both cases, neuroscientific methods depend on behavioral paradigms. Still, neuroscientific research in these fields may enhance our understanding of the underlying neural mechanisms. In addition, neuroeconomics provide excellent conditions for the study of human decision making.
Titel: The Brain Is Not Enough. Potentials and Limits in Integrating Neuroscience and Pedagogy
Autor: Ralph Schumacher
Seite: 38-46
Abstract: The desire for founding educational reform on a sound empirical basis has coincided with a period of impressive progress in the field of neuroscience and wide public interest in its findings, leading to an ongoing debate about the potential of neuroscience to inform education reform. But is neuroscience really suited to provide specific instructions for improving learning conditions at school? This paper explores the educational implications of neuroscience.
Titel: Neuroeconomics Studies
Autor: Jang Woo Park / Paul J. Zak
Seite: 47-59
Abstract: Neuroeconomics has the potential to fundamentally change the way economics is done. This article identifies the ways in which this will occur, pitfalls of this approach, and areas where progress has already been made. The value of neuroeconomics studies for social policy lies in the quality, replicability, and relevance of the research produced. While most economists will not contribute to the neuroeconomics literature, we contend that most economists should be reading these studies.
Titel: Neuroeconomics and the Logic of Behavior
Autor: Bernhard Neumärker
Seite: 60-85
Abstract: Recent neuroeconomic studies challenge the conventional economic logic of behavior. After an introduction to some starting points of brain research in 'classical' economics we discuss the final and contingent causes of rational and irrational behavior in neuroeconomics and standard economics and present the concept of expanded rationality models (ERM) which imports neuroeconomic elements like emotions, beliefs and neuroscientific constraints and exports improved testable predictions. The typical structure of neuroeconomic proof of economic models and the imprecise neuroscientific measurement let us suggest a feed-back structure of economic research. We apply Hirshleifer's conception of macro-/micro-technology and contrast it to the neuroeconomic black box critique on economic theory. Furthermore, instead of direct adjustment of preference structures we propose the auxiliary creation of neuroeconomic constraints like action-dependent or outcome-dependent neuroeconomic belief constraints (NBC) and emotion compatibility constraints (ECC). This prepares the ground for our examination of neuroeconomics and ERM as two different paths towards an analytical unification of behavioral sciences.
Titel: Combining Brain and Behavioral Data to Improve Econometric Policy Analysis
Autor: Daniel Houser / Daniel Schunk / Erte Xiao
Seite: 86-96
Human behaviour may be governed by rules, but it is possible that these rules simply encode preferences. [...] Many psychologists argue that behaviour is far too sensitive to context and affect to be usefully related to stable preferences. However, if there are underlying preferences, then even if the link from preferences to rules is quite noisy it may be possible to recover these preferences and use them to correctly evaluate economic policies, at least as an approximation that is good enough for government policy work.
Daniel L. McFadden (Nobel Prize Lecture 2002)
Abstract: For an economist, ultimate goals of neuroeconomic research include improving economic policy analysis. One path toward this goal is to use neuroeconomic data to advance economic theory, and productive efforts have been made towards that end. Equally important, though less studied, is how neuroeconomics can provide quantitative evidence on policy, and in particular the way in which it might inform structural econometric inference. This paper is a first step in that direction. We suggest here that key forms of preference (or decision strategy) heterogeneity can be identified by brain imaging studies and, consequently, linked stochastically to observable individual characteristics. Then, recognizing that brain-imaging studies are substantially costly, we derive conditions under which the probabilistic link between observable characteristics and type, a quantity critical to policy analysis, can be estimated more precisely by combining data from traditional and brain-based decision studies.
Titel: Aging and Neuroeconomics: Insights from Research on Neuromodulation of Reward-based Decision Making
Autor: Shu-Chen Li / Guido Biele / Peter N. C. Mohr / Hauke R. Heekeren
Seite: 97-111
Abstract: 'Neuroeconomics' can be broadly defined as the research of how the brain interacts with the environment to make decisions that are functional given individual and contextual constraints. Deciphering such brain-environment transactions requires mechanistic understandings of the neurobiological processes that implement value-dependent decision making. To this end, a common empirical approach is to investigate neural mechanisms of reward-based decision making. Flexible updating of choices and associated expected outcomes in ways that are adaptive for a given task (or a given set of tasks) at hand relies on dynamic neurochemical tuning of the brain’s functional circuitries involved in the representation of tasks, goals and reward prediction. Empirical evidence as well as computational theories indicate that various neurotransmitter systems (e.g., dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin) play important roles in reward-based decision making. In light of the apparent aging-related decline in various aspects of the dopaminergic system as well as the effects of neuromodulation on reward-related processes, this article focuses selectively on the literature that highlights the triadic relations between dopaminergic modulation, reward-based decision making, and aging. Directions for future research on aging and neuroeconomoics are discussed.
Titel: Ecological Neutrality and Liberal Survivalism
Autor: Marcel Wissenburg
Seite: 125-145
How (not) to Discuss the Compatibility of Liberalism and Ecologism
Abstract: Perhaps the most animated debate in green political thought the sub-discipline of political theory devoted to the relations between humanity, politics and environment addresses the question of the compatibility of ecologism and liberal democracy, more particularly the liberal aspects of the latter. The present article affirms and further elaborates earlier suggestions that existing approaches to this matter are either flawed or, when defensible, prone to produce trivial conclusions. Incompatibility of the two theories is always to be expected, in one form or another. It is argued that a characterization of political theories as families growing and changing over time, a notion partly derived from Wittgenstein’s family concept, allows us to understand ecologism and liberalism as evolving theories, and to anticipate the development of both which may lead to far more surprising conclusions.
Titel: Is Rawlsian Justice Bad for the Environment?
Autor: Thomas Schramme
Seite: 146-157
There is enough in the world for everybody’s
need, but not enough for anybody’s greed.
Mahatma Ghandi
Abstract: In this paper I show that Rawls’s contract apparatus in A Theory of Justice depends on a particular presumption that is in conflict with the goal of conserving environmental resources. He presumes that parties in the original position want as many resources as possible. I challenge Rawls’s approach by introducing a rational alternative to maximising. The strategy of satisficing merely goes for what is good enough. However, it seems that under conditions of scarcity Rawls’s maximising strategy is the only rational alternative. I therefore scrutinise the common account of scarcity. I distinguish between absolute and relative scarcity in order to show that scarcity is influenced by our decisions. If we would not accept the claim to as much as possible without further legitimisation, like Rawls does, then scarcity might not be as severe a problem. Finally, I reject Rawls’s proposed solution for dealing with problems of sustainability, namely his idea of the just savings principle. I conclude that Rawlsian Justice as Fairness is bad for the environment.
Titel: Citizenship, Well-Being and Sustainability: Epicurus or Aristotle?
Autor: John O'Neill
Seite: 158-172
Abstract: The paper addresses two questions central to recent environmental political thought: Can a reduction in consumption be rendered compatible with a maintenance or improvement of well-being? What are the conditions for a sense of citizenship that crosses different generations? The two questions have elicited two conflicting responses. The first has been answered in broadly Epicurean terms: in recent environmental thought appeal has been made to recent hedonic research which appears to show that improvements in sub jective well-being can be decoupled from increased material consumption. The second has usually been answered in broadly Aristotelian terms: republicans have suggested that a public world and pro jects that are shared over generations are a condition of human well-being. These Epicurean and Aristotelian responses appear to look in opposite directions. They start from different accounts of well-being and appear to look in different places for human flourishing. This paper suggests that the broadly Aristotelian response is in fact owed to both problems. It shows that recent empirical researchinthehedonictraditioncanberenderedconsistentwith that Aristotelian response.
Titel: Political Reasonableness and Nature’s Otherness
Autor: Simon Hailwood
Seite: 173-189
Abstract: This paper restates my argument that certain forms of liberalism can and should accept a non-instrumental perspective on the natural world. This perspective is unpacked in terms of ’respect for nature’s otherness’. Liberalism is represented by Rawlsian political liberalism. I claim there are important congruencies between respect for nature’s otherness and the ’reasonableness’ involved in political liberalism, such that the latter should incorporate the former. Following a suggestion of B. Baxter I reconsider these congruencies with particular emphasis on the roles of toleration and integrity. I also explain further why I think it arbitrary, rather than logically inconsistent, of the political liberal to exclude respect for nature’s otherness from her conception of the political. Finally I argue that insofar as liberalism embraces ecological justice on the basis of the considerability of non-human interests, it cannot consistently exclude respect for nature’s otherness.
Titel: Political Liberalism, the Non-Human Biotic and the Abiotic: A Response to Simon Hailwood
Autor: Brian Baxter
Seite: 190-205
Abstract: S. Hailwood argues that if political liberals, in the Rawlsian sense, refuse to grant non-human nature anything other than instrumental value, then they may properly be characterised as human chauvinists, but not as inconsistent political liberals. He also argues that political liberals who do grant non-instrumental value to the non-human are thereby committed to a form of moral valuation of the abiotic. However, an analysis of what is involved in regarding non-human biota as possessing instrumental value reveals that humans must recognise the existence of interests, needs and desires of those non-human organisms which they wish to treat instrumentally. Given this, political liberalism in its most persuasive form, as articulated by Barry, implies that political liberals are not permitted to decide arbitrarily that non-human biota have only instrumental value. But the crucial role of interests in this argument precludes the attribution of any form of moral value to the abiotic.
Titel: Political Liberalism and Ecological Justice
Autor: Derek Bell
Seite: 206-222
My own view is that the compatibility question depends entirely on one’s terms of reference: environmentalism and liberalism are compatible, but ecologism and liberalism are not. (Dobson 2000, 165)
Abstract: Liberalism and ecologism are widely regarded as incompatible. Liberalism and (anthropocentric) environmentalism might be compatible but liberalism and (non-anthropocentric) ecologism are not. A liberal state cannot promote policies for ecological or ecocentric reasons. An individual cannot be both a liberal and a committed advocate of ecologism. This paper challenges these claims. It is argued that Rawls’s ’political liberalism’ is compatible with ecologism and, in particular, the idea of ’ecological justice’. A Rawlsian state can promote ecological justice. A committed political liberal can also be a committed advocate of ecological justice. The argument is developed through a close textual examination of Rawls’s brief discussion of our duties to ’animals and the rest of nature’. Rawls leaves far more scope for liberal ecologism than his critics have suggested. The proposed version of liberal ecologism is defended against charges of substantive and procedural bias toward humans and against nonhuman nature. Liberal ecologism may not be enough for some ecologists especially ’ecological constitutionalists’ seeking constitutional protection for nonhuman nature but it is a serious and defensible political and moral theory.
Titel: Distributive Justice and Climate Change. The Allocation of Emission Rights
Autor: Lukas Meyer / Dominic Roser
Seite: 223-249
Abstract: The emission of greenhouse gases causes climate change. Therefore, many support a global cap on emissions. How then should the emissions allowed under this cap be distributed? We first show that above average past emissions cannot be used to justify a right to above average current emissions. We then sketch three basic principles of distributive justice (egalitarianism, prioritarianism, and sufficientarianism) and argue, first, that prioritarian standards are the most plausible and, second, that they speak in favour of giving people of developing countries higher emission rights than people of industrialised countries. In order to support this point it has to be shown, inter alia, in what ways the higher past emissions of industrialised countries are relevant for today’s distribution of emission rights.
Titel: Refining Green Political Economy: From Ecological Modernisation to Economic Security and Sufficiency
Autor: John Barry / Peter Doran
Seite: 250-275
Abstract: Perhaps the most problematic dimension of the ’triple bottom line’ understanding of sustainable development has been the ’economic’ dimension. Much of the thinking about the appropriate ’political economy’ to underpin or frame sustainable development has been either utopian (as in some ’green’ political views) or an attempt to make peace with ’business as usual’ approaches. This article suggests that ’ecological modernisation’ is the dominant conceptualisation of ’sustainable development’ within the UK, and illustrates this by looking at some key ’sustainable development’ policy documents from the UK Government. We take the view that the discourse of ’ecological modernisation’ has provided discursive terrain for both pragmatic policy makers and a range of views on sustainable development, from weak to strong. In particular, the article suggests that the discourse of ’economic security’ and ’sufficiency’ can be used as a way of articulating a radical, robust and principled understanding of sustainable development, which offers a normatively compelling and policy-relevant path to outlining a ’green political economy’ to underpin sustainable development.
Titel: Justice as a Natural Phenomenon
Autor: Ken Binmore
Seite: 1-12
"He who understands Baboon would do more
towards metaphysics than John Locke." (Charles Darwin)
Abstract: This paper summarizes a theory of fairness that replaces the metaphysical foundations of the egalitarian theory of John Rawls and the utilitarian theory of John Harsanyi with evolutionary arguments. As such, it represents an attempt to realize John Mackie’s call for a theory based on the data provided by anthroplogists and the propositions proved by game theorists. The basic claim is that fairness norms evolved as a device for selecting one of the infinity of efficient equilibria of the repeated game of life played by our prehuman ancestors.
Titel: Fairness as Justice
Autor: Anthony de Jasay
Seite: 13-31
Abstract: The paper questions Binmore’s identification of justice with fairness and his corresponding focus on bargains to the neglect of conventions, notably of ownership. Section 1 deals mainly with the role ascribed to man’s earliest genetic heritage in shaping fairness norms and the putative effect of such norms on bargaining solutions. Section 2 argues that the scope of fairness as opposed to justice in determining the social order is quite narrow, It sketches a theory of fairness distinct from justice, derived from the principle of treating like cases alike.
Titel: Genes, Memes and Justice
Autor: Jonathan Riley
Seite: 32-56
Abstract: Ken Binmore argues that justice consists in a proportional bargaining equi- librium of a ’game of morals’, which corresponds to a Nash bargaining equilibrium of a ’game of life’. His argument seems unassailable if rational agents are predominantly self-interested, an assumption that he is apparently willing to make on the grounds that human behaviour is ultimately constrained in accord with the selfish gene paradigm. But there is no compelling scientific evidence for that paradigm. Rather, human nature appears to be highly plastic. If so, rational agents might eventually be moulded by cultural forces into social and moral actors who effectively believe that they are the same person no different from anyone else when it comes to certain vital personal interests which ought to be treated as rights. In this context, a utilitarian outcome is an efficient and fair equilibrium of the game of life. Compliance with the rules is enforced by the actor’s own conscience, a powerful internal ’judicious spectator’ which threatens to inflict harsh punishment in the form of intense feelings of guilt for cheating.
Titel: The Genetics of Cooperation
Autor: Russell Hardin
Seite: 57-65
Abstract: Binmore analyzes the genetic basis of cooperation. Much of the literature doing this supposes that we must explain directly the cooperative tendency, whether by individual or group selection. A more effective way to go is to find something more general and likely more deeply embedded in personal traits that enables and even en- hances cooperation. Hume, with whom Binmore claims affinities, long ago proposed a psychological phenomenon now called mirroring, which induces good relations through shared sentiments in a way that is essentially hard-wired. Mirroring indirectly con- tributes to cooperativeness. There may be other similarly indirect ways to account for human cooperativeness.
Titel: Binmore’s Humeanism
Autor: Dieter Birnbacher
Seite: 66-70
Abstract: David Hume is quoted in Binmore’s book Natural Justice more than any other author, past or present, and throughout with a markedly positive attitude. It is argued that this affinity is reflected in many characteristic features of Binmore’s approach to fairness and social justice and especially in the central role motivational issues are made to play in his theory. It is further argued that Binmore shares with Hume not only important strengths but also certain weaknesses, among them a ten- dency to derive from the limited evidence of past history far-reaching statements on human nature and the conditions thereby imposed on social morality.
Titel: Making Sense of Categorical Imperatives
Autor: Bernd Lahno
Seite: 71-82
Abstract: Naturalism, as Binmore understands the term, is characterized by a scientific stance on moral behavior. Binmore claims that a naturalistic account of morality necessarily goes with the conviction ’that only hypothetical imperatives make any sense’. In this paper it is argued that this claim is mistaken. First, as Hume’s theory of promising shows, naturalism in the sense of Binmore is very well compatible with acknowledging the importance of categorical imperatives in moral practice. Moreover, second, if Binmore’s own theory of moral practice and its evolution is correct, then the actual moral practice does and in fact must incorporate norms, which have the form of a categorical imperative. Categorical imperatives are part of social reality and, therefore, any (normative) moral theory that adequately reflects moral practice must also include categorical imperatives.
Titel: Justice: Political Not Natural
Autor: Fabienne Peter
Seite: 83-88
Abstract: Ken Binmore casts his naturalist theory of justice in opposition to theories of justice that claim authority on the grounds of some religious or moral doctrine. He thereby overlooks the possibility of a political conception of justice a theory of justice based on the premise that there is an irreducible pluralism of metaphysical, epistemological, and moral doctrines. In my brief comment I shall argue that the naturalist theory of justice advocated by Binmore should be conceived of as belonging to one family of such doctrines, but not as overriding a political conception of justice.
Titel: Binmore’s Egalitarianism
Autor: Christoph Schmidt-Petri
Seite: 89-94
Abstract: In this short commentary on Ken Binmore’s Natural Justice I primarily examine the relationship between mainstream egalitarian theories and Binmore’s ap- proach. I argue that Binmore uses key concepts in non-standard ways. As a result, he doesn’t engage enough with the views he criticises.
Titel: The Psychology of Justice
Autor: Fiery Cushman / Liane Young / Marc Hauser
Seite: 95-98
Abstract: In Natural Justice Binmore offers a game-theoretic map to the landscape of human morality. Following a long tradition of such accounts, Binmore’s argument concerns the forces of biological and cultural evolution that have shaped our judgments about the appropriate distribution of resources. In this sense, Binmore focuses on the morality of outcomes. This is a valuable perspective to which we add a friendly amendment from our own research: moral judgments appear to depend on process just as much as outcome. What matters is not just that the butler is dead, but who killed him, how, and for what reason. Thus, a complete understanding of natural justice’ will entail an account not only of evolutionary pressures, but also of the psychological mechanisms upon which they act.
Titel: Ken Binmore’s Natural Justice
Autor: Brian Skyrms
Seite: 99-101
Abstract: I raise a few questions about key points in the argument of Natural Jus- tice. 1. The pivotal role assigned to the theory of indefinitely repeated games appears to be both implausible and unnecessary. 2. The evolutionary foundations of the Nash bargaining solution are not completely secure, and its role in the account of interper- sonal comparisones of utility is questionable. 3. Free renegotiation behind the veil of ignorance appears neither to have an evolutionary rationale nor to be a brute fact about the way men are.
Titel: On Kenneth Binmore’s Natural Justice
Autor: Douglass C. North
Seite: 102-103
Abstract: Ken Binmore has written an exciting book and I am in complete agreement with his ob jectives and conclusions. But his approach is flawed because of his reliance on tools of analysis to understand the way the mind and brain have developed that are not up to explaining our evolving understanding of the human environment.
Titel: Binmore, Boundedly Rational
Autor: Marlies Ahlert / Hartmut Kliemt
Seite: 104-110
Abstract: It is argued that a truly Humean approach to social interaction and to normative reflection on how we should interact needs to get even closer to the facts than the Binmore program suggests. In view of the facts Binmore’s normative conclusions on bargaining as well as on the nature of the equilibria of the game of life both seem precarious.
Titel: Natural Justice: Response to Comments
Autor: Ken Binmore
Seite: 111-117
Abstract: The following responses to the scholars who were kind enough to comment on my Natural Justice in this symposium have been kept to a minimum by addressing only issues where I think a misunderstanding may have arisen.
Titel: A Communitarian Critique of Liberalism
Autor: Daniel A. Bell
Seite: 215-238
Abstract: Communitarian thinkers have argued that liberalism devalues community in modern societies. This essay assesses the three main strands of the contemporary debate betweeen communitarianism and liberalism: (1) the communitarian critique of the liberal universalism, (2) the communitarian critique of liberal individualism, and (3) the communitarian critique of liberal politics. In each case, it is argued that the debate has moved from fairly abstract philosophical controversies to more concrete engagement with political disputes in Western as well as East Asian societies.
Titel: Liberalismus, Nationalismus und das Recht auf Selbstbestimmung
Autor: Frank Dietrich
Seite: 239-258
Abstract: In recent years theorists, such as Yael Tamir and David Miller, have proposed a liberal form of nationalism thereby combining two seemingly incompatible traditions of thought. Perhaps the most controversial element of their theories is the claim that national communities should be accorded with a right to political self-determination. In the article it is explained, firstly, why membership in a nation is seen as important for the individual's well-being and, secondly, why statehood is deemed necessary for the thriving of the nation. Subsequently, two problems of the liberal nationalists' argument for political self-determination are discussed. It is argued, firstly, that national communities only need some form of regional autonomy to achieve their most important goals and, secondly, that non-national communities, e.g. religious groups, can base their demand for political sovereignity on the very same argument.
Titel: Aristotelianism versus Communitarianism
Autor: Kelvin Knight
Seite: 259-273
Abstract: Alasdair MacIntyre is an Aristotelian critic of communitarianism, which he understands to be committed to the politics of the capitalist and bureaucratic nation state. The politics he proposes instead is based in the resistance to managerial institutions of what he calls 'practices', because these are schools of virtue. This shares little with the communitarianism of a Taylor or the Aristotelianism of a Gadamer. Although practices require formal institutions. MacIntyre opposes such conservative politics. Conventional accounts of a 'liberal-communitarian debate' in political philosophy face the dilemma that Alasdair MacIntyre, often identified as a paradigmatic communitarian, has consistently and emphatically repudiated this characterization. Although neo-Aristotelianism is sometimes seen as a philosophical warrant for communitarian politics, MacIntyre's Aristotelianism is opposed to communitarianism. This paper explores the rationale of that opposition.
Titel: Der Gerechtigkeit einen 'Ort geben' . Zum Platz räumlicher Grenzziehungen in Walzers Konzept einer gerechten Gesellschaft
Autor: Wolfgang Luutz
Seite: 274-287
Abstract: The paper is concerned with the role of spatial delineations in Walzer's theory of distributive justice. The argument put forward here is that Walzer's concept of the existence of spheres of justice requires socio-spatial and territorial differentiations as a precondition. Walzer himself analyses different socially delineated places of distribution, such as the market (i.e. the economy) or the school (i.e. education). This contribution concentrates on the problem of distribution of political membership, advancing the thesis that we cannot understand Walzer's approach without giving consideration to his concept of concrete delimited territory. According to Walzer, distributive justice needs the framework of the territorial state, but this entity should not be identified with a centralized, ethnically homogenous nation state: One of the merits of Walzer's theory of justice is to draw attention to the value of the locale.
Titel: Untersuchungen zur Einschätzung von Gerechtigkeit
Autor: Wulf Gaertner / Lars Schwettmann
Seite: 288-314
Abstract: This paper discusses evaluations of distributive justice in two different situations. Focal point is the so-called equity axiom which lies at the heart of Rawls' second principle of justice, the maximin rule. Our investigation which was run at a German university spans over a period of fifteen years. It seems to us that consideration for the worst-off (group) in society has become considerably weaker over the years. This and related observations are tested by using a probit model including several demographic characteristics of the probands. The supposed time trend proves to be statistically robust. Several reasons for this observation are given. Obviously, depending on the underlying context, evaluations are to some degree influenced by current topics, including the ongoing discussion about the German educational system as well as about recent economic problems. We also briefly refer to findings that we obtained in the Baltics and in Israel.
Titel: Kommentar zu Gaertner/Schwettmann
Autor: Dieter Birnbacher
Seite: 315-319
Abstract: The changes in the meaning of social justice described by Gaertner and Schwettmann are interpreted as a shift of emphasis within a relatively constant family of meanings. It is argued that any workable concept of social justice is the product of a balancing of a number of different principles of justice that are strictly incompatible and easily come into conflict with one another. In response to changing economic and cultural conditions certain members of the family are given priority without completely abandoning the other members. A parallel is drawn with the changes in the conceptions of justice operative in the distribution of scarce organ transplants.
Titel: Lernen' Institutionen und Wirtschaftsleistung
Autor: C. Mantzavinos / Douglass C. North / Syed Shariq
Seite: 320-337
Abstract: This article provides a broad overview of the interplay among cognition, belief systems and institutions, fleshing out a position best characterized as 'cognitive institutionalism'. We argue that a deeper understanding of institutions, emergence, their working properties and their effect on economic performance should start with the analysis of cognitive processes. Exploring the nature of individual and collective learning the article suggests that the issue is not whether agents are perfectly or boundedly rational, but rather how human beings actually reason and choose. We also show how a full treatment of the phenomenon of path dependence should look like; there is a path dependence at the cognitive level, at the institutional level and at the economic level and there are links among them.
Titel: Human Altruism - Proximate Patterns and Evolutionary Origins
Autor: Ernst Fehr / Urs Fischbacher
Seite: 6-47
Abstract: Are people selfish or altruistic? Throughout history this question has been answered on the basis of much introspection and little evidence. It has been at the heart of many controversial debates in politics, science, and philosophy. Some of the most fundamental questions concerning our evolutionary origins, our social relations, and the organization of society are centered around issues of altruism and selfishness. Experimental evidence indicates that human altruism is a powerful force and unique in the animal world. However, there is much individual heterogeneity and the interaction between altruists and selfish individuals is key for understanding the evolutionary dynamics as well as the proximate patterns of human cooperation. Depending on the environment, a minority of altruists can force a majority of selfish individuals to cooperate or, conversely, a few egoists can induce a large number of altruists to defect. Current gene-based evolutionary theories cannot explain important patterns of human altruism pointing towards the need for theories of cultural evolution and gene-culture coevolution.
Titel: Behavioral Game Theory and Contemporary
Autor: Herbert Gintis
Seite: 48-72
Abstract: It is widely believed that experimental results of behavioral game theory undermine standard economic and game theory. This paper suggests that experimental results present serious theoretical modeling challenges, but do not undermine two pillars of contemporary economic theory: the rational actor model, which holds that individual choice can be modeled as maximization of an objective function subject to informational and material constraints, and the incentive compatibility requirement, which holds that macroeconomic quantities must be derived from the interaction and aggregation of individual choices. However, we must abandon the notion that rationality implies self-regarding behavior and the assumption that contracts are costlessly enforced by third parties.
Titel: Altruists with Green Beards
Autor: Ernst Fehr / Urs Fischbacher
Seite: 73-84
Abstract: If cooperative dispositions are associated with unique phenotypic features ('green beards'), cooperative individuals can be identi ed. Therefore, cooperative individuals can avoid exploitation by defectors by cooperating exclusively with other cooperative individuals; consequently, cooperators ourish and defectors die out. Experimental evidence suggests that subjects, who are given the opportunity to make promises in face-to-face interactions, are indeed able to predict the partner's behavior better than chance in a subsequent Prisoners' Dilemma. This evidence has been interpreted as evidence in favor of green beard approaches to the evolution of human cooperation. Here we argue, however, that the evidence does not support this interpretation. We show, in particular, that the existence of conditional cooperation renders subjects' choices in the Prisoners' Dilemma predictable. However, although subjects predict behavior better than chance, sel sh individuals earn higher incomes than conditional cooperators. Thus, although subjects may predict other players' choices better than chance evolution favors the sel sh subjects, i.e., the experimental evidence does not support the green beard approach towards the evolution of cooperation.
Titel: Altruists with Green Beards: Still Kicking?
Autor: Robert H. Frank
Seite: 85-96
Abstract: In earlier work, I proposed the 'adaptive standard of rationality', according to which narrow self-interest models can be broadened by positing additional tastes, but only upon a plausible showing that those tastes do not hamper resource acquisition in competitive environments. This proposal is related to the green beard hypothesis from biology, according to which altruism might be adaptive if its presence could be reliably signaled by some observable feature, such as a green beard. In their contri- bution to this issue Ernst Fehr and Urs Fischbacher o er theoretical arguments and describe laboratory experiments whose results they interpret as refuting my version of the green beard hypothesis. In this response, I argue that their theoretical arguments and experimental evidence pose no threat to the green beard hypothesis.
Titel: Strong Reciprocity and the Comparative Method
Autor: Christopher Stephens
Seite: 97-105
Abstract: Ernst Fehr and his collaborators have argued that traditional explanations of human cooperation cannot account for strong reciprocity. They provide substantial empirical evidence that strong reciprocity is an important phenomenon that cannot be explained by the traditional models of kin selection or reciprocal altruism. In this note, however, I argue that it will be di cult to test speci c adaptive explanations of strong reciprocity because it is apparently unique to humans. Consequently, it is di cult to employ the comparative method, which is one of biology's best tools for testing adaptationist claims.
Titel: The Evolutionary Foundations of Strong Reciprocity
Autor: Jason McKenzie Alexander
Seite: 106-112
Abstract: Strong reciprocators possess two behavioural dispositions: they are willing to bestow bene ts on those who have bestowed bene ts, and they are willing to punish those who fail to bestow bene ts according to some social norm. There is no doubt that peoples' behaviour, in many cases, agrees with what we would expect if people are strong reciprocators, and Fehr and Henrich argue that many people are, in fact, strong reciprocators. They also suggest that strongly reciprocal behaviour may be brought about by specialised cognitive architecture produced by evolution. I argue that specialised cognitive architecture can play a role in the production of strongly reciprocal behaviour only in a very attenuated sense, and that the evolutionary foundations of strong reciprocity are more likely cultural than biological.
Titel: The Biological and Evolutionary Logic of Human Cooperation
Autor: Terence C. Burnham / Dominic D. P. Johnson
Seite: 113-135
Abstract: Human cooperation is held to be an evolutionary puzzle because people voluntarily engage in costly cooperation, and costly punishment of non-cooperators, even among anonymous strangers they will never meet again. The costs of such cooperation cannot be recovered through kin-selection, reciprocal altruism, indirect reciprocity, or costly signaling. A number of recent authors label this behavior "strong reciprocity", and argue that it is: (a) a newly documented aspect of human nature, (b) adaptive, and (c) evolved by group selection. We argue exactly the opposite; that the phenomenon is: (a) not new, (b) maladaptive, and (c) evolved by individual selection. In our perspective, the apparent puzzle disappears to reveal a biological and evolutionary logic to human cooperation. Group selection may play a role in theory, but it is neither necessary nor sufficient to explain human cooperation. Our alternative solution is simpler, makes fewer assumptions, and is more parsimonious with the empirical data.
Titel: On the Original Contract: Evolutionary Game Theory and Human Evolution
Autor: Alex Rosenberg / Stefan Linquist
Seite: 136-157
Abstract: This paper considers whether the available evidence from archeology, biological anthropology, primatology, and comparative gene-sequencing, can test evolutionary game theory models of cooperation as historical hypotheses about the actual course of human prehistory. The examination proceeds on the assumption that cooperation is the product of cultural selection and is not a genetically encoded trait. Nevertheless, we conclude that gene sequence data may yet shed signi cant light on the evolution of cooperation.
Titel: Social Relations Instead of Altruistic Punishment
Autor: Anton Leist
Seite: 158-171
Abstract: Ernst Fehr's experimental research on altruistic behaviour aims at superseding the classical homo oeconomicus in micro-economic behaviour theory. This essay discusses Fehr's results from two points of view: rst, in regard to the understanding of social action associated with the term "altruism"; second, in regard to the 'anthropological' strategy of research that is based on the laboratory method. Against the emphasis on altruism it will be argued that it misleads into providing a distorted description of social acting, and that, due to insu cient clarity about motives for acting, Fehr's empirical results give evidence not of altruism but rather of phenomena of social recognition. The objection against the anthropological strategy will be that it makes visible only local phenomena within prevailing social conditions and that it thus assumes more than it explains.
Titel: 'Nostrism': Social Identities in Experimental Games
Autor: Hans Bernhard Schmid
Seite: 172-187
Abstract: In this paper it is argued that a) altruism is an inadequate label for human cooperative behavior, and b) an adequate account of cooperation has to depart from the standard economic model of human behavior by taking note of the agents' capacity to see themselves and act as team-members. Contrary to what Fehr et al. seem to think, the main problem of the conceptual limitations of the standard model is not so much the assumption of sel shness but rather the atomistic conception of the individual. A much-neglected question of the theory of cooperation is how the agent's social identity is determined, i.e. how individuals come to think of themselves and act as members of a group. Considering as an example one of Fehr et al.'s third party punishment experiments, I shall argue that the agents' identities (and thus the result of the experiment) are strongly in uenced by the way the experiment is presented to the participants, especially by the collectivity-related vocabulary used in the instructions.
Titel: Altruism and the Indispensability of Motives
Autor: Mark S. Peacock / Michael Schefczyk / Peter Schaber
Seite: 188-196
Abstract: In this paper we examine Fehr's notions of "altruism", "strong reciprocity" and "altruistic punishment" and query his ascription of altruism. We suggest that, pace Fehr, altruism cannot be de ned behaviourally because the de nition of altruism must refer to the motives of actors. We also advert to certain inconsistencies in Fehr's usage of his terms and we question his explanation of altruism in terms of 'social preferences'.
Titel: Fehr on Altruism, Emotion, and Norms
Autor: Jon Elster
Seite: 197-211
Abstract: I discuss recent work by Ernst Fehr and his collaborators on cooperation and reciprocity. (i) Their work demonstrates conclusively the reality and importance of non-self-interested motivations. (ii) It allows for a useful distinction between trust and blind trust. (iii) It points to a category of quasi-moral norms, distinct both from social norms and moral norms. (iv) It demonstrates how social interactions can generate irrational belief formation. (v) It shows the potential of punishment for sustaining social norms and for overcoming the second-order free rider problem as well as obstacles to group selection. (vi) It o ers a provocative experimental basis for the `warm-glow' explanation of altruistic behavior. I conclude by suggesting some experiments that might allow for further developments of the theory.
Titel: Autodetermination in Microeconomics. A Methodological Case Study on the Theory of Demand
Autor: Olaf L. Müller
Seite: 319-345
Abstract: My philosophical case study concerns textbook presentations of the theory of demand. Does this theory contain anything more than just a collection of tautologies? In order to determine its empirical content, it must be viewed holistically. But then, the theory implies false factual claims. We can avoid this result by embracing the theory's normative character. The resulting consequences will be illuminated with the new autodetermination thesis recently proposed in the philosophy of physics by Oliver Timmer. Applying his ideas to the theory of demand reveals that the statements of this discipline simultaneously concern both values and acts.
Titel: Evidence-Based Economics. Issues and Some Preliminary Answers
Autor: Julian Reiss
Seite: 346-363
Abstract: This paper presents an outline of a methodology of ?evidence-based economics?. The question whether an economic statement is evidence-based must be answered on three different levels. The first level concerns measurement: it asks whether claims made about economic quantities such as inflation, unemployment, growth or poverty are justified by the data and measurement procedures. The second level concerns induction: it asks whether claims made about the relations between economic quantities (such as ?number of babies born predicts growth?, ?change in money causes change in monetary income?, ?non-borrowed reserves can be used to control the interest rate?), are justified by the inference procedures. The third level concerns idealisation: it asks whether the quantities and relations selected are justified by the stated aim of the inquiry. The paper provides a discussion of these three types of investigation and of some solutions that have been offered.
Titel: Perfect or Bounded Rationality? Some Facts, Speculations and Proposals
Autor: Werner Güth / Hartmut Kliemt
Seite: 364-381
Abstract: Simple game experiments of the reward allocation, dictator and ultimatum type are used to demonstrate that true explanations of social phenomena cannot conceivably be derived in terms of the perfect rationality concept underlying neo-classical economics. We explore in some depth, if speculatively, how experimental game theory might bring us closer to a new synthesis or at least the nucleus of a general theory of ’games and boundedly rational economic behavior’ with enhanced explanatory power.
Titel: The Problems of Testing Preference Axioms with Revealed Preference Theory
Autor: Till Grüne
Seite: 382-397
Abstract: In economics, it has often been claimed that testing choice data for violation of certain axioms - particularly if the choice data is observed under laboratory conditions - allows conclusions about the validity of certain preference axioms and the neoclassical maximization hypothesis. In this paper I argue that these conclusions are unfounded. In particular, it is unclear what exactly is tested, and the interpretation of the test results are ambiguous. Further, there are plausible reasons why the postulated choice axioms should not hold. Last, these tests make implicit assumptions about beliefs that further blur the interpretations of the results. The tests therefore say little if anything about the validity of certain preference axioms or the maximization hypothesis.
Titel: Social Support among Heterogeneous Partners
Autor: Sonja Vogt / Jeroen Weesie
Seite: 398-422
Abstract: This paper derives hypotheses on how dyadic social support is affected by heterogeneity of the actors. We distinguish heterogeneity with respect to three parameters. First, the likelihood of needing support; second, the benefits from support relative to the costs for providing support; and, third, time preferences. The hypotheses are based on a game theoretic analysis of an iterated Support Game. We predict that, given homogeneity in two of these parameters, the prospect for mutual support is optimal if actors are homogeneous with respect to the third parameter as well. Second, under heterogeneity with respect to two of the parameters, support is most likely if there is a specific heterogeneous distribution with respect to the other parameter that "compensates" for the original heterogeneity. Third, under weak conditions, the overall optimal condition for mutual support is full homogeneity of the actors.
Titel: Community and Human Social Nature in Contemporary Society
Autor: Henk de Vos
Seite: 7-29
Abstract: Although community is a core sociological concept, its meaning is often left vague. In this article it is pointed out that it is a social form that has deep connections with human social nature. Human social life and human social history can be seen as unflagging struggles between two contradictory behavioral modes: reciprocity and status competition. Relative to hunter-gatherer societies, present society is a social environment that strongly seduces to engage in status competition. But at the same time evidence increases that communal living is strongly associated with well being and health. A large part of human behavior and of societal processes are individual and collective expressions of on the one hand succumbing to the seductions of status competition and one the other hand attempts to build and maintain community. In this article some contemporary examples of community maintaining, enrichment and building are discussed. The article concludes with a specification of structural conditions for community living and a short overview of ways in which the Internet affects these conditions.
Titel: Three Aspects of Interpersonal Trust
Autor: Bernd Lahno
Seite: 30-47
Abstract: Trust is generally held to have three different dimensions or aspects: a behavioral aspect, a cognitive aspect, and an affective aspect. While there is hardly any disagreement about trusting behavior, there is some disagreement as to which of the two other aspects is more fundamental. After presenting some of the main ideas concerning the concept of trust as used in the analysis of social cooperation. I will argue that affective aspects of trust must be included in any adequate account of the role of trust in social dilemma situations involving multiple equilibria. Cooperation in such situations requires coordination even though information on what another player might do is not available. A trusting person can handle such problems of cooperation by framing the situation in a way that goes beyond cognitive trust and solves what I shall call the problem of normative consent. I will conclude with some remarks about the design of institutions that foster trustful cooperation, especially in the context of the Internet.
Titel: The Social Psychology of Trust with Applications in the Internet
Autor: Hans-Werner Bierhoff / Bernd Vornefeld
Seite: 48-62
Abstract: Three levels of trust as a social psychological construct are delineated: trust in a specific person (relational trust), trust in people in general (generalised trust) and trust in abstract systems. Whereas much research is available on relational trust and generalized trust, much less is known about trust in systems. From theory and research several assumptions are derived which are related to the development of trust in the Internet. For example, the reliability of information technology is assumed to be directly related to the development of trust in the Internet. In addition, it is assumed that in situations in which it is hard to verify the justification for trust, people construct subjective beliefs which represent a transformation of relational trust into system trust. Applications of these assumptions for strengthening the trustworthiness of the Internet are discussed.
Titel: Cooperation and Community on the Internet: Past Issues and Present Perspectives for Theoretical-Empirical Internet Research
Autor: Uwe Matzat
Seite: 63-90
Abstract: This paper first summarizes two central debates in the field of social scientific Internet research, namely the debate about the so-called 'social impact of Internet use' and the debate about the existence of community on the Internet. Early research discussed whether building up a community on the Internet was possible and what the effects of the use of the Internet were for its user. Recent research on the social consequences of Internet use suggests that 'the' Internet should no longer be regarded as a constant that has uniform effects for its users. Rather, the consequences of its use depend on a number of contextual conditions. The paper presents some theories that explain which conditions and features of online groups facilitate the finding of solutions to bilateral or group-level problems of cooperation.
Titel: Developing Trust on the Internet
Autor: Victoria McGeer
Seite: 91-107
Abstract: Does the Internet provide an environment in which rational individuals can initiate and maintain relationships of interpersonal trust? This paper argues that it does. It begins by examining distinctive challenges facing would-be trusters on the net, concluding that, however distinctive, such challenges are not unique to the Internet, so cannot be cited as grounds for disparaging the rationality of Internet trust. Nevertheless, these challenges point up the importance of developing mature capacities for trust, since immature trusters are particularly vulnerable to the liabilities of Internet trust. This suggests that Internet trust can only be rational for those who have developed mature capacities for trust. But that suggestion ignores how trust on the Internet may also facilitate the development of such capacities.
Titel: Trust, Reliance and the Internet
Autor: Philip Pettit
Seite: 108-121
Abstract: rusting someone in an intuitive, rich sense of the term involves not just relying on that person, but manifesting reliance on them in the expectation that this manifestation of reliance will increase their reason and motive to prove reliable. Can trust between people be formed on the basis of Internet contact alone? Forming the required expectation in regard to another person, and so trusting them on some matter, may be due to believing that they are trustworthy; to believing that they seek esteem and will be rationally responsive to the good opinion communicated or promised by an act of trust; or to both factors at once. Neither mechanism can rationally command confidence, however, in the case where people are related only via the Internet. On the Internet everyone wears the ring of Gyges; everyone is invisible, in their personal identity, to others.
Titel: Internet Capital
Autor: Russell Hardin
Seite: 122-138
Abstract: The Internet is a huge form of social capital that is not reducible in its characteristics to other forms of social capital, such as ordinary networks of people who more or less know each other. It enables us to do many things with radically greater efficiency than we could without it. It can do some things better but other things much less well than traditional devices can. At both extremes, the differences are so great as to be not merely quantitative but also qualitative. The things it can do better include things that can readily be checked and verified. The things that it often cannot do include securing commitments for action. A brief history of the forms of social cooperation suggests that relationships on the Internet are typically too thin to back trust and cooperation among those who do not have fairly rich relationships off-line.
Titel: Esteem, Identifiability and the Internet
Autor: Geoffrey Brennan / Philip Pettit
Seite: 139-157
Abstract: The desire for esteem, and the associated desire for good reputation, serve an important role in ordinary social life in disciplining interactions and supporting the operation of social norms. The fact that many Internet relations are conducted under separate dedicated e-identities may encourage the view that Internet relations are not susceptible to these esteem-related incentives. We argue that this view is mistaken. Certainly, pseudonyms allow individuals to moderate the effects of disesteem---either by changing the pseudonym to avoid the negative reputation, or by partitioning various audiences according to different audience values. However, there is every reason to believe that a good e-reputation is an object of desire for real agents. Further, although integrating one's reputation under a single identity has some esteem-enhancing features, those features are not necessarily decisive. We explore in the paper what some of the countervailing considerations might be, by appeal to various analogies with the Internet case.
Titel: Reputation and Internet Auctions: eBay and Beyond
Autor: Chris Snijders / Richard Zijdeman
Seite: 158-184
Abstract: Each day, a countless number of items is sold through online auction sites such as eBay and Ricardo. Though abuse is being reported more and more, transactions seem to be relatively hassle free. A possible explanation for this phenomenon is that the sites' reputation mechanisms prevent opportunistic behavior. To analyze this issue, we first summarize and extend the mechanisms that affect the probability of sale of an item and its price. We then try to replicate the results as found in four recent papers on online auctions. Our analyses reveal that (1) it makes sense to differentiate between 'power sellers' and the less regular users, (2) there are variables that have an effect on sales that are often not controlled for, (3) one should carefully consider how reputation is operationalized, (4) neglecting heteroscedasticity in the data can have serious consequences, and (5) there is some support indicating that effects differ across auction sites.
Titel: Trust among Internet Traders: A Behavioral Economics Approach
Autor: Gary E. Bolton / Elena Katok / Axel Ockenfels
Seite: 185-202
Abstract: Standard economic theory does not capture trust among anonymous Internet traders. But when traders are allowed to have social preferences, uncertainty about a seller's morals opens the door for trust, reward, exploitation and reputation building. We report experiments suggesting that sellers' intrinsic motivations to be trustworthy are not sufficient to sustain trade when not complemented by a feedback system. We demonstrate that it is the interaction of social preferences and cleverly designed reputation mechanisms that solves to a large extent the trust problem on Internet market platforms. However, economic theory and social preference models tend to underestimate the difficulties of promoting trust in anonymous online trading communities.
Titel: The Evolution of Trust(worthiness)in the Net
Autor: Werner Güth / Hartmut Kliemt
Seite: 203-219
Abstract: The main results of our indirect evolutionary approach to trust in large interactions suggest that trustworthiness must be detectable if good conduct in trust-relationships is to survive. According to theoretical reasoning there is a niche then for an organization offering a (possibly) costly service of keeping track of the conduct of participants on the net. We compare traits of an organizational design as suggested by economic reasoning with those that actually emerged and ask whether institutions like eBay will increasingly have to ’economize on virtue' although so far they could rely on its spontaneous provision.
Titel: The Emergence of Trust Networks under Uncertainty - Implications for Internet
Autor: Coye Cheshire / Karen S. Cook
Seite: 220-240
Abstract: Computer-mediated interaction on the Internet provides new opportunities to examine the links between reputation, risk, and the development of trust between individuals who engage in various types of exchange. In this article, we comment on the application of experimental sociological research to different types of computer-mediated social interactions, with particular attention to the emergence of what we call ’trust networks' (networks of those one views as trustworthy). Drawing on the existing categorization systems that have been used in experimental social psychology, we relate the various forms of computer-mediated exchange to selected findings from experimental research. We develop a simple typology based on the intersection of random versus fixed-partner social dilemma games, and repeated versus one-shot interaction situations. By crossing these two types of social dilemma games and two types of interaction situations, we show that many forms of Internet exchange can be categorized effectively into four mutually exclusive categories. The resulting classification system helps to integrate the existing research on trust in experimental social psychology with the emerging field of computer-mediated exchange.
Titel: Local Virtuality in a High-Tech Networked Organization
Autor: Anabel Quan-Haase / Barry Wellman
Seite: 241-257
Abstract: What are networked organizations? The focus of discussions of the networked organization has been on the boundary-spanning nature of these new organizational structures. Yet, the role of the group in these networked organizations has remained unclear. Furthermore, little is known about how computer-mediated communication is used to bridge group and organizational boundaries. In particular, the role of new media in the context of existing communication patterns has received little attention. We examine how employees at a high-tech company, referred to as KME, communicate with members of the work group, other colleagues in the organization, and colleagues outside the organization to better understand their boundary-spanning communications.
Titel: How May Virtual Communication Shape Cooperation in a Work Team? A Formal Model Based on Social Exchange Theory
Autor: Andreas Flache
Seite: 258-278
Abstract: This paper addresses theoretically the question how virtual communication may affect cooperation in work teams. The degree of team virtualization, i.e. the extent to which interaction between team members occurs online, is related to parameters of the exchange. First, it is assumed that in online interaction task uncertainties are higher than in face-to-face contacts. Second, the gratifying value of peer rewards is assumed to be lower in online contacts. Thirdly, it is assumed that teams are different in the extent to which members depend on their peers for positive affections, operationalized by the extent to which team members are interested in social relationships for their own sake, independently from their work interactions. Simulation results suggest both positive and negative effects of team virtualization on work-cooperation.
Titel: Trust and Community in Open Source Software Production
Autor: Margit Osterloh / Sandra Rota
Seite: 279-301
Abstract: Open source software production is a successful new innovation model which disproves that only private ownership of intellectual property rights fosters innovations. It is analyzed here under which conditions the open source model may be successful in general. We show that a complex interplay of situational, motivational, and institutional factors have to be taken into account to understand how to manage the `tragedy of the commons' as well as the `tragedy of the anticommons'. It is argued that the success of this new innovation model is greatly facilitated by a well balanced portfolio of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, low costs for contributors and governance mechanisms that do not crowd out intrinsic motivation.
Titel: Crime, Law and the Internet
Autor: Eric Hilgendorf
Seite: 302-312
Abstract: After some introductory remarks on the German legal system and German legal politics, the main forms of datanet crime on the Internet are sketched. After that, one of the most important Internet-cases of the last decade, the CompuServe case, is discussed in some detail. One of the main problems of datanet crime is its global reach. The world-spanning nature of the cyberspace significantly enlarges the ability of offenders to commit crimes that will affect people in a variety of other countries. On the other hand, the jurisdiction of national criminal law cannot be expanded at will by any single nation. A transnational criminal law for the Internet is possible but should be restricted to the defence of universally (or nearly universally) accepted interests and values. In effect, it seems that the problems of computer-related crime on the Internet cannot be solved by criminal law alone.
Titel: Globalisierung ohne Weltregierung
Autor: Bruno S. Frey
Seite: 121-134
Abstract: Since international trade leads to prosperity, most economics are in favor of globalization. This basic conviction is shared in this paper. Several standard arguments brought forward by critics of globalization - e.g. the claims that globalization increases poverty, destroys jobs, undermines the welfare state, enables international corporations to seize power and leads to environmental degradation and uniform culture - are shown to be invalid. Nevertheless, compared to orthodox economists, a more critical view of globalization is proposed in this paper, and several shortcomings of globalization are discussed. These shortcomings are the unidirectional trade liberalization at the expense of developing countries, international organizations, like the IMF of World Bank, representing narrow economic interests and, above all, the lack of 'global governance'. Therefore, the implementation of functional overlapping competing jurisdiction (FOCJ) is put forward. It is argued that the alternative proposition of a world government is dangerous, and global solidarity (also in the form of a 'Global Compact') ineffective.
Titel: Legitimationsfragen der Globalisierung - eine vertragstheoretische Sicht
Autor: Gerhard Wegner
Seite: 135-155
Abstract: In this article I argue that contractarian theory is a fruitful approach for dealing with questions of legitimacy in light of globalisation. I try to point out that impaired conditions for providing collective goods in nation-states do not call the legitimacy of globalisation into question, even if the provision of such goods meets with consent amongst the citizens of the nation-state. The need to raise taxes as a consequence of the transfer of mobile resources to other countries can indicate the existence of state activities which lack legitimacy from the contractarian perspective. However, the impossibility of applying the exclusion principle in providing collective goods indeed entails legitimatory problems of globalisation. In this respect, a need for international agreements exists. Nevertheless, unilateral attempts by nation-states to withdraw the domestic economy from global influences can interfere with the welfare of other collectives and they therefore lack legitimacy, a moral consequence which is in danger of being neglected even from a contractarian approach.
Titel: Heimliche Komplizenschaft? Multinationale Unternehmen und die Versuchungen von Ökonomismus und Postmodernismus
Autor: Andreas Georg Scherer
Seite: 156-175
Abstract: In a globalized world nation state governments are no longer able to control the behaviour of global economic actors via legislation and execution. At the same time transnational organizations such as the UN, the ILO or the WTO have not yet established a suitable world order for the global economy. Critics of globalization raise concerns that in many countries multinational firms and their suppliers do not comply to human rights or to social and environmental standards. At the same time, local governments do not enforce these standards and transnational organizations are not allowed to intervene because of the principle of sovereignty. In the present paper I analyse the conclusions that can be drawn from economic free trade theory and from postmodern philosophy concerning the behaviour of multinational firms in developing countries. Despite their paradigmatical differences both these approaches come to similar results.
Titel: Why Deliberation Cannot Tame Globalization. The Impossibility of a Deliberative Democrat
Autor: Andrew Kuper
Seite: 176-198
Abstract: How is it possible for individuals to exercise any control over a political order that is supranational and multilayered? This key question must be answered if we are to reconcile democratic principles with the requirement of global justice as well as with the cosmopolitan political institutions that play an ever-increasing role in our world. The leading answer to this question, at present, is that of Jürgen Habermas and his followers: deliberative democracy. This article, however, argues that theories of deliberative democracy fail to take seriously both the problems and the opportunities of large-scale societies and so cannot provide adequate conceptual foundations for deepening and globalizing democracy. In particular, the participatory requirements of Habermas's normative theory can be met only by making assumptions about human cognitive capacities and institutional capabilities that are not remotely plausible in any pluralistic society.
Titel: Poverty and Responsibility in a Globalized World
Autor: Regina Kreide
Seite: 199-219
Abstract: This article seeks to explain some of the ramifications of globalization processes for the pressing problem of increasing global poverty. It distinguishes two competing approaches to explaining the causes of poverty-related injustice and justifying conceptions of obligations towards the poor. A first approach, the assistance approach, is mainly directed at identifying inappropriate worldwide income and asset distribution; the other, the causal approach focuses on the effects international regulations have on people's lives. This article explains that both approaches depend on the interpretation of the current state of economic and political interdependence. It is argued that both conceptions have their pitfalls, but that from a theoretical as well as pragmatic point of view, it makes sense to defend an ,integrated, perspective that also takes into account the responsibility of non-state actors.
Titel: "Armenhilfe" ins Ausland
Autor: Thomas W. Pogge
Seite: 220-247
Abstract: We citizens of the affluent countries tend to discuss our obligations toward the distant needy in terms of donations and transfers, assistance and redistribution. This way of conceiving the problem is a serious moral error, and a very costly one for the global poor. It depends on the false belief that the causes of the persistence of severe poverty are indigenous to the countries in which it occurs. There are indeed national and local factors that contribute to persistent poverty in developing countries. But global institutional rules also play an important role in its reproduction, in part by sustaining the national and local factors that affluent Westerners most like to blame for the problem. Since these rules are shaped by our governments, in our name, we bear moral responsibility not merely by assisting the distant poor too little, but also, and more significantly, by harming them too much.
Titel: Die moralische Bedeutung politischer Grenzen
Autor: Frank Dietrich
Seite: 248-258
Abstract: In his recent book One World one of Peter Singer's main concerns is the preferential treatment of compatriots. Two aspects of Singer's theoretical reflections on this issue are critically discussed: the use of an impartiality test as basis for the justification of special duties and the resulting condemnation of partial preferences for compatriots. Subsequently, an alternative way to justify special duties is outlined and applied to the case of fellow citizens. It is argued, that partiality to compatriots can be defended, if special duties are regarded as a constitutive part of valuable relationships.
Titel: Utilitarismus, Menschenrechte und Nichtregierungs-Organisationen
Autor: Thomas Kesselring
Seite: 259-274
Abstract: The following comment on Peter Singer's One World is divided into four parts. It starts with some objections against Singer's utilitarian approach (1). Then it argues for an 'Ethics of Globalization' which at the same time has universal validity and maintains context sensitivity (2). In part three it is shown that these two conditions are better fulfilled by an ethics based on Human Rights than by an utilitarian ethics. In this context John Rawls, 'Law of Peoples' is defended against Singer's criticism (3). In the final part the role of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), which are not mentioned by Singer' is analyzed. It is argued that in a world in which the states are overcharged, the United Nations weakened and the Transnational Companies, power is increasing, the NGOs get growing responsibility up to the point that many of them turn out to become Human Right's advocates and Human Right's guardians (4).
Titel: Four Charges Against the WTO
Autor: Mark S. Peacock / Michael Schefczyk / Peter Schaber
Seite: 275-284
Abstract: My comment on the third chapter of Peter Singer's One World consists of two parts. In the first, I criticise a common but simplistic approach to the issue of economic globalisation. This approach presumes that charges against the WTO can be translated - more or less directly - into charges against current development trends of the global economy. The WTO is not the only institution that legally structures the global economy, nor are decisions of the GATT or WTO panel necessarily reliable indicators of the major trends in the ever more integrated world market. It is, moreover, far from clear whether competition between jurisdictions leads to a 'race to the bottom'. In the second part of the paper, I (i) criticise the idea of a general conflict between 'the market' and 'democracy'. (ii) I defend the WTO's consensus rule against Singer's charge of being 'a very strange view of democracy' and try to make its benefits clear.
Titel: One World. A Response to my Critics
Autor: Peter Singer
Seite: 285-293
Abstract: The following response to the essays by Dietrich, Kesselring and Schefczyk discusses impartiality and foundations of special duties; utilitarianism, foreign aid, NGOs and human rights; and ethical aspects of free trade and the World Trade Organization.
Titel: Gottvertrauen
Autor: Bernd Lahno
Seite: 1-16
Abstract: Faith in the sense of trust in God is discussed as a somewhat extreme case of trust. Trust in general is understood as an emotional attitude and determined by the way a trusting person perceives the world and the person trusted. Interpersonal trust as the most common form of trust is characterized by connectedness - the trusted person is perceived as acting according to norms, values or goals shared by the trusting person - and by a participant attitude in the sense of Strawson. Trust in God differs essentially from ordinary interpersonal trust, as the asymmetrical relationship between God and a faithful person does not allow for sharing a normative basis of conduct in the strict sense of 'sharing,. Therefore, trust in God is 'categorical' in character: the faithful person acknowledges God's will as the ultimate and binding standard of normative value. Whatever happens, the faithful person perceives it as an expression of God's will, and, thus, as 'good'.
Titel: Intimacy, Privacy and Publicit
Autor: Ernesto Garzón Valdés
Seite: 17-40
Abstract: The article analyses the distinction between the private and the public sphere from a conceptual and from a normative point of view. On the conceptual level, it is argued that the common dichotomous view is incomplete, giving rise to conceptual confusions which can be overcome by a careful distinction between the intimate and the private sphere. While the boundary between the private and the public is a conventional matter, the sphere of intimacy, including thoughts as well as a certain type of actions, is empirically delimited. On the normative level, a number of arguments for or against the extension or restriction of the private sphere as well as for or against the intervention of the state in its citizens, spheres of intimacy is discussed from a liberal point of view.
Titel: Methodologische Probleme der Kooperation von Rechts- und Wirtschaftswissenschaft
Autor: Petros Gemtos
Seite: 41-59
Abstract: Recent developments in economics and the science of law emphasize their cooperation for a better understanding of social structures and interactions, an effective application of social scientific knowledge and a rational evaluation and implementation of social norms. There are, however, difficult methodological problems in this endeavor: Whereas economics is mainly (with the exception of welfare economics) an empirical science which collects information about economic activities and the functioning of the economic system, the science of law is a normative discipline aiming at solving social conflicts and establishing rational principles for judicial decisions. In this paper, we suggest a three-level scheme for the interdisciplinary cooperation of law and economics, addressing the different problems that positive and normative economics face as they apply economic knowledge to legal matters. Economic analysis of law is proposed as a model for a general transformation of the traditionally hermeneutical jurisprudence into an analytic-normative science of law based on theoretical expectation (explanation) and the rational evaluation of the consequences of legal rules and principles.
Titel: Evolution und Planung: Überlegungen zur Wirtschafts- und Friedensordnung
Autor: Erich Weede
Seite: 60-79
Abstract: Although individuals cannot desist from planning, social processes cannot be commanded and controlled successfully. The shortcomings and disadvantages of holistic planning and the likelihood of plan failure can be explained: Scattered knowledge can be mobilized, innovation and effort can be elicited only where planning does not displace economic freedom and competition. The positive effects of freedom and competition and the negative effects of constraining plans can be demonstrated empirically. But freedom and competition require an institutional framework. There is no need to leave the establishment of this framework only to evolution because evolution does not necessarily lead to efficient solutions. That is why some kinds of planning may have a useful, though modest role to play at the rule-making level. Since planners remain fallible in planning constitutions and institutions, competition and some room for evolution remain desirable at this level, too.
Titel: Armutsexternalitäten: Verfassungsökonomische Rechtfertigung für eine kollektive Grundsicherung
Autor: Jörg Märkt
Seite: 80-100
Abstract: This paper analyzes the institution of benefit payments from the constitutional economics point of view. Benefit payments cannot be legitimized only by the veil of uncertainty about the personal future income position. From the constitutional economics perspective, they are only justified if externalities of poverty as a genuine public good problem are taken into account. A system of public benefit payments raise up two problems: first it has to overcome the problem of free-riding with regard to transfer payments, and secondly it should not provide incentives for the beneficiary to restrain the own efforts to work. Hence a double commitment is necessary: On the one hand, this commitment must regulate, in which way a citizen is engaged in the financing transfer payments, and on the other hand it has to include obligations for the potential recipients of the transfer payments to immediately return to working life.
Titel: Bayesian Rationality and Decision Making: A Critical Review
Autor: Max Albert
Seite: 101-117
Abstract: Bayesianism is the predominant philosophy of science in North-America, the most important school of statistics world-wide, and the general version of the rational-choice approach in the social sciences. Although often rejected as a theory of actual behavior, it is still the benchmark case of perfect rationality. The paper reviews the development of Bayesianism in philosophy, statistics and decision making and questions its status as an account of perfect rationality. Bayesians, who otherwise are squarely in the empiricist camp, invoke a priori reasoning when they recommend Bayesian methods - a recommendation that is not justified by their own standards.
Titel: Some Philosophical Prerequisites for a Sociological Theory of Action
Autor: William I. Torry
Seite: 145-162
Abstract: Drawing on the work of three prominent sociological theorists, the paper elaborates on outstanding flaws in sociological theories of action and agency. These concern a penchant for according social determinants considerably more import than intra-personal factors in explanations of action etiology. Such overly-deterministic perspectives on action, it is argued, can carry little weight in moots over moral and legal responsibility. Analytical philosophy is consulted for guidance on the task of constructing sociological theories of action properly mindful of the internal, psychological realities involved in the production of actions and in the practices of responsibility attribution.
Titel: Motive zu moralischem Handeln
Autor: Christopher Lumer
Seite: 163-188
Abstract: This paper tries to provide a complete list and classification of the motives for acting in accordance with morals, to explain the mechanisms underlying the less transparent among these motives, and to probe which of these motives are suited for justifying morals. (1) After giving reasons for the importance of an empirical theory of moral motives for ethics, and after specifying the exact question of the present study (2) a general model of moral action (3) and a main classification of the motives for acting morally is presented. (4) Self-transcendent motives, (5) motives close to morals, like sympathy and respect, (6) and moral motives in the narrow sense, which proceed from moral judgements, are scrutinized in detail. Only the motives near to morals and interest in cooperation but not the moral motives in the narrow sense are suited for justifying morals. (7) A concluding sketch of the development of moral judgements shows that only motives near to morals and interest in cooperation (but not e.g. pure reason) are also the sources of autonomously developed moral criteria.
Titel: Action for the Sake of ...: Caring and the Rationality of (Social) Action
Autor: Bennett W. Helm
Seite: 189-208
Abstract: My aim is to understand at least some of the non-instrumental reasons we can have for action in a way that can provide a satisfying non-egoist account of 'social actions' - actions undertaken for the sake of others. I do this in part by presenting, in terms of a discussion of the rationality of emotions, an account of what it is for something to have import to an agent (or, what amounts to the same thing, of what it is to care about that thing). I then extend this account to include our caring about others as agents, in part by revealing the way in which one's emotional and desiderative responsiveness to another agent one cares about must be sensitive to her cares, so that one comes to share her cares. The upshot is substantial revision in our understanding of agency, both in terms of our understanding of the role emotions play in our agency and in terms of a careful extension of the scope of practical rationality to include what I call a 'rationality of import'.
Titel: 'In den Zeiten, wo das Wünschen noch geholfen hat'. Eine kritische Diskussion des handlungstheoretischen Standardmodells
Autor: Ralf Stoecker
Seite: 209-230
Abstract: There is a widely accepted view in action theory (most prominently defended by Donald Davidson) according to which (1) actions are events, (2) reasons are intentional attitudes of the agent (pairs of beliefs and desires), and (3) acting for a reason entails that the reason rationalizes as well as causes the action. In the first part of my contribution I list seventeen difficulties for this standard account; in the second part I give an outline of how a more plausible conception of reasons and actions could look like. According to this conception, which is based on Gilbert Ryle's criticism of a mechanistic understanding of psychological concepts, agency is due to a special kind of disposition of the agent, namely the disposition to behave as if the agent were permanently deliberating about what to do. The conception has surprising consequences for the ontological status of intentional attitudes and actions and for the relationship between action and responsibility.
Titel: Intelligibilität und Normativität
Autor: Norbert Anwander
Seite: 231-248
Abstract: Actions are intelligible to the extent that their agents know what they are doing and are able to make sense of their own behaviour. It is widely held, both in tradition as well as in current philosophical debate about practical reasons, that this requires people to act for reasons they consider normative: Agents must see something good about their actions. This article argues against such a conceptual restriction on intelligibility. Not only can people act intentionally without acting for normative reasons as they would be mentioned in contexts of justification. It is also possible for us to understand our own actions without believing that they are supported by good reasons. The constitutive aim of intentional action, which is intelligibility, is distinct from the ideal of being able to consider one's actions as right and good. It is desirable, however, that we can understand our own actions not merely by reference to any reasons but to reasons that we regard as good ones.
Titel: Natürlichkeit als Wert
Autor: Thomas Schramme
Seite: 249-271
Abstract: The predicate 'natural' is often used in a normative fashion, especially in Bioethics. But that something is natural does not alone suffice to explain its value. In this essay, I want to fulfil mainly two tasks: Firstly, to differentiate between several usages of the concept of naturalness and scrutinize whether they may serve a function in ethics; secondly, to argue for the (eudaimonistic, not moral) value of naturalness in certain respects. The value of the natural lies firstly in its significance for human well-being: specific natural functions form necessary elements and conditions of the ability to lead a good life. Secondly, the very feature of the natural, its being purposeless, which implies that we cannot read our aims out of nature, serves as the basis of its eudaimonistic value.
Titel: Der Niedergang des Strukturfunktionalismus und der Aufstieg paradigmatischer Alternativen in der Ethnologie
Autor: Jürg Helbling
Seite: 3-39
Abstract: The paper explores the main paradigmatic failures of structural functionalism in anthropology. Structural functionalism explains institutions and social behavior by their contribution to the reproduction of social structure. Starting from Radcliffe-Brown and Malinowski, who represent two main variants of functionalism in anthropology, its main paradigmatic problems are discussed: its inability to analyze social conflict and change, its reducing of society to norms and values as well as its mode of explaining social facts. These failures are illustrated by two functional theories of tribal wars, by Evans-Pritchard and by Rappaport. Various theoretical alternatives emerge from the decline of functionalism in anthropology. Conflict theory as well as game theory, new institutionalism, theories of collective action and evolutionary economics represent true alternatives. This again is illustrated by a theory of tribal war, explaining cooperation both within local groups and between allies against the background of the warlike social environment in which local groups are interacting.
Titel: Functionalist Socialization, Family and Character
Autor: Gerry Mackie
Seite: 40-59
Abstract: According to functionalism, the family internalizes and transmits society's supposed value consensus from one generation to the next, and such socialization explains morality, social order, and cultural uniformities. I present three investigations that challenge the concept of functionalist socialization, and propose alternative theories that may better explain observations. First, I present evidence from developmental psychology based largely on American subjects and an ethnographic report from Burkina Faso which suggest that the characters of children are not formed by parental socialization. Second, I report data from Europe which suggest that the weaker is family and its supervision, the stronger is character and internalized morality. Third, I report an account of European modernization which suggests that weaker family ties broaden extrafamilial associations and generalize moral orientation. Finally, I suggest that Schelling's game-theoretic account of social conventions is a better explanation of cultural continuities and discontinuities than is functionalism.
Titel: Functionalist Successes and Excesses in the Social Sciences
Autor: Harold Kincaid
Seite: 60-71
Abstract: This paper presents a model of functional explanations as a species of ordinary causal explanation and argues that they are widespread for understandable reasons in the social sciences. The remainder of the paper then looks at specific functional explanations in the social research and examines the prospects and problems for those accounts.
Titel: Social Selection, Agents, Intentions, and Functional Explanation
Autor: K. Brad Wray
Seite: 72-86
Abstract: Jon Elster and Daniel Little have criticized social scientists for appealing to a mechanism of social selection in functional explanations of social practices. Both believe that there is no such mechanism operative in the social world. I develop and defend an account of functional explanation in which a mechanism of social selection figures centrally. In addition to developing an account of social selection, I clarify what functional hypotheses purport to claim, and re-examine the role of agents, intentions in functional explanations in an effort to show why a mechanism of social selection is indispensable to adequate functional explanations.
Titel: Individualism and Holism in the Social Sciences
Autor: Michael Bradie
Seite: 87-99
Abstract: Harold Kincaid's 'Individualism and the Unity of Science' is a subtle and nuanced analysis of the interlocking themes and issues surrounding the struggle between 'holists' and 'individualists' in the social sciences. Two major claims, one substantial and one methodological, emerge from this analysis. The substantial claim is a defence of a 'non-reductive unity' of the sciences. The methodological claim is that the disputes between reductionists and pluralists or between individualists and holists are empirical and not conceptual disputes. In this paper, I focus on what I take to be Kincaid's central theses.
Titel: Zum Begriff nicht-mathematischer Funktionen
Autor: Birgit Samson / Wolfgang Detel
Seite: 100-129
Abstract: roceeding from a set of conditions that an adequate notion of a non-mathematical function should satisfy, we examine some of the most influential of these notions, including Cummins-functions, to conclude that the teleosemantic notion of a non-mathematical proper function, suggested originally by Ruth Millikan, best satisfies the proposed conditions. In particular, this notion allows us to talk consistently about organisms having some functions while operating, at the same time, dysfunctionally. In addition, we show that the teleosemantic notion of relational and adaptive proper functions can be applied to singular events being part of developments in evolution and learning processes. We conclude that it is in this framework, rather than on the basis of the so-called theory of memes, that an application of the teleosemantic notion of a proper function to social areas can be seriously considered.
Titel: On Having a Function and Having a Good
Autor: Peter McLaughlin
Seite: 130-143
Abstract: One result of recent discussions on the notion of function is that the appeal to the function of something in order to explain why it is there and what it is, presupposes (willingly or not) that some system particularly relevant to the function bearer has a good. Some recent analyses of what it means to have a good trace having a good back to having a function. Two such attempts are examined and compared to a more traditional analysis. An anachronistic version of Aristotle, involving the self-production of the beneficiary, s recommended as a better starting point for a naturalistic reconstruction of the subject of benefit.
Titel: Organtransplantation im Eurotransplantverbund. Geschichtliche, medizinische und organisatorische Aspekte
Autor: Hartmut Kliemt
Seite: 133-155
Abstract: To facilitate access fort he wider international audience interested in issues of organ allocation the texts in this volume are all in English. But in view of the fact that ANALYSE & KRITIK, though an international journal, is published in Germany it seemed appropriate to provide a German introduction and overview. This overview outlines the background of organ donation and transplantation as seems useful for the 'uninitiated' reader and positions the papers of the volume on the intellectual map. In the end the articles of the volume speak for themselves while the comments that conclude it may be helpful as springboards for further critique.
Titel: Kidney Allocation in Eurotransplant. A Systematic Account of the Wujciak-Opelz Algorithm
Autor: Marlies Ahlert / Gundolf Gubernatis / Hartmut Kliemt
Seite: 156-172
Abstract: In the Eurotransplant region transplantable kidneys from cadaveric donors are allocated according to the Wujciak-Opelz algorithm. This paper shows that the algorithm as it stands fulfils certain normative standards of a more formal nature while violating others. In view of these insights, it is explored how the algorithm could perhaps be improved. Even if issues of substantial rather than formal adequacy need to be addressed separately, analyses as presented in this paper can prepare the ground for a discussion of substantive normative issues. In any event, axiomatic accounts can tell us something about what we are in fact doing when using a procedure like the Wujciak-Opelz algorithm.
Titel: Fair Kidney Allocation Based on Waiting Time
Autor: Matthias Hild
Seite: 173-190
Abstract: We study the allocation of cadaveric donor kidneys for transplantation based merely on waiting time. This simple allocation rule turns out to possess very attractive ethical and medical properties. Current allocation rules, on the other hand, violate some basic requirements of distributive justice. Perhaps for fear of exacerbating these problems, these rules also fail to consider criteria such as sex, age and race although certain combinations of these criteria are known to affect graft survival rates. We demonstrate that allocation by waiting time automatically protects disadvantaged patient types and puts them in a near optimal position. The inclusion of sex, age and race will therefore not lead to morally unacceptable allocations. This allows individual patients to improve the expected survival time of their graft relative to the status quo without being penalized by the allocation rule. Moreover, decisions about when to start compromising on expected graft survival rates in favour of shorter waiting times are made locally by patients and their medical advisers rather than by a centralized protocol.
Titel: A Lexicographic Decision Rule With Tolerances. The Example of Rule Choice in Organ Allocation
Autor: Marlies Ahlert / Hartmut Kliemt
Seite: 191-204
Abstract: The implementation of the Wujciak algorithm as a new rule for organ allocation by Eurotransplant is of considerable interest for the theorist of choice making. In the process reformers accepted the status quo in principle but expected that their potential opponents would be willing to make minimal or 'tolerable' concessions. Thereby the consensual introduction of new dimensions of value and reforms of allocation practices based thereupon became viable. The paper characterizes a decision procedure based on ,almost lexicographically pre-ordering established values and practices, in a stylized manner, presents a formal reconstruction of it and points out some of its potential implications for rule choices in general.
Titel: Hard Choices Softened Locally. Enacting New Rules for Organ Allocation
Autor: Werner Güth / Hartmut Kliemt / Thomas Wujciak
Seite: 205-220
Abstract: The implementation of a new kidney allocation algorithm by Eurotransplant was a 'rule choice' with serious ethical, legal, and political implications. Eurotransplant made that choice in view of a careful analysis of empirically predictable consequences of alternative rule specifications. This paper studies in a stylized way how the decision on the allocation algorithm emerged. Hopefully an understanding of central features of the described successful case of initiating improvements may be helpful in other cases with a similar structure.
Titel: Common Sense in Organ Allocation
Autor: Marlies Ahlert / Gundolf Gubernatis / Ronny Klein
Seite: 221-244
Abstract: In a questionnaire study on organ allocation 348 students of medicine (102) and economics (246) at the universities of Halle (114 students) and Hannover (234 students) responded to questions concerning their basic attitudes toward alternative criteria of organ allocation. Medical criteria were widely accepted by the respondents. Considerations concerning the patient's value to society were seen as being of minor importance. With respect to reciprocity, we could detect a high share of respondents who would favor former living donors and discriminate against murderers. Among considerations of fairness, the criterion of waiting time gained the highest support. Furthermore, majorities favored the view that health-compromising behavior and differences in age should play a role. Economic considerations were strongly rejected as criteria of organ allocation.
Titel: A Rational Reconstruction of Expert Judgements in Organ Allocation. A Conjoint Measurement Approach
Autor: Adele Diederich
Seite: 245-262
Abstract: The Eurotransplant Kidney Allocation System (ETKAS) emerged from the XCOMB model by Wujciak and Opelz (1993a;b), who applied computer simulation studies to create an allocation algorithm. The present study investigated how experts would allocate a donated organ to patients on the waiting list with respect to the five allocation factors proposed in the ETKAS (number of mismatches, mismatch probability, waiting time, distance, international exchange balance). The expert's evaluations were compared to the ETKAS points as well as to factor weights established in mandatory allocation guidelines which are based on the German law for organ allocation (Transplantationsgesetz). The investigation was carried out using a conjoint analysis. Overall, the results indicate a fairly high degree of agreement between the expert's opinions and the existing allocation system ETKAS and even more so for the allocation guidelines in particular with respect to the factors 'Mismatches', 'Mismatch', 'Probability', and 'Waiting time'.
Titel: Patterns of Decision Making in Kidney Allocation
Autor: Marlies Ahlert
Seite: 262-270
Abstract: Experts in the field of organ transplantation had to rank order a set of 32 patients according to their priority in receiving a donated kidney. The patients were described by the five characteristics that are incorporated in the kidney allocation algorithm applied by ,Eurotransplant,. The priority rankings as defined by the experts were analyzed and patterns of decision making identified in the rankings investigated in this study. All patterns could be explained by some type of lexicographical ranking. The larger group of experts preordered tissue compatibility or, more technically speaking, the criterion of HLA match, while the complementary group applied the criterion of the length of waiting time first. Analyzing the finer decision structures of expert rankings and comparing the method of pattern exploration with a conjoint measurement analysis led to two follow-up questions: First, how can the value judgments of the experts be described adequately? Second, which type of aggregated ordering derived from the individual rankings represents them best?
Titel: The Eurotransplant Kidney Allocation Agorithm - Moral Consensus or Prgamatic Compromise?
Autor: Georg Marckmann
Seite: 271-279
Abstract: The selection and balancing of values for the Eurotransplant kidney allocation algorithm poses both practical and ethical challenges. The paper argues that any allocation algorithm can only be justified by reference to some substantive conception of a good life that reflects our value preferences regarding the allocation of scarce donor kidneys. It is concluded that the criterion of HLA compatibility maximizes overall rather than individual utility. The paper emphasizes that good pragmatic arguments for maintaining the primacy of HLA matching can never replace a more systematic, independent ethical justification. As neither the selection nor the balancing of the different allocation criteria are based on an explicit ethical justification, the paper concludes that the choice of the Wujciak-algorithm was rather a product of pragmatic compromise than moral consensus.
Titel: The Supply Side of Organ Allocation
Autor: Axel Ockenfels / Joachim Weimann
Seite: 280-285
Abstract: The benefits of a large organ pool accrue not only to the actual organ recipients themselves, but to others as well due to the insurance it provides against having to wait 'too long' for an organ transplant. We argue that this public good character of a large organ pool makes it economically and ethically justifiable to design a market mechanism that boosts the number of donors. Most importantly, such a mechanism has the potential to substantially alleviate the troubling equity and efficiency problems on the demand side while, at the same time, being entirely independent of the allocation algorithm used for the distribution of organs.
Titel: Distributive Justice in Kidney Allocation
Autor: Thomas Schmidt
Seite: 286-298
Abstract: For patients suffering from renal failure, cadaveric donor kidneys are a scarce and valuable good. In 1996, the Eurotransplant International Foundation implemented a new kidney allocation system. The aim of this paper is to identify and discuss issues of distributive justice in kidney allocation, with an emphasis in the basic features of the new Eurotransplant system. Particular consideration is given to waiting time and medical success.
Titel: Collective Political Action. A Research Program and Some of Its Results
Autor: Karl-Dieter Opp
Seite: 1-20
Abstract: This paper describes a research program that focuses on the explanation of political protest and its causes. The starting point is Mancur Olson's theory of collective action. This theory is modified, extended and applied to explain political protest. In particular, it is argued that only a wide version of Rational Choice theory that includes "soft" incentives as well as misperception is capable of providing valid explanations of protest behavior. Another part of the research program is the utilization of survey research to test the predictions about protest behavior that are generated from the wide version of Rational Choice theory. The research program further aims at (a) comparing empirically Rational Choice and alternative propositions, (b) providing micro-macro explanatory models, (c) dynamic theoretical models, and (d) explaining preferences and beliefs which are usually treated as exogenous variables. The paper further reports some results of the research program.
Titel: Spontanität oder Reflexion? Die Wahl des Informationsverarbeitungsmodus in Entscheidungssituationen
Autor: Jörg-Peter Schräpler
Seite: 21-42
Abstract: Jeder Handlungsentscheidung eines Akteurs ist eine besondere Definition der Situation vorgeschaltet, welche erst die Präferenzen und Erwartungen strukturiert, von denen dann in einem zweiten Schritt die Selektion einer Handlung ausgeht. In einer auf der SEU-Theorie basierenden Konzeption modellierte Esser 1996 die Definition der Situation als eine Doppelstruktur in Form von zwei Selektionstufen, der Wahl des Modells und der des Informationsverarbeitungsmodus. In dem vorliegenden Beitrag wird gezeigt, wie sich aus den formalen Annahmen dieser beiden Selektionsschritte eine Verknüpfung zu einem dreidimensionalen Situationsbild ergibt. Dieses stellt dann in Abhängigkeit von gewählten Nutzenverhältnissen die Wahl des Informationsverarbeitungsmodus als Funktion von subjektiven Wahrscheinlichkeiten dar.
Titel: Bessere Politik dank Deregulierung des politischen Prozesses
Autor: Reiner Eichenberger
Seite: 43-60
Abstract: Today, political competition and, thus, the politicians, incentives to cater for the citizens, preferences are weakened by protectionist regulations aiming at the politicians, origin, their incomes, and the "production process of politics". This paper proposes to abolish these regulations and to institutionalize an open, international market for politics. Foreign as well as profit-seeking "policy producers" should be allowed to run directly for office without nominating specific individuals. This enables a policy supplier to become active in several countries and jurisdictions and, thus, to build up an international reputation for being credible, i.e. of sticking to his promises and not exploiting the voters after election. The deregulation program strengthens the influence of the weakly organized social groups and the governments, incentives to pursue what is of general interest.
Titel: Deregulierung ist kein Allheilmittel! Oder: Was gut für die Wirtschaft ist, muss nicht gut für die Politik sein
Autor: Stefan Marschall
Seite: 61-68
Abstract: This paper responds to the reform agenda of Reiner Eichenberger who proposes the deregulation of the voting system in order to enhance the competition among the candidates and to improve the responsiveness of elected representatives. Based on the theory of parliamentary representation the paper argues that a simple transfer of economic principles into the realm of politics comes to its limits where the differences between the economic and political systems are significant. Regulation in politics is necessary and unavoidable where the abuse of political power is to be prevented.
Titel: Die Bretter, die gebohrt werden, bleiben dick. Deregulierung der Politik scheitert an den Bedingungen der Massendemokratie
Autor: Christoph Strünck
Seite: 69-75
Abstract: Deregulation of the political process could be an instrument to reduce the overwhelming power of specialised interest groups and tighten the links between voters and politicians. But deregulation causes serious problems. Reputation pooling by international political enterprises depends on a transnational public sphere which is quite unrealistic. And political enterprises are not capable of shaping candidates for public service. Putting political finance in the hands of voters simply moves lobbying activities to the level of voters and does not change the asymmetrical influence of interest groups. Above all, the idea that political enterprises exchange experts in parliament does not fit in the crucial principle of parliamentary government and political responsibility.
Titel: Politik ohne Wettberwerbshindernisse
Autor: Erich Weede
Seite: 76-80
Abstract: Whereas Eichenberger advocates better policies by deregulation of politics, politicians and political scientists in Western Europe are quite satisfied with Western democracies and their performance. This satisfication is based on neglecting the insights form "Public Choice" theorizing as well as on negating the coming pension crisis in ageing societies. Including Eichenberger's ideas there are now five schools of thought about how to improve Western democracies: more direct democracy, strengthening market-preserving federalism, less law and fewer lawyers, exploiting international rivalries for limiting government and, now, dismantling the protection from foreign competition ehich elected representatives enjoy almost everywhere in the West.
Titel: Markt statt Politik?
Autor: Reinhard Zintl
Seite: 81-87
Abstract: Eichenberger's "deregulation" concept is designed to make political competition as similar to market competition as possible. The aim is to replace the competition of encompassing programmes by the competition of issue specific policies. In my view this idea is mistaken. First, it is by no means clear how the proposed institutions might work, since no hint is given how issue specific policy supply and unspecific political demand are matched. Second, and more improtant, the conception is normatively unconvincing. It aims at dissolving the political decisions of a society into an aggregate of separate and mutually independent issue specific policy decisions ? which would destroy the role politics has in a market society, namely, to provide market-complementary and not just market-analogous decisions.
Titel: Will a Basic Income Do Justice to Women?
Autor: Ingrid Robeyns
Seite: 88-105
Abstract: This article addresses the question whether a basic income will be a just social policy for women. The implementation of a basic income will have different effects for different groups of women, some of them clearly positive, some of them negative. The real issues that concern feminist critics of a basic income are the gender-related constraints on choices and the current gender division of labour, which are arguably both playing at the disadvantage of women. It is argued that those issues are not adequately addressed by a basic income proposal alone, and therefore basic income has to be part of a larger packet of social policy measures if it wants to maximise real freedom for all.
Titel: Real Freedom, the Market and the Family. A Reply
Autor: Philippe Van Parijs
Seite: 106-131
Abstract: The conception of social justice presented and defended in Philippe Van Parijs, "Real Freedom for All" entails, among other implication, the justification of an unconditional basic income. It was the subject of seven critical comments that forms issue 22 (2) and part of 23 (1) of ANALYSE & KRITIK. In this article, Van Parijs offers a comprehensive reply.
Titel: Why Mothers Should Be Fed. Eine Kritik an Van Parijs
Autor: Angelika Krebs
Seite: 155-178
Abstract: This paper reconstructs Van Parijs' core argument for an unconditional basic income and presents three objections against it. The first and most theoretical objection attacks the egalitarian basis of Van Parijs' argument and suggests an alternative, humanitarian theory of justice. The second and third more concrete objections accuse Van Parijs of selling-out the right to work as well as the right to recognition of work, for example of family work. The conclusion drawn from these three objections, however, is not that an unconditional basic income cannot be defended. Instead the paper ends by indicating an alternative, humanitarian argument for an unconditional basic income.
Titel: Sind Marktpreise gerecht? Eine Kritik am Van Parijsschen Ökonomismus
Autor: Heiner Michel
Seite: 179-197
Abstract: This article objects to two major economistic shortcomings of Philippe Van Parijs's 'Real Freedom for All': (1) Van Parijs claims that market prices are the best metric for equal real freedom. This is challenged. Market prices admittedly are the best instrument for distributive purposes at hand. They are, however, a means of transport for supply and demand contingencies. Hence market prices are to be considered as an insufficient metric for equal freedom. (2) Van Parijs claims that 'Real Freedom for All' is all there is to social justice. This claim is rejected. Despite its demanding egalitarian ambition, 'Real Freedom for All' fails to protect a flourishing human life. Basic human rights like the right to social recognition and, in part, the right to health care are violated. Curiously even the right to autonomy is in want of full protection. These lacks are caused by the monetarism and the straightforward market optimism of 'Real Freedom for All'.
Titel: Basic Income in Complex Worlds. Individual Freedom and Social Interdependencies
Autor: Richard Sturn / Rudi Dujmovits
Seite: 198-222
Abstract: This paper is about difficulties in the normative justification of an unconditional basic income - difficulties which are related to the scope of egalitarian justice as well as the dimension(s) of the equalisandum. More specifically, it is contended that Philippe Van Parijs's justification derived from the principle of Maximin real freedom runs into problems in environments in which scarcity does not offer a conceptual basis for a satisfactory account of social interdependencies. We discuss the following cases: (i) Scarcity is seen as a general equilibrium phenomenon in a dynamic environment. (ii) Social forces of production (particularly non-rival and only partially excludable inputs) play a role in creating wealth. (iii) Informal exclusion mechanisms and patterns of ,local justice, matter. (iv) Certain forms of heterogeneity play a role.
Titel: Ambition-Sensitivity and an Unconditional Basic Income
Autor: Søren Flinch Midtgaard
Seite: 223-236
Abstract: This paper concerns Philippe Van Parijs's case for an unconditional basic income. It argues that given central egalitarian commitments - to wit, (i) equal concern and respect; (ii) endowment-insensitivity (which can be seen to include Van Parijs's project of maximizing or leximinning real freedom); (iii) ambition-sensitivity; and (iv) neutrality - endorsed by Van Parijs, a basic income does not appear to be a requirement of justice. The core claim defended is that there is a serious tension between (iii) and the idea of an unconditional basic income.
Titel: Sharing Job Resources. Ethical Reflections on the Justification of Basic Income
Autor: Jurgen De Wispelaere
Seite: 237-256
Abstract: Philippe Van Parijs's ethical justification of basic income is based on the argument that job resources must be shared equally. Underlying this idea are two important claims: (1) all individuals in society hold an ex ante entitlement in job resources and (2) job resources are tradable. First, I present the real-libertarian argument for sharing job resources. Next, I identify and critically review three different objections against this view: the liability objection, the cooperation objection and the parasitism objection. I believe the parasitism objection poses a serious challenge to basic income, and argue that Van Parijs's most plausible response - based on the idea that job resources are socially owned - is flawed. I provide the outline of an alternative normative basis for grounding a person's ex ante entitlement to job resources using an institutionalist approach.
Titel: Kann das Grundeinkommen die Arbeitslosigkeit abbauen?
Autor: Ulrich Steinvorth
Seite: 257-268
Abstract: I agree with Van Parijs that a theory of justice must meet the condition of indicating institutions that eliminate compulsory unemployment, but argue that his basic income is another form of unemployment compensation with all the disadvantages such compensations suffer from. In particular, it does not advance real freedom, but is liable to contribute to narrow political ends. I indicate an alternative and explicate, since Van Parijs disregards it, the right to work and its basis in the common property of natural resources. Finally, I compare the two competing conceptions of a good life that underlie his recommendation of a basic income and my rejection of it.
Titel: Generalised Reciprocity and Reputation in the Theory of Cooperation
Autor: Peter Abell / Diane Reyniers
Seite: 3-18
Abstract: We study the Iterated Bilateral Reciprocity game in which the need for help arises randomly. Players are heterogeneous with respect to 'neediness' i.e. probability of needing help. We find bounds on the amount of heterogeneity which can be tolerated for cooperation (all players help when asked to help) to be sustainable in a collectivity. We introduce the notion of Generalised Reciprocity. Individuals make a costly first move to benefit another under the reasonable expectation that either the other or somebody else will reciprocate. We hope that these tentative attempts at extending Axelrod's seminal work on cooperation will inspire future efforts in the field of organisational culture and social theory more generally.
Titel: Cooperation via Hostages
Autor: Werner Raub / Jeroen Weesie
Seite: 19-43
Abstract: Conditional cooperation of selfish and rational actors is feasible in repeated encounters. We stress an important alternative for conditional cooperation: credible commitments that can be incurred via voluntary hostage posting (in the sense of pledging a bond). Hostages may facilitate cooperation in different ways. First, they reduce incentives to behave uncooperatively. Second, by offering some compensation for losses, hostages reduce the costs of suffering from uncooperative behavior of the partner. Finally, hostages may serve as signals about characteristics of the partner that are related to his opportunities and incentives to behave uncooperatively. We show that signalling hostages may have lasting effects in durable relations.
Titel: Cooperation via Social Networks
Autor: Vincent Buskens / Jeroen Weesie
Seite: 44-74
Abstract: Sufficiently frequent interaction between partners has been identified by, a.o., Axelrod as a more-or-less sufficient condition for stable cooperation. The underlying argument is that rational cooperation is ensured if short-term benefits from opportunistic behavior are offset by the long-term costs of sanctions imposed on the culprit. In this paper, we develop a model for 'embedded trust' in which a trustee interacts with a number of trustors who may communicate via a social network with each other about the behavior of the trustor. The analysis reconfirms the standard predictions about how the level of trust depends on the payoffs and shadow of the future. We provide new predictions both on between-network effects ('which network is more favorable for cooperation?') and on within-network effects ('in what network position can you trust more?').
Titel: Rational and Adaptive Playing
Autor: Rainer Hegselmann / Andreas Flache
Seite: 75-97
Abstract: n this paper we compare two micro foundations for modelling human behaviour and decision making. We focus on perfect strategic rationality on the one hand and a simple reinforcement mechanism on the other hand. Iterated prisoner's dilemmas serve as the play ground for the comparison. The main lesson of our analysis is that in the space of all possible 2x2 PDs different micro foundations do matter. This suggests that researchers can not safely rely on the assumption that implementing simple models of decision making will yield the same results that may be obtained when more sophisticated decision rules are built into the agents.
Titel: In Defense of Moderate Envy
Autor: Bernd Lahno
Seite: 98-113
Abstract: In contrast to Axelrod's advice 'don't be envious' it is argued that the emotion of envy may enhance cooperation. TIT FOR TAT does exhibit a certain degree of envy. But, it does so in inconsistent ways. Two variants of TIT FOR TAT are introduced and their strategic properties are analyzed. Both generate the very same actual play as TIT FOR TAT in a computer tournament without noise. However, if noise is introduced they display some greater degree of stability. This is due to the fact that they form, in a prisoner's dilemma supergame with suitable parameters, an equilibrium with themselves that is subgame perfect or (in case of the first strategy) close to subgame perfect. It is additionally argued that these strategies are exceptionally clear and comprehensible to others in that they conform to well known real live behavior patterns.
Titel: Exit, Anonymity and the Chances of Egoistical Cooperation
Autor: The EdK-Group
Seite: 114-129
Abstract: This paper presents the results of computer simulations with a community of actors playing a large number of voluntarily iterated two-person-PD. The simulations are designed to enable uncooperative actors to exploit partners, leave them and find a new partner who knows nothing about their previous behavioral history. Hit-and-run exploitation should thrive under these conditions. However, as Schuessler (1989; 1990) has shown, the setting is highly unfavorable to uncooperative players. The present study extends this result to a wider set of strategies which can alternatively stay with defectors (and try to improve them) or leave them quickly. In addition, a class of seemingly clever strategies is introduced which try to exploit the expected dynamics of looking for a partner. Still, a high amount of egoistical cooperation can persist in the present scenario.
Titel: On Six Advances in Cooperation Theory
Autor: Robert Axelrod
Seite: 130-151
Abstract: The symposium included in this issue of ANALYSE & KRITIK extends the basis of Cooperation Theory as set forth in Axelrod's 'Evolution of Cooperation' (1984). This essay begins with an overview of Cooperation Theory in terms of the questions it asks, its relationship to game theory and rationality, and the principal methodologies used, namely deduction and simulation. This essay then addresses the issues raised in the symposium, including the consequences of extending the original paradigm of the two person iterated Prisoner's Dilemma to take into account such factors as nonsimultaneous play, the ability to offer hostages for performance, social networks of interaction, information sharing that can support reputations, learning behavior, envy, misunderstanding, and an option to exit. The essay places the contributions of this symposium in the context of previous research on these and related issues.
Titel: Gerechtigkeit
Autor: Anthony de Jasay
Seite: 143-170
Abstract: The concept of justice informs our sense of justice, rather than being formed by it. The concept escapes circularity, resting as it does on foundations that are independent of notions of justice. Those foundations can be found in constituent principles such as responsibility, presumption, and convention. Two realms of justice have to be separated: the realm of 'suum cuique' and of 'to each, according to... '. Contemporary theories of justice, however, tend to maximize their scope by obliterating 'suum cuique'. But the importance of the realm of 'suum cuique, anchors in fundaments of logic and epistemology which allow justice but little leeway.
Titel: Verteilungsgerechtigkeit ohne Verteilungsgleichheit
Autor: Thomas Schramme
Seite: 171-191
Abstract: Alternative approaches in the discussion of distributive justice differ in their answers to the question 'equality of what'? In this essay I intend to ask instead 'why equality'? The article rejects several arguments in favour of distributive equality, mainly on the grounds that they confuse two different kinds of justice, namely 'formal' justice (equal respect) and distributive justice. The ideal of distributive equality is based on comparisons but equal respect does not necessarily involve relational considerations. Subsequently I will consider equality of opportunity which appears on first sight to be the most promising account. However, I will point out that this approach is not convincing as an attempt to give everyone the chance to live a good life. Finally I will submit that only a theory of absolute needs is adequate.
Titel: Die 'sozialdemokratische' und die 'liberale' Variante der neoaristotelischen Sozialphilosophie
Autor: Frank Dietrich
Seite: 192-212
Abstract: This article examines the neoaristotelian theories of Martha Nussbaum and Douglas Rasmussen/Douglas Den Uyl. Both sides give a similar account of good human living, which emphasizes the significance of individual autonomy. But they disagree sharply on the political institutions necessary to promote human flourishing; Nussbaum formulates a 'social democratic, position; Rasmussen/Den Uyl hold a 'liberal' standpoint. The article explores both lines of reasoning. It is shown that neither Nussbaum nor Rasmussen/Den Uyl present conclusive arguments for their political position.
Titel: Autonomie, Charakter und praktische Vernunft: Überlegungen am Beispiel des Utilitarismus
Autor: R. Jay Wallace
Seite: 213-230
Abstract: This paper explores the question whether utilitarianism is compatible with the autonomy of the moral agent. The paper begins by considering Bernard Williams' famous complaint that utilitarianism cannot do justice to the personal projects and commitments constitutive of character. Recent work (by Peter Railton among others) has established that a utilitarian agent need not be free of such personal projects and commitments, and could even affirm them morally at the level of second-order reflection. But a different and more subtle problem confronts this approach: the use of utilitarian principles to justify the cultivation of personal projects and attachments undermines the autonomy to support this objection, according to which autonomy is a matter of acting in a way one can reflectively endorse.
Titel: John Searle's Social Ontology. Comment to John R. Searle "Social Ontology and the Philosophy of Society" (ANALYSE & KRITIK 20, 143-158)
Autor: Eerik Lagerspetz
Seite: 231-236
Abstract: The theory presented in John Searle's "The Construction of Social Reality" has a lot in common with the conventionalist view of institutions. Conventionalism, however, can explain how there can be institutional facts without pre-existing rules, and why people comply with institutional rules.
Titel: Collective Intentionality, Self-referentiality, and False Beliefs: Some Issues Concerning Institutional Facts. Comment to John R. Searle "Social Ontology and the Philosophy of Society" (ANALYSE & KRITIK 20, 143-158)
Autor: Bruno S. Celano
Seite: 237-250
Abstract: J. R. Searle's general theory of social and institutional reality, as deployed in some of his recent work (The Construction of Social Reality 1995; Social Ontology and the Philosophy of Society 1998), raises many deep and interesting problems. Four issues are taken up here: (1) Searle's claim to the effect that collective intentionality is a primitive, irreducible form of intentionality; (2) his account of one of the most puzzling features of institutional concepts, their having a self-referential component; (3) the question as to the point, or points, of having institutions; (4) Searle's claim to the effect that false beliefs on the part of the members of the relevant community are compatible with the existence of related institutional facts. It is argued that, under all four respects, Searle's theory proves to be hardly satisfactory.
Titel: On Some Difficulties Concerning John Searle's Notion of an 'Institutional Fact'. Comment to John R. Searle "Social Ontology and the Philosophy of Society" (ANALYSE & KRITIK 20, 143-158)
Autor: Carsten Heidemann
Seite: 251-264
Abstract: John Searle's conception of institutional facts figures centrally in his latest works. It is defective for several reasons: (1) Searle's argument for philosophical realism is inconsistent. (2) Searle's conceptions of consciousness and collective intentionality are problematic. (3) The notion of normativity is indispensable in Searle's system, but cannot be accounted for and makes wide parts of his theory superfluous. (4) It is not clear what entities might be regarded as institutional facts. These problems have a common source: The philosophical basis of Searle's theory, his combination of realism and physicalist monism, clashes with his thesis that both the 'first-person-ontology' and normativity are irreducible.
Titel: Sind Wünsche Handlungsgründe?
Autor: Ulrike Heuer
Seite: 1-24
Abstract: Desires are often taken to be the basis for all practical reasons. I introduce one of the most powerful arguments to sustain this view: the argument from motivation (sec. 1). In section 2, however, I develop an equally powerful objection to desire-based approaches showing that desires are not suited to accommodate the justificatory role of reasons. The objection suggests that at least one of the premises of the argument from motivation must presuppose that only desires can explain actions. This move is, however, fatal for desire-based views of practical reason.
Titel: Normative Handlungsgründe
Autor: Peter Schaber
Seite: 25-40
Abstract: t is a widely held view in moral philosophy that reasons for action are based on desires. This view should be rejected. Reasons for action are never provided by desires. Desires provide us with motives, whereas reasons for action are based on valuable facts which obtain independently of our desires. The recognition of these reasons does not necessarily motivate us. Motives depend on desires, for instance the motive for moral actions on the desire to do the morally right thing.
Titel: Praktische Rationalität - monistisch, nicht dualistisch
Autor: Marco Iorio
Seite: 41-56
Abstract: After a short survey of some discussions in modern action theory and in the theory of explanation an alternative account of reasons for action is presented and explained. According to this alternative, not mental states of the agent but non-mental facts constitute reasons for action. Some ramifications of this view are discussed with special regard to the question of how to overcome the established dichotomy of subjective and objective rationality.
Titel: Zugänglichkeit praktischer Gründe
Autor: Kirsten Petzold
Seite: 57-74
Abstract: The traditional debate about having reasons for actions has focussed on the motivational and justificatory dimensions. I argue that discussion of these issues has neglected a further and important condition of reasons for action. A person can have a reason only if the considerations that provide the reason are accessible to her. Access means that the agent must be able to see that her reason speaks in favor of her (-ing. I argue for my thesis by pointing out, first, that theoretical reasons must be accessible in order to justify a person's beliefs and second, that the accessibility of theoretical reasons excludes the inaccessibility of practical reasons.
Titel: Wie versteht man eine Person? Zum Streit über die Form der Alltagspsychologie
Autor: Oliver Robert Scholz
Seite: 75-96
Abstract: When we attempt to understand a person we make use of a body of practices called 'folk psychology'. After clarifying the status and the content of folk psychology, the paper focuses on the current debate about its form. A version of the 'theory theory' is sketched that tries to do justice to the holism of the mental and to the constraining role of presumptions of coherence for the ascription of intentional states. Against this background, it is argued that radical simulationism, the main competitor of the 'theory theory', is untenable. Understanding a person cannot be solely a matter of mental simulation.
Titel: Verstehen und Kohärenz. Ein Beitrag zur Methodologie der Sozialwissenschaften
Autor: Thomas Bartelborth
Seite: 97-116
Abstract: In this article I argue that the intentional explanation of actions is a central task of the social sciences. However, the attribution of intentional states is highly underdetermined by observational data. Such attributions are forms of inference to the best explanation, and they have to cohere with our background knowledge of the conditions under which the agent acts. In addition to this 'outer coherence' we have to ask for an 'inner coherence' within the intentional profile of the agent to gain a meaningful understanding. Both forms of coherence can help to reduce underdetermination.
Titel: Die Vielfalt des Interpretierens
Autor: Axel Bühler
Seite: 117-137
Abstract: Many discussions in the philosophy of the humanities and of the social sciences take it for granted that the term ,interpretation, unambiguously refers to only one well-defined activity. In this paper, I want to discredit this assumption. First, I distinguish seventeen different kinds of activity regarding linguistic utterances which are commonly considered activities of interpretation. Then I specify diverse methodological requirements connected with each of the kinds of interpretation distinguished. Finally, I argue that attempts to give an unitary account of interpretation - such as ,assigning meaning to something, - fail to do justice to the multifariousness of the activities commonly called 'interpretation'.
Titel: Normen und das ökonomische Handlungsmodell. Eine weitere Replik auf Gebhard Kirchgässner (ANALYSE & KRITIK 20, 221-244)
Autor: Jens Beckert
Seite: 138-141
Abstract: This note on my exchange with G. Kirchgässner points to a possible misunderstanding and one serious difference of opinion. On the empirical side I tried to make visible social values and norms which cannot be reduced to economic preferences. On the normative side I tried to criticise the rational-choice-approach for being either obviously wrong or empirically empty.
Titel: Social Ontology and the Philosophy of Society
Autor: John R. Searle
Seite: 143-158
Abstract: This lecture was originally given at the Einstein Forum in Berlin. It contains a summary of some of the themes in my book The Construction of Social Reality and continues the line of argument I presented there.
Titel: Comment on John Searle's "The Construction of Social Reality"
Autor: Bernhard Waldenfels
Seite: 159-165
Abstract: This comment deals with some basic elements Searle uses in order to con-struct social reality: the togetherness, we-intentionality and the distinction between institutional and brute facts. The commentator argues that Searle's theory tends to a partial biologism because lacking a sufficient concept of embodiment. Con-sequently 'pre-institutional facts' such as eating, copulating, working or torturing are systematically underdetermined. On the deontic level the theory relies on natu-ral processes of conventional power. So the distinction between factual acceptance and acceptability is blurred by a sort of conformism, and one neglects the status of dissidents and victims whose belonging to the predominant 'we' remains highly dubious.
Titel: Private, Public, and Common Ownership
Autor: Markus Haller
Seite: 166-183
Abstract: The idea that private ownership implies that owners are free to do with their things whatever they want is shown to be mistaken. It is argued that private, public and common ownership are all based on the right to alienate a thing, regard-less of the number of owners. Social or legal norms can make the ownership of a thing conditional on the participation in government or on group membership. In the former case, the norms establish public ownership, in the latter case common ownership. If things are owned and these norms do not apply, they are privately owned. Local social circumstances determine to some extent what form of ownership generates the highest benefits to owners, social and legal norms provide incentives which encourage or discourage the choice of the efficient form of ownership.
Titel: Self-love, Self-interest and the Rational Economic Agent
Autor: John O'Neill / Thomas Uebel
Seite: 184-204
Abstract: Hume has a special place in justifications of claims made for rational choice theory to offer a unified language and explanatory framework for the social sciences. He is invoked in support of the assumptions characterising the instru-mental rationality of agents and the constancy of their motivations across different institutional settings. This paper explores the problems with the expansionary aims of rational choice theory through criticism of these appeals to Hume. First, Hume does not assume constancy. Moreover, Hume's sensitivity to the relationships be-tween institutional setting and individual motivation owes something to the relative transparency of the plural language of vices and virtues that he employs. Second, rational choice theory's minimal modification of Hume's account of the relation of reason and the passions through the introduction of constraints of consistency on preferences is unstable.
Titel: Triumph und Grenzen des Marktes. Erwiderung auf Gebhard Kirchgässners "Auf der Suche nach dem Gespenst des Ökonomismus" (Analyse & Kritik 19, 127-152)
Autor: Jens Beckert
Seite: 205-220
Abstract: While markets are important mechanisms for coordination of social ex-change it has to be looked at their limits and preconditions as well. This paper advocates three claims: First, under conditions of externalities and asymmetric dis-tribution of information the efficient functioning of markets depends on non-market institutions. Second, social limitations of the expansion of markets reflect a value- realm in which society constitutes itself. These values, though they change, are nor-matively immune against efficiency consideration. Third, the rational-actor model of economies is insufficient for the understanding of the non-rational preconditions of markets and the embeddedness of markets in social values.
Titel: Märkte, Normen und das ökonomische Handlungsmodell. Eine Replik auf Jens Beckert
Autor: Gebhard Kirchgässner
Seite: 221-244
Abstract: First it is shown that in order to function well markets depend on same preconditions even if there are no external effects and there is complete information. One of these conditions is that individuals follow some moral norms. Then it is asked whether these norms are non-consequentialist. There might be some norms for which no consequentialist foundation can be constructed. However, these are not the norms which have to be followed in order that a market system functions well. Such norm-following-behaviour can successfully be analysed with the economic model of behaviour, if the motivational assumption of this model is not artificially restricted to consider only financial incentives. Finally it is pointed to the fact that it is reasonable to employ the economic model of behaviour not only for analysing social processes but also for developing policy recommendations.
Titel: Armut, Gerechtigkeit und Demokratie. Kommentar zu Thomas W. Pogges "Eine globale Rohstoffdividende" (Analyse & Kritik 17, 183-208)
Autor: Regina Kreide
Seite: 245-262
Abstract: n his article "A Global Resources Dividend" Thomas Pogge argues that all inhabitants of the world have an equal claim to use the world's natural resources. Pogge suggests a Global Resource Dividend (GRD) which is to be used for raising the minimum living standard of the world's poorest people. Pogge's proposal has been criticized on three different levels. First, it has been objected that from a normative point of view the moral justification of the GRD is not convincing. Second, he has been criticized for the empirical assumptions that underlie his analysis of worldwide poverty. And third, the proposal has been rejected, because of problems involved in the realization of the GRD. In this article all three objections are answered and it is argued for a democratic legitimation of the GRD.
Titel: Milgram für Historiker. Reichweite und Grenzen einer Übertragung des Milgram-Experiments auf den Nationalsozialismus
Autor: Thomas Sandkühler / Hans-Walter Schmuhl
Seite: 3-26
Abstract: Stanley Milgram was the first who tried to apply the results of his experiment on National Socialism. Historical science has hardly picked up on this subject with the exception of the American historian Christopher Browning. Despite of some serious problems which have occured by transferring the Milgram-experiment onto National Socialism we are convinced that the possibilities Milgram has opened up for contemporary history have not been exhausted yet. In this connection we would like to plead for a stronger distinction of types of perpetrators, taking into account the latest results in criminology. The Milgram-experiment refers methodically to local studies of massacres and genocides. Its application on the bureaucracy of destruction seems particularly promising to us. Also, there should be included the rescuers of jews into the research on perpetrators as a controlling body.
Titel: Freiwilligkeit der Gewalt? Von der Psychologie der Täter zur Psychologie der Tat
Autor: Jeannette Schmid
Seite: 27-45
Abstract: The series of psychological explanations for the atrocities of Hitler's Germany followed a development that started with the personality of the perpetrators and subsequently focused on the situation, almost to the exclusion of the person component. Milgram's experimental series marks a turning point. His construct of destructive obedience claims a validity that transcends the Nazi context and has far-reaching implications for human behavior in hierarchies, irrespective of the political system. The merits of his approach can be understood in comparison and in connection with other theoretical and empirical venues that each provide a unique insight into the mechanisms underlying the Holocaust.
Titel: The Roots of Stanley Milgram's Obedience Experiments and Their Relevance to the Holocaust
Autor: Thomas Blass
Seite: 46-53
Abstract: Drawing on archival materials, interviews, as well as published sources, this article traces the roots of one of the most important and controversial studies in the social sciences, the experiments on obedience to authority conducted by the social psychologist, Stanley Milgram. Milgram's research had two determinants: First, his attempt to account for the Holocaust and, second, his intention to apply Solomon Asch's technique for studying conformity to behavior of greater human consequence than judging lengths of lines - the task which was the original focus in Asch's studies. After a detailed presentation of these antecedents of Milgram's work, the article concludes with a brief discussion of the applicability of the obedience experiments to the behavior of the perpetrators of the Holocaust.
Titel: Were Obedience Pressures A Factor in the Holocaust?
Autor: Allan Fenigstein
Seite: 54-73
Abstract: A number of scholars have suggested that Milgram's laboratory studies of obedience offer an incisive analysis of the behavior of the Holocaust perpetrators. The present paper rejects that position. The contrasts between the two events, at every level of analysis, are striking: In Milgram's research, innocent peers were harmed in the context of science; in the Holocaust, rabidly hated, subhuman enemies were murdered in the context of 'war'. With regard to underlying psychological mechanisms, the evidence questioning the relevance of Milgram's research is equally compelling: obedience pressures had little role in the Holocaust. Most of the Nazi perpetrators showed no remorse or moral distress over the murders and perhaps most critically, virtually all of the killers knew that they could choose not to participate in the killings.
Titel: The Obedience Alibi. Milgram's Account of the Holocaust Reconsidered
Autor: David R. Mandel
Seite: 74-94
Abstract: Stanley Milgram's work on obedience to authority is social psychology's most influential contribution to theorizing about Holocaust perpetration. The gist of Milgram's claims is that Holocaust perpetrators were just following orders out of a sense of obligation to their superiors. Milgram, however, never undertook a scholarly analysis of how his obedience experiments related to the Holocaust. The author first discusses the major theoretical limitations of Milgram's position and then examines the implications of Milgram's (oft-ignored) experimental manipulations for Holocaust theorizing, contrasting a specific case of Holocaust perpetration by Reserve Police Battalion 101 of the German Order Police. It is concluded that Milgram's empirical findings, in fact, do not support his position - one that essentially constitutes an obedience alibi. The article ends with a discussion of some of the social dangers of the obedience alibi.
Titel: "Dämonologie" oder psychologisches Denken? Wie erklärt man, warum ganz gewöhnliche Angehörige der nationalsozialistischen Gesellschaft das Leben anderer auslöschten?
Autor: Alexander Kochinka / Jürgen Straub
Seite: 95-122
Abstract: This article gives a survey of factors that could be relevant for the explanation of behaviour under the nazi-regime with reference to the study by Ch. Browning. Instead of causal explanations we suggest 'how-possible explanations'. These explanations should make plausible how behaviour could come about taking into consideration intentional, normative and narrative aspects. Brutalization of the prepetrators, the psychological mechanism of distancing oneself, antisemitism, bureaucratization, carrierism, interest in power and conventionalist tendencies are discussed as relevant explanatory factors. Milgram's analyses of obedience and group-conformity are brought into perspective within a wider-ranging culturalist approach.
Titel: Morality and Society - The True and the Nasty. Reply to Anton Leist: "For Society - Against Morality?" (ANALYSE & KRITIK 19, 213-228)
Autor: David Copp
Seite: 123-140
Abstract: This paper is a reply to Anton Leist's criticisms of the view I develop in my book "Morality, Normativity, and Society". Leist claims that my "standard-based" account of the truth conditions of moral propositions is incoherent. I argue that he is mistaken about this. Leist claims that my "society-centered" account of the justification of moral standards has "nasty" implications. In the course of answering this worry, I develop the idea of a "moral necessity". My theory implies that although moral propositions are metaphysically contingent, they are most likely morally necessary. I also explain that, despite its relativism, the society-centered view is quite compatible with the idea that there are certain "moral universals". Finally, Leist claims that the arguments I have given in favor of my view are unsuccessful. But it is a mistake to think that decisive arguments can be expected in this area. The most we can expect is a clear statement of the costs and benefits of a theory. I claim that my account of the nature and grounding of morality has important advantages over familiar alternatives.
Titel: Auf der Suche nach dem Gespenst des Ökonomismus. Einige Bemerkungen über Tausch, Märkte und die Ökonomisierung der Lebensverhältnisse
Autor: Gebhard Kirchgässner
Seite: 127-152
Abstract: First, the role of markets as co-ordination mechanisms and, more generally, the role of exchange relations in a society is discussed. We consider illegal markets as well as markets where transactions are performed not using money but some other exchange medium. Secondly, we ask for the political possibilities to intervene into such markets. Finally, we discuss the increasing 'economising of social relations' and possible reasons for it.
Titel: Kommunikatives Handeln und kooperative Ziele
Autor: Raimo Tuomela
Seite: 153-172
Abstract: In this paper an account of communicative action is given from the point of view of communication as a cooperative enterprise. It is argued that there is communication both on the basis of shared collective goals and without them. It is also claimed that people can communicate without specifically formed illocutionary communicative intentions. Finally, the paper compares the account given in the article with Habermas, theory of communicative action.
Titel: Kommunikatives Handeln bei Tuomela. Ein Kommentar
Autor: Georg Meggle
Seite: 173-188
Abstract: According to Tuomela, comunicative actions are a special case of social actions. As to the relevant differentia, he gives us different proposals. How are these proposals to be judged from the perspective of a communication theory formulated in strictly intentionalistic terms?
Titel: Does Moral Theory Need the Concept of Society?
Autor: David Copp
Seite: 189-212
Abstract: We have the intuition that the function of morality is to make society possible. That is, the function of morality is to make possible the kind of cooperation and coordination among people that is necessary for societies to exist and to cope with their problems. This intuition is reflected in the 'society centered' moral theory I defended in my book "Morality, Normativity, and Society". The theory is a relativistic version of moral naturalism and moral realism. This paper briefly explains some of the basic ideas of my theory and attempts to answer some of the most common objections. I argue that, despite its relativism, my views allow that certain things are simply wrong to do, without any qualifications, and it allows that members of other societies, non-human animals, and even features of the environment, might have non-derivative moral status.
Titel: For Society - Against Morality? On David Copp's Attempt to Put Society at the Centre of Ethics
Autor: Anton Leist
Seite: 213-228
Abstract: Morality and society in moral philosophy are rarely brought into direct contact, at least not at a fundamental level of justification. David Copp develops an account of practical and moral rationality that could constitute a radical change. According to Copp moral theory has to be 'society-centered' rather than focussing on the individual. This article is devoted to the moral content and structural features of a socially centered moral theory, and along those lines to its critical assessment. Concluding, it will seek to present an argument why moral philosophy ought not place society at the centre of its view.
Titel: Internationaler Handel, Tauschgerechtigkeit und die globale Rohstoffdividende. Kommentar zu Thomas W. Pogges "Eine globale Rohstoffdividende" (ANALYSE & KRITIK 17, 183-208)
Autor: Richard Reichel
Seite: 229-241
Abstract: Pogge's proposal of a 'global resource dividend' (GRD) is intendend to compensate the poor, commodity-exporting countries of the developing world for terms of trade losses and unequal exchange in trade with the industrialized North. It can be shown that it is unlikely that Pogge's GRD will be successful. On the one side, increased financial flows from the GRD funds may seriously inhibit the structural transformaton of an underdeveloped economy, whereas on the other side the internal distribution problem associated with GRD payments is not resolved.
Titel: Weltarmut und Ressourcen-Zugang. Kommentar zu Thomas W. Pogges "Eine globale Rohstoffdividende" (ANALYSE & KRITIK 17, 183-208)
Autor: Thomas Kesselring
Seite: 242-254
Abstract: Thomas Pogge suggests that world poverty should be fighted against with the help of a global dividend on resources (GRD). In the first part of this comment Pogge's moral argumentation is reviewed. In the second part the coherence of the GRD proposal is discussed critically. It is argued that GRD should be spent primarily for ecological purposes.
Titel: Unerwünschte Projekte, Kompensation und Akzeptanz
Autor: Bruno S. Frey
Seite: 3-14
Abstract: Democracies find it difficult, and sometimes impossible to get through projects desired by a large share of the population because these are strongly opposed by local residents (NIMBY: Not In My Back Yard). As a solution for these conflicts economists proposed offering (monetary) compensation to the citizens of the host community. Experiences with many different projects and countries reveal, however, that monetary payments are incapable of solving the NIMBY-problem. A monetary offer to accept an otherwise undesired project undermines civic virtue. This crowding-out effect is empirically demonstrated using the search for a nuclear repository in Switzerland. A satisfactory strategy to overcome the NIMBY-problem takes into account the procedure, the time sequence, as well as the type of compensation offered.
Titel: Diskurs - die Protektion der Kommunikation
Autor: Iris Bohnet
Seite: 15-32
Abstract: The goal of discourse-based decision-making is to free negotiations from self-interested, strategic interactions. In this paper it is argued that the absence of interests may lead to both efficiency losses and redistribution between participants of the discourse and outsiders. The latter effect is the stronger, the more personal relationships between discourse participants become. Therefore, it is essential to validate the recommendations arrived at in discourses in democratic decision-making processes that are driven by competition between different points of views and interests.
Titel: Kompensationen in alternativen Konfliktregelungsverfahren
Autor: Katharina Holzinger
Seite: 33-63
Abstract: In many cases collectively desirable projects can be carried out only after considerable social conflict because the unequal distribution of burden and benefit from such projects leads to local opposition. From an economic perspective this problem can (and should) be resolved by compensating those who are negatively affected, Using a fictitious example, the author demonstrates that compensation packages will (a) increase the collective welfare, (b) have a positive redistributive effect, and (c) contribute to unblocking negotiation standstills that result from local veto, In actual practice, however, compensation offers will often be rejected by those affected. In order to increase the acceptability of compensation, it is important that all the possibilities to limit and restitute damage be explored before consideration is given to acceptable forms of substitution or compensation, The search for adequate means of substitution and compensation requires the inclusion of all parties affected. Therefore alternative dispute resolution provides an ideal framework for such a process.
Titel: Regulatory Policy and the Consensus Trap: An Agency Perspective
Autor: Daniel J. Fiorino
Seite: 64-76
Abstract: Regulatory agencies in the United States have relied increasingly on consensus-based decision processes to build public support for their policies. If they are well-designed and managed effectively, consensus-based processes may increase support for an agency's policies and enhance its institutional legitimacy. But poorly-designed processes may lead to a consensus trap, in which an agency commits to making decisions based on a consensus the participants will never be able to achieve, Two recent initiatives of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency - negotiated rulemaking and the Common Sense Initiative suggest factors that may be associated with more and less sucessful consensus-based processes.
Titel: Rationalisierungseffekte durch Diskurse Beobachtungen aus einer Technikfolgenabschätzung
Autor: Rainer Döbert
Seite: 77-107
Abstract: With steadily accumulating knowledge and increasing differentiation of access to knowledge democracies face the troublesome problem of technocracy. A solution was sought in widened participation without giving up the claim that, rationality, would have a better chance of being realized. New, constructivist, theories renounce this claim on the basis of equally valid, rationalities,. This paper tries to refute this view by specifying the concept of rationality and by analysing discourse mechanisms furthering rationality. This is done by reconstructing some lines of argumentation of a technology assessment of transgenic herbicide-resistant crops. Conclusions arise which are difficult to reject because there is a binding form of rationality at work. But rational argumentation does not guarantee consensus in politicized debates.
Titel: Öffentlichkeit als Kontrolle technologischer Innovation. Aspekte langfristiger Planung
Autor: René von Schomberg
Seite: 108-125
Abstract: In convential democratic decison making, a contradiction has evolved between the demands of long term planning and democratic participation. In this article I will analyse, in how far new modes of decison making, such as national ethics committees, consensus conferences and participatory policy making on the basis of a precautionary principle, has been succesfull in coping with this contradiction. I will conclude that only participatory policy making could meet.
Titel: Der kooperative Diskurs: Grundkonzeption und Fallbeispiel
Autor: Ortwin Renn / Thomas Webler
Seite: 175-207
Abstract: Complex modern societies require new ways of political conflict solution, especially concerning environmental conflicts. We distinguish six forms of conflict solution, including those of mediated bargaining and cooperative discourse. If one opts for cooperative discourse, further orientation according to criteria such as fairness, competence, legitimation and efficiency seems to be important. Three procedural steps within cooperative discourse - i. e. establishing relevant value attitudes, expert-hearings, evaluation of options by citizen panels - are sketched and critically discussed, making use of experience from recent discoursive siting panels in Switzerland and Southern Germany. With the exception of a legitimatory deficiency (which may be improved) cooperative discourse and citizen participation in environmental decision-making turn out to be most promising.
Titel: Licht und Schatten des Diskurses. Bemerkungen zur diskursiven Lösung von Konflikten
Autor: Rudolf Schüßler
Seite: 208-224
Abstract: As a consequence of the world's present ecological crisis, the potential for political protest has increased and a demand for technologies of conflict resolution has arisen. One method, favored by Ortwin Renn, applies the ethics of open discourse to negotiations between politicians, experts, and citizens. The ethical appeal of this method can easily lead to an undervaluation of its shortcomings and risks - a problem which I will try to help amend in this article. Above all, it has to be noticed that the participation in open discourse can tranquilize grass-root protests even in areas where the willingness to engage in a compromise might hurt the true public interest. And who should choose which technology of conflict resolution is applied? The citizens themselves and not just the experts of discourse should probably decide.
Titel: Ein politisch-ökonomischer Blick auf Diskurse. Kooperativ beim Aperitif - mit Interessen zum Essen
Autor: Reiner Eichenberger
Seite: 225-244
Abstract: Cooperative discourse procedures produce consensual siting proposals for NIMBY-projects-but only if these proposals do not affect the final siting decision. Then, the members of the discourse commissions stay independent and face few incentives to pursue consequentialist interests. However, the more influential discourse procedures become, the stronger the interest groups, incentives are to take advantage of them. Thus, cooperative discourses turn into competitive, interest-centred procedures whose outcome is rejected by the less influential groups. The evolution, of discourse procedures into functionally specialized parliaments or even into FOCJ (Functional, Overlapping, Competing Jurisdictions) seems worth pursuing.
Titel: Diskursverfahren: Liebe auch auf den zweiten Blick?
Autor: Felix Oberholzer-Gee / Isabelle Vautravers-Busenhart / Armin Falk / Jürg de Spindler
Seite: 245-264
Abstract: Discourse-based processes seek to arrive at socially acceptable decisions by adhering to a specific set of procedures. In this case study, we empirically test how successful the 'Cooperative Discourse' was in identifying a socially acceptable site for a solid-waste landfill in Switzerland. Our results indicate that even individuals living in the community designated as the prospective site think highly of the 'Cooperative Discourse', but they know close to nothing about this procedure. This ignorance is rational, because, under Swiss laws, the recommendations of the discourse are not legally binding and siting projects can easily be thwarted by town hall meetings. In this case, the 'Cooperative Discourse' may have reached a consensus proposal because this proposal is socially not very relevant.
Titel: Das Paradox des Liberalismus - eine Einführung
Autor: Hartmut Kliemt
Seite: 1-19
Abstract: This is a somewhat simplistic introduction to some of the topics related to the so called "paradox of liberalism". It tries to serve the twin purpose of facilitating access to the papers printed in this issue of ANALYSE & KRITIK and putting them into a broader perspective.
Titel: Welfare, Rights, and Social Choice Procedure: A Perspective
Autor: Kotaro Suzumura
Seite: 20-37
Abstract: Sen's "The Impossibility of a Paretian Liberal" was meant to crystallize his fundamental criticism against the welfaristic basis of welfare economics in general, and social choice theory in particular. This paper vindicates Sen's criticism, arguing that its logical relevance is not lost in light of recent criticisms against his method of articulating individual rights in terms of a person's decisive power in social choice. We show that some recent proposals that Sen's articulation failed to capture a strong libertarian tradition of free contract and that an appropriate formulation of this tradition wipes off the Sen impossibility cannot be sustained. We then show that the game form articulation of rights casts serious doubts on the Sen articulation of liberty, but the Sen impossibility strenuously comes back in the context of realizing conferred game form rights as well as in the context of initial conferment of game form rights.
Titel: The Liberal Paradox. Some Jnterpretations When Rights Are Represented As Game Forms
Autor: Prasanta K. Pattanaik
Seite: 38-53
Abstract: The paper seeks to interpret the liberal paradox in a framework where individual rights are represented as game forms. Several close counterparts, in this framework, of Sen's theorem are considered, and their intuitive significance is discussed.
Titel: Admissibility and Feasibility in Game Forms
Autor: Marc Fleurbaey / Wulf Gaertner
Seite: 54-66
Abstract: This paper examines the exercise of individual or group rights within the game form approach. It focuses in particular on what it means for a strategy or action to be feasible and admissible. Admissibility is best discussed in relation to two basic distinctions among rights, passive and active rights on the one hand and negative and positive rights on the other. It is argued that while there are quite a few cases in which the outcomes of mutual rights exercising are to the fore, there are many situations where the uninhibited exercise of individual or group rights and not particular outcomes are what society is primarily interested in.
Titel: Right or Seemly?
Autor: Ken Binmore
Seite: 67-80
Abstract: This paper suggests that rights are best seen as being part of the description of a social state rather than as constituents of the mechanism by means of which society selects a social state, A theory of this kind is outlined in which a social state is modeled as an equilibrium in the game of life played by the citizens of a society.
Titel: Individual Rights and Legal Validity
Autor: Martin van Hees
Seite: 81-95
Abstract: The condition of liberty which Sen used in his famous theorem on the impossibility of the Paretian liberal was defined in terms of individual preferences. The preference-based approach has been the subject of much criticism, which led to the evolution of the game-theoretic analysis of rights. In this approach no references to individual preferences are made. Two questions are examined in this paper: how can different types of right be distinguished within a game-theoretic setting, and how do rights come into existence? These questions are addressed on the basis of ideas originating from legal theory The discussion shows that an analysis of rights should take account of the whole legal system of which a legal norm forms part. Furthermore, it reveals that preferences should be re-introduced into the formal study of individual rights.
Titel: Constitutional and Liberal Rights
Autor: Dennis C. Mueller
Seite: 96-117
Abstract: Amartya Sen has demonstrated a possible inconsistency between a (liberal) right and Pareto optimality. Neither Sen nor the subsequent literature have discussed the origin of the rights that lead to the liberal paradox. In this article I examine one possible origin of rights definitions - a constitutional contract agreed to by all members of the community. Constitutional rights are show to be vulnerable to a similar paradox as with liberal rights, but if the writers of the constitution were correct in their choice of actions to protect, such paradoxes will be unlikely and involve small welfare losses when they do occur. The article demonstrates that both the origin of rights and their potential role in advancing the interests of citizens can be explained using a utilitarian/welfarist methodology.
Titel: An Ambiguity in Sen's Alleged Proof of the Impossibility of a Pareto Libertarian
Autor: James M. Buchanan
Seite: 118-125
Abstract: "Minimal liberalism", in Sen's strict definition, is impossible, because any 'social state', once chosen, freezes all of its components, thereby removing any prospect of further assignment of choice-making authority.
Titel: The Paretian Liberal, His Liberties and His Contracts
Autor: Anthony de Jasay / Hartmut Kliemt
Seite: 126-147
Abstract: The paper tries to relate classical liberal intuitions about rights and liberties to some of the more formal discussions of the putative impossibility of a Paretian liberal. Its focus is on the interpretation of formal modelling rather than on formal analysis. The theoretical concepts of the formalized approaches more often than not distort the meaning of the non-formalized concepts of classical liberal theory. Using proper explications of the concepts of liberties and rights respectively the alleged paradoxes of liberalism lose their paradoxical character.
Titel: Comment on the Papers by J. M. Buchanan and by A. de Jasay and H. Kliemt
Autor: Friedrich Breyer
Seite: 148-152
Abstract: We distinguish between the paradigm of game theory in which individuals act directly and that of social choice in which an impartial observer acts on the basis of social preferences, which in turn are derived from individual preferences. Much of the critique of Sen brought forward by Buchanan and de Jasay and Kliemt rests on a confusion of these two paradigms.
Titel: Rights: Formulation and Consequences
Autor: Amartya Sen
Seite: 153-170
Abstract: The symposium included in this issue of ANALYSE & KRITIK has provided an excellent occasion to re-examine formal as well as motivational issues underlying the so-called liberal paradox. This rejoinder discusses the significance of the new results and analyses, their bearing on the formulation and implications of rights, and also corrects a misinterpretation. Reflections precipitated by the liberal paradox can influence the acceptability of different principles of social decisions, and also the interpretation of 'preference' and 'unanimity'. They also point to some concerns that are relevant in the formation of individual preferences in a society with interdependent lives.
Titel: Überlegungen zur Organtransplantation
Autor: Ernesto Garzón Valdés
Seite: 118-148
Abstract: Recent advances in medical technology, notwithstanding their potential blessings, have engendered a number of new ethical problems. Questions raised by rapidly improving techniques for the transplantation of human organs and body tissues have become especially urgent, The article tries to clarify and evaluate the main arguments advanced for and against different arrangements in this area. The first part concentrates on the problem of acquisition. The ethical status of eight ways of obtaining human body parts is investigated. The cases are derived from combinations of three criteria: whether the donor consents or not; whether or not he/she is alive or dead at the time of extraction; and whether or not donors (or their heirs) are compensated. In the second part, the problem of adjudication is treated. Three possible arrangements are examined: market, organ bank, and club.
Titel: Kommunitaristische Paradoxe
Autor: Eduardo Rivera-López
Seite: 149-166
Abstract: Two basic kinds of communitarians are discriminated. ,Weak communitarians, reject only the liberal metaethical theses that I call ,universalism, and ,neutralism,, but endorse liberal norms and institutions at the normative level. ,Strong communitarians, condemn liberalism at both levels: they reject not only universalism and neutralism, but also substantive liberal norms defending communitarian values (family, tradition, solidarity etc.). This article intends to show certain internal paradoxes of these two versions of communitarianism.
Titel: Rational Choice Fundierungen von Gerechtigkeitsprinzipien
Autor: Johannes Schmidt
Seite: 167-182
Abstract: The paper draws on a conceptual analysis of rational choice justifications of conceptions of justice. It is argued that the concept of justice can be reduced to two independent moral dimensions. From this conceptual thesis a simple conceptional criterion is derived which any powerful theory of rational choice theories of justice. It is shown that there is but one variant of the rational choice approach which in substantiating principles of justice does not violate this criterion.
Titel: Eine globale Rohstoffdividende
Autor: Thomas W. Pogge
Seite: 183-208
Abstract: We live in a world of radical inequality: Hundreds of millions suffer severe, lifelong poverty. Many others are quite well off and affluent enough significally to improve the lives of the global poor. Does this radical inequality constitute an injustice which we are involved? An affirmative answer finds broad support in different strands of the Western moral tradition, which also support the same program of institutional reform. This reform centers around a Global Resources Dividend, or GRD. A GRD in the amount of one percent of the global social product would raise some $300 Billion a year. This amount is too small to lead to economic dislocation. But it is large enough to eradicate global poverty within one or two decades.
Titel: Zur ökonomischen Analyse moralkonformen Handelns
Autor: Martin Leschke
Seite: 209-231
Abstract: This article deals with general features of moral behaviour from an economic perspective. Moral rules act as an enforcement mechanism replacing external sanctions with internal emotional sanctions such as guilt and shame. It is shown in many experiments and real life situations that morals influence the decision-making process and the outcomes. Moral attitudes help to overcome social dilemma situations if the actors' intrinsic motivation is relatively high and if these moral attitudes are wide-spread. It is argued that to reject the moral dimension means to restrict the relevance of economic theory. This paper emphasizes the importance of moral behaviour and offers a simple model of the effects of morality.
Titel: Steiner, s Trilemma. A Critical Comment on Hillel Steiner's "Rational Rights"
Autor: Eduardo Rivera-López
Seite: 232-235
Abstract: I try to show that Steiner's theory has very implausible normative consequences since it does not accept the prima facie character or rights. This theory is unable to solve the conflicts of interests in which the only intuitively plausible solution consists in overriding someone's rights.
Titel: Rational Rights
Autor: Hillel Steiner
Seite: 3-11
Abstract: A rational moral code must satisfy the condition of completeness. This same condition applies to a set of moral rights, where it takes the form of requiring that all the rights in that set be compossible: that their respective correlatively entailed duties be jointly fulfillable. Such joint fulfillability is guaranteed only by a set of fully differentiated individual domains. And if moral rights are to play any independent role in moral reasoning - any role logically independent of the values that bring persons into conflict - those domains must be determined by rules which are not derived from those values.
Titel: Liberalism and Nationalism
Autor: Hillel Steiner
Seite: 12-20
Abstract: Historically, liberal political philosophy has had much to say about who is entitled to nationhood. But it has had rather less to say about how to determine the legitimate territorial boundaries of nations and even less to say about what some such nations, so situated, might owe to others. The object of this paper is to show that the foundational principles of liberalism can generate reasonably determinate solutions to these problems. That is, the very same set of basic rights that liberalism ascribes to all persons is itself sufficient to determine which nations they are members of, where those nations, legitimate legal jurisdictions are located, and what amounts of wealth they each owe or are owed by other nations.
Titel: Steiner's Justice
Autor: Ulrich Steinvorth
Seite: 21-34
Abstract: Hillel Steiner is a libertarian who takes the equal right to natural resources seriously. Though there are objections to some of the conclusions he draws from this right, his approach might avoid the vices of liberalism and socialism and combine their virtues.
Titel: Rights and Distributive Economic Justice
Autor: Rex Martin
Seite: 35-51
Abstract: The paper has three main sections. The first is concerned with developing the idea of a democratic system of rights. The second section turns, then, to constructing an idea of economic justice suitable to such a system. The paper concludes, in its final section, with a brief reflection on and assessment of the general line of argument taken.
Titel: Libertarian Rights within Pluralistic Consequentialism
Autor: Guido Pincione
Seite: 52-66
Abstract: This essay questions the self-sufficiency of abstract, non-consequentialist, principles as a defence of a libertarian regime. The argument focuses on the difficulties involved in attempts to defend the priority of negative rights if an attractive conception of freedom and an agent-relative view about our reasons to respect rights are to be upheld. The paper closes by suggesting how libertarianism could gain support from various, and perhaps mutually irreducible and even conflicting, considerations in a wide consequentialist system.
Titel: Communitarianism and Collective Rights
Autor: Horacio Spector
Seite: 67-92
Abstract: The article distinguishes metaphysical from practical communitarianism. Metaphysical communitarianism is alleged to involve a concealed ideological element, which leads its adherents to stereotypes when trying to capture the essence of the modem self. The claim is examined that minorities, or other ethnic and cultural groups have collective rights, either moral or legal in nature. Justifications of collective rights resorting to the value of cultural identity are said to be in need of explaining why the case protecting such value is through rights. It is argued that practical communitarianism's case for collective rights needs embracing meta-normative and normative relativism, whose application to political action yields consequences at odds with widespread ethical intuitions.
Titel: Rights, Equality and Procreation
Autor: Paula Casal / Andrew Williams
Seite: 93-116
Abstract: Individual decisions about how to exercise the legal right to procreative liberty may generate either positive or negative externalities. From within a resource egalitarian perspective, such as that of Ronald Dworkin, it can be argued that procreative justice is asymmetric in the following respect. Justice need not require that parents be subsidised if they produce a public good, yet its ideal achievement may require their activities be taxed if they threaten to produce a public bad.
Titel: Structured and Unstructured Valuation
Autor: John Broome
Seite: 121-132
Abstract: Economists can value things for cost-benefit analysis using either a structured or an unstructured approach. The first imposes some theoretical structure on the valuation; the second does not. This paper explains the difference between the approaches and examines the relative merits of each. Cost-benefit analysis may be aimed at finding what would be the best action, or alternatively at finding which action should be done in a democracy. The paper explains the difference, and argues that the appropriate aim is the first. Given that, it comes down in favour of the structured approach to valuation. As an example, it discusses different approaches to valuing life in economics.
Titel: Beyond Costs and Benefits: Weighing Environmental Goods
Autor: John Foster
Seite: 133-149
Abstract: A teleological approach to deciding how we should act underlies the attempted extension of neo-classical economics to environmental issues, with its emphasis on comparative valuation in monetary terms. Such an extension fails because, in the environmental sphere, there are powerful reasons for denying commensurability of the relevant values. But this denial then tends to undercut any weighing of environmental goods. In response to this difficulty, the paper seeks to develop an account of the weighing of goods which would enable us to recognise value as a human creation, while also grounding it in an ecological unity with the wider life of nature.
Titel: Comment on John Foster
Autor: Anna Kusser
Seite: 150-152
Abstract: Modern environmental thought is characterized by a paradox. The value of environmental goods seems to transcend all purely human values. At the same time environmental goods have to be placed within an overall ranking if there is to be rational environmental policy. It is argued that John Foster's concept of value-judgement cannot solve this paradox.
Titel: Sind alle Werte vergleichbar? Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse und das Inkommensurabilitätsproblem
Autor: Peter Schaber
Seite: 153-165
Abstract: Are the values of different options and goods, as cost-benefit analysis assumes, commensurable? Not always. The incommensurability of certain options is based on the fact that preferences are sometimes not rankable, even if the agent is fully informed about the options in question. In addition, even if all values were commensurable they could not be compared in monetary terms. If this is the case, cost-benefit analysis should not be seen as a decision procedure.
Titel: Cost-Benefit Analysis and Procedural Values
Autor: Douglas MacLean
Seite: 166-180
Abstract: One argument against using cost-benefit analysis to justify policies aimed at promoting human life and health or protecting the environment is that it requires putting a price on priceless goods. This distorts the value of these goods, and it can affect their value by cheapening them. This argument might be rejected by a moral consequentialist who believes that a rational agent should always be able to reflect on his values, even priceless goods, and assess their costs and their importance. This article defends the argument against cost-benefit analysis and suggests that a proper understanding of priceless goods shows that they also raise difficulties for consequentialist moral theories.
Titel: Comment on Douglas MacLean
Autor: Anton Leist
Seite: 181-185
Abstract: Some goods cannot, according to MacLean, be dealt with adequately by cost-benefit analysis. An explanation for this thesis is given, linking these goods to the altruism implied in intimate social relations. MacLean's argument is then shown to be insufficient when extended to matters of public relevance. The integration of political values and economic costs should be possible, on a level doing justice to both.
Titel: Trying to Find the Right Approach to Greenhouse Economics. Some Reflections upon the Role of Cost-Benefit Analysis
Autor: Clive L. Spash
Seite: 186-199
Abstract: The approach to controlling greenhouse gas emissions suggested by simple neo-classical economic models has appeared in prominent mainstream journals. This entails weighing up the costs of control compared to the benefits of avoiding damages due to global climate change. This paper presents a critique of extending the microeconomic project based methodology to a complex global problem; raising issues of uncertainty and ignorance. An alternative to simple utilitarianism is seen to be necessary and the potential of a deontological approach is argued to be greater with regard to policy decisions concerning future generations.
Titel: Comment on Clive L. Spash
Autor: Georg Erdmann
Seite: 200-201
Abstract: The basic message put forward by Spash is sound, namely that cost-benefit analysis (CBA) can hardly be used to address the question of how much money society should optimally spend in order to avoid greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, the points in Spash's paper against the use of CBA for the GHG assessment vary in their significance.
Titel: Preferences, Virtues, and Institutions
Autor: John O'Neill
Seite: 202-216
Abstract: Public choice theory presents itself as a new institutional economics that rectifies the failure of the neo-classical tradition to treat the institutional dimension of economics. It offers criticism of both neo-classical defenders of cost-benefit analysis and their environmental critics. Both assume the existence of benign political actors. While sharing some of its scepticism about this assumption, this paper argues that the public choice perspective is flawed. The old institutionalism of classical economics provides a better perspective to examine both explanatory and normative problems occasioned by environmental problems than does the new institutionalism, raising significant questions about the relationship between environmental goods, virtues and institutions which have been lost to recent discussion.
Titel: Comment on John O'Neill
Autor: Rudolf Schüßler
Seite: 217-219
Abstract: The comment focusses on O,Neills advocacy of Classical Institutionalism (CI) and the problems of the ideal-regarding approach to the construction of institutions. It maintains that CI shows no signs of progress which would justify a renewed exclusive interest in this paradigm and that the ideal-regarding approach needs some consequentialist balancing to avoid obvious risks of totalitarian denaturation.
Titel: Der avancierte Affe. Zur Rolle soziobiologischer und philosophischer Theorien über die menschliche Natur
Autor: Hartmut Kliemt
Seite: 3-19
Abstract: In this article sociobiology is ,put into perspective,, from a history of ideas and a systematical point of view. It is argued that it would be foolish to regard biology as irrelevant to our concept of man and society. At the same time it would be grossly inadequate too to ignore the characteristics of human kind.
Titel: The Point of Politics
Autor: Laura Betzig
Seite: 20-37
Abstract: Why do men and women compete? And what makes them compete more or less? An answer to the first question follows directly from Darwin. If Homo sapiens, like other species, is a product of natural selection, then we should have evolved to compete in order to reproduce. An answer to the second question follows from more recent versions of Darwinism. People, like other organisms, are likely to compete socially - to form dominance hierarchies - to the extent that it is costly for subordinates to flee ecologically. This paper first reviews evidence that winners at political competition have consistently won at reproductive competition. Next, it documents the slow shift toward declining political competition - toward democracy, and toward declining reproductive competition - toward monogamy, in the course of Western history. Last, it offers a model of what might account for that change.
Titel: Human Sex Differences in Behavioral Ecological Perspective
Autor: Bobbi S. Low
Seite: 38-67
Abstract: Behavioral ecology, based in the theory of natural selection, predicts that certain behaviors are likely to differ consistently between the sexes in humans as well as other species: aggression, resource striving, information content of sexual signalling. These differences, though of course open to modification by cultural practice, arise because male and female humans, like males and females of other mammal species, typically optimize their reproductive lifetimes through different behaviors: males specializing in mating effort (which has a high fixed cost, and is not offspring-specific), and females in parental effort (which has more linear reproductive returns, and is offspring-specific). The resulting patterns are reviewed.
Titel: Is There Psychological Adaptation to Rape?
Autor: Randy Thornhill
Seite: 68-85
Abstract: Psychological adaptation underlies all human behavior. Thus, rape could either arise from a rape-specific psychological adaptation or it could be a side-effect of a more general psychological adaptation not directly related to rape. The rape-specific hypothesis and the incidental effect hypothesis are explained. Determinig the specific environmental cues that men's sexual psyche has been designed by selection to process will allow us to decide which of these two hypotheses is true. I focus on rape, and briefly look at other types of sexual coercion, such as sexual harassment and incest.
Titel: Die biologischen Wurzeln des Inzestverbots
Autor: Jörg Klein
Seite: 86-100
Abstract: Does an inclination towards incest exist and why is incest prohibited? There are mainly two points of view: that of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, and that of Edward Westermarck, a Finnish-British anthropologist. Freud is of the opinion that men have a profound desire for incest, whereas Westermarck presumes an instinctive aversion against it. Nowadays the discussion has received fresh impulse due to a modern interpretation of Westermarck's theory and the controversy over the sexual abuse of children in their families. The author is in favour of the Westermarck theory and tries to explain the prohibition of incest based on a natural inhibition towards incest.
Titel: Fremdenfeindlichkeit aus der Sicht der Evolutionsbiologie
Autor: Paul Winkler
Seite: 101-115
Abstract: Evolutionary biology tries to explain the adaptability of different traits including social behaviour. However, it does not and cannot say anything about what is 'good' or 'bad' behaviour. If scientists try to do so they risk being put into the same category as ideologists and political demagogues. Evolutionary biology can tell us something about the phylogeny of certain types of behaviour including xenophobia. It can describe which constraints can lead to the outbreak of such behaviour, without thereby legitimating this behaviour.
Titel: Die Kontroverse um die Menschenrechte
Autor: Ernst Tugendhat
Seite: 101-110
Abstract: It is assumed a) that the statement that a human right exists means that a state which does not grant it is not legitimate, and b) that the legitimacy of power can, in modern times, be justified only by showing that it is in the equal interest of everybody. Mere democracy is insufficient to legitimate political power. Freedom for every individual must be guaranteed. So much is common ground in the controversy on human rights, but to interpret these freedom as a negative freedom, as the classical conception of human rights has done, is insufficient and therefore illegitimate, because it is not in the equal interest of everybody. To add a positive concept of freedom is correct but not enough, because it still neglects those who even if they are given the facilities do not have the capacity. Since the handicapped, the old and the young cannot even enter a contract and the disposessed cannot enter a fair contract, the contractarian foundation ofhuman rights must be discarded.
Titel: Kritische Anmerkungen zu Ernst Tugendhats Konzept der Legitimität
Autor: Norbert Hoerster
Seite: 111-114
Abstract: According to Tugendhat's moral theory of legitimation the equal consideration of the interests of all is required. Tugendhat claims that this concept is the only one remaining as traditional forms of justification are no longer available. The author argues that Tugendhat's theory must fail because he tries to realize two contradictory aims: on the one hand that his principle of legitimation should not to be reduced to individual interests; on the other hand that it should be reached without any aprioristic presuppositions.
Titel: Ernst Tugendhat über Menschenrechte - Kontroverse Bemerkungen
Autor: Peter Koller
Seite: 115-119
Abstract: In this critical comment on Ernst Tugendhat's paper I dispute his view in two respects: the first refers to the concept, the second to the justification of human rights. As far as the concept of human rights is concerned, I argue that Tugendhat fails to notice that there are different kinds of human rights which are to be distinguished carefully. This conceptual failure prevents him from seeing that different human rights are justified by different reasons. While universal human rights can be justified by the principle of universalization, community rights are based on the demands of social justice.
Titel: Collective Identities and Citizenship
Autor: Julian Nida-Rümelin
Seite: 120-128
Abstract: In the following I try to show that there is an attractive notion of citizenship which is independent of any kind of collective identity. Citizenship is understood as one form of social interaction. It is argued that in order to understand social interaction adequately, it is necessary to introduce a structural theory of practical rationality, to the extent this conception of citizenship is based on the theory of structural rationality.
Titel: Diskursethik, Politische Ökonomie und Volksabstimmungen
Autor: Bruno S. Frey / Gebhard Kirchgässner
Seite: 129-149
Abstract: First, the approaches of Diskursethik (Discourse ethics) and of Modern Political Economy are described. While the latter investigates political decision processes, the former is concerned with the discourse process which takes place before a decision is made. This is shown by using referenda as an example. The discourse which takes place before referenda obviously does not conform to the ideal conditions defined in Diskursethik, but discourse and decisions in the context of referenda come nearer to the intentions of Diskursethik and Political Economy than other decision procedures which are used in representative democracies.
Titel: Volksabstimmungen, Verhandlungen und der Schleier der Insignifikanz. Kommentar zu Bruno S. Frey / Gebhard Kirchgässners "Diskursethik, Politische Ökonomie und Volksabstimmungen"
Autor: Michael Baurmann / Hartmut Kliemt
Seite: 150-167
Abstract: To combine some views of 'Diskursethik' and Constitutional Political Economy seems to be promising. In our comments on Frey's and Kirchgässner's attempt to join the forces of Discourse theory and Political Economy in defending the wider spread use of referenda we direct attention to three points. Firstly, the normative basis of both concepts is unsettled. Secondly, an economic approach contrary to the supposition of Frey and Kirchgässner provides substantial insights into the processes which precede collective decisions. Thirdly, the 'veil of insignificance' in referenda will not necessarily increase altruism in voting behavior.
Titel: Formen der 'Zerlegbarkeit' sozialer Phänomene
Autor: Andreas Balog
Seite: 168-191
Abstract: One aspect of the Micro-Macro-Problem is the analysis of the principles of composition and decomposition. Since these principles play a considerable role in everyday life whenever people identify parts of large social units, they can be derived by way of reconstruction from everyday knowledge. On this basis a definition of micro-macro-relations is developed. According to this definition there are empirical and conceptual relations between the macro-phenomenon and its constituent parts, although the micro-phenomena are also independent entities in their own right. Two different forms of ascription of macro-attributes are distinguished and the limits of 'upward'-composition and 'downward'-decomposition are discussed. Finally, consequences of this perspective are presented concerning the explanation of social facts.
Titel: Freuds Trieblehre als Konzeption eines allumfassenden Strebens nach Lust. Ein sprachanalytischer Rekonstruktionsversuch
Autor: Stefan Hölscher
Seite: 192-215
Abstract: The subject of this article is a rational reconstruction of Freud's dualistic conception of drive based on the principles of sexuality and aggression. In the first two parts today's most popular theses about this conception will be discussed critically. The last two parts of the article unfold a conception in which the search for pleasure, which is basic to all activities, replaces the fundamental principle of motivation theory, whose elementary attributes are the phenomena of sexuality and aggression. Important advantages of this conception are its logical-semantical consistence, a decrease in dogmatism and an increase in the plausibility of psychoanalytical anthropology.
Titel: Corporate Action: A Reply to Coleman
Autor: Raimo Tuomela
Seite: 216-218
Abstract: This short note argues that the basic points Coleman (l993) makes against my critical paper (l993) are incorrect. These points concern the possibility of a single agent holding a corporate goal, the doxastic conditions concerning group action, and 'jointness-effects'.
Titel: Putting Coleman's Transition Right-Side Up
Autor: Peter M. Blau
Seite: 3-10
Abstract: Coleman states that social phenomena cannot be directly accounted for by their social antecedents without analyzing three intervening steps: what motives the antecedents create, how these affect individual behavior, and the transition from the acts of interdependent individuals to social phenomena. The last is most important. I agree, but Foundations has its causal link upside down. Reanalyzing some of his cases, I try to show that macrostructures are not the product of microfoundations but the existential conditions that circumscribe individuals, choices.
Titel: Corporate Intention and Corporate Action
Autor: Raimo Tuomela
Seite: 11-21
Abstract: This paper comments on Coleman's account of group action (or corporate action, in his terminology), and his view is compared with the present author's largely complementary view (e. g. Tuomela 1993). Some criticisms concerning Coleman's linear system of action are presented. One of the main points made is that a viable theory of social action must make use of a notion of joint intention and that Coleman's theory is deficient on this score.
Titel: Sozialkapital und das Kooperationsproblem in sozialen Dilemmata
Autor: Andreas Diekmann
Seite: 22-35
Abstract: Coleman's Foundations devotes much attention to the role of 'social capital' in solving problems of cooperation in dilemma situations. In contrast to the human capital approach, however, there is no stringent theory of social capital allowing for the deduction of empirically testable hypotheses from a set of general principles. This article demonstrates by means of various examples that social capital is an important exogenous factor inducing the evolution of cooperation and the stabilization of cooperation in N-person dilemmas. Some preliminary suggestions are made concerning the measurement of social capital and its ,rate of return, as a productive factor contributing to the cooperative solution in dilemma situations.
Titel: Rechte und Normen als soziale Tatsachen
Autor: Michael Baurmann
Seite: 36-61
Abstract: The concept of right plays a central role in Coleman's Foundations of Social Theory. It is defined as an empirical concept which refers to rights as social facts. One consequence of this view is according to Coleman that the normative-ethical question of how rights ought to be distributed can have no answer. The following article wants to show that this thesis is not convincing. The main focus of the article is a critical analysis of Coleman's theory of the relationship between rights and norms. It is argued that Coleman's 'right-based' approach to define the concept of norm-existence with the concept of right is not tenable. On the contrary only a 'norm-based' approach is adequate which bases the concept of right on the concept of norm. Some explanatory consequences of this alternative view are discussed and it is shown that on this ground Coleman's attack on normative ethics can be rejected.
Titel: Reply to Blau, Tuomela, Diekmann and Baurmann
Autor: James S. Coleman
Seite: 62-69
Abstract: This reply responds to four authors in this issue of ANALYSE & KRITIK. I find disagreements with Peter Blau being of a lesser degree than he sees them, though I emphasize the micro-macro relation through which actions combine to produce systemic outcomes, while he emphasizes the effect of social structure upon individuals. Raimo Tuomela exposites a concept of group action which has some differences from my concept of corporate action, but many similarities. Andreas Diekmann examines in detail the problems of collective action toward provision of a public good. From Foundations he makes use of the concept of social capital, showing how with further development it might prove analytically useful; I encourage this direction of work. Michael Baurmann wants to lay a foundation of norms in place of the rights foundation which I develop. While I reject this shift, I largely accept his critique of my position regarding normative theory.
Titel: Cooperation, Norms, and Moral Motivation
Autor: Michael Taylor
Seite: 70-86
Abstract: It has been said that norms can solve collective action problems. To endorse a norm is to hold a normative belief. This article insists that we try to isolate moral motivation - motivation by moral belief - as such, and that its existence cannot be taken for granted. Accepting the Humean view that belief alone cannot motivate, the article rejects the thesis that there is a necessary or conceptual connection between moral belief and motivation; it warns that in looking for motivational powers or effects of normative belief we must take care to rule out the possibility that the motivation is merely derived from existing desires; and it argues that deliberation and evaluation do not produce desires purely out of beliefs. These considerations are among the necessary preliminaries to getting clear about the role of 'social capital' in solving collective action problems.
Titel: Kymlicka on British Muslims
Autor: Tariq Modood
Seite: 87-91
Abstract: Will Kymlicka has recently (in ANALYSE & KRITIK 14) argued that western liberals are mistaken in assuming that religious pluralism presupposes a commitment to individual rights. He instances the millet system of the Ottoman Empire as a successful form of toleration based on group rather than individual rights. In the course of his argument he makes some remarks about British Muslims and arranged marriages, sexual segregation in education and the Rushdie Affair which are false or highly misleading though typical of the prejudice-cum-ignorance with which British and other intellectuals discuss Muslims.
Titel: Reply to Modood
Autor: Will Kymlicka
Seite: 92-96
Abstract: In reply to Dr. Modood, I re-examine two examples where recent British Muslim demands conflict with liberal-democratic norms. Such conflicts are not unique to Muslims, but arise with most religious communities.
Titel: Kymlicka on British Muslims: A Rejoinder
Autor: Tariq Modood
Seite: 97-99
Abstract: I accept Kymlicka's admission that his remarks on arranged marriages and sex-segregated education were misleading, and continue to contest his description of British Muslim perspectives on the Rushdie Affair. By not recognising that Muslims are adapting to western legal systems and political culture he contributes to a polarisation and fails to see that liberals do have something to be optimistic about.
Titel: The Vision of Foundations of Social Theory
Autor: James S. Coleman
Seite: 117-128
Abstract: Modern society has undergone a fundamental change to a society built around purposively established organizations. Social theory in this context can be a guide to social construction. Foundations of Social Theory is dedicated to this aim. Being oriented towards the design of social institutions it has to choose a voluntaristic, purposive theory of action and must make the behavior of social systems explainable in terms of the combination of individual actions. It has to deal with the emergence and maintenance of norms and rights, the concepts of authority, trust, law and legitimacy, the viability of organizations and the efficiency of social systems. But more important than the specific points is the vision of a new role for social theory in an increasingly constructed social environment. This vision is the motivation behind Foundations of Social Theory.
Titel: 'Foundations of Social Theory' oder 'Foundations of Sociology'?
Autor: Hartmut Esser
Seite: 129-142
Abstract: The comment deals with the relevance of Coleman's Foundations of Social Theory for so called 'sociological theory'. On the one hand Coleman's work is an extraordinary contribution to the solution of some of the most important 'classical' questions of sociology. On the other hand it is to be expected that the enormous potential of the book probably has only limited effects within the wider sociological profession. One reason for that estimation is the unfamiliarity of many sociologists with Coleman's instruments of aggregation of collective effects. The other - more important - reason is that Coleman almost completely leaves out any discussion of the importance of 'symbolic' and 'cultural' processes. Insofar the book is indeed a "Foundation of Social Theory" but not a foundation of 'sociology' in its past and present understanding.
Titel: Micro-Macro Transitions in Rational Choice Explanations
Autor: Karl-Dieter Opp
Seite: 143-151
Abstract: The rational choice approach focuses on explaining macrosocial phenomena or relationships by applying a theory about the behavior of individual actors. This paper addresses James S. Coleman's account of micro-macro transitions involved in rational choice explanations. The starting point of this account is a macro-relationship. Its independent variable has a causal effect on the independent variable of a micro-relationship. The dependent variable of this relationship in turn influences the dependent variable of the macro-relationship (see Figure 1 of this paper). The paper extends this account by delineating other types of micro-macro explanations and discusses some of its problems.
Titel: The Street-Level Epistemology of Trust
Autor: Russell Hardin
Seite: 152-176
Abstract: Rational choice and other accounts of trust base it in objective assessments of the risks and benefits of trusting. But rational subjects must choose in the light of what knowledge they have, and that knowledge determines their capacities for trust. This is an epistemological issue, but not at the usual level of the philosophy of knowledge. Rather, it is an issue of pragmatic rationality for a given actor. It is commonly argued that trust is inherently embedded in iterated, thick relationships. But such relationships are merely one source of relevant knowledge in a street-level epistemological account. Early experience may heavily influence later capacity for trust. For example, bad experience may lead to lower levels of trust and therefore fewer opportunities for mutual gain.
Titel: Altruismus, Moralität und Vertrauen
Autor: Norman Braun
Seite: 177-186
Abstract: Successful trust-relations exist if the trustee reciprocates in aceordance with his/her promises to the trustor's unilateral cooperation. Using a parametric rational choice approach, Coleman shows that an egoist without a moral conscience may place trust in another unmoral egoist. Consequently, successful trust-relations between those actors are possible if strategie considerations play no role for individual decision-making. This paper focusses on such considerations for the emergence of those relations, given complete information (in the sense of common knowledge) of the players. Generally, trust-relations are hard to establish if unmoral egoists take into account their strategie interdependence. It is shown that two different motivations of the trustee, viz., altruism and morality, may suffice to overcome the characteristic conflict between individual rationality and social efficieney in situations with strategically deciding actors.
Titel: Eine Notiz über die Stabilisierung von Vertrauen durch eine Mischung von wiederholten Interaktionen und glaubwürdigen Festlegungen
Autor: Werner Raub
Seite: 187-194
Abstract: Various mechanisms are known that can stabilize trust relations. Examples are repeated interactions and credible commitments through warranties, deposits, and other kinds of 'hostages'. Usually, these mechanisms are studied in isolation from one another. An integrated analysis is widely neglected. In this note, the effects of a 'mix' of mechanisms are analyzed. A simple case is offered, where a combination of repeated interactions and credible commitments can stabilize trust, while neither of the mechanisms alone can do so.
Titel: On the Foundations of Social Science Research
Autor: Dennis C. Mueller
Seite: 195-220
Abstract: Is it possible that all of the social sciences could employ a common methodology? If so, what would it be? This article adresses these questions. It takes off from James Coleman's recent book, The Foundations of Social Theory. Coleman's social theory is built on the postulate that individuals are rational actors, the same postulate that most of modern economics is built upon. This article critiques the use of this postulate in economics, and thus questions whether it is a useful building block for the methodological foundations of social science research. It proposes an adaptive view of human behavior as an alternative in which preferences are conditioned by past experience. The work of Joseph Schumpeter is discussed as an exemplar of the methodology advocated here.
Titel: Die Auflösung des Sozialen
Autor: Peter Kappelhoff
Seite: 221-238
Abstract: Coleman's Foundations of Social Theory is based on a theory of rational action in the specific version of utility maximization embedded in a macro-micro-macro-framework. This approach is logically and empirically deficient in the following aspects: The social constitution of the situation and the actor himself is excluded from the theoretical consideration (macro to micro transition). Limitations to rationality remain implicit and are not integrated into an empirically founded theory of bounded rationality (micro-theory). The dynamics of non-equilibrium systems are outside the realm of the theory (micro to macro transition). Central concepts of social theory, as for instance rights and norms, are reduced to a power based balance of interests. This results in a dissolution of social structure and in an infinite regress of contingent conditions.
Titel: Liberal Justification and the Limits of Neutrality
Autor: Arthur Ripstein
Seite: 3-18
Abstract: This paper examines a style of political justification prominent in contemporary liberalism, according to which policies are legitimate only if they can be shown to be acceptable to all. Although this approach is often associated with neutrality about the good life, it is argued that liberalism cannot be neutral about questions of the role of various goods, such as work, play and community. The paper closes by exploring the implications and applicability of this account of justification to contemporary political practice.
Titel: Constructivism and Practical Reason in Rawls
Autor: Kenneth Baynes
Seite: 18-32
Reason must in all its undertakings subject itself to criticism; should it limit freedom of criticism by any prohibitions, it must harm itself, drawing upon itself a damaging suspicion ... Reason depends on this freedom for its very existence. For reason has no dictatorial authority; its verdict is always simply the agreement of free citizens, of whom each one must be permitted to express, without let or hindrance, his objection or even his veto. I. Kant, Critique of Pure Reason (A738/B766)
Abstract: This essay argues that Rawls's recent constructivist approach waivers between a relativist defense and a more Kantian account which grounds his conception of justice in the idea of an agreement between free and equal moral persons. It is suggested that this ambiguity lies at the center of his attempt to provide a "political not metaphysical" account which is also not "political in the wrong way".
Titel: Two Models of Pluralism and Tolerance
Autor: Will Kymlicka
Seite: 33-56
Abstract: In his most recent work, John Rawls argues that political theory must recognize and accomodate the 'fact of pluralism', including the fact of religious diversity. He believes that the liberal commitment to individual rights provides the only feasible model for accomodating religious pluralism. In this paper, I discuss a second form of tolerance, based on group rights rather than individual rights. Drawing on historical examples, I argue that this is also a feasable model for accomodating religious pluralism. While both models ensure tolerance between groups, only the former tolerates individual dissent within groups. To defend the individual rights model, therefore, liberals must appeal not only to the fact of social pluralism, but also to the value of individual autonomy. This may require abandoning Rawl's belief that liberalism can and should be defended on purely 'political', rather than 'comprehensive' grounds.
Titel: Stepping Back
Autor: Sharon A. Lloyd
Seite: 72-85
Abstract: Although Rawls insists that his argument for his theory of justice neither addresses nor requires that we settle in advance any of the deep questions of philosophy, there are nonetheless more subtle ways in which his work may bear on such questions. The article explores how Rawls's work may advance our thinking on the general philosophical question of how language affects thought, by enabling us to assess the conceptual consequences of two alternative metaphors for describing our activity when we engage in critical self-reflection. The effects on our thinking of our common use of the metaphor of 'stepping back' to describe this activity are contrasted with those of an alternative metaphor suggested by Rawls's work. The resulting conclusions are then employed to illuminate Rawl's reply to an interesting objection to his theory raised by Michael Sandel.
Titel: Der ungleiche Wert der Freiheit. Aspekte feministischer Kritik am Liberalismus und Kommunitarismus
Autor: Beate Rössler
Seite: 86-113
Abstract: Starting from the given societal fact of an unequal ,worth of freedom, for men and women in pursuing possible plans of life, and the assumption that this difference is due to the distinction between the private and public realm, the author investigates into the gender-structure of recent political theories. Following the lines of the debate between communitarians and liberals she argues for the thesis that while communitarians try to ,privatize, the public sphere on the model of the ideal family or given traditions of communities and thus cannot account for the idea of emancipation from given structures and roles, liberals have to ,publicize, the private in order to give substance to the idea of an ,equal worth of freedom, for men and women. Thus, liberalism has to rethink the theoretical distinction of the private and the public sphere and its practical consequences.
Titel: Facetten der Macht
Autor: Peter Koller
Seite: 107-133
Abstract: Social power has many facets. This paper aims to illuminate some of these. First of all, it considers the general conceptual framework in which the concept of power is embedded. The author then elaborates on an analysis of the elementary concept of social power resulting in a proposal how to define power. Furthermore, the article deals with complex networks of power relations, namely constellations and structures of power. Another section focuses on some special aspects of the dynamics of power structures. Finally, the author discusses the problem of legitimation of power.
Titel: Drei Theorien der Macht
Autor: Wolfgang Kersting
Seite: 134-154
Abstract: In distinguishing and describing three types of theories of power, i. e. the concept of subjectivity-based power, the concept of system-based or structuralist power and the concept of intersubjectivity-based power, this paper analyses and discusses in detail the communitarian concept of power invented and developed by Hannah Arendt and criticizes her thesis of politics and community being independent of any considerations concerning normative truth.
Titel: Macht oder Methaphysik
Autor: Ulrich Steinvorth
Seite: 155-169
Abstract: Our acting and thinking can be guided by two ends which may combine but are irreducible nevertheless: the end of satisfying one's interests and the end of distinguishing between true and false, right and wrong. Recognition of the difference between these ends led philosophers before the modern age to contrasting the life of power and the life of spirit or mind. Modern philosophers, in particular pragmatists, utilitarians and communication theorists, tried to show that truth and justice can be conceived of without implying an opposition to power and mind. I argue that they are wrong.
Titel: Individuelles Handeln und Macht: Foucaults Herausforderung
Autor: Anton Leist
Seite: 170-183
Abstract: Foucault's twofold attack on the modern concept of power gives us something to think about. Backed by ingenious historical analyses he devises an idea of systemic an productive power, abstracted from the conceptual connections between power and individual power-sources, viz. power and restrictions of freedom. The article probes Foucault's historical sketches on these two tasks. It defends the less radical view of power as constraining interests and freedom.
Titel: Zur Philosophie der Demokratie: Arrow-Theorem, Liberalität und strukturelle Normen
Autor: Julian Nida-Rümelin
Seite: 184-203
Abstract: The paradoxes and dilemmas of social choice theory can be taken as an argument against a certain view of democracy: For the identity theory democracy represents a collective actor standing for aggregated individual interests. According to a second model of society, democracy has its normative basis in structural traits of interaction and cooperation. Within the formal theory of politics both the Arrow-Theorem and the Liberal Paradox undermine the identity theory and give us reasons for the second, the normative theory which takes democracy as being constituted by strucutral rules.
Titel: Die Dimensionen der Ungleichheit in der modernen Gesellschaft
Autor: Thomas Burger
Seite: 1-33
Abstract: Recent developments in advanced industrial societies have increased the prominence of kinds of social inequality not adequately accomodated in traditional theories of class and social stratification. It is argued that the source of this failure is not, as has been claimed, the vertical imagery informing these theories, but rather their one-dimensionality, i.e., their assumption of a single unitary distributive mechanism as the essential generator of comprehensive social inequality. The weakness of a one-dimensional approach is illustrated through an anlysis of Beck's criticism of a class-hierarchy model and his notion of 'individualized' inequality. The analytic superiority of a three-dimensional view of social stratification is advocated, and its systematic foundations in Weber's statements on classes, estates, and political domination are explicated and elaborated. The shortcomings of Weber's views on social status are diagnosed, some elements of a theory of status inequality compatible with Weber's analytical schema are presented, and the multidimensionality of status inequality is underscored.
Titel: Max Weber and the Legitimacy of the Modern State
Autor: David Beetham
Seite: 34-45
Abstract: Max Weber's typology of legitimate ,Herrschaft, has provided the basis for the treatment of legitimacy in twentieth century sociology and political science. The thesis of the article is that this typology is a misleading tool for the analysis of the modern state, and especially for the comparative analysis of political systems. This is because of basic flaws in Weber's conceptualisation of legitimacy itself, and in his account of the normative basis of authority. The article offers an alternative, multi-dimensional account of political legitimacy, and suggests how it might be used to develop a typology of forms of ,Herrschaft, more appropriate to the analysis of the modern state.
Titel: Two Theorists of Action: Ihering and Weber
Autor: Stephen P. Turner
Seite: 46-61
Abstract: Rudolf von Ihering was the leading German philosopher of law of the nineteenth century. He was also a major source of Weber's more famous sociological definitions of action. Characteristically, Weber transformed material he found: in this case Ihering's attempt to reconcile the causal and teleological aspects of action. In Ihering's hands these become, respectively, the external and internal moments of action, or intentional thought and the factual consequences of action. For Weber they are made into epistemic aspects of action, the causal and the meaningful, each of which is essential to an account of action, but which are logically and epistemically distinct. Ihering thought purposes were the products of underlying interests, but included 'ideal' interests in this category. Weber radicalized this by expanding the category and making it historically central. This radicalization bears on rational choice theory: if ideal interests have a large historical role independent of material interests, and are not fully explicable on such grounds as 'sourgrapes,, the methods appropriate to the study of the transformation of ideas, meaning genealogies in the Nietzschean sense, are central to the explanation of action.
Titel: Is Analytical Action Theory Reductionist?
Autor: Ian Carter
Seite: 61-66
Abstract: Steven Lukes and Alasdair MacIntyre have accused analytical action theory of being motivated by reductionist aims and of ignoring the fact that what is distinctively human about actions is their essentially social character. These reductionist aims are said to 'subvert, the search for the distinctively human. Enterprises that have particularly come under fire (and which Lukes recommends ,abandoning,) are the search for 'basic' actions and attempts to solve problems regarding the 'individuation' of actions. Lukes and MacIntyre are mistaken however, both in their interpretation of the aims which motivate analytical action theory, and in their characterisation of the search for the distinctively human. 'Individuated' or 'basic' actions are not complex social actions reduced down to their 'simplest elements'. They represent attempts to resolve problems which arise prior to the examination of the social character of actions.
Titel: Rawls and the Socratic Ideal
Autor: Kai Nielsen
Seite: 67-93
Abstract: John Rawls's recommendation that political philosophy should be kept free of metaphysics has recently come under attack by Jean Hampton. According to her philosophy as a Socratic quest has to orient itself by radical probing and that unavoidingly involves us in metaphysical commitment. Non-Socratic philosophy in the later Rawls, she claims, reduces itself to a mere modus vivendi. In defending Rawls the article makes clear how Hampton underrates the method of reflective equilibrium. Rawls makes a rationally reconstructed use of the Socratic ideal, that can be turned not only against Hampton's critique of Rawls, but also against its relativist appropriation by Richard Rorty.
Titel: Objectivity of the Concepts of Health and Disease
Autor: Paul Thompson
Seite: 94-101
Abstract: It is now widely accepted that the concepts of "health" and "disease" in psychiatric and psychological contexts are value laden. In this article I argue that even in the realm of physical illness and disease (appendicitis, phenylketonuria, etc.), the concepts of "health", "illness" and "disease" are value laden. I explore the four most common bases used to objectively ground the key concept "normal functioning", namely, genetic structure, evolutionary fitness, non-premature death and absence of pain. I argue that they all fail to adequately provide an objective grounding for the concept "normal functioning" (health) and, hence, for "abnormal functioning" (illness, disease). The reason an objective grounding cannot be given is that physical "health", "illness" and "disease" rest on widely shared values in addition to the condition of the organism.
Titel: Wrong Register: Kindstötung als Nichtaufnahme in den Club
Autor: Peter Koslowski
Seite: 101-102
Abstract: Zu diesem Beitrag steht leider kein Abstract zur Verfügung.
Titel: Antwort auf eine ,Richtigstellung,
Autor: Hartmut Kliemt
Seite: 102-104
Abstract: Zu diesem Beitrag steht leider kein Abstract zur Verfügung.
Titel: Zwischen Leben entscheiden: Eine Verteidigung
Autor: Peter Singer / Helga Kuhse
Seite: 119-130
Abstract: We examine the view that all human life is of equal worth or sanctity. We find that this view is a legacy of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and cannot be justified in non-religious terms. We therefore argue that it should be rejected, and that we should openly acknowledge that some lives are of less worth than others. We then consider a common objection: that this will lead us down a slippery slope to Nazi-style atrocities. We give our reasons for finding this objection unpersuasive. We explain why no-one has any grounds for feeling threatened by our proposal. Finally we discuss who should make the decision involved in selecting whether a person should come into existence, and how that decision should be carried out.
Titel: Peter Singer und die Pädagogik für Behinderte. Der Beginn der Singer-Affäre
Autor: Christopher Anstötz
Seite: 131-148
Abstract: The article gives an account of the prelude to an extensive ethical debate in Germany which was sparked off by an invitation to the Australian philosopher Peter Singer to speak at the University of Dortmund. He was to lecture about the right to life of severely handicapped new-born babies. But among special educators this theme provoked violent protests throughout the country; organisations of the disabled and various other groups forced the cancellation of the lecture and discussion with Peter Singer The kind of dispute which follows in special education is not to be judged without consideration of the methodological background of this young discipline. The events around the ,Singer affair, have shown severe methodological deficits, which may or rather must be cured in future.
Titel: Philosophie und Öffentlichkeit. Anmerkungen zur Euthanasiedebatte
Autor: Ursula Wolf
Seite: 149-161
Abstract: This paper attempts to analyse and criticize the arguments and motives of those who reject any discussion of active euthanasia. A distinction is drawn between freedom of discussion in academic and in public contexts. Academic discussion demands unrestricted freedom, whereas in public debates the feelings of the groups concerned should be considered. The author argues that these restrictions are not serious enough to justify suppressing the debate. Problems of euthanasia are too vital to be left to the experts without public control.
Titel: Schwierigkeiten der moralischen Aufklärung
Autor: Rainer Hegselmann
Seite: 162-173
Abstract: The article argues that a central part of moral integrity under the condition of moral enlightenment consists in virtues concerning thinking and discussing about moral problems.
Titel: Ein guter Philosoph ist stets darauf bedacht, ob nicht auch ein anderer Böses macht
Autor: Hartmut Kliemt
Seite: 174-189
Abstract: The fact that Peter Singer was prevented from lecturing in Germany as well as the fact that the discussion of his book ,Practical Ethics, was rendered impossible raises important questions about freedom. Surprisingly some philosophers have joined the political factions which strive to suppress free discussion. In this quite polemical article some of their views are rejected. The only way to weed out error is free discussion.
Titel: Das Töten von Tieren und von Föten
Autor: Wolfgang Lenzen
Seite: 190-204
Abstract: Singer's ,Practical Ethics, is based on a form of utilitarianism which takes into account the interests of a living being if and only if it displays a minimum of rationality and (self-)consciousness. Accordingly aborting a human fetus in an early stage of development is held to be morally acceptable, whereas killing chicken, pigs, and cattle for mere culinary pleasure is not. Singer's view on abortion are refuted because they only consider the actual properties of the fetus but ignore the quality, of its future life. In general the ,principle of replaceability, must be rejected. And although making animals suffer certainly is immoral, mere (painless) killing does not necessarily do so great a harm to them that we have to become vegetarians.
Titel: Utilitaristische Ethik und Tötungsverbot. Zu Peter Singers Praktische Ethik
Autor: Dieter Birnbacher
Seite: 205-218
Abstract: One of the standard criticisms of classical utilitarian is that it is unable to provide an adequate ethical foundation for the wrongness of killing. It is reasoned that the five arguments against killing available to the classical utilitarian are indeed sufficient to provide such a foundation and that recourse to preference utilitarianism is neither called for nor helpful since it generates a number of problems of its own. On this basis, Singer's discussion of selective abortion and the selective euthanasia of newborns is criticized from within utilitarianism for not giving sufficient weight to direct and indirect social side-effects, especially if ,external, criteria are introduced into the valuation of human life.
Titel: Singer über Rechte, Recht auf Leben und Euthanasie
Autor: Jean-Claude Wolf
Seite: 219-225
Abstract: Rights are not redundant elements of a plausible utilitarian theory and the right to life is an inseparable companion of the rights to nourishment and to medical care. The deeper reason for this thesis is the interdependence of values corning vitality. In this perspective it is inconsistent to say that the newborn is unable to have a right to life, but has a right to be fed. The hidden premise of Singer's rebuttal of involuntary euthanasia is a theory of rights as vetoes against imposed benefits. Without openly subscribing to such a theory there is no answer to ,logical slippery slope, arguments and no protection against dangerous ,quality of life, considerations as a basis of decisions over life and death.
Titel: Kindstötung und das Lebensrecht von Personen
Autor: Norbert Hoerster
Seite: 226-244
Abstract: According to the view of Peter Singer, only persons deserve a right to life. As a consequence, a human being can claim such a right only at a certain point of its postnatal development and there is no essential moral difference between infanticide and abortion. Against this view, it is argued that - even on the basis of personhood as the fundamental criterion there are convincing pragmatical reasons for attributing a right to life in social practice at the point of birth. It is also shown how this position can be combined with a morally satisfactory position on the important problem of the treatment of infants who are severely handicapped.
Titel: The 'Singer-Affair' and Practical Ethics: A Response
Autor: Peter Singer
Seite: 245-264
Abstract: This response to the articles in this issue of ,ANALYSE & KRITIK, begins with some general remarks on the ,Singer-Affair, in which I suggest that while the rational discussion of the ethical issue of euthanasia poses no threat of a return to Nazism, there is a real danger in the creation of a climate in which people are ready to use force to suppress ideas with which they disagree. I then state and criticise two popular theses about the wrongness of killing: that there is a crucial moral distinction between an act and an omission, and that all human beings possess an intrinsic right to life that no nonhuman beings have. This serves as a background to the section that follows, in which I take up the detailed criticisms of my views made by Professors Lenzen, Birnbacher, J. C. Wolf and Hoerster.
Titel: Krankheit als Funktionsgestörtheit. Eine Kritik an C. Boorses 'objektiver' Krankheitstheorie
Autor: Markus Pawelzik
Seite: 5-45
Abstract: Contrary to the bio-medical sciences most philosophers of medicine regard disease as an evaluative concept. C. Boorse's well-known naturalist attempt to conceptualize disease exclusively on the basis of physiological fact seems highly plausible at first sight, since on this supposition it is possible to make use of the impressive explanatory knowledge of modern medicine. But critical examination of his meta-physiological notion of "disease" as subnormal functioning shows that it does not conform to licensed medical disease-judgements. Furthermore his doctrine seems unjustified since it's empirical implementability is highly questionable. This suggests that medicine is a naturalist enterprise that is guided by evaluation. An alternative conception of disease is advanced that tries to make the ,nexus, of physiological fact and evaluation intelligible: Disease is (extensionally) the class of physiological processes that (actually or prospectively) undermine the physiological conditions of human well-being.
Titel: Irrationality and the DSM-III-R Definition of Mental Disorder
Autor: Bernard Gert
Seite: 34-46
Abstract: I provide an account of irrationality that takes the concept of an irrational action as more basic than that of an irrational belief. While explaining the various elements of the DSM-III-R definition of mental disorders, I show that even though (I) not all mental disorders involve irrational beliefs or delusions, (2) not all irrational actions are due to mental disorders, and (3) not all mental disorders lead to irrational actions, there is a close conceptual connection between irrationality and mental disorders because both involve suffering or an increased risk of suffering an evil or harm, independent of the circumstances one is in.
Titel: Ist "zwanghaftes Handeln" ein paradoxer Begriff? Ein Versuch der Beschreibung von Zwangssymptomen
Autor: Martin Löw-Beer
Seite: 47-66
Abstract: What does it mean that a person is psychologically forced to do certain things? It is argued that there are, strictly speaking, no compulsive actions. Talking of compulsive actions people refer to intentional actions that are means of avoiding irrational panic attacks. People know that certain situations will cause them irrational fears and that is the reason why they avoid these situations. These irrational fears are either mediated by wrong perceptions or by emotional delusions. In the former case the people believe wrongly that they are in danger, while in the latter case they know that they "feel wrong", but cannot help it. The compulsive elements cannot be found in the actions but in the irrational fears and the obsessions that are part of them.
Titel: Wahn, Sinn, Sprache und Analyse. Kritische Notizen zu Wolfgang Tress, "Vorklärungen zu einer psychologischen Medizin der Person"
Autor: Matthias Kettner
Seite: 67-88
Abstract: I discuss Wolfgang Tress, attempt to apply analytic philosophy to the field of psychiatry and psychological medicine. According to Tress the concept of a person as a rational intentional system is fundamental for psychological medicine and irreducible to concepts of the natural sciences. But the rationality assumptions that are crucial for the concept of a person need much more clarification than Tress provides. Furthermore, Tress, concept of schizophrenia as a disorder of 'semantic coherence of the person, is seriously flawed empirically. Pragmatics rather than semantics should provide the methodological framework for the reconstruction of psychopathological concepts, such as "schizophrenia" and "delusion".
Titel: Können Personen ein Gegenstand des Verstehens sein? Ein Beitrag zur Hermeneutik der Person
Autor: Wolfgang R. Köhler
Seite: 89-110
Abstract: Is it possible to understand not only linguistic expressions and actions but also persons? According to common sense it surely is. Here it is argued that to understand a person a fourfold knowledge is required, although this knowledge is not identical with the understanding of a person. The understanding of a person is cognitive, but neither complete nor scientific.
Titel: Norminterpretation und ökonomische Analyse des Rechts
Autor: Christian Kirchner / Stefan Koch
Seite: 111-133
Abstract: Normative economics and a hermeneutic approach to interpretation of legal norms are only compatible if - and this is the exception - such legal norms have the goal of accomplishing economic efficiency. But economic analysis of law as a positive approach may be used in the legal interpretation process in order to evaluate different options of norm inter-pretations. In fields of law where economic issues are at stake such a methodological evaluation of interpretative variants are superior to common sense analysis and should be applied. But even in fields where non-economic issues play a major role an economic analysis is a helpful tool in order to get aware of the opportunity costs of economically sub-optimal solutions. Economic analysis of law thus becomes an integral part of the norm interpretation process without colliding with the autonomy of the legal decision enhancing the rationality of the endeavour.
Titel: Kooperative Strategien im Gefangenendilemma. Computersimulation eines N-Personen-Spiels
Autor: Andreas Diekmann / Klaus Manhart
Seite: 134-153
Abstract: Simulation studies in the context of Robert Axelrod's research on iterative prisoner's dilemma games focus nearly exclusively on the two-player-version of the game. In contrast, this article reports results of a simulation with an iterated N-prisoners, dilemma where group size N varies between 2 and 30. The simulation investigates the relative performance of conditional cooperative strategies with increasing group size. Results show that some 'nice' strategies like 'tit-for-tat' are relatively successful and robust even in larger groups and non-nice environments. However, this does not solve the cooperation problem. On the contrary, the relative success of some 'nice' conditional cooperative strategies is paralleled by a rapid decline of cooperation in large groups.
Titel: Das Verhältnis von Moral und Rationalität. Eine Auseinandersetzung mit David Gauthiers Morals by Agreement
Autor: Jean-Louis Arni
Seite: 154-178
Abstract: The relation between morality and rationality (in the sense of rational choice and rational behaviour) is a prominent theme in (the tradition of) moral philosophy. D. Gauthier's account of this relation is an extraordinarily impressive one. He attempts to demonstrate a general co-incidence (at different levels) between rationality and morality. His approach is discussed in what follows, and it will be shown that most of his 'coincidence claims' are exaggerated.
Titel: Kollektive Güter und individuelle Verantwortung
Autor: Anton Leist
Seite: 179-196
Abstract: In acting within large groups the single actor typically suffers from the symptom of irrelevance of his contribution. A single contributory effect may be extremely small or, due to 'threshold effects', even non-existent. Given such conditions not only self-interested action, also purely altruistically motivated contribution seems to be rendered irrational. The article reasons that the famous 'principles of generalization' are of no help on this problem. However, a 'principle of division' could be used in show-ing that in many situations of collective action altruistically motivated contribution is rationally sound.
Titel: What Does Doing One's Part of a Joint Action Involve?
Autor: Raimo Tuomela
Seite: 197-207
Abstract: The paper gives a conceptual clarification of what the notion of apart of a joint action (project, etc.) involves. The - mutually re-cognized - division of a joint action into parts can be based on social norms (viz. formal or informal rules, or proper social norms such as conventions or group specific social norms) or it can be based on agreement, coercion, or some analogous social mechanism. The paper also discusses the notions of a we-intention, of the intention to perform an action as one's part of a joint action, and of an agent's intentionally performing an action as his part of a joint action.
Titel: Hermeneutik als Heilmittel? Der ökonomische Ansatz und das Problem des Verstehens
Autor: Hans Albert
Seite: 1-22
Abstract: Social scientists usually presuppose that individual behaviour is meaningful and understandable. At the same time they aim at nomological explanations. This is criticized by some economists who recommend a hermeneutical turn to overcome the crisis in economic and sociological thinking. The author tries to show that it is counterproductive to turn to hermeneutics to solve social science problems, and that it is misleading to use Max Weber in support of this claim, because Weber's ideas are incompatible with hermeneutics à la Heidegger.
Titel: Der ökonomische Erklärungsansatz in der Soziologie
Autor: Erich Weede
Seite: 23-51
Abstract: The economic approach to sociology accepts purposeful behavior at the level of the individual, but rejects functionalism at the group level. It posits rationality or the attempt to maximize utilities. In general, it assumes stable preferences and selfishness. Here, the rational action model of human behavior is applied to the division of labor, exchange, and team production; to social norms and deviant behavior; to rebellions and revolutions. A focus on inequalities in resource endowments and motivation together with insights from the logic of collective action provide the typical point of departure in these analyses.
Titel: Der Homo Oeconomicus: Ausnahmeerscheinung in jeder Situation oder Jedermann in Ausnahmesituationen?
Autor: Reinhard Zintl
Seite: 52-69
Abstract: Even if formally precise, the economic concept of rationality has different empirical implications depending on how it is used in theory building. If it is used as a tool of microfoundation in multi-level analysis it can be applied universally, but does not imply a specific model of human behavior. As a means of constructing microtheories proper it is, on the other hand, translated into a definite model of man but can be applied only to specific situations. This model, known as homo oeconomicus or economic man, should not be taken as an assertion about human nature but rather as a shorthand description of the behavior enforced and stabilized by social situations of a certain type.
Titel: Methodologische Überlegungen zum ökonomischen Imperialismus
Autor: Karl Homann / Andreas Suchanek
Seite: 70-93
Abstract: Starting point is the thesis that economics as well as other social sciences - is imperialistic with regard to the area of its subject, but not with regard to its approach. Underlying economics is the following schema: Try to explain under the presumption that actors maximize their expected utility under constraints. Conditions and possibilities of interdisciplinary research within all sciences being considered imperialistic are discussed according to this schema. Theoretical guide-lines are provided by the systematic connection of 'problem' and 'schema', as well as the concept of 'fruitfulness' as primary criterion of judgement.
Titel: Wissen, Präferenzen und Kommunikation - eine ökonomische Theorie
Autor: Ulrich Witt
Seite: 94-109
Abstract: Given that individual information processing and memory capacity are severely limited, many institutional and procedural properties of the social communication process can be explained within an individualistic approach as the outcome of a co-evolution of action-inherent knowledge and preferences. This argument is outlined by referring to phenomena such as the competitive release of information (advertising), the role of celebrities and the rent they collect, and some characteristic 'critical mass' features.
Titel: Die neue Welt der Ökonomie
Autor: Gebhard Kirchgässner
Seite: 107-137
Abstract: The article starts out with a sketch of the model of individual behaviour, basic for modern economic theory, including the consideration of typical criticisms. The model then is examined in its application first to micro- and macroeconomic theorizing, then to the economic analysis of politics and of law. It concludes by pointing out some drawbacks inherent in the economic approach to the social sciences: economic imperialism, conservativism and the illusion of manageability.
Titel: Rational Choice and Moral Order
Autor: Viktor Vanberg / James M. Buchanan
Seite: 138-160
"The problem which science has to solve here consists in the explanation of a social phenomenon, of a homogeneous way of acting on the part of the members of a community for which public motives are recognizable, but for which in the concrete case individual motives are hard to discern." (Carl Menger 1985, 152)
Abstract: The article discusses some of the fundamental conceptual and theoretical aspects of rational choice and moral order. A distinction is drawn between constitutional interests and compliance interests, and it is argued that a viable moral order requires that the two interests somehow be brought into congruence. It is shown that with regard to the prospects for a spontaneous emergence of such congruence, a distinction between two kinds of moral rules which we call trust-rules and solidarity-rules is of crucial importance.
Titel: The Limits of Homo Economicus in Public Choice and in Political Philosophy
Autor: Karen I. Vaughn
Seite: 161-180
Abstract: his paper argues that there are areas of political behavior for which the usual assumption of wealth maximizing homo economicus is to narrow to generate convincing explanation of behavior. In particular, it is argued that for many political decisions, people choose according to some set of moral preconceptions while for others, people have insufficient information to make economic choices even if they were inclined to do so. This implies that normative public choice can only be part of a political decision process in which non-pecuniary concerns influence choices. Finally, constitutional economics insofar as it is conceptually conceived, must presume some set of moral and informational properties of the parties to the social contract.
Titel: Ein ipsatives Modell menschlichen Verhaltens. Ein Beitrag zur Ökonomie und Pyschologie
Autor: Bruno S. Frey
Seite: 181-205
Abstract: Human beings under some conditions tend to systematically overestimate their possibilities, under others to underestimate what is possible for them. This behaviour can be explained by differentiating between an ipsative possibility set (which includes what individuals consider relevant for themselves) and an objective one. These two possibility sets do not necessarily coincide. The difference may firstly be due to psychological processes as well as factors such as tradition and ideology. The difference may secondly be strategically designed by the individuals themselves knowing that they otherwise reach less utility. The approach stresses that it is essential to determine the possibility sets within which individuals rationally decide between alternatives.
Titel: Reason and Morality in the Age of Nuclear Deterrence
Autor: Jan Narveson
Seite: 206-232
Abstract: The argument in this paper is that althaugh rationality and morality are distinguishable concepts, there is nevertheless a rational morality, a set of principles, namely, which it is rational of all to require of all. The argument of this paper is that such a morality would certainly issue in a general condemnation of aggressive war. (Whether this also makes it irrational for States to engage in such activities is another, and not entirely settled, matter.) Correlatively, it would issue in a strong right of defense. Would this right be sufficient to include resort to nuclear deterrence, if need be? It is argued that the answer must be in the affirmative - although the question of 'need' is by no means settled in current circumstances.
Titel: The Forms of Power
Autor: Thomas E. Wartenberg
Seite: 3-31
Abstract: The question of how to define the concept of social power has been a focus of controversy among social theorists. In this paper, I put forward a definition of social power that avoids many of the pitfalls of previous attempts at such a definition. Roughly, I define the power which one agent has over another as the ability that the dominant agent has to control the situation within which the subservient agent acts. Using this basic definition of power, I go on to define many of the central forms in which power actually exists, forms that are conceptualized by such concepts as force, coercion, and influence. I show that these different forms of power can all be understood as specifications of the generic definition of power that I offered and go on to develop an account of how they function in relation to one another in actual relationship of social power.
Titel: Elements of Constraint
Autor: Matti Häyry / Timo Airaksinen
Seite: 32-47
Abstract: This paper analyses the various effects of threats and offers on freedom. Both threats and offers are related to social power. Threats are part of coercion and they are constraints. We try to say why this is so. Offers are more problematic. We identify soft and hard offers, or offers that can be refused and those that cannot. Hard offers have several interesting features, especially in relation to individual preference orders and sets of action alternatives. This paper studies problems which are implicit in Thomas Wartenberg's study of the various forms of social power in this issue of ANALYSE & KRITIK.
Titel: Group Action and Social Ontology
Autor: Robert Ware
Seite: 48-70
Abstract: In recent years there has been an interesting turn in the philosophical literature to groups and collective action. At the same time there has been a renewed interest in various forms of methodological individualism. This paper attempts to show the diversity of group action that is overlooked by much of the literature, to clarify some of the ambiguities that plague our language about groups and collectives, and to support the view that social entities are genuine. Some important arguments against social entities being genuine are rebutted. The existence of social entities gives some substance to the debate about methodological individualism, but the resolution of the debate has depended too much on empirical results in the distant future. The article ends with some suggestions on how the debate matters in looking for biases in the directions of current social theorizing.
Titel: Recent Work on the Emotions
Autor: Daniel M. Farrell
Seite: 71-102
Abstract: In this paper I review recent philosophical work in English on the nature of emotion. I begin with the well-known attacks of Bedford, Kenny and Pitcher on what I call the traditional (i. e., Cartesian) view of the nature of emotion. I then trace and discuss the successive alternative views that have been developed in the past thirty years. My aim is both to review the development of these alternative views and to indicate what particular problems have come to be considered the central problems in this area. A comprehensive bibliography of recent work in English is appended.
Titel: The American Debate on Nuclear Weapons Policy. A Review of the Literature 1945-1985
Autor: Douglas P. Lackey
Seite: 7-46
Abstract: Criticism of nuclear weapons policies often misses the target throuh ignorance of the policies that are actually in effect. This essay recounts the development of American nuclear weapons policies, together with a history of the criticisms of these policies presented by nuclear strategists and moral philosophers.
Titel: The Logic of Deterrence
Autor: Frank C. Zagare
Seite: 47-61
Abstract: This article describes the important structural characteristics of a recently developed game-theoretic model of deterrence, summarizes the major deductions drawn from it, and discusses its implications for both the theory of deterrence and the current strategic relationship of the super-powers. The model shows that a credible threat and a power advantage are neither necessary nor sufficient conditions for stable deterrence. It also suggests that, even under ideal conditions, deterrence is an intricate and fundamentally fragile relationship that rests, ultimately, upon the preferences and perceptions of key decision-makers rather than upon the nature and composition of each side's strategic arsenal.
Titel: Is Nuclear Deterrence Rational, and Will Star Wars Help?
Autor: Steven J. Brams / D. Marc Kilgour
Seite: 62-74
Abstract: Deterrence means threatening to retaliate against an attack in order to deter it in the first place. The central problem with a policy of deterrence is that the threat of retaliation may not be credible if retaliation leads to a worse outcome - perhaps a nuclear holocaust - than a side would suffer from absorbing a limited first strike and not retaliating. - The optimality of deterrence is analyzed by means of a Deterrence Game based on Chicken, in which each player chooses a probability (or level) of preemption, and of retaliation if preempted. The Nash equilibria, or stable outcomes, in this game are compared with those in a Star Wars Game, in which the preemption and retaliation levels are constrained by the defensive capabilities of each side. Unlike threats in the Deterrence Game, which can always stabilize the cooperative outcome, mutual preemption emerges as an equilibrium in the Star Wars Game, underscoring the problem - particularly if defensive capabilities are unbalanced - that deterrence will be subverted by the development of Star Wars.
Titel: "Denn sie wissen nicht, was sie tun". Ein nicht-politisches und weltanschauungsfreies Argument zur Raketenstationierung
Autor: Wolfgang Stegmüller
Seite: 75-81
Abstract: The article put forwards an argument against the deployment of American middle range missiles in 1983 within the Federal Republic of Germany. It stresses the threat to safety particularly for European countries, because of the technological superiority of American missiles over Russian missiles.
Titel: Nuclear Deterrence: The Rational and the Political
Autor: George H. Quester
Seite: 82-96
Abstract: While it is often argued that U. S. military strategy has gone through substantial changes over the past three decades, it is not so clear if this is so, or why this should be so. Some changes in the real strategic problem of the west must be considered, including the growth of the Soviet nuclear arsenal. Changes in our perception of the problem may be at least as important, however, amid some possibilities of 'Finlandisation'. Changes in the West's opportunities must also be considered, including 'limited nuclear war' and a totally conventional defense. Finally to be considered are the bureaucratic motivations of those advocating any such changes in western military postures, all of which suggest that current policies may still be better than the alternatives.
Titel: Die Mängel der Abschreckung: Lassen sie sich beheben?
Autor: Daniel Frei
Seite: 97-119
Abstract: The strategy of deterrence suffers from at least 8 deficiencies: 1. The deterrence threat may be underestimated or overestimated. 2. The efficacy of deterrence is conditioned by a variety of factors. 3. Deterrence is highly questionable inasmuch as it represents the principle of revenge. 4. Deterrence may lead to self-deterrence. 5. Extended deterrence may have a low degree of credibility. 6. The stability of the deterrence system is constantly jeopardized. 7. Deterrence may lead to accidental nuclearwar. 8. Moral acceptability of deterrence is decreasing. Attempts to overcome these deficiencies by upgraded deterrence postures, arms control, unilateral disarmament and defensive systems have been futile. Therefore mankind will have to live with deterrence; efforts ought to be undertaken, however, to prevent a 'nuclear Sarajevo' by appropriate measures stabilizing the strategic system.
Titel: Recent Strategic Developments. A Critical Overview From A Just War Perspective
Autor: James Turner Johnson
Seite: 120-141
Abstract: Beginning with a sketch of the major moral ideas contained in just war tradition, this essay applies them to three controverted issues in contemporary military debate: nuclear deterrence strategy, the strategic defense initiative, and the possibility of building and deploying fractional megatonnage nuclear weapons on delivery vehicles of extremely high accuracy. It is argued that in terms of the criteria of just war tradition, deterrence in its present form poses grave moral problems. The two new weapons systems are then examined in terms of whether, by just war criteria, they represent more moral means of defense than contemporary nuclear deterrence.
Titel: Nuclear Deterrence and Just War Theory
Autor: Robert L. Phillips
Seite: 142-154
Abstract: The just war tradition stands as the moral and prudential alternatie to both pacifism and realism. It forms the only reasonable ethical basis for the understanding of state initiated force. As applied to questions of nuclear deterrence, just war theory is incompatible with Mutual Assured Destruction and with the threat of MAD. Just war theory entails a move toward counterforce with discriminate targeting of military capabilities and away from city targeting. This is now becoming possible technically and is morally indicated. The counterforce option is realistic in that nuclear disarmament is an extremely remote possibility and alternate strategies such as bluff are not workable. A counterforce strategy would be both discriminate and proportional as well as being in accord with political realism.
Titel: Just War Theory and Nuclear Strategy
Autor: James P. Sterba
Seite: 155-174
Abstract: I defend just war theory against pacifist, conventionalist, collectivist and feminist challenges that have been recently directed against it. I go on to apply just war theory to the use and threat to use nuclear weapons concluding that under present conditions the possession but not the threat to use a limited nuclear force is morally justified.
Titel: Das moralische Dilemma der nuklearen Abschreckung
Autor: Dieter Birnbacher
Seite: 175-192
Abstract: The moral dilemma of nuclear deterrence arises from two conflicting facts: the fact that in a world of conflicting superpowers with nuclear arsenals preserving peace must have an overriding moral priority; and that a policy of mutual nuclear deterrence, which seems well suited to achieve this aim, faces grave moral difficulties on its own, the main difficulty being the moral indefensibility of the act of retaliation threatened in case of attack. It is argued that a consequentialist approach to the moral assessment of nuclear deterrence is in principle able to provide a solution to this dilemma by reducing the moral dilemma to a non-moral dilemma which can in turn be solved by a comparison of risks. In this connection, a theory of the ,functional, assessment of intentions is developed in order to subject even threats involving a conditional intention to retaliate to consequentialist reasoning.
Titel: Über grundlegende Voraussetzungen für Krisenstabilität in Europa ohne Kernwaffen
Autor: Reiner K. Huber / Hilmar Linnenkamp / Ingrid Schölch
Seite: 193-216
Abstract: There are several reasons which suggest that the role of nuclear weapons for deterrence in Europe is gradually diminishing. Thus, Europeans are confronted with the question whether and under what conditions strategie stability can be obtained in a post-nuclear world. From the analysis of a simple conceptual model of military conflict the conclusion is reached that, in order to preserve crisis stability in a non-nuclear world and to dampen the arms race, the antagonistic land forces in Europe need to be gradually restructured in a manner so that neither side may perceive the other as a potential threat to its territorial integrity. The requisite structural changes ought to be brought about before nuclear weapons become altogether invailable for deterrence in Europe, otherwise the Warsaw Pact's conventional superiority would, in a serious crisis, leave Western Europe only the choice between military defeat and a priori capitulation. There should be military as well as economic incentives for the implementation of structrual changes toward a reduction of the offensive capabilities of conventional forces, if the so-called ,defense efficiency hypothesis, were to be validated. Otherwise, a deterioration of crisis stability must be expected during the transition period.
Titel: Individual Choice and Institutional Constraints. The Normative Element in Classical and Contractarian Liberalism
Autor: Viktor Vanberg
Seite: 113-149
Abstract: Normative individualism appears to be an obvious normative premise underlying a liberal conception of the desirable social order. The shortcomings of some common interpretations of this premise are discussed and a more consistent as well as a more workable standard for assessing the ,goodness, of alternative socio-institutional arrangements is specified. With such an interpretation of normative individualism, a contractrarian conception as advocated by J. M. Buchanan can be viewed as a systematic extension of classical liberalism.
Titel: Zur Entstehung der Moral aus natürlichen Neigungen. Eine spieltheoretische Spekulation
Autor: Rainer Hegselmann / Werner Raub / Thomas Voss
Seite: 150-177
"Moralisches Handeln ist entweder überhaupt nicht möglich, oder es entspringt aus natürlichen Neigungen." (Schlick 1984, 9)
Abstract: Do individuals accept a moral point of view - if they are completely oriented towards their natural preferences and interests? The present article outlines the context of discussion concerning this question within moral philosophy and the social science. In addition it suggests a game-theoretical model with the help of which the question can be answered positively.
Titel: Anmerkungen zum Anti-Individualismus im soziologischen Denken
Autor: Alfred Bohnen
Seite: 178-190
Abstract: Theoretical thinking in modern sociology is still dominated by a marked anti-individualistic orientation. This paper examines the influence that Parsons, critique of utilitarian social thought had on the formation and justification of this methodological view. Since then the utilitaristic (economic) tradition is held to demonstrate the fundamental weakness of individualistic sociological approaches in general: the failure to grasp the importance of emergent properties of social systems. It is argued that Parsons, critique rests on a by far too restrictive interpretation of utilitaristic (economic) thinking which led to a false identification of social-scientific individualism with sociological atomism.
Titel: Normen und Interessen als soziologische Grundbegriffe. Kontroversen über Max Weber
Autor: Christel Hopf
Seite: 191-210
Abstract: This article attempts to clarify and critically to discuss some variants of the sociological interpretation of regularities in social action. The widely held view that the concept of norm yields the decisive approach to a specifically sociological understanding of behavioural regularities is placed in opposition to Weber's reflections on the basic concepts of sociology. Weber from the start reserves room for an utility- and interest-oriented component of explanation, apart from the concept of norm and in principle not less important. In this connection the article also works out and criticises Parsons, attempt to ,integrate, Weber's sociology into a normativistic conception of the discipline. As a consequence of this criticism the author stresses the value of using the concept of norm and also that of rule - in a more differentiated fashion. In particular we should distinguish clearly between on the one hand norms, or rules with obligatory components, and on the other utility- or means-ends-oriented rules, followed in the process of furthering one's own interests. If we neglect this distinction and, like Parsons, subsume a conflation of these concepts under the notion of norm, we run the risk of perceiving any moderately polished and strategically prudent pursuit of an agent's own interests as a case of norm-governed action.
Titel: Individualism, Libertarianism and Non-Cognitivism
Autor: Hartmut Kliemt
Seite: 211-228
Abstract: This paper suggests that libertarian and (related) contractarian ideas would be less vulnerable to certain forms of criticism if they would more carefully disentangle their legal and moral standards for the assessment of institutions from empirical, methodological, and epistemological assumptions about individualism and non-cognitivism. Holding apart several meanings of individualism different issues can be treated separately. It Will be shown that the justification of libertarian norms raises some problems which are not too easily solved within a non-cognitivist approach. No attempt to solve them is made subsequently but how far in principle the ,argumentation possibility frontier, might be shifted out for that purpose is outlined. In this respect the paper might be regarded as a companion to Viktor Vanberg's brillant reconstruction of contractarian liberalism in this issue of ANALYSE & KRITIK (pp. 113-149).
Titel: Replies to the Critics of A Theory of Social Action
Autor: Raimo Tuomela
Seite: 229-241
Abstract: The paper is a reply to the critical reviews of the author's "A Theory of Social Action" by Anton Leist, Marvin Belzer, and Julian Nida-Rümelin in this journal. As to Leist's main criticisms, which concern the notions of social action, social practical reasoning, individualism, and social norms, they are argued to be incorrect and unjustified. Belzer's criticisms are on the whole well taken, and in fact all of them have been noted by the author in his later work. Belzer does not, however, consider these newest analyses and improvements. Nida-Rümelin presents some comments on the relationships between collective preferences and weintentions. These points are correct.
Titel: Das Modell des Homo Sociologicus. Eine Explikation und eine Konfrontierung mit dem utilitaristischen Verhaltensmodell
Autor: Karl-Dieter Opp
Seite: 1-27
Abstract: The present paper focuses on the sociological model of man (also denoted as homo sociologicus or normative paradigm). It is discussed to what extent three problems limit its explanatory value: (1) behavior which is not normatively regulated and (2) behavior deviating from norms cannot be explained. (3) In case of norm conflicts it cannot be explained which of the normative expectations is followed. It is further discussed to what extent another model of man - which is called the "utilitarian", "economic" or rational choice model - is able to solve these problems. It is shown that the sociological model in fact consists of two different "utilitarian" models with very restrictive assumptions. Some of the problems of the sociological model are demonstrated by applying it to a well-known theory of role conflict. In the final section we discuss some consequences of the sociological model for the utilitarian approach.
Titel: Reasons, Causes, and Intentional Explanation
Autor: Frederick Stoutland
Seite: 28-55
Abstract: The reasons-causes debate concerns whether explanations of human behavior in terms of an agent's reasons presuppose causal laws. This paper considers three approaches to this debate: the covering law model which holds that there are causal laws covering both reasons and behavior, the intentionalist approach which denies any role to causal laws, and Donald Davidson's point of view which denies that causal laws connect reasons and behavior, but holds that reasons and behavior must be covered by physical laws if reasons explanations are to be valid. I defend the intentionalist approach against the two causalist approaches and conclude with reflections on the significance of the debate for the social sciences.
Titel: The Talking Cure Cures Talking. Ein Vorschlag, Inauthentizität und Abwehr als Redestörungen zu begreifen
Autor: Martin Löw-Beer
Seite: 56-85
Abstract: Inauthenticity and the denial to be in certain psychic states (defense) are typical neurotic traits. They both imply processes of mistaken reasoning, that are in the standard case unconscious. Denial of psychic states is accounted for by motivated illegitimate transformations o fpsychic states. The operation of defense mechanisms contradicts rules of correct reasoning. As reasoning takes place in the medium of language, the operation of defense mechanisms contradicts the rules of correct sequencing of utterances. Inauthenticity manifests itself in the incorrect expression of psychic states. The inauthentic person is in the wrong about her psychic states. Therefore her expressive utterances are incorrect. It is shown that the reasons that explain her wrong opinions about. her psychic states and her expressive utterances contradict the concepts of the psychic states she tries to express. The reasons for her expressive utterances are in the standard case unconscious and falsify these utterances. That is why the inauthentic person is partially incompetent to make correct expressive utterances.
Titel: Intentional Social Action and We-Intentions
Autor: Marvin Belzer
Seite: 86-108
Abstract: In his recent book Professor Tuomela presents a philosophical account of social action that relies upon the presuppositions of his purposive-causal theory of individual action. In particular, the concept of "we-intention" plays as central a role in the new theory as does that of intention in the earlier one. This article examines Tuomela's concept of "we-intention". Tuomela's introduction of the concept into social action theory is motivated by the assumption that theories of individual actions and social actions are analogous relative to the role of a concept of intention in those theories. This assumption is criticized; and a number of difficulties with the new concept are discussed.
Titel: Wir-Intentionen und die Logik kollektiver Entscheidungen
Autor: Julian Nida-Rümelin
Seite: 96-108
Abstract: During the last two decades social choice theory has become an established branch of the social sciences. But in spite of its contributions on a high level of precision by logical and mathematical means the theory is still vague regarding the interpretation of its basic concepts. In this article I try to cope with that problem by distinguishing three different areas of application of social choice theory. The concept of 'we-intention' in the sense of Tuomela is examined in this context.
Titel: Wer verdrängt was warum? Schwierigkeiten in Freuds Begriff der Verdrängung
Autor: Rüdiger Bittner
Seite: 103-118
Abstract: Freud's concept of repression should be discarded because we do not understand what supposedly is being repressed, nor what is repressing, nor why it is done. Freud's answers to the first two questions fall short of the dynamic picture of forces and counterforces implicit in the idea of repression. The answer to the last question invokes an unacceptable separation of agencies in the person.
Titel: Wie Freud Bittner verdrängt. Eine Verteidigung des Freudschen Verdrängungsbegriffs
Autor: Martin Löw-Beer
Seite: 119-123
Abstract: The atthor refutes Bittners attempt to show that Freuds use of "repression" is senseless. In contrast "repression" is introduced as a valuable psychological concept that makes perfectly good sense.
Titel: Understanding Irrationality
Autor: Marcia Cavell
Seite: 124-140
Abstract: Recent philosophical work attempts to understand irratianal acts on the model of practical reasoning. Such acts are regarded as intelligible in the light of ordinary propositional attitudes which are nevertheless conjoined in a way that explains the irrationality. It is here argued that Some irrational acts cannot be so understood; that they are not actions, per se; and that Freud's notion of "primary process", particularly in its emphasis on hallucinatory wish-fulfillment and on what he calls "omnipotence of thought", provides a useful description of such acts. Where hallucinatory wish-fulfillment (or phantasy) is operative, an anxiety or need causes an agent to see the world as one in which the anxiety-provoking state does not exist or has somehow been dealt with satisfactorily. The need or lack is not acknowledged, as it is when one can properly speak of desire and of a reasoning that attempts to implement it.
Titel: The Deceptive Self: Liars and Layers
Autor: Amelie Oksenberg-Rorty
Seite: 141-162
Abstract: This paper gives an account of the picture of the self that saves the phenomena of self-deception. On one theory of the self, the phenomena of selfdeception are incoherent: the self as a unified critically reflective rational inquirer cannot deceive itself. On another theory of the self, the phenomena evaporate: the self as a loosely organized system composed of relatively independent subsystems can be conflicted, mistaken, ignorant compartmentalized. But it does not deceive itself. Our practices as moral agents and rational inquirers are explained by the first theory; our capacities as adaptive survivors are explained by the second. Neither picture can be reduced to the other; neither can be abandoned. The phenomena of selfdeception appear - and are saved - by the superimposition of the two theories.
Titel: Anmerkungen zur Theorie des Selbst innerhalb der Psychoanalyse
Autor: Brigitte Weidenhammer
Seite: 162-179
Abstract: The concept of self is imbedded in the psychoanalytic theory of object relations. The theory of object relations poses the question of the constitution of the person's inner life or 'representational world'. It will be discussed, in what respect the concept of self serves the description of dependency relations, in which the psychic relations of the person to the social and cultural reality are expressed. The significance of the concept of self lies in the explicative role it takes in the portrayal of the individual's developing participation in human community.
Titel: Eine individualistische Theorie sozialen Handelns. Zu Raimo Tuomelas "A Theory of Social Action"
Autor: Anton Leist
Seite: 180-205
Abstract: This critical review concentrates on four important parts of Raimo Tuomela's analytical theory of social action. It examines the book's reconstructions of social action, of practical reasoning in this context, of social norms and it investigates its claim to a conceptual individualism. The result is critical in several aspects. Tuomela's most original idea in the analysis of joint action, that of we-intentions, is not broad enough to cover more than a part of social action in the commonly understood sense. His 'social' practical reasoning incorporates an implausible premiss. The game-theoretical reconstruction of social norms strikes one as unlikely to be fulfilled in social reality. Hardly any of these analyses back up the individualist claims of Tuomela's project.
Titel: Modernity and Conflict
Autor: Gerard Doppelt
Seite: 206-231
Abstract: In this essay, I seek to provide a plausible alternative to MacIntyre's bold and provocative conception of modernity. I contest his claim that modern social life is marked by (1) the absence of any shared paradigm of the good, tradition, and social morality; (2) rationally interminable normative conflict; (3) characteristically instrumental power-oriented social relations; and (4) the impossibility of genuine human achievement and virtue. I argue that modern conflict is rooted not in the absence of a shared paradigm of the good or the moral; but rather in a structure of social irrationality built into the modern conception of the good as the achievement of individual recognition in and through socioeconomic activity. I argue that while this conception has affirmative dimensions and does permit genuine virtue the way it is culturally interpreted and institutionally embodied in modern capitalist society reproduces destructive scarcities in human recognition and the degradation of ordinary persons capacity for virtue. Where MacIntyre argues for a restoration of the pre-modern ( Aristotelian) conception of the moral to be realized in spheres of activity external to socio-economic life, I argue for an immanent critique of modern liberal individualism which would humanize the meaning, conditions, and results of labor and livelihood.
Titel: Rights, Practices and Marxism: Reply to Six Critics
Autor: Alasdair MacIntyre
Seite: 234-248
Abstract: The first part of the paper expands and strengthens the criticism of appeals to human or natural rights in After Virtue. It is argued that Gewirth's responses to various objections are inadequate and that Flathman's historical analysis is incompatible with the evidence. Baier's charge that the treatment of Hume in After Virtue is inadequate is acknowledged to be true. A comparison of an Aristotelian account of rational cooperation with a Humean account is made the basis for a rejection both of Baier's assimilation of the two standpoints and of the treatment of the concept of a practice by both Miller and Doppelt. Doppelt's rival account of the moral structures of modernity is held to be undermined both by facts which he himself recognizes and by the Marxist critique of liberal individualism. Marxism's positive moral stance, as defended by Nielsen, is too impoverished to achieve what Nielsen claims for it.
Titel: A Brief Rejoinder
Autor: Alan Gewirth
Seite: 249-250
Abstract: Two main points in MacIntyre's reply to my Rights and Virtues are shown to be incorrect. First, the right-claims I attribute to every agent are based on the needs of action, and the correlative "must" hence falls within the recognized language of practical advocacy. Second, the 'conative normality' I attribute to all agents is not confined to 'the individualistic social order of modernity' but instead characterizes every agent who wants to act for the fulfillment of his or her purposes.
Titel: Zum Verhältnis von Theorie und Praxis der Psychoanalyse
Autor: Helmut Thomä / Horst Kächele / Julian Ch. Kübler
Seite: 3-25
Abstract: According to psychoanalysis there is a relationship between gaining insight and therapeutic success. To clarify this relationship it is necessary to differentiate regions of psychoanalytic theory. On the one hand there are foundational theories - personality and aetiological theory - on the other hand there are technological theories: they explain the therapeutic process and generate rules for therapeutic intervention. The latter are supported by the former, but cannot be logically derived from them. The link between the mediation of self-knowledge and the improvement of the state of the patient is a theoretical and practical issue of psychoanalysis: theoretically it is a hypothesis that has to be proved by empirical investigation. Practically it is an aim to be fulfilled. A therapeutic theory should list the conditions that are necessary for this.
Titel: We-Intentions and Social Action
Autor: Raimo Tuomela / Kaarlo Miller
Seite: 26-43
Abstract: In the paper "We-intentions and Social Action" conceptual issues related to intentional social action are studied. By social actions we here mean actions that are performed together by two or more agents. The central concept of we-intention is introduced and applied to the analysis of simple social practical reasoning. An individualistic analysis of the notion of we-intention is proposed on the basis of the agents, I-intentions and beliefs. The need and indespensability of we-intentions and we-attitudes in general in a theory of intentional social action is emphasized along with the fact that we-intending leads to action in suitable circumstances.
Titel: Semantik, Handlungserklärung, Sozialwissenschaft. Zu Macdonald / Pettit "Semantics and Social Science"
Autor: Ernst Michael Lange
Seite: 44-74
Abstract: This critical study concentrates on action-theoretical aspects of the Davidsonian philosophy of social science given in Macdonald / Pettit 1981. It questions the relevance to social science of developing Davidson's semantic "principle of charity" into a "principle of humanity", discusses specific formulations of assumptions of behavioural and attitudinal rationality in the explanation of action, and joins issue with the causal account given of the latter suggesting that its metaphysical motivation is of no concern to social science.
Titel: Cultural Pessimism and the Setting aside of Marxism
Autor: Kai Nielsen
Seite: 75-100
Abstract: I examine Alasdair MacIntyre's grounds for setting aside Marxism. I find them wanting. I argue that his criticisms are either unsound or fail to consider plausible alternative readings of Marxism which would elude what, on the reading MacIntyre gives, are sound criticisms. I consider MacIntyre's remarks about Marx's predictions, his remarks about the moral failures of Marxism and its alleged theoretical impoverishment in considering questions of value.
Titel: Künstliche Intelligenz in den Sozialwissenschaften. Expertensysteme als Instrumente der Einstellungsforschung
Autor: Michael Baurmann / Dieter Mans
Seite: 103-159
Abstract: INTERDAT is computer software which substitutes a human interviewer. INTERDAT asks questions and tries to understand the responses by attributing mental models to the interviewee. The correctness of these models is tested by forecasting the responses to new questions. INTERDAT has many possibilities to adapt its models till it reaches the desired degree of understanding. Technologically INTERDAT is an Artificial Intelligence programme which is written entirely in LISP and to our knowledge the first AI application in sociological research.
Titel: Deskriptions- und Interpretationsprobleme beim psychologischen Erklären
Autor: Hans-Georg Bosshardt
Seite: 160-189
Abstract: In this paper, the descriptive information contained in empirical laws is contrasted with common-sense descriptions of situations and behavior. According to the Hempel-Oppenheim-Schema, explanation is, essentially conceived as a matter of deductive reasoning in which the fact to be explained is subsumed under one (or more) empirically valid generalizations or laws. However, this kind of explanation is necessarily based on intuitive processes of diagnosis and interpretation. It is argued that these intuitive processes enable the scientist to formulate descriptive sentences which form the arguments of logically correct explanations. It is assumed that people produce common-sense descriptions of situation and behavior in correspondence with their subjective experience of other people's behavior and its determinants. In order to obtain intuitively adequate empirical generalizations and behavioral laws it is proposed that common-sense descriptions of behavior and situations should be integrated into the antcedent and / or consequent of laws. In such a research strategy the regularities between meaningfully interpreted situational and behavioral aspects can be studied.
Titel: Ist die Unterscheidung von nomothetischen und idiographischen Wissenschaften noch zeitgemä ß?
Autor: Rainer Thurnher
Seite: 190-211
Abstract: This paper discusses C. G Hempel's contention according to which universal laws fulfil the same ,theoretical function, in natural and historical science. To this end, the author differentiates between systembuilding and genetically structured sciences. Their modes of presentation are respectively hierarchically ordered theory and narrative. These two basic ways of arranging our knowledge are led back to a difference in explanation, of a pragmatic, not logical nature, that is, to the difference between subsumtion and ascription. Whereas in the systematic organization of knowledge, the basic underlying theory sets the exact conditions, under which a fact can be described as explained, such an epistemological directive function of laws is not to be found in genetic organization.
Titel: Nachtrag zu LISREL
Autor: Dieter Holtmann
Seite: 212-215
Abstract: Zu diesem Beitrag steht leider kein Abstract zur Verfügung.
Titel: The Claims of After Virtue
Autor: Alasdair MacIntyre
Seite: 3-7
Abstract: After Virtue claims that it is characteristic of contemporary society that its debates are peculiarly unsettlable; that this state of society affairs is the result of the failure by the thinkers of the Enlightenment to construct a rational, secular defence of shared moral principles; and that the Aristotelian tradition of the virtues provides the only rationally defensible alternative to post-Enlightenment morality.
Titel: Culture, Morality and Rights: Or, Should Alasdair MacIntyre's Philosophical Driving License Be Suspended?
Autor: Richard E. Flathman
Seite: 8-27
Abstract: Taken at face value, Professor Maclntyre's charge that modern culture is "emotivist" is conceptually incoherent and betrays epistemological confusion. Examination of the modern concept and practice of rights indicates hat his comparisons between modern and pre-modern cultures exaggerate the irrationality, individualism, and fragmentation of the former, the rationalism, unity, and communalism of the latter. There are important differences among the several cultural forms that Maclntyre distinguishes. It is less clear that, lacking (as he admittedly does) a satisfactory account of moral reasoning, Maclntyre has made persuasive his case for abandoning modern liberalism in favor of communalism inspired by pre-modern cultures.
Titel: Rights and Virtues
Autor: Alan Gewirth
Seite: 28-48
Abstract: It is first shown that, contrary to Maclntyre, human rights are not 'fictions'. I then summarize my own argument for human rights, and reply to Maclntyre's objections. Turning to his own positive doctrine, I indicate that it is confronted with 'the problem of moral indeterminacy', in that it allows or provides for outcomes which are mutually opposed to one another so far as concerns their moral status. I then take up Maclntyre's triadic account of the virtues and show that each phase - practice, narrative order of a single life, and moral tradition - is morally indeterminate, as are also his accounts of the morality of law and the virtue of justice. My conclusion is that moral virtues must be based on human rights if the virtues are to have morally justified contents.
Titel: Virtues and Practices
Autor: David Miller
Seite: 49-60
Abstract: Maclntyre presents an account of the virtues first in terms of practices and then in terms of the narrative unity of a person's life. He fails, however, to observe an important distinction between self-contained and purposive practices; if the virtues are to be understood by reference to practices, they must be of the latter kind. By the same token, a defence of the virtues must refer to the social purposes which practices serve rather than to the goods internal to practices. An appeal to the idea of narrative unity does not save the position in the absence of any concrete specification of the good life for man. Maclntyre's attempt to reconstitute the virtues falls foul of the moral pluralism that he has earlier diagnosed so acutely.
Titel: Civilizing Practices
Autor: Annette Baier
Seite: 61-77
Abstract: Maclntyre's contrast between contemporary individualist versions of morality, expressive of arbitrary selfwill, and some less willful or less arbitrary moral guidance, is queried. All social practices, both those Maclntyre disapproves of and those he prefers, are claimed to contain elements of arbitrariness, and some scope for the expression of some individual human wills. Maclntyre's neglect of the question of what allocation of power a particular practice or set of practices involves is contrasted with Hume's due but not undue attention to this matter. Maclntyre's treatment of Hume's place in the history of the Aristotelian conception of the moral life as cultivation of virtues is criticized and tentatively explained as really due not to Hume's anti-rationalism, but to his acceptance of the political and commercial practices which Maclntyre distrusts, and to his rejection of the non-Aristotelian religious concepts of other-worldly goods, sin and redemption from it, which Maclntyre wants added on to Aristotle's moral theory.
Titel: A Reply to Six Critics
Autor: Richard Rorty
Seite: 78-98
Abstract: Professors Maclntyre and Rosenberg are more inclined than I to believe that 'philosophy' names a natural kind - a distinctive sort of inquiry with a continuous history since the Greeks. Their criticisms of my book reflect this disagreement. Mr. Montefiore brings to light various ambiguities in my use of such terms as "edifying philosophy" and "Continental philosophy". His criticisms make good points against the concluding portions of Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. Professors Bennett and Turnbull rightly say that I have over-simplified the current situation in Anglo-Saxon analytic philosophy, but I would hope that these simplificatons do not affect the gist of my argument. Dr. Köhler very helpfully traces connections between my metaphilosophical views and my discussion certain first-order issues.
Titel: Messung von Arbeitsorientierungen. Theoretische Fundierung und Test alternativer kausaler Me ßmodelle
Autor: Peter Schmidt
Seite: 115-153
Abstract: In this paper we deal firstly with epistemological foundations of the process of operationalization in general and the character of correspondence rules in particular. After this we discuss the theoretical foundation of a scale for measuring work motivation. We explicate three different approaches, which can be used as a theoretical background for this scale. As a next step we specify and test different measurement theories relating the observable and the latent variables and compare their suitability. The sample used is a representative sample of the West-German population in 1980. Finally we test the stability of the best model in different age groups.
Titel: Soziologische Kausalanalyse. Eine Betrachtung aus gro ßer Distanz
Autor: Dieter Mans
Seite: 154-194
Abstract: Is causal analysis an appropriate method to discover causal laws? Some prerequisites for any successful application of mathematical causal models are worked out and discussed. It can be shown that these prerequisites cannot be fulfilled by present models and there are strong reasons to assume that they cannot be satisfied by any model. Therefore causal analysis will probably be of no importance for the discovery of causal laws in sociology.
Titel: Reply to Four Critics
Autor: Gerald A. Cohen
Seite: 195-222
Abstract: This article is a response to criticisms of my book on Karl Marx's Theory of History which were made by four authors in last Decembers number of ANALYSE & KRITIK. After clarifying (section 2) an ambiguity in an argument for historical materialism which is presented in the book, I contend (3-5), against objections raised by Philippe Van Parijs, that historical materialism is consistent only if it explains production relations functionally, by reference to their propensity to develop the productive forces. Next (6-8) I address and rebut the views of Wal Suchting and Milton Fisk, who both think that the role of class struggle in historical materialism is larger than the one I assign to it. Finally (9-12) I try to vindicate the doctrine of base and superstructure proposed in my book against the skepticism of Steven Lukes.
Titel: The Shifting Primacy Puzzle. A Rejoinder
Autor: Philippe Van Parijs
Seite: 223-230
Abstract: One important claim of G. A. Cohen's Karl Marx's Theory of History is that only its functional interpretation of historical materialism can solve the "primacy puzzle", i. e. can reconcile the primacy of the productive forces with the controlling role of the production relations. Cohen's recent "Reply to Four Critics" (in this journal) does not salvage this claim against my earlier critique that it is either false or trivial. He only avoids falsehood by substantially redefining the terms of the puzzle. And with the redefined puzzle, the claim becomes trivial in the sense that one of the two terms which the primacy puzzle consists in reconciling requires a functional interpretation on its own. The "Veblenian scenario" which I put forward in my earlier text and whose full force Cohen has been prevented from appreciating by two misunderstandings, illustrates what I claim to be the general solution to the only genuine primacy puzzle.
Titel: Methode, Statistik und Modell in den Sozialwissenschaften
Autor: Gerhard Arminger
Seite: 3-36
"Was sich überhaupt sagen lä ßt, lä ßt sich klar sagen; und wovon man nicht reden kann, darüber mu ß man schweigen."
(Wittgenstein: Vorrede zum Tractatus logico - philosophicus)
Abstract: The relationship between methods, statistics and models in the social sciences is discussed. New models generalizing commonly used linear models to deal with qualitative and ordinal data are introduced; their basic similarity to linear models is pointed out. Rate models and stochastic linear differential equations to model social processes in continuous time are mentioned. The implications of weak substantial theory and the correct use of statistical significance tests for any kind of model are demonstrated.
Titel: Multivariate Modellbildung für metrische Daten
Autor: Dieter Holtmann
Seite: 37-82
Abstract: The application of multiple regression and path analysis is discussed in regard to the exclusive use of the beta coefficients. Beta is one of the possible ways of controlling for the effects of the remaining predictors, others are part and partial correlation, part and partial covariance. A typology is developed for the difference between total and controlled effect. With this instrument (for controlled effect = beta) it can be shown under which conditions the sum of the total explaining power (r2y, xi) and the sum of the additional explaining power (Part correlation2) do exceed or not Multiple R2. By the criteria of sign rule and of the relative advantages of the decomposition of total effect in controlled effect and rest effect it is argued that beta is still the best way (of those considered) of control. Next some problems of the otherwise recommended LISREL approach are discussed: Estimation, data-fitting versus model test, model-fitting, standardization. Finally some parallels between models for metric and models for non-metric data are specified.
Titel: Richard Rorty - Two Philosophers or one?
Autor: Alan Montefiore
Seite: 83-96
Abstract: Rorty makes a number of broadly convergent distinctions between different types of philosopher or philosophy. His own expressed view - or apparent view - that what he calls abnormal or edifying discourse is parasitically dependent on a prior acceptation of the norms of normality is fundamentally, even 'foundationally', correct. Any too reckless or too persistently sustained defiance of these norms or of this dependence is bound to involve a refusal of various orders of responsibility; including perhaps both moral and political responsibilities. There can, of course, be no straightforward proof that Rorty's texts, stimulating and fruitful as they indisputably are, involve any of these irresponsibilities; indeed, he would no doubt accept the gist of much of the argument which seeks to make them explicit. It is nevertheless worrying to find him saying the things that he does say about the allegedly unbridgeable differences between 'continental' and 'analytic' philosophy; and though he might reply that one should not here take what he says as being the expression of a view on a matter of so-called fact, the factual inaccuracies of the views that he might 'normally' be taken to be expressing here are only too likely to be more misleading than fruitful, more harmful than harmless.
Titel: Der intersubjektive Faktor. Bemerkungen zu Richard Rortys erkenntnistheoretischem Behaviorismus
Autor: Wolfgang R. Köhler
Seite: 97-113
"Der Erkennende vermeidet die Selbsterkenntnis und lä ßt seine Wurzeln in der Erde stecken." Nietzsche
Abstract: The following article is only in part a review of Rorty's "Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature". First I sketch the development of the two leading metaphors, which Rorty considers as being central for epistemology, namely the mirror of nature and the eye of the mind. Then I try to bring out the antirealist implications of Rorty's socalled "epistemological behaviorism" and to make sense of his slogan that truth is merely warranted assertability which in my view seems not to be in line with his favouring truth-conditional semantics. Thirdly I point to some possible consequences for the social sciences of using the antirealist "criterial" semantics of the later Wittgenstein, one of Rorty's heroes.
Titel: G. A. Cohens materialistische Geschichtstheorie. Einige Einwände - Überblick zu einer Diskussion
Autor: Anton Leist
Seite: 131-158
Abstract: During the last years Anglosaxon discussion about Marx and Marxism has been characterized by an intensified interest in historical materialism as a general theory of history. The most extensive, careful and analytically rigorous among several new treatments is the one by G. A. Cohen, which is the subject of four critical articles in the present issue of ANALYSE & KRITIK. To make these articles and Cohen's project understandable to the German reader, an attempt is made in the following to summarize the main arguments of Cohen's defence of historical materialism and of the ensuing comprehensive and detailed discussion.
Titel: 'Productive Forces' and 'Relations of Production' in Marx
Autor: Wal Suchting
Seite: 159-181
"5. Dialectics of the concepts productive force (means of production) and relation of production, a dialectic whose limits are to be defined, and which does not do away with real differences." (K. Marx, Grundrisse, lO9/MEW l3, 64O)
Abstract: This paper criticises the view that, accordinq to Marx, "productive forces" determine "relations of production" and that the growth of the former basically determines the course of history. The particular version of this account discussed is that to be found in G. A. Cohen's "Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence". The main part of this criticism involves a presentation of what, it is suggested, was in fact Marx's conception of "productive forces", "relations of production" and their relations, and an identification of class-struqqle as the primary factor at least for the historically significant periods with which Marx was concerned.
Titel: The Concept of Primacy in Historical Explanation
Autor: Milton Fisk
Seite: 182-196
Abstract: G. A. Cohen interprets Marx as a technological materialist; the productive forces are "primary" in history. There are several mistakes here. First, for Marx technology is neither always nor predominantly the direct stimulus - either causal or functional - of the social relations of production. Second, it is not even the case that for Marx primacy in explanation is a matter of being a direct stimulus. It has to do rather with being a framework that underlies interconnections between direct stimuli and their results. It turns out that this framework cannot be technology but only the relations of production. Third, technological development is not an autonomous process but is for Marx one that is dependent on the cooperation of producers. This introduces the political element of the class struggle into technological development and refutes a technological reading of why a given class rules.
Titel: Das grundlegende Puzzle des historischen Materialismus
Autor: Philippe Van Parijs
Seite: 197-210
Abstract: How is it possible, at the same time, to claim that there is a causal primacy of the productive forces over the relations of production and to recognize that the development of the productive forces causally depends on the nature of the relations of production? This irritating puzzle, which threatens the very core of historical materialism, had never received a satisfactory solution until G. A. Cohen's Karl Marx's Theory of History. The latter asserts that only a functional interpretation of historical materialism can effect the required reconciliation. On one reading of the "primacy puzzle", however, this claim turns out to be trivial, while on the only other plausible reading it turns out to be false. Having delineated this dilemma, the article sketches an alternative solution.
Titel: Can the Base be distinguished from the Superstructure?
Autor: Steven Lukes
Seite: 211-222
Abstract: This article considers Cohen's claim that the economic structure or base can be conceived independently of the superstructure by adressing his attempt to identify "a rechtsfrei (moralitätsfrei, etc.) economic structure to explain law (morals, etc.)". It examines his programme of presenting relations of production as a set of (non-normative) powers and constraints that 'match' the rights and obligations of property relations. It is argued that, first, Cohen does not carry through this programme rigorously but, second, he could not do so, since it cannot be carried out at all. Three arguments are advanced, the first two against the possibility of a determinate ,objective, account of such powers and constraints, the third against the possibility of abstracting norms (constitutive and regulative, formal and informal) from contractual relationships: it is argued that one cannot identify the powers and constraints embodied in norm-governed economic relationships independently of the norms which govern them. Alternative interpretations are considered of Cohen's programme that might escape these objections, but these are rejected as untrue to his purpose, and in any case ineffective. It is concluded that Cohen fails to distinguish base from superstructure in the manner required.
Titel: Richard Rorty and the American Philosophical Scene
Autor: Robert G. Turnbull
Seite: 223-238
Abstract: Richard Rorty's assessment of the American philosophical scene is unduly cynical. Part of the reason for this seems to lie in his recognition (in Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature) of the incoherence of "grounding" a linguistic or conceptual scheme on a "given", but proceeding, nevertheless, to think of representation and truth as requiring conformity to a "given". He, therefore, fails to appreciate the unity and seriousness of American philosophers who, abandoning the "given", are working with some success on plausible accounts of representation and truth. Surprisingly, neither in his article nor his book does he attend to the remarkable increase in sophistication and serious research on the part of historians of philosophy and historians of science. Both in serious work on representation and truth and in historical research there is more rapprochement between American and Continental philosophers than Rorty seems prepared to credit.
Titel: A Critique of the Discursive Systems and Foundation Concepts of Distribution Analysis
Autor: Warren J. Samuels
Seite: 4-21
Abstract: Productivity and exploitation theories of distribution are identified as alternative discursive systems. Both are shown to have analytic and interpretive strengths but also to be relative vis-a-vis the bases by which conclusions in terms of exploitation and productivity, respectively, are reached and stated. A third, nonideological (and therefore less emotionally satisfying) alternative mode of discourse is suggested: appropriation theory, focussing on power and inequality but without normative judgment. The work of Max Weber is used to illustrate appropriation theory.
Titel: Economic Theory, Ideal Types, and Rationality
Autor: Lansana Keita
Seite: 22-38
Abstract: Contemporary economic theory is generally regarded as a scientific or at least potentially so. The replacing of the cardinal theory of utility measurement by the ordinal theory was supposed to prepare the groundwork for economics as a genuine science. But in adopting the ordinal approach, theorists saw fit to anchor ordinal theory to axioms of choice founded on principles of rational behavior. Behavior according to these axioms was embodied in the ideal type model of rational economic man. This model served the basis for scientific explanation of the choices made by actual economic agents. I argue though that the postulate of rationality is a normative principle and that this compromises the scientific pretensions of economic theory. Yet the theorist must rely on this principle to formulate predictive and explanatory theories. This raises questions as to whether it is possible that economic theory satisfy the same kind of scientific criteria set down for research in the natural sciences.
Titel: Produktion, Markt und technischer Fortschritt
Autor: Mario Cogoy
Seite: 39-70
Abstract: The following article proposes a change of perspective in the capital-theory debate of political economy. Instead of insisting upon the differences between a Marxian labour theory of value and a Ricardo Sraffaian theory of prices of production (Marx versus Sraffa) the common basis of the two approaches is stressed. The common basis consists in the paradigm of duality between physical quantities and evaluation standards. The last part of the paper collects sceptical arguments concerning the question of whether the duality paradigm can provide an adequate approach to an analysis of modern technical change.
Titel: Zu M. Taylors Analysen des Gefangenendilemmas
Autor: Hartmut Kliemt / Bernd Schauenberg
Seite: 71-97
Abstract: The theory of garnes, though at first greeted with great expectations by some social scientists, soon became a source of frustrated hopes to many of them. Too much of the theory seemed to be devoted to "zero-sum" and "one-shot" games. But most social contexts are not zero-sum and involve repeated interaction too. There was a certain lack of such game theoretic models which could be successfully adapted to social phenomena as were apt to appear in reality. Recently the theory of games seems to be on its way to closing this gap within a special branch devoted to "repeated games" or "supergames". Very promising is the approach of Michael Taylor which is surveyed and discussed in the subsequent paper. This approach has two main merits: First it can be understood with a modest mathematical background, secondly it can be adapted easily to a more precise reconstruction of classical topics in political theory. Though one might not agree with some of Taylor's conclusions it seems to be worthwhile to get acquainted at least with the basics of his analysis and to take it as a first step to opening avenues for future social research.
Titel: Wisdom and Analytical Philosophy
Autor: Jonathan Bennet
Seite: 98-101
Abstract: Rorty's profound and challenging critique of contemporary philosophy is in several ways somewhat unfair. Analytic philosophy can contribute towards 'wisdom' in a reasonable sense of the term, though not in Rorty's narrow sense; and his contrast between 'sophist' and 'sage', with the latter understood in Plato's way, is also too constricting. Also, some contemporary 'analytic' work in the 'history of philosophy', so called, is not invalidated by Rorty's strictures - especially his implied accusation that we shan't be interested in the intellectual past if we can't look down on it.
Titel: Philosophy and its History
Autor: Alasdair MacIntyre
Seite: 102-113
Abstract: Richard Rorty argues that the present state of analytic Philosophy is the result of the collapse of the logical empiricist program. But most of the characteristics of analytic philosophy which Rorty ascribes to that collapse predated logical empiricism. The historical explanation of the present state of philosophy must begin not later than with the schism between philosophy and the other disciplines in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. To begin then leads to a different view of how philosophical problems are generated.
Titel: Philosophy's Self-Image
Autor: Jay F. Rosenberg
Seite: 114-128
Abstract: Rorty rejects the idea of a "permanent and neutral matrix of Heuristic concepts". The claim of privilege, however, is separable from the aim of universality, and this idea can be transposed into a regulative ideal, while still preserving the unique intellectual mission of a discipline of philosophy. Rorty's own positive picture of "edifying Philosophy" in contrast is arguably irresponsible and grounded in misreadings both of the epistemology of science and of episodes in the history of philosophy, especially the contributions of Kant.
Titel: Zur Kritik der libertären Eigentumskonzeption
Autor: Peter Koller
Seite: 137-154
Abstract: Nozick's entitlement theory of justice is, besides Rawls's theory, one of the most widely discussed and intellectually most attractive conceptions within the field of contemporary political philosophy. Nozick's theory uses Locke's conception of the state of nature and of natural rights, and tries, starting from this point of view, to deliver a comprehensive systematisation of libertarian political ideals. This essay deals mainly with Nozick's conception of property rights. The argument is put forward that the concept of exclusive and unrestrictable ownership of which Nozick makes use, doesn,t find any acceptable justification on the basis of his theory.
Titel: Überlegungen zu einer dispositionalen Deutung des Andershandelnkönnens
Autor: Björn Burkhardt
Seite: 155-170
Abstract: The assertion "he could have done otherwise" represents a notorious problem in the science of penal law and in moral philosophy. Some philosophers have assumed that this statement is to be analysed as "he would have done otherwise if he had so chosen" (analysis view), thus believing to have found an interpretation which is compatible with determinism. It has been argued, however, that these two statements are not equivalent. The following article attempts to show that this objection is not far-reaching enough. At the same time the analysis view is considered to be of little help, as it presupposes the solution of the problems it claims to solve.
Titel: Schutz und Gefährdung von Rechten durch die staatliche Kriminalstrafe
Autor: Elke Kliemt / Hartmut Kliemt
Seite: 171-193
Abstract: Utilitarianism has been widely accused of inadequately treating the problem of human rights. One main criticism has been, that it could not account for acceptable institutions of legal punishment. Though the utilitarian position seems to be untenable it contains some sound points - above all its consequentialist metaethics. The central weakness of "right-based" justifications of the criminal sanction on the other hand seems to be that they do not give due place to the consequences of alternative institutional settings. But it seems to be possible to establish a right-based and consequentialist moral theory of legal punishment leading to an acceptable practice of punishment - though not necessarily the one we are acquainted with.
Titel: Recht, Strafrecht und Sozialmoral
Autor: Klaus Lüderssen
Seite: 194-223
Abstract: It is shown by means of four examples that the demarcation between law and morals has become problematical. The study of more recent developments in ethics and in law indicates that in both fields the relevance of discourse and consent has grown. Though both law and morals aim at agreement their degree of dependance on it differs. The definition of law and morals suggested in this article is based on this view. Legitimate law consists of norms, which besides fulfilling other conditions have attained a certain degree of consent. On the other hand one can only talk of social morals when a very high degree of consent has been reached. The consequences of this definition are explained by means of the examples presented at the beginning.
Titel: Zur Abgrenzung von Recht und Moral. Kommentar zu K. Lüderssens "Recht, Strafrecht und Sozialmoral"
Autor: Lothar Kuhlen
Seite: 223-236
Abstract: Lüderssen's definition of legal and moral norms according to the varying degree of consent given to them is rejected. The definition proposed is not only imprecise, but also inadequate in substance as it is in contradiction with central and plausible aspects of our conception of morals. On the face of it the definition put forward is convincing only in the context of a "recognition-theory" of law. It is argued that this theory is not convincing either and moreover can manage without this definition.
Titel: The Pareto Principle and Policy Analysis. A Response to Warren Samuels, "The Pareto Principle: Another View" (ANALYSE & KRITIK 1/81)
Autor: Jürgen Backhaus
Seite: 237-246
Abstract: Warren Samuels has suggested that the Pareto Principle, when being used in policy analysis, is (1) limited, (2) selective, and (3) displays a conservative bias. In contrast to this view, in this note it is argued that the Pareto Principle is much less limited than was initially perceived (e. g. by Pareto himself) or is generally believed to be the case, that it tends to emphasize inclusiveness instead of selectivity, and that it is more likely to have an innovative instead of a conservative bias.
Titel: Zur Lage der Gegenwartsphilosophie in den USA
Autor: Richard Rorty
Seite: 3-22
Abstract: Analytic philosophy has taken for granted an account of the history of philosophy which jumps straight from Kant to Frege, leaving out Hegel and most of the nineteenth century. Such an understandig (e. g. , that of Reichenbach's Rise of Scientific Philosophy) depends upon viewing philosophy as the solution of certain discrete and specific "problems" raised by e. g. , discoveries in physics or mathematics. But the rejection of traditional positivist doctrines (those invoked by Reichenbach) brought about by the work of Wittgenstein, Quine, and others, makes this latter conception of philosophy difficult to sustain. Consequently, analytic philosophy has become a movement without a clear self-image and sense of mission. Its old ideological roots have been cut, and it now sustains itself through a sense of professionalism rather than by a sense of cultural or historical role. However, it still retains the Reichenbachian account of the history of philosophy. This has led to problems in American philosophy departments, particularly an unwillingness to regard Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and other "Continental" figures as being "really philosophers" and thus an unwillingness to include them in the curriculum.
Titel: Inhaltsanalyse versus Linguistik
Autor: Ingunde Fühlau
Seite: 23-47
Abstract: Up to now no cooperation between linguists and content analysts has been achieved, although both disciplines have to cope with mostly the same problems related to language and communication. The article argues that this state of unrelated work is due to the fact that content analysis as a thoroughly American method was confronted with the linguistic school of "American Structuralism". The prime concern of this linguistic school and in particular its first two phases - Behaviorism and Distributionalism - was to establish scientific methods for linguistics. In the course of the development of American linguistics this led to a total exclusion of meaning or content from the field of linguistic analysis. The aims of linguistics and content analysis thus came to oppose each other. With the rise of transformational grammar meaning was reintegrated into linguistic work, thereby weakening the scientific claim. However since the beginning of the sixties content analysis has transformed into computer analysis, causing new problems to arise. Computerized content analysis is more than ever in need of a scientific theory of meaning - which, as linguistic endeavours have shown, is simply unfeasible. In order to promote a cooperation between linguists and content analysts a reformulation of the epistemologic basis for analyzing contents is inevitable.
Titel: Inhaltsanalyse als Instrument der Sozialforschung. Theoretische Analyse und methodologische Kritik
Autor: Klaus Merten
Seite: 48-63
Abstract: It is assumed that content analysis is as important an instrument for the investigation of social reality as other instruments for this purpose (observation, interview). First a number of assumptions of Berelson's classic definition of content analysis is examined from this perspective and their problematical nature shown by referring to findings of the theory of communication and semiotics. The result of this analysis demands the understanding of content analysis as a method of investigation of social reality rather than as a model; the aim not being the description of a social object (of a text) but the inference from internal characteristics of a text to external characteristics of social reality. At the same time it is revealed that content analysis just as the customary instruments for the investigation of social reality is to be understood as a reciprocally interfering selective social process the achievement of which, namely the investigation of social reality, is only possible in actual fact at the cost of the reactivity of the instrument.
Titel: Zum Verfahren der strukturalen Textanalyse - am Beispiel eines diskursiven Textes
Autor: Michael Titzmann
Seite: 64-92
Abstract: The present study is an attempt to demonstrate some of the possibilities and methodological rules of structural text analysis by applying the method to a text as an example. It is the aim to demonstrate especially in which way structural text analysis 1) works to include pragmatic aspects as well as cultural contexts of texts, 2) reconstructs, on the basis of a given text structure, a) tacit implications of texts, b) text-specific meanings of text terms.
Titel: Inhaltsanalyse und strukturale Textanalyse
Autor: Werner Früh
Seite: 93-116
Abstract: The criticism of the original behavioristic basis of content analysis does not take into account the present state of research. The method has long since overcome its limitation, only to be able to code physical communication in the form of printed or written material. Every intersubjective demonstrable meaning now can be the object of content analysis. In its claim to be able to adequately describe the content of texts it is only apparently in competition with linguistic "structural text analysis". Due to the different research traditions from which they originated they were developed for different interests. While content analysis is the better method for hypothesis testing and selective description of large quantities of texts, structural text analysis is more efficient with respect to single and complex texts. One could image an optimal combination of both methods being possible.
Titel: Bedeutung gleich Struktur? Zur Strukturalen Textanalyse M. Titzmanns
Autor: Heinz-Helmut Lüger
Seite: 117-123
Abstract: With his "Structural Text Analysis" M. Titzmann tries to give the basic notions of a semiotic theory of interpretation. In spite of this extensive and systematic representation, some problems arise: the additive conception of pragmatics, the static-referential notion of sign, the rigid definition of meaning, the rejection of any alternative interpretation. The possibility of application of the proposed method would depend to a large extent on these points.
Titel: The Pareto Principle: Another View. Comment on Jürgen Backhaus: The Pareto Principle (ANALYSE & KRITIK 2/80)
Autor: Warren J. Samuels
Seite: 124-134
Abstract: The Pareto principle is in fact the fundamental concept of welfare economics. However, it has serious analytical and heuristic limits, is selective and conservative in nature and use, and is heavily normative notwithstanding the pretensions by advocates of its positive character.
Titel: Ist der Kritische Rationalismus am Ende?
Autor: Helmut F. Spinner
Seite: 99-126
Abstract: Motivated by Drerup's and Terhart's stimulating contribution (ANALYSE & KRITIK 1 /80) to the notorious "Critical Rationalism and Contemporary Politics"-affair with its fatal repercussions on Popper's original position. Part One of this paper discusses the development of Popperian philosophy of science and society from the hopeful beginnings to the rather unsatisfactory present state, with the main emphasis on the separate fate of his Social Philosophy in Germanspeaking countries. A reconstruction and evaluation of this development is made in comparison to Popper's basic idea of an open-minded Social Philosophy and critical Social Science. The German mainstream development adds to Popper's own radically liberal interpretation a positivistic, a normativistic and a conformistic phase, thus leading this degenerating research programme to the present philosophical stagnation and badly compensating political reideologization. The intellectual as well as the institutional causes and consequences of the deviant German case are analysed. - This exposition of the present state of reception is to be completed, in Part Two, by an analysis of the resulting state of problems with regard to the remaining chances for the realization of the original Popperian programme just-mentioned in contemporary rebuilding.
Titel: Messung und Systematisierung in der Soziologie
Autor: Norbert Froese
Seite: 127-145
Abstract: This essay is a systematic investigation of the problems concerning the measurement of theoretical qualities in the social sciences. If someone wants to measure theoretical qualities like attitudes, intelligence or aggressivity the first and most difficult task is to formulate an operationalisation. To show such operationalisations being correct is the central problem of empirical research. In this essay it is shown that no adequate methods exist to demonstrate operationalisations as true ore false statements. As long as the problem of operationalisation is treated and analysed as a problem of isolated statements it seems to be absolutely unsolvable. The problem of the correctness of operationalisations must be interpreted as the problem of the correctness of the theories in which they are used. Whether an operationalisation is accepted or not depends only on the empirical success of the theory in which it is contained. This implies that we can only measure theoretical qualities if we have successful theories working with these theoretical qualities.
Titel: The Pareto Principle
Autor: Jürgen Backhaus
Seite: 146-171
Abstract: The purpose of the paper is a discussion of the meaning and relevance of the Pareto principle in economics. To begin with, the principle is briefly retraced in Pareto's own writings. Its contemporary meaning was, however, developed in the context of the "New Welfare Economics". While Pareto technically employed the principle in order to describe an equilibrium situation, Kaldor and Hicks developed it somewhat differently as a yardstick for economic policy formulation. Sometimes, the principle is also discussed as a decision rule, and in this context some critics - though not the present author - believe it to have a conservative bias. Finally, recent discussions center around the incompatibility of the Pareto principle and "liberal" values. This conflict might be of limited relevance, only, due to a misconstrued formalism.
Titel: The Rationality of Changing Choice
Autor: Tapas Majumdar
Seite: 172-178
Abstract: Economists are used to associate the rationality of individual choice behaviour with simple and unchanging individual preference patterns, typically predicting unique behavioural outcomes in a choice situation - leaving little room for probing apparent inconsistencies (except in situations of game-theoretic stratagems used by the choosers), and no provision for analysing genuine dilemmas. The paper comments on the (in this respect) richer contents of two recent extensions of the concept of rational choice: the first involved in Sen's theory of meta-ranking, and the second implied in Scitovsky's distinction between "pleasure" and "comfort" as the two constituents of the state of individual welfare. The paper then proceeds to suggest a somewhat similar extension of rationality implied, it is argued, in tht idea of"development" or "becoming" as part of a chosen, distinct, and articulated process involved, specifically, in education, or more vaguely, in "modernisation". The emerging concept of rationality which permits of changes in individual preference patterns consistently, in steps, and in a direction initiated and chosen by the individual himself, is claimed in the paper to be more appropriate for the analysis of choice situations likely to be encountered by rational individuals in a complex developing society. The consistency conditions for individual behaviour permitted by such rich, "directional", rationality have, however, yet to be specified.
Titel: A Note on the ,Rationality of Becoming, and Revealed Preference
Autor: Prasanta K. Pattanaik
Seite: 179-182
Abstract: This note comments on Professor Majumdar's concept of an individual who seeks to change his own preferences over time. It is argued that while one can formulate "revealed preference axioms" which will rationalize the choices of Professor Majumdar's individual, it is unlikely that the choice of such an individual will reveal his preferences.
Titel: Comment on Ausonio Marras: Intentionality and Physicalism: a Resolvable Dispute (ANALYSE & KRITIK 1/80)
Autor: Albert Flores
Seite: 183 - 189
Abstract: This paper explores the nature of the dispute between the competing theses of intentionality and physicalism, as discussed by A. Marras in his paper "Intentionality and Physicalism: a Resolvable Dispute". Although as originally conceived neither thesis is viable, it is apparent that a physicalist account of human behavior must take into consideration the intentionality of human behavior. This paper reviews a recent attempt to give a physicalist reconstruction of intentionality and shows that such an approach succeeds in providing scientifically acceptable explanations of human behavior without needing to answer the metaphysical questions that this dispute implies.
Titel: Comment on Ausonio Marras: Intentionality and Physicalism: a Resolvable Dispute (ANALYSE & KRITIK 1/80)
Autor: Harold Morick
Seite: 190-193
Abstract: Contrary to Marras: (1) the third of Chisholm's Intentional criteria of sentences about mental states and events succeeds in highlighting an intuitive feature of Intentionality. (2) If there ist such a thing as modality, it resides either in the way we speak of things or in the things, regardless of the way we speak of them. If the latter, modal sentences fail to satisfy Chisholm's criterion for mentalistic sentences; and if the former, modal sentences turn out to be mentalistic sentences. So either way - if either the latter or the former - modal sentences fail to provide a counterexample to Chisholm's claim that his criterion picks out only mentalistic sentences. (3) Functionalisrn doesn,t enable physicalism to accomodate Intentional states and events, because functionalismrejects a traditional tenet of physicalism.
Titel: Intentionality and Physicalism: a Resolvable Dispute
Autor: Ausonio Marras
Seite: 1-14
Abstract: This paper discusses the traditional antagonism between the Intentionalist and the Physicalist paradigms of the nature of mind and human behaviour. After tracing the development of the concept of intentionality in contemporary analytic philosophy and delineating some of the problems it presented for the so-called Thesis of Physicalism in several of its formulations, the paper proceeds to show how a liberalized methodology of theory construction and an understanding of functional systems and artificial intelligence models may enable us to reconstruct the intentional states of persons in a way compatible with the demands of physicalism. In particular, it is suggested that the intentional states which, on the intentionalist paradigm, mediate human behaviour might be understood as (theoretically postulated) functional states of a physical organism modelled on the functional states of a (probabilistic) automaton.
Titel: Soziologische Relativität. Überlegungen zur ethnomethodologischen Theorie praktischer Rationalität
Autor: Elisabeth List
Seite: 15-33
Abstract: Ethnomethodology criticises sociological objectivism in a double sense: a) concerning the idea of "objectively" given social facts; b) concerning the idea of objectivity as a realistic claim of common sense and scientific knowledge. The theoretical alternative presented by Garfinkel and his followers consists a) in an analysis of the interpretative procedures, by which common sense beliefs in the objectivity of reality are constituted; b) in the intention, to take practical reasoning not as a source, but as a topic of empirical study. The paper argues that while the proposed analysis of practical activities conveys a useful approach, its epistemological implications lead to inconsistencies and problematical consequences.
Titel: Ethnomethodologie: Ende der Regeln oder Regeln ohne Ende?
Autor: Martin Löw-Beer
Seite: 34-61
Abstract: List (ANALYSE & KRITIK 1/80) and Baurmann/Leist/Mans (ANALYSE & KRITIK 1/79) try to characterize ethnomethodology by two groups of statements. One group consists of trivialties, the other one contains only absurdities. This way of getting rid of ethnomethodology is enforced through some unfortunate self-representations of ethnomethodologists and a radical version of labelling theory. This part of ethnomethodology deserves criticism and shall get it in the first part of my paper. But the way of dealing with ethnomethodology by getting rid of absurdities and being bored by trivialities deserves in itself to be criticized. I do this in an indirect way by proposing an alternative way to characterize ethnomethodology. This is a way that seems to me more in accordance with the practical activities of ethnomethodologists. In the last part of my paper I criticize some relativistic and some wrong epistemological convictions of ethnomethodologists, that appear in their practical research.
Titel: Wissenschaftstheorie und Politikberatung. Analyse kritisch-rationalistischer Auffassungen zum Verhältnis von Wissenschaftstheorie, Wissenschaft und Politik
Autor: Heiner Drerup / Ewald Terhart
Seite: 62-73
Abstract: Critical Rationalists have developed some concepts to clarify what it means to take a "critical rationalist" standpoint towards political matters. The "critical attitude as a way of life", the application of realizability tests, the "law of unintended consequences" and the conception of "piecemeal technology" are introduced for this purpose. Our analysis tries to show that such doctrines do not provide a basis for a viable "critical rationalist" political theory. They at best offer a repertory of arbitrary arguments for the symbolic use of politics.
Titel: Rawls and the Left: Some Left Critiques of Rawls' Principles of Justice
Autor: Kai Nielsen
Seite: 74-97
Abstract: This is an examination of some Left critiques of Rawls. Stress is put, not on his underlying moral methodology, including his contractarianism, though surely there is need for such a critique as well, but on an examination of his principles of justice, particularly his equal liberty principle and his difference principle. This is often thought to be the heart of his theory. It is argued that Rawls, asociological and ahistorical approach and his ignoring of questions of power and of ideology and his lack of an adequate conceptualization of liberty lead to major distortions in his account. Both principles are shown to be problematic and the equal liberty principle is shown to be in conflict with the difference principle.
Titel: Zum Programm einer kritischen Sozialwissenschaft - Theorie der gerechten Gesellschaft und Ideologiekritik
Autor: Michael Baurmann / Anton Leist / Dieter Mans
Seite: 105-124
Abstract: Critical social science has to acknowledge that every fundamental critique of society implies the justification of alternative norms and institutions. Several current objections against such an explicitly normative understanding of critical social science are discussed. The following outline of a theory of a just society tries co meet two demands: the rational consensus of all individuals concerned and the satisfaction of individual interests. In societies characterized by class struggles, however, these two aims turn out co be incompatible. Therefore an ethical realist approach is offered which takes into account the clarification and normative reinterpretation of interests. The tools of analytic philosophy can be given new application in combina-tion with an analysis of interests under the title of a critique of ideology.
Titel: Political Institutions as Means to Economic Justice: A Critique of Rawls, Contractarianism
Autor: Joseph D. Sneed
Seite: 125-146
Abstract: It is argued that John Rawls' theory of social justice as well as the contract argument for it are misleading, if not actually mistaken, in that they appear to take institutional features of societies as fundamental objects of moral evaluation. An alternative view is expounded. Principles involving institution as features are only contingently related to principles involving the distribution of things people care about. These distributions are taken as the fundamental objects of moral evaluation. Social, political and economic institutions are means to achieve more desirable distributions. It is argued that the alternative provides a more accurate reconstruction of the moral foundations of social-democratic liberalism than does Rawls' theory.
Titel: Funktionale Erklärungen bei Marx
Autor: Wolfgang Detel
Seite: 147-163
Abstract: In the following attempt at a further clarification of the methodological aspects of Marxian theory construction it is demonstrated that central arguments in the first part of the Kapital, especially the description of the development from simple to capitalist commodity production, can be analysed as functional explanations in the modern logical sense. At the same time it becomes clear that some questionable conclusions which have been arrived at on the ba-sis of this description, e.g. the development of capitalism being a necessary condition for the later formation of socialism, can be understood as results of certain methodological defects in Marx, functional explanations.
Titel: Modellkonstruktion und empirische Überprüfbarkeit in Marx' "Kapital"
Autor: Ulrich Steinvorth
Seite: 164-181
Abstract: One of the first objections raised against Marx, Kapital was that it was an idealistic construction apriori of capitalist economy. Since Marx agreed that his book could seem to be so, we may assume that the analyses of Kapital are not only empirical. I try to show that (1) the analyses of the first chapters of Kapital give a conceptual construction of a model of commodity exchange made up both of generally recognized and of new definitions of commo-dity exchange, (2) that the model cannot be used for predicting the end of capitalist economy but that (3) it can be applied to reality because (a) the generally recognized definitions correspond to the ordinary usage of the words, (b) the new definitions are in accordance with true empirical statements about capitalist exchange, (c) the model has allowed true predictions about capitalist economy to be deduced, and (4) that therefore it can be used as a reason for putting an end to capitalist economy.
Titel: Die linke Ecke des Wiener Kreises. Bemerkungen zu A. Beckermanns "Logischer Positivismus und radikale Gesell-schaftsreform" (ANALYSE & KRITIK 1/79)
Autor: Rudolf Lüscher
Seite: 182-191
Abstract: Beckermann's belief in a "direct connection" between Logical Empiricism and socialist politics is unjustified: (I) Logical Empiricism supports - if anything - 'rational', i.e. non-metaphysically grounded political positions, including non-socialist and authoritarian ones. (11) Logical Empiricism offers instruments to anybody willing to talk rationally about politics, but it cannot urge anybody to become politically active. (III) The only systematic attempt to develop a politically relevant sociology within the Vienna Circle, i.e. Neurath's, is at best methodologically inconsistent and at worst pro-authoritarian.
Titel: Logischer Empirismus und normative Entscheidungstheorie
Autor: Wolfgang R. Köhler
Seite: 192-199
Abstract: Logical Empiricism, i.e. its non-cognitivism, does not destroy practical rationality because it is compatible with a rational decision on normative questions by way of consequen-tialist reasoning according to decision theory. It is argued that the contention that Logical Empiricism destroys practical rationality is based on a confusion of a rational decision on normative questions with the interpretation of the meaning of the answers to these questions. It is further argued that a rational decision on normative questions is only possible as far as the normative status of actions is concerned. It is not possible as far as the evaluative premises about basic values are concerned. Finally it is said that a rational decision on normative questions is principally deductive. Good-reason's-approach and practical syllogism are therefore only enthymematic and transformable into logical deduction. Of course, proving basic values or moral principles by way of logical deduction is both as impossible as needless.
Titel: Zum Programm einer kritischen Sozialwissenschaft - Empirie und Theorie
Autor: Michael Baurmann / Anton Leist / Dieter Mans
Seite: 1-29
Abstract: The article argues for a synthesis between analytical philosophy and social sciences as relevant and necessary. The motivation and framework of such a synthesis is outlined on the basis of a critical social science. The authors illuminate such a perspective negatively in a critique of empirical and theoretical sociology, then positively in a clarification of the critical standpoint. Four theses, two under each aspect, are defended: 1. Concerning empirical social sciences: Neither the quantitative nor the qualitative paradigm of empirical social science is able to put forward adequate methods for social research. Instead, the development of reconstructive methods is proposed to combine the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages of the quantitative and qualitative paradigms. 2. Concerning theoretical sociology: Macrosociological theories tend to resist empirical corrobation. Pure theoretical and philosophical justification abounds instead. In this situation the tools of analytic theory of science are proposed in order to c1arify the necessary steps towards a further development of theories, which can be empirically tested. 3. Concerning the critique of society: A critical social science must incorporate a theory of a just society in order to analyse social institutions in a normative way. In this context an ethical realist approach is offered which tries to fulfil two conditions for sociologically relevant normative reasonings: satisfaction of individual interests and the rational consensus of all persons concerned. 4. Concerning critique of ideology: The tools of analytic philosophy can be given new application by combining them with an ana-lysis of interests under the tide of critique of ideology.
Titel: Logischer Positivismus und radikale Gesellschaftsreform
Autor: Ansgar Beckermann
Seite: 30-46
Abstract: For many years some critically engaged German sociologists have challenged Logical Positivism with the criticism that Positivism's allegedly neutral conception of science in fact supports conservative or even reactionary political movemenrs. This line of criticism is due, at last in part, to the fact that German scientists became acquainted with the positivistic branch of analytical philosophy after World War II almost exclusively through the works of the liberal-conservative K. R. Popper. Popper, however, is by no means representative of all Positivists. There were influential members of the Vienna Circle who saw a direct connection between the aims of the "scientific world view" and the endeavour to renew the society on the basis of rational, i.e. socialistic, principles. This connection becomes especially clear in the manifesto Wissenschaftliche Weltauffassung - Der Wiener Kreis which was published in 1929 by Camap, Hahn and Neurath.
Titel: Grenzen der wissenschaftlichen Weltauffassung des Wiener Kreises. Eine Replik auf A. Beckermanns "Logischer Positivismus und radikale Gesellschaftsreform"
Autor: Rainer Hegselmann
Seite: 47-50
Abstract: Beckermann states correctly that one wing of the Vienna Circle advocated a program of rationality including theoretical as well as practical questions. However, contrary to Beckermann, it can be pointed out that there is no consistent relationship between the theoretical and practical parts of this program. These inconsistencies could be e1iminated if one takes the historical background from which Logical Empiricism originated into consideration.
Titel: Zerstört der Logische Empirismus die Praktische Rationalität? Eine Erwiderung auf Beckermanns "Logischer Positivismus und radikale Gesellschaftsreform " und Hegselmanns "Grenzen der wissenschaftlichen Weltauffassung des Wiener Kreises"
Autor: Wolfgang R. Köhler
Seite: 51-59
Abstract: It will be argued that the basic theoretical assumptions of logical empiricism do not destroy the possibility of practical reasoning, because the non-cognitivity of normative or evaluative statements still guarantees rational argument over practical questions and problems. Therefore, no logical inconsistency exists between logical empiricism, its non-cognitivist metaethics and socialist politics. In particular, logical empiricism is not committed to indifference concerning reactionary political programmes, although it itself entails no individual political programme.
Titel: Historical Momentums and Historical Epochs. An Attempt at a Non-Marxian Historical Materialism
Autor: Leszek Nowak
Seite: 60-76
Abstract: The paper begins with a proposal for a reconstruction of three major statements of the traditional Marxian version of historical materialism. The general concept of an adaptive mechanism is introduced to explain how, in the Marxian sense, several parts of the superstruc-ture are to be thought of as determined by the economic base. The paper proceeds by asking whether the classical type of economic determination is valid not only for precapitalist and capitalist societies, but for socialist societies as well. An answer in the negative is given. The author tries to outline a type of historical materialism which takes into account the autonomous role of political institutions and social relations as determinants in socialist societies.
Titel: Comments on some Methodological Aspects of Rawls, "Theory of Justice"
Autor: Ernst Tugendhat
Seite: 77-89
Abstract: In the first part of the paper Rawls, conception of a "reflective equilibrium" with our "considered moral judgements" is criticized. Moral judgements cannot form a court of appeal for the justification of moral principles, since they are themselves in need of justification. An analysis of the meaning of the sentences in which moral judgements are expressed is called for in order to establish their method of justification. In the second part of the paper the consequence which Rawls, repudiation of semantic analysis has had for his conception of the "original position" is discussed. In retrogressive extension of his four-stage-sequence a zero-stage is postulated which represents the moral point of view. At this stage the reasons would have to be given for adopting the original position and for conceiving it with just those characteristics that Rawls has assumed. Only thus can the advantages and disadvantages of these characteristics be analytically assessed.
Titel: Methodenfragen der Gerechtigkeitstheorie. Überlegungen im Anschlu ß an Tugendhats "Comments on some Methodological Aspects of Rawls' 'Theory of Justice'"
Autor: Arend Kulenkampff
Seite: 90-104
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is the clarification of some methodological problems concerning Rawls, theory of justice. The first part seeks to make more precise Tugendhat's distinc-tion between 1st-person-theory and 3rd-person-theory. Rawls, theory fulfils all criteria for 1st-person-theories. In the second part Rawls, coherence model for the justification of norms ("reflective equilibrium") is critically analyzed and opposed to the hypothetical decision which individuals are to make in the original position (contract model). It is shown that the conception of reflective equilibrium is in various aspects mistaken. In conclusion a problem is indicated which Rawls has not satisfactorily resolved: The veil of ignorance is supposed to guarantee that the decision for the basic principles of social justice is unanimous. Nevertheless it would appear that the individuals in the original position either have too little empirical knowledge in order to make a rational decision, or they have too much knowledge in order to come to an unanimous decision. The veil of ignorance is either too fine or not fine enough.
Titel: Explaining and Understanding by Answering `Why\' and `How\' Questions: A Programmatic Introduction to the Special Issue Social Mechanisms
Autor: Ulf Tranow, Tilo Beckers and Dominik Becker
Seite: 1-29
Titel: Social Mechanisms as Special Cases of Explanatory Sociology: Notes toward Systemizing and Expanding Mechanism-based Explanation within Sociology
Autor: Andrea Maurer
Seite: 31-52
The revival of action based explanations as well as their formal structuring have been two of the most important topics within explanatory sociology since the 1980s. The two newly developed approaches, being structural individualism and analytical sociology based on mechanism models, will be outlined in this article. The article is dedicated to a comparison of the aims and the formal structure of both approaches. It is shown that explanations within analytical sociology tend to be more realistic but also more complex. They do not differentiate between micro and macro levels in analytical terms and use micro mechanisms instead of an analytically strong action theory that makes it diffcult to systemize mechanism models. On the other hand, structural individualistic explanations that use a general action law from which social interdependencies are to be interpreted as an opportunity structure can formulate a default-option from which models can be expanded and also worked out to mechanism types.
Titel: Social Mechanisms of Corruption: Analytical Sociology and Its Applicability to Corruption Research
Autor: Peter Graeff
Seite: 53-71
By applying a bribery model, this paper will deal with those constellations of conditions and activities by actors that are capable of explaining corrupt behavior in economic and sociological theory. Some of these explanations reveal the properties of \'social mechanisms\' in the sense of analytical sociology (AS). Both disciplines suggest and test the mechanisms of corruption. By taking into consideration the link between monitoring and the frequency of corruption, for example, this paper shows that the proposed way of explaining corrupt behavior using AS offers the opportunity to test counteracting mechanisms. A monitoring mechanism which refers to deterrence may lead to less corruption but may also strengthen an already existing bond of trust between corruption partners. Thus, the trust mechanism may counteract the impact of deterrence and pave the way for new corrupt activities.
Titel: Social Mechanisms in Norm-relevant Situations: Explanations for Theft by Finding in High-cost and Low-cost Situations
Autor: Stefanie Eifler
Seite: 91-120
At the centre of this study is the theoretical and empirical analysis of action-formation mechanisms in norm-relevant situations. Basically two mechanisms are employed, namely action according to a) moral principles and b) the principle of deterrence. Conflicting assumptions concerning the way these mechanisms work are deduced from two theoretical perspectives, the high-cost/low-cost hypothesis and Situational Action Theory (SAT). While the high-cost/low-cost hypothesis leads to the assumption that criminal action is explained by the principle of deterrence in high-cost situations and, in low-cost situations, by moral principles, it follows from SAT that, in high-cost situations, the principle of deterrence has an effect only on those persons with weak moral principles, and influences of moral principles are expected in low-cost situations. Empirical analysis of these hypotheses is conducted with the help of data that have been collected as part of a mail survey (n=2383) of a disproportionately layered random sample of residents of an East German city. Data analyses are carried out in order to estimate the influences of the theoretically specified predictors simultaneously for high-cost and low-cost situations with multiple group comparisons. The study\'s results partially support both theoretical perspectives. They are finally discussed with respect to theoretical and methodological aspects.
Titel: Social Mechanisms and Empirical Research in the Field of Sociology of the Family: The Case of Separation and Divorce
Autor: Johannes Kopp and Nico Richter
Seite: 121-148
During the last decades, social mechanisms have been broadly discussed in general sociology, but, in family sociology, they seem to be non-existent. Therefore, the frst aim of this paper is to show that, although the term can hardly be found, prominent theoretical ideas use more or less explicitly mechanistic explanations. Focusing on the determinants of separation can show that all arguments connect (structural) input with (social) outcome and search for theoretical explanations in the sense of social mechanisms. We will demonstrate how macro-structural traits are mechanistically connected with individual variables and how they lead to a stable or fragile partnership. As often mentioned, \"mechanism-based storytelling\" (Hedström/Ylikoski 2010, 64) should be accompanied by empirical research. Therefore, in a simple statistical model in the second part, we will show the results of our testing of some examples of well-known variables for the explanation of separations. It will show how correlations can be mechanistically explained and not simply statistically described.
Titel: Contextualizing Cognitive Consonance by a Social Mechanisms Explanation: Moderators of Selective Exposure in Media Usage
Autor: Dominik Becker, Tilo Beckers, Simon Tobias Franzmann and Jörg Hagenah
Seite: 149-177
While many studies from analytical sociology apply agent-based modeling to analyze the transformational mechanisms linking the micro to the macro level, we hold the view that both situational and action formation mechanisms can rather be unveiled by means of more advanced quantitative methods. By focusing on selective exposure to quality newspapers, our study has both an analytical and a substantive aim. First, our analytical aim is to amend the psychological mechanism of avoiding cognitive dissonance by social mechanisms allowing postulates on how the selectiveexposure effect might vary by particular social groups. Second, our substantive aim is to set the ground for a longitudinal analysis of selective exposure to quality papers by placing these social mechanisms in the context of social and cultural change. By referring to hypothetical data, we illustrate which kind of (multilevel) moderator effects would have to hold if our hypotheses were true.
Titel: The Use of Field Experiments to Study Mechanisms of Discrimination
Autor: Marc Keuschnigg and Tobias Wolbring
Seite: 179-201
This paper discusses social mechanisms of discrimination and reviews existing field experimental designs for their identification. We first explicate two social mechanisms proposed in the literature, animus-driven and statistical discrimination, to explain differential treatment based on ascriptive characteristics. We then present common approaches to study discrimination based on observational data and laboratory experiments, discuss their strengths and weaknesses, and elaborate why unobtrusive field experiments are a promising complement. However, apart from specific methodological challenges, well-established experimental designs fail to identify the mechanisms of discrimination. Consequently, we introduce a rapidly growing strand of research which actively intervenes in market activities varying costs and information for potential perpetrators to identify causal pathways of discrimination. We end with a summary of lessons learned and a discussion of challenges that lie ahead.
Titel: Rational Laziness - When Time Is Limited, Supply Abundant, and Decisions Have to Be Made
Autor: Gunn Elisabeth Birkelund
Seite: 203-225
This paper expands the model of rational action by introducing a new concept, rational laziness, to better understand actors\' decision making. In addition to rational information processing, human beings often rely on automatic and non-cognitive mental capacities, and I use the term mental laziness to account for information processing based on these capacities. When time is limited, supply abundant, and decisions have to be made, mental laziness might be a rational decision device. Actors\' choice of rational-calculating or automatic-spontaneous mental decision devices is contingent on their locations within an opportunity structure. The empirical case studied is employers\' hiring processes, and employers\' activation of these action generating mechanisms are expected to cause discrimination of job applicants categorized as out-groups members.
Titel: How the Mechanism of Dynamic Representation Aects Policy Change and Stability
Autor: Simon Tobias Franzmann and Johannes Schmitt
Seite: 227-256
In politics, we often observe stasis when, at first sight, no reason exists for such policy blockades. In contrast, we sometimes see policy change when one would expect blockades resulting from veto points or countervailing majorities. How can we explain these contradictory results concerning policy stability? In order to solve this theoretical puzzle, we develop an agent-based model (ABM). We combine established models of veto player theory (Tsebelis 2002; Ganghof-Bräuninger 2006) with the findings of political sociology and party competition. By aggregating previous party-level findings, we show that dynamic representation (Stimson et al. 1995) provides an additional mechanism that can explain these macro-level outcomes. Parties behaving responsively to their electorate do not automatically guarantee perfect responsivity on the party system level. Further, if opposition parties also fear punishment by the electorate for government inaction, the opposition behaves more accommodatingly than previous approaches have predicted.
Titel: Opening the Black Box. How the Study of Social Mechanisms Can Bene t from the Use of Explanatory Mixed Methods
Autor: Jörg Stolz
Seite: 257-285
This article argues that analytical sociology - an approach that attempts to study social mechanisms \'without black boxes\' - can benefit from the use of explanatory mixed methods. Analytical sociologists mainly relate their theoretical and agent-based models to representative surveys and experiments. While their central claim is to find and test the actual mechanisms that have produced the explanandum, the mechanisms they postulate often remain speculative. Neither agent-based models, nor experiments or mainstream quantitative methods, give access to some of the central elements of the causal mechanisms and the relevant subjective and objective contextual parameters. One of the most important reasons for this lies in the fact that social reality is changing fast, characterized by strong diversity and complexified by the phenomenon of cultural meanings. I argue that by creating and testing the models of analytical sociology with explanatory mixed methods, researchers have the possibility of getting closer to their object of research and therefore of having the chance to create more valid explanations.
Titel: A Methodological Outlook on Causal Identification and Empirical Methods for the Analysis of Social Mechanisms
Autor: Dominik Becker
Seite: 287-307
The debate on empirical tests of social mechanisms suffers from a fragmented view on the relative benefit of the empirical method a researcher considers to be superior, compared to the flaws of all other methods. In this outlook, I argue that disciplinary barriers might be surmounted by a common methodological perspective on the analysis of social mechanisms. First, experimental, quantitative, qualitative, and simulation methods (agent-based modeling) are all required, but also capable to deal with the issue of causal identification, respectively. Second, having established causal identification (among which I subsume strategies to deal with causal heterogeneity), each method disposes of genuine techniques to deal with the most crucial property of mechanism-based explanations: input-mechanism-output (IMO) relations.
Titel: Neighbourhood Effects: Lost in Transition?
Autor: Jürgen Friedrichs
Seite: 73-89
The study of neighbourhood effects has become a major domain in urban research since the publication of Wilson’s book The Truly Disadvantaged in 1987. It is estimated that more than 1,800 articles have been published (van Ham et al. 2012). One of the problems well-known from multilevel analysis is that of specifying the context effects linking levels, e.g., conditions on the aggregate level to outcomes at the next lower level, individuals in most cases. Two problems seem insufficiently solved. First, many different context effects have been suggested, such as contagion, role models or discrimination; but it is questionable whether they are all relevant. Second, how exactly can the transition from the macro (e.g., neighbourhood) to the micro (e.g., individual) level be specified? The article addresses both problems by examining the assumptions underlying the effects. Differentiating between causes and outcomes, the diversity of effects is reduced to five types of effects. Mechanisms are defined as specifications of context effects, and for each type a mechanism is specified and the causes are related to the outcomes. Drawing on the results of the analyses, a detailed set of suggestions for future studies of neighbourhood effects that really capture the mechanisms is presented.
Titel: The Descriptive-Normative Dichotomy and the So Called Naturalistic Fallacy
Autor: Egdar Morscher
Seite: 317-337
Investigating the genesis and justification of norms in a theoretical way requires a clear-cut distinction between normative and descriptive discourse. From a philosophical perspective, the descriptive-normative dichotomy can itself be understood either in a descriptive (or ’reportive’) or in an normative (or ’stipulative’) way. In the first case such a dichotomy is understood as the factual border between descriptive and normative discourse in a given language; exploring this border is a hermeneutic enterprise. In the other case it is understood as a boundary between descriptive and normative discourse to be implanted in a language which is developed in order to fit certain purposes, in particular theoretical purposes; this implanting procedure is a matter of regimentation. In this paper I will deal shortly with the first question of hermeneutics and then in more detail with the second question of regimentation. In the final part of the paper I will distinguish different types of naturalistic fallacies resulting from disregarding descriptive-normative dichotomies.
Titel: From Worked-out Practice to Justified Norms by Producing a Reflective Equilibrium
Autor: Susanne Hahn
Seite: 339-369
Reflective equilibrium is a proposal to justify general norms (not only moral norms) by adjusting them to a pre-systematic practice. The paper investigates the method of constructing a reflective equilibrium as a method for ’disappointed connoisseurs’ with regard to alternative ways of justification. The example of no-smoking norms that have emerged within the last twenty years serves several purposes: It is used to illustrate under which conditions requests for justification arise and to investigate which role a worked-out practice can play in the justification of general norms. Additionally, the construction of a reflective equilibrium with respect to a no-smoking norm shows the necessity of implementing systematic considerations in the process of justification. The paper closes with some remarks concerning the characteristic quality of justification one can achieve by the method of reflective equilibrium.
Titel: Setzung von Rechtsnormen unter Berücksichtigung der Praxis: Das Beispiel des Strafrechts
Autor: Lothar Kuhlen
Seite: 371-390
The article examines - with a multitude of examples - the complex method, in which criminal rules evolve in contemporary law. This happens in a continuing process, to which - in addition to the citizens - the legislator, criminal courts and the Federal Constitution Court contribute. The courts are not confined to applying the laws enacted by the legislator, which would be in accordance to a simple model of the separation of powers. The laws rather have to undergo an on-road test by the courts, during which they can prove to be practicable, difficult to handle or not practicable at all and therefore void. The legislator for his part takes note of the judicature and that often brings him to make further decisions. These include the abstaining from establishing new laws, the (plain or modifying) reception of some jurisdictional opinions, the changing of laws against their jurisdictional interpretation and the transformation of other than the jurisdictionally interpreted laws. All in all the criminal law proves to be a good example for the incremental evolution of norms, which occurs in a specific division of labour between the legislator, the criminal courts and the Federal Constitution Court.
Titel: \'Gentlemen in, Genuine Knowledge out\'? Zum Status wissenschaftlicher Normen für die Erkenntnissicherung
Autor: Lara Huber
Seite: 391-415
Case studies in the history of science and technology have shown that scientific norms, so called standards, contribute significantly to the evolution of scientific practices. They arise predominantly, but not exclusively, on the basis of interactions with instruments of measurement and other technical devices. As regards experimental practices standards are mandatory preparatory procedures in a variety of designs, including the inbreeding and genetic engineering of experimental organisms (e.g. transgenic mice). I claim that scientific norms not only regulate mere technical preconditions of research but also guide experimental practices, for example with regard to the stabilisation and validation of phenomena. Against this background, the paper introduces different kinds of scientific norms and elaborates on the question if they are means to epistemic ends (e.g. stability).
Titel: Inferential Acts and Inferential Rules. The Intrinsic Normativity of Logic
Autor: Friedrich Reinmuth and Geo Siegwart
Seite: 417-431
We outline a pragmatic-normative understanding of logic as a discipline that is completely anchored in the sphere of action, rules, means and ends: We characterize inferring as a speech act which is in need of regulation and we connect inferential rules with consequence relations. Furthermore, we present a scenario which illustrates how one actually assesses or can in principle assess the quality of logical rules with respect to justificatory questions. Finally, we speculate on the origin of logical rules as a means of supporting our practice of inferring.
Titel: Norms as Equilibria
Autor: Bernd Lahno
Seite: 433-458
This paper presents a survey on contemporary RC accounts of norms. The characteristic common feature of these accounts is that norms are understood as equilibrium selection devices. The most sophisticated positions driven by this idea are Herbert Gintis\' theory of norms as choreographers and Cristina Bicchieri\'s theory of norms as solutions to mixed motive games. In order to give a comprehensive account of social norms, though, RC theory needs to be substantially extended. In particular, it seems to be impossible in principle to fully understand the concept of normativity and the motivating power of norms within a traditional, pure RC framework.
Titel: Die Normativität des Krankheitsbegriffs: Zur Genese und Geltung von Kriterien der Krankhaftigkeit
Autor: Peter Hucklenbroich
Seite: 459-496
The question whether the concept of disease is descriptive or normative, is controversial in philosophical debates. A philosophical investigation of medical pathology concerning this question has hitherto been lacking. This paper is based on the reconstruction of general medical pathology as outlined in earlier work of this author. Key concepts of medical pathology are: disease entity, pathologicity, disease criterion, disease value, medical indication. The criteria of pathologicity and the general pathology are briefly sketched. It is shown that these conceptions constitute a dimension of objective value that is rooted in the psychosomatic human nature but is compatible with additional, superposed subjective or sociocultural values concerning disease. The concept and procedure of medical indication constitute the bridge between objective disease values and subjective values or norms. In deciding whether treatment is needed and demanded, the values of the ill subject are decisive. Thus, the controversy between naturalists and normativist may be transformed into a coalition.
Titel: Reflective Equilibria in Metrology?
Autor: Oliver Schlaudt
Seite: 497-521
In this paper I propose to read the history of systems of units, and in particular the current reform of the International System of Units (SI), understood as a set of measuring norms, in the light of reflective equilibria. The idea is that the model of reflective equilibria actually applies to processes which can be empirically observed or studied. This can help us to understand the nature of normativity and to shed light on its relativity to, and dependence on, practice.
Titel: Ethics and the Sacred: Can Secular Morality Dispense with Religious Values?
Autor: Richard Norman
Seite: 5-24
In this paper I explore the role that the concept of the sacred can play in our moral thinking. I accept that the assertion that ’human life is sacred’ can be one way of articulating the special value of individual human lives as in some sense inviolable. I cautiously allow that the idea of ’sacred value’ might also apply to other things such as certain kinds of human commitments, uniquely precious art-works, and some other kinds of living things. In conclusion I offer reasons for resisting the claim, made especially by Roger Scruton, that the experience of the sacred, when properly understood, draws us ineluctably into a religious view of the world.
Titel: Making Secular Sense of the Sacred
Autor: Sam Fleischacker
Seite: 25-29
From the earliest days of social science, in the writings of David Hume and Adam Smith, it has been difficult to make secular sense of the notion of sacredness in terms that believers in that notion can recognize as what they mean by it - social scientists instead tend almost universally to treat it as the consequence of an illusion of some kind. This paper explores the sources of that difficulty, arguing that it is built into the assumptions that make social science a science at all. It also argues that treating a category so central to the moral thinking of millions of people as resulting from an illusion breeds attitudes of condescension that are morally problematic. Using themes to be found especially in Kant, the paper proposes a way for social scientists to treat the category of sacredness with respect for moral purposes even while maintaining the presuppositions, for the purposes of their scientific work, that lead them to try to explain it away.
Titel: Traditional Morality and Sacred Values
Autor: David McPherson
Seite: 41-62
This essay gives an account of how traditional morality is best understood and also why it is worth defending (even if some reform is needed) and how this might be done. Traditional morality is first contrasted with supposedly more enlightened forms of morality, such as utilitarianism and liberal Kantianism (i.e., autonomy-centered ethics). The focus here is on certain sacred values that are central to traditional morality and which highlight this contrast and bring out the attractions of traditional morality. Next, this essay explores and offers support for the convergence thesis to which traditional morality, understood as common morality, is committed. This thesis states that although there are diverse moral traditions, insofar as they are in good order we should expect them to converge upon a common or universal morality, even if there remain some differences in the details. The defense of this thesis provides justification for the validity of traditional morality as it suggests an objective basis.
Titel: Sacred Values and Interreligious Dialogue
Autor: Hans Julius Schneider
Seite: 63-83
The paper develops a perspective on religion that is inspired by William James’ concept of religious experience and by the philosophy of language of the later Ludwig Wittgenstein. It proceeds by naming basic steps leading to the proposed conception and by showing that none of them must be a hindrance for a substantial understanding of religion. Among the steps discussed are the acceptance of non-theistic religions, an existential version of functionalism, and the acceptance of the possibility of non-literal truths about the human condition. Furthermore, it proposes a way to interpret the expression ’the sacred’ in the given framework. Finally it points out two contradictory necessities that make interreligious dialogue difficult: In the beginning one has to use an abstract vocabulary in order not to exclude any positions, but on the other hand one has to avoid robbing the participants of the means for articulating their specific religious views.
Titel: Protected Values and Other Types of Values
Autor: Jonathan Baron
Seite: 85-99
Protected values (PVs) are values protected from trade-offs with other values. They are absolute in this sense. People hold these values even when they do not necessarily abide by them in their behavior. I suggest that most of these values are a subset of deontological rules, defined by their absoluteness. Their origin may be understood by looking at the origin of deontological rules more generally, which includes religious (hence sacred) values among others. But PVs are usually maintained by lack of reflection of the sort that would see counterexamples to their absoluteness. PVs often have other characteristics that would lead to classification into other types of values: they are often moralistic (imposed on others
regardless of the willingness of others to accept them); they are about morality rather than convention and thus independent of authority or social consensus; and they often concern second-order preferences (values for values). Especially in combination with these other properties, PVs can be harmful in the domain of politics. Education in the sort of reflection that would lead people to question them could improve the political situation around the world.
Titel: Sacred Values in Secular Politics
Autor: Steven Lukes
Seite: 101-117
What role does sacredness play in the secular politics of the liberal democracies of the United States and Europe today? One approach, focusing on the sources of political unity, suggests that they are integrated by a kind of civil religion, however flawed. This suggestion is criticized empirically as ever less plausible and as blind to the currently feasible limits of social solidarity. A second approach, focusing on the growing democratic crisis of liberal democracies due to ever-deepening social divisions, leads to the suggestion that sacredness is increasingly at work in secular politics. As attachment to organized religion declines so does the public deliberation and negotiation of conflicting interests - the arguing and the bargaining that democracy requires.
Titel: Religion beyond Communicative Reason
Autor: Lars Albinus
Seite: 119-143
The development in Habermas’ political philosophy towards a greater appreciation of religion in the public sphere is already a much discussed issue. In this article, however, I argue first of all for the sustained significance of his theory of communicative action and its structural implications for a religious discourse in a modern, multicultural society. Habermas’ theory is remarkable for its double commitment to social theory and philosophical self-reflection. Thus, it claims to offer a 2nd person perspective of communicative reason for which there is no alternative but discursive particularism. Though the endorsement of rational commitment to engage in a free dialogical discourse stands as a well-argued precondition for a democratic constitution, the theory of communicative action nevertheless seems negligent of some of the problematic ramifications it may have for religious believers. For one thing, the theory tends to trivialize various forms of religion by associating them collectively with the validity criterion of subjective authenticity, thus putting them in a black box of particularism. Moreover, it undermines religious holism by its distinction between form and content, thus enacting a form of discursive power that contradicts its own pretention.
Titel: An Empirical Critique of Re-Sacralisation
Autor: Steve Bruce
Seite: 145-161
This article examines the evidence that largely secular societies are experiencing a process of re-sacralisation. It first dismisses four diversions: taking examples from societies that have never been secular; exaggerating the demographics and religiosity of migrant minorities; missing the fact that religious institutions can only hope to have public influence if they can make a secular case for their preferences; and mistaking notoriety for popularity. It then shows that adherence to Christianity continues to decline apace as does specifically Christian belief. None of the candidates for replacement - non-Christian religions, new religious movements and alternative spirituality - has come at all close to filling the gap left by the Christian churches. Furthermore there is no evidence that governments wish to reverse the standard accommodation to religious diversity and secularity: anything in private; little or nothing in the public sphere. There is no evidence that the population at large wishes it were otherwise. On the contrary. As religion has become more controversial, religion enjoying public influence has, like religion itself, become less, not more popular. Finally, the article argues that the current scarcity of religious people, and the unusual characteristics of those who remain religious, make it ever less likely that there will be a religious revival. So that sufficient detail can be presented, the argument concentrates on the United Kingdom.
Titel: Comment on Steve Bruce. An Empirical Critique of Re-Sacralisation
Autor: Melanie Reddig
Seite: 163-169
In his paper Bruce gives the impression that all proponents of the re-sacralisation thesis expect the comeback of religion in Western Europe. But this is not the case. The re-sacralisation thesis concentrates on religious developments beyond the West. Bruce rejects approaches that discuss the classical secularisation thesis with regard to worldwide developments. However, the examination of worldwide developments reveals that religion and modernity can be intertwined in multiple ways. All in all, Bruce’s argumentation could be extended to the discussion of factors that can explain the decline as well as the rise of religion in different regions of the world. Moreover, the way in which modern individuals believe and express their faith could be discussed.
Titel: The Requirements of Justice and Liberal Socialism
Autor: Justin P. Holt
Seite: 171-194
Recent scholarship has considered the requirements of justice and economic regimes in the work of John Rawls. This work has not delved into the requirements of justice and liberal socialism as deeply as the work done on property-owning democracy. A thorough treatment of liberal socialism and the requirements of justice is needed. This paper seeks to begin to fill this gap. It will be argued that liberal socialism does significantly better in realizing the two principles of justice. In this paper, first an overview of Rawls\' position on economic regimes, capitalism, and the requirements of justice will be given. In particular it will be considered, how the two principles work in tandem to meet the demands of distributive justice. Secondly, property-owning democracy will be reviewed. Finally, liberal socialism will be examined and discussed as an economic regime that answers the requirements of justice more fully.
Titel: How Should One Evaluate the Soviet Revolution?
Autor: Vittorio Hösle
Seite: 199-221
The essay begins by discussing different ways of evaluating and making sense of the Soviet Revolution from Crane Brinton to Hannah Arendt. In a second part, it analyses the social, political and intellectual background of tsarist Russia that made the revolution possible. After a survey of the main changes that occurred in the Soviet Union, it appraises its ends, the means used for achieving them, and the unintended side-effects. The Marxist philosophy of history is interpreted as an ideological tool of modernization attractive to societies to which the liberal form of modernization was precluded.
Titel: The Philosophy of History: A Value-pluralist Response
Autor: George Crowder
Seite: 223-239
Abstract: Vittorio Hösle’s evaluation of the Soviet Revolution on the ground of the philosophy of history can be usefully examined from the value-pluralist perspective of Isaiah Berlin. Although Berlin would agree with most of Hösle’s judgements on the Revolution, he would do so for very different reasons. Most importantly, Berlin would not accept the teleology that lies at the heart of the philosophy of history. For Berlin, the notion of a human telos to be realized at the end of history is a species of moral monism, and so falsified, indeed rendered incoherent, by the deeply pluralist reality of human values. However, Berlin’s pluralism also seems to present a problem for the justification of liberalism, and I consider a range of responses to this difficulty.
Titel: Evaluating Societies Morally: The Case of Development and ‘Developing’ Societies
Autor: Uchenna Okeja
Seite: 241-263
Can a society, as a collective, be evaluated morally? In this paper, I attempt to answer this question against the background of the discourse on development. Specifically, I undertake three explorations. I begin with 1) discussion of the ways we attribute responsibility to collectives in relation to some problems associated with globalisation. This is followed by 2) consideration of some of the debates in philosophy regarding the nature and possibility of collective responsibility. Lastly, I examine 3) an attractive but underexplored possibility in the growing literature on Ubuntu. On the basis of Ubuntu moral insights, I will attempt to defend the thesis that the collective responsibility of developing societies in relation development is grounded by the imperative to care about the humanity of other people.
Titel: Strategies for the Justification of Law
Autor: Walter Pfannkuche
Seite: 265-293
We need to acknowledge that the members of most modern societes adhere to different and partially contradictory moral convictions which to overcome we yet don’t have the intellectual means. Since such convictions typically include opions about which moral rules should be established as laws there will be disagreement about the correct rules of law as well. The article investigates the possibilities to find a system of laws that all can accept on the basis of such moral pluralism. It develops six steps and models for the required justification. As the final step has the form of a strategic negotiation the concluding section explores which forms of representation and which deviations from unanimity are acceptable within this procedural model of justification.
Titel: Legitimacy without Liberalism: A Defense of Max Weber’s Standard of Political Legitimacy
Autor: Amanda R. Greene
Seite: 295-323
In this paper I defend Max Weber\\\'s concept of political legitimacy as a standard for the moral evaluation of states. On this view, a state is legitimate when its subjects regard it as having a valid claim to exercise power and authority. Weber’s analysis of legitimacy is often assumed to be merely descriptive, but I argue that Weberian legitimacy has moral significance because it indicates that political stability has been secured on the basis of civic alignment. Stability on this basis enables all the goods of peaceful cooperation with minimal state violence and intimidation, thereby guarding against alienation and tyranny. Furthermore, I argue, since Weberian legitimacy is empirically measurable in terms that avoid controversial value judgments, its adoption would bridge a longstanding divide between philosophers and social scientists.
Titel: The Secularization Theory—Not Disconfirmed, Yet Rarely Tested
Autor: Heiner Meulemann
Seite: 325-355
Tendencies of secularization—religiosity decreases in Western societies since 1950—have been found abundantly in comparative survey research. They are taken as starting point to examine what the theory of secularization predicts and which predictions have been confirmed. It is shown that the three canonical theories of the change of religiosity—secularization, individualization, and market theory—are identical in their structure und can be integrated as the secularization theory. The secularization theory has been tested in cross-sectional and longitudinal designs, and by macro and multi-level analyses—that is, cross-classfied in four forms. Neglecting cross-sectional macro analyses, there are only 11 publications within the three remaining forms. They confirm a negative effect of social differentiation throughout und a negative effect of cultural pluralization often. Yet they often fail to control for important micro impacts upon religiosity, such as denomination or parenthood. In sum, they show that the secularization theory is by no means disconfirmed, yet rarely tested.
Titel: Paths to Modernity and the Secularization Issue
Autor: Thomas Schwinn
Seite: 357-372
In the lively debate of the last two decades about the validity of the ‘secularization thesis’, the comparison between Europe and the USA plays a central role. The high level of religiosity beyond the Atlantic has put under pressure the assumption of the loss of importance of religion in modernity, which had been prevalent for a long time. In this debate, the connection between the differentiation theory and sociology of religion, which has already been discussed by the classics of the discipline, has attracted too little attention. This article takes up this desideratum and proposes, following Max Weber, a theory of differentiation which is able to cover the variety of religious processes. This proposed analysis will be made concrete with reference to the different paths to modernity of Europe and the USA and the related importance of religion.
Titel: What Can we Learn from ‘Postmodern’ Critiques of Education for Autonomy?
Autor: Julian Culp
Seite: 373-392
Lyotard defines being postmodern as an ‘incredulity toward meta narratives’. Such incredulity includes, in particular, skepticism vis-à-vis Enlightenment ideals like autonomy. Motivated by such skepticism, several educational scholars put into question education for autonomy as it is practiced in the formal settings of national school systems. More specifically, they criticize that practices of autonomy education can have certain normalizing and ideological effects that undermine the aim of creating autonomous subjects. This article examines these critiques of education for autonomy and argues that they are best understood as calls for reforming educational practices, and not as outright rejections of education for autonomy. Thus, since the allegedly ‘postmodern’ critiques of autonomy education cannot be plausibly understood as radical ruptures with Enlightenment ideals, the article concludes that these critiques represent (merely) constructive self-critical reflections on what Habermas dubbed the ‘unfinished project of modernity’.
Titel: ‘Property-Owning Democracy’? ‘Liberal Socialism’? Or Just Plain Capitalism?
Autor: Jan Narveson
Seite: 393-405
Justin Holt argues that the Rawlsian requirements for justice are, con trary to Rawls’ own pronouncements, better met by socialism than ‘property owning democracy’, both of them preferring both to just plain capitalism, even with a welfare state tacked on. I suggest that Rawls’s ‘requirements’ are far less clear than most think, and that the only clarified version prefers the capitalist welfare state.
Titel: Democratic Rights and the Choice of Economic Systems
Autor: Jeppe von Platz
Seite: 405-412
Holt argues that Rawls’s first principle of justice requires democratic control of the economy and that property owning democracy fails to satisfy this requirement; only liberal socialism is fully democratic. However, the notion of
democratic control is ambiguous, and Holt has to choose between the weaker notion of democratic control that Rawls is committed to and the stronger notion that property owning democracy fails to satisfy. It may be that there is a tension be-
tween capitalism and democracy, so that only liberal socialism can be fully democratic, but if so, we should reject, rather than argue from, the theory of democracy we find in justice as fairness.
Titel: The Demands of Democratic Ownership
Autor: Alan Thomas
Seite: 413-416
This paper considers an argument that justice as fairness requires liberal socialism as opposed to a property-owning democracy. It analyses the arguments for departing from Rawls’s principled agnosticism over the choice between liberal market socialism and property owning democracy. It questions the extension of Rawls’s fair value guarantee for the political liberties to all liberty and suggests an alternative interpretation of the kind of predistributive egalitarianism represented by a property-owning democracy.
Titel: What Do Participants Take Away from Local eParticipation?
Autor: Dennis Frieß and Pablo Porten-Cheé
Seite: 1-29
This paper asks how the intensity of individual local eParticipation affects users’ perception of democratically valuable effects. Drawing on participatory and deliberative theory literature we extract four participatory effects - internal political efficacy, common good orientation, tolerance, and legitimacy. Furthermore, the paper examines which cognitive factors may moderate the relationship between intensity of participation and perception of participatory effects. Drawing on online survey data from 670 citizens engaged in public budgeting online consultations on the local level, the conducted path analysis shows that intensity of participation seems to foster the perception of common good orientation and tolerance. The other perceptions of participatory effects were not influenced by participation intensity. Findings on moderating factors indicate that the beneficial effects of online participation were not distributed unequally among participants. In conclusion, the research presents evidence for an optimistic view on local eParticipation that is able to promote democratically valuable user experiences.
Titel: After the Equilibrium: Democratic Innovations and Long-term Institutional Development in the City of Reykjavik
Autor: Magnus Adenskog
Seite: 31-51
Although democratic innovations (DIs) are spread all over the world, there is little research on the institutional outcomes of implementing such innovations in governmental organisations. To remedy this, it is important to focus on cases where DIs have been implemented and formally connected to the policymaking process over a longer period. Reykjavik provides such a case. Drawing on observations and interviews with key stakeholders over a period of three years, this study analyses how the institutional logic of DIs influenced the local government in Reykjavik. The study presents two conclusions: First, it is clear that one equilibrium (representative democracy) has not been replaced by another (participatory democracy). Second, there is no peaceful co-existence between the two, but instead the outcome is an organisation in ‘a state of flux’. There are several factors contributing to this outcome, but three stand out: a populist power-shift, dissatisfaction with theworking of the implemented DIs and deliberative ambiguity. In the final part of the article, the institutional outcome is discussed in relation to overall consequences for the political system.
Titel: Capturing Citizens’ Values: On the Role of Narratives and Emotions in Digital Participation
Autor: Katharina Esau
Seite: 55-72
This paper argues that social and political problems currently addressed by local governments through new forms of digital participation can be considered wicked problems, because they cannot be tackled through factual information alone. Addressing such problems means connecting diverse citizens’ values to empirically based and logically based arguments. The paper addresses the question of which role citizens’ personal narratives and emotions play in digital participation and how narratives and emotions articulate personal and social values. This line of inquiry is illustrated by two examples of digital participation on the local and regional level of democracy. The examples show that citizens’ narratives and emotional expressions articulate diverse values and value conflicts (e.g., security vs. universalism). Finally, the paper develops some preliminary ideas about how online argument mapping tools could be combined with value mapping.
Titel: Climate Adaptation Finance and Justice. A Criteria-Based Assessment of Policy Instruments
Autor: Christian Baatz
Seite: 73-105
Although the international community repetitively pledged considerable amounts of adaptation finance to the global South, only little has been provided so far. Different instruments have been proposed to generate more funding and this paper aims at identifying those that are most suitable to raise adaptation finance in a just way. The instrument assessment is based on the following main criteria: fairness, effectiveness and feasibility. The criteria are applied to four instruments: contributions from domestic budgets, international carbon taxes collected at the national level, border tax adjustments aswell as selling emissions allowances in domestic trading schemes. Domestic emission trading schemes and border tax adjustments achieve the best—or rather, the least bad—results. Two further findings are that (feasible) instruments are unable make agents pay for past excessive emissions and that all instruments generate rather small amounts of funding. As a consequence of the latter, adaptation finance will continue to be highly insufficient in all likelihood.
Titel: On ‘Cooperation’
Autor: Geoffrey Brennan and Geoffrey Sayre-McCord
Seite: 107-130
The term ‘cooperation’ is widely used in social and political and biological and economic theory. Perhaps for this reason, the term takes on a variety of meanings and it is not always clear in many settings what aspect of an interaction is being described. This paper has the modest aim of sorting through some of this variety of meanings; and exploring, against that background, when and why cooperation (in which sense) might be of value, or be required, or constitute a virtue.
Titel: On the Nature and Significance of (Ideal) Rational Choice Theory
Autor: Hartmut Kliemt
Seite: 131-159
The increasingly wide spread use of RCM, rational choice modeling, and RCT, rational choice theory, in disciplines like economics, law, ethics, psychology, sociology, political science, management facilitates interdisciplinary exchange. This is a great achievement. Yet it nurtures the hope that a unified account of rational (inter-)active choice making might arise from ‘reason’ in (a priori) terms of intuitively appealing axioms. Such ‘rationalist’ characterizations of rational choice neglect real human practices and empirical accounts of those practices. This is theoretically misleading and practically dangerous. Searching for a wide reflective equilibrium, WRE, on RCT in evidence-oriented ways can explicate ‘rational’ without rationalism.
Titel: Citizenship Status, Warm Glow, and Prosocial Behavior: A Quasi-Experiment on Giving Behavior by Host-Country Citizens and Asylum Seekers
Autor: Ulf Liebe and Andreas Tutic
Seite: 161-183
This paper is concerned with the question of whether and how social class and status affect prosocial behavior among status groups.We conducted dictator games inwhich both host-country citizens (high social status) aswell as asylumseekers (low social status) make monetary donations towards their respective in- and out-groups. As a novelty, we varied the number of recipients in the dictator game (i.e. one, two or three recipients). Our results indicate that host-country citizens donate significantly more than asylum seekers and that asylum seekers receive significantly higher donations than host-country citizens. Donations vary only marginally with the number of recipients. These findings and answers to a follow-up questionnaire show that prosocial behavior among status groups, and in particular prosocial behavior fromhigh-status towards low-status actors, might be instances of impure altruism, i.e., motivated by a warm glow of giving or a purchase of moral satisfaction.
Titel: Value Pluralism and Philosophy of History
Autor: Vittorio Hösle
Seite: 185-189
Inmy reply to George Crowder’s criticism ofmy essay on the Soviet Revolution in the last issue of Analyse & Kritik, I discuss two problems: the nature of a reasonable value pluralism and the relation between ethics and philosophy of history. Concerning the first, I insist on the necessity of an objective rank ordering of values; with regard to the second, I side with Kant, who builds philosophy of history on ethics, and reject the Marxist idea that ethics is itself grounded in philosophy of history.
Titel: Pluralism, Kant and Progress
Autor: George Crowder
Seite: 191-197
Vittorio Hösle’s reply helpfully clarifies his ethical position but raises three questions from a value-pluralist point of view. First, is the Kantian starting point he proposes a monist position that undercuts the value pluralism to which he says he is committed? Second, in what sense does he accept the central pluralist idea of the incommensurability of values? In particular, what kind of constraint does he believe this places on the rank ordering of values? The formulations he offers are ambiguous between allowing contextual ordering, which is widely endorsed by pluralists, and permitting a comprehensive order that applies in all cases, which most pluralists would reject. Third, Hösle’s commitment to the cause of progress is admirable, but how can this be squared with pluralism? Here, I return to the broad approaches to the problem of pluralist ranking that I identified in my original reply to Hösle.
Titel: Cooperatives Instead of Migration Partnerships
Autor: Margit Osterloh and Bruno S. Frey
Seite: 201-225
Large-scale migration is one of the most topical issues of our time. There are two main problems. First, millions of persons will enter Europe in the short and middle run in spite of the firewalls we have built. When the income levels in the development countries raises, the migration pressure will even become stronger for a long time. Second, the present integration policy in most European countries is deficient. In contrast to common knowledge, strong social benefits for migrants, multicultural policies and fast naturalization do not further integration. To address these two problems we propose a procedure that takes into account that most migrants react to incentives in a rational way. Migrants in our countries are joining a cooperative and take advantage of many collective goods and social institutions the citizen of the immigration countries have provided. Migrants therefore should pay an entry fee to join the cooperative. This proposal has positive consequences for both the countries of immigration and of origin, as well as for actual andwould-be immigrants. It has many advantages compared to other schemes.
Titel: Two Ethical Hurdles Facing the Osterloh-Frey Proposal
Autor: Paul Collier
Seite: 227-233
The proposal that Europe should sell the right to immigration to reflect the access to public goods raises two ethical objections. One draws on the proposition of Michael Sandel that there are things that ‘money can’t buy’. Public goods are the result of a reciprocal exchange of obligations within a community.As such, they are not transactions in a market and putting a price on them can inadvertently weaken their essentially moral nature. The other objection is that selling the right to immigrate would enable the elites of poor countries to exit their obligations to those left behind in their own societies. While potentially damaging poor societies by removing their most able people, it would create the comfortable illusion in Europe that we were being more generous to people from poor countries.
Titel: Money, Refuge, and Justice
Autor: Michael Blake
Seite: 235-241
Margit Osterloh and Bruno S. Frey have introduced a novel, and potentially powerful, vision of migration rights, on which European states might respond to the current crisis of migration by conditioning admission on the payment of an entry fee. In this comment, I raise a worry about the morality of a world governed by such a principle. While Osterloh and Frey foresee a world in which migration is made more sustainable, with benefits for all stakeholders as a result, I am worried their program would lead to a lessening of support for the moral principles that gave rise to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. This Convention, I argue, ought to be preserved as a public statement of the principle that wealthy states have an obligation to bear some costs in the defense of human rights; Osterloh and Frey, I argue, might be undermining support for those moral principleswe currently have the most need to reinforce. Nevertheless, I argue that under emergency circumstances we might have a need for experimentation and political innovation, even if we are confident that what they produce will necessarily involve some degree of political wrongdoing; we might, in short, have a reason to try out proposals of the sort Osterloh and Frey defend, even if the moral worries I defend here are correct.
Titel: Migration, Entry Fees, and Stakeholdership
Autor: Désirée Lim
Seite: 243-259
The current European ‘migration crisis’ encompasses increasing rates of migration and the accompanying failure of migrants, including both economic migrants and refugees, to integrate. In this paper, I focus on a normative analysis of the entry fee immigration system, providing both an internal and external critique. In the internal critique, I take for granted that states are best understood as clubs. However, states seem to share greater similarities with clubs that are too exclusive to allow membership to be purchased. In the external critique, I argue that imposing a substantial entry fee on club membership is impermissible if exclusion from membership deprives non-members of basic rights and interests, even if measures are taken to equalise their ability to pay. The upshot of the internal and external critique, I believe, is that membership ought not to be contingent on the payment of a fee, or more generally, the acceptance of current members.
Titel: Can an Entrance Fee Solve the Migration Problem? Probably Not
Autor: Jörg Althammer and Maximilian Sommer
Seite: 261-265
Refugee and poverty migration is one of the key challenges developed Western societies are facing. Due to the unstable political situation in many parts of the world and the lasting high differences in development between the economies, these migratory movements will continue to increase in the future. In order to channel immigrants, the authors suggest that migrants must pay an entry premium to obtain a permanent right of residence. We criticize this proposal from both an ethical and an economic perspective. We argue that a pricing system is neither ethically legitimate nor economically sensible. In order to meet the challenges of migration, a fundamental change in economic cooperation between developed and less developed economies is more appropriate.
Titel: Towards a Rational Migration Policy
Autor: Fritz Söllner
Seite: 267-291
A rational migration policy has to be based on a coherent set of objectives and its instruments have to be chosen so as to best achieve these objectives. If the focus of migration policy is on the interests of the receiving country, it has to be decided, firstly, how many and what kind of immigrants are to be invited and, secondly, how many refugees are to be accepted for humanitarian reasons. The former are supposed to live permanently in the receiving country, while the latter may stay only temporarily. For the determination of these objectives, the economic and the non-economic consequences of immigration for the native population need to be analyzed. As there will be conflicts of interest, an open debate about the objectives of migration policy is necessary. In particular, it needs to be acknowledged that economic self-interest motivates, at least in part, both the critics and the proponents of immigration. Only when objectives have been agreed upon, can the appropriate instruments be chosen. Among those, the instrument of the entrance fee may play an important role, especially with regard to selecting qualified immigrants.
Titel: A Utilitarian Approach for the Governance of Humanitarian Migration
Autor: Herbert Brücker
Seite: 293-320
Humanitarian migration creates, on the one hand, huge benefits for those who are protected from war, persecution and other forms of violence, but, on the other hand, involves also net monetary and social costs for the population in host countries providing protection at the same time. This is the core of the ethical and political problem associated with the governance of humanitarian migration. Against this background, this paper discusses whether the provision of protection can be founded on rational ethical principles. By drawing on a utilitarian approach a simple criterion is derived: Humanitarian migration is welfare improving, as long as the benefits of the marginal humanitarian migrant exceed the marginal costs of providing shelter per refugee. Based on this principle, practical solutions for the admission of humanitarian migrants and the international and European coordination of asylum policies are discussed.
Titel: Universal Rights Localized or Local Rights Universalized?
Autor: Hartmut Kliemt
Seite: 321-327
A universalist conception of immigration, assuming that all humans have a fundamental ethical right to equal consideration (Brücker), is contrasted with a particularist ethical conception that restricts equal consideration to members of a given community (Osterloh/Frey). It is argued that within the limits of Robbinsian economics only a communitarian conception is acceptable while an ethical theorist might lean towards a universalist view.
Titel: A Pragmatic Approach to Migration
Autor: Margit Osterloh and Bruno S. Frey
Seite: 329-336
This reply focusses on three aspects: advantages and disadvantages of our proposed ‘cooperative entry certificates’ for the countries of origin, for the migrants, and for the host countries. It analyzes in what respects our proposal can be improved based on the valuable points made by the commentators. In addition, the question of how to deal with winners and losers within the three groups is discussed.
Titel: The Birth of the CrowdLaw Movement: Tech-Based Citizen Participation, Legitimacy and the Quality of Lawmaking
Autor: Victòria Alsina and José Luis Martí
Seite: 337-358
One of the most urgent debates of our time is about the exact role that new technologies can and should play in our societies and particularly in our public decision-making processes. This paper is a first attempt to introduce the idea of CrowdLaw, defined as online public participation leveraging new technologies to tap into diverse sources of information, judgments and expertise at each stage of the law and policymaking cycle to improve the quality as well as the legitimacy of the resulting laws and policies. First, we explain why CrowdLaw differs from many previous forms of political participation. Second,we reproduce and explain the CrowdLaw Manifesto that the rising CrowdLaw community has elaborated to foster such approaches around the world. Lastly, we introduce some preliminary considerations on the notions of justice, legitimacy and quality of lawmaking and public decision-making, which are central to the idea of CrowdLaw.
Titel: Crowdlaw: Collective Intelligence and Lawmaking
Autor: Beth Simone Noveck
Seite: 359-380
To tackle the fast-moving challenges of our age, law and policymaking must become more flexible, evolutionary and agile. Thus, in this Essay we examine ‘crowdlaw’, namely how city councils at the local level and parliaments at the regional and national level are turning to technology to engage with citizens at every stage of the lawand policymaking process. Aswe hope to demonstrate, crowdlaw holds the promise of improving the quality and effectiveness of outcomes by enabling policymakers to interact with a broader public using methods designed to serve the needs of both institutions and individuals. crowdlaw is less a prescription for more deliberation to ensure greater procedural legitimacy by having better inputs into lawmaking processes than a practical demand for more collaborative approaches to problem solving that yield better outputs, namely policies that achieve their intended aims. However, as we shall explore, the projects that most enhance the epistemic quality of lawmaking are those that are designed to meet the specific informational needs for that stage of problem solving.
Titel: Why We Should Talk about German ‘Orientierungskultur’ rather than ‘Leitkultur’
Autor: Mathias Risse
Seite: 381-403
The notion of Leitkultur has been used in German immigration debates to capture the idea that our living arrangements ought to be shaped by shared cultural identity. Leitkultur contrasts with a multiculturalism that sees multiple cultures side-by-side on equal terms. We should replace Leitkultur with Orientierungskultur, a notionwhose introduction is overdue. German philosophy, especially Kant, has bestowed an intellectual meaning upon an originally geographical notion that is already ubiquitous, making ‘Orientierungskultur’ a natural construct. That notion allows us to say there is an inevitably amorphous but recognizable German culture whose prominence in public life provides a grounding for many and prevents them from feeling alienated from the society they helped build; at the same time, for some domains of public life not participating in default behavior is not merely tolerated but acknowledged as a genuine alternative. Crucially, one way of orienting oneself is to turn away.
Titel: Just Instruments for Adaptation Finance
Autor: Marco Grasso
Seite: 405-412
The paper discusses Baatz’s work (2018) published in a recent issue of this journal. It first considers the proposed framework of justice within which to evaluate instruments for adaptation finance; it then develops the framework’s criteria of fairness and feasibility further; finally, it proposes an option for increasing the capacity of Baatz’s framework to ensure that instruments for adaptation finance operate in a just way.
Titel: Moral Objectivity and Property: The Justice of Liberal Socialism
Autor: Justin P. Holt
Seite: 413-419
This paper restates the thesis of ‘The Requirements of Justice and Liberal Socialism’where itwas argued that liberal socialism best meets Rawlsian requirements of justice. The recent responses to this article by Jan Narveson, Jeppe von Platz, and Alan Thomas merit examination and comment. This reply shows that if Rawlsian justice is to be met, then non-personal property must be subject to public control. If just outcomes merit the public control of non-personal property and this control is not utilized, then justice has been subordinated to the objectively less important institution of private property.
Titel: After Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature
Autor: Bruce Kuklick
Seite: 1-19
Rorty’s Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature hoped that the profession of philosophy would collapse, that philosophy’s style of reasoning would be transformed, and that analytic philosophy would be overturned. This essay looks at the 40 years since the book’s publication, and argues that the discipline has become more professionalized, that its style of reasoning is the same, and that analysis still flourishes.
Titel: Rorty’s Rejection of Philosophy
Autor: Brian Leiter
Seite: 23-30
I argue that the real puzzle about Richard Rorty’s intellectual development is not why he gave up on ‘analytic’ philosophy—he had never been much committed to that research agenda, even before it became moribund—but why, beginning with Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (PMN), he gave up on the central concerns of philosophy going back to antiquity. In addition to Rorty’s published works, I draw on biographical information about Rorty’s undergraduate and graduate education to support this assessment, and contrast his rejection of philosophy with Nietzsche’s. Many contemporary philosophers influenced by Quine’s attack on the analytic-synthetic distinction and Sellars’ attack on ‘the Myth of the Given’ (the two argumentative linchpins of PMN) did not abandon philosophical questions about truth, knowledge, and mind, they just concluded those questions needed to be naturalized, to be answered in conjunction with the empirical sciences. Why didn’t Rorty go this route? The paper concludes with some interesting anecdotes about Rorty that invite speculative explanations.
Titel: Richard Rorty, Homo Academicus Politicus
Autor: Loren Goldman
Seite: 31-68
This article explores Richard Rorty’s status in academic political theory in the decades after his conscious departure from disciplinary philosophy. Rorty found a receptive audience in this pluralistic field, and he became a point of orientation in a number of ongoing, research-agenda driving conversations, if often as an extreme example against which interlocutors could define themselves. In like fashion, Rorty refined his own self-conception as a patriotic liberal ironist in the course of his political theoretical engagements. I offer a sketch of political theory’s landscape as a contrast to the reductivism and esotericism Rorty criticized in disciplinary philosophy, and survey his presence in the field over the years substantively, qualitatively, and quantitatively.
Titel: Kicking the Philosophy Habit: Richard Rorty’s Clarion Call and the Cultural Politics of the Academic Left
Autor: Gregory Jones-Katz
Seite: 71-95
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Richard Rorty advocated that his confréres kick the ‘philosophy habit’—that is, adopt a post-positivist, post-metaphysical style of interpretation. Philosophers largely ignored Rorty’s clarion call. Unburdened by the kind of Selbstverständnis of scholarly mission held by most analytics, members of departments of literature instead became the most important advocates for reading literature philosophically during the last two decades of the twentieth century. Though the academic Left, especially practitioners of ‘theory’, largely celebrated and encouraged this development, Rorty, in the late 1990s, came to view it as harmfully elevating ‘cultural politics’ above ‘real politics’, which would ultimately lead to the abandonment of civic responsibilities. While heavy-handed and partial, Rorty’s critique of the uses of philosophy by literary critics was not only perceptive, but can be helpful for understanding how the contemporary academic Left might move forward as well.
Titel: Pragmatist Transcendence in Rorty’s Metaphilosophy
Autor: Nicholas H. Smith and Tracy Llanera
Seite: 97-116
This article argues that a pragmatist ambition to transcendence undergirds Richard Rorty’s metaphilosophy. That transcendence might play a positive role in Rorty’s work might seem implausible given his well-known rejection of the idea that human practices are accountable to some external, Archimedean standpoint, and his endorsement of the historicist view that standards of rationality are products of time and chance. It is true that Rorty’s contributions to epistemology, philosophy of mind and metaphysics have this anti-transcendentalist character. But in his metaphilosophy, Rorty shows great respect for pre-philosophical impulses aimed at transcendence of some kind, in particular the romantic (and indeed religious) experience of awe at something greater than oneself, and the utopian striving for a radically better world. These impulses do not disappear in Rorty’s metaphilosophy but are reshaped in a pragmatist iteration of transcendence which, we argue, can be characterised as horizontal (rather than vertical) and weak (rather strong). We use this characterization to distinguish Rorty’s metaphilosophy from other accounts that share a postmetaphysical ambition to transcendence.
Titel: Prospects of the Sociology of Philosophy
Autor: Carl-Göran Heidegren
Seite: 117-123
The article presents some key aspects of the approach called sociology of philosophy, as represented by Pierre Bourdieu, Randall Colins and others. Comparisons are made with the philosophical research programme, developed by Dieter Henrich, which goes under the name constellation research. One thing that unites the sociology of philosophy and constellation research is an interest in antagonistic constellations involving rivalry, competition and controversy. A few references to the case of Rorty are included in the discussion.
Titel: Norms that Make a Difference: Social Practices and Institutions
Autor: Frank Hindriks
Seite: 125-145
Institutions are norm-governed social practices, or so I propose. But what does it mean for a norm to govern a social practice? Theories that analyze institutions as equilibria equate norms with sanctions and model them as costs. The idea is that the sanctions change preferences and thereby behavior. This view fails to capture the fact that people are often motivated by social norms as such, when they regard them as legitimate. I argue that, in order for a social norm to be perceived as legitimate, agents have to acknowledge reasons for conforming to it other than the sanctions they might incur for violating it. In light of this, I defend a theory of institutions that does not only invoke equilibria, but also normative rules that are supported by normative expectations and, in some cases, normative beliefs.
Titel: Relational Mechanisms
Autor: Thorsten Peetz
Seite: 147-174
This article challenges the view that sociological explanation is based on methodological individualism and suggests using relational concepts for constructing explanations of social phenomena. It develops a relational concept of social mechanisms based on sociological systems theory and illustrates its explanatory power by drawing on research on changes in educational organizations in Germany.
Titel: Relational Sociology - A Black Box Conception?
Autor: Rainer Greshoff
Seite: 175-182
The article comments on Peetz’ concept of relational mechanisms. This concept is an alternative to mechanistical explanations of analytical sociology, conceptualized as based on human agents. Peetz criticises this foundation, juxtaposing it with the idea of the analytical primacy of relations. This perspective does not necessarily presuppose agents but can explain their emergence. To demonstrate the efficiency of his concept, he presents an explanation of a concrete mechanism. The analysis of this explanation shows that a crucial point is missing from the concept of relational mechanisms: the steps that produce a social process are never spelt out. Peetz thus presents a black box explanation, which is contrary to the demands of mechanistical explanations. His preference for black box argumentation is owed to his concepts. Unlike an enlightened methodological individualist, he is not in a position to explain the productions necessary for the formation of mechanistical processes.
Titel: Précis of The Evolution of Moral Progress: A Biocultural Theory
Autor: Allen Buchanan and Russell Powell
Seite: 183-193
The idea of moral progress played a central role in liberal political thought from the Enlightenment through the nineteenth century but is rarely encountered in moral and political philosophical discourse today. One reason for this is that traditional liberal theorists of moral progress, like their conservative detractors, tended to rely on under-evidenced assumptions about human psychology and society. For the first time, we are developing robust scientific knowledge about human nature, especially through empirical psychological theories of morality and culture that are informed by evolutionary theory. On the surface, evolutionary accounts of morality paint a rather pessimistic picture of human moral nature, suggesting that certain types of moral progress are unrealistic or inappropriate for beings like us. Humans are said to be ‘hard-wired’ for tribalism. However, such a view overlooks the great plasticity of human morality as evidenced by our history of social and political moral achievements. To account for these changes while giving evolved moral psychology its due, we develop a dynamic, biocultural theory of moral progress that highlights the interaction between adaptive components of moral psychology and the cultural construction of moral norms and beliefs, and we explore how this interaction can advance, impede, and reverse moral progress.
Titel: Is There Moral Progress?
Autor: Eva Buddeberg
Seite: 195-203
Post- and decolonial theory have contested the idea of historical progress as a Eurocentric, hegemonic, or neocolonialist misconception. Does this imply that we should give up any idea of moral progress? This paper critically examines Allen Buchanan’s and Russell Powell’s book The Evolution of Moral Progress and their claim that there is still a need for a theory of moral progress. For Buchanan and Powell, such theory should allow and guide a better understanding of what moral progress consists of. Even though they do not claim to already provide us with such a comprehensive theory of moral progress they aim towork outwhether and how certain types of moral progress are possible and assess their limits. In doing so they mainly focus on improvements in terms of social participation as an uncontroversial type of moral progress. In the following, I will first discuss the characteristics of the authors’ notion of progress and then raise some critical concerns about the example they have chosen of the history of human rights as a history of progress and, particularly, about the history of the rights of people with disabilities.
Titel: Evolutionary Foundations for a Theory of Moral Progress?
Autor: Kim Sterelny
Seite: 205-216
Buchanan and Powell develop a concept of moral progress, and build a middle-range theory of how moral progress comes about. They argue on the basis of their view of the evolutionary origins of normative thought that further moral progress towards more inclusive moral and political systems is possible. In doing so they rebut a conservative reading of the evolution of normative thought: a reading that regards the hope for inclusive moral systems as utopian. Buchanan and Powell argue that this ‘evoconservative’ argument overlooks overwhelming evidence of the adaptive plasticity of normative thought. I agree with their rejection of that evoconservative position, but give an alternative account of the evolutionary foundations of normative cognition and its plasticity. But I also argue that there is a gap in their defence of their view of moral progress: it begs the question against exclusive, relational conceptions of the naturalistic foundations of normative obligations and rights. Their account is less fully naturalistic than they seem to suppose, for it lacks a developed account of the natural facts which make normative claims true, and it is not clear that there is an account to be given that would vindicate their inclusive liberal intuitions about the normswe should have.
Titel: Moral Progress for Evolved Rational Creatures
Autor: William J. FitzPatrick
Seite: 217-237
Allen Buchanan and Russell Powell have developed a rich ‘biocultural theory’ of the nature and causes of moral progress (and regress) for human beings conceived as evolved rational creatures with a nature characterized by ‘adaptive plasticity’. They characterize their theory as a thoroughly naturalistic account of moral progress, while bracketing various questions in moral theory and metaethics in favor of focusing on a certain range of more scientifically tractable questions under some stipulated moral and metaethical assumptions. While I am very much in agreement with the substance of their project, I wish to query and raise some difficulties for the way it is framed, particularly in connection with the claim of naturalism. While their project is clearly naturalistic in certain senses, it is far from clear that it is so in others that are of particular interest in moral philosophy, and these issues need to be more carefully sorted out. For everything that has been argued in the book, the theory on offer may be only a naturalistic component of a larger theory that must ultimately be non-naturalistic in order to deliver the robust sort of account that is desired. Indeed, there are significant metaethical reasons for believing this to be the case. Moreover, if it turns out that some of the assumptions upon which their theory relies require a non-naturalist metaethics (positing irreducibly evaluative or normative properties and facts) then even the part of the theory that might have seemed most obviously naturalistic, i.e., the explanation of how changes in moral belief and behavior have come about, may actually require some appeal to non-naturalistic elements in the end.
Titel: The Space Between
Autor: Ellen Clarke
Seite: 239-258
Buchanan and Powell hope to rescue optimism about moral perfectibility fromthe ’received view’ ofhumanevolution, by tweaking our view of the innate character of morality. I argue that their intervention is hampered by an unnecessary commitment to nativism, by gender bias within the received view, and by liberal presuppositions.
Titel: The Progress of Moral Evolution
Autor: Tim Lewens
Seite: 259-270
Buchanan and Powell’s book is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the evolution of morality. I suggest that they exaggerate the degree to which their view of the evolution of moral progress is committed to a form of moral realism. I also suggest that Darwin’s own approach to the evolution of the moral sense shares more with their view than they may realise. Finally I point to some tensions in their invocation of the concept of the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness (EEA).
Titel: The Evolution of Moral Progress Meets Social Science: Suggestions to Augment an Ambitious Argument
Autor: Steven Hitlin
Seite: 271-285
Buchanan and Powell’s ambitious work offers a wide-ranging philosophical treatment about one of social science’s active inquries: human morality and how it evolved. This review humbly offers a brief engagement with the social science of morality, both to support the book’s conclusions and occasionally to build productive interdisciplinary bridges toward an even more fuller treatment of the topic.
Titel: Reply to Comments
Autor: Allen Buchanan and Russell Powell
Seite: 287-300
Commentators on The Evolution of Moral Progress: A Biocultural Theory raise a number of metaethical and moral concerns with our analysis, as well as some complaints regarding how we have interpreted and made use of the contemporary evolutionary and social sciences of morality. Some commentators assert that one must already presuppose a moral theory before one can even begin to theorize moral progress; others query whether the shift toward greater inclusion is really a case of moral progress, or whether our theory can be properly characterized as naturalistic’. Other commentators worry that we have uncritically accepted the prevailing evolutionary explanation of morality, even though it gives short shrift to the role of women or presupposes an oversimplified view of the environment in which the core elements of human moral psychology are thought to have congealed. Another commentator laments that we did not make more extensive use of data from the social sciences. In this reply, we engage with all of these constructive criticisms and show that although some of them arewell taken, none undermine the core thesis of our book.
Titel: The Crucifix Dispute and Value Pluralism
Autor: Beata Polanowska-Sygulska
Seite: 301-319
This article seeks to interpret the striking divergence between the two judgments passed by the European Court of Human Rights in the Lautsi v Italy case in terms of value pluralism. The latter is a hotly debated position in ethics, brought to life in the second half of the twentieth century by Isaiah Berlin. Pluralism elucidates these in interestingways. First, value pluralism sheds light on three major aspects of the trial before the European Court of Human Rights: the nature of the collision of values, the discrepancy between the two decisions, and the rationale of the final judgment. Secondly, this is my thesis that while the first judgment fits ethical monism, which underlies Dworkin’s ‘one right answer’ theory, the second ruling chimes with pluralism. The pluralist spirit of the Grand Chamber’s final decision turned Europe away from the path of Americanization.
Titel: Value Pluralism: Crucial Complexities
Autor: George Crowder
Seite: 321-336
Discussing the crucifix case, Beata Polanowska-Sygulska concludes that the decision on appeal fits with Berlinian value pluralism, while the initial judgement was ethically monist. Her assumption is that pluralism favours cultural diversity against uniform law. This assumption is too simple and needs to be qualified by several considerations. First, we should be clear that, under pluralism, a moral question may have ‘one right answer’ if this is contextual. Second, so far as pluralism connects with cultural diversity, this has multiple dimensions, applying not just among societies but within them as well. Third, pluralists ought to be concerned primarily with promoting a diversity of values rather than cultures. When these matters are properly taken into account, it can be seen that a uniform lawmay be more pluralist than a multiplicity of local laws, depending on
the circumstances.
Titel: Perception and Reality—Economic Inequality as a Driver of Populism?
Autor: Michael Hüther and Matthias Diermeier
Seite: 337-357
Can the rise of populism be explained by the growing chasm between rich and poor? With regard to Germany, such a causal relationship must be rejected. Income distribution in Germany has been very stable since 2005, and people’s knowledge on actual inequality and economic development is limited: inequality and unemployment are massively overestimated. At the same time, a persistently isolationist and xenophobic group with diverse concerns and preferences has emerged within the middle classes of society that riggers support for populist parties. This mood is based on welfare chauvinism against immigration rather than on a general criticism of distribution. Since the immigration of recent years will inevitably affect the relevant indicators concerning distribution, an open, cautious but less heated approach is needed in the debate on the future of the welfare state. In order to address and take the local concerns of citizens seriously, an increased exchange with public officials on the ground is needed.
Titel: ‘Inequality is not a Problem’: How (Some) Economists Responded to Thomas Piketty
Autor: J. E. King
Seite: 359-373
Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century makes hardly any reference to the ethics of inequality. Surprisingly, this is an omission shared by most of his critics. In this paper I investigate the literature on which he and his reviewers might have drawn and speculate on the reasons why they did not. I outline the four ‘views of society’ and the related issues in moral philosophy that were presented by Michael Schneider in his book on the distribution of wealth. I then summarise the criticisms of Piketty made by those few reviewers who did show some interest in ethical questions and examine the slightly earlier and quite different case against reducing inequality made by one of these critics, N. Gregory Mankiw. I consider the economic, political and social costs of inequality identified in a book-length study of Piketty’s work by Steven Pressman, and conclude by reflecting on the reasons for the widespread neglect of moral philosophy by mainstream economists.
Titel: Social Norms, Expectations and Sanctions
Autor: Francesco Guala
Seite: 375-381
Hindriks’ paper raises two issues: one is formal and concerns the notion of ‘cost’ in rational choice accounts of norms; the other is substantial and concerns the role of expectations in the modification of payoffs. In this commentary I express some doubts and worries especially about the latter: What’s so special with shared expectations? Why do they induce compliance with norms, if transgression is not associated with sanctions?
Titel: Varieties and Functions of Institutions
Autor: Lina Eriksson
Seite: 383-389
Hindriks describes institutions as norm-governed social practices, and argue that his theory help bring together and complete earlier theories of institutions. In this comment on his paper, I argue that his argument would be even better if he clarified certain parts of his argument with regards to the nature of institutions and the relationship between institutions and social norms. I also argue that he should reconsider his claim that institutions (and social norms) exist in order to solve cooperation and coordination problems.
Titel: Social Norms in Experimental Economics: Towards a Unified Theory of Normative Decision Making
Autor: Alexander Vostroknutov
Seite: 3-39
Even though standard economic theory traditionally ignored any motives that may drive incentivized social decision making except for the maximization of personal consumption utility, the idea that ‘preferences for fairness’ (following social norms) might have an economically tangible impact appeared relatively early. I trace the evolution of these ideas from the first experiments on bargaining to the tests of the hypothesis that pro-sociality in general is driven by the desire to adhere to social norms. I show how a recent synthesis of economics approach with psychology, sociology, and evolutionary human biology can give rise to a mathematically rigorous, psychologically plausible, and falsifiable theory of social norms. Such a theory can predictwhich norms should emerge in each specific (social) context and is capable of organizing diverse observations in economics and other disciplines. It provides the first glimpse at how a unified theory of normative decision making might look like.
Titel: Economic and Sociological Accounts of Social Norms
Autor: Hartmut Kliemt
Seite: 41-95
Classifying accounts of institutionalized social norms that rely on individual rule-following as `sociological\\\' and accounts based on individual opportunity-seeking behavior as `economic\\\', the paper rejects purely economic accounts on theoretical grounds. Explaining the real workings of institutionalized social norms and social order exclusively in terms of self-regarding opportunity-seeking individual behavior is impossible. An integrated sociological approach to the so-called Hobbesian problem of social order that incorporates opportunity-seeking along with rule-following behavior is necessary. Such an approach emerges on the horizon if economic methods are put to good sociological use on the basis of recent experimental economic findings on rule-following behavior.
Titel: Incentivized Measurement of Social Norms Using Coordination Games
Autor: Hande Erkut
Seite: 97-106
Social norms are important determinants of behavior. Hence, we need reliable methods to identify them in order to increase the predictive and explanatory power of models that aim to predict human behavior. In this paper, I will focus on a norm measurement method proposed by Krupka and Weber. In particular, I will discuss whether social norms elicited using this method are malleable, and whether these norms are good predictors of behavior.
Titel: Distributive Justice in the Lab: Testing the Binding Role of Agreement
Autor: Laura Marcon, Pedro Francés-Gómez, and Marco Faillo
Seite: 107-135
Lorenzo Sacconi and his coauthors have put forward the hypothesis that impartial agreements on distributive rules may generate a conditional preference for conformity. The observable effect of this preference would be compliance with fair distributive rules chosen behind a veil of ignorance, even in the absence of external coercion. This paper uses a Dictator Game with production and taking option to compare two ways in which the device of the veil of ignorance may be thought to generate a motivation for, and compliance with a fair distributive rule: individually—as a thought experiment that should work as a moral cue—and collectively—as an actual process of agreement among subjects. The main result is that actual agreement proves to be necessary for agents to be led towards a fair distributive principle and to generate a significant amount of compliance in absence of external authority. This conclusion vindicates the role of actual agreements in generating motivational power in correspondence with fair distributive rules.
Titel: Equality and Merit. Through Experiments to Normative Justice
Autor: Anton Leist
Seite: 137-170
When we want to justify claims against one another, we discover that conceptual thought alone is not sufficient to legitimize property and income in the relative and proper proportions among members of a productive group. Instead, the basis for justification should also be seen in motivational states, validated less by rational thought than by an effective behaviour. To circumnavigate otherwise dangerously utopian claims to justice, the social sciences, and especially behavioural economics, are the most reliable basis for normative distributive justice. This article builds on recent findings of experiments, first of all in order to give proof of the extent to which a general behavioural tendency towards equality is widespread among people, and second of all in order to highlight ‘desert’ and ‘need’ as the crucial criteria of just distribution, which will then sum up to justified inequality in the economic sphere.
Titel: Moral Progress: Improvement of Moral Concepts, Refinements of Moral Motivation
Autor: Gertrud Nunner-Winkler
Seite: 171-190
In their recent book Buchanan and Powell claim that there is moral progress. Th ir analysis focuses on increasing inclusiveness, yet they also suggest other dimensions as possible indicators—improvements in the concept of morality and refinements in moral motivation. In the following I present empirical data on changes in moral understanding that occurred during the second half of the 20th century in Germany. These changes concern an increasing delimitation of the moral realm, the rise of an ethics of responsibility, the displacement of an orientation to super ego dictates by a more ego-syntonic type of moral motivation. This research largely follows the ‘cognitivist’ paradigm which I start off defending against Haidt’s counter proposal of moral intuitionism. Feasible explanatory factors for the changes documented are put forward—processes of secularization and changes in socialization styles—and their interpretation as indicators of moral progress is discussed. The paper ends with brief speculations concerning possible reasons for current moral regressions.
Titel: Habermas’s Politics of Rational Freedom: Navigating the History of Philosophy between Faith and Knowledge
Autor: Peter J. Verovšek
Seite: 191-217
Despite his hostility to religion in his early career, since the turn of the century Habermas has devoted his research to the relationship between faith and knowledge. His two-volume Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie is the culmination
of this project. Spurred by the attacks of 9/11 and the growing conflict between religion and the forces of secularization, I argue that this philosophy of history is the centerpiece of an important turning point in Habermas’s intellectual development. Instead of interpreting religion merely as part of the history of postmetaphysical thinking, Habermas now sees it as a crucial normative resource for both philosophy and social cohesion in the future aswell. Despite its backward-looking approach,my basic thesis is that this book is best understood as a forward-looking appeal for a tolerant, self-reflective democratic politics that brings religious and secular citizens together dialogically through the cooperative use of their rational freedom.
Titel: Luck Egalitarianism and Relational Egalitarianism: An Internal Tension in Cohen’s Theory of Justice
Autor: Jiangjin Chen
Seite: 219-240
Relational Egalitarianism focuses on the construction of equal social relationships between persons. It strongly opposes luck egalitarianism, which understands equality as a distributive ideal. In Cohen’s theory of justice, luck egalitarianism and relational egalitarianism simultaneously exist, and Cohen provides arguments corresponding to each. In this paper, we explore the manifestation of tension between these two forms of egalitarianism in his theory. In addition, we also reconstruct some possible solutions provided by Cohen to soften this tension, including the three approaches of market mechanism, egalitarian ethos and value pluralism, and find them to be unsuccessful. This tension is a serious challenge that needs to be addressed in Cohen’s theory of justice.
Titel: Diversity and Decency
Autor: Beata Polanowska-Sygulska
Seite: 241-25
George Crowder’s article makes an interesting contribution to the literature on value pluralism. Yet, as a commentary onmy essay (Polanowska-Sygulska,2019c) it is entirely misconceived. Crowder’s reading of my text is inadequate, in terms of both the legal and the philosophical aspects of my argument. Having ascribed to me the belief that pluralism always favors cultural diversity against legal uniformity (a belief which I do not hold), he argues that a single uniform law may engender more value diversity than a multiplicity of local legal systems. This may ndeed be so, but it is notmy concern. What Isaiah Berlin aimed at more than anything else was to bring about a decent societ y, which at times requires the pursuit of other values to be limited. I share his approach and therefore argue that, for the sake of decency, both value diversity and cultural diversity may sometimes need to be restricted.
Titel: Altruistic Punishment: The Golden Keystone of Human Cooperation and Social Stability?
Autor: Peter Lewisch
Seite: 255-283
‘Altruistic punishment’ (i.e., costly punishment that serves no instrumental goal for the punisher) could serve, as suggested by the pertinent experimental literature, as a powerful enforcer of social norms. This paper discusses foundations, extensions, and, in particular, limits and open questions of this concept—and it does so mostly based on experimental evidence provided by the author. Inter alia, the paper relates the (standard) literature on negative emotions as a trigger of second party punishment to more recent experimental findings on the phenomenon of ‘spontaneous cooperation’ and ‘spontaneous punishment’ and demonstrates its (tight) emotional basis. Furthermore, the paper discusses the potential for free riding on altruistic punishment. While providing valuable insights into the understanding of social order, ‘altruistic punishment’ is thus not the golden keystone of social stability.
Titel: The Legitimacy of Groups: Toward a We-Reasoning View
Autor: Agnes Tam
Seite: 343-367
In liberal political philosophy, a prevalent view holds that groups are typically voluntary associations. Members of voluntary associations can accept, revise or reject group practices as a matter of choice. In this article, I challenge this view. Appealing to the concept of joint commitment developed in philosophy of social science, I argue that individuals who jointly commit their wills to a goal or a belief form a ‘We’-group. Members of ‘We’-groups are under an obligation to defer to ‘Our’ will embodied in ‘Our’ norms as a matter of course. I further show the ubiquity of We-groups. This joint commitment account of group authority raises a much-overlooked question of group legitimacy: Do members have good reasons to obey norms of their group? I show that state-centric views of legitimacy are inapt to answer it. A group-centric view, revived from the old communitarian literature, is defended.
Titel: Measuring Social Norms in Economics: Why It Is Important and How It Is Done
Autor: Luise Görges, and Daniele Nosenzo
Seite: 285-311
Experimental economics offers new tools for the measurement of social norms. In this article, we argue that these advances have the potential to promote our understanding of human behavior in fundamental ways, by expanding our knowledge beyond what we learn by simply observing human behavior. We highlight how these advancements can inform not only economic and social theory, but also policymaking. We then describe and critically assess three approaches used in economics to measure social norms. We conclude our overview with a list of recommendations to help empirical researchers choose among the different tools, depending on the nature and constraints of their research projects.
Titel: What a Theory of Social Norms and Institutions Should Look Like
Autor: Karl-Dieter Opp
Seite: 313-342
In the previous issue of Analyse & Kritik (2020, vol. 42, issue 1) Alexander Vostroknutov (3-39) aims at a ‘synthesis’ of economics with ‘psychology, sociology, and evolutionary human biology.’ This paper argues that his approach needs to be complemented at least by work from sociologists and social psychologists. Starting with problems of defining and measuring norms it is then claimed that a theory of norms should address the origin, change and effects of norms and model micro- macro processes. This should also be the goal of a theory of institutions (which are defined here as sets of norms—norms in the sense of accepting oughtness statements). We show how the social psychological value expectancy theory can be applied to model the variety of incentives that could play a role in explaining the effects of norms. Regarding the origin Coleman’s theory of norms is applied to show how Vostroknutov’s dissatisfaction-norms hypothesis can be improved.
Titel: Social Integration and Right-Wing Populist Voting in Germany
Autor: Patrick Sachweh
Seite: 369-397
Electoral support for right-wing populist parties is typically explained either by economic deprivation or cultural grievances. Attempting to bring economic and cultural explanations together, recent approaches have suggested to conceptualize right-wing populist support as a problem of social integration. Applying this perspective to the German case, this article investigates whether weak subjective social integration—or subjective social marginalization, respectively—is associated with the intention to vote for the AfD. Furthermore, it asks whether the strength of this association varies across income groups. Based on original survey data from 2017, the results show that indicators of weak subjective social integration—feeling socially excluded, being anxious about one’s status, and distrusting others—increase the likelihood of voting for the AfD. Moreover, weak subjective social integration increases right-wing party support particularly among the middle-class. Thus, next to fears of downward mobility, feelings of subjective social marginalization emerge as a pathway to right-wing populism for the middle-class.
Titel: On How Expertise Ascriptions Work
Autor: Christian Quast
Seite: 399-429
Expertise is often ascribed to persons who are considered exceptionally competent in a particular subject matter. In contrast to this traditional approach, the present paper introduces a contextual understanding of expertise ascriptions. More precisely, this paper introduces two different kinds of contextuality by advancing and advocating the thesis that expertise ascriptions are true if and only if their content within their context of use is true against standards in the context of assessment. This means that expertise ascriptions have indexical content and are also assessment-sensitive. On this basis, a definition of expertise will be developed which outlines a series of conditions for what it takes to be an expert.
Titel: Expertise as a Form of Knowledge: A Response to Quast
Autor: Steve Fuller
Seite: 431-441
Christian Quast has presented what he describes as a ‘role-functional’ account of expertise as a form of knowledge that purports to take into account prior discussions within recent analytic social epistemology and allied fields. I argue that his scrupulousness results in a confused version of the role-functional account, which I try to remedy by presenting a ‘clean’ account that clearly distinguishes such an account from what Quast calls a ‘competence-driven’ one. The key point of my account is that ‘competence’ pertains to knowledge in closed systems and ‘expertise’ in open systems. I observe that the invocation of ‘reliability’ as an epistemic standard simply serves to confuse the difference between the competence-driven and role-functional accounts.
Titel: Précis: Our Moral Fate - Evolution And The Escape From Tribalism
Autor: Allen Buchanan
Seite: 443-447
The book uses evolutionary principles to explain tribalism, a way of thinking and acting that divides the world into Us versus Them and achieves cooperation within a group at the expense of erecting insuperable obstacles to cooperation among groups. Tribalism represents political controversies as supreme emergencies in which ordinary moral constraints do not apply and as zero-sum, winner take all contests. Tribalism not only undermines democracy by ruling out compromise, bargaining, and respect for the Other; it also reverses one of the most important milestones of progress in how we understand morality: the insight that morality is not a list of commands to be unthinkingly followed, but rather that morality centrally involves the giving and taking of reasons among equals. Tribalism rejects this insight by branding the Other as a being who is incapable of reasoning.
Titel: Varieties of Tribalism in the Laboratory
Autor: Shaun P. Hargreaves Heap
Seite: 449-465
This paper uses evidence from laboratory experiments to identify a variety of tribalisms. This is important because some tribalisms encourage zerosum thinking and others do not; and some are not developed by Buchanan. This,
in turn, supplies new insights into Buchanan’s project of identifying the kinds of environment that encourage his sense of moral progress. In particular, current levels of inequality become a significant barrier to moral progress not only because they create an economic form of tribalist zero-sum thinking but they also undermine the scope for positive-sum.
Titel: The Meaning of Mass Atrocities Beyond Our Moral Fate
Autor: Paul Morrow
Seite: 467-484
Philosophical accounts of moral progress commonly acknowledge the problem of mass atrocities. But the implications of such events for our ability to perceive, and achieve, progress are rarely considered in detail. This paper aims to address this gap. The paper takes as its starting point Allen Buchanan’s evolutionary theory of moral progress in his 2020 book Our Moral Fate. Through critical analysis of Buchanan’s theory, the paper shows that moral philosophers seeking to draw evidence from atrocities must pay closer attention to social scientific research into such crimes, and particularly to findings concerning the diverse motives, intentions, and ideological influences on perpetrators. At the same time, the paper suggests that mass atrocities exhibit the action-guiding influence not only of moral norms, but also of social and legal norms. The paper concludes by briefly considering the significance of mass atrocities for theories of moral progress beyond Our Moral Fate.
Titel: Tensions in Piketty’s Participatory Socialism: Reconciling Justice and Democracy
Autor: Andreas Albertsen and Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen
Seite: 71-87
In the final parts of Piketty’s Capital and Ideology, he presents his vision for a just and more equal society. This vision marks an alternative to contemporary societies, and differs radically both from the planned Soviet economies and from social democratic welfare states. In his sketch of this vision, Piketty provides a principled account of how such a society would look and how it would modify the current status of private property through co-managed enterprises and the creation of temporary ownership models. He also sets out two principles for when inequalities are just. The first principle permits inequalities that are beneficial to the worst-off, while the second permits inequalities that reflect differences in people’s choices and ambitions. This article identifies a tension between Piketty’s two inequality-permitting principles. It also argues that the procedural limits on how decisions are made within the enterprises of participatory socialism might create inequalities not permitted by the guiding distributive principles of participatory socialism. This tension points to the need for either further changes in firm structure and ownership, an even more progressive taxation scheme, or an egalitarian ethos reflected in citizens’ choices in their everyday lives under participatory socialism.
Titel: Is More Mittelstand the Answer? Firm Size and the Crisis of Democratic Capitalism
Autor: Timur Ergen and Sebastian Kohl
Seite: 41-70
Corporate concentration is currently being discussed as a core reason for the crisis of democratic capitalism. It is seen as a prime mover for wage stagnation and alienation, economic inequalities and discontent with democracy. A tacit coalition of progressive anti-monopoly critiques and small business promoters considers more deconcentrated corporate structures to be a panacea for the crisis of democratic capitalism, arguing that small firms in competition are better for employment, equality and democracy. This paper offers a brief outline of ideas of the anti-monopoly and small business ideal and critically evaluates whether a more deconcentrated economy may live up to these promises. While we agree that the plea for strengthened antitrust enforcement contains relevant and promising prospects for reform, our analysis concludes on a decidedly critical note. In particular, we caution against romanticized notions of the small capitalist firm.
Titel: Accumulating Capital: Capital and Ideology after Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Autor: Steven Pressman
Seite: 5-22
Thomas Piketty’s blockbuster Capital in the Twenty-First Century was followed by the publication of Capital and Ideology in early 2020. This paper looks at the differences between the two books, and provides an analysis and a critique of the main advances in the new book. First, Piketty drops r>g as an explanation for rising inequality. Instead, inequality is generated and constrained by economic power supported by an ideology. Second, there is a focus on the political consequences of inequality, including the rise of right-wing populism and the election of people like Donald Trump. Third, there is a new policy proposal—changes in corporate governance that gives labor and government seats on the Board of Directors of public corporations.
Titel: Ideology and Institutions in the Evolution of Capital
Autor: Katharina Pistor
Seite: 23-40
In Capital and Ideology, Thomas Piketty poses the intriguing thesis that ideology, or ideas about how society should be governed, is a powerful determinant for how society will be governed—as long as we take advantage of historical switch points. In this review essay I challenge this thesis by pointing out that many powerful ideas have run aground because of countervailing institutional arrangements. Oftentimes, they are leftovers from earlier times that precede the change and are now strategically employed for reconstituting private wealth. Clearly, ideology and institutions are deeply intertwined. I credit Piketty for putting ideology on the map of institutionalists in history, political sciences, sociology, and law. I therefore call for more research on the interaction of ideas and institutions.
Titel: Justice, Power, and Participatory Socialism: on Piketty’s Capital and Ideology
Autor: Martin O’Neill
Seite: 89-124
Thomas Piketty’s Capital and Ideology constitutes a landmark achievement in furthering our understanding of the history of inequality, and presents valuable proposals for constructing a future economic system that would allow us to transcend and move beyond contemporary forms of capitalism. This article discusses Piketty’s conceptions of ideology, property, and ‘inequality regimes’, and analyses his approach to social justice and its relation to the work of John Rawls. I examine how Piketty’s proposals for ‘participatory socialism’ would function not only to redistribute income and wealth, but also to disperse economic power within society, and I discuss the complementary roles of redistribution and predistribution in his proposals, and Piketty’s place in a tradition of egalitarian political economy associated with James Meade and Anthony Atkinson. Having elaborated on Piketty’s account of the relationship between economic policy and ideational change, and his important idea of the ‘desacralization’ of private property, I develop ‘seven theses’ on his proposals for participatory socialism, examining areas in which his approach could be enhanced or extended, so as to create a viable twenty-first century version of democratic socialism.
Titel: More Lessons to Learn: Thomas Piketty’s Capital and Ideology and Alternative Archives of Social Experience
Autor: Andreas Langenohl
Seite: 125-145
Thomas Piketty’s Capital and Ideology has been written with the intention to offer lessons from the historical trajectory of economic redistribution in societies the world over. Thereby, the book suggests learning from the political-economic history of ‘social-democratic’ policies and societal arrangements. While the data presented speak to the plausibility of looking at social democracy, as understood by Piketty, as an archive for learning about the effects of redistribution mechanisms, I argue that the book, or future interventions might profit from integrating alternative archives. On the one hand, its current line of argumentation tends to underestimate the significance of power relations in the international political economy that continued after formal decolonization, and thus form the flip side of social democracy’s success in Europe and North America. On the other hand, the role of the polity might be imagined in a different and more empowering way, not just—as in Piketty—as an elite-liberal democratic governance institution; for instance, it would be interesting to explore the archive of the French solidaristes movement more deeply than Piketty does, as well as much more recent interventions in economic anthropology that deal with ‘economic citizenship’ in the Global South.
Titel: About Capital, Socialism and Ideology
Autor: Thomas Piketty
Seite: 147-168
In this article, I attempt to briefly clarify a number of issues regarding what I have tried to achieve in my book Capital and Ideology. I also comment on the many limitations behind such a project, whose main objective is to stimulate further research on the global history of inequality regimes, at the intersection of economic, social and political history. Lastly, I address some of the many stimulating points raised in the reviews, particularly regarding the nature of participatory socialism and its incompleteness.
Titel: The Role of Culture in Evolutionary Theories of Human Cooperation
Autor: Hector Qirko
Seite: 169–190
Evolutionarily-minded scholars working on the most puzzling aspects of human cooperation—one-shot, anonymous interactions among non-kin where reputational information is not available—can be roughly divided into two camps. In the first, researchers argue for the existence of evolved capacities for genuinely altruistic human cooperation, and in their models emphasize the role of intergroup competition and selection, as well as group norms and markers of membership that reduce intragroup variability. Researchers in the second camp explain cooperation in terms of individual-level decision-making facilitated by evolved cognitive mechanisms associated with well-established self- and kin-maximization models, as well as by ‘misfires’ that may result from these mechanisms interacting with novel environments. This essay argues that the manner in which culture provides information that de-anonymizes intragroup strangers suggests that neither evolved capacities for genuine altruism nor widespread misfires are necessary to account for anonymous, one-shot cooperation.
Titel: The Skilful Origins of Human Normative Cognition
Autor: Jonathan Birch
Seite: 191–201
I briefly present and motivate a ‘skill hypothesis’ regarding the evolution of human normative cognition. On this hypothesis, the capacity to internally represent action-guiding norms evolved as a solution to the distinctive problems of standardizing, learning and teaching complex motor skills and craft skills, especially skills related to toolmaking. We have an evolved cognitive architecture for internalizing norms of technique, which was then co-opted for a rich array of social functions. There was a gradual expansion of the normative domain, with ritual playing an important role in bridging the gap between concrete, enacted norms and general, abstract norms, such as kinship norms. I conclude by stating nine predictions arising from the skill hypothesis.
Titel: If Skill is Normative, Then Norms are Everywhere
Autor: Kristin Andrews and Evan Westra
Seite: 203–218
Birch sketches out an ingenious account of how the psychology of social norms emerged from individual-level norms of skill. We suggest that these individual-level norms of skill are likely to be much more widespread than Birch suggests, extending deeper into the hominid lineage, across modern great ape species, all the way to distantly related creatures like honeybees. This suggests that there would have been multiple opportunities for social norms to emerge from skill norms in human prehistory.
Titel: Refining the Skill Hypothesis: Replies to Andrews/Westra, Tomasello, Sterelny, and Railton
Autor: Jonathan Birch
Seite: 253-260
I reflect on the commentaries on my ‘skill hypothesis’ from Andrews/ Westra, Tomasello, Sterelny, and Railton. I discuss the difference between normative cognition and the broader category of action-guiding representation, and I reflect on the relationship between joint intentionality and normative cognition. I then consider Sterelny and Railton’s variants on the skill hypothesis, which highlight some important areas where future evidence could help us refine the account: the relative importance of on-the-fly skill execution vs. longer-term strategizing, the relative importance of toolmaking vs. collaborative foraging, and the question of whether norms are encoded in control models themselves or in the goals and ideals that our control models help us pursue.
Titel: Norms Require Not Just Technical Skill and Social Learning, but Real Cooperation
Autor: Michael Tomasello
Seite: 219-223
Birch’s account of the evolutionary origins of social norms is essentially individualistic. It begins with individuals regulating their own actions toward internally represented goals, as evaluative standards, and adds in a social dimension only secondarily. I argue that a better account begins at the outset with uniquely human collaborative activity in which individuals share evaluative standards about how anyone who would play a given role must behave both toward their joint goal and toward one another. This then scaled up to the shared normative standards for anyone who would be a member of ‘our’ social group.
Titel: The Skill Hypothesis: A Variant
Autor: Kim Sterelny
Seite: 225–234
The basic idea of Birch’s analysis is plausible: normative guidance began in agents’ assessment of their own craft skills. But I suggest developing that idea in a different way. I suggest that proto-normative affect plays its guiding role diachronically, in the development of those skills, rather than synchronically, in modulating their moment-by-moment execution. More importantly, I suggest a different pathway to normative affect’s direction at second and third parties. Normative response became social in the context of skilled collaborative activities, for in those activities others’ failures have material consequences for each agent. In such collaborations, all have reason to care about others’ skill, or lack of it.
Titel: Normative Guidance, Evaluative Guidance, and Skill
Autor: Peter Railton
Seite: 235-252
At least since Aristotle, practical skill has been thought to be a possible model for individual ethical development and action. Jonathan Birch’s ambitious proposal is that practical skill and tool-use might also have played a central role in the historical emergence and evolution of our very capacity for normative guidance. Birch argues that human acquisition of motor skill, for example in making and using tools, involves formation of an internal standard of correct performance, which serves as a basis for normative guidance in skilled thought and action, and in the social transfer of skills. I suggest that evaluative modeling, guidance, and learning play a more basic role in motor skill than standards of correctness as such—indeed, such standards can provide effective normative guidance thanks to being embedded within evaluative modeling and guidance. This picture better fits the evidence Birch cites of the flexibility, adaptability, and creativity of skills, and can support a generalized version of Birch’s ‘skill hypothesis’.
Titel: Are we Really Past Truth? A Historian’s Perspective
Autor: Sophia Rosenfeld
Seite: 265-283
The prevalence of the term post-truth suggests that we have, in the last few years, moved from being members of societies dedicated to truth to being members of ones that cannot agree on truth’s parameters and, even worse, have given up trying. But is this really what has happened? The author argues that, under the sway of the Enlightenment, truth has actually been unstable and a source of contention in public life ever since the founding moment for modern democracies in the late eighteenth century; the ‘post’ in ‘post-truth’ elides this complex history even as it accurately describes some of the conditions of our moment. What that means, though, is that rather than attempt to turn the clock back to past models and practices for restoring the reign of truth, we should be looking for new, post-Enlightenment paradigms for how to define and locate truth in the context of democracy, as well as new mechanisms for making this possible.
Titel: Post-deliberative Democracy
Autor: Joseph Heath
Seite: 285-308
Within any adversarial rule-governed system, it often takes time for strategically motivated agents to discover effective exploits. Once discovered, these strategies will soon be copied by all other participants. Unless it is possible to adjust the rules to preclude them, the result will be a degradation of the performance of the system. This is essentially what has happened to public political discourse in democratic states. Political actors have discovered, not just that the norm of truth can be violated in specific ways, but that many of the norms governing rational deliberation can also be violated, not just without penalty, but often for significant political gain. As a result, the level of noise (false or misleading communications) has come to drown out the signal (earnest attempts at deliberation). The post-truth political condition is the cumulative result of innovations developed by actors who adopt an essentially strategic orientation toward political communications.
Titel: Something Funny Happened on the Way to the Twenty-First Century
Autor: Bruce Kuklick
Seite: 309-329
This essay first traces change in, roughly, the epistemology of the humanities from the 1950s to the 21st century. The second section looks at how the meaning and options in moral philosophy altered in more or less the same period. The last and easily most speculative section examines how these changes permeated American culture, and how professional philosophers responded to the challenges of the new political world they inhabited.
Titel: Fitting and Fudging: On the Folly of Trying to Define Post-truth
Autor: Sharon Rider
Seite: 331-350
I propose that the ‘post-truth condition’, i.e., the vulnerability of our institutions for establishing and negotiating what is true and worth knowing, is not primarily a pathology, a susceptibility to external manipulation or coercion, as tends to be stressed in the literature, but has first and foremost to do with the unraveling of certain epistemic assumptions. In analogy with T.S. Eliot’s modernist notion that the attempt to capture and concretize an experience or a state of mind requires ‘objective correlatives’ which it conveys, I argue that the trope of post-truth to express the embattled status of expertise can be understood in terms of failed symbolization. In the second section, I spell out what this means in terms of Donald Davidson’s discussion of the problem of defining truth. In the last section, I propose a ‘poetics of political theory’ for understanding the post-truth condition.
Titel: Democracy Naturalized: In Search of the Individual in the Post-truth Condition
Autor: Steve Fuller
Seite: 351-366
This article takes a ‘naturalistic’ look at the historically changing nature of the individual and its implications for the terms on which democracy might be realized, starting from classical Athens, moving through early debates in evolutionary theory, to contemporary moral and political thought. Generally speaking, liberal democracy sees individuality as the mark of an evolutionarily mature species, whereas socialist democracy sees it as the mark of an evolutionary immature species. Overall, the individual has been ‘de-naturalized’ over time, resulting in the indeterminate figure who thrives in the post-truth condition.
Titel: Behind the Screens: Post-truth, Populism, and the Circulation of Elites
Autor: William T. Lynch
Seite: 367-393
The alleged emergence of a ‘post-truth’ regime links the rise of new forms of social media and the reemergence of political populism. Post-truth has theoretical roots in the interdisciplinary field of Science and Technology Studies (STS), with sociologists of science arguing that both true and false claims should be explained by the same kinds of social causes. Most STS theorists have sought to deflect blame for post-truth, while at the same time enacting a normative turn, looking to deconstruct truth claims and subject expertise to criticism. Steve Fuller has developed a positive case for post-truth in science, arguing that post-truth democratizes science. I criticize this argument and suggest an alternative approach that draws on the prehistory of the field in the 1930s and 1940s, when philosophers and sociologists sought to define the social conditions necessary for reliable knowledge production that might stem mass media irrationalism.
Titel: Symmetry as a Guide to Post-truth Times: A Response to Lynch
Autor: Steve Fuller
Seite: 395-411
William Lynch has provided an informed and probing critique of my embrace of the post-truth condition, which he understands correctly as an extension of the normative project of social epistemology. This article roughly tracks the order of Lynch’s paper, beginning with the vexed role of the ‘normative’ in Science and Technology Studies, which originally triggered my version of social epistemology 35 years ago and has been guided by the field’s ‘symmetry principle’. Here the pejorative use of ‘populism’ to mean democracy is highlighted as a failure of symmetry. Finally, after rejecting Lynch’s appeal to a hybrid Marxian–Darwinism, Carl Schmitt and Thomas Hobbes are contrasted en route to what I have called ‘quantum epistemology’.
Titel: Capital, Ideology, and the Liberal Order
Autor: Nick Cowen* and Vincent Geloso
Seite: 413-435
Thomas Piketty’s Capital and Ideology (2020) offers a powerful critique of ideological justifications for inequality in capitalist societies. Does this mean we should reject capitalist institutions altogether? This paper defends some aspects of capitalism by explaining the epistemic function of market economies and their ability to harness capital to meet the needs of the relatively disadvantaged. We support this classical liberal position with reference to empirical research on historical trends in inequality that challenges some of Piketty’s interpretations of the data. Then we discuss the implications of this position in terms of limits on the efficacy of participatory governance within firms and the capacity of the state to levy systematic taxes on wealth.
Titel: Liberalism and Social Theory after John Rawls
Autor: Katrina Forrester
Seite: 1-22
Does neo-Rawlsian political philosophy offer an adequate account of the social conditions of capitalism? In this paper, I present two arguments for thinking that it does not. First, I develop a historicist critique of liberal egalitarianism, arguing that it provides a vision of social reality that is intimately connected to the historical and ideological constellation that I call postwar liberalism, and as such cannot account for social reality since the neoliberal revolutions of the late twentieth century. Second, I explore arguments in Marxist and critical social theory that cast liberal egalitarianism as partial, on account of its inadequate portrait of capitalist society. In surveying responses to these critiques, I argue that merely extending liberal egalitarianism into new domains to account for how contemporary circumstances have changed since the mid-twentieth century cannot address the problem of its partial view of the social world. Taking seriously the insights of critical social theory and the study of capitalism should lead to a challenge to liberal egalitarianism, not an extension of it.
Titel: Durkheimian Thoughts on In the Shadow of Justice
Autor: Joel Isaac
Seite: 23-30
This paper uses Durkheim’s distinction between cause and function to explore the aims and implications of Forrester’s critique of liberal egalitarianism in In the Shadow of Justice. I suggest that there is an interesting tension in Forrester’s argument between the portrayal of Rawlsian justice theory as a vestigial institution—a ‘survival’—left over from 1950s liberalism, and its continuing presence in political theory as a doctrine that has a strong function in policing the bounds of permissible philosophical discourse on politics. I then suggest that liberals are, in their nature, functionalists about politics, and that this may mean that they cannot easily countenance the kind of realism for which Forrester advocates at the end of her book.
Titel: Capitalism, Justice, and the Boundaries of Liberalism
Autor: Steven Lukes
Seite: 31-39
The argument of Katrina Forrester’s In the Shadow of Justice explains the present neglect of Rawlsian thinking in the social and political world beyond academia. She there convincingly shows how its deep assumptions, conceptual framing and narrow view of what constitutes politics disabled it from grappling with the subsequent massive transformations of capitalism. Her second argument, advanced in her article and questioned here, offers an ideology critique of Rawlsian thinking that claims, in its strongest version, that such thinking fails to acknowledge that capitalism is not reformable and that this failure derives from its liberal assumptions. What is needed, she claims, is a critique that implies the feasibility of attaining a post-capitalist world that is based on a theory that goes beyond the boundaries of liberalism.
Titel: Whose Realism? Which Legitimacy? Ideologies of Domination and Post-Rawlsian Political Theory
Autor: William Clare Roberts
Seite: 41-60
There is something amiss about post-Rawlsian efforts to bring political theory down to earth by insisting upon the political primacy of the question of legitimacy, peace, or order. The intuition driving much realism seems to be that we must first agree to get along, and only then can we get down to the business of pursuing justice. I argue that the ideological narratives of the powerful pose a political problem for this primacy of legitimacy thesis. To prioritize the achievement of democratic legitimacy seems to make sense only to the extent that we already live in a world in which systematic domination—and its ideological baggage—has been stamped out. I draw on the social study of domination for the sake of combatting in political theory the temptation to focus on the static design of the constitutional state at the expense of ignoring or even condemning the social processes that motivate legal and constitutional changes.
Titel: How to Do Things with Justice: Professor Rawls, 1962–1971
Autor: Brad Baranowski
Seite: 61-85
Understanding the social bases of what John Rawls meant by justice requires understanding a central part of Rawls’s professional life: his role as a teacher. As this essay shows, Rawls’s approach to teaching was not ancillary to his approach to heady philosophical issues like the justification of moral reasoning. Rather, there’s an ethic that runs through Rawls’s work, one focused on deliberation and consensus-seeking, and one whose strengths and weaknesses are easiest to see when you examine his teaching.
Titel: John Rawls and R. M. Hare: A Study of Canonization
Autor: Bruce Kuklick
Seite: 87-110
Why is someone enduringly prized as a philosopher? To answer this question, this historical case study examines the intersecting careers of John Rawls and R. M. Hare. It looks at their writings, a complex chain of disagreements, the argumentative dimension. The essay moreover explores the clash of differing temperaments. Finally, themes in addition to ratiocination and personality are factored in: the leanings of the institutions that control access to intellectual endeavor; the public square—politics widely conceived—into which the two men were thrown; and the cultural rivalry between England and America after World War Two.
Titel: International Relations Theory and the Ukrainian War
Autor: Richard Ned Lebow
Seite: 110-135
Drawing on my qualitative and quantitative research I show that the motives for war have changed in the course of the last four centuries, and that the causes of war and the responses of others to the use of force are shaped by society. Leaders who start wars rarely behave with the substantive and instrumental rationality assumed by realist and rationalist approaches. For this reason, historically they lose more than half wars than they start. After 1945, the frequency of failure rises to over 80 percent. Rationalists allow for miscalculation but attribute it to lack of information. In most wars, information was available beforehand that indicated, or certainly suggested, that the venture would not succeed militarily or fail to achieve its political goals. The war in Ukraine is a case in point.
Titel: Does Post-truth Expand or Restrict Political Choice? Politics, Planning, and Expertise in a Post-truth Environment
Autor: William T. Lynch
Seite: 137-159
Steve Fuller has replied to my critique of his endorsement of a post-truth epistemology. I trace the divergence in our approach to social epistemology by examining our distinct responses to the principle of symmetry in the sociology of scientific knowledge. Fuller has extended the concept of symmetry and challenged the field to embrace a post-truth condition that flattens the difference between experts and the public. By contrast, I have criticized the concept of symmetry for policing the field to rule ideology critique out of court. I argue that a focus on post-truth populism obscures the role of counter-elites and ideologies that restrict political choice. A better way to promote democracy would be to support minority positions within science that promise to open up suppressed political possibilities and to seek the coordinated use of different disciplines to address significant public problems.
Titel: Symmetry in World-Historic Perspective: Reply to Lynch
Autor: Steve Fuller
Seite: 161-169
William Lynch has persistently questioned the politics underlying my appeal to science and technology studies’ flagship symmetry principle. He believes that it licenses the worst features of the ‘post-truth condition’. I respond in two parts, the first facing the future and the second facing the past. In the first part, I argue that the symmetry principle will be crucial in decisions that society will increasingly need to make concerning the inclusion of animals and machines on grounds of sentience, consciousness, intelligence, etc. In the second part, I argue that the symmetry principle has been in fact at the core of the ‘justice as fairness’ idea that has been at the core of both liberal and socialist democracies. Difficulties start once the means of expression and communication are made widely available and the standards of fairness are subject to continual questioning and renegotiation.
Titel: Mearsheimer, Realism, and the Ukraine War
Autor: Nicholas Ross Smith and Grant Dawson
Seite: 175-200
The usefulness of ‘realism’ in explaining Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine has become a keenly contested debate not only in International Relations but in wider public intellectual discourse since the onset of the war in February 2022. At the centre of this debate is the punditry of John J. Mearsheimer, a prominent offensive realist who is a Professor of International Relations at the University of Chicago. This article argues that although Mearsheimer is indeed a realist, his offensive realism is but one of many different realist theories that can forward an explanation of the Ukraine War. Beyond the apparent hegemony of structural realism (the branch of realism to which Mearsheimer’s offensive realism belongs), it is argued that classical and neoclassical realist frameworks can provide more nuanced and, ultimately, convincing arguments as to why Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine. This is because both classical and neoclassical realism can incorporate insights from non-realist studies—such as the concepts of civilization and ontological security—and combine them into an overarching power politics framework. Although neither classical nor neoclassical realism is flawless in their explanations, they demonstrate that realism does not just have to be about international power structures but can offer multivariate accounts of why a state, like Russia, decided to act, such as invading Ukraine.
Titel: Realism, the War in the Ukraine, and the Limits of Diplomacy
Autor: Felix Rösch
Seite: 201-218
Since the outbreak of the war in the Ukraine, realism has made a comeback in public discourses but it is not clear what realism actually means as it seems to stand for everything: from supporting the Ukraine against Russian aggression to the war is the West’s fault. This is the result of decades of not distinguishing between neorealism and classical realism and implicitly acknowledging neorealist storytelling of having systematized classical realist thought. The present paper is a further intervention to carefully distinguish between both theoretical perspectives to uncover what they can add to current world political problems. It finishes by asking if neorealist scholars like John Mearsheimer have a point that it is the West’s fault and a diplomatic solution needs to be found. They often refer to Hans Morgenthau not least because he was one of the most outspoken critics of the Vietnam War.
Titel: The End of Open Society Realism?
Autor: Robert Schuett
Seite: 219-242
Does the ‘Zeitenwende’ herald the beginning of a new and as yet undefined open society realism? The present essay argues this question requires critical discussion of nature and value of realist political theory, particularly at a time where international society is accelerating to somewhere which is itself as yet unclear. Adding to revisionist research on political realism in International Relations (IR) theory I sketch how a political vision I call open society realism may be developed out of Classical realism, in sharp distinction to academic IR neorealism for methodological and political reasons. To strip foreign policy realism from Continental philosophy, law, and history risks that we become what political liberalism ought to avoid: a closed society with a good conscience retreating from world politics, hiding behind the ‘national’ interest as if strategic great power management is a methodic function of structure rather than the politics of an ethically conscious diplomacy.
Titel: Realism after Ukraine: A Critique of Geopolitical Reason from Monroe to Mearsheimer
Autor: Matthew Specter
Seite: 243-267
This article seeks to historicize both the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the debate on realism occasioned by Russian aggression in Ukraine since 2014. Using the research of Gerard Toal on Russia’s construction of its security interests in the post-Soviet spaces that include Ukraine, the article argues that neorealist geopolitical explanations fail to do justice to the roles of contingency and culture in setting Russia’s so-called ‘red lines.’ It also identifies an agency problem in realism: realists not only fail to do justice to the agency of small states like Ukraine in this conflict but elide the moral and practical agency of decisionmakers like Russian President Vladmir Putin. The article also suggests that the current realism debate is the tip of an iceberg: realism has long had a problem specifying the relation of its theory to its practice. The article concludes by discussing the long shadow of 19th century imperial history over contemporary discussions of spheres of influence and great power status.
Titel: The Society of Singularities—10 Theses
Autor: Andreas Reckwitz
Seite: 269-278
The article summarizes the content of Andreas Reckwitz’s book The Society of Singularities in 10 theses and briefly links it to the author’s overall work. The Society of Singularities applies a practice theory approach in order to outline a theory of Western (late-)modernity which recognizes in it a basic rivalry between two logics of social evaluation: a social logic of the general and a social logic of the particular/ singular. The question arises which historical causes for the surge of the social logic of uniqueness since the 1980s can be discerned, which structural features this type of society unfolds and which social and political consequences it has.
Titel: Does Practice Theory Work? Reckwitz’s Study of the ‘New Middle Class’ as an Example
Autor: Andreas Pettenkofer
Seite: 279-304
‘Practice theory’—a theory program that connects the goal of offering non-rationalist explanations to a strong focus on everyday routine activities, and builds on the work of Bourdieu but tries to gain a less narrow perspective—is being used more and more widely in the social sciences. Its advocates often argue that, since practice theory is a heuristic for doing empirical work, discussing it without addressing this empirical work cannot do justice to it. Therefore, this article analyses Reckwitz’s recently translated book on The Society of Singularities, which its author presents as an example of the advantages of (one dominant version of) practice theory. As will be shown, the book demonstrates that this version of practice theory does not fulfil its promises. Looking at its difficulties is instructive, however, because it helps see more clearly how the goal of an integrative ‘theory of practice’ could be achieved.
Titel: Self-Realization and Disappointment in the ‘Society of Singularities’
Autor: Austin Harrington
Seite: 305-322
This contribution focuses on Andreas Reckwitz’s considerations on phenomena of ‘exhausted self-realization’ and ‘disappointment’ in The Society of Singularities, as well as in his follow-up volume, The End of Illusions. Under discussion is the range of analytical distinctions that tend to come into play in this area between what one might call a generally primordial concept of self-realization and more derivative articulations of the concept that exhibit various aspects of instrumentalization—variously termed ‘self-maximization’ or ‘self-optimization’. The paper argues that while Reckwitz’s work offers great resources for an understanding of how and why ‘self-realization’ so frequently appears to take on an instrumentalizing character in late-modern social behaviour, the extent to which his work attributes this tendency to a wholly immanent cultural-cognitive logic of lifestyle singularization is open to criticism. The reasons must also be sought from within the more directly economic contexts of diminished material security and solidarity typical of contemporary societies shaped by neoliberal economic governance orders at the level of policy.
Titel: The Theory of Everything: A Sympathetic Critique of Andeas Reckwitz’s The Society of Singularities
Autor: Patrick Baert
Seite: 323-329
After situating Andreas Reckwitz’s The Society of Singularities within the broader context of the tradition of social theory, we discuss in detail the obvious strengths of this book, notably its impressive range and originality. Subsequently, we elaborate on two limitations of Reckwitz’s argument. Firstly, we argue that Reckwitz’s use of categories such as ‘singularity’ and ‘universality’ is too allembracing, lacking the clarity and focus needed to sustain a productive line of inquiry. Secondly, and related to the previous point, we contend that Reckwitz’s claims about the recent trend towards increasing singularity are so broad that they are difficult to refute empirically. Further, we discuss briefly contemporary political developments to demonstrate why the core societal issues at stake cannot be explained through all-inclusive categories such as singularity. Finally, we maintain that existence theory can provide an alternative fruitful perspective on some of the phenomena discussed in this book.
Titel: Democracy, Civility, and Semantic Descent
Autor: Robert Talisse
Seite: 5-22
In a well-functioning democracy, must citizens regard one another as political equals, despite ongoing disagreements about normatively significant questions of public policy. A conception of civility is needed to supply citizens with a common sense of the rules of political engagement. By adhering to the norms of civility, deeply divided citizens can still assure one another of their investment in democratic politics. Noting well-established difficulties with the very idea of civility, this essay raises a more fundamental problem. Any conception of civility faces the problem of semantic descent, the phenomenon by which second-order norms devolve into tools for conducting first-order disputes. The problem of incivility in politics thus is not simply that of designing a suitably inclusive view of what civility demands. It might be that political civility can be cultivated only by way of interactions that are themselves not at all political.
Titel: Informal Networked Deliberation: How Mass Deliberative Democracy Really Works
Autor: Ana Tanasoca
Seite: 23-54
Deliberative democracy started out as an ideal for mass democracy. Lately, however, its large-scale ambitions have mostly been shelved. This article revivifies the ideal of mass deliberative democracy by offering a clear mechanism by which everyone in the community can be included in the same conversation. The trick is to make use of people’s overlapping social communicative networks through which informal deliberative exchanges already occur on an everyday basis. Far from being derailed by threats of polarization, echo chambers, and motivated reasoning, informal networked deliberation can indeed put everyone in touch, directly or indirectly, with everyone else.
Titel: From Prejudice to Polarization and Rejection of Democracy
Autor: Gert Pickel and Susanne Pickel
Seite: 55-84
With the growing success of right-wing populism, there has been an explosion of debates on polarization and social cohesion. In part, social cohesion is seen as being disrupted by right-wing populists and those who blame migration for this alleged disruption of cohesion. The developing polarization is not only social, but also political, so that in some cases there is already talk of a new cleavage. On the one hand, there are right-wing populists, people who do not want any major changes or who have problems with globalization; on the other hand, there are those who want to push through a transformation towards a ‘truly’ pluralistic society. Two issues in particular serve as bridges for this polarization: Muslim migration and the expansion of sexual and gender diversity. Positions on these two issues mark the content that facilitates the consolidation of opposing group identities. As a result, debates about values and identity dominate, leading to a polarization that reaches far into society.
Titel: Ethics and Affect in Resistance to Democratic Regressions
Autor: Fabio Wolkenstein
Seite: 85-109
In recent times, it has become increasingly common that elected parties and leaders systematically undermine democracy and the rule of law. This phenomenon is often framed with the term democratic backsliding or democratic regression. This article deals with the relatively little-studied topic of resistance to democratic regressions. Chief amongst the things it discusses is the rather central ethical issue of whether resisters may themselves, in their attempts to prevent a further erosion of democracy, transgress democratic norms. But the argument advanced in the article is not merely about the ethics of resistance. It begins, perhaps unconventionally, by addressing the affective dimension of resistance to democratic regressions, looking in particular at the powerful feelings of anger and despair that pro-democratic citizens living under a regressive government are likely to experience. As the article argues, these feelings have not only motivational but also epistemic potential, which must be adequately theorized in order to understand how resisters can respond to the ethical challenges facing them.
Titel: A Polarization-Containing Ethics of Campaign Advertising
Autor: Attila Mráz
Seite: 111-135
This paper establishes moral duties for intermediaries of political advertising in election campaigns. First, I argue for a collective duty to maintain the democratic quality of elections which entails a duty to contain some forms of political polarization. Second, I show that the focus of campaign ethics on candidates, parties and voters—ignoring the mediators of campaigns—yields mistaken conclusions about how the burdens of the latter collective duty should be distributed. Third, I show why it is fair to require intermediaries to contribute to fulfilling this duty: they have an ultimate filtering position in the campaign communication process and typically benefit from political advertising and polarization. Finally, I argue that a transparency-based ethics of campaign advertising cannot properly accommodate a concern with objectionable polarization. By contrast, I outline the polarization-containing implications of my account, including a prohibition on online targeted advertising, and intermediaries’ duties to block hateful political advertising.
Titel: The Stopping Power of Sources
Autor: Jonas J. Driedger
Seite: 137-155
The article analyzes arguments, made by John J. Mearsheimer and others, that the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was largely caused by Western policy. It finds that these arguments rely on a partially false and incomplete reading of history. To do so, the article identifies a range of premises that are both foundational to Mearsheimer’s claims and based on implied or explicit historical interpretations. This includes the varying policies of Ukraine toward NATO and the EU as well as the changing Russian perceptions thereof; the political upheavals in Ukraine in early 2014 that were immediately succeeded by the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbass; and the supposed absence of Russian ‘imperialism’ toward Ukraine prior to 2014. Finding that these interpretations do not hold up in light of relevant and available data, the article qualifies and contextualizes the validity of Mearsheimer’s arguments, points to superior ones, and highlights the need for case-specific expertise when using explanatory theory to make sense of politically salient ongoing events.
Titel: Practice Theory as a Tool for Critical Social Theory
Autor: Sally Haslanger
Seite: 157-176
What is the best method for undertaking critical social theory, and what are its ontological and normative commitments? Andreas Reckwitz has developed compelling answers to these questions drawing on practice theory. As a practice theorist myself, I am very sympathetic to his approach. This paper sketches a social theory that extends the reach of practice theory to include non-human animals and allows us to discriminate between importantly different kinds of social formations. In doing so, I argue that a strongly normative basis for differentiating social phenomena is compatible with the methods of social theory and critical social theorists need not shy away from first-order moral commitments.
Titel: The Society of Singularities: Reply to Four Critics
Autor: Andreas Reckwitz
Seite: 177-187
In this article, Andreas Reckwitz replies to the four critical commentaries of Patrick Baert, Andreas Pettenkofer, Austin Harrington and Sally Haslanger on his book The Society of Singularities. In this context, he discusses the general position of this book within the landscape of contemporary social theory and the question of what a ‘social logic of the unique’ means. He enters the question in how far his analysis of the new middle class differs from Pierre Bourdieu’s analysis of the new petty bourgeoisie, emphasizing the combination of an orientation towards inner experience and social prestige in his account of the new middle class. He discusses the question of whether neoliberalism is responsible for the proneness to disappointment which the late-modern culture of self-actualization implies. Finally, he works out the differences between the type of critical analytics which his book implies and normative critical theory.
Titel: Thinking with Simone de Beauvoir Today
Autor: Manon Garcia
Seite: 195-214
In the last decade, the importance of Simone de Beauvoir’s contribution to 20th-century French philosophy has been beyond debate. However, it can be tempting to read her contributions as the dated beginnings of feminist philosophy, and to believe that her work is only interesting from the perspective of the history of philosophy. To the contrary, this article claims that contemporary philosophers can and should take Beauvoirian philosophy as a source of fruitful insights on contemporary issues in political and moral philosophy by showing the limited scope of two classic critiques of Beauvoir and by defending the relevance of her work for thinking about female submission and the importance of erotic experience.
Titel: Beauvoir or Butler? Comparing ‘Becoming a Woman’ with ‘Performing Gender’ Through the Life Course
Autor: Susan Pickard
Seite: 215-241
Judith Butler claims to have based her theory of gender performance on Simone de Beauvoir’s path-breaking idea that one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. However, Butler’s interpretation of Beauvoir’s work departs considerably from Beauvoir’s own expressed view which is that women are shaped by an interplay of femininity (construed by cultural and structural norms) and sexed bodies and that the concept of woman is a mutable one that can accommodate increasing degrees of freedom. In this paper I explore Beauvoir’s theories further, showing how they depart from Butler’s interpretations of them and in the process exploring the contribution that Beauvoir and Butler respectively make towards understanding ongoing gender inequality. Finally, I compare and contrast the role of temporality and the life course in ‘becoming a woman’ and in performing gender respectively, focusing on the figure of the post-menopausal woman in particular.
Titel: Beauvoir’s Myths as a Concept for Analyzing Gendered Asymmetries
Autor: Claudia Gather and Regine Vogl
Seite: 243-267
Can the concept of myths, as developed by Simone de Beauvoir in The Second Sex, help us to better understand and sociologically examine social inequalities in heterosexual couple relationships? Beauvoir has shown how women are defined as the Other. Her conceptualization of myths plays an important role in the production of asymmetry between men and women. How can we translate these myths, to a sociological micro level to examine couple relationships? We illustrate the feasibility of this approach through the comparison of two qualitative research projects from the 1990s and 2020s with dual-earner couples in transition to retirement. We try to find out how femininity and masculinity are defined in couple relationships, how they relate to each other, and whether asymmetry is at work. What has changed over time and are women (still) defined in a subordinate and derivative way from men?
Titel: The Importance of Realism about Gender Kinds: Lessons from Beauvoir
Autor: Theodore Bach
Seite: 269-295
Beauvoir’s The Second Sex stands out as a master class in the accommodation of conceptual and inferential practices to real, objective gender kinds. Or so I will argue. To establish this framing, we will first need in hand the kind of scientific epistemology that correctly reconciles epistemic progress and error, particularly as pertains to the unruly social sciences. An important goal of the paper is to develop that epistemological framework and unlock its ontological implications for the domain of gender. As we will see, the real gender kinds that contemporary social scientists successfully identify and track are very much the same kinds to which Beauvoir was coordinating reference in The Second Sex. The correct identification of those kinds endures as a moral and political priority, regardless of one’s other gender-related normative agenda.
Titel: Deliberative Procedures as Social Technology
Autor: Fabian Anicker
Seite: 297-323
Research on deliberative procedures uses normative concepts not only to justify the democratic legitimacy of these procedures but also as analytical tools to understand their empirical effects. This leads to a normativist bias in deliberation research. I argue that deliberative procedures should instead be regarded as a type of opinion-shaping social technology. I introduce a theoretical scheme that helps researchers analyze the interplay between formal and informal aspects of deliberative procedures. The usefulness of the scheme is shown in a case study of the EuroPolis Deliberative Poll.
Titel: Institutional Operability: Outward Rule-Following, Inward Role-Playing
Autor: Michele Bocchiola and Emanuela Ceva
Seite: 325-347
Institutional operability refers to the normative conditions governing the exercise of power of office that makes an institution work. Because institutional action occurs by the interrelated actions of the officeholders, a focus on institutional operability requires the analysis and assessment of the officeholders’ conduct in their institutional capacity. This article distinguishes two perspectives on operability: ‘outward’ and ‘inward.’ The outward view emphasizes predefined instructions for efficient execution, focusing on rule-following to achieve institutional purposes. The inward perspective highlights role-playing and reflective engagement among officeholders to uphold an institution’s raison d’être. The inward perspective brings to the fore the relational aspect of institutional life and officeholders’ interrelated responsibility for guiding institutional action.
Titel: Classical Realism in World Politics. Précis to a Symposium
Autor: Jonathan Kirshner
Seite: 349-362
This paper introduces some of the major themes of An Unwritten Future: Realism and Uncertainty in World Politics, and provides a short illustration of how the analytical apparatus elaborated there can offer fruitful insights into understanding enduring puzzles in international relations. An Unwritten Future explores, illuminates and interrogates Classical Realism, an approach to the study of world politics that is contrasted with Structural Realism and with the ‘hyper-rationalist’ perspective associated with the ‘Rationalist Explanations for War’ school of thought. It elucidates the fundamental flaws of those two highly influential paradigms, and explains why Classical Realism, with its emphasis on what Structural Realism and Hyper-rationalism forbid—content, purpose, history, and irreducible uncertainty—provides a more promising and productive point of departure for students of international relations.
Aktuelle Themen der Soziologie I
2013 (35) Heft 2
Gastherausgeber: Ulrich Rosar
Editorial
Es ist erst drei Jahre her, da haben Christian Ganser und der tragischerweise viel zu früh verstorbene Norman Braun im 40. Jahrgang der SOZIOLOGIE, dem Mitteilungsblatt der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie, Ergebnisse einer empirischen Studie zum Wissenskanon des Faches Soziologie veröffentlicht: Fundamentale Erkenntnisse der Soziologie? Eine schriftliche Befragung von Professorinnen und Professoren der deutschen Soziologie und ihre Resultate, 2011, 151—174. Im Zentrum der Erhebun...
Property-Owning Democracy
2013 (35) Heft 1
Guest-Editors: Francis Cheneval / Christoph Laszlo
Editorial
In recent years, ’property-owning democracy’ (POD), defined by widespread ownership of productive assets, has become one of the key-factors in the assessment of the institutional design implied in John Rawls’s theory of justice. The wider implications of this inquiry also engage scholars who do not subscribe to Rawls’s conception of justice but are broadly interested in normative questions of political economy and the basic structure of a just polity. In the course of this debate, the in...
Aktuelle Themen der Soziologie II
2014 (36) Heft 1
Guest-Editor: Ulrich Rosar
Editorial
Es ist erst drei Jahre her, da haben Christian Ganser und der tragischerweise viel zu früh verstorbene Norman Braun im 40. Jahrgang der SOZIOLOGIE, dem Mitteilungsblatt der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie, Ergebnisse einer empirischen Studie zum Wissenskanon des Faches Soziologie veröffentlicht: Fundamentale Erkenntnisse der Soziologie? Eine schriftliche Befragung von Professorinnen und Professoren der deutschen Soziologie und ihre Resultate, 2011, 151—174. Im Zentrum der Erhebun...
Environmental Justice: Empirical Concerns and Normative Reasoning
2014 (36) Heft 2
Guest-Editor: Gordon Walker
Editorial
In Why Things Matter to People Andrew Sayer reminds us that we are evaluative beings in which normative questions strongly figure in our everyday lives “because while we are capable and can flourish we are also vulnerable and susceptible to various kinds of loss or harm“ (Sayer 2011, 1). The ’environment’, understood in broad terms, provides one arena or frame within which evaluative questions necessarily figure, because of its centrality to our individual and collective flourishing or s...
The Normative Turn from Marxism
2015 (37) Heft 1
Editorial
Marxism, both as a Western political movement and an intellectual focus of dispute, lost its academic appeal during the 1970s and 80s, foreshadowing the collapse of `actually existing´ socialism in the early 90s. Within what after the Second World War was called `Western Marxism´, there had been growing awareness of Marx’s early philosophy with its suggestive, if somewhat vague, ideas of a universally productive life and an ideal productive society. In contrast, the stock of (not only offici...
Social Epistemology
2012 (34) Heft 2
Editorial
The research program of social epistemology developed from a critique of philosophical epistemology around thirty years ago. Since then it has attracted ever-growing attention among philosophers. But social epistemology also offers prolific alignments for the social sciences. The starting point of social epistemology is the elementary fact that most of our knowledge is acquired not by our own autonomous exploration but by relying on information from others: on testimony. This is especially true ...
Symposium on Philip Kitcher, The Ethical Project
2012 (34) Heft 1
Editorial
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The Relevance of Ideal Justice
2011 (33) Heft 2
Guest-Editors: Lukas Meyer / Pranay Sanklecha
Editorial
Whether and how normative theorising can be relevant for guiding people’s actions is one of the classical questions of moral and political philosophy. Platon’s dialogues Politeia, Politikos and Nomoi provide fascinating discussions on the topic. Recently normative theorists have investigated some aspects of these questions under the title of ideal and non-ideal theorising—relying on a distinction that Rawls introduced in A Theory of Justice (1971) and made use of in his The Law of Peo...
Work and Cooperation
2011 (33) Heft 1
Editorial
Both in social theories with the aim of looking into the creative core of society as well as in everyday politics, two intuitions often supplement each other. The first intuition, empirico-analytical, views common organization of work and production as being the very aim of society, and other parts of society being explicable from this. A second intuition, ethical or moral, holds the sphere of work to be the central site for diagnoses of a society's inherent justice. Both intuitions not only con...
Social Dimensions of Science
2010 (32) Heft 2
Editorial
The research program of Social Epistemology developed from a critique on philosophical epistemology around thirty years ago. Since then it has attracted an ever growing attention, mainly, however, among philosophers. But social epistemology offers also prolific alignments for the social sciences. The starting point of Social Epistemology is the elementary fact that a large proportion of our knowledge is acquired not by our own autonomous exploration according to some ideal standards but by relyi...
Climate Change, Risk and Responsibility
2010 (32) Heft 1
Guest-Editor: Friedrich Breyer
Editorial
Global warming has arguably been the topic which has drawn the most attention both in the media and in academia and even in international politics over the first decade of the new millennium. Moreover, climate change is a typical field for interdisciplinary research: while natural scientists try to predict the impact of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions on average temperatures, climate events (such as floods, droughts and hurricanes) and sea-level rise over the next century and more, philos...
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2009 (31) Heft 2
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Work and Social Justice
2009 (31) Heft 1
Guest-Editor: Carsten Köllmann
Editorial
The labour market is among the most contested fields of political argument and conflict in our time. Public criticism of increasing wage inequalities and especially of excessive management pay is, notwithstanding its popularity, only a symptom of more fundamental changes going on in the labour market and in society at large. The conditions and the very meaning of work rank high on the agenda of Western societies. Persistent mass unemployment, coupled with an increasing number of working poor, co...
Social Theory Today. 30 Years of Analyse & Kritik
2008 (30) Heft 2
Editorial
The founders and editors of this journal who got together thirty years ago to deliberate on its programme, had been influenced both by the critical and emancipatory aims of the Marxist tradition and by the rigour and sophistication of analytic philosophy. At the same time they were also dissatisfied with both traditions. They were repelled by the sectarian sides of Marxist economics, frustrated by the inscrutable language of the Hegelian Marxists and puzzled by the lack of explicit normative arg...
Revolutionary Aristotelianism: Ethics,Resistance and Utopia
2008 (30) Heft 1
Guest-Editors: Kelvin Knight / Paul Blackledge
Editorial
This special issue is composed of revisions of papers originally presented at a conference on Alasdair MacIntyre’s Revolutionary Aristotelianism: Ethics, Resistance and Utopia, hosted by the Human Rights and Social Justice Research Institute at London Metropolitan University from 29th June to 1st July 2007. In publishing them, Analyse & Kritik demonstrates a continuing interest in MacIntyre’s work which began with an important symposium on After Virtue in 1984, 6(1). Now republished in a thi...
Perspectives on Social Choice
2007 (29) Heft 2
Guest-Editor: Marlies Ahlert
Editorial
Introduction and Overview
This volume of Analyse & Kritik approaches social choice from different angles. Each of the papers thematically has some relation with the work of Wulf Gaertner. This provides some topical unity to the volume. However, other than in case of a typical Festschrift the refereed papers are in all other regards independent contributions to the field of social choice as very widely understood. Methods reach from axiomatic analyses over experiments to simulations and from t...
Mind and Economy: Methodological Problems of Neuroeconomics
2007 (29) Heft 1
Editorial
Among the most current 'neuro'-subdisciplines, neuroeconomics is perhaps the one with the most interesting genealogy. It seems to be not only one, but two steps away from classical economics, being itself a specialized form of behavioural economics, a field of research which for some depicts the psychology of actors more than their market behaviour. Neuroeconomics means inspection of the role the brain plays during actors' decisions, the categorizing of risks and rewards, and of social interacti...
Ecological Goals and Liberal Ideals: Harmony or Conflict?
2006 (28) Heft 2
Guest-Editor: Thomas Schramme
Editorial
Liberty, equality, justice and solidarity are traditional political ideals of modern Western democracies. Different traditions and parties have supported different models in order to harmonise them. In contrast to the prevalence and long history of these values, ecological goals and needs have moved onto the political agenda fairly recently. Hence it should not come as a surprise that there is no consensus about the compatibility of ecological ambitions with common Western political ideals. Righ...
Symposium zu Kenneth Binmores
2006 (28) Heft 1
Editorial
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The Actuality of Communitarianism
2005 (27) Heft 2
Editorial
'Communitarianism' drew extraordinary public attention in the early nineties and still exerts some influence on the social sciences and political philosophy, even if it is no longer as controversially debated as in former days. What still fires interest in the claims and ideas of communitarianism today, albeit on a lower level of public attention, is the widely felt fascination, in part perhaps also trepidation, vis-a-vis non-individualist social phenomena and trans-individualist social values a...
Ernst Fehr on Human Altruism. An Interdisciplinary Debate
2005 (27) Heft 1
Editorial
In the foregoing decade, two related developments in the behavioural sciences have drawn the attention of social scientists, particularly economists. The first is the use of laboratory experiments in the investigation of human behaviour. Although the use of such experiments has a longer history, only in the last decade has ’experimental economics’ become a sub-discipline of economics with which economists of just about all colours are familiar; indeed, experimental results regularly feed int...
Philosophical and Methodologial Issues in Economics
2004 (26) Heft 2
Guest-Editors: Mark S. Peacock / Michael Schefczyk
Editorial
The 'dismal science of economics', as it was once called, has a mixed reputation. Some praise its clarity and elegance whilst others bewail its futility; others laud the precision of its mathematical form whereas others still descry the source of its irrelevance and unrealism in just this form. Many feel that precision and mathematisation are bought at a price too high, namely unrealistic assumptions, empty models with little or no explanatory power, unreliable predictions and a general state of...
Trust and Community on the Internet. Opportunities and Restrictions for Online Cooperation
2004 (26) Heft 1
Guest-Editors: Bernd Lahno / Uwe Matzat
Editorial
Early studies in the area of Internet Research emphasized the deficiencies that computer-mediated communication as opposed to face-to-face communication would have. The chances for the evolution of cooperative relationships on the Internet were assessed sceptically. Present research findings correct this point of view. In spite of a missing central authority, without formal controls and sanctions, with anonymity and easy-to-use exit options there is not only chaos and anomy on the Internet. Rath...
Legitimationsprobleme der Globalisierung
2003 (25) Heft 2
Editorial
Im Jahr 2000 entsprach der Anteil aller grenzüberschreitend gehandelten Waren und Dienstleistungen mehr als einem Viertel des weltweiten Angebots, während es noch 1970 nur etwa 10% waren. Zugleich 'globalisierte' sich in rapider Geschwindigkeit der Aktionsradius vieler Unternehmen. Allein im Jahr 2000 investierten diese Unternehmen 1,3 Billionen Dollar über Grenzen hinweg. Gemessen an ihren Umsätzen ist inzwischen eine Gruppe von etwa 15 Unternehmen kapitalstärker als die 60 ärmsten Staate...
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2003 (25) Heft 1
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2002 (24) Heft 2
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Funktionalismus
2002 (24) Heft 1
Editorial
Vor gut 50 Jahren wurde die amerikanische Soziologie fast vollständig von T. Parsons' Programm des 'strukturellen Funktionalismus' dominiert. Erst in den 1960er Jahren begann das strukturfunktionale Programm an Einfluss zu verlieren, als seine auf Bestanderhalt und Stabilität ausgerichtete Grundidee mit der sich rapide verändernden Gesellschaft des sich verschärfenden Vietnamkriegs, der black-power-Bewegung und der Studentenrevolte in zunehmenden Widerspruch geriet. Starke Armut und einseiti...
Making Choices in Organ Allocation
2001 (23) Heft 2
Guest-Editors: Marlies Ahlert / Hartmut Kliemt
Editorial
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2001 (23) Heft 1
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Basic Income? Symposium on P. Van Parijs,
2000 (22) Heft 2
Guest-Editor: Angelika Krebs
Editorial
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Symposium on R. Axelrod's
2000 (22) Heft 1
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1999 (21) Heft 2
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Praktische Vernunft und Verstehen
1999 (21) Heft 1
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1998 (20) Heft 2
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Milgram und die Täter des Holocaust
1998 (20) Heft 1
Editorial
Stanley Milgrams Entdeckung, in welch erstaunlichem Ausmaß durchschnittliche amerikanische Bürger bereit waren, unbekannten Mitmenschen auf Anordnung einer wissenschaftlichen Autorität schwere Elektroschocks zu verabreichen, hat in den 60er und 70er Jahren über die Sozialwissenschaften hinaus für Aufsehen gesorgt. Heute sind Milgrams Experimente in jeder Standardeinführung in die Sozialpsychologie nachzulesen. Milgram war für diese Experimente auch durch den Holocaust motiviert worden. Oh...
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1997 (19) Heft 2
Editorial
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Kompensation oder Überzeugung?
1997 (19) Heft 1
Editorial
In diesem und dem vorhergehenden Heft von ANALYSE & KRITIK werden konsensorientierte Entscheidungsverfahren erörtert. Das Interesse an solchen Verfahren erklärt sich aus der Problematik kollektiver Entscheidungen, durch die - exemplarisch im Umweltbereich - Vorteile und Lasten unter den Betroffenen in ungleicher Weise verteilt werden. Mehrheitsentscheidungen sind unter solchen Bedingungen nicht immer optimal. Das gilt besonders dann, wenn existentielle Interessen und zentrale Werte involviert ...
Entscheidung durch Diskurs
1996 (18) Heft 2
Editorial
In jeder Gesellschaft müssen kollektive Entscheidungen gefällt werden, die nicht für alle Betroffenen in gleichem Maße Vorteile bringen und die Lasten auf sie nicht in gleicher Weise verteilen. Exemplarisch hierfür stehen Entscheidungen im Umweltbereich, bei denen etwa über den Standort einer Abfalldeponie befunden werden muß. Gemäß dem Ideal der Demokratie sollten es die Bürger selbst sein, die solche Entscheidungen fällen. Die Umsetzung dieses Ideals in die Praxis ist aber selten vo...
Das Paradox des Liberalismus / The Liberal Paradox
1996 (18) Heft 1
Editorial
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1995 (17) Heft 2
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Rechte / Rights
1995 (17) Heft 1
Editorial
Kaum eine andere soziale Tatsache ist prägender für das Leben der Menschen in den heutigen Demokratien und Verfassungsstaaten als die Existenz verbürgter Rechte. Der Kern dieser Rechte besteht in der Garantie grundlegender individueller Freiheiten. Sie gewähren einen persönlichen Autonomiebereich, der vor Eingriffen und Ansprüchen anderer Individuen und der Gemeinschaft prinzipiell geschützt ist. Für viele Menschen in der westlichen Welt sind individuelle Rechte zu selbstverständlichen ...
Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse und Umweltgüter / Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Environment
1994 (16) Heft 2
Editorial
Die Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse ist eine in den verschiedensten Bereichen der Politik angewandte Methode, um bürokratische und planerische Entscheidungen zu unterstützen. In ihren wissenschaftlichen Grundlagen entstammt die Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse der Ökonomie. Ihre Verwender verfolgen die Absicht, die Theorie des idealen Marktes auf solche Güter und ihre Nutzung zu erweitern, für die es keinen realen Markt gibt. So sollen öffentliche Güter, wie etwa die natürliche Umwelt, mit Hilfe der Kosten-N...
Soziobiologie
1994 (16) Heft 1
Editorial
Die Soziobiologie überschneidet sich in ihrem Gegenstandsbereich mit der Soziologie. Damit ist Konkurrenz, aber auch gegenseitige Ergänzung möglich. Die Tatsache, daß sich die Soziobiologie mit den genetischen Grundlagen menschlichen Verhaltens beschäftigt, hat allerdings das Verhältnis eher als ein ausschließendes Konkurrenzverhältnis erscheinen lassen - vor allem in der Sicht der Vertreter der traditionellen Soziologie. Sie haben diese Konkurrenz häufig nicht nur als eine wissenschaft...
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1993 (15) Heft 2
Editorial
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James S. Coleman's Foundations of Social Theory II
1993 (15) Heft 1
Editorial
In ANALYSE & KRITIK 2/92 wurde mit Beiträgen von Hartmut Esser, Karl-Dieter Opp, Russell Hardin, Norman Braun, Werner Raub, Dennis C Mueller und Peter Kappelhoff ein Symposium zu James S. Colemans vielbeachteten Buch Foundations of Social Theory eröffnet. In dem vorliegenden Heft wird dieses Symposium mit Beiträgen von Peter M. Blau, Raimo Tuomela, Andreas Diekmann, Michael Baurmann sowie einer Erwiderung von James S. Coleman weitergeführt. Ein Aufsatz von Michael Taylor wurde zwar nicht als...
James S. Coleman's "Foundations of Social Theory" I
1992 (14) Heft 2
Editorial
James S. Colemans "Foundations of Social Theory" werden in ihrer Bedeutung für die Sozialwissenschaften von manchen mit Talcott Parsons' "Structure of Social Action" verglichen. Während jedoch Parsons mit seiner ,voluntaristischen Handlungstheorie, ein neues Paradigma für die Soziologie begründen wollte, stützt sich Coleman auf die ökonomische Theorie rationalen Handelns, die auch in der Soziologie bereits eine Forschungstradition hat. Anstatt eine grundsätzliche Neuerung in die Wege zu l...
Liberalismus
1992 (14) Heft 1
Editorial
Wenn es für westliche Gesellschaften nach dem Zusammenbruch politischer Utopien und sozialer Heilslehren noch ein vereinigendes Selbstverständnis gibt, dann dasjenige des Liberalismus. Gemäß der liberalen Doktrin der Eindämmung politischer Macht zugunsten individueller Freiheit sollen wirksam garantierte Bürgerrechte kulturelle und weltanschauliche Differenzen dem privaten Lebensbereich überantworten und so politisch neutralisieren. Die Trennung privater und öffentlicher Sphären erschei...
Macht
1991 (13) Heft 2
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1991 (13) Heft 1
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Euthanasie heute - Thema oder Tabu?
1990 (12) Heft 2
Editorial
Der australische Philosoph Peter Singer soll mit Gewalt zum Schweigen gebracht werden. Er hat mit der Euthanasie ein moralisches Problem zum Thema der öffentlichen Erörterung gemacht, das nach Meinung seiner deutschen Gegner ein Tabu bleiben muß. Die Botschaft, die von diesen Gegnern Singers ausgeht - unter ihnen eine Reihe von Philosophieprofessoren -, besteht nicht darin, daß Singer Auffassungen vertritt, die in der Sache hart kritisiert werden müssen, sondern die Botschaft lautet: Man so...
Gesundheit, Krankheit und Rationalität
1990 (12) Heft 1
Editorial
Gesund oder krank zu sein ist für die meisten Menschen von besonderer Bedeutung. Schon deshalb ist es auch entsprechend wichtig zu wissen, welche körperlichen oder psychischen Zustände als gesund oder krank anzusehen sind. Ein solches Wissen ist für die aktuellen und potentiellen Patienten relevant, aber nicht nur für sie, sondern auch für die Ärzte und das Gesundheitssystem im weiteren. Wer kann, darf oder muß medizinische Betreuung für sich in Anspruch nehmen? Welche Therapien sollen ...
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1989 (11) Heft 2
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Der ökonomische Ansatz in den Sozialwissenschaften II
1989 (11) Heft 1
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Der ökonomische Ansatz in den Sozialwissenschaften I
1988 (10) Heft 2
Editorial
Die Überzeugungskraft und der Erfolg des ökonomischen Ansatzes ist wesentlich verbunden mit seinem methodologischen Individualismus und seiner Theorie der rationalen Entscheidung: 1. Komplexe soziale Tatsachen werden erklärt durch Zurückführung auf ein einheitliches Fundament, dessen elementare Bedeutung für jedermann nachvollziehbar ist: auf individuelle Entscheidungen, die Menschen in bestimmten Situationen zwischen verschiedenen Handlungsmöglichkeiten treffen. 2. Diese Entscheidungen w...
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1988 (10) Heft 1
Editorial
ANALYSE & KRITIK erscheint jetzt im zehnten Jahrgang. Die Gründung dieser Zeitschrift war an dem Ziel orientiert, den Dialog zwischen zwei wissenschaftlichen Traditionen zu fördern: zwischen der analytischen Philosophie und Wissenschaftstheorie einerseits und einer der kritischen Aufklärung verpflichteten Sozialwissenschaft andererseits. Ausgangspunkt war die Beobachtung, daß die Entwicklung der Sozialwissenschaften vor allem im deutschen Sprachraum im Anschluß an den spektakulären, aber s...
Strategie und Ethik der atomaren Abschreckung
1987 (9) Heft 1-2
Editorial
Der Titel dieses Heftes verbindet zwei Bereiche, deren Vereinbarkeit häufig bezweifelt wird: internationale Politik und Moral. Vor allem im Hinblick auf militärpolitische Fragen vertreten "Realisten" die Auffassung, daß die moralische Kritik zwischenstaatlicher Machtpolitik illusionär ist. Weder sei es im nationalen Interesse von Staaten, sich moralischen Normen zu unterwerfen, noch sei es möglich, moralische Normen gegenüber Staaten durchzusetzen. Ein solcher "Realismus" ist aber offenbar...
Methodologischer Individualismus
1986 (8) Heft 2
Editorial
Es gehört auch heute noch zu den Grundüberzeugungen vieler Soziologen, daß sich das Phänomen gesellschaftlicher Ordnung nicht auf Annahmen und Theorien über Individuen und individuelles Handeln zürückführen läßt. IndiViduelle Eigenschaften und Handlungen werden im Gegenteil selbst als einer soziologischen Erklärung bedürftig angesehen. Jeder "Individualismus" wird von diesen Soziologen deshalb strikt abgelehnt, sei es als methodologisches, normatives oder empirisches Programm. Gesell...
ohne Titel
1986 (8) Heft 1
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Grundlagenprobleme der Psychoanalyse
1985 (7) Heft 2
Editorial
Grundlagenprobleme der Psychoanalyse bilden den Schwerpunkt der Beiträge im vorliegenden Heft. Eingeleitet wurde in dieses Thema bereits durch einen Aufsatz in ANALYSE & KRITIK 1 /85.
Psychoanalyse ist ein Versuch zur Erweiterung und Professionalisierung der elementaren Fähigkeit, sich selbst und andere zu verstehen. Es ist deshalb nicht überraschend, daß common sense-Vorstellungen sowohl in die Psychoanalyse eingehen als auch von ihr verändert werden. Die Beziehungen zwischen psychoanal...
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1985 (7) Heft 1
Editorial
In diesem Heft beginnen wir mit einer Reihe von Aufsätzen zu zwei thematischen Schwerpunkten: Grundlagenprobleme der Psychoanalyse und das Verhältnis von soziologischer und analytischer Handlungstheorie. In der Psychoanalyse deutet einiges darauf hin, daß die theoretische Diskussion in eine neue Phase tritt. Bisher konnte die psychoanalytische Praxis nur modellhaft oder abstrakt zum Gegenstand der Forschung gemacht werden, nur in Ausnahmefällen hatten Wissenschaftler direkten Zugang zur psyc...
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1984 (6) Heft 2
Editorial
Trotz ihrer disparaten Titel lassen sich die Beiträge in diesem Heft einem gemeinsamen Thema zuordnen: es geht um die Gültigkeit der einheitswissenschaftlichen These. Mit dieser These wird bekanntlich die Auffassung formuliert, daß es zwischen naturwissenschaftlichen und geistes- oder sozialwissenschaftlichen Methoden keinen grundsätzlichen Unterschied gibt, bzw. - normativ gewendet - keinen grundsätzlichen Unterschied geben soll. Ursprünglich wurde diese These nahezu selbstverständlich a...
Symposium über Alasdair MacIntyres, "After Virtue"
1984 (6) Heft 1
Editorial
Das vorliegende Heft ist fast ausschließlich einer Diskussion über Alasdair MacIntyres Buch After Virtue gewidmet. Der Grund dafür besteht nicht nur darin, daß After Virtue in der angelsächsischen Philosophie z. Z. eines der meist diskutierten moralphilosophischen Bücher ist, sondern vor allem auch in seinem interdisziplinären Ansatz, durch den die Grenzen zwischen normativer Ethik und empirisch-theoretischer Sozialwissenschaft überschritten werden sollen.
Hauptmotiv von After Virtue ...
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1983 (5) Heft 2
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1983 (5) Heft 1
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Von der rapiden Verbreitung leistungsfähiger Computersysteme während der letzten 20 Jahre hat in der Soziologie vor allem die Statistik profitiert. Die Anwendung komplizierter statistischer Modelle stellt bei der Benutzung komfortabler Analysepakete heute kein Problem mehr dar: Was früher tagelange mühsame Arbeit mit dem Tischrechner erforderte, erledigt man heute durch das Ausfüllen einiger Lochkarten mit ein paar Minuten Rechenzeit.
Inwieweit hat die Anwendung komplexer statistischer T...
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1982 (4) Heft 2
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1982 (4) Heft 1
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Die Wissenschaftstheorie des 20. Jahrhunderts war über längere Zeit von der Vorstellung besessen, es gäbe nur eine dem Menschen eigene Vernunft, wie sie durch die modernen Naturwissenschaften, insbesondere die Physik, verkörpert wird. Für die Sozialwissenschaften hatte das die Konsequenzen, daß sie nur in dem Maße ernst genommen wurden, wie sie diesem Ideal nahekamen. Die Ökonomie war demzufolge die "exakteste" und "fortgeschrittenste" ihrer Disziplinen. Dabei scheint ihr zugute zu komme...
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1981 (3) Heft 2
Editorial
Die Diskussionen über eine Theorie der gerechten Gesellschaft stehen mit im Zentrum der programmatischen Konzeption von ANALYSE & KRITIK. Das Ziel einer solchen Theorie muß es sein, Kriterien zu formulieren und zu begründen, um zwischen gerechten und ungerechten Institutionen einer Gesellschaft unterscheiden zu können. Neben der Aufstellung allgemeiner Prinzipien - dazu zählen z. B. das Utilitäts-, Differenz- und Anspruchsprinzip - muß eine Theorie der gerechten Gesellschaft, wenn sie sic...
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1981 (3) Heft 1
Editorial
1. Zur programmatischen Konzeption von ANALYSE & KRITIK gehört der Versuch, eine Verbindung zwischen der Tradition der analytischen Philosophie und Wissenschaftstheorie und den kritischen Sozialwissenschaften herzustellen. Diese Absicht setzt voraus, daß die analytische Philosophie und Wissenschaftstheorie zumindest tendenziell als ein einheitliches Gebilde betrachtet werden kann, das von integrierenden Prinzipien und einer fortschreitenden Problemlösungstradition geprägt wird. Nur wenn das ...
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1980 (2) Heft 2
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1980 (2) Heft 1
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1979 (1) Heft 2
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1979 (1) Heft 1
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Social Mechanisms
2016 (38) Heft 1
Guest Editors: Ulf Tranow, Tilo Beckers and Dominik Becker
Editorial
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Logic, Morals, Measurement - Origins and Justifications of Norms
2016 (38) Heft 2
Guest Editors: Susanne Hahn and Oliver Schlaudt
Editorial
1. The Scope of Normativity“
“Do not use your mobile phone“, “unauthorized entrance prohibited“, “in order for your will to have legal force you must sign it in the presence of at least two witnesses“, “scientific experiments should be reproducible“, “water to cook pasta in should be as salty as the Mediterranean“, “the Federal Court is responsible for deciding civil matters assigned to it by statute“, “if you use a direct quotation from an author you should enclos...
Sacred Values Today
2017 (39) Heft 1
Editorial
Religion captures our attention nearly every day, even if more often now in the form of religious terrorism. Christians are struck by the difference in belief and attitudes manifested in Islamic cultures and politics. Observers also are speechless how the Jewish religion is used to instigate and justify, within a democratic society, the aggressive occupation of foreign land. And even among the core countries of ’Western secularist enlightenment’ in Europe and the US, religion seems to underg...
Evaluating Societies Morally?
2017 (39) Heft 2
Editorial
There is hardly a greater distance between our everyday attitudes and scientific caution than in the case of evaluative statements concerning states and their representatives. Even though it is rare that whole cultures are called ‘evil’, judging state representatives in moral terms, often negatively, is wide-spread, and not only among the politically involved. In contrast, classical moral ‘theories’ and their advocates in the human sciences are reluctant to apply moral judgements to item...
2018 (40) Heft 1
Editorial
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Focus: Governing Immigration
2018 (40) Heft 2
Editorial
The focus of this issue puts light on a policy proposal by Margit Osterloh and Bruno Frey. Osterloh and Frey suggest an entry fee for immigrants to govern the migration movement to European countries. In paying such a fee immigrants would acquire a ‘participation certificate’ allowing them to enter a country and to participate in the labour market. Asylum seekers and war refugees could be refunded once their refugee status had been accepted. As the authors argue, such a system would have sig...
Rorty and Paradigm Change in Philosophy
2019 (41) Heft 1
Editorial
Three years after its foundation, in 1981, this journal presented a contribution by Richard Rorty in German translation, which was republished as ‘Philosophy in America Today’ in another journal the same year and included in Rorty’s first article selection Consequences of Pragmatism (1982). A lively debate on the article and Rorty’s Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979) ensued and drew a lengthy ‘Reply to six critics’ from Rorty. These diversified and historically symptomatic re...
Symposion on Moral Progress
2019 (41) Heft 2
Editorial
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Focus: Experiments on Social Norms
2020 (42) Heft 1
Editorial
According to the classics of social theory—Durkheim, Weber, Parsons—social order cannot be based on individual utility seeking and external power, but requires ‘normative integration’. Even for large parts of the social sciences today it seems to be almost self-evident that social norms are the very ‘cement of society’ (Elster). The underlying assumption is that essential building blocks of social order in the form of individual cooperation, collective action and political governance...
Focus: Experiments on Social Norms II
2020 (42) Heft 2
Editorial
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Focus: Thomas Piketty, Capital and Ideology
2021 (43) Heft 1
Editorial
Somehow it has been known all along: economic and social inequality is growing. But somehow this too had to be written down in black and white in detail, including perhaps a number of good reasons for its lawlike quality and future resilience. This was the achievement of Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century, highlighted by its notorious basic formula ‘r>g’. As it turned out the formula tried in a contentious way to put the inequality threat into a nutshell. Not to be mislead by a c...
Focus: Post-truth and Democracy
2021 (43) Heft 2
Editorial
The concept of ‘post-truth’ has existed for a while, but after the Oxford dictionary named it ‘word of the year’ in 2016, it has permeated public and academic debates. Since then, it has become synonymous with the populist threat to the liberal-democratic order. The concept points to the impression that we are entering an age of decay in which the achievements of modernity—objectivity, science, rationality, and democracy—are being gradually replaced by emotionality, agnotology, irrat...
Focus: The Social Bases of Political Theory
2022 (44) Heft 1
Editorial
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Focus: Ukraine and Political Realism
2022 (44) Heft 2
Editorial
It is an issue of debate as to which side did more to breathe new life into political realism within the menu of international relations theories: whether or not Putin’s war has been effective against Ukraine, or John Mearsheimer’s accusation that, since 2014 at the latest, ‘the West’ would be responsible for a war. Certainly, the Russian invasion in terms of its style, propaganda and accompanying drama looks as though its initiators tried to enact the most straightforward, brutal and si...
Focus: Democracy under Polarization
2023 (45) Heft 1
Editorial
According to a conflict-conscious conception of democracy, polarization is part of its essence. According to this ‘agonistic’ conception of democracy, polarization means that the political positions of values and interests can never merge consensually into one another but remain in opposition in order to struggle persistently and continuously for political power within a democratic framework. The ‘polarization’ currently in dispute as a new threat to democracy, on the other hand, is mean...
Focus: The Continuing Relevance of Beauvoir
2023 (45) Heft 2
Editorial
A plea for Beauvoir’s timeliness today has to assert itself in a field that has become confusing, both in terms of gender relations in Western societies and in the face of the diversity of feminisms. With regard to the real role of women, among many people there is an apologetic understanding that gender equality may not have been achieved but ‘is well on its way’ or ‘improvements have been made.’ Aggressive demonstrations against male supremacy, still remembered by some from the 1960s...