Socially responsible business and ethical behaviour of companies have been of interest to academia and practice for decades. But the focus has almost exclusively been on large corporations while small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) have not received as much attention. Thus, this paper focuses on socially responsible business practices of SME entrepreneurs or owner–managers in Germany. Based on the assumption that decision-makers in SMEs are the central point where all business activities start, members of a German entrepreneurs association were approached (...) in the course of a qualitative and quantitative survey. They were asked to assess in what way their social responsibility is expressed in specific management practices towards selected stakeholder groups. These practices in turn were assumed to result in perceived positive reactions of the respective stakeholders and subsequently to positively influence the firm's financial performance, i.e. cost reductions and increase in profits. In the paper, a research model is presented that elaborates the relationship between an SME executive's social responsibility and the value creation of a firm, i.e. whether (personal) values create (economic) value. It was found that socially responsible management practices towards employees, customers and to a lesser extent society have a positive impact on the firm and its performance. As such, values can create additional value. (shrink)

Socially responsible business and ethical behaviour of companies have been of interest to academia and practice for decades. But the focus has almost exclusively been on large corporations while small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) have not received as much attention. Thus, this paper focuses on socially responsible business practices of SME entrepreneurs or owner–managers in Germany. Based on the assumption that decision-makers in SMEs are the central point where all business activities start, members of a German entrepreneurs association were approached (...) in the course of a qualitative and quantitative survey. They were asked to assess in what way their social responsibility is expressed in specific management practices towards selected stakeholder groups. These practices in turn were assumed to result in perceived positive reactions of the respective stakeholders and subsequently to positively influence the firm's financial performance, i.e. cost reductions and increase in profits. In the paper, a research model is presented that elaborates the relationship between an SME executive's social responsibility and the value creation of a firm, i.e. whether (personal) values create (economic) value. It was found that socially responsible management practices towards employees, customers and to a lesser extent society have a positive impact on the firm and its performance. As such, values can create additional value. (shrink)

Scholarly debate over the transformative potential of neoliberal, market-based, food movement strategies historically contrasts those who value their potential to reform the food-system from the inside against those who argue that their use concedes the primacy of the market, creates citizen-consumers, and undermines overall movement goals. While narrow case studies have provided important amendments, the legacy of such strategies requires impacts to be evaluated both contextually and more broadly than the specific activism. This study thus conceptualizes the ‘case’ of U.S. (...) biotechnology market activism expansively, drawing on interviews with 25 activists from diverse organizations to investigate the legacy of two food-labeling movement strategies (one public and mandatory, one private and voluntary). The results support that the legacy of market strategies extends more broadly than the immediate initiative. They also confirm that the consequences of such neoliberalized strategies are most productively assessed contextually and applied, rather than categorically—as most clearly illustrated by the counterintuitive results of the failed mandatory labeling effort. Of the two market strategies, voluntary labeling demonstrated the most problematic relationship to broader movement goals of food system transformation, in part because of the greater potential for overlapping credence claims and in part due to the risks of niche market logic. (shrink)

Plato (ca. 427- ca. 347 BCE), the preeminent Greek philosopher, has been extensively studied. A major field of Plato's comprehensive work is his political philosophy, which is multifaceted and multidimensional. The discourse on gender issues forms an integral part of it. In this context, one is surprised to notice that Plato's elaborations have been interpreted in quite contrasting ways. In some feminist discussions of classical philosophy, Plato's intellectual enterprise is evaluated as reflecting Greek male chauvinism. Such identification carries all manner (...) of stereotyping, and this is neither enlightening nor helpful for an overall understanding of Plato's teachings and his world of ideas. In the scholarly literature, one can make the surprising discovery that Plato's contribution to the understanding of gender roles in society slips the attention of authors who specialize in this topic. Plato was neither feminist in the modern sense nor a sexist. Plato was not a liberal thinker, and he did not take the initiative to make a case for women's liberties. And yet, he elaborates amply on issues of what is subsumed under women's liberation in our time: What else would we call a philosopher who, under the conditions of Greek society in the classical age, advocated for the participation of women in sports competitions and approved of the access of women to public offices, even to political leadership? In this study, priority lies in reconstructing Plato's ideas on women's roles viewed against the zeitgeist of gender issues in Greek society of classical antiquity. The analysis shows that Plato's speculations about gender and gender issues in an ideal society were nothing short of revolutionary. Plato on Women is a major contribution to political philosophy and gender studies as well as an important book for collections of Plato's works and scholarly literature focusing on this philosopher. (shrink)

Der Prozess biologischer wie anthropologischer Evolution ist heute Gegenstand gesicherter Theorie. In dieser Arbeit werden notwendige und zureichende -philosophische- Voraussetzungen derselben untersucht. Dichotomien (Geist - Materie) wie Reduktionismen (z.B. neo-empiristischer Provenienz) werden uberwunden durch ein Erklarungsmodell, das genannte Einseitigkeiten vermittels einer -strukturologischen- Reflexion auf das -Geist- wie -Materie- Gemeinsame hintergreift. - In diesem Zusammenhang werden endlich die herkommlichen Probleme von -Immanenz- und -Transzendenz- des Menschen im Sinn einer vollig neuen Fragestellung transformiert.".

Following much work in linguistic theory, it is hypothesized that the language faculty has a modular structure and consists of two basic components, a lexicon of (structured) entries and a computational system of combinatorial operations to form larger linguistic expressions from lexical entries. This target article provides evidence for the dual nature of the language faculty by describing recent results of a multidisciplinary investigation of German inflection. We have examined: (1) its linguistic representation, focussing on noun plurals and verb inflection (...) (participles), (2) processes involved in the way adults produce and comprehend inflected words, (3) brain potentials generated during the processing of inflected words, and (4) the way children acquire and use inflection. It will be shown that the evidence from all these sources converges and supports the distinction between lexical entries and combinatorial operations. (shrink)

The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently in advanced stages of developing a ‘WHO convention, agreement, or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response’ (also known as WHO CA+, referred to below as: Pandemic Agreement).1 Rightly, the instrument places equity at the centre. Yet, it currently also omits reference to an impactful tool to promote equity that has been adopted in an unprecedented manner during COVID-19—a set of measures known as disadvantage indices. Embedding disadvantage indices would provide concrete (...) constructive guidance; align the Pandemic Agreement with the use of indices by other United Nations (UN) agencies; help realise the Agreement’s goal of addressing social and other determinants of health within countries, and furthermore offer feasible ways improving equity in allocation across countries. WHO member states began work on a Pandemic Agreement in December 2021. The current timeline envisages a final version to be considered by the May 2024 World Health Assembly.1 The publicly available version of the Pandemic Agreement at the time of writing comprises 36 articles under three separate chapters (Bureau’s Text, A/INB/7/3, 30 Oct 2023).1 Chapter 1 provides general scene setting describes objectives, and highlights key terms. While the concept of equity is still somewhat implicit and would benefit from further articulation,2 overall, there seems to be a latent understanding that inequity obtains when there are unfair differences in health outcomes and opportunities within and across countries. Correspondingly, ‘[e]quity is at the centre of pandemic prevention, preparedness, response, both at the national level within States and at the international level between States. It requires, inter alia, specific measures to protect persons in vulnerable situations’.1 Chapter 3 addresses procedural issues, such as the establishment and rules of interactions of different types of advisory committees. Chapter 2 is titled ‘The world together equitably: …. (shrink)

This essay argues that Oscar Wilde noticeably contributed to the emerging discourse about world literature, even though his views in this regard have to be unearthed from the margins of his works, from his early and unpublished American lectures and ‘between the lines’ of his major critical essays. Wilde’s implicit ideas around world literature can be understood as being closely related to his broader endeavour of redirecting and revaluing the pejorative discourse around ‘decadence’ in art and literature. More specifically, the (...) arch-aesthete preferred to use the word ‘romance’ rather than ‘decadence’, signalling a sensitivity attuned to what he called the ‘love of things impossible’. This reconceptualization of the decadent outlook was to inspire a critical ideal of literature which relied on creatively activating the other as Other, culminating in a vision of intersubjective, transcultural and unlimited literary communication. Wilde’s thought can be more specifically understood as anticipating central tenets of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s evocations of the planetary, thus preparing the way for an alterity-oriented understanding of literary cosmopolitanism. (shrink)

1,857 adults rated the grandparental solicitude they received in childhood. Through a simple model based on the evolutionary concepts of ontogenetically differentiated reproductive strategy and paternity confidence, an ordered discriminative pattern of grandparental caregiving was predicted and confirmed by solid main effects, based on 603 complete cases. The maternal grandmother was the most caring. Unlike prevalent gender stereotypes, she was followed by the maternal grandfather, the paternal grandmother, and the paternal grandfather. The preferential grandparental solicitude was not influenced by residential (...) distance, grandparent age, and availability of other grandparents. A predicted higher correlation for male than for female progenitors between solicitude and phenotypic resemblance could be confirmed. (shrink)

Scepticism, a philosophical tradition that casts doubt on our ability to gain knowledge of the world and suggests suspending judgment in the face of uncertainty, has been influential since its beginnings in ancient Greece. Harald Thorsrud provides an engaging, rigorous introduction to the central themes, arguments, and general concerns of ancient Scepticism, from its beginnings with Pyrrho of Elis to the writings of Sextus Empiricus in the second century A.D. Thorsrud explores the differences among Sceptics and examines in particular (...) the separation of the Scepticism of Pyrrho from its later form—Academic Scepticism—the result of its ideas being introduced into Plato's Academy in the third century B.C. Steering an even course through the many differences of scholarly opinion surrounding Scepticism, the book also provides a balanced appraisal of the philosophy's enduring significance by showing why it remains so interesting and how ancient interpretations differ from modern ones. _Copub: Acumen Publishing Limited _. (shrink)

A Companion to the Spanish Scholastics offers a much-needed survey of the entire field of early modern Spanish scholastic thought. The volume introduces main themes and contexts of scholastics inquiry (theology, philosophy, ethics, politics, economics, law, science and the senses) through close examination of a wide range of texts, debates, methods, and authors, as well as in-depth discussion of the relevant literature. Each chapter includes a useful bibliography and serves as point of departure for future research. The volume not only (...) draws the sum of existing research, but also challenges established notions and breaks new ground. (shrink)

This study documents various historical instances in the development of the concept «Common Good». The author reflects about Plato's theory of Forms, which is infused with the idea of good, as the first principle of being. Plato was not the first philosopher to address the theme of the Common Good although he was the first to construct a political theory around it. This theme has remained a central agenda for philosophers throughout the ages.

Die Beiträge des Buches widmen sich aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven Nietzsches Deutung der Natur als der 'umgestürzten Säule der Geschichte'. Sie gehen einerseits Nietzsches physiologischer Überwindung der neuzeitlichen Ästhetik und dem hermeneutischen Spannungsfeld zwischen Kunst und Erkenntnis, homo natura und homo artista, nach. Andererseits klären sie Nietzsches Grundlehre vom Willen zur Macht als Formgefüge des Lebens. Dabei wird Nietzsches Ort auf dem Höhenweg europäischer Philosophie von den Vorsokratikern bis zu Leibniz und dem Deutschen Idealismus sowie seine lebenslange Auseinandersetzung mit der Weimarer (...) Klassik gleichermaßen eingehend und originell beleuchtet. (shrink)

Bioscientists generate far more data than their minds can handle, and this trend is likely to continue. With the aid of a small set of versatile tools for mathematical modeling and statistical assessment, bioscientists can explore their real-world systems without experiencing data overflow. This article outlines an approach for combining modern high-throughput, low-cost, but non-selective biospectroscopy measurements with soft, multivariate biochemometrics data modeling to overview complex systems, test hypotheses, and making new discoveries. From preliminary, broad hypotheses and goals, many relevant (...) samples are selected and measured with respect to many informative variables. The resulting tables represent a “cacophony” of data. From these, the most relevant and reliable “underlying harmonies and rhythms” are extracted and tested statistically, displayed for interpretation, and used for prediction. Outliers are detected automatically. Interesting subsets of samples can then be chosen for in-depth analyses in subsequent research cycles. This pragmatic, top-down approach takes advantage of developments in both “soft,” data-driven modeling and “hard,” knowledge-driven cultures. Data analytical examples show how information-rich biospectroscopy can be used for characterizing and quantifying known and unknown chemical constituents and physical phenomena in intact biosamples. This is based on a combination of deductive “hard” and inductive “soft” modeling. The examples represent NIR spectra of biochemical mixtures, FTIR spectra of a microbiological fermentation process, and FTIR analysis of fatty acids in milk for functional genomics. (shrink)

The following discussion aims to illuminate further the way in which morphologically complex words are represented in the mental lexicon. It is argued that the dual-mechanism model can accommodate the linguistic and psycholinguistic evidence currently available, not only on German inflection (as pointed out in the target article) but also on other languages (as presented in several commentaries). Associative single-mechanism models of inflection, on the other hand, provide only partial accounts.

Papers from the 11th Tagung der Martin-Heidegger-Gesellschaft, held Nov. 2-4, 2001, in Halle, Germany.

Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt eine neue Lesart von Johann Gottlieb Fichtes populärer Schrift “Die Bestimmung des Menschen” (1800) vor, deren wesentliche Aussagen mit zentralen Thesen zeitgenössischer differenztheoretischer Theorieentwürfe, wie etwa dem erkenntnistheoretischen Konstruktivismus Niklas Luhmanns, der Dekonstruktion Jacques Derridas und – mit Einschränkungen – der modernen Evolutionstheorie in der Folge Charles Darwins, in Beziehung gesetzt und konfrontiert werden. In kritischer sowie affirmativer Auseinandersetzung mit gegenwärtigen Theorieansätzen erweist sich so die Anschluss- und Leistungsfähigkeit sowie die immer währende Aktualität des Fichteschen Denkens. (...) Ein abschließender Rückblick bringt die populärphilosophischen Überlegungen Fichtes mit dessen wissenschaftlichen Ausführungen der 1798/99 vorgetragenen Vorlesungen über die “Wissenschaftslehre nova methodo” in Verbindung und ordnet sie vor deren Hintergrund in die Arbeit Fichtes in Jena von 1794 bis 1799 ein. Auf diese Weise wird schließlich die andauernde Bedeutung der Wissenschaftslehre Fichtes für die Philosophie des 21. Jahrhunderts und darüber hinaus offenbar. (shrink)

Much in Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is part of a participatory turn within the Technology Assessment (TA) and Science and Technology Studies (STS) community. This has an influence also on the evaluation of Climate Engineering (CE) options, as it will be shown by reference to the SPICE project. The SPICE example and the call for democratisation of science and innovation raise some interesting concerns for the normative evaluation of CE options that will be addressed in the paper. It is (...) by far not clear, or so it will be argued, how much of the innovation process of CE technologies should be put in the hands of social actors and the wider public. This is due not only to special features about CE technologies but also to some more principle concerns against some features of participatory RRI approaches. Still, this does by no way mean that ethical and societal issues in the context of CE technologies should be ignored. Rather, the paper will argue that one can take a step back to expert TA linked to the evolution of approaches of ethical impact analysis in this area. This does not only lead to reconsider the emphasis on participation and democratisation of research and innovation, but also opens up for an alternative evaluative framework for CE technologies developed in the last part of the paper. (shrink)

This paper is an overview from a personal perspective on the various ways Lucas has shaped today’s economics in general and in terms of ‘Chicago economics’ in particular. In honor of the 50th anniv...