Habermas, the Jesuits and Religion: Notes on a Discussion about the Role of Religion in Society

In 2007, a public panel discussion took place between Jürgen Habermas and professors of the Jesuit University in Munich about the place and importance of religion in and for the (post-) secular society. Habermas there explained that the relation between society and religion has its counterpart on a personal level as the relation between reason and faith. Habermas points out that practical reason can only understand itself, if it clarifies its relation to the religious consciousness. This paper attempts to articulate and clarify the form of this twofold relation

Dying is never beautiful, but there are beautiful moments: qualitative interviews with those affected on the subject of ‘good dying’

The concept of the good death has been widely considered. However, the perspectives of those affected have not received sufficient attention. In our empirical study, we conducted interviews with 32 people who were confronted with dying; these people were either terminally ill, elderly or else were bereaved carers. The findings show that for this group of people, dying is not just a physical process, but also a psychological, social and spiritual one. From the perspective of those affected, dying is never beautiful, in particular because of the associated pain and suffering. At the same time, people confronted with dying do experience beautiful moments. In the stories they tell of these beautiful moments, it is a beauty emanating from a sense of elevated emotion – of moral emotion – rather than any aesthetic beauty. We conclude that good care of the dying enables beautiful moments and creates reflective spaces for those affected to express what beauty means to them. We show that the public discourse differs significantly from the perspective of those affected and more efforts need to be made to include their voices

Overexpression of E2F-5 correlates with a pathological basal phenotype and a worse clinical outcome

The purpose of the present study is to identify genes that contribute to cell proliferation or differentiation of breast cancers independent of signalling through the oestrogen receptor (ER) or human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). An oligonucleotide microarray assayed 40 tumour samples from ER(+)/HER2(−), ER(+)/HER2(+), ER(−)/HER2(+), and ER(−)/HER2(−) breast cancer tissues. Quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR detected overexpression of a cell cycle-related transcription factor, E2F-5, in ER-negative breast cancers, and fluorescence in situ hybridisation detected gene amplification of E2F-5 in 5 out of 57 (8.8%) breast cancer samples. No point mutations were found in the DNA-binding or DNA-dimerisation domain of E2F-5. Immunohistochemically, E2F-5-positive cancers correlated with a higher Ki-67 labelling index (59.5%, P=0.001) and higher histological grades (P=0.049). E2F-5-positive cancers were found more frequently in ER(−)/progesterone receptor (PgR)(−)/HER2(−) cancer samples (51.9%, P=0.0049) and in breast cancer samples exhibiting a basal phenotype (56.0%, P=0.0012). Disease-free survival in node-negative patients with E2F-5-positive cancers was shorter than for patients with E2F-5-negative cancers. In conclusion, we identify, for the first time, a population of breast cancer cells that overexpress the cell cycle-related transcription factor, E2F-5. This E2F-5-positive breast cancer subtype was associated with an ER(−)/PgR(−)/HER2(−) status, a basal phenotype, and a worse clinical outcome

Adorno, Obama, and Empire: Reflections on the U.S. Presidential Election and the Next President

As tempting as it might be, politics is a difficult field for philosophers.Well known are Plato’s and Heidegger’s attempt to influence the political developments of their time, which went badly wrong. Much safer is it to provide an interpretation of current political events, which is the aim of this paper. The paper attempts to philosophically assess the recent U.S. presidential race and to look at some aspects of the underlying beliefs of Barack Obama that aided him in his campaign. The philosophical framework used in order to interpret the political events are mainly from the Critical Theory of Theodor W. Adorno and the neo-Marxist approach of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. Further observations will concentrate on the logic and attraction of the electoral process and the dialectical logic of Sarah Palin’s statements. The first part will discuss the form of U.S. electoral politics, especially the perpetual campaign, whereas the second part will put the policiesof the next U.S. president into a philosophical context

The Conception of the Human Person in Medicine: Exploring Boundaries between Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine

[[sponsorship]]台灣史研究所,人文社會科學研究中心[[note]]已出版;有審查制度;具代表

Principles for Dealing with Interculturality in Health Care Facilities

Peters T, Grützmann T, Bruchhausen W, et al. Grundsätze zum Umgang mit Interkulturalität in Einrichtungen des Gesundheitswesens. Ethik in der Medizin. 2014;26(1):65-75