Not gods but animals : human dignity and vulnerable subjecthood

Drawing on earlier work on the conceptual structure of dignity, this paper will suggest a particular type of connectedness between vulnerability and human dignity; namely, that the ‘‘organizing idea’’ of human dignity is the idea of a particular sort of ethical response to universal human vulnerability. It is common ground among many, if not all, approaches to ethics that vulnerability requires us to respond ethically. Here, I argue that human dignity is distinctive among ethical values in that it values us because of, rather than in spite of, or regardless of, our universal vulnerability. The term ‘‘dignity’’ is used synonymously with ‘‘human dignity’’ here, since an investigation of the dignity of non-human entities forms no part of the present examination

Ein Plädoyer für die Reanimation der Hirntoddebatte in Deutschland

Stoecker R. Ein Plädoyer für die Reanimation der Hirntoddebatte in Deutschland. In: Preuß D, Knoepffler N, Kodalle K-M, eds. Körperteile - Körper teilen. Kritisches Jahrbuch der Philosophie. Beiheft, 8. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann; 2009: 41-59

Transizioni

Questo quarto volume del Centro “Ricerche di Gnoseologia e Metafisica”, sin dall’immagine di copertina, raffigurante la giovane Europa sul dorso del toro, manifesta il proprio tema portante, che dà il titolo all’opera: Transizioni. La violenza del ratto, pur innegabile e inarrestabile, avviene lentamente e gradualmente: così siamo appunto noi nel divenire e, a fortiori, nel contingente, in una condizione di “transizione”, una condizione liminale dai bordi costantemente sfumati in cui la sfida è affrontare questa “traduzione” (sia in senso fisico-etimologico, che metaforico) con tutto ciò che essa implica e con tutti i suoi aspetti chiaroscurali (un po’ crepuscolari, un po’ aurorali). Una “transizione” di cui l’essere umano è massimamente capace, nonché protagonista, in quanto assomma al mutare quella capacità astrattiva e quell’autocoscienza che gli consentono di domandarsi “chi sono io?” (un “chi” che si trasforma in un “dove” metafisico ed esistenziale nel tableau dell’essere) e, nello slittamento tra il non-più-del-passato e il non-ancora-del-futuro, di gestire questa metamorfosi senza perdere se stesso e il mondo, trasformando il mutare in “performare”, ovvero muoversi tra e con le forme e mantenere il “filo narrativo” dell’esistenza. Plasmandosi e plasmando, “agendo-nel-farsi-della-realtà” e della storia (e non solo retrospettivamente), l’essere umano pone le condizioni di possibilità di una filosofia dell’azione e della liberazione propriamente detta. Questa è la cornice tematica in cui si collocano i molteplici interventi del volume, cui hanno contribuito tanto i membri e le/i collaboratrici/tori del Centro RGM, quanto alcune/i studiose/i di fama internazionale che hanno partecipato alle attività e iniziative di quest’ultimo.This fourth volume of the "Research of Gnoseology and Metaphysics" Centre, since the cover image, depicting young Europe on the back of the bull, manifests its main theme, which gives the work its title: Transitions. The violence of the rape, although undeniable and unstoppable, occurs slowly and gradually: this is precisely how we are in the process of becoming and, a fortiori, in the contingent, in a condition of "transition", a liminal condition in which the challenge is to face this "translation" (both in a physical-etymological and metaphorical sense) with all that it implies and with all its crepuscular and auroral aspects. A "transition" of which the human being is fully capable, as well as protagonist, as it adds to the change that abstractive capacity and self-awareness that allow him to ask himself "who am I?" (a “who” that transforms into a metaphysical and existential “where” in the tableau of being) and, in the slippage between the no longer-of-the-past and the not-yet-of-the-future, to manage this metamorphosis without losing himself and the world, transforming changing into "performing", that is, moving between and with forms and maintaining the "narrative thread" of existence. By shaping and molding, "acting-in-the-making-of-reality" and history (and not only retrospectively), the human being sets the conditions of possibility for a philosophy of action and liberation properly speaking. This is the thematic framework in which the multiple interventions of the volume are placed, to which the members and collaborators of the RGM Center contributed, as well as some internationally renowned scholars who participated in the activities and initiatives of the latter

More at stake in stem-cell patents

Austin Smith and others argue in favour of patenting technologies derived from human embryonic stem cells (Nature 472, 418; 2011), a case still pending with the European Court of Justice. But there is more at stake than European commercial interests. In 1998, agreement was reached in Europe under Directive 98/44 not to recognize patents involving the use of human embryos for commercial purposes (R. Hipp and P. Liese Nature 474, 36; 2011). The court must decide whether the use of these cells \u2018necessitates the prior destruction of human embryos or their use as base material\u2019, as the advocategeneral, Yves Bot, has argued (see go.nature.com/gsap8n). If so, such use would seem to fall beyond the scope of what is legally patentable. Smith et al. warn that \u201cEuropean discoveries could be translated into applications elsewhere, at a potential cost to the European citizen.\u201d This begs the question of whether patents, which may also be held by non-European companies, may sometimes impede wider research cooperation (S. Rabin Nature Biotechnol. 23, 817\u2013819; 2005). In any case there will often be some commercial risk whenever Europe defends a more rigorous ethical standard than is defended elsewhere. This risk is not itself an argument against upholding the standard prescribed by law. Without prejudice to the final judgment in this case, the resolution of patent law is and ought to be more than a question of European commercial interest