Reason and Regret

I defend a realist, Aristotelian theory of moral normativity on which moral virtue is the natural conclusion of the successful exercise of practical reason. More specifically, I argue that the avoidance of regret is a constitutive feature of practical rationality, and that because we are social beings, moral virtue serves as a general strategy for the minimization of regrets, and especially of serious regrets. Because I draw on aspects of John McDowell\u27s Aristotelian moral realism, I begin with an examination of his view, and a discussion of why he thinks that virtuous conclusions require the prior possession of virtuous dispositions. McDowell argues that statements of the form “we need moral virtue in view of x” can only sway the already-virtuous, since it is possible, through incorrect habituation, for us to come to value things that do not require virtue. I argue, however, that once we understand the avoidance of regret as a requirement of practical rationality, and sociability as an innate characteristic humans share, we can see that even the unvirtuous require moral virtue. While this does not mean good reasoning alone can make us virtuous—since seeing the world as the virtuous person does requires habituation—it does suggest that we all share the capacity to appreciate the necessity of such habituation

Commercialization of Lesbian Identities in Showtime’s The L-word

The article discusses recent developments in media culture through one case study: The L-word, the first television series narratively centered around lesbian and bisexual characters. The business discourse surrounding the series’ production is examined together with the televised text itself and the merchandize connected to The L-word brand. The main research question is why lesbians, a target group previously deemed uninteresting by advertisers and international media conglomerates, have suddenly become demographically desirable. Media producers show increasing interest in the active audience, and encourage fans’ own creativity, for example through social web 2.0 media productions and events, and intermedia storytelling. This is made possible through the televised text’s discursive re-positioning of lesbian identities. The article argues that lesbian identity is a social construction and that it can be seen as an empty or floating signifier, which is filled with new meanings. It also analyzes the immersive online communities and various other merchandize connected to the series as an aspect of thingification, a process were the media is increasingly occupied with things and brands rather than stories and representations. The result is the branded lesbian, or the lesbian brand, which can be seen as an appropriation of lesbian identities

Commercialization of Lesbian Identities in Showtime’s The L-word

The article discusses recent developments in media culture through one case study: The L-word, the first television series narratively centered around lesbian and bisexual characters. The business discourse surrounding the series’ production is examined together with the televised text itself and the merchandize connected to The L-word brand. The main research question is why lesbians, a target group previously deemed uninteresting by advertisers and international media conglomerates, have suddenly become demographically desirable. Media producers show increasing interest in the active audience, and encourage fans’ own creativity, for example through social web 2.0 media productions and events, and intermedia storytelling. This is made possible through the televised text’s discursive re-positioning of lesbian identities. The article argues that lesbian identity is a social construction and that it can be seen as an empty or floating signifier, which is filled with new meanings. It also analyzes the immersive online communities and various other merchandize connected to the series as an aspect of thingification, a process were the media is increasingly occupied with things and brands rather than stories and representations. The result is the branded lesbian, or the lesbian brand, which can be seen as an appropriation of lesbian identities

Pep1, a Secreted Effector Protein of Ustilago maydis, Is Required for Successful Invasion of Plant Cells

The basidiomycete Ustilago maydis causes smut disease in maize. Colonization of the host plant is initiated by direct penetration of cuticle and cell wall of maize epidermis cells. The invading hyphae are surrounded by the plant plasma membrane and proliferate within the plant tissue. We identified a novel secreted protein, termed Pep1, that is essential for penetration. Disruption mutants of pep1 are not affected in saprophytic growth and develop normal infection structures. However, Δpep1 mutants arrest during penetration of the epidermal cell and elicit a strong plant defense response. Using Affymetrix maize arrays, we identified 116 plant genes which are differentially regulated in Δpep1 compared to wild type infections. Most of these genes are related to plant defense. By in vivo immunolocalization, live-cell imaging and plasmolysis approaches, we detected Pep1 in the apoplastic space as well as its accumulation at sites of cell-to-cell passages. Site-directed mutagenesis identified two of the four cysteine residues in Pep1 as essential for function, suggesting that the formation of disulfide bridges is crucial for proper protein folding. The barley covered smut fungus Ustilago hordei contains an ortholog of pep1 which is needed for penetration of barley and which is able to complement the U. maydis Δpep1 mutant. Based on these results, we conclude that Pep1 has a conserved function essential for establishing compatibility that is not restricted to the U. maydis / maize interaction

Freelance Journalists’ Ethical Boundary Settings in Information Work

The borders between the media genres journalism and information or PR are blurring, and this development is especially noticeable among freelance journalists. How does this affect freelance journalists, particularly their ethical reasoning? Thirteen interviews with freelancers living in a peripheral northern county in Sweden were analyzed, using a com - bination of discourse analysis and narrative theory methods and a virtue ethics theoretical framework. It was found that 11 out of 13 informants worked occasionally or regularly with information-type assignments. To sustain the informants’ professional roles and self- identities of integrity and impartiality, having boundary settings between, first, informa - tion/PR and journalist roles and, second, information and journalist type assignments was crucial. It was evident that individual ethics had replaced professional principles. The freelancers reflexively process media industry constraints, together with their everyday working conditions, in a situation where the ideals and norms of the profession constitute the background for their individual action ethic

Zwischen Tradition und Revolution

Zwischen Tradition und Revolution : d. Frauengestalten in "Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahren" u. ihr Verhältnis zu dt. Orig.-Romanen d. 18. Jh. - Frankfurt am Main u.a. : Lang, 1990. - VII, 186 S. - Zugl.: Augsburg, Univ., Diss., 1989. - (Europäische Hochschulschriften : 1, Deutsche Sprache und Literatur ; 1175