Realistic Humanism: Luc Dardenne as a Philosopher and Filmmaker

Luc Dardenne is not only a successful filmmaker together with his brother Jean-Pierre. He is also a stimulating philosopher who has reflected on the influence of Emmanuel Levinas on the brothers’ cinematic work. This article shows typical constellations of film and philosophy and focuses on the special contribution of a Levinasian perspective on face-to-face encounters, violence and compassion as central topics in the films of the Dardennes. Luc Dardenne has developed his philosophical approach in his diaries and in the essay The Human Affair published in 2012. This text can be used as a key for the understanding of the film The Kid with a Bike from 2011

Max Frischs politische Ethik

L’œuvre de Max Frisch a une dimension politique et éthique qui se manifeste dans ses nombreuses interventions publiques. Sans que ses contributions soient ancrées dans une tradition philosophique précise, elles partagent le projet des Lumières qui met l’émancipation et la liberté à la place de la sujétion. La conscience politique de l’auteur est éveillée par ses désillusions à la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale qui a démontré cruellement l’échec de l’humanité et de l’idéal des Lumières. Frisch propose une analyse nuancée des rapports avec l’Allemagne. Il provoque en Suisse des réactions par sa critique radicale des mythes fondateurs de son pays et de ses institutions, considérées comme intouchables. Ses réflexions sur la démocratie, la politique d’immigration et l’avenir de l’armée se lisent comme des témoignages de l’intégrité intellectuelle de quelqu’un qui n’a pas peur des conflits et qui préfère le débat d’idées au conformisme. Au-delà des frontières de la Suisse, l’attrait de Frisch s’explique par l’ouverture cosmopolite d’une littérature qui met l’accent sur l’originalité de l’expérience des autres et qui reste sceptique à l’égard de toute fixation précipitée d’une identité. Dans la tradition des Lumières dont Frisch connaît la face obscure, il tient aux idéaux utopiques de la modernité qu’on peut déjà expérimenter dans les espaces de liberté de la littérature, mais qui devraient également inspirer une gestion responsable de l’avenir politique.The work of Max Frisch has a political and ethical dimension which is visible in numerous public contributions. Without being linked to one specific philosophical tradition, they all share the Enlightenment project of looking for emancipation and freedom instead of dependency. The political consciousness of the author was stimulated by the disillusion at the end of World War II that had demonstrated so terribly the failure of humanity and of the ideal of Enlightenment. Frisch  looks for a nuanced evaluation of the relations with Germany and provokes his home country, Switzerland, by a radical critique of its founding myths and its untouchable institutions. His reflections on democracy, immigration policy and the future of the army can be read as a testimony to the intellectual integrity of someone who is not afraid of conflicts, and prefers controversial debate to prevalent conformism. Beyond the Swiss borders, Frisch’s voice is attractive because of its cosmopolitan openness to a literature that is searching for subjectivity in the experience of otherness, and remains sceptical with regard to hasty fixations of identity. In the Enlightenment tradition, and aware of its darker side, Frisch sticks to the utopian ideals of modernity which can already be experienced in the free practice of literature, and which should also inspire the responsible shaping of the political future.Max Frischs Werk beinhaltet eine politisch-ethische Dimension, die sich in zahlreichen öffentlichen Stellungnahmen manifestiert. Ohne diese Beiträge in einer bestimmten philosophischen Tradition zu verankern, ist ihnen doch der Anspruch der Aufklärung gemeinsam, Emanzipation und Freiheit an die Stelle von Abhängigkeit zu setzen. Das politische Bewusstsein des Autors wird stimuliert durch die Desillusionierung am Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs, der die Möglichkeiten des Scheiterns von Humanität und Aufklärungsidealen drastisch vor Augen geführt hatte. Frisch sucht nach einer differenzierten Neubestimmung des Verhältnisses zu Deutschland und provoziert in seinem Heimatland Schweiz durch die radikale Kritik von dessen Gründungsmythen und als unantastbar geltenden Institutionen. Seine Gedanken über Demokratie, Einwanderungspolitik und die Zukunft des Militärs lesen sich als Zeugnisse der intellektuellen Unbestechlichkeit eines Menschen, der den Konflikt nicht scheut und eine lebhafte Debattenkultur lieber sähe als den vorherrschenden Konformismus. Über die Grenzen der Schweiz hinaus entwickelte die Stimme Frischs eine Anziehungskraft, die sich aus der weltbürgerlichen Offenheit einer Literatur erklärt, die das Eigene im Fremden sucht und voreilige Fixierungen von Identität skeptisch betrachtet. In der Tradition der Aufklärung, um deren Schattenseiten Frisch weiß, hält er an den utopischen Idealen der Moderne fest, die in den Freiräumen der Literatur zu erproben sind, aber auch eine verantwortliche Gestaltung der politischen Zukunft inspirieren sollten

Neuere Ansätze und Entwicklungen im Bereich der theologischen Sozialethik

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Die Ästhetik des Bösen als "postmodernes" Stilprinzip? Theologisch-ethische Randbemerkungen zur TV-Serie Twin Peaks

Die Begegnungen zwischen Film und Theologie haben trotz vielfacher Bemühungen um größere Selbstverständlichkeit immer noch den Reiz des Exotischen. Warum um alles in der Welt sollten Filmemacherinnen daran interessiert sein, mit Theologlnnen über Produkte und Projekte der Filmkunst ins Gespräch zu kommen? Ausnahmen bestätigen wie immer die Regel. Doch insgesamt ist zu vermuten, daß ein großer Teil der kommerziellen und künstlerischen Filmbranche mit der Theologie nicht viel im Sinn hat. Andererseits soll nicht geleugnet werden, daß das Thema "Religion im Film" nicht nur für einige Spezialisten relevant ist und vor allem nicht auf den Spezialfall des explizit "religiösen" Films reduziert werden kann. Sinnfragen sind unvermeidbar im internationalen Filmgeschäft wie in jedem Segment der Kultur präsent; und ethische Fragen können ohnehin kaum umgangen werden, insofern Filme im Normalfall etwas mit Handlungskonstruktionen zu tun haben, über deren Logik und Bewertung ethisch nachgedacht werden kann, wenn auch nicht muß. (...)  EnglishThe aesthetics of the evil as an principle of "postmodern" style? Theologic-ethical remarks on the TV series of Twin Peaks.The theological interestinfilm has its Iimits, when pictures ofbrutality and violence and skillful productions of the evil thward any benevolent receptiveness. In the name of the autonomy of aestetic imagination we got used to condernn such pictures not in a rash by a moral verdict; but the radical separation of aesthetic and moral judgements seerns tobe impossible without contradiction. With the 1Vseries of Twin peaks as an example and some glances on movies by David Lynch, the author tries on a theologicethicallevel to reflect on the confusions created by "postmodern" film myths

Alpe Adria Report 2010 – Conclusions and Recommendations for the Treatment of Alcohol Dependence

At the ninth Alpe Adria convention, which took place between the 27 and 29th of May 2010 in Villach/Austria, experts from different European countries (namely Italy, Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, and Austria) discussed the epidemiology, available treatment concepts, and research methods used in alcohol-dependent patients in their countries. Representatives of five of the participating countries decided to present recommendations and treatment approaches in alcohol-dependent patients, agreeing to avoid the establishment of general guidelines

Gender Differences in Interpersonal Problems of Alcohol-Dependent Patients and Healthy Controls

Alcohol dependence is a heavy burden on patients, their families, and society. Epidemiological studies indicate that alcohol dependence will affect many individuals at some time in their lives, with men affected more frequently than women. Since alcohol-dependent patients often exhibit a lack of social skills and suffer from interpersonal problems, the aim of this study is to elucidate whether men and women experience the same interpersonal problems. Eighty-five alcohol-dependent patients (48 men; 37 women) after detoxification and 62 healthy controls (35 men; 27 women) were recruited. Interpersonal problems were measured with the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP-64). Additionally, alcohol-dependent patients were interviewed with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and were subtyped according to Lesch’s Alcohol Typology (LAT). There were no significant gender differences in the AUDIT and LAT between alcohol-dependent men and women. Interpersonal problems of alcohol-dependent men differed significantly in one out of eight dimensions from controls; alcohol-dependent men perceive themselves as colder than male controls. Alcohol-dependent women differed in four out of eight interpersonal dimensions from female controls. Alcohol-dependent women rated themselves as significantly more vindictive, more introverted, more overly accommodating and more intrusive than female controls. Results suggest that alcohol-dependent men and women suffer from different interpersonal problems and furthermore alcohol-dependent women perceive more interpersonal problems, whereas the severity of alcohol dependence did not differ between the groups. Our findings indicate that alcohol-dependent women may profit more from a gender-specific treatment approach aimed at improving treatment outcome than alcohol-dependent men

Dependence of radio halo properties on star formation activity and galaxy mass

We investigate the relation between the existence and size of radio halos, which are believed to be created by star formation (SF) related energy input into the interstellar medium, and other galaxy properties, most importantly star formation activity and galaxy mass. Based on radio continuum and H-alpha observations of a sample of seven late-type spiral galaxies we find a direct, linear correlation of the radial extent of gaseous halos on the size of the actively star-forming parts of the galaxy disks. Data of a larger sample of 22 galaxies indicate that the threshold energy input rate into the disk ISM per unit surface area for the creation of a gaseous halo depends on the mass surface density of the galaxy, in the sense that a higher threshold must be surpassed for galaxies with a higher surface density. Because of the good prediction of the existence of a radio halo from these two parameters, we conclude that they are important, albeit not the only contributors. The compactness of the SF-related energy input is also found to be a relevant factor. Galaxies with relatively compact SF distributions are more likely to have gaseous halos than others with more widespread SF activity. These results quantify the so-called "break-out" condition for matter to escape from galaxy disks, as used in all current models of the interstellar medium and first defined by Norman and Ikeuchi (1989).Comment: accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Chromosomal aberrations and aneuploidy in oral potentially malignant lesions: distinctive features for tongue

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The mucosae of the oral cavity are different at the histological level but appear all equally exposed to common genotoxic agents. As a result of this exposure, changes in the mucosal epithelia may develop giving rise to Oral Potentially Malignant Lesions (OPMLs), which with time may in turn progress to Oral Squamous Cell Carcinomas (OSCCs). Therefore, much effort should be devoted to identify features able to predict the likeliness of progression associated with an OPML. Such features may be helpful in assisting the clinician to establish both appropriate therapies and follow-up schedules. Here, we report a pilot study that compared the occurrence of DNA aneuploidy and chromosomal copy number aberrations (CNAs) in the OPMLs from different oral anatomical subsites.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Samples from histologically diagnosed OPMLs were processed for high resolution DNA flow cytometry (hr DNA-FCM) in order to determine the relative DNA content expressed by the DNA index (DI). Additionally, array-Comparative Genomic Hybridization (a-CGH) analysis was performed on DNA obtained from diploid nuclei suspensions directly. When aneuploid nuclei were detected, these were physically separated from diploid nuclei on the base of their DI values by means of a DNA-FCM-Sorter in order to improve the a-CGH analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Tongue OPMLs were more frequently associated with DNA aneuploidy and CNAs than OPMLs arising from all the other mucosal subsites.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We suggest that the follow-up and the management of the patients with tongue OPMLs should receive a distinctive special attention. Clearly, this hypothesis should be validated in a prospective clinical study.</p

Single-cell transcriptomic atlas-guided development of CAR-T cells for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia

A single-cell screening approach identifies targets for CAR-T cells in acute myeloid leukemia. Chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T cells) have emerged as a powerful treatment option for individuals with B cell malignancies but have yet to achieve success in treating acute myeloid leukemia (AML) due to a lack of safe targets. Here we leveraged an atlas of publicly available RNA-sequencing data of over 500,000 single cells from 15 individuals with AML and tissue from 9 healthy individuals for prediction of target antigens that are expressed on malignant cells but lacking on healthy cells, including T cells. Aided by this high-resolution, single-cell expression approach, we computationally identify colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor and cluster of differentiation 86 as targets for CAR-T cell therapy in AML. Functional validation of these established CAR-T cells shows robust in vitro and in vivo efficacy in cell line- and human-derived AML models with minimal off-target toxicity toward relevant healthy human tissues. This provides a strong rationale for further clinical development

Investigation of Dyslexia and SLI Risk Variants in Reading- and Language-Impaired Subjects

Dyslexia (or reading disability) and specific language impairment (or SLI) are common childhood disorders that show considerable co-morbidity and diagnostic overlaps and have been suggested to share some genetic aetiology. Recently, genetic risk variants have been identified for SLI and dyslexia enabling the direct evaluation of possible shared genetic influences between these disorders. In this study we investigate the role of variants in these genes (namely MRPL19/C20RF3,ROBO1,DCDC2, KIAA0319, DYX1C1, CNTNAP2, ATP2C2 and CMIP) in the aetiology of SLI and dyslexia. We perform case–control and quantitative association analyses using measures of oral and written language skills in samples of SLI and dyslexic families and cases. We replicate association between KIAA0319 and DCDC2 and dyslexia and provide evidence to support a role for KIAA0319 in oral language ability. In addition, we find association between reading-related measures and variants in CNTNAP2 and CMIP in the SLI families