Na jakich podstawach naukowych opiera się etyka słowa?

Author(s): Anna Cegieła / Language(s): Polish Issue: 6/2019

Speech Ethics is an interdisciplinary research discipline. It is founded on the personalistic concept of a human being, which implies the obligation to respect the communication partner. Sociology provides ethics with data on attitudes towards values, motivations for behaviour and changes in morality. The research methodology in Speech Ethics is derived from the broadly understood linguistics and rhetoric. The pragmatic aim of Speech Ethics is to shape communication patterns that lead to mutual understanding.

Wokół podstawowych zagadnień metodologicznych i propozycji badawczych w zakresie etyki komunikacji językowej

Author(s): Arkadiusz Dudziak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 6/2019

The article has a theoretical and research character. It contains proposals for research on the basic issues of language communication ethics. The need to develop the ethics of linguistic communication is justified by two phenomena: the spread of hate speech, the crisis of values in the public debate. The study is a voice in the discussion on how to study the ethics of linguistic communication. The presented reflections are inspired by the work of such ethicists as Henryk Elzenberg, Stanisław Kamiński, Andrzej Grzegorczyk and Józef Jaroń.

Jeszcze o podstawach etyki słowa w komunikacji literackiej

Author(s): Anna Kozłowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 6/2019

The paper discusses the ethical concept of the literary communication seen from the linguistic point of view. It attempts to identify assumptions that are necessary to validate the ethical assessment of the literary communication and that constitute theoretical fundamentals of this concept.Some ethical rules for an author, a recipient and other persons involved in the literary communication have been also proposed in the article.

Symbol dziecka w odsłonie spin jako narzędzie polityki i umacniania interesów władzy

Author(s): Anetta Bogusława Strawińska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 6/2019

The aim of the article is to present linguistic mechanisms of manipulating the child symbolism in one of the most nefarious fake information techniques – i.e. spin. The threat comes from the fact that deliberate misinformation known as spin focuses not on the means of communication but on the relationship between the speaker and the listener. In recent years we have been observing an increasing media misinformation game unethically abusing the images of children as a tool of political struggle, especially before elections. The subject of analysis in this work is specifically child symbolism used by public persons as a prop for showing competence. The child has become the perfect vector for transmitting ideological messages embodying such values as: life, love, and freedom, as well as qualities such as: satisfying family life, self-sacrifice, altruism.

Strategie nominacyjne i narracyjne jako świadectwo zachowań etycznych w dyskursie związanym z organizowaniem edukacji osób z niepełnosprawnościami

Author(s): Dorota Szagun / Language(s): Polish Issue: 6/2019

This article attempts to describe linguistic elements, in their ethical aspect, present in the public discourse on individual education of students with disabilities.Within the analyzed discourse, we are primarily interested in the nomination strategies of people with disabilities and their care-takers and narrative strategies related to people with disabilities, bipolarly stretched between lexes inclusion – exclusion and referring to the participants of the discourse: the Ministry of National Education, the school and the principal and teachers representing it, as well as parents and children. Nomination elements with attributes defining children and youth with disabilities play the role of periphasis with a euphemistic function, they are, in terms of meaning, an attempt to escape social stigmatization. In turn, predictive and narrative strategies clearly appear as a tool to control responsibility for the educational process.

Względy etyczne dotyczące przemianowań urbanonimów spowodowanych dekomunizacją (na przykładzie zielonogórskich nazw)

Author(s): Iwona Żuraszek-Ryś / Language(s): Polish Issue: 6/2019

This article deals with ethical considerations accompanying the reorganization of urbanonyms in the context of de-communization. It is focused on several issues, in particular concerning the justification of changes in the names of streets and squares, as well as the treatment of onyms as carriers of values that could serve the authority and its propagation. Attention was also paid to the participation of the local community in removing unwanted communist symbols. Based on the observations made, it was established that the violation of ethical norms concerns: disregarding the opinions of local communities, especially residents of a given street, regarding the change of name and the use of its privileged position by the authority, the imposition of a particular worldview and value system, and the use of untrue arguments.

Etyka komunikacji jako wykład uniwersytecki. Uwagi o specyfice i dylematach kształcenia

Author(s): Tomasz Zurawlew / Language(s): Polish Issue: 6/2019

The aim of this work is to present and describe the general didactic aspects of education in the field of ethics of communication at the academic level. The author pursues this goal by anchoring his deliberations in the theory of communicative morality and the theory of general education. He defines the specificity of teaching ethical language issues and distinguishes its two dimensions: material and personal. These dimensions serve as sources for educational goals. The author also points to two ways of conveying values: intellectual and emotional. In addition, he states that both the didactic and pedagogical character of the tasks of a lecturer of communication ethics is characterized by the same degree of importance. He describes educational methods which he personally finds the most significant. The author refers as well to some typical didactic situations, and using them as a background, he tries to explain the complexity of specific educational dilemmas, and then he indicates possible ways of resolving them.

The Concept of Enhancement and its Ethical Aspects

Author(s): Andrzej M. Kaniowski,Florian Steger / Language(s): English Issue: 32/2018

Promises and Perils of Neuroenhancement and its Perspectives for Military Ethics

Author(s): Marcin Orzechowski,Florian Steger / Language(s): English Issue: 32/2018

Current developments in the area of neuroenhancement pose multiple ethical and societal questions. Improvements in general cognitive capacities can have important positive effects. With the use of several interventions, ranging from pharmaceutics through microsurgery to non-invasive and invasive methods, new possibilities of enhancing human abilities can be achieved. Yet, they have to be critically evaluated from the point of view of both individual and societal consequences that are involved. The aim of this paper is to address societal benefits and challenges that are related to these interventions. These new developments, especially in the specific area of their military application, pose important questions with regard to safety of their use, long-term results, coercion to use them, and issues of inequality. Often, these consequences are unforeseeable at the present moment and can greatly interfere with development of both individuals and societies. Therefore, as in both areas – civilian and military – the long-term consequences are still difficult to predict, prudency is prescribed. Consequently, any use of the methods of enhancement should be under exceptional scrutiny from the ethical as well as legal and social point of view.

Ethical Underpinning and Implications of “Nootropic” Concept

Author(s): Pranab Rudra / Language(s): English Issue: 32/2018

The current generation paving the path for new research marks a milestone to attain the ancient goal of improving our cognition. To date, increased prevalence of cognitive enhancers by healthy people has raised the scientific community’s attention as well as media coverage. In particular, nootropics such as piracetam promise to offer modest improvements in cognitive performance. The long-lasting impetus of this “holistic enhancer” convinced scientists as well as ethicists to discuss its potential ethical implications and future directions. Moreover, there are discrepancies in the concept of a true nootropic between pharmacology and contemporary public culture. Here, I review the ethical aspects of nootropics raised by its potential use in cognition enhancement and substantiate the epistemological commentary on the concept of nootropic.

Transhumanism as a Challenge to the Medical Doctor-Patient Relation

Author(s): Joanna Miksa / Language(s): English Issue: 32/2018

In this paper I undertake to analyze the way in which the arrival of HETs may influence the therapeutic relationship between the medical doctor and the patient. I begin with presenting he notion of transhumanism, insisting especially on the fact that some of the technologies that can be classified as HETs are already in use. As a result, the traditionally difficult task of defining health and a disease is becoming even more complicated. This circumstance poses the risk that medical doctors in their relationship with the patient, because of the possibilities offered by new technologies, will oscillate in their professional practice between helping the patient to recover and satisfying needs that are not justified by the considerations of health. I will try to show how the therapeutic relationship between the medical doctor and the patient may be transformed because of new technologies by using the example of IVF procedure applied to postmenopausal patients. In order to understand why the relationship between the medical doctors and their patients is so vulnerable in the context of transhumanism, I propose to re-analyze the most basic notions which help us understand the nature of the therapeutic relationship: the status of medicine as contrasted with technology, basic principles of medical ethics, the notion of a disease and an illness.

Artistic Enhancement. Literature and Film as Mirror and Means of Human Enhancement

Author(s): Katharina Fürholzer / Language(s): English Issue: 32/2018

Human enhancement affects all members of society and is thus closely linked to issues of social justice: up to now, the promises and perils of enhancement are usually only known to, and thus used, by few members of society. This can lead to individual competitive advantages that create or widen social gaps. Broad public information is, therefore, key to ensure that enhancement does not conflict with the principle of equality of opportunities. As possible means of public information, literature and films are able to counter such possible social injustice, which is why they may be allotted a central role in the ethical debates on human enhancement. Two aspects will be considered in this regard: 1) enhancement in art and 2) through art. 1) The extent to which artistic depictions and public information and perceptions of enhancement may be intertwined will be illustrated by two examples where both texts and their accompanying paratexts had a particular bearing on the public debate on enhancement: the film Gattaca of 1997 and the novel Never let me go (2005) by Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro. 2) The second part of the paper is dedicated to the question of how far enhancing selected groups of society may contribute to a greater common good and which potentials art can offer in this regard. Three groups of persons will be taken into account: 1) clinical ethics committees, 2) physicians, and 3) patients.

Weisheit. Historische Deutungen und modernes Begriffsverständnis

Author(s): Andrzej M. Kaniowski,Christoph Horn / Language(s): German Issue: 32/2018

Schellings Reflexion des Kantischen Begriffs Weisheit

Author(s): Wilhelm G. Jacobs / Language(s): German Issue: 32/2018

Kant characterizes wisdom as knowledge of the will of the highest good and appropriateness of the will to this good. He understands the highest good as a union of morality and happiness. Since these are not to be conceived upon the same lawfulness (Gesetzlichkeit), Kant thinks of the mediation of the postulates of immortality and of the existence of God. To determine, in a sufficient form, the idea of the highest good practically, i.e., as the maxim of our rational behavior, is for Kant the wisdom doctrine; in scientific reflection it is philosophy. Schelling agrees with that; for him, too, philosophy is the will of wisdom. Wisdom looks at the ultimate goal, the one which should actually come about. To know this and to make it the determining reason of the will is wisdom for Schelling.

Weisheit vs. Lebensweisheit – mit einem Seitenblick auf Schopenhauer

Author(s): Dieter Birnbacher / Language(s): German Issue: 32/2018

An increasingly complex and intransparent world makes for an increasing demand for trustworthy orientation. Thence the increasing demand for wisdom. What is wisdom? Wisdom primarily depends on the independence ascribed to a person or institution, but that does not imply that the notion of wisdom is amenable to an explicit definition. It is proposed to construct it as a cluster concept with cognitive, psychological and moral elements. The difference then becomes apparent between wisdom and lebensweisheit. The latter corresponds to prudence as understood by Epicurus and, in the same tradition, Schopenhauer, and lacks the moral elements essential to wisdom. In conclusion, the question is asked how far Schopenhauer, one of the most popular teachers of lebensweisheit in modern times, can be qualified as wise. This question is given a skeptical answer. Schopenhauer meets many, but not all conditions necessary for wisdom.

Pathei Mathos. Schopenhauers Weisheitslehre und die altgriechische Sophia?

Author(s): Damir Barbarić / Language(s): German Issue: 32/2018

In the face of growing de-objectification and depersonalization, which in the realm of knowledge have asserted themselves through the unconditional claim of science to objectivity, it is advisable to remember the old, and for the most part now forgotten, concept of wisdom, and its philosophical scope. This is here done using Schopenhauer as an example. In his philosophy, wisdom plays a central role, as a not only theoretical but also practical perfection of man. In order to grasp the essence of the wisdom so highly placed as accurately as possible, it is confronted in the essay, on the one hand, with Gadamer’s concept of hermeneutic experience and, on the other hand, with the concept of wisdom expressed in the ancient Greek saying “taught by suffering”. The investigation leads to the conclusion that the wisdom by Schopenhauer, although at first sight similar and in part even related to the two concepts of wisdom mentioned above, is however fundamentally different from them, since its purpose is not to instruct man about the insurmountable limits of his mortality and thereby assign to him his appointed place in life, but rather to lead him away from the will to live at all.

Über Sokratische Weisheit als intellektuelle Bescheidenheit

Author(s): Guido Löhrer / Language(s): German Issue: 32/2018

In Plato’s Apology of Socrates, a humanly wise person is distinguished by her ability to correctly assess the epistemic status and value of her factual opinions. She knows whether she possesses knowledge or has mere opinion or is ignorant. It is also a widely shared view that intellectual humility, albeit not the same as wisdom, is one of a humanly wisdom’s necessary features. However, if the considerations presented here are valid and cover the spectrum of relevant interpretations, this is not tenable for Socratic wisdom. Fallible beings who claim to possess second-order knowledge of the epistemic status of their beliefs cannot be other than epistemically immodest. If Socratic wisdom requires epistemic humility, Socrates is not wise.

Was macht Entscheidungen zu weisen Entscheidungen?

Author(s): Gerhard Schönrich / Language(s): German Issue: 32/2018

It is methodologically easier to gain access to the concept of wise decisions than to the general concept of wisdom. Once we know what wise decisions are, the corresponding properties and abilities of the deciding person can be inferred. This paper will show that the analysis of wise decisions must not be restricted to the attributive reading of “S makes a wise decision”, but must be extended to the adverbial reading of “S decides wisely”. The externalistic perspective of the former reading exposes a necessary qualitative requirement (a long-range improvement of the situation for all parties involved) which must be met by the outcome of any wise decision. Only the internalistic perspective of the latter reading complies with our intuitions that the outcome must not be achieved by chance, but by the agent’s epistemic abilities such as his competence of judging and reflecting the reasons for the decision. These abilities include in particular the agent’s meta-competence of distinguishing first-order and second-order reasons that pertain not to the value of the object of the decision but rather to the value of the attitude underlying the decision.

Pol Dž. Ford; Hester D. Mika (ur.), Kompjuteri i etika u sajber doba

Author(s): Ivana Gačanović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 3/2010

Review of: Pol Dž. Ford; Hester D. Mika (ur.), Kompjuteri i etika u sajber doba, Službeni glasni, Beograd, 2009.

Ethical Relativism and Morality

Author(s): Demush Bajrami,Blerina Demiri / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

As an egoistic nature, the human being finds it difficult to be relative to others and absolute to himself, while he is inclined to believe that others should be relative to him. The moment we want to make a step in our life, perhaps at an early age, we face another idea, desire or belief. It is this period which proves that our beliefs are personal creations that take life when we allow ourselves to engage in the broader social circle. The individual is unable to accomplish himself if he does not become part of the nucleus to which he belongs, where he also gets the energies needed in adapting his ego to the universal one, which is the world itself. This paper provides in-depth analysis of what moral is in the ethical relativism: different for every human being, depending on the view point of the person affected and the conditions a person is placed in. None the less, all of these are also affected by the society, a person is born and raised in, being it the ruling norm in the family, the social interactions, traditions and customs executed, which determine the concept of moral actions to everyone.