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23Social Norms and Preventive Behaviors in Japan and Germany During the COVID-19 PandemicFrontiers in Public Health 2022 (1). 2022.Background: According to Gelfand et al., COVID-19 infection and case mortality rates are closely connected to the strength of social norms: “Tighter” cultures that abide by strict social norms are more successful in combating the pandemic than “looser” cultures that are more permissive. However, countries with similar levels of cultural tightness exhibit big differences in mortality rates. We are investigating potential explanations for this fact. Using data from Germany and Japan—two “tight” co…Read more
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Jenseits der Kontraktionen von Religion und Nationalismus : Zur Aktualität von Hermann Cohens Kritik am Zionismus und seiner unheiligen Allianz mit der OrthodoxieIn Eveline Goodman-Thau & George Y. Kohler (eds.), Nationalismus und Religion: Hermann Cohen zum 100. Todestag, Universitätsverlag Winter. 2019.
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3Nutzen/GlückIn Frauke Höntzsch (ed.), Mill-Handbuch: Leben – Werk – Wirkung, J.b. Metzler. pp. 313-319. 2023.Im zweiten Kapitel von Utilitarianism beschreibt Mill seine Konzeption des Utilitarismus. Er beklagt, dass das Wort ‚Utilitarismus‘ zu vielerlei Missverständnissen geführt hat, von denen er einige ausräumen möchte. Das ist ihm schon damals nur zum Teil gelungen. Seit 1861 hat sich dieses Problem für den Utilitarismus in der Tat noch potenziert, da das ihm zugrunde liegende Wort utility (dt. ‚Nutzen‘) durch die Volkswirtschaftslehre eine völlig neue Bedeutung verliehen bekam. Darüber hinaus befür…Read more
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8Utilitarianism (1861)In Frauke Höntzsch (ed.), Mill-Handbuch: Leben – Werk – Wirkung, J.b. Metzler. pp. 99-112. 2023.Die moralphilosophische Schrift Utilitarianism gehört mit dem inhaltlich eng verbundenen Buch On Liberty zu Mills wichtigsten Werken. In angelsächsischen Fachbereichen für Philosophie gehört sie zur Pflichtlektüre in den ersten Studienjahren, auch in Deutschland steht sie inzwischen sehr häufig im Vorlesungsverzeichnis. Der Text scheint sich besonders für die studentische Lektüre zu eignen, da er nicht nur ein angenehm kurzer und auch leicht zu lesender Klassiker einer der wichtigsten Strömungen…Read more
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3Biographie (1806–1873)In Frauke Höntzsch (ed.), Mill-Handbuch: Leben – Werk – Wirkung, J.b. Metzler. pp. 3-12. 2023.John Stuart Mill hatte ein außergewöhnliches Leben. Einige biographische Besonderheiten sind weithin bekannt: Seine Erziehung durch den strengen VaterMill, James ist legendär, seine komplizierte Beziehung zu seiner späteren Ehefrau Harriet TaylorTaylor, Harriet schon immer Anlass lebhafter Spekulationen. Etwas überraschend mag bei der ersten Beschäftigung mit Mills Leben sein, dass er weder studiert hat noch einer wissenschaftlichen Tätigkeit nachgegangen ist, zumindest nicht als Brotberuf; sein…Read more
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2Israel und die Geister von '68: eine PhänomenologieVandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 2018.Träume eines Geistersehers : unhistorische Überlegungen -- Die deutsche Studentenrevolte und ihr Nachspiel der Identitäten -- Der Ausgang aus der selbst verschuldeten Unmündigkeit als Auszug aus der Schuld -- Kairos und Krise : Ernst Blochs Philosophie der eschatologischen Formen und die Aporie des messianischen Augenblicks.
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1Nach der Sünde – Reflexionen über ein modernes TabuIn Hans Feger & Manuela Hackel (eds.), Existenzphilosophie und Ethik, De Gruyter. pp. 67-88. 2014.
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209John Stuart Mills Qualitativer Utilitarismus und die undichten Fässer des GorgiasIn Hans G. Nutzinger & Hans Diefenbacher (eds.), John Stuart Mill Heute (Die Wirtschaft der Gesellschaft, Band 5), Metropolis. pp. 157-172. 2018.
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175Attitudes Toward Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination in Germany A representative analysis of data from the socio-economic panel for the year 2021Deutsches Ärzteblatt International 119 335-41. 2022.Background: Adequate immunity to COVID-19 apparently cannot be attained in Germany by voluntary vaccination alone, and therefore the introduction of mandatory COVID-19 vaccination is still under consideration. We present findings on the potential acceptance of such a requirement by the German population, and we report on the reasons given for accepting or rejecting it and how these reasons vary according to population subgroup. Methods: We used representative data from the Socio-Economic Panel f…Read more
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35Who Authored On Liberty? Stylometric Evidence on Harriet Taylor Mill's ContributionUtilitas 34 (2): 120-138. 2022.It is well known that John Stuart Mill repeatedly acknowledges Harriet Taylor Mill's substantial contribution to On Liberty. After her death, however, he decides to publish the book under his name only. Are we justified in continuing this practice, initiated by JSM, of refusing unequivocal co-authorship status to HTM? Drawing on stylometric analyses, we make a preliminary case that JSM did not write On Liberty all by himself and that HTM had a hand in formulating it. Drawing on plausible standar…Read more
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1068Utility, Progress, and Technology: Proceedings of the 15th Conference of the International Society for Utilitarian Studies (edited book)KIT Scientific Publishing. 2021.This volume collects selected papers delivered at the 15th Conference of the International Society for Utilitarian Studies, which was held at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in July 2018. It includes papers dealing with the past, present, and future of utilitarianism – the theory that human happiness is the fundamental moral value – as well as on its applications to animal ethics, population ethics, and the future of humanity, among other topics.
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252Attitudes on voluntary and mandatory vaccination against COVID-19: Evidence from GermanyPLoS ONE 16 (5): 1-18. 2021.Several vaccines against COVID-19 have now been developed and are already being rolled out around the world. The decision whether or not to get vaccinated has so far been left to the individual citizens. However, there are good reasons, both in theory as well as in practice, to believe that the willingness to get vaccinated might not be sufficiently high to achieve herd immunity. A policy of mandatory vaccination could ensure high levels of vaccination coverage, but its legitimacy is doubtful. W…Read more
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10Kant on Owning and Giving Away One’s BodyIn Violetta L. Waibel, Margit Ruffing & David Wagner (eds.), Natur und Freiheit. Akten des XII. Internationalen Kant-Kongresses, De Gruyter. pp. 2157-2164. 2018.
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15BMBF-Klausurwoche „Organ Donation in Times of Donor Shortage. Interdisciplinary Discussion of Challenges and Solutions“Ethik in der Medizin 26 (1): 77-81. 2014.
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121Newcomb’s Problem and Repeated Prisoners’ DilemmasPhilosophy of Science 72 (5): 1160-1173. 2005.I present a game-theoretic way to understand the situation describing Newcomb’s Problem (NP) which helps to explain the intuition of both one-boxers and two-boxers. David Lewis has shown that the NP may be modelled as a Prisoners Dilemma game (PD) in which ‘cooperating’ corresponds to ‘taking one box’. Adopting relevant results from game theory, this means that one should take just one box if the NP is repeated an indefinite number of times, but both boxes if it is a one-shot game. Causal decisi…Read more
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259Definite Descriptions and the Gettier ExampleCPNSS Discussion Papers. 2002.This paper challenges the first Gettier counterexample to the tripartite account of knowledge. Noting that 'the man who will get the job' is a description and invoking Donnellan's distinction between their 'referential' and 'attributive' uses, I argue that Smith does not actually believe that the man who will get the job has ten coins in his pocket. Smith's ignorance about who will get the job shows that the belief cannot be understood referentially, his ignorance of the coins in his pocket show…Read more
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1160Freiheit, Paternalismus und die Unterwerfung der FrauenIn Thomas Schramme & Michael Schefczyk (eds.), John Stuart Mill: Über Die Freiheit, De Gruyter. pp. 159-180. 2015.This chapter discusses (in German) John Stuart Mill's position on paternalism and how it relates to his book 'The Subjection of Women'. It is argued that Mill's claim (in On Liberty) that one should not be allowed to sell oneself into slavery is making reference to the Victorian marriage contract through which women essentially become slaves of their husbands. As argued in Subjection, women do not freely develop the desire to get married, the social circumstances do not leave them any other op…Read more
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28Metaethischer Antidualismus und die Normativität der WissenschaftZeitschrift für Philosophische Forschung 64 (1): 96-103. 2010.
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156On an Interpretation of Mill’s Qualitative UtilitarianismProlegomena 5 (2): 165-177. 2006.This paper is a reply to Jonathan Riley’s criticism of my reading of Mill (both published in the Philosophical Quarterly 2003). I show that Riley’s interpretation has no textual support in Mill’s writing by putting the supposedly supporting quotations in their proper context. Secondly it is demonstrated how my reading is not incompatible with hedonism. Mill’s use of the concepts of ‘quality’, ‘quantity’, and ‘pleasure’ are explained and illustrated. I conclude by considering whether the possible…Read more
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2Candace A Vogler, John Stuart Mill's Deliberative Landscape. An Essay In Moral Psychology Reviewed byPhilosophy in Review 21 (6): 449-451. 2001.
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Erbschaftssteuern, Obduktionen und die Posthume Konfiszierung von OrganenProceedings der GAP 2012 in Konstanz. 2013.
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37Tatjana Visak & Robert Garner : The Ethics of Killing Animals. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2016. ISBN: 9780199396085; £19.99 (review)Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 20 (1): 193-195. 2017.
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42Mill and the Footnote on DaviesJournal of Value Inquiry 47 (3): 337-350. 2013.The conclusion of the paper reads: There is a view compatible with everything Mill says in these passages that can deal with all three problems. It’s a simple act utilitarianism in which the moral value of an action is determined by its actual consequences. On this view, the consequences of an action, what happens, depends on what the agent wants to bring about, that is to say, they depend on the agent’s intentions. Therefore the moral value of an action depends, given that on simple act utilita…Read more
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17Binmore's EgalitarianismAnalyse & Kritik 27 (1): 89-94. 2006.In this short commentary on Ken Binmore’s Natural Justice I primarily examine the relationship between mainstream egalitarian theories and Binmore’s ap- proach. I argue that Binmore uses key concepts in non-standard ways. As a result, he doesn’t engage enough with the views he criticises
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47Classical utilitarianism from Hume to mill, Frederick Rosen. Routledge, 2003, XIII + 289 pages (review)Economics and Philosophy 22 (3): 460-463. 2006.
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414Is Gettier’s First Example Flawed?In Winfried Löffler & Weingartner Paul (eds.), Knowledge and Belief, Alws. 2003.This paper challenges (in a shorter version than the also listed 2002 LSE discussion paper) the first Gettier counterexample to the tripartite account of knowledge. Noting that 'the man who will get the job' is a description and invoking Donnellan's distinction between their 'referential' and 'attributive' uses, I argue that Smith does not actually believe that the man who will get the job has ten coins in his pocket. Smith's ignorance about who will get the job shows that the belief cannot be u…Read more
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1Morten EJ Nielsen, ed. Political Questions: 5 Questions on Political Philosophy Reviewed byPhilosophy in Review 28 (5): 359-361. 2008.
Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics |
Normative Ethics |
Social and Political Philosophy |
Philosophy of Social Science |
Areas of Interest
Meta-Ethics |
19th Century Philosophy |