Volume 47, Issue 1

For a long time the foundations of an Ethic of Nursing have been formulated in terms of Christian charity. The article discusses this concept by examining the roots of modern Nursing in the Kaiserswerther Diakonie. This Christian work -ethic is criticised by modern nursing ethics. lnstead of an Ethic of Charity an Ethic of Care is promoted by the common representatives of a modern ethics of nursing. But such as an Ethic of Christian Charity an Ethic of Care has to deal with those problems: the naturalizing of femininity, the asymmetry of persans in caring relations, the relation between justice and care, the relation between caring and nursing. Care ethics following Gilligan and her recipients are not able to solve these problems in a satisfactory way. Therefore it could be useful to reformulate the Christian notion of charity. It can be demonstrated that Agape is not combined with conceptions of subservience and self-denial. The difference between Eros as a perverted selfishness and Agape as selfless virtue cannot be held any langer. Agape tends to reciprocity which has its model in the Golden Rule. In addition Agape is no sentiment, but related to action -Agape is practiced justice.

The health care sector is currently in a process of economization which, undoubtedly, has an impact on the relationship of physician and patient. In this article, elements of the new institutional economics are applied to the physician-patient-relationship in the sense of a descriptive heuristics. The authors find out that based on the principal-agent-theory paradoxical action settings ofthe physician (here paradigmatically subsumed under the paradox of billing and the paradox of neutrality) can be located. 1t is necessary for policy makers involved in health care to consider these paradoxes. Furthermore, health literacy of lay persans supported by widespread information technology lessens the information gap between physician and patient which changes their interaction with a Iasting effect. Based on this analysis the authors recommend not only to focus on individual ethics of the physician but rather to consider approaches of institutional ethics and incentive systems

To act and to refrain from actions comprises according to the logic of ethical consequentialism to be responsible in any case. This argument is particularly important in medical ethics: Setting actively limits to a life or permitting a long-term suffering of a patient is sometimes interpreted as equally important in the view of morals or ethics. The foundation of this argument is a one-sided theory of causation. The essay presented here tries to differentiate between the idea of causation in activities and the ascription of consequences of non-interference in certain cases. In former times nature presented reasons for nonintervention: God was at work. But when the idea of God is deficient in evidence in certain Western societies a qualified idea of life could replace the former basis of naturallaw or natural theology.

The first two sections of this article describe central developments in the areas of religion and family in Germany. These developments are interpreted as expressions of more general processes of social differentiation and modernization in the third section. The fourth section investigates how many and which children come into contact with church and religion today. It turns out that only a minority of children is introduced to religion. Especially less well-to-do children have little contact to the church. The fifth section deals with the question if different types ofhouseholds differ according to their affiliation to the church. It is shown that church membership, the attendance of services and membership in religious groups in West-Germany are related to the familial character of households.

The article enters into the current discussion about an ernerging economy of attention (M.H. Goldhaber, G. Franck). The author rejects the idea of a substitution of a monetary economy by an economy of attention and instead points out the strong connection between the market and human attention which is established by advertising. Basedon the distinction between perceptive and communicative attention, the dynamic of the media system- which attracts and absorbs large quantities of attention by offering audiovisual spaces of perception - is analysed. In addition to this analysis, the place of the church in this cultural situation is examined. As part of a realistic Christian media ethics the author argues in favor of an ecology of attention which would take into account the preservation and development of a dynamic cultural texture, i.e. a sociocultural as well as an individual polyphony of life.

In the wake of massive structural changes within the world trade the WTO faces important challenges. Like an invisible world govemment the WTO uses its agreement as a sort of basic law. This basic law demands equal chances for every human being in the world. Therefore it is important to strengthen the WTO in order to pave the way for fair conditions within the world trade. This essay asks which circumstances are necessary to achieve this goal.

In the wake of massive structural changes within the world trade the WTO faces important challenges. Like an invisible world govemment the WTO uses its agreement as a sort of basic law. This basic law demands equal chances for every human being in the world. Therefore it is important to strengthen the WTO in order to pave the way for fair conditions within the world trade. This essay asks which circumstances are necessary to achieve this goal.

In the current debate of possible ways to reform the structure and organisation of the protestant church in Germany (Landeskirchen, Konfessionsbünde, EDK) the general question has come up, whether concepts of the Lutheran church, which are founded on ecclesiology or protestant ecclesiastical law, in principle prohibit institutional changes or not. Regarding this problem, the essay discusses the institution of the Protestant church in aspects of theology and ecclesiasticallaw. The CA assumes that religious belief constitutes the church and gives structure to it as a means for spiritual communication between the faithful. Starting from this point the essay argues that the church is essentially non-institutional. Nevertheless it is a part of the dialectics of the concept of the institutionally organised church that even this non-institutionality gains itself an institutional structure. Because of this the essay pleads for a pragmatic view on church institutions: there are reasons to change or to cling to these structures, but these reasons are only pragmatic ones, when the concept of the church, which is derived from theology and protestant ecclesiasticallaw, is considered as given.

Basedon several official pronouncements of the leading organs of the German Evangelical Church in the past decade on the ethical and internationallegal implications of the use of force either as collective action under the authority ofthe United Nations or by individual states, the article critically reviews the positions taken by the Church with regard to their consistency over time. In the early 1990s the Council of the German Evangelical Church clearly stated that peaceful means of conflict resolution generally take priority over forceful means. However, in particular circumstances the use of force as ultima ratio cannot be ruled out. Recently, under the impact of the Iraq crisis, the positions taken were less strict. Due to a lack of a clear distinction between (illegal) unilateral uses of force and (legal) enforcement action by the United Nations it remains unclear whether the Church still unequivocally holds on to its earlier ultima ratio stance. The paper argues that in view of the new challenges posed by global terrorism all social and political forces, including the churches, have to support the United Nations as the central institution for the maintenance of international peace and security which- inter aliis- requires the acceptance of the UN's competence to use enforcement measures in cases of grave breaches of peace including massive human rights violations as ethically and legally legitimate, provided the UN itself stays within the Iimits of the law.

This article describes peace in history until modern times as a peace derived from the authority of government. The modern idea of peace is based on the agreement of partners contracting self-confidently. The Christian contribution to peace contains the strong will to make peace through the believing in God as the permanently inspiring spirit of reconciliation. With regard to the humanitarian interventions which are controversially seen according to international law the article shows cause, reason, conditions and aim to justify ethically the procedure of interventions

The paper argues for the viability and indispensibility of the so-called golden rule as a principle of moral reasoning. Drawing mostly on prior research by Hans Reiner an initial morphological analysis shows that the rule historically appears (and systematically has to appear) in three different, albeit irreducible forms: first as a rule of empathy, secondly as a rule of autonomy, finally as a rule of reciprocity. Pointing out and eliminating the ambivalences of its factual variants the paper then tries to reestablish the rule in its ethical ideality. The analysis Ieads to the conclusion that the golden rule is not and cannot be a principle of a genuinely Christian, but only and exclusively of a purely philosophical ethics.

This article about a just interntional financial order is centered on the gap between a normative and a scientific-technical perspective. Instruments of financial policy are connected to concepts of economic ethics to give a more differentiated view about the ethical and economic elements in the discussion about regulating international financial markets. The central issue is in relating economic concepts and the implicit value judgements. This frequent antagonism could also be transferred to sectors of tax-, growthor social policies where economic and ethical aspects are juxtaposed.

The issue of happiness makes a significant re-entrance into contemporary philosophical thought. From the perspective of individual ethics, two aspects take center-stage: the continuation of the program of Eudaimonia as reasonable self-determination towards good and the experience of momentary episodic happiness which surpasses the individual quest. This essay tries to combine these elements into a theological notion ofhappiness by arguing for re-evaluation ofthe quest-driven approach ofEudaimonia that in turn has obtained its impulse through a momentary experience of transcendence.

The Iraq war poses new challenges for Protestant peace ethics. Starting from an analysis of the document of the Evangelical Church in Germany »Steps on the Way towards Peace« it is argued, that the set of criteria for the legitimate use of military force provided there, is neither consistent nor workable. This seems to result from a misperception of the recent debate on just and limited war-theory. By putting under scrutiny the ethical judgments of the Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq war some inconsistency is brought to the surface, as is the need for further development of such criteria. Finally, a concept for peace ethics as ethics of international relations is provided, combining an insitutionalist, a human rights, a cosmopolitan with a just and limited war perspective aiming on the gradual realization of just peace according to the Christian doctrine of reconciliation.

In the article, the continuous tendency for implementation of Hospital Ethics Committees at German hospitals is questioned conceming its different motivations, which are leading the previous appreciation of the usefulness of these ethical advisory bodies in the public discussion. Besides the growing moral stress due to the acceleration and increasing complexity of the technical development in medicine, the current certification processes and the implementation of codes of ethics within clinical practice guidelines are mainly considered as motives. Although the task and the usefulness of Hospital Ethics Committees are not doubted in theoretical debate, considerable difficulties in the practice of the ethical advisory bodies appear. In addition to the named difference between theory and practice, the article identifies the relation between institutionalandindividual moralas a significant problem.