Normative Foundations Research Articles

‘DIE MENSCHENRECHTE HABEN KEIN GESCHLECHT’: HEDWIG DOHM'S FEMINIST CONCEPTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

ABSTRACTThis article discusses Hedwig Dohm's (1831–1919) conceptualisation of women's rights as human rights. The focus is on Dohm's essays and the strategies she employs in dismantling the arguments of women's rights opponents. By casting women's rights as human rights, she links her claims back to earlier human rights declarations and demands that their implied universality be actualised regarding women. The article examines parody and satire as important tools in two of Dohm's works – ‘Was die Pastoren von den Frauen denken’ (1872) and Der Frauen Natur und Recht (1876) – in which Dohm exposes contradictions and logical flaws in antifeminist positions. In particular, she rejects the patriarchal notion that women are biologically determined to serve in certain professions and fulfil specific roles in society. When addressing religion, Dohm, who was Jewish by birth and identified as areligious, typically refers to Christianity, which appears in her writing primarily as a tool of oppression. Notably, Dohm shows how domination and oppression operate in multilayered ways, and this awareness of intersectionality allows her to situate the discussion of women's rights in a larger rights framework in which gender is interlinked with other factors that exacerbate oppression. The article concludes with the suggestion that the concept of ‘jurisgenerativity’, i.e. the generative effect of rights narratives on the normative universe, can capture the process by which words shape the normative foundations from which legal legitimacy emanates.

How wise is the crowd: Can we infer people are accurate and competent merely because they agree with each other?

Are people who agree on something more likely to be right and competent? Evidence suggests that people tend to make this inference. However, standard wisdom of crowds approaches only provide limited normative grounds. Using simulations and analytical arguments, we argue that when individuals make independent and unbiased estimates, under a wide range of parameters, individuals whose answers converge with each other tend to have more accurate answers and to be more competent. In 6 experiments (UK participants, total N = 1197), we show that participants infer that informants who agree have more accurate answers and are more competent, even when they have no priors, and that these inferences are weakened when the informants were systematically biased. In conclusion, we speculate that inferences from convergence to accuracy and competence might help explain why people deem scientists competent, even if they have little understanding of science.

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IN THE GLOBAL DIGITAL ECONOMY: A CASE STUDY ON THE AFRICAN DIGITAL TRADE FRAMEWORK

Abstract Global digital integration is desirable and perhaps even inevitable for most States. However, there is currently no systematic framework or narrative to drive such integration in trade agreements. This article evaluates whether community values can offer a normative foundation for rules governing digital trade. It uses the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Digital Trade Protocol as a case study and argues that identifying and solidifying the collective needs of the African region through this instrument will be key to shaping an inclusive and holistic regional framework. These arguments are substantiated by analysis of the regulation of cross-border data flows, privacy and cybersecurity.

Proxy Fairness under the European Data Protection Regulation and the AI Act: A Perspective of Sensitivity and Necessity

This paper navigates the convergence of the European Data Protection Regulation and the AI Act within the paradigm of computational methods that operationalise fairness in the absence of demographic data, notably through the use of proxy variables and inferential techniques (Proxy Fairness). Particularly, it explores the legal nature of the data involved in Proxy Fairness under the European Data Protection Regulation, focusing on the legal notion of Sensitivity. Moreover, it examines the lawfulness of processing sensitive personal data for Proxy Fairness purposes under the AI Act, particularly focusing on the legal requirement of Necessity. Through this analysis, the paper aims to shed light on core aspects of the legitimacy of Proxy Fairness in the context of EU law, providing a normative foundation to this line of Fair-AI approaches.

A Relational Justification of AI Democratization

While much has been written about what democratized AI should look like, there has been surprisingly little attention for the normative grounds of AI democratization. Existing calls for AI democratization that do make explicit arguments broadly fall into two categories: outcome-based and legitimacy-based, corresponding to outcome-based and process-based views of procedural justice respectively. This paper argues that we should favor relational justifications of AI democratization to outcome-based ones, because the former additionally provide outcome-independent reasons for AI democratization. Moreover, existing legitimacy-based arguments often leave the why of AI democratization implicit and instead focus on the how. We present two relational arguments for AI democratization: one based on empirical findings regarding the perceived importance of relational features of decision-making procedures, and one based on Iris Marion Young’s conception of justice, according to which the main forms of injustice are domination and oppression. We show how these arguments lead to requirements for procedural fairness and thus also offer guidance on the how of AI democratization. Finally, we consider several objections to AI democratization, including worries concerning epistemic exploitation.

Formation of a Unified Educational Space of the Union State from the Perspective of the Policy of Patriotic Education

Introduction. Awareness of the commonality of geopolitical and civilizational challenges of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus pushes for deepening integration cooperation in different directions. Close attention is paid to the problem of security, interpreted in an expanded way. Its provision correlates with the strengthening of the humanitarian dimension of the Union State, including the formation of a unified educational space. In modern conditions, its correlation with the consolidation of the policy of patriotic education in the integration field is being actualized. The purpose of the article is to identify the specifics of their coupling, taking into account the dynamics of union construction. Materials and Methods. The research is based on the methods of binary comparison, traditional and discourse analysis of official texts. An additional method is a formalized correspondence expert survey. The key materials are normative legal acts of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, interstate, intergovernmental and integration agreements, information content of the web resources of the Union State. The theoretical and methodological foundations of the research are a new political institutionalism, a multidimensional model of social action, and the paradigm of “political unification”. Results. The article describes the normative foundations of state policy in the field of education and integration guidelines in the cultural and humanitarian plane within the framework of the movement towards the Union educational space. The demanded categories of the axiological plan are revealed, referring to the relationship between education and upbringing. The key lines of discursive practices at the sites of the union institutions are shown. The understanding of the need to adapt education systems to the requirements of the time and the linking of patriotic education with the protection and preservation of common historical memory are emphasized. Discussion and Conclusion. The results of the study and expert assessments suggest the articulation of not only positive changes, but also urgent vectors for improving national approaches and integration solutions. They correspond to the elimination of conflicts, the development and adoption of new documents at the level of the Union State, the implementation of value categories and new areas of unified policy. The results obtained may be of interest to public authorities and union institutions, participants in patriotic education in the territory of the Union State.

Народный делиберативный конституционализм как коллективная мудрость: понятие и предназначение в российской и сравнительной конституционной юриспруденции

The article identifies the ideological sources of collective wisdom, the doctrinal and normative foundations of popular deliberative constitutionalism, some aspects of the inclusive constitutional paradigm, procedures, and technologies for the participation of citizens and civil society institutions in constitutional modernization and constitutional changes in the context of Russian and comparative experience. The article considers popular deliberative constitutionalism as a meta-concept that can be used to analyze prescriptive requirements and promising principles in the constitutional modernization of the state and society, forms and procedures for citizen participation in constitutional changes, processes of preparation and implementation of constitutional changes in the modern period. Popular constitutionalism in scientific works develops as a special doctrinal, normative, and procedural basis for the implementation of the principle of popular sovereignty, the constituent power of the people, the involvement of citizens and civil society institutions in the process of constitutional changes. The author concludes that constitutional collective wisdom in the information age arises as a result of the use of both analog and digital technologies, classical procedures for discussion and the use of aggregated preferences, and a combination of natural and artificial intelligence.

Collective Wisdom in Constitutional, Informational and Digital Dimensions: on the Concept and Nature of Popular Deliberative Constitutionalism for Public Law

The article discusses the scientific and intellectual origins of collective wisdom in the constitutional, information and digital dimensions, reveals the doctrinal approaches and normative foundations of popular deliberative constitutionalism, the development of an inclusive constitutional paradigm and its significance for the use of procedures and technologies for citizen participation, expert opinion and civil society institutions in the constitutional development, in social transformations, in constitutional changes brought to life by the needs of society and the state. Popular deliberative constitutionalism is identified in the article as a public legal meta-concept that explains the process and need for constitutional involvement of citizens. The author concludes that popular deliberative constitutionalism allows us to better understand the problems of implementing the principle of popular sovereignty in modern democratic states, create an optimal model and consider the forms of exercising the constituent power of the people when implementing constitutional changes. In the article, the author notes that the future of democratic constitutionalism is associated with the creation and use of collective intelligence technologies in the public legal sphere, which, in the context of the development of an algorithmic and information society, combine classical procedures for discussing constitutional issues and the use of aggregated preferences. The practical application of the achievements of natural and artificial intelligence is intended to discuss and resolve issues of public legal significance, is based on co-evolutionary development and leads to the emergence of mini-publics, civil assemblies, and constitutional crowdsourcing.

Addressing missing persons arising from armed conflict as a driver of peace: Towards a research agenda

Abstract International humanitarian law (IHL) provides the normative foundation for efforts to address the issue of missing persons during and after armed conflict. Whilst IHL does not engage with how parties to an armed conflict may go about restoring peace, there has been speculation that resolving the missing issue, by bringing answers to families about the fate and whereabouts of their missing relatives, can potentially play a role in building peace. This article represents an effort to compile existing evidence in academic and practice literature that supports an understanding of how addressing the missing issue relates to peacebuilding. In so doing, the article seeks to lay out a research agenda to understand how addressing the issue of the missing can serve to advance peacebuilding, and proposes avenues for further research.

The Contractual Basis of the Assignment of Contractual Rights

There exist two popular conceptions of the assignment of contractual rights in common law jurisdictions. On the first view, the assignment operates as a conveyance of contractual rights from the assignor to the assignee. Under the second, the assignment is analogized to a trust. The original parties to the contract remain the same, but the assignee acquires an equitable or beneficial interest in the contract. This article examines the limits of these two conceptualizations, and proposes that assignments should instead be viewed as a separate contract to assign the rights owed under the initial contract. This approach provides both a normative grounding for the law of assignment in the principles governing the enforcement of contracts, and accounts for the unique effects generated by this type of transaction.

Intersubjectivity, Ethics in Times of Crisis and Objective Idealism as a Philosophical System: An Interview with Vittorio Hösle

Vittorio Hösle is internationally highly regarded for his attempt to revive objective idealism – the philosophical line along which he situates the positions of Plato, Aristotle, most medieval philosophers, Spinoza, Leibniz, Schelling, Hegel, but also Peirce and Whitehead – as a philosophical system capable of holding together the transcendental dimension of synthetic a priori judgments with the intelligibility and objectivity of being. In this interview, he discusses his work over the past decades, starting from the “Philosophische Lehrjahre” (“years of philosophical apprenticeship”) between Regensburg, Tübingen, Bochum and Freiburg and from the meetings with masters and significant interlocutors (such as Tóth, Thieme, Wandschneider, Beierwaldes, Lohr, Böckenförde, without forgetting Apel and Jonas). Multiple themes dot the path of thought retraced in this dialogue: from the rethematization of Hegel’s (and Vico’s) objective idealism through transcendental pragmatics to the delineation of the relationship between ethics and politics via a theory of the social and the intent of a normative foundation; from the need for a thought that faces the ecological crisis to the reinterpretation of sociobiology; and finally, from the project of an intersubjectively valid understanding to the importance of a theory of comedy. What emerges is the philosophical self-portrait of a cosmopolitan intellectual who was able to grasp the best from inherited and acquired cultural traditions: German culture, inherited from his father; Italian culture, inherited from his mother; and American culture, acquired by moving to the USA. The interview was realised on 17 April 2024 at the University of Trento, as part of the second series of lectures “Voices from Contemporary Philosophy”.

Towards common ground: Strategies for effective collaboration between the humanitarian and peacebuilding communities

Abstract In an era marked by growing conflicts, prolonged humanitarian needs and less donor funding, collaboration between the humanitarian and peacebuilding sectors is essential for more effective responses. This paper examines the complexities of fostering such collaboration, emphasizing the importance of integrated multisectoral approaches capable of addressing both immediate necessities and long-term peace and development objectives. While recent initiatives such as the humanitarian–development–peace nexus framework and the United Nations Secretary-General's Agenda for Humanity reflect progress toward integrated approaches, substantial collaborative challenges persist. This paper identifies three key entry points for mutual learning between humanitarian and peace actors. Firstly, it discusses a “peace-responsive” approach to humanitarian activities that proactively contributes to “peace-positive” outcomes. Secondly, it emphasizes the need for the peace sector to learn from humanitarian efforts regarding accountability to affected communities. Thirdly, it underscores the need to understand the normative foundations of each sector and their implications for joint action. Drawing on these insights, the paper offers recommendations for policy-makers and practitioners to help them advance joint approaches to humanitarian assistance and peacebuilding in conflict-affected contexts.

Journalism in the Digital World: The Confl ict of Institutional Logics

With the entry of humanity into the stage of digital development, all social institutions are undergoing profound changes. Journalism as an institution that arose as a result of information technology development in the XVI–XVII centuries, as a result of the digital revolution, is losing its dominant role in the new media space. The main core of the media system’s existence, its institutional nature, is undergoing signifi cant changes in the context of increasing technological convergence and the development of the economic phenomenon of platform capitalism. The appeal to the problem is actualized by the need for updates in substantiating the ontological and functional characteristics of the institutionality of journalism in the context of rapid digitalization of the social environment. The purpose of the article is to study journalism as a transforming social institution in a competitive institutional environment. The methodology of the article is based on a dialectical approach in understanding the current state of the Institute of journalism, considering the existing contradictions and collisions as a moment in progressive development. One of the methods of analysis chosen is the direction of institutionalism, which is relevant to the sphere of functioning of social institutions – institutional logic. The system-structural and system-functional methods are used as an analysis tool. The results of the study indicate the identifi ed ontological and functional changes in the state of the Institute of journalism. It is established that the loss of the status of a monopoly entity by journalism is caused not only by the impact of exogenous factors: a technological explosion, the emergence of new institutional and non-institutional subjects but also endogenous ones: structural changes, as well as a crisis of normative and value foundations. The novelty of the article is revealed in the understanding of journalism as a convergent ontological model, which forms the basis of its changing institutional status at the digital stage of its development. Keywords: journalism as a social institution, institutional approach, institutional and non-institutional subjects, institutional logic, media system, functional complex, digital platform

Unjust enrichment in law and equity

In Moses v Macferlan, Lord Mansfield used money had and received, a common law money count, to provide relief in a case where an action’s outcome failed to align with the actor’s intention. In the First Restatement of Restitution, Warren Seavey and Austin Scott gathered together all cases, quasi-contractual and equitable, under the single principle that ‘a person who has been unjustly enriched at the expense of another is required to make restitution to the other.’ These two influential acts of fusion between common law and equity have caused a great deal of confusion in the scholarship and jurisprudence on unjust enrichment. With the fundamental differences between quasi-contract and equitable unjust enrichment obscured, scholars and judges have struggled to find the single principle or core case that unifies liability in what is now called the law of unjust enrichment. I argue that we can resolve the puzzles of unjust enrichment by rejecting the fusionist claims that started them all – that is, by distinguishing cases of quasi-contract (the common law money counts) from cases of equitable unjust enrichment – and by recognizing that each has a distinctive normative foundation. Quasi-contract, like other common law doctrines, is grounded in respect for the freedom and equality of agents conceived as beings with the capacity for free choice. Quasi-contract is concerned with the objective significance of external acts like requests and agreements on terms; it is not concerned with the frustration of the plaintiff’s particular purpose in acting. Equitable unjust enrichment, like other equitable doctrines that attend to mistakes, expectations, and intentions, is grounded in concern for individual autonomy. It recognizes that a court, as a public institution attuned to law’s self-imposability, cannot enforce an alienation of property with indifference to the way in which it may fail as an expression of the individual’s purposes and reasons for action.

Prospectively investigating the impact of AI on shared decision-making in post kidney transplant care (PRIMA-AI): protocol for a longitudinal qualitative study among patients, their support persons and treating physicians at a tertiary care centre

IntroductionAs healthcare is shifting from a paternalistic to a patient-centred approach, medical decision making becomes more collaborative involving patients, their support persons (SPs) and physicians. Implementing shared decision-making (SDM) into...

Breathing pattern alteration from weanling to old age in male Sprague-Dawley rats

Respiratory patterns were investigated in male Sprague-Dawley rats throughout their lifespan, from weanling (1 month) to old age (24 months), under natural conditions. Both inter-breath interval (IBI) and respiratory volume (RV) were examined. Sample entropy suggested increasing irregularity in IBI but decreasing irregularity in RV until 12 months. According to detrended fluctuation analysis, alpha exponent of the IBI showed a bimodal pattern around the value 0.7. From 1–15 months, the alpha exponent for RV generally decreased to the value 0.5, but it increased again as the animals neared the end of their lifespan. Cross-sample entropy revealed increasing synchronization between IBI and RV until 12 months, then plateauing. Many measures demonstrated a transition around 12 months, potentially reflecting maturation of respiratory control mechanisms. The findings characterize complex dynamics of respiratory patterns across the rat lifespan, providing a normative foundation to identify deviations indicative of dysfunction or disease.

Проблемы политико-правовой интеграции Северного Кавказа в состав России в отражении делопроизводственной документации (по материалам опубликованных источников)

The article is devoted to the study of the main problems of the political and legal integration of the peoples of the North Caucasus into Russia, materials from public sources of office documentation. In particular, the authors studied the problems of establishing the Russian administrative and judicial-legal system in the region, the normative and organizational foundations of the imperial policy in the North Caucasus, the emigration of local peoples to the Ottoman Empire as reflected in published sources. The authors also studied the process of understanding office documents on the problem of the political and legal integration of the North Caucasus into Russia in modern historiography. The authors conclude that the materials of published office documents play a major role in modern scientific research on the problem of the administrative, political and legal integration of the North Caucasian peoples into Russia. They form the basis of the source base for research on this problem. In the context of source studies, the authors consider office documents on the history of the establishment of the military-administrative and political-legal system of Russia in the North Caucasus, as well as the processes of emigration of local peoples to the Ottoman Empire.

Особливості розвитку рухових якостей дівчат під час змішаного навчання в університеті

Relevance. Increasing the effectiveness of university physical education requires the creation of a personal educational trajectory for each applicant, which actualizes the issue of personalization and individualization of forms, means, load parameters based on a stable genetically predetermined trait. The Purpose of the Study was to determine the parameters of the physiological characteristics of girls with different somatotypes, when there is no requirement for physical activity in the university. Material and Methods. The study involved 66 girls aged 17,8±0,6 years, who belonged to different somatotypes and had no reservations about using different amounts of physical activity. The Shtefko-Ostrovsky method in the modification was used to diagnose the somatotype. The necessary empirical data were obtained with the help of well-known functional tests that allowed to determine components of speed qualities, as well as speed-strength, flexibility, muscle strength, various types of coordination, strength and aerobic endurance. The parameters of these motor qualities were determined in girls with each of the four available somatotypes during the study, and each parameter was compared with different somatotypes. The testing was conducted at the beginning (January) and at the end (May-June) of the academic semester, but during one academic year. Results. At the beginning, and even more so at the end of the study, the manifestations of motor qualities in each somatotype differed when compared with each other (p at the level of 0,05 to 0,000). The volumes and conditions of physical activity used during the academic year contributed to the change in some qualities, but they were not the same in different somatotypes. Conclusions. The manifestation of features in changing the parameters of the motor qualities of girls, taking into account their somatotypes, is an important element in increasing the effectiveness of university physical education on the basis of personalizing the content and normative foundations of this process.

Embodied Cognition in Dark Times

Michelle Maiese and Robert Hanna’s The Mind-Body Politic sets out to combine both the philosophy of essentially embodied cognition (EEM) and emancipatory political theory to put forth a “new critique of contemporary social institutions.” There remains, however, an explanatory gap between the general, normative foundations of their approach in EEM, and the particular critiques of neoliberalism and the alternative presented. This paper explores an alternative totalitarian pathway (as understood by Arendt) that such general EEM normativity might lead us, as a friendly invitation for further elaboration on the normative basis of MBP’s critiques of—and proposed alternative to—neoliberal institutions.

Antinomic normativity: Negative dialectics, moral skepticism, and the problem of the normative foundations of critique

Antinomic normativity: Negative dialectics, moral skepticism, and the problem of the normative foundations of critique