[en] Philosophical reflections on the concepts of responsibility and type of responsibility are presented and discussed with regard to the developments of technology. The author states that neither the relationship between liability and responsibility has changed, nor the structure of responsibility. Any individual still is responsible for his actions and their consequences. What has changed, however, is the former restriction to the concept of internal responsibility and the overlapping of acting subject and responsible subject. (DG)

[en] The authors plead for a revival of the symbiosis between science and technology and philosophy. Their contributions to the assessment of the consequences in science and technology as a task of philosophy as well as to the effects of science and technology on present-day philosophy want to give new impulses to this revival. (DG)

[en] What have computer programs in common with everyday human behaviour. Or the birds' passage, or photosynthesis, or the chemical reactions in a cell. They all primarily are information-controlled processes. The book under review deals with 'information' and 'energy', two main concepts in today's technological world. 'Energy' during the last few years has become a significant criterion with regard to technological progress. 'Information' is not only a main term in informatics terminology, but also a central concept for example in biology, linguistics, and communication science. The author shows that every 'information' is the result of an intellectual and purposeful process. The concept of information is taken as the red thread leading the author's journey through manifold strata of modern life, asking questions, finding answers, discussing problems. The wide spectrum of aspects discussed, including for instance a new approach to the Bible, and the remarkable examples presented by the author, make this book a treasure of knowledge, and of faith. (orig./HP)

No abstract available

[en] This book aims to give discussion contributions on the questions how the energy problem can be managed. It deals with technology and philosophy side by side and tries to clarify the background and development tendencies. The main factors of influence are presented with the aim to talk to those citizens who seek for a realistic alternative from existential fear and ideological illusion. Main chapters are: energy turns into working capability, fundamental questions of power plants, ways to the future, turning away from oil, risk of ignorance, hostility to technology. (HSCH)

[en] The changes modern society is undergoing also affect the scientific world which must adapt to new forms of producing knowledge. The text of this article reproduces the lecture which the researcher Emilio Munoz recently gave at the CSN. advocating a model on which science, technology and society may act in harmony. (Author)

[en] Substantial changes have been made in recent years to the process of obtaining ethical and research governance approval for research projects in the NHS. The advent of the Integrated Research Application System (IRAS) has streamlined the process, providing a single point of entry. Ethical approval gained in one part of the country is now valid throughout the UK. The previous process of gaining research governance approval in NHS Trusts was maligned and it has been overhauled with the introduction of the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Coordinated System for gaining NHS Permission. In addition to updating the reader about the new processes around gaining ethical and Trust approval for research within an NHS setting, essential research project documentation needed for submission are discussed. The aspects of a proposal that Ethics Committees and Trust R and D Departments consider when reviewing applications are highlighted. The implemented changes to the research approval processes will mostly benefit large multi-centre studies; small scale unfunded studies and student projects are potentially at risk of being marginalised in the quest for a streamlined ethics and NHS Trust research governance approval process. However, researchers' familiarity with the approval system should minimise rejection rates and delays.

[en] If no body can dispute the fact that technological progress favours production, comfort and the economy of time, nobody can deny either that the same progress is at the origin of a pollution that puts earth's natural resources in jeopardy. Pollution is physical, but it has a moral aspect as well. In the first case, it spoils water, the soil, the sea, the air and the vegetation. In the second case, it deals a hard blow to man's intelectual and spiritual life. Pollution is natural and biological and, in this case, it is not the result of man's activity, but that of bacteria and viruses which are responsible for various illnesses and epidemics. It could also be the result of toxicity due to volcanic eruptions, solar explosions, or electric charges liberated by clouds. Pollution can also result from harmful waste of chemical and other industries, from the various usages of chemical products, from cars and engines' exhaust, from thermal activities or radioactive spills. Today, it is radioactivity which constitutes the most serious threat to human life.(author)

[en] Technical developments, both good and bad, today have much further-reaching implications than in former times. Against this background, it is only natural that decision-makers in industry and economics should discuss problems of ethics while the guardians of ethics have discovered their interest in technology. The problems now arising can only be solved in a well-founded dialogue. (orig./HP)

[en] The ethical issue of justification has become an urgent issue in radiology. There has been a shift in emphasis in the discussion from what has been regarded as a rather paternalistic attitude of practitioners to one that stresses the rights of the individual patient. This article comments on this current move on the part of the profession by offering certain relevant philosophical considerations. Using a medical scenario as the context to comment on this shift, it discusses important and fundamental issues, such as the autonomy and the rights of the patient in addition to the question of consent on the patient's part.