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Publications of H. Clark Barrett

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Journal Article (1)

Journal Article (1)

Journal Article

Barrett, H. C., Frankenhuis, W. E., & Wilke, A. (2008). Adaptation to moving targets: Culture/gene coevolution, not either/or. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31, 511–512. doi:10.1017/S0140525X08005013

MPG.PuRe

DOI

Full

Heads of project

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Sieber

Director Emeritus

Dr. Emmanouil Billis, LL.M.

Left the Institute

Dr. Nandor Knust

Left the Institute

Other Interesting Articles

Committed to Non-Judgmental Science?

Project

Heads of project: Philipp-Alexander Hirsch, Hendrik Klinge
That science is non-judgmental in terms of value is generally regarded as a necessary prerequisite for the objectivity and special value of scientific knowledge. Neither the values of the scientists themselves nor the social purposes for which science is used should be a condition for scientific knowledge. The postulate of non-judgmental science thus prevents science from being overloaded with societal expectations of practical orientation as well as the politicization or even ideologization of its findings.

Naturalism in the Legal Sciences

Department of Criminal Law Project

Head of project: Claudia Wittl
Interdisciplinary cooperation is becoming more and more important for the legal sciences; nevertheless, legal methodology and doctrine have remained largely resistant to the influence of the empirical sciences. This is due, first, to the defensive attitude most German legal scholars take towards the empirical sciences.

FutureU for Mental Health

Department of Criminology MAXLab Project

Head of project: Jean-Louis van Gelder
FutureU for Mental Health involves adaptations of the FutureU VR intervention paradigm for use with people experiencing symptoms of depression and suicidal ideation (SI). In these adaptations, research participants meet and embody realistic virtual avatars of either their future or their former (i.e., child) selves. Using therapeutic techniques and clinical interventions (e.g., two-chair technique, coping plan), the affordances of the FutureU VR paradigm are exploited to explore the potential of embodiment of the future and former self to treat disorders.

Right-Wing Extremism and Criminal Law – So-Called National Socialist Underground

Department of Criminal Law Project

Head of project: Jörg Arnold
Right-wing extremism remains an acute threat to democratic civil society that must be taken seriously. In addition to preventive and repressive socio-political responses that comply with the rule of law, criminal law has an important role to play in this context. Using the trial (2013–2018) of the so-called National Socialist Underground (NSU) as an example, the project examined this role, focusing on the potentialities and limitations of criminal law and criminal procedure in landmark trials.

Accountability and its Practices in Law and Philosophy

Project

Heads of project: Philipp-Alexander Hirsch, Jonas Vandieken
Accountability is one of the most significant concepts in both legal theory and moral philosophy, central to understanding the authority of law and the binding force of moral obligations. To be accountable means to be answerable to others for one’s actions, whether in the context of legal institutions or interpersonal moral relationships. While much scholarly attention has focused on the conceptual nature of accountability, its practical dimensions—how accountability is enacted and experienced—remain underexplored.

Right to a Human Decision?

Department of Public Law Project

Head of project: Christian Thönnes
Rapid technological advances have incentivized an increasing shift of legal decision-making from humans to machines. Many national and EU legal statutes have responded to this advance in legal automation (eg Article 22 GDPR and § 35a VwVfG-Bund, German Federal Administrative Procedures Act).

Relational Morality and the Criminal Law

Project

Heads of project: Philipp-Alexander Hirsch, Erasmus Mayr
The rise of second-personal or relational conceptions of morality has been one of the most significant developments in contemporary ethics in the last 25 years. While many different theories are classified under this label, they generally agree that morality concerns ‘what we owe to each other’ (in Thomas Scanlon’s memorable phrase) and is essentially connected to accountability to others.

Reflections in Gun Laws

Department of Public Law Project

Head of project: Friedemann Groth
This doctoral thesis aims to contextualize understandings of the ‘State’ expressed within the gun laws of Germany and the United States. A cultural legal study, this project offers instructive observations on basic conceptions in legal science.

Law and Morality in Kant

Project

Heads of project: Philipp-Alexander Hirsch, Martin Brecher
What is the relationship between law and morality? Does legal philosophy merely apply general moral principles to particular circumstances that give rise to the need for law and its institutions? Or does law have its own kind of normativity, which cannot be reduced to morality?

Surrogacy – Interdisciplinary Analysis and International Perspective

Department of Criminal Law Project

Head of project: Sophie-Marie Humbert
Surrogacy is an internationally controversial method of medically-assisted reproduction. Legislation in Germany proscribes medical assistance in impregnating a surrogate and forbids acting as an agent between intended parents and surrogates.

Illustration: Unity in Diversity - A Gathering of Diverse Voices in Support of Democratic Ideals

Moral Judgments in Criminal Law

Department of Criminal Law Project

Head of project: Suheib Qaderi
German criminal law provides a set of norms that (ostensibly) presuppose a moral judgment. For example, public prosecutors and courts have to judge questions of “reprehensibility,” “common decency,” and “base motives.” How are such assessments to be made in an ideologically neutral state?