Sacred Matter: Reflections on the Relationship of Karmic and Natural Causality in Jaina Philosophy

The article examines a fundamental problem in classical Jaina philosophy, namely, the ontological status of dead matter in the hylozoistic and at the same time dualistic Jaina worldview. This question is of particular interest in view of the widespread contemporary Jaina practice of venerating bone relics and stūpas of prominent saints. The main argument proposed in this article is, that, from a classical doctrinal point of view, bone relics of renowned ascetics are valuable for Jainas, if at all, because of their unique physical attributes, rather than the presumed presence of the deceased in the remains as posited in much of the extant literature on relic worship across cultures. The specific focus of the article are Jaina and non-Jaina explanations of the qualities of special matter in terms of karmic and natural processes of transformation.     

Eine artenschutzrechtliche Ausnahmegenehmigung kann von Naturschutzverbänden nicht angefochten werden. Dies gilt auch, wenn zusätzlich eine naturschutzrechtliche Befreiung erforderlich sein sollte. Naturschutzrechtliche Ausnahmen und Befreiungen stehen selbstständig nebeneinander

Keine Zusammenfassung     

Playground or Democratisation? New Participatory Procedures at the European Commission

In the previous decade, the European Commission has promoted direct citizen involvement in European Union (EU) affairs via institutions such as deliberative polls, citizen conferences, online consultations or citizens' initiatives. Do these instruments foster EU democratisation? In this article, the Commission's participatory turn is re‐constructed. Against the yardstick of a democracy theoretical framework, two participatory instruments (European Citizens' Consultations and the Commission's online consultations) are assessed. Both instruments are seriously flawed: the ECC cannot resolve the trade‐off between demanding and egalitarian participation, and remains almost unrecognised outside the forum (bridging problem). Online consultations suffer both from a lack of active participation and of the symbolic accountability of the Commission to the contributions of ordinary citizens.     

The consideration of ecological safety in judicial practice — also on the ecological safety legislation

Ecological safety has been one of the hot issues of environmental law in recent years. The maintenance of ecological safety has become one of the legislative principles, as exemplified by the revision of the Law of Sand Prevention and Sand Management and the Law against Solid Waste Environmental Pollution, and the relevant rules that will be established. However actual cases will still happen, whether the legislators have made the statutory law or not. While scholars and legislators are debating, the judges have to handle cases and render judgments. Through the analysis of a case, this article will discuss the feasibility for judges to make ecological safety considerations in the judicial process by applying the principle of good faith and will also discuss the legislative issues related to ecological safety.     

Zur wirksamen Zuordnung von Ausgleichsmaßnahmen auf gemeindeeigenem Grundstück für die Ausweisung von Bauland i.S. des § 135a Abs. 2 BauGB

Keine Zusammenfassung     

Der Abschuss verwilderter Haustauben im Stadtbereich ist nicht geeignet, den Taubenbestand wirksam zu reduzieren, so dass eine Schießerlaubnis nicht erteilt werden kann

Keine Zusammenfassung