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TO BE HUMAN IS TO HAVE THE CHOICE TO ACT AMBIGUOUSLY. TO BE ABLE TO DELIBERATELY ACT AMBIGUOUSLY IS TO BE ABLE TO SUSTAIN LIFE AND TO GIVE IT PURPOSE. MUCH OF CONTEMPORARY EXISTENCE ON THIS PLANET CONSISTS OF ELIMINATING AMBIGUOUS ACTION AND PEOPLE ALONG WITH THEM. INSOFAR AS THIS PROCESS AS THIS PROCESS CONTINUES UNCHECKED, THE CHANCES FOR SUSTAINING PURPOSEFUL LIFE DIMINISH.

We examine the effects of income, institutions, and social capital—proxied by the level of corruption and ethnic tensions—on literacy and life expectancy in Africa. Random effects estimates show that income has a robust positive influence. GMM estimates indicate that corruption reduces the effectiveness of institutions in promoting literacy. However, this effect is not monotonic; improvements in the corruption index within the high corruption range reduce the effectiveness of institutions, while continuous improvement within the low corruption range enhances the effectiveness of institutions. Similarly, ethnic tensions reduce the effectiveness of institutions. Based on these findings, we conclude that social capital and institutions can complement each other. (JEL O11, O17, Z13)

Since the early days of gene therapy, both the scientific community and the public have perceived the ethical challenges intrinsic to this discipline. First, the technology exploited by gene therapy is still experimental and burdened by important safety issues. Second, in several instances gene therapy aims at stably modifying the genetic characteristics of individuals. Third, the same modifications could in principle be applied also to embryos, foetuses or germ cells. Finally, while gene therapy applications are generally accepted for therapeutic purposes, the same gene transfer technologies could also be exploited to improve the aesthetic appearance, or the physical and intellectual performance of people. The definition of suitable guidelines for a controlled, ethically accepted translation of gene therapy to the clinics remains a major challenge for the near future.

Ludwik Fleck's article, "On medical experiments on human beings" was published in 1948 in the main Polish medical journal; it was destined for general practitioners. Fleck was prisoner in the concentration camp Buchenwald, where he witnessed Nazi murderous "experiments" on the camp's imamates; he testified about these experiments in the Nuremberg Trial of Nazi doctors. This article, and Tadeusz Kielanowski's comment on Fleck text, stress, however, that an exclusive focus on the – hopefully rare – criminal activities of doctors may be misleading. It is important to prevent the numerous ethical transgressions of 'normal' medical science and routine clinical practice.

Are people more likely to be satisfied with their lives if they had freedom from regulations, if they had the ability to trade freely internationally? In light of the demographic aging phenomenon we are facing, the present study analyzes the relationship between economic freedom and life satisfaction among European older adults. In order to do so, we are using data from the European Health, Ageing, and Retirement Survey and Economic Freedom of the World. By using the ordered logit regression method, we estimated different models to identify how sub-indicators of economic freedom affect the subjective well-being. According to the findings, the quality of the institutions that define the legal system and establish rules for the protection of private property and sound monetary policy have a positive effect on subjective well-being. On the other hand, openness to international trade has a negative effect and government and regulation doesn't show any significance.

In 1956, the Jewish-German philosopher Günther Anders developed a philosophical anthropology on the technological and moral challenges of his time. Anders suggested the societal changes that arose with the industrial age opened a gap between the capability of individuals to produce machines and their ability to imagine and deal with the consequences caused by this capability. He argues that a 'Promethean gap' manifests in academic and scientific thinking and leads to an extensive trivialization of societal issues. In the face of climate change, Anders' philosophical anthropology contributes substantially to our attempts to fight climate change with innovation. Anders' description of 'apocalyptic blindness' helps us to explain why we cannot help pairing our belief in historical progress and growth with our ideas on social and environmental justice. With that said, this paper contributes to the debate on humanity 'after sustainability' by calling to mind Anders' historical theory on the outdatedness of humankind and his thoughts on our lack of imagination.

Criticism of higher education has focused on its failure to produce expected economic rewards; whether noneconomic benefits or costs are of significant size has not been considered. Data from the 1973-1978 General Social Surveys on 1,400 white Ms & 1,673 white Fs & 130 black Ms & 147 black Fs, all aged 25-54, are used to estimate the effects of years of school completed on 8 dimensions of psychological well-being. Estimates are provided for effects of SE variables, family situation, & f of attendance at religious services. Little evidence is found for negative effects; the only statistically significant negative effect is between education & satisfaction with community for white Ms. Education appears to have positive effects in all subpopulations except black Ms, the strongest being for white Fs. Greater effects are found from 4 years of high school than from 4 years of Coll. Mothers' education may have an important effect on offsprings' psychological well-being. 5 Tables, Appendix. Modified HA.