Transatlantic negotiations on "hell"?: W. E. B. Du Bois's visit to fascist Germany and Theodor W. Adorno's exile in the land of the culture industry

In 1936, the African-American intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois visited Nazi Germany for a period of five months. Two years later, the eleven-year-long American exile of the German philosopher Theodor W. Adorno began. From the latter’s perspective, the United States was the “home” of the Culture Industry. One intuitively assumes that these sojourns abroad must have amounted to “hell on earth” for both the civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois and the subtle intellectual Adorno. But was this really the case? Or did they perhaps arrive at totally different conclusions? This thesis deals with these questions and attempts to make sense of the experiences of both men. By way of a systematic and comparative analysis of published texts, hitherto unpublished documents and secondary literature, this dissertation first contextualizes Du Bois’s and Adorno’s transatlantic negotiations and then depicts them. The panoply of topics with which both men concerned themselves was diverse. In Du Bois’s case it encompassed Europe, science and technology, Wagner operas, the Olympics, industrial education, race relations, National Socialism and the German Africanist Diedrich Westermann. The opinion pieces which Du Bois wrote for the newspaper “Pittsburgh Courier” during his stay in Germany serve as a major source for this thesis. In his writings on America, Adorno concentrated on what he regarded as the universally victorious Enlightenment and the predominance of mass culture. This investigation also sheds light on the correspondences between the philosopher and Max Horkheimer, Thomas Mann, Walter Benjamin, Siegfried Kracauer and Oskar and Maria Wiesengrund. In these autobiographical texts, Adorno’s thoughts revolve around such diverse topics as the American landscape, his fears as German, Jew and Left-Hegelian as well as the loneliness of the refugee. This dissertation has to refute the intuitive assumption that Du Bois’s and Adorno’s experiences abroad were horrible events for them. Both men judged the foreign countries in which they were staying in an extremely differentiated and subtle manner. Du Bois, for example, was not racially discriminated against in Germany. He was also delighted by the country’s rich cultural offerings. Adorno, for his part, praised the U.S.’s humanity of everyday life and democratic spirit. In short: Although both men partly did have to deal with utterly negative experiences, the metaphor of “hell on earth” is simply untenable as an overall conclusion.

Electrical scanning probe microscopy on organic optoelectronic structures

In the field of organic optoelectronics, the nanoscale structure of the materials has huge im-pact on the device performance. Here, scanning force microscopy (SFM) techniques become increasingly important. In addition to topographic information, various surface properties can be recorded on a nanometer length scale, such as electrical conductivity (conductive scanning force microscopy, C-SFM) and surface potential (Kelvin probe force microscopy, KPFM).rnrnIn the context of this work, the electrical SFM modes were applied to study the interplay be-tween morphology and electrical properties in hybrid optoelectronic structures, developed in the group of Prof. J. Gutmann (MPI-P Mainz). In particular, I investigated the working prin-ciple of a novel integrated electron blocking layer system. A structure of electrically conduct-ing pathways along crystalline TiO2 particles in an insulating matrix of a polymer derived ceramic was found and insulating defect structures could be identified. In order to get insights into the internal structure of a device I investigated a working hybrid solar cell by preparing a cross cut with focused ion beam polishing. With C-SFM, the functional layers could be identified and the charge transport properties of the novel active layer composite material could be studied. rnrnIn C-SFM, soft surfaces can be permanently damaged by (i) tip induced forces, (ii) high elec-tric fields and (iii) high current densities close to the SFM-tip. Thus, an alternative operation based on torsion mode topography imaging in combination with current mapping was intro-duced. In torsion mode, the SFM-tip vibrates laterally and in close proximity to the sample surface. Thus, an electrical contact between tip and sample can be established. In a series of reference experiments on standard surfaces, the working mechanism of scanning conductive torsion mode microscopy (SCTMM) was investigated. Moreover, I studied samples covered with free standing semiconducting polymer nano-pillars that were developed in the group of Dr. P. Theato (University Mainz). The application of SCTMM allowed non-destructive imag-ing of the flexible surface at high resolution while measuring the conductance on individual pillarsrnrnIn order to study light induced electrical effects on the level of single nanostructures, a new SFM setup was built. It is equipped with a laser sample illumination and placed in inert at-mosphere. With this photoelectric SFM, I investigated the light induced response in function-alized nanorods that were developed in the group of Prof. R. Zentel (University Mainz). A block-copolymer containing an anchor block and dye moiety and a semiconducting conju-gated polymer moiety was synthesized and covalently bound to ZnO nanorods. This system forms an electron donor/acceptor interface and can thus be seen as a model system of a solar cell on the nanoscale. With a KPFM study on the illuminated samples, the light induced charge separation between the nanorod and the polymeric corona could not only be visualized, but also quantified.rnrnThe results demonstrate that electrical scanning force microscopy can study fundamental processes in nanostructures and give invaluable feedback to the synthetic chemists for the optimization of functional nanomaterials.rn

Conceptual and normative issues of memory enhancement

Our growing understanding of human mind and cognition and the development of neurotechnology has triggered debate around cognitive enhancement in neuroethics. The dissertation examines the normative issues of memory enhancement, and focuses on two issues: (1) the distinction between memory treatment and enhancement; and (2) how the issue of authenticity concerns memory interventions, including memory treatments and enhancements. rnThe first part consists of a conceptual analysis of the concepts required for normative considerations. First, the representational nature and the function of memory are discussed. Memory is regarded as a special form of self-representation resulting from a constructive processes. Next, the concepts of selfhood, personhood, and identity are examined and a conceptual tool—the autobiographical self-model (ASM)—is introduced. An ASM is a collection of mental representations of the system’s relations with its past and potential future states. Third, the debate between objectivist and constructivist views of health are considered. I argue for a phenomenological account of health, which is based on the primacy of illness and negative utilitarianism.rnThe second part presents a synthesis of the relevant normative issues based on the conceptual tools developed. I argue that memory enhancement can be distinguished from memory treatment using a demarcation regarding the existence of memory-related suffering. That is, memory enhancements are, under standard circumstances and without any unwilling suffering or potential suffering resulting from the alteration of memory functions, interventions that aim to manipulate memory function based on the self-interests of the individual. I then consider the issue of authenticity, namely whether memory intervention or enhancement endangers “one’s true self”. By analyzing two conceptions of authenticity—authenticity as self-discovery and authenticity as self-creation, I propose that authenticity should be understood in terms of the satisfaction of the functional constraints of an ASM—synchronic coherence, diachronic coherence, and global veridicality. This framework provides clearer criteria for considering the relevant concerns and allows us to examine the moral values of authenticity. rn