Biomedicine is a global enterprise constructed upon the belief in the universality of scientific truths. However, despite huge scientific advances over recent decades it has not been able to formulate a specific and universal definition of death: In fact, in its attempt to redefine death, the concept of death appears to have become immersed in ever increasing vagueness and ambiguity. Even more worrisome is that bioethics, in the form of principlism, is also endeavouring to become a global enterprise by claiming (...) neutrality. It appears that the discourse within both disciplines have similarly manipulated the boundaries of death to include the “dying”. This paper argues that the redefinition of death debate in biomedicine reveals a concept of personhood which is profoundly western in origin and which is in accordance to the concept adhered to within principlism. Biomedicine and bioethics do not appear to acknowledge the limitations of their own world view and hence lack an understanding of their applicability and appropriateness in diverse social and cultural contexts; a situation which adds credence to claims as to the hegemonic and imperialistic nature of all such global enterprises. (shrink)

(1997). Significant redefinitions: A meta‐analysis of aspects of recent developments in initial teacher education in England and Wales. Educational Philosophy and Theory: Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 102-118. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-5812.1997.tb00023.x.

This research revisits the conceptual foundations and definitions of ‘game’, distinguishing it from ‘sport’ and ‘play’ through an etymological and philosophical lens. Given the vast range of ‘game’ in everyday use and the enormous diversity of the activities called games, Wittgenstein argued that games cannot be defined at all but have only ‘Family Resemblances’. Philosophers such as Bernard Suits have rejected Wittgenstein’s claim that there is no commonality among all games. But in recent years, some researchers have questioned Suits’ failure (...) to refute Wittgenstein’s claim that games are definable on the basis of Wittgenstein’s anti-essentialist stance. Our analysis incorporates the interplay of etymology, historical context and philosophical discourse, clarifies the incompleteness of Suits’s definition, and addresses Meier’s physical-skill-fixed logical difficulties regarding conceptual models of ‘game’. By proposing a nuanced Venn diagram illustrating the intersections and divergences among play, game, and sport, we offer a redefinition that integrates the intrinsic motivations and societal influences underlying these activities. This redefinition emphasizes the voluntary goal-oriented, rule-constrained and non-utility nature of games while acknowledging the complex relationships between play, games, and sports within a broader socio-historical framework. (shrink)

Under the influence of rationalism and various forms of absolute idealism in the nineteenth century, teleology took on the nature of fixity; the universe was held to be fulfilling a definite telos. Such teleology defined a closed universe. In the latter half of the same century the American pragmatists, under the influence of Bergson and Renouvier, began to develop their notion of an open universe: one whose possibilities were not predetermined but were evolving creatively. This necessarily involved a change in (...) the understanding of teleology as reflected, for example, in C. S. Peirce’s 1892 account of “developmental teleology.” These changes in turn led to the “open universe” views of Whitehead, Hartshorne, and process theology in general. Within this historical framework one view which deserves some recognition for its role in this transition is often overlooked, that is, the personalism of Borden Parker Bowne. Bowne’s personalism suggests both the need for redefining teleology and two possible avenues for accomplishing such redefinition. (shrink)

Les médiations de la parole publique par les dispositifs numériques questionnent le renouvellement possible des formes de délibérations collectives au sein des groupes associatifs. Nous examinerons comment, dans un contexte d'émergence de nouveaux collectifs technophiles orientés vers des pratiques d'usage et de politisation des technologies de communication, le mouvement « communautaire » québécois redéfinit son identité, ses aspirations et ses pratiques dans la sphère publique, au prix de vives tensions. Plusieurs éléments semblent structurer les différences et controverses: l'enracinement local du (...) mouvement communautaire, sa structure hiérarchique, son mode de financement et les représentations de la technique.Mediations of public speaking by digital devices can question the renewal of collective forms of deliberation within voluntary groups. We will examine how, in the context of the emergence of new collective-oriented technophiles use practices and politicization of communication technologies, the movement "community" Quebec redefines its identity, its aspirations and practices in the public sphere, the price tensions. Several factors seem to structure differences and controversies: local roots community movement, its hierarchical structure, its funding and representations of the art. (shrink)

The main aim of this text is to present economic relations between China and the US today. The election of Donald Trump in 2016, significantly redefined American trade policy toward China. Despite the first months of his presidency, which promised an efficient, long-term cooperation between Beijing and Washington, incumbent president decided to implement severe restriction on the trade with China at the beginning of 2018. However, the announced imposition of tariffs on almost all goods coming from this country could interfere (...) with the growth of the single states and the economy of the whole country in the future. Therefore the text is aimed to investigate the dependency of selected states on the inflows of Chinese investments since 2010. Finally, it is necessary to examine the phenomenon of the trade war, which has begun in July 2018, and assess its impact on the growth of both countries. (shrink)

Summary Robert Boyle did not subordinate chemistry to mechanical philosophy. He was in fact reluctant to explain chemical phenomena by having recourse to the mechanical properties of particles. For him chemistry provided a primary way of penetrating into nature. In his chemical works he employed corpuscles endowed with chemical properties as his explanans. Boyle's chemistry was corpuscular, rather than mechanical. As Boyle's views of seminal principles show, his corpuscular philosophy cannot be described as a purely mechanical theory of matter. Boyle's (...) classification of corpuscles allowed him to connect his corpuscular views of matter with chemistry. Boyle did not rule out the possibility of a classification of chemical substances based on their properties: his aim was to reform the received classification. (shrink)

This paper is intended to draw the main theoretical lines of the notion of value, in order to avoid some flaws in the quantitative surveys on values as well as in some qualitative studies of value judgements. Through a number of redefinitions based on a pragmatic approach, inspired not only by Dewey’s concept of ‘valuation’ but also by the new French pragmatic sociology and by the pragmatist trend in linguistics, it tries to specify the conditions under which sociology can address (...) the notion of ‘value’ while avoiding their reduction to scholarly supports for morals or normative guides for action and evaluation. Meanwhile, it tries to construct a unified concept of value that would work for all the concerned disciplines: not only sociology but also economics, psychology, anthropology, and even philosophy. (shrink)

Yona Waksman, Véronique François Vers une redéfinition typologique et analytique des céramiques byzantines du type Zeuxippus Ware p. 629-724 La vaisselle de table du type Zeuxippus Ware fait a priori partie des catégories de céramiques byzantines les mieux connues. Très largement diffusée sur les territoires de l'Empire byzantin mais aussi dans toute la Méditerranée et en mer Noire, à la fin du XIIe siècle et au début du XIIIe, elle sert couramment de « marqueur » des niveaux archéologiques pour cette (...) époque. Ces dernières années, la multiplication des découvertes et les difficultés d'attribution au groupe initial ont montré les limites de la typologie établie en 1968 par A. H. S. Megaw. Aussi nous a-t-il semblé nécessaire de reconsidérer cet ensemble suivant le point de vue des analyses chimiques de la pâte permettant de rassembler sur des bases plus sûres des vases correspondant à une même production. Cette étude à grande échelle propose une mise au point sur la question en mettant en parallèle les caractéristiques typologiques et stylistiques et les compositions chimiques et minéralogiques des pâtes d'un large échantillonnage de Zeuxippus Ware et assimilées ainsi que des échantillons de productions locales associées sur des sites choisis à travers toute la Méditerranée et la mer Noire. (shrink)

Jacques Derrida coined the term “transcendental violence” to account for a kind of violence that begins as soon as the other appears to us. This “original” violence is paired with a betrayal of the other’s singularity since language and phenomenality impose meaning upon them. Despite Derrida’s efforts to question the idea that violence stems from an originally peaceful state, his account does not provide any explanation of violence as a lived experience, nor does it elaborate on how it is lived (...) by the ego. In this essay, I will try to reappropriate the concept of transcendental violence and link it with that of shame, which I will define here as an objectifying glance that has consequences on the ego’s behavior. I will argue that the link between violence and shame can be appreciated by paying attention to the way the ego assumes the objectifying glance. (shrink)

Because biologization of psychiatric constructs does not involve derivation of laws, or reduce the number of entities involved, the traditional term of ‘reduction’ should be replaced. This paper describes biologization in terms of redefinition, which involves changing the definition of terms sharing the same extension. Redefinition obtains through triangulation and calibration, that is, respectively, detection of an object from two different spots, and tweaking parameters of detection in order to optimize the picture. The unity of the different views (...) of the same object does not occur through derivation from one of them, as reduction suggests, nor does it obtain through mechanistic unity or the goal of explaining one mechanism, as the phrase ‘mosaic unity’ suggests. Instead, it depends on finding a specific angle of observation, from which linguistic consistency matches sound localization in the brain, so that all observations make sense together, just as an anamorphic picture makes clear sense only when observed from the right spot. (shrink)

Since the 1970s, there has been rapid and wide ranging development in the field of new reproductive technologies (NRT). With donor insemination (DI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF), previously infertile couples have been given new hope and the chance to have children. A more recent addition to these new methods of reproduction has been the combination of DI and IVF with surrogate mother arrangements.[1] This technique has subtly changed the realm of reproduction, for with the addition of a third party (...) (the surrogate) to the reproductive environment, the nature of motherhood, fatherhood, and the allocation of parental rights and duties has come into question.... In other words, has commercial surrogacy changed the traditional Western understanding of motherhood and does it do an injustice to the surrogate, the contracting mother, and/or women in general? I will argue that the fragmentation of the legal concept of ‘mother’ has created a range of social and ethical problems that need to be addressed; nevertheless, the basic societal definition of ‘motherhood’ remains substantially unchanged. (shrink)

The public sphere plays a crucial role in the functioning of liberal democracy. As a sphere conceived ideally independent of state control and economic influence, it serves as the sounding board of social and political concerns, where communications take place, ideas are exchanged, and arguments are put forward. The liberal notion of the public sphere relies on values such as inclusivity, transparency, equality, and rationality. This paper explores the limits of the liberal notion of the public sphere by looking into (...) the recent media transformation, which blurry the boundary between public and private, change the form and content of the circulation of information, and are decoupling the communicative from the political realm. Taken together these media transformation ask for a reconsideration of the dominant model of the public sphere. (shrink)

This article suggests a sensitising definition of political friendship with the view of using the concept in empirical research. I begin by identifying three tendencies in the recent literature on political friendship: (1) the tendency to ignore historical developments that rendered modern friendship an intimate relationship; (2) the construction of modern friendship as hermetically sealed in the private sphere; and (3) the conceptual conflation of relationship types. Consequently, friendship is emptied of substantive relational content, while political ‘friendship’ is promoted from (...) metaphor to denotative concept. I critique that approach by drawing on Maria Márkus’s account of friendship, which emphasises its historically contingent, ambiguous position between the private and the public spheres whence friendship offers vital utopian potentials in respect of public life: friendship instantiates mutual self-determination and gives experiential substance to ‘decency’. Combining Márkus’s with a differentiating approach to friendship that takes its lead from Siegfried Kracauer, I go on to propose a preliminary redefinition of political friendship as a personal relationship, as well as the substitution of political friendship by democratic solidarity with ‘decency’ its guiding orientation. (shrink)

Strangely enough, Kant still serves to represent not only “the good German” but also “the good European.” This state of affairs comes perhaps most clearly to the fore in Robert Kagan's Of Paradise and Power. Written in the wake of the Iraq War, this political essay aligns the U.S. administration's willingness to refer to military action with Hobbes, while contrasting it with a “postmodern” European policy, the alleged Kantianism of which is marked by a refusal to resort to force, preferring (...) instead a formal proceduralism in international relations. The difference between the United States and Europe thus comes down to.. (shrink)

This article answers the question, How can we build capacity for the development of a critical democratic citizenry? This is achieved by generally describing postmodern society, and by introducing the idea of evolutionary consciousness as the next step in meeting the needs of a postmodern society. Secondly, the current nature of education is described, which is followed by a redefinition of education within the context of a critical ideal. The discussion concludes with a presentation of the pragmatics of building (...) capacity for the development of a critical democratic citizenry through a redefinition of education. (shrink)

Definitional problems in the law of rape prompted the recommendation by the Home Office Sex Offences Review Team (Setting the Boundaries: Reforming the law on sex offences, 2000) that the ‘defence’ of mistaken belief in the victim's consent should be denied to defendants unable to show that they took reasonable procedural care to establish consent: such failure would have amounted to recklessness. This article contends that this proposal did not go far enough in recognizing the moral culpability of those who (...) make unreasonable mistakes in this context, but went too far in characterizing all those making such mistakes as reckless. It contends that the mens rea of rape should be defined in terms of three degrees of culpability: first degree rape would require knowledge as to the absence of consent, whilst second degree rape would need proof of recklessness as to whether the victim consents. Third degree—i.e. negligent—rape would be subject to a defence of mistaken belief in consent, provided it could be shown that the mistake was neither procedurally nor substantively negligent. The provisions of the Government's Sexual Offences Bill, 2003, are also found wanting; they will create a law in danger of generating miscarriages of justice whilst failing to perform the law's educative function of registering the wrongness of rape. (shrink)

L’article rend compte d’un dispositif de la « clinique de la multiplicité » mis à la disposition notamment de familles dont la construction identitaire et le lien parent-enfant ont été mis à mal par un contexte de migration forcée. À travers l’exemple de la rencontre clinique d’une mère et de deux adolescents khmers dont l’histoire, marquée par le génocide de l’Angkar, a voulu effacer le noyau identitaire – constitué de tous les éléments de transmission qui font ce que l’on est (...) –, l’auteure montre qu’un « travail de migration » est nécessaire pour permettre à chacun, adolescents et parents, de passer d’un état d’être à un autre et de se reconnaître héritiers des différents mondes dont ils sont issus. La co-construction d’un récit fondateur permettra la restauration psychique en passant par la redéfinition symbolique de leur acte de naissance, sorte de mythe pourvoyeur de sens de leur existence. (shrink)

(1996). The notion of citizenship in France and its redefinition. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 575-579.

The traditional conception and validation of state identity, if not legitimacy, has in recent decades, so argues Jason Royce Lindsey, undergone profound alterations in response to novel transformat...

This article provides an ethnographic account of pediatric cochlear implantation, revealing an important shift in the definition of deafness from a sensory loss to a neurological processing problem. In clinical and long-term therapeutic practices involved in pediatric implantation, the cochlear implant is recast as a device that merely provides access to the brain. The “real” treatment emerges as long-term therapeutic endeavors focused on neurological training. This redefinition then ushers in an ensuing responsibility to “train the brain,” subsequently displacing failure (...) from the device onto the individual’s ability to train his or her brain. New caregiving techniques that accompany implantation are understood through neuropolitics, showing how parents are encouraged to engage in neuro-self-governance, and how the concept of neuroplasticity is used to cultural ends. (shrink)

Transhumanism has enormous effect on temporary philosophical thought by forcing philosophers to take on many intellectual challenges. Not only philosophers deal with transhumanism but also scientists who try to create technological solutions that enable implementation of transhumanistic ideas. The question is whether all these ideas will be realized. The purpose of the article is to show that not all transhumanist aspirations can be put into practice. The first reason is that transhumanism limits human’s understanding to the material dimension. While this (...) is understandable in the naturalistic paradigm, this approach is insufficient when it comes to all complexity of human being and for this reason tanshumanism represents too narrow a human’s understanding to be able to implement its all assumptions. The second reason is that to enable people to become posthumans the latest technologies would have to be available to everyone and this seems impossible. If so, such a situation will divide people into ordinary people and posthumans and this could lead to conflicts that transhumanists want to avoid after all. Finally, the body-mind problem is essentially limited to emergentism, which corresponds to the naturalistic paradigm. It seems, however, that without the concept of the soul it is impossible to understand who a man is, his/her identity and consciousness and this is crucial for mind uploading. (shrink)

This article answers the question, How can we build capacity for the development of a critical democratic citizenry? This is achieved by generally describing postmodern society, and by introducing the idea of evolutionary consciousness as the next step in meeting the needs of a postmodern society. Secondly, the current nature of education is described, which is followed by a redefinition of education within the context of a critical ideal. The discussion concludes with a presentation of the pragmatics of building (...) capacity for the development of a critical democratic citizenry through a redefinition of education. (shrink)

Despite formal decolonization, a global coloniality continues to exist : multiple and interrelated forms of domination based on gender, race, sexual practices, language, spirituality, etc. The decolonization of the world requires a new politics, beyond the assertions of identity in cultural studies and labor relations in Marxism. This new politics must give full scope to situated knowhow, and open up a geopolitics of knowledge. It is less a matter of taking power than of inventing collective institutions, both local and global.

Devant des enjeux économiques et écologiques majeurs, les sociétés comme le Québec font face aujourd’hui à une exigence forte de transition écolo­gique de leurs structures économiques et énergétiques. Parmi l’ensemble des ques­tions d’ordre pratique soulevées par cette transition, celle qui a trait à son financement est l’une des plus épineuses. Dans le contexte actuel, où les finances publiques sont exsangues et où les fonctions économiques de l’État sont en redé­finition, des innovations permettant de mobiliser l’épargne capitalisée dans les fonds privés (...) seront vraisemblablement appelées à contribuer à la transition qui s’amorce. Ces innovations, qui peuvent tirer profit des apports de la finance res­ponsable, sont basées sur un élargissement de l’horizon d’investissement, tant sur la durée que sur le processus d’analyse des choix de placement. Cet élargissement des perspectives permet aux épargnants et aux gestionnaires de fonds de reconsi­dérer les externalités importantes d’un modèle de croissance à haute intensité carbonique et de soutenir la transition écologique. (shrink)

In this article, I focus on Nietzsche’s critique of genius in Human, all too human (1878) and on the redetermination of his approach to artistic phenomena in Mixed opinions and maxims (1879) in order to highlight the unique perspective Nietzsche develops in these texts on the relationship between work and author. By criticizing the excessive place given to the artist in the «superstition of genius», and then by formulating a conception of art on the basis of the rejection of the (...) primacy of works of art, Nietzsche avoids breaking the bond tying the author to his work in order to make the bond itself the object of his reflection, in a view of art as transfiguration applied to one’s own existence. In this study I propose a new reading of his critique of genius, which places it within the continuity of his reflection on art and which highlights the transformations undergone by the two functions, cognitive and palliative, that Nietzsche first attributes to art and genius in keeping with Schopenhauer and Wagner. (shrink)