The system of clinical ethics committees (CECs) in the United Kingdom is based on goodwill. No formal requirements exist as to constitution, membership, range of expertise or the status of their recommendations. Healthcare professionals are not obliged to use CECs where they exist, nor to follow any advice received. In addition, the make-up of CECs suggests that ethics itself may be under-represented. In most cases, there is one member with a training in ethics – the rest are healthcare professionals or (...) administrators, although a lawyer is generally also included in the membership. This begs the question as whether CECs can ‘do ethics’, as well whether or not they can take seriously the requirements of due process, formal justice and human rights. Moreover, the role of the patient in this system is opaque. (shrink)

Saunders has recently claimed that “identical quantum particles” with an anti-symmetric state (fermions) are weakly discernible objects, just like irreflexively related ordinary objects in situations with perfect symmetry (Black’s spheres, for example). Weakly discernible objects have all their qualitative properties in common but nevertheless differ from each other by virtue of (a generalized version of) Leibniz’s principle, since they stand in relations an entity cannot have to itself. This notion of weak discernibility has been criticized as question begging, but we (...) defend and accept it for classical cases likes Black’s spheres. We argue, however, that the quantum mechanical case is different. Here the application of the notion of weak discernibility indeed is question begging and in conflict with standard interpretational ideas. We conclude that the introduction of the conceptual resource of weak discernibility does not change the interpretational status quo in quantum mechanics. (shrink)

Critical literatures, and public discourses, on public health policies and practices often present fixated concerns with paternalism. In this paper, rather than focus on the question of whether and why intended instances of paternalistic policy might be justified, we look to the wider, real-world socio-political contexts against which normative evaluations of public health must take place. We explain how evaluative critiques of public health policy and practice must be sensitive to the nuance and complexity of policy contexts. This includes sensitivity (...) to the ‘imperfect’ reach and application of policy, leading to collateral effects including collateral paternalism. We argue that theoretical critiques must temper their demandingness to real-world applicability, allowing for the detail of social and policy contexts, including harm reduction: apparent knock-down objections of paternalism cannot hold if they are limited to an abstract or artificially-isolated evaluation of the reach of a public health intervention. (shrink)

Although one can endorse the complexity of the data and processes that Phillips & Singer (P&S) review, their mathematical suggestions can be compared critically with cases in nonlinear psychophysics, where the theoretician is faced with analogous problems. Owing to P&S's failure adequately to recognise both the intricate properties of nonlinear dynamics in networks and the constraints of metabolic demands on the temporal generation of patterns in biological nets their conclusions fail to meet the problems they properly address.

V.K.: Aleksandr Mitrofanovich, as is well known, 25 December 2001 was the sixtieth anniversary of the reestablishment of the Philosophy Faculty within the structure of the M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University. The Moscow Institute of History, Philosophy, and Literature was incorporated into MGU. Even before the war you were a student at MIFLI, and after the war ended you returned to what had become the Philosophy Faculty of MGU. Tell us, please, about your youth before the war and about your (...) participation in the Great Patriotic War. (shrink)

Ausgehend von der, von Journalisten und Musikern immer wieder bemühten Metapher des 'Black CNN' wird versucht, das Potenzial der musikalischen Ausdrucksform des HipHop als Kommunikationsstruktur der Schwarzen Minderheit in den USA zu analysieren. Nach einer historisch-kulturellen Erläuterung, die sich mit der Tradition der Reflektion sozialer und politischer Aspekte in den unterschiedlichen musikalischen Äußerungen der Schwarzen Volksgruppe in den USA beschäftigt und schon ansatzweise die Bedeutung dieser Ausdrucksmöglichkeit im Kontext eines 'internal colonialsm' vor Augen führt, werden jene soziodemographischen Entwicklungen nachvollziehbar gemacht, (...) die sich als zentraler Kritikpunkt in den verbalen Artikulationen des HipHop widerspiegeln. Bestehende mediale Dysfunktionen hinsichtlich der Repräsentation von Angehörigen der Schwarzen Minderheit werden mit einem entsprechenden Fallbeispiel belegt. Vor dem theoretischem Hintergrund von 'cultural citizenship' - ein Konzept zur Bestimmung kultureller Teilhabe in der Mediengesellschaft -, werden 25 Textbeispiele, die sich auf HipHop-Veröffentlichungen von 1982 bis 2004 finden, auf ihre Übereinstimmung mit Indikatoren untersucht, die sich aus, den Medien zugeschriebenen, politischen und sozialen Funktionen ableiten lassen. Die angewandte Inhaltsanalyse lässt zahlreiche Entsprechungen erkennen, die sich zum Teil in komplexen, der Kritik- und Kontrollfunktion bzw. Integrationsfunktion der Medien zuzuordnenden Inhalten äußern. (shrink)

Médecins Sans Frontières is not morally required to continue providing the same therapeutic and preventative interventions for lead poisoning in Nigeria in the face of conditions that negatively impact on the achievement of their objectives. Nevertheless, Médecins Sans Frontières may have reasons to revise their objectives and adopt different interventions or methods.

The essays collected together in this volume, many of them written by leading scholars in the field, explore the commonsensical fact that our presence as..

_ Source: _Volume 40, Issue 1, pp 104 - 115 It is intended in this study to present initial reliability and validity data for the Russian adaptation of the Multidimensional Inventory of Religious/Spiritual Well-being, as being related to personality factors and psychopathology. Therefore, the first version of the MI-RSWB-R was applied to a sample of 192 non-clinical subjects, together with the NEO Five Factor Inventory and the Symptom-Check-List. The original six-factor structure of the scale could be replicated for the MI-RSWB-R, (...) which also provides satisfying psychometric properties. In accordance with previous research the RSWB total score was linked to more favorable personality traits such as Extraversion, Openness to Experience, and Agreeableness, which was paralleled by substantial negative correlations with increased psychopathology. Our findings support the reliability and structural validity of the MI-RSWB-R as a standardized instrument for addressing the spiritual dimension in Russian populations. Further research in clinical surroundings is now recommended. (shrink)

Summary If action theory is to be relevant for the study of social phenomena, its scope has to be enlarged so as to include social structures. A hermeneutic theory of action, which draws on the thoughts of Gadamer, Merleau-Ponty, Ricoeur and Giddens, can meet this requirement. The hermeneutic concept of action, which emphasises the importance of tradition, style and rituals, demonstrates that action and structure presuppose and explain each other. The mutual relationship between action and structure is particularly clear in (...) theories of human development in the domain of psychology, psychotherapy and education. These theories can be used to construct a theory of social evolution, as has been developed by Habermas. By integrating structural, theoretical and critical points of view, a hermeneutic theory of action opens a perspective in which action theory and social theory might be successfully combined. (shrink)

Being attentive to the needs of others, feeling responsible for each other, and taking care are necessary elements for the good life. Care, however, is a fragile activity: it is hard to predict its results. In this article, Homer's story of the Phaeacians bringing Odysseus back to Ithaca is interpreted to investigate what care could be when we admit the fragility of care. We consider two theoretical perspectives on care to interpret the story, namely Martha Nussbaum’s Aristotelian ethics, and the (...) Ethics of Care approach of authors like Ruddick, Sevenhuijsen, Tronto, Verkerk and others. In the first approach, the emphasis is on the attitude of care; in the second, on care as a social practice. Following Nussbaum, the caring response of the Phaeacians can be understood as an example of what Aristotle called ‘practical rationality’. The unexpected result of their care – they come into conflict with Poseidon – shows the fragility of human life and the tragic condition of humanity. According to Nussbaum, one should take responsibility for the fact that choosing for the one implies neglecting the other . From the perspective of Ethics of Care, the caring response is not so much the result of individual virtues; it is rather an element of a care practice that motivates people to act in conformity with basic values like solidarity and responsibility. The fragility of care is regarded as an ordinary quality of praxis and humanity rather than something essentially tragic. In the process of caring, misfortunes can never be totally prevented. Whenever they happen, they should be used as a way to learn and develop more adequate ways of handling the situation. The comparison of the two perspectives, both inspired by Aristotle's philosophy, gives rise to a richer view of the fragility of care. (shrink)