Este libro no es solo una ética para chicas, es también una llamada a los chicos para que se atrevan a transgredir de verdad: para que dejen de ponerse en el lugar de sus deseos y se pongan en el lugar de las demás. La filosofía nos enseña que lo importante son las preguntas que nos hacemos, siempre que formulemos bien nuestros interrogantes y nos preguntemos por el fundamento de nuestros proyectos. La ética, por su parte es una invitación a (...) ponerse en el lugar de los demás, y sucede que hasta ahora los hombres no se han puesto en el lugar de las mujeres. Con ellas ha valido casi todo: desde borrar su nombre y su historia hasta la violencia sexual. La filosofía y, con ella, la ética puede ayudarnos a comprender las enormes contradicciones a las que tienen que enfrentarse las mujeres en un mundo patriarcal al que los filósofos, aun sin haber estado a la altura, sí aportaron una manera de pensar crítica que nos ha llevado a ser conscientes de las desigualdades y a cuestionar el sistema. Ética para Celia nos invita a mirar de frente la realidad, el hecho de que nuestra vida se ha levantado sobre una doble verdad, con normas morales y fines vitales distintos para mujeres y hombres. Esta doble verdad se ha ido transformando, pero no ha desaparecido. A las jóvenes ya no se las socializa con idea de que sean para los demás, pero sí para ser deseables, que no deja de ser otra forma de ser para los otros. (shrink)

Últimamente se han desarrollado nuevos y estimulantes enfoques teóricos sobre los movimientos sociales. Este artículo se basa en las teorías que investigan el papel de los movimientos sociales como creadores de marcos de interpretación, de nuevos «marcos de injusticia» desde los que reinterpretar la realidad y subvertir los códigos culturales dominantes. Estas teorías se aplican a la reconstrucción del actual proceso de deslegitimación de la violencia contra las mujeres. Es posible objetivar tres momentos clave en la redefinición de un hecho (...) tan arraigado y casi universal como la violencia contra las mujeres. Partimos de la interpretación patriarcal de la violencia contra las mujeres para después reconstruir los tres pasos seguidos en la construcción de un nuevo marco interpretativo, el de la denominada violencia de género. (shrink)

John Stuart Mill es un autor que genera tanta fascinación y lealtad —por la asombrosa coherencia entre sus ideas, su vida y su práctica política— como indiferencia y paternalismo. En este último caso queda descalificado como un autor ecléctico, inclasificable, ni liberal ni socialista, ya lo había dicho Marx: «Mill, ese pequeño burgués bienpensante». Inmersos como estamos en las publicaciones que continúan celebrando el bicentenario de su nacimiento, es un buen momento para valorar por qué su figura y su obra (...) están ganando en profundidad y actualidad con el tiempo. En este artículo nos centramos en su filosofía política, una de las partes menos estudiadas y cada vez más reivindicada. En concreto en sus planteamientos sobre la democracia participativa y deliberativa y la demanda de extender sus principios a la esfera privada y la económica. (shrink)

Potential applications of genome editing in assisted reproductive technology (ART) raise a vast array of strong opinions, emotional reactions and divergent perceptions. Acknowledging the need for caution and respecting such reactions, we observe that at least some are based on either a misunderstanding of the science or misconceptions about the content and flexibility of the existing legal frameworks. Combining medical, legal and ethical expertise, we present and discuss regulatory responses at the national, European and international levels. The discussion has an (...) EU starting point and is meant as a contribution to the general international regulatory debate. Overall, this paper concludes that gene editing technologies should not be regulated autonomously. Rather, potential uses should be regulated under general, existing frameworks and where applicable by reference to sufficiently equivalent technologies and techniques already subject to specific regulation. To be clear, we do not argue for the hasty introduction of gene editing as a reproductive treatment option in the immediate future. We call for caution with regard to overreaching moratoria and prohibitions that will also affect basic research. We recommend flexible regulations that allow for further responsible research into the potential development of the technology. We call for an open and inclusive debate and argue that scientific communication should claim a more prominent role to counter the danger of widespread misinformation. A high level of transparency and accuracy should guide scientific communication while simultaneously global‐scale responsibility and governance should be fostered by promoting cross‐disciplinary thinking and multi‐level stakeholder involvement in legal and regulatory processes. (shrink)

Resumen: En este artículo reviso la interpretación de Eduardo Nicol de la teoría de la propiedad de Francisco Suárez. Para ello, presento la posición de Suárez acerca de la propiedad y la propiedad privada atendiendo dos cuestiones fundamentales. La primera es si la propiedad y la propiedad privada son derechos; la segunda es si ambos pertenecen a la naturaleza humana o no. Al final, argumento que la lectura de Nicol es insostenible, pues difícilmente puede admitirse que Suárez defendió algún tipo (...) de comunismo.: In this paper I revisit Eduardo Nicol’s interpretation of Suarez’s theory of property. To this purpose, I present Suárez’s account of property and private property focusing on two main aspects. The first is whether property and private property are rights; the second is whether they belong to the human nature or not. Finally, I argue that Nicol’s reading of Suárez is untenable for it can hardly be accepted that Suárez defended some kind of communism. (shrink)

ArgumentThis paper analyses a process of co-construction of knowledge and its multiple forms of communication in a country of the European periphery in the early twentieth century. It focuses on Lieutenant Manuel Soares de Melo e Simas, a politically engaged Portuguese astronomer, who moved from amateur to professional during the political transition from the monarchy to the republic. Melo e Simas paralleled his professional career in continuous activity of communicating science to the public in the context of republicanism in a (...) double way, by responding to the agenda of republicanism and by playing an active role in shaping it. He aimed at educating lay audiences in the various ways of astronomy, and he reached out to as many people as possible by exploring a multitude of communication channels, from lectures to articles in newspapers and journals. Voiced often within newly created republican institutions, the praxis and the ideas of Melo e Simas helped to mold the new republican scientific ethos. By going beyond mere emphasis on scientism and positivism, usually taken to be the defining characteristics of the new republican ethos, this paper argues that science and the specificities of its multiple forms of communication were central to the way Melo e Simas shaped the republican ideology. Furthermore, popularization of science was used to legitimize the status of professional scientists at the same time that it helped reinforce their institutional setting, still to be negotiated in the forthcoming decades through a complex process which deserves further historical analysis. (shrink)

The paper proposes a financial model suitable for ensuring the economic, financial and social sustainability of this basic protection. We have calculated the estimated cost for the Spanish population in 2010 and have estimated the cost for the following 12 years (three legislatures) under a range of demographic and economic assumptions. The results are then analysed to draw conclusions about the viability and sustainability of this basic social protection floor. A remarkable finding is that it is feasible to obtain greater (...) coverage, but by requiring contributions of the State or other financial resources. (shrink)

Grounded theory, a research method born out of the social sciences field, offers a flexible technique that allows simultaneous data collection and processing. Researchers using this method immerse themselves in an area of study, focusing their observations on the data and taking into consideration not only their own interpretations, but also those of the other subjects involved, in order to strengthen their understanding of the social phenomena under examination. This text briefly describes the concept of grounded theory and uses concrete (...) examples to illustrate how data are analysed from the standpoint of the stereotype as an object of study. La teoría fundamentada, nacida al interior de las ciencias sociales, es un método de investigación que posee una técnica flexible y que realiza simultáneamente la recolección y el procesamiento de los datos. En este método, el investigador se encuentra inmerso en el campo de estudio y sus observaciones se abocan al dato, considerando tanto su interpretación como la de los otros sujetos implicados, con la finalidad de fortalecer la comprensión del fenómeno social investigado. En este texto se describe brevemente la teoría fundamentada y cómo se analizan los datos mediante ejemplos concretos, que se presentan a partir del estereotipo como objeto de estudio. (shrink)

Artificial intelligence in all its developments is advancing faster than the capacity of institutions and organizations to offer legal, but also deontological responses: assuming the ethical implications of the new digital scenarios where technology learns from human routines to personalize content is fundamental from the academic, politicy and business spheres. This paper offers an interpretative framework of the evolution of smart speakers and voice assistants as tools for information singularization in parallel to the study of the European framework for the (...) creation of an ethics of ai. The results show an effort by institutions to respond to an unstoppable progress and demonstrate that ai cannot be addressed by legal regulation alone but is above all a matter of ethical preference. (shrink)

The present study aimed to analyze the stability of the memory of a stressful event (medical examination within a hospital setting) over time in young people (age range 12 to 21, Mage = 15.11 years old, SD = 3.047) with mild or moderate intellectual disability (IQ = 54.32, SD = 13.47). The results show a stability of the memory of what happened an hour and a week after the event in relation to the people involved, the apparatus used, and the (...) parts of the body explored. No interaction effects were found between the stability of memory over time and the level of intellectual disability. The level of disability (mild or moderate) only affected the description of the doctor who performed the exploration and the explored parts of the body, showing better results for people with mild disability. In addition, the results highlight the relationship between memory and IQ, especially verbal IQ. (shrink)

Despite the various perceptual-motor deficits documented in strabismus, there is a paucity of studies evaluating visual illusions in patients with strabismus. The aim of this study was to examine how the illusionary perception occurs in children/adolescents with strabismus with referral for surgery to correct ocular deviations. A controlled cross-sectional study was carried out in which 45 participants with strabismus and 62 healthy volunteers aged 10–15 years were evaluated. The behavioral response to three geometric illusions [Vertical-Horizontal illusion, Müller-Lyer illusion and Ponzo (...) illusion] and respective neutral stimuli regarding the estimation of image size and response time were measured using the Method of Adjustment. To analyze the influence of secondary factors: type of ocular deviation ; amount of eye deviation; presence of amblyopia and stereopsis, a one-way ANOVA was performed. Among the tested illusions, children with strabismus showed greater susceptibility and response time to Ponzo’s illusory images. Children with strabismus and preserved stereopsis, on the other hand, showed similar susceptibility and response time to control group patients to the Ponzo illusion. Patients with amblyopia showed overcorrection in the estimate of non-illusory Ponzo images. Children with horizontal ocular deviation associated with vertical deviation showed higher susceptibility to vertical adjustment images for the Müller-Lyer illusion. Individuals with strabismus tended to overcorrect the length of the straight-line segment adjusted for non-illusory images when testing non-illusory images in the Müller-Lyer test, as well as for the neutral images in the Vertical-Horizontal test. The findings indicated impairment in the perception of geometric illusions and neutral figures, especially for the Ponzo illusion test by children with strabismus. As the behavioral response to illusory images may indirectly reflect the visual and morphofunctional alterations present in these individuals, we suggest that the investigation of visual illusory perception can be used as a new research strategy in the field of investigating the visual function in strabismus. (shrink)

A partir da leitura de Os sofrimentos do jovem Werther, com base nos artigos de György Lukács e Miguel Vedda sobre esse romance de Goethe, e considerando o conjunto da obra de maturidade de Machado de Assis, quando o narrador assume a condução da narrativa guiando-a no ritmo frívolo e volúvel do capricho de classe, pretende-se investigar, neste texto, de que maneira a composição satírica de um narrador não confiável estabelece conexões entre esses dois escritores que deram forma sensível (...) à alienação de uma “consciência infeliz”. (shrink)

Dias de Nietzsche em Turim de Bressane / Dias / Miguel Angel de Barrenechea -- A atopia potente de Antonio das Mortes: pensamento original e perspectiva histórica / Rodrigo Guéron -- Dioniso é Brasileiro? / Selda Engelman -- Theatrum Mundi: Filosofia e canção / Olgária Chaim Matos -- Uma filosofia do amor em Cartola / Rosa Dias -- Música e diferença: uma crítica à escuta "desinteressada" do cotidiano / Samuel Araújo -- As estruturas dualísticas dos cantos ritualísticos dos Índios (...) Karajá: um reflexão sob a ótica filosófica de fundamentação nietzchiana / Suely Brígido -- Choque de intensidade na ética / Luiz B.L. Orlandi -- Por um filosofia artístico-rizomática da leitura / Daniel Lins -- Nietzsche, a negatividade e a antropofagia: do Cordeiro e da Ave da Rapina ao Jabuti / Maria Cristina Franco Ferraz -- Entre o teatro e a loucura: uma experiência de "esquizocenia" / Peter Pál Pelbart --. (shrink)

O escopo deste artigo consiste em analisar o problema da punição e como podemos justificar o dano intencional causado pelo Estado a um agente infrator no pensamento de Jeremy Bentham e na teoria utilitarista clássica. Para tal fim analisaremos a obra “Uma introdução aos princípios da moral e da legislação”, além de artigos de comentadores. O presente texto divide-se em cinco etapas, a saber, uma breve introdução, seguida de uma análise da proposta benthaniana e de sua concepção de Estado. Após, (...) destacaremos os aspectos positivos de assumir uma posição utilitarista de justificação da punição e, consequentemente, quais são as implicações negativas dessa proposta. Por fim, a título de considerações finais, parece-nos importante considerar alguns aspectos dessa proposta para o pensamento contemporâneo dos sistemas penais e sua legitimidade. (shrink)

Preposição 'ni' no português brasileiro do centro-oeste -- Deslizamentos funcionais do verbo ver na língua falada em goiás/Brasil -- Variação no uso do imperativo gramatical no falar goiano : fatores internos -- Educação linguística de pessoas surdas : uma proposta de práticas de letramento nas perspectivas da tradução transcultural em travessias sociolinguísticas -- Reflexão linguística e consciência morfossintática no ensino da concordância verbal -- A gramática em esfera escolar e o uso da anáfora pronominal acusativa a de 3a pessoa -- (...) Sobre os fundamentos teóricos e metodológicos presentes nas orientações oficiais para o ensino-aprendizagem de língua inglesa na educação básica brasileeira -- Concordância verbal sob a ótica da Aprendizagem linguística ativa : reflexôes sobre uma estratégia de comprensão do fenômeno por meio da identificação de princípios. (shrink)

This article explores medical responsibility and negligence from an ethical and legal perspective within the Colombian context. It highlights causes of negligence such as deficiencies in professional training and organizational problems. The article emphasizes "objective imputation as key to determining the criminal responsibility of the physician" (Alvarado D. 2019). The objectives include analyzing the current legal framework in Colombia and assessing the link between medical ethics and legal responsibility. The methodology builds upon a thorough examination of specialized literature, including peer-reviewed (...) scientific articles in medicine and law, as well as legal documents and ethical regulations. A targeted search was conducted across various bibliographic databases including Google Scholar, Redalyc, Scielo, Dialnet, Biomed Central, Miguel De Cervantes Virtual Library, and BVS virtual health library. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the biography of the Portuguese naturalist Francisco de Arruda Furtado, born on São Miguel Island, in the Azorean archipelago, in 1854, who became part of an international network of naturalists. Despite his short life, he produced original research on malacology (the study of molluscs), and from his youth Furtado claimed to be a disciple of Darwin. Informed by recent literature reflecting on the resurgence of biography in the history of science, the narrative of Furtado’s life (...) will take into consideration what it meant to be, and the implications of considering oneself, a disciple of Darwin in the nineteenth-century natural sciences. In the history of science, the concept of disciple has often been associated with research schools, but Darwin did not create one and never surrounded himself with young apprentices. In this paper we argue that in Furtado’s case, and in all probability in many others, in addition to being a scientific theory, evolution had the status of a doctrine. As such, Darwinian evolution had a strong ideological and political dimension. By propagating it among lay people it had the potential of changing attitudes individually and socially, while at the same time it provided the scientific foundations for social and political transformation. Consequently, in addition to scientific research based on Darwin’s theory, Furtado deeply engaged in proselytizing the natural sciences and Darwinian evolution, becoming representative of the importance of Darwin’s disciples in Furtado’s sense, in the reception and endorsement of evolution around the world, with repercussions beyond natural history. (shrink)

Vardanyan’s Theorems [36, 37] state that $\mathsf {QPL}(\mathsf {PA})$ —the quantified provability logic of Peano Arithmetic—is $\Pi ^0_2$ complete, and in particular that this already holds when the language is restricted to a single unary predicate. Moreover, Visser and de Jonge [38] generalized this result to conclude that it is impossible to computably axiomatize the quantified provability logic of a wide class of theories. However, the proof of this fact cannot be performed in a strictly positive signature. The system $\mathsf (...) {QRC_1}$ was previously introduced by the authors [1] as a candidate first-order provability logic. Here we generalize the previously available Kripke soundness and completeness proofs, obtaining constant domain completeness. Then we show that $\mathsf {QRC_1}$ is indeed complete with respect to arithmetical semantics. This is achieved via a Solovay-type construction applied to constant domain Kripke models. As corollaries, we see that $\mathsf {QRC_1}$ is the strictly positive fragment of $\mathsf {QGL}$ and a fragment of $\mathsf {QPL}(\mathsf {PA})$. (shrink)

In this paper I investigate which of the main conditions proposed in the moral responsibility literature are the ones that spell trouble for the idea that Artificial Intelligence Systems could ever be full-fledged responsible agents. After arguing that the standard construals of the control and epistemic conditions don’t impose any in-principle barrier to AISs being responsible agents, I identify the requirement that responsible agents must be aware of their own actions as the main locus of resistance to attribute that kind (...) of agency to AISs. This is because this type of awareness is thought to involve first-person or de se representations, which, in turn, are usually assumed to involve some form of consciousness. I clarify what this widespread assumption involves and conclude that the possibility of AISs’ moral responsibility hinges on what the correct theory of de se representations ultimately turns out to be. (shrink)

Surrogacy is an increasingly frequent form of family building and allows individuals to become parents despite an infertility diagnosis or a biological impossibility. Positive outcomes for both the surrogacy child and the surrogate mother have been reported, including in cases of same-sex male couples and single persons. There is an on-going debate because remuneration does not necessarily involve undue inducement of the surrogate or transformation of the child into a commodity. The right to regret and the doctors’ autonomy are also (...) addressed in this paper. Nevertheless, literature on surrogacy is scarce, and most of the existing studies have important methodological limitations, so further investigation is much needed. We believe that counselling should be granted for both intended parents and surrogate, in order to prevent the majority of problems. We also agree that parental vetting should be possible, focusing the doctor’s responsibility also in the future child. (shrink)

This paper aims to analyse how the discourse of CEO letters and other factors influence community involvement and Social Licence to Operate (SLO) in the mining industry. The analysis is based on qualitative information disclosed in sustainability reports and CEO letters from 32 mining firms. Content analysis was undertaken to obtain data for the study, and then a regression analysis and a multiple correspondence analysis were used to test the hypotheses defined in the study. The results indicate that the CEO (...) discourse influences how a firm expresses the importance of gaining its SLO, the philanthropic activities in which companies become involved and the destinations of the investments in the communities in which they operate. The results also show changes in the discourse between 2011 and 2015, which are, in part, explained by the difficult situation experienced by the sector during this period. The paper contributes to the Corporate Social Responsibility literature by integrating different theories from this field into the SLO framework. The analysis carried out and the results obtained are useful for both CEOs and Sustainability Managers, especially in managing their relationships with the communities where they operate or intend to operate. (shrink)

This paper aims to analyse how the discourse of CEO letters and other factors influence community involvement and Social Licence to Operate (SLO) in the mining industry. The analysis is based on qualitative information disclosed in sustainability reports and CEO letters from 32 mining firms. Content analysis was undertaken to obtain data for the study, and then a regression analysis and a multiple correspondence analysis were used to test the hypotheses defined in the study. The results indicate that the CEO (...) discourse influences how a firm expresses the importance of gaining its SLO, the philanthropic activities in which companies become involved and the destinations of the investments in the communities in which they operate. The results also show changes in the discourse between 2011 and 2015, which are, in part, explained by the difficult situation experienced by the sector during this period. The paper contributes to the Corporate Social Responsibility literature by integrating different theories from this field into the SLO framework. The analysis carried out and the results obtained are useful for both CEOs and Sustainability Managers, especially in managing their relationships with the communities where they operate or intend to operate. (shrink)

Digital COVID certificates are a novel public health policy to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. These immunity certificates aim to incentivize vaccination and to deny international travel or access to essential spaces to those who are unable to prove that they are not infectious. In this article, we start by describing immunity certificates and highlighting their differences from vaccination certificates. Then, we focus on the ethical, legal, and social issues involved in their use, namely autonomy and consent, data protection, equity, and (...) international mobility from a global fairness perspective. The main conclusion of our analysis is that digital COVID certificates are only acceptable if they meet certain conditions: that they should not process personal data beyond what is strictly necessary for the aimed goals, that equal access to them should be guaranteed, and that they should not restrict people’s autonomy to access places where contagion is unlikely. We conclude that, if such conditions are guaranteed, digital COVID certificates could contribute to mitigating some of the most severe socioeconomic consequences of the pandemic. (shrink)

In their recent article, Brownet alanalyse several ethical aspects around immunity passports and put forward some recommendations for implementing them. Although they offer a comprehensive perspective, they overlook two essential aspects. First, while the authors consider the possibility that immunological passports may appear to discriminate against those who do not possess them, the opposite viewpoint of immune people is underdeveloped. We argue that if a person has been tested positive for and recovered from COVID-19, becoming immune to it, she cannot (...) be considered a hazard to public health and, therefore, the curtailment of her fundamental rights (eg, the right to freedom of movement) is not legitimate. Second, they omit that vaccine distribution will create similar problems related to immunity-based licenses. Vaccine certificates will de facto generate a sort of immunity passport. In the next phases of the pandemic, different immunity statuses will be at stake, because the need to identify who can spread COVID-19 is unavoidable. If a person does not pose a threat to public health because she cannot spread the infection, then her right to freedom of movement should be respected, regardless of how she acquired that immunity. (shrink)

Potential applications of genome editing in assisted reproductive technology (ART) raise a vast array of strong opinions, emotional reactions and divergent perceptions. Acknowledging the need for caution and respecting such reactions, we observe that at least some are based on either a misunderstanding of the science or misconceptions about the content and flexibility of the existing legal frameworks. Combining medical, legal and ethical expertise, we present and discuss regulatory responses at the national, European and international levels. The discussion has an (...) EU starting point and is meant as a contribution to the general international regulatory debate. Overall, this paper concludes that gene editing technologies should not be regulated autonomously. Rather, potential uses should be regulated under general, existing frameworks and where applicable by reference to sufficiently equivalent technologies and techniques already subject to specific regulation. To be clear, we do not argue for the hasty introduction of gene editing as a reproductive treatment option in the immediate future. We call for caution with regard to overreaching moratoria and prohibitions that will also affect basic research. We recommend flexible regulations that allow for further responsible research into the potential development of the technology. We call for an open and inclusive debate and argue that scientific communication should claim a more prominent role to counter the danger of widespread misinformation. A high level of transparency and accuracy should guide scientific communication while simultaneously global‐scale responsibility and governance should be fostered by promoting cross‐disciplinary thinking and multi‐level stakeholder involvement in legal and regulatory processes. (shrink)

Angiogenesis plays an essential role in tumor growth, invasion and metastasis. After initial pessimism about the usefulness of the antiangiogenic therapeutic approach for cancer, interest has increased in the development of antiangiogenic compounds after the first clinical approval of an antiangiogenic therapy. The anti‐vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) antibody bevacizumab has recently been approved for use in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of metastatic colorectal and non‐small cell lung cancer patients. However, no survival benefit has been demonstrated in anti‐VEGF (...) monotherapy trials, probably due to the high complexity of tumor angiogenesis regulation. Experimental and clinical data, including the approval of the multitargeted drugs sunitinib and sorafenib, indicate that exciting results, including tumor regression, can be expected from the combined targeting of different pathways in the tumor angiogenesis scenario. Several obstacles, including the high cost of new molecular targeted drugs make this therapeutic approach difficult. BioEssays 29:1159–1168, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

The study of the relationship between reasoning and emotional processes is not new in Psychology. There are currently two main approaches to understanding the aspects related to these processes called emotional intelligence: the ability model and the trait model. This study focuses on the latter, analyzing the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire in a Brazilian sample. 4314 adults with ages ranging from 18 to 60 years answered the TEIQue and other online instruments measuring emotional (...) regulation, impulsiveness, alexithymia, loneliness, quality of life, positive and negative affect, personality traits, emotional perception, emotional understanding, and reasoning tests. The original four-factor structure of the TEIQue was replicated, Cronbach’s alphas ranged from 0.60 to 0.89 for the facets, and from 0.76 to 0.90 for the factors and global score. The correlations followed theoretically expected directions, showing a stronger pattern for self-report measures than for performance tasks. Our results corroborated previous studies with the TEIQue, confirming the psychometric adequacy of the instrument in the Brazilian context. Future studies may focus on participants with lower levels of education and additional external criteria, such as career preferences, job performance, and health. (shrink)

The notion of the human embryo is not immutable. Various scientific and technological breakthroughs in reproductive biology have compelled us to revisit the definition of the human embryo during the past 2 decades. Somatic cell nuclear transfer, oocyte haploidisation and, more recently, human stem cell-derived embryo models have challenged this scientific term, which has both ethical and legal repercussions. Here, we offer a legal perspective to identify a universally accepted definition of ‘embryo’ which could help to ease and unify the (...) regulation of such entities in different countries. (shrink)

Should we use human germline genome modification (HGGM) only when serious diseases are involved? This belief is the underlying factor in the article written by Kleiderman, Ravitsky and Knoppers to which I now respond. In my opinion, the answer to this question should be negative. In this paper, I attempt to show that there are no good reasons to think that this technology should be limited to serious diseases once it is sufficiently proven to be safe and efficient. In fact, (...) opting otherwise would negatively harm human beings’ right to the highest standard of health that unmodified embryos could promote. Therefore, the issue should not be so much to define adequately what a serious disease is, but rather to elucidate whether this concept should play any role beyond the context of preimplantation genetic testing (PGT). This paper argues that we should not accept the similarity between technologies such as PGT and HGGM because they face different challenges and offer totally different possibilities. Therefore, we are in urgent need to build a completely new ethical architecture that covers the application of germline editing in human embryos. As a part of that process, a much deeper debate on the necessity of distinguishing different disease types is required. (shrink)

The seat belt analogy argument is aimed at furthering the success of coercive vaccination efforts on the basis that the latter is similar to compulsory use of seat belts. However, this article demonstrated that this argument does not work so well in practice due to several reasons. The possibility of saving resources in health care does not usually apply in our societies, and the paternalist mentality that contributed to the implementation of seat belt–wearing obligation was predominant 30 years ago, but (...) it does not apply at this moment. Furthermore, the risk/benefit analysis is totally different in both scenarios. In the case of seat belts, there is no way to discriminate between the users. In the case of vaccines, individuals present with unique circumstances that may differ substantially from those of another and might be foreseen a priori. This means that an analysis must be performed individually before vaccination is imposed. Finally, one must keep in mind that seat belts are often the only way in which we can protect third parties against a tragic hit by the occupant of another vehicle and are very efficient tools for this purpose. Vaccines, in contrast, do not always create sterilising immunity and are definitely not the only way by which we can avoid spreading a virus; immunity certificates, isolation, or even confinement may also serve as viable methods to achieve this purpose. (shrink)