This volume is a comprehensive survey of contemporary thought on a wide range of issues and provides students with the basic background to current debates in metaphysics.

Entry on "Neuroenhancement" in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Online.

BackgroundTranscranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is an FDA approved treatment for major depression, migraine, obsessive compulsive disorder, and smoking addiction. TMS has gained popular media support, but media coverage and commercial reporting of TMS services may be contributing to the landscape of ethical issues.MethodsWe explore the differences between the academic and print media literature portrayals of TMS to evaluate their ethical impact for the public. We performed a comprehensive literature review using PubMed and NexisUni databases to evaluate the literature available on (...) TMS from 2014 to 2019. Our sample consisted of 1632 academic articles and 468 print media articles for a total of 2100 articles. We then coded each article for seven specific top-level codes: (1) type of source, (2) year of publication, (3) purpose of TMS application, (4) age of subjects, (5) population, (6) overall tone, and (7) specification of TMS parameters. We also made some additional notes of the TMS parameters where specified and the breakdown of mental health applications.ResultsOur results indicated several discrepancies between the academic and the print media reporting about TMS technology, particularly with regards to tone and specificity. Namely, the academic sample was largely neutral and specific about the parameters under which TMS was being applied, while the print media sample was heavily optimistic and presented the application of TMS with far less specificity. There was some convergence between the two samples, such as the focus of both on therapy as the predominant TMS application.ConclusionsWe call upon the academic community to increase scrutiny of TMS services in order to ensure that people’s knowledge of health technologies is not unduly influenced by sensational claims and a general lack of adequate information. (shrink)

The concept of person arises in the conjunction of Greek Philosophy carried out by Saint Augustine. Both men and women are persons because they carry the image of God in their soul. The desire of Happiness, Truth and Good show the longings of the personal being.

Saint Augustine conception of freedom forges through his polemics with Manichees and Pelagians. Augustine defends the existence of freedom against the Manichees and he considerates it the real cause of evil or sin as well as capable of obteining merits. Face to Pelagians he affirms that liberum arbitrium needs God grace to do good arriving to a more perfect freedom, libertas, which consists in the need to do the good. The goal of freedom is God, man's highest good and happiness.

Resumen: El propósito de este artículo es explorar en el contexto de Shanghái la manera en que se revelan, definen y cuestionan las distancias y las cercanías entre las culturas china y española a través de los lienzos pictóricos de Juan Antonio Baños. Su nomadismo o condición de extranjero va a plantear algunas dudas sobre la identidad y el lugar que el artista ocupa en el mundo contemporáneo, además de sugerir algunos patrones según los cuales las fronteras desaparecen, mientras que (...) otras nuevas son erigidas. El mero gesto de Baños de traducir los trazos encontrados en la ciudad de Shanghái por medio de un tejido de dislocaciones y citaciones incita una sinfonía heterogénea de espacios y tiempos variados que amplifican las posibilidades de conocimiento artístico entre Oriente y Occidente. Ante el análisis de un panorama poscolonial contemporáneo que va del hiperrealismo barroco a una epistemología retro futurista de la ciudad, pasando por el arte pop kitsch, el artículo muestra como este itinerario de traducción transcultural nos desplaza hacia un periodo post-paradigmático.: The purpose of this article is to explore in the context of Shanghai in regards to the distances and closeness between Chinese and Spanish cultures are revealed, defined and questioned, through the pictorial canvases of Juan Antonio Baños. His nomadism or status as a foreigner will raise some doubts about the identity and the place that the artist occupies in the contemporary world. In addition, the contemporaneity of his work suggests some effects according to which the borders disappear, while new ones are erected. The mere gesture of Baños´ artwork in attempting to translate the traces of Shanghai by means of a world of dislocations and citations incites a heterogeneous symphony of varied spaces and times that amplify the possibilities of artistic knowledge between East and West. Drawing from the analysis of a postcolonial framework that stretches from baroque hyperrealism to retro-futurist epistemologies of the city, right up to a kitsch pop art, the article claims that this translatable cultural itinerary displaces the ways of understanding contemporary art in China towards a post-paradigmatic period. (shrink)

Tocqueville conceives early his concept of political participation, within a particular philosophical context: the theory of civilization elaborated by his teacher, Guizot. In that context, Tocqueville outlines his theory of aristocratic civilization, in connection with the Germanic sense of liberty. His concept of democratic civilization is actually an analysis of the several layer which compose the European idea of democratic liberty. The American sense of municipal liberty keeps some traces of the aristocratic political civilization. It is a rare result of (...) history, which clashes with modern rationalism and its universalistic tendency. (shrink)

Professor Leonardo Polo's theory about man as a dweller constitutes the framework for a dialogue with Marx. According to the latter, man realizes himself as species through work, creating his own conditions for survival by dwelling in the world. Furthermore this process presuposses that technical progress will have a historical culmination. According to Polo, neither can we view man as a finished product now nor in the future, nor can modern technology warrant such a culmination.

One of the fundamental events in the life of Saint Augustine was its encounter with Cicero. The reading of the dialogue Hortensius led St. Augustine to study Philosophy. Cicero provided him with a vague concept of Wisdom that made him see that happiness is not in the material but in the spiritual world. However Saint Augustine was disappointed by the probabilism of Cicero in subjects as important as God, the immortality of human soul..., questions on which the Christian doctrine has (...) a valuable answer. Somehow Cicero's dialogue Hortensius brought Saint Augustine to Christian thought. (shrink)

La concepción agustiniana de la libertad se va fraguando al hilo de sus polémicas con los maniqueos y pelagianos. Agustín defiende la existencia de la libertad frente a los maniqueos y la considera la causante del mal o pecado así como capaz de méritos. Frente a los pelagianos afirma que el liberum arbitrium necesita de la gracia de Dios para hacer el bien y de este modo llegar a un grado más perfecto de libertad, la libertas, que consiste en le (...) necesidad de hacer el bien. La meta de la libertad no es otra que Dios, sumo Bien y felicidad para el hombre. (shrink)

The concept of person arises in the conjunction of Greek Philosophy carried out by Saint Augustine. Both men and women are persons because they carry the image of God in their soul. On bearing the mind God's mark in its memory, it will wish for happiness. On bearing God's mark in its intelligence, it will wish for Truth and on bearing God's mark in its will it will wish for the Good since the desire for happiness is a wish or (...) remembrance of God, the desire for Truth is a wish of God because He is the Truth, and the desire of Good and Beauty is a wish of God because He is the highest Good and the supreme Beauty. Human being's strongest motivations: happiness, truth, good and beauty, they all just come from being a person, from being the brightest bearer of the Trinitarian image which, on leaving its mark on him, at the same time marks the direction of his deepest desire. The anchorage of those metaphysical desires of man is in God and they can be thought of as anthropological universals. (shrink)

Students are expected to develop the intellectual capacity needed to accurately portray other world societies. Few research studies in social studies education, however, draw on a systematic textbook analysis to investigate global perspectives on non-Western societies such as those found in African nations. Situated in framing theory, this study employs a qualitative content analysis approach to examine textual and visual curricular representations of non-Western societies framed in the content of four U.S. world history/cultures and geography textbooks by considering specifically how (...) Nigeria, a very large, relatively wealthy and complex African nation, is represented. The results provide insights into curricular perspectives in U.S. classrooms about non-Western societies, particularly regarding national narratives. Deficit perspectives are the dominant frame so students are primed to construct social reality from the partial textual and visual information to which they are exposed in their classrooms. The findings indicate a lack of research by both textbook authors and publishers into the contents of the texts, which has the potential to negatively affect students’ construction of narratives and civic competence. This study contextualizes its results in visual literacy, cross-cultural behaviors, global perspectives, and attributes of global citizenship. (shrink)

To test the notion that shifts in visual imagery and attention are correlated with experiences of emotion, we studied 10 dream reports using an affirmative probe of emotion and a quantitative measure of plot discontinuity. We found that emotion, especially changes in emotion, are correlated with discontinuities in visual imagery. These correlations are quantified using a new graph theoretical method for analyzing narrative reports.

In his 1923 play R.U.R.: Rossum s Universal Robots, Karel Capek coined In 1993, we began a humanoid robotics project aimed at constructing a robot for use in exploring theories of human intelligence. In this article, we describe three aspects of our research methodology that distinguish our work from other humanoid projects. First, our humanoid robots are designed to act autonomously and safely in natural workspaces with people. Second, our robots are designed to interact socially with people by exploiting natural (...) human social cues. Third, we believe that robotics offers a unique tool for testing models of human intelligence drawn from developmental psychology and cognitive science. (shrink)

The ecofeminist cosmologies of Indian scientist Vandana Shiva and Catholic theologian Ivone Gebara are examined. At the centre of each author’s discourse is their feminist epistemology that occasion a new way of knowing, incorporating each thinker’s social locations as nexus for authority. For Shiva, the feminine principle of Prakriti, or the awareness of nature as a living, interdependent force, is realized through the inclusion of women as sources of expertise and knowledge. Gebara rejects classical theology and philosophy as androcentric, anthropocentric, (...) and hierarchical. Instead Gebara envisions a revised epistemology of inclusivity with emphasis on multiplicity and unity initiated by an ecofeminist Trinitarian cosmology. Taken together Shiva and Gebara provide an epistemology that privileges the paradox of unity through diversity and difference as a solution to society’s current ecological crises. (shrink)

The American Journal of Bioethics, Volume 11, Issue 9, Page 18-20, September 2011.

The residency years comprise the last period of a physician’s formal training. It is at this stage that trainees consolidate the clinical skills required for independent practice and achieve a level of ethical development essential to their work as physicians, a process known as professional identity formation (PIF). Ethics education is thought to contribute to ethical development and to that end the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) requires that formal ethics education be integrated within all postgraduate (...) specialty training programs. However, a formal ethics curriculum can operate in parallel with informal and hidden ethics curricula, the latter being more subtle, pervasive, and influential in shaping learner attitudes and behavior. This paper reports on a study of the formal, informal, and hidden ethics curricula at two postgraduate psychiatry programs in Canada. Based on the analysis of data sources, we relate the divergences between the formal, informal, and hidden ethics curricula to two aspects of professional identity formation (PIF) during psychiatry residency training. The first is the idea of group membership. Adherence to the hidden curriculum in certain circumstances determines whether residents become part of an in-group or demonstrate a sense of belonging to that group. The second aspect of PIF we explore is the ambiguous role of the resident as a student and a practitioner. In ethically challenging situations, adherence to the messages of the hidden curriculum is influenced by and influences whether residents act as students, practitioners, or both. This paper describes the hidden curriculum in action and in interaction with PIF. Our analysis offers a complementary, empirical perspective to the theoretical literature concerning PIF in medical education. This literature tends to position sound ethical decision-making as the end result of PIF. Our analysis points out that the mechanism works in both directions: how residents respond to hidden curriculum in ethics can be a driver of professional identity formation. (shrink)

As A. B. Lloyd points out, the passage from Herodotus which includes this sentence is the most important non-Egyptian commentary on Ancient Egyptian shipbuilding. In the years following the discovery of the Dynasty IV ships buried beside Khufu's pyramid at Giza , J. S. Morrison suggested a change in the translation of the word επκτωσαν. Traditionally, and in Lloyd's commentary, the verb μπακτω has been interpreted as meaning ‘to caulk’. Morrison, however, believes that επκτωσαν ought to refer to reinforcement of (...) a ship's fastenings with papyrus ropes. He bases this interpretation on the evidence of the Khufu boats, which are sewn through v-shaped mortises across the hull's width , and on the argument that caulking is better done from the outside. Lloyd has challenged this translation, but we would like to support it with some further evidence, in particular evidence of Egyptian shipbuilding practice. (shrink)

The long-running discourse on respect for human dignity and autonomy in the physician-patient relationship pertaining to persons with dementia (PwDs) is explored deeply in this paper through the use of a real-life case, to highlight the complex interplay between autonomy and best interest when it comes to a PwD's experiential and critical interests. Many scenarios and perspectives are described and applies to the case. However, there are a few perspectives, which are touched upon that could do with further scrutiny. Firstly, (...) it has been argued that rigid adherence to the advance directives of PwDs means that PwDs will be the only people who are not allowed to ever change their minds. This withdrawal of a fundamental freedom hardly accords with respect for human dignity, or for any residual autonomy that these individuals may still enjoy. Secondly, viewing this case through the lens of care ethics, and incorporating the recently proposed conceptual framework of anthropological vulnerability, may reveal valuable insights regarding care provision and caring physician-patient relationships. These perspectives would analyse the role of relational ontology, particularly in relation to significant others, significant communities, and caregivers. (shrink)