This article illuminates Nietzsche’s and Kafka’s spiritual kinship and its manifestation in Kafka’s story The Metamorphosis. Nietzsche’s role as a practitioner of “disruptive wisdom” serves as the point of departure for the examination of Gregor Samsa’s untimely and abrupt transformation into a giant vermin. The article explores Gregor’s development in light of Zarathustra’s parable of the three metamorphoses of the spirit, and it examines the relevance of the myth of the Way in the protagonist’s search for meaning. Central to this (...) discussion are Kafka’s and Nietzsche’s fascination with animal similes and Kafka’s modification of the Nietzschean metaphor of man as a rope. (shrink)

A national survey on researchers’ experiences with their institutional review boards (IRBs) is presented, focused exclusively on social and behavioral researchers. A wide range of experiences is apparent in the data, especially in terms of turnaround time for submitted protocols, incidence of data collection without prior IRB approval, and stated reasons for "going solo." Sixty-two percent felt that the turnaround time they typically experience is "reasonable," and 44% said they had not experienced long delays in obtaining approval. However, 48% of (...) respondents reported either conducting a project without IRB approval or modifying an existing project without IRB approval, with anticipated time for approval being the dominant reason offered for doing so. This adds a new dimension to the widely discussed "national IRB crisis" (e.g., Illinois White Paper, 2005). The article concludes with 2 preliminary recommendations for IRB reform. (shrink)

Volume 20, Issue 7, July 2020, Page 150-152.

Few areas of health law practice present as many quandaries for the ethical health lawyer as health care fraud and abuse. The activities addressed by the anti-fraud laws – such as payment for referrals and submission of false claims – not only have a direct impact on the financial viability of the federal health care programs, but go to the heart of the ethical behaviors expected of those who transact business with the government. The severe consequences of violating these proscriptions (...) include significant monetary penalties, ineligibility to participate in the federal health care programs, and even imprisonment. It is no wonder, then, that compliance with the fraud and abuse laws is a key consideration in any health care venture. At the same time, ethical considerations make this area of health law particularly vexing for counsel, raising numerous challenges that include how to balance the strategic goals of current clients against the interests of future clients and whether to advise clients to self-report potential violations even when illegal intent may not easily be shown. (shrink)

The end of Roe v. Wade has significant implications for the autonomy of pregnant patients at the end of life. At least thirty states restrict the choice to withhold/withdraw life-sustaining treatments from pregnant patients without decisional capacity, invalidating prior advance directives and prohibiting others from choosing these options for the patient. Many restrictions are based on the Roe framework, applying after “viability” or similar considerations of fetal development or prospect for live birth. Scholars have also relied on the abortion framework, (...) arguing that the restrictions impose an undue burden. The end of Roe will free states from having to craft limited restrictions designed to work around prior abortion jurisprudence. Similarly, advocates will no longer be able to draw support from the abortion framework, forcing them to rely instead on cases supporting rights to autonomy/bodily integrity in medical decision-making. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Objective: To describe how local research ethics committees (LRECs) consider and apply research ethics in the evaluation of biomedical research proposals. Design: A qualitative study was conducted using purposeful sampling, focus groups and a grounded theory approach to generate data and to analyse the work of the LRECs. Setting and participants: 11 LRECs of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS). Results: LRECs considered ethics to be implicit in all types of research, but that ethics reviews were only necessary (...) for projects that included the direct participation of human beings. The LRECs appeared to understand the importance of consent, as in the completion of a consent form, but did not emphasise the importance of the process of acquiring ‘informed’ consent. The committees considered their main roles or functions to be: (a) to improve the methodological quality of research and to verify – if applicable – the ethical aspects; (b) to encourage personnel to undergo research training; (c) to follow‐up research to oversee the adherence to norms and compliance with a specified research timetable. Conclusions: This study provides a valuable insight into how these LRECs understand the ethical review process. The emphasis of the committees was on rules, regulations, improving research methodology and research training, rather than a focus on efforts to protect the rights and well being of research subjects. The results encourage further normative and descriptive lines of investigation concerning education and the development of LRECs. (shrink)

LeShan L. and LeShan, E. Psychotherapy and the patient with a limited life span.--Kubler-Ross, E. On death and dying.--Kutscher, A. H. Anticipatory grief, death, and bereavement: a continuum.--Needleman, J. The moment of grief.--Lifton, R. J. On death and death symbolism: the Hiroshima disaster.--Nelson, B. The games of life and dances of death.--Sleeper, R. The resurrection of the body.--Friedman, M. Death and the dialogue with the absurd.--Wyschogrod, E. Sport, death, and the elemental.--Lamont, R. The double apprenticeship: life and the process of (...) dying--Selected bibliography (p. 225-235). (shrink)

H. Post's conception of quantal particles as non-individuals is set in a formal logico-mathematical framework. By means of this approach certain metaphysical implications of quantum mechanics can be further explored.

Der Mensch ist das einzige lebendige Wesen, das zu sich selbst »ich« sagen kann, d.h. ihm kommt die Fähigkeit zu, in rückbezüglicher Wendung auf sich von sich selbst Kenntnis zu gewinnen. Das den Menschen vor allen anderen Lebewesen Auszeichnende ist dieses Vermögen der Selbsterfassung, seine sich wissende Ichheit oder Personalität als Instanz der Selbst- und Sinnvergewisserung. Diese selbstbezügliche Verfaßtheit des Menschen als Person ist nun die Voraussetzung für das überraschende Phänomen, daß ein Wesen nach seiner eigenen Wesensverfassung zu fragen vermag, (...) ja beunruhigt über sich selbst, die Frage nach seinem Selbst für unausweichlich erachtet. Die irgendwann aufbrechende Rätselfrage zielt dahin: Wer bin ich? - woher komme ich? wohin gehe ich? Was ist dieses »zwischen den beiden Abgründen des Unendlichen und des Nichts« sich entdeckende und deshalb vor sich selbst »erschaudernde« Ich, das ich bin? Solches Fragen ist gleichsam die Konzentration des zu sich selbst Ich-sagenden auf das Problem einer wohlgegründeten und schließlich auch unverwechselbaren Ich-Identität. - Daß ein Ich überhaupt von sich Kenntnis zu gewinnen, sich als freie Ursache seiner Handlungen anzuschauen und hinsichtlich seiner individuellen Eigenschaften mit sich zu identifizieren vermag, ist für Fichte in originären, spontanen Akten dieses Ich begründet, - sei es auch, daß diese Akte durch interpersonale Begegnung evoziert werden müssen. Deshalb ist für Fichte die Beziehung des Ich zu sich, die das Rätsel seiner selbst ergründen will, notwendig anderes und weitaus mehr als bloß die Modifikation von intersubjektiven Beziehungen, die andere zu ihm aufgenommen, ihm bekundet und als indirekte Kenntnis seiner selbst implantiert haben. (shrink)

ABSTRACTEdith Stein’s study of empathy has much to offer to the current growth of research into empathy. This article first summarizes her phenomenological account of the complex layers involved in...