The social capital literature has focused on the functional and structural properties of social relations, partially neglecting the way in which they are experienced by individuals. Drawing on anthropological and social theory, this article distinguishes two ideal-typical forms of social capital — reciprocity and trust — based on the meaning of the social relations that embed them. Reciprocity is the type of social capital embedded within personal relations, triply defined in the factual, social and temporal dimensions by co-presence, reciprocity and (...) memory, respectively. Trust is the type of social capital embedded within relations with strangers, defined by the condition of impersonality or anonymity. These two types of social capital cannot be reduced to extremes in a continuum, nor are they fungible, and while reciprocity is by definition particularistic (this is the source of its strength as a linking mechanism), trust has a universalistic potential. Analytical and empirical implications of this distinction are outlined. (shrink)

“Vulnerability” is a key concept for research ethics and public health ethics. This term can be discussed from either a conceptual or a practical perspective. I previously proposed the metaphor of layers to understand how this concept functions from the conceptual perspective in human research. In this paper I will clarify how my analysis includes other definitions of vulnerability. Then, I will take the practical‐ethical perspective, rejecting the usefulness of taxonomies to analyze vulnerabilities. My proposal specifies two steps and provides (...) a procedural guide to help rank layers. I introduce the notion of cascade vulnerability and outline the dispositional nature of layers of vulnerability to underscore the importance of identifying their stimulus condition. In addition, I identify three kinds of obligations and some strategies to implement them. This strategy outlines the normative force of harmful layers of vulnerability. It offers concrete guidance. It contributes substantial content to the practical sphere but it does not simplify or idealize research subjects, research context or public health challenges. (shrink)

In this article I examine several criticisms of the concept of vulnerability. Rather than rejecting the concept, however, I argue that a sufficiently rich understanding of vulnerability is essential to bioethics. The challenges of international research in developing countries require an understanding of how new vulnerabilities arise from conditions of economic, social and political exclusion. A serious shortcoming of current conceptions of vulnerability in research ethics is the tendency to treat vulnerability as a label fixed on a particular subpopulation. My (...) paper examines the role of this “label” metaphor in current statements of research ethics. In contrast to this prevailing “label” metaphor, my own positive account of vulnerability develops a dynamic way of understanding the structure of the concept of vulnerability based on the idea of “layers of vulnerability.” I examine several cases involving women, as they are sometimes labeled as a vulnerable population and sometimes not. My analysis demonstrates the essential role of this revised concept of vulnerability in bioethics and research ethics. (shrink)

In this article I examine some proposals for modification of ethical documents regulating research, particularly, the problems that introducing certain economic clauses may pose. I evaluate suggestions that reject the notion of providing the ‘best proven diagnostic and therapeutic method’ in favor of ‘the highest attainable therapeutic method’ or ‘the proven effective prophylactic, diagnostic and therapeutic methods’. I analyze the plausibility and problems of introducing a double standard and the consequences it may have in developing countries. Finally I highlight the (...) impact these changes may imply for these countries. (shrink)

This book presents some of the challenges bioethics in Latin America faces today. It considers them through the lenses of vulnerable populations, those incapable of protecting their own interests, such as the illiterate, women in societies disrespectful of their reproductive rights, and research subjects in contexts where resources are scarce.

Traditional accounts of vulnerability tend to label entire populations as vulnerable. This approach is of limited utility. Instead, this article utilizes a layered approach to vulnerability, identifying multiple vulnerabilities that older people experience. It focuses on distinguishing the different layers of vulnerability that may be experienced by the elderly in middle-income countries of Latin America. In doing so, I show how the layered approach to vulnerability functions, and demonstrate why it is more interesting and useful than the traditional approach. The (...) article achieves three things. First, it unwraps the different potential layers of vulnerability that develop in old age and the multidimensionality aspects of aging. Second, it reestablishes the usefulness of the concept of vulnerability and explains its functioning. Finally, it shows how different policies can be designed in order to address each vulnerability layer. The layered account promotes a multifaceted approach to public policy analyses and design. In this sense, the layered concept of vulnerability is an appealing concept to consider in public health ethics. (shrink)

The poverty of stimulus argument is one of the most controversial arguments in the study of language acquisition. Here we follow previous approaches challenging the assumption of impoverished primary linguistic data, focusing on the specific problem of auxiliary (AUX) fronting in complex polar interrogatives. We develop a series of corpus analyses of child‐directed speech showing that there is indirect statistical information useful for correct auxiliary fronting in polar interrogatives and that such information is sufficient for distinguishing between grammatical and ungrammatical (...) generalizations, even in the absence of direct evidence. We further show that there are simple learning devices, such as neural networks, capable of exploiting such statistical cues, producing a bias toward correct AUX questions when compared to their ungrammatical counterparts. The results suggest that the basic assumptions of the poverty of stimulus argument may need to be reappraised. (shrink)

This article presents some of the ethical and theoretical problems that reproductive decisions pose. I considerer the difficult situation of HIV infected women who have to decide whether to begin or continue pregnancy, knowing about the possibility of transmitting the infection. Could reproductive freedom be limited? I discuss, among others, Parfit, Harris and Purdy´s proposals. I try to show that a paternalistic solution is inadequate and argue on behalf of the importance of responsible and informed decisions on the part of (...) the mother or the parents. (shrink)

In this article, the authors focus on Argentina's activity in the developing field of regenerative medicine, specifically stem cell research. They take as a starting point a recent article by Shawn Harmon (published in this journal) who argues that attempts to regulate the practice in Argentina are morally incoherent. The authors try to show first, that there is no such ‘attempt to legislate’ on stem cell research in Argentina and this is due to a number of reasons that they explain. (...) Second, by examining the role played by different values, conflicting legal and moral views, and the influence of various actors, they attempt to show that the legislative silence regarding stem cell research may not necessarily be a manifestation of a legal/moral disconnection but rather a survival strategy for navigating the long and heated battle on the moral status of the embryo and the kind of treatment it deserves. (shrink)

Non-communicable diseases are no longer largely limited to high-income countries and the elderly. The burden of non-communicable diseases is rising across all country income categories, in part because these diseases have been relatively overlooked on the global health agenda. Historically, communicable diseases have been prioritized in many countries as they were perceived to constitute the greatest disease burden, especially among vulnerable and poor populations, and strategies for prevention and treatment, which had been successful in high-income settings, were considered feasible and (...) often affordable in low-income settings. This prioritization has reduced the communicable diseases burden globally but has left non-communicable diseases largely neglected. A new approach is urgently needed to tackle non-communicable diseases. Based on an analysis of potential features which may have underlain the different approaches to non-communicable diseases and communicable diseases until now, including acuity of disease, potential for control or cure, cost, infectiousness, blaming of individuals and logistical barriers, little ethical or rational justification can be found to support continued neglect of non-communicable diseases. Justice demands access to quality and affordable care for all. An equitable approach to non-communicable diseases is therefore strongly mandated on medical, ethical, economic, and public health grounds. Funding must not however be diverted away from communicable diseases, which continue to require attention—but concomitantly, funding for non-communicable diseases must be increased. International and multi-sectoral action is required to accelerate progress towards true universal health coverage and towards achievement of all of the sustainable development goals, such that prevention and access to care for non-communicable disease can become a global reality. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on poverty and inequality in the world today. First, it points out how this topic is a main concern for the IAB. Second, it proposes ‘new’ theoretical tools in order to analyze global justice and our obligations towards the needy. I present John Rawls's denial that the egalitarian principle can be applied to the global sphere, his proposed weak duty of assistance, and his consideration of endemic poverty as essentially homegrown. In opposition, I focus on Thomas (...) Pogge as representative of a cosmopolitan view who also holds a critical position towards the international systems which allow and cause poverty. I endorse the general normative proposal that defends every human being as an ultimate unit of moral concern, as well as the strategy of moving away from the charity model of bilateral aid to the realm of rights and duties. These ideas should redesign and broaden the normative and practical roles of institutions, and should also help provide a new approach on bioethical issues such as drug patenting or the imbalance in global research and neglected diseases. (shrink)

It is widely assumed that language in some form or other originated by piggybacking on pre-existing learning mechanism not dedicated to language. Using evolutionary connectionist simulations, we explore the implications of such assumptions by determining the effect of constraints derived from an earlier evolved mechanism for sequential learning on the interaction between biological and linguistic adaptation across generations of language learners. Artificial neural networks were initially allowed to evolve “biologically” to improve their sequential learning abilities, after which language was introduced (...) into the population. We compared the relative contribution of biological and linguistic adaptation by allowing both networks and language to change over time. The simulation results support two main conclusions: First, over generations, a consistent head-ordering emerged due to linguistic adaptation. This is consistent with previous studies suggesting that some apparently arbitrary aspects of linguistic structure may arise from cognitive constraints on sequential learning. Second, when networks were selected to maintain a good level of performance on the sequential learning task, language learnability is significantly improved by linguistic adaptation but not by biological adaptation. Indeed, the pressure toward maintaining a high level of sequential learning performance prevented biological assimilation of linguistic-specific knowledge from occurring. (shrink)

The article examines the meaning of the concepts of "doctrine" and "tradition" in Walter Benjamin's 1917 reflections, concepts that are closely linked to his reception of Kant. Given the scarce analysis of this appropriation, the paper seeks to show that these concepts express an interest in Kant's idea of the systematic unity of knowledge and that Benjamin reinterprets such unity in Messianic terms, that is, not as a necessary assumption, but as a demand for redemption. Finally, it shows how these (...) notions are implicit in Benjamin's On the Program of the Coming Philosophy. (shrink)

En este trabajo se investigan cuáles fueron las razones de Benjamin para proyectar su tesis doctoral sobre el concepto de "tarea infinita" en la filosofía de la historia de Kant, así como los motivos por los que abandonó ese plan. Se destaca la influencia decisiva de Hermann Cohen en este intento, así como las diferencias entre sus concepciones del mesianismo, y se muestra que en los esbozos de aquel proyecto doctoral frustrado se encuentra en germen la aspiración benjaminiana de fundamentar (...) el conocimiento en una concepción mesiánica de la historia. Además, se sostiene que, con este fin, Benjamin reelaboró la noción de "tarea infinita" en relación con una exigencia de redención que fundamenta la esfera cognoscitiva. In this paper we investigate the reasons which led Benjamin to project his doctoral dissertation on the concept of "infinite task" in Kant's philosophy of history, as well as the motives behind his subsequent abandonment of that project. We stress both the crucial influence of Hermann Cohen behind Benjamin's expectations and the differences between their conceptions of messianism. Our aim is to show that the outlines remaining from Benjamin's frustrated doctoral project contain the seeds of his lasting aspiration to lay the foundation of knowledge in a messianic conception of history. With this intention, we maintain, Benjamin interprets the notion on "infinite task" in connection with a demand of redemption that grounds the cognitive sphere. (shrink)

This essay examines the construction of a symbolic figure who has worked to support the reordering of power relationships. It is the invention of a foreign enemy, Islamic radicalism from which United States has served its objectives of establishing a new hegemony. Since the terrorist threat, has extended a speech level that adulterated and showed us a world divided into two opposite poles: a virtuous and civilized axis that is forced to attack to defend itself, and a barbaric and evil (...) axis that threatens global security. But this process is fraudulent, that has been able to violate international law, has a political, historical and economic issues should be unmasked. (shrink)

El trabajo presenta una revisión analítica de la literatura alrededor de los debates regionales en Argentina, Chile y Uruguay sobre familia, matrimonio y filiación suscitados en torno a la redacción de los códigos civiles en las últimas décadas del siglo XIX y sus primeras reformas, acontecidas en la primera mitad del siglo XX. Se interrogan los distintos mecanismos jurídicos – y los argumentos en que se sustentaron – a través de los cuales se establecieron y se regularon las demarcaciones entre (...) lo público y lo privado, lo político y lo íntimo, lo natural y lo social. (shrink)

Last year there was a heated debate regarding clinical trials with AZT carried out in developing countries. AIDs vaccine trials also posed various dilemmas and ethical problems. In this paper I will consider the possibility of corruption in bioethics, and international multi‐centre research will be taken as an example. International clinical trials will be seen from another perspective. I will try to show that the possibility of systemic corruption should be considered when designing an international multi‐centre research trial which may (...) involve countries in very different situations regarding corruption. I will analyze three different approaches to this problem and suggest some strategies regarding their capacity to exclude the possibility of corruption. (shrink)

In this paper, I will explore the relationship between ideal and nonideal theories and bioethics. I explore the challenges we face in their implementation in the real world. I argue that there is no sole theory that can guide the multiplicity of real world cases and policies. If we consider there are a variety of possibilities, we should ask several questions: When should we use NITs and when should we opt for ITs? Are there appropriate criteria for making these decisions? (...) Which are the valid uses or justifications for NITs? Is there a way to guide the decision-making process in real world contexts? This paper will try to answer the above questions. In the first part of this paper, I make some distinctions to present the theoretical arena and debate, and I propose five criteria that can help our decision making process. In the second part, I introduce two cases focused on reproductive rights-related problems in order to apply the decision-making process developed in the first part. The first one examines conscientious objection in the case of legal abortion in Argentina and the second one analyzes the case of research with pregnant women in countries where abortion is illegal. In one case, I argue that we ought to follow NIT, while in the other we should follow IT. (shrink)

This article focuses on the initial reactions to the Zika epidemic by national and international public health agencies. It presents and analyzes some responses public officials made about sexual and reproductive health at the inception of the epidemic. It also describes the different challenges and obligations faced by local and international public health agencies, as these have not been clearly outlined. The article argues that these agencies have different obligations and should fulfill them despite existing obstacles. While international agencies should (...) honor their leadership role and make recommendations at a meta-level, local agencies should provide, in the case of Zika, a framework for empowerment and grant women the freedom to achieve sexual and reproductive health so that they can avoid the consequences of this epidemic. (shrink)

In this paper I analyse changes AIDS brought to research with human beings . One of the issues I consider is the relevance of ethical codes to these new proposals in research and if we are justified to think this implies a new paradigm in research . I evaluate some of the arguments activits of AIDS have done, the relevance of considering informed consent as the only criterium and I give special importance to the benefit-risk evaluation as one of the (...) necessary conditions for research work. (shrink)

Multiple constraints, including semantic, lexical, and usage-based factors, have been shown to influence dative alternation across different languages. This work explores whether fine-grained statistics and semantic properties of the verb affect the acceptability of dative constructions in Spanish. First, a corpus analysis reveals that verbs of different semantic classes occur naturally in alternative dative constructions, a pattern quite different from English. The fact that dative alternation appears independent of semantic classes challenges traditional semantic-based approaches. Second, acceptability rating tasks reveal that (...) dative constructions containing highly entrenched word combinations and frequent word order are judged more acceptable regardless of the verbs' semantics. The results are interpreted in favor of usage-based accounts: Acceptability of dative constructions may be language-specific and depend on patterns of use and conventionalization. (shrink)

In this article I focus on two issues concerning bioethics in Argentina: reproductive health and ethics in research. Although these topics are quite dissimilar, they share a particular feature: their special relationship with context.

This paper challenges the traditional account of vulnerability in healthcare which conceptualizes vulnerability as a list of identifiable subpopulations. This list of ‘usual suspects’, focusing on groups from lower resource settings, is a narrow account of vulnerability. In this article we argue that in certain circumstances middle-class individuals can be also rendered vulnerable. We propose a relational and layered account of vulnerability and explore this concept using the case study of cord blood (CB) banking. In the first section, two different (...) approaches to ‘vulnerability’ are contrasted: categorical versus layered. In the second section, we describe CB banking and present a case study of CB banking in Argentina. We examine the types of pressure that middle-class pregnant women feel when considering CB collection and storage. In section three, we use the CB banking case study to critique the categorical approach to vulnerability: this model is unable to account for the ways in which these women are vulnerable. A layered account of vulnerability identifies several ways in which middle-class women are vulnerable. Finally, by utilizing the layered approach, this paper suggests how public health policies could be designed to overcome vulnerabilities. (shrink)

The concept of vulnerability has been hotly debated in research ethics literature. Some critics considered it a useless concept. In 2009—against some of those criticisms—I defended the importance of understanding this concept in terms of layers instead of applying it as a label given to certain subpopulations. In this paper, I present some of the limits of this analysis and I also explore the similarities and differences this approach has when compared to using a taxonomy as another answer on how (...) to assess vulnerability. I present the notion of cascade vulnerability and underscore the dispositional character of layers and their relevance to identify and evaluate layers of vulnerability. Finally, I show how this layered account has been incorporated in important documents such as the new 2016 CIOMS-WHO Guidelines. (shrink)

El siguiente trabajo tiene por objeto analizar la experiencia del Museo popular de Siloé como lugar de memoria, de acuerdo con la categoría acuñada por Pierre Nora. Para ello, se hace una breve descripción del lugar donde se ubica Siloé tanto en términos espaciales, como socio-históricos. A partir de allí, el escrito refiere a los modos que adquirieron las políticas de memoria en Colombia y el posicionamiento fluctuante del Estado en relación con la Memoria en general, y con el conflicto (...) armado en particular. Para luego, ir acercándonos a la experiencia del Museo Popular de Siloé como espacio de resistencia. Al respecto se hace una caracterización en relación con sus iniciativas, funciones y fines, llegando a considerar que los objetivos del Museo son dos, por un lado que los visitantes conozcan la historia de Siloé, la reivindiquen y repliquen; y por otro, incorporar a los jóvenes y niños en la construcción de la memoria colectiva, adquiriendo un sentido pedagógico que conlleva la edificación de una identidad común. (shrink)

The goal of this paper is to show how culture – shared norms and values – is challenged and used to facilitate cooperative behavior within the context of farmer field schools (FFS) in central Luzon, Philippines. The success of the FFS is primarily associated with cultural norms that encourage experiential and collective learning and eventually lead to the adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) methods among the farmers. The study was conducted in central Luzon, the rice granary region of the (...) Philippines, from 1992 to 1995 and again in 1999. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed. Results indicate that a keen understanding of Filipino culture and values is essential if FFS is to be successful and if farmers are to successfully learn and practice IPM. (shrink)

Dentro de la academia los estudios sobre el juego suelen ser marginados o subestimados como cuestiones secundarias al pensamiento, o como espacios de discusión dirigidos solamente al ocio contemplativo. Sin embargo, en oposición a este tipo de inferencias nos dedicaremos enteramente a reivindicar el papel del juego como fenómeno existencial fundamental en la pregunta por el ser y su relación con el mundo. En el presente trabajo propondremos un cruce lúdico y metafísico entre dos reconocidos pensadores: Carlos Astrada, filósofo argentino, (...) y Eugen Fink, filósofo alemán. Ambos autores comparten la herencia heideggeriana que pondrán en discusión y que servirá como hilo conductor del diálogo teórico sobre el carácter ontológico del juego. (shrink)

El debate en torno a Aristipo de Cirene, cuya concepción de la felicidad coloca en el centro de la escena al placer, pone en tela de juicio las afirmaciones propias de aquellas éticas nucleadas bajo el epíteto de eudemonistas. Con el desplazamiento de la felicidad del sitial del fin, Aristipo reformula la dimensión ética tradicional: a través del ejercicio de la enkráteia, y lejos de caer en un relativismo subjetivista, intenta construir una ética que tenga como base un objetivismo gnoseológico. (...) Demostraremos, además, que al ejercicio de la enkráteia cirenaica subyace la noción de autosuficiencia (autárkeia) -entendida en términos aristotélicos- del individuo. Esto nos enfrentará, irremediablemente, a la noción aristotélica de felicidad (en estrecho vínculo con la noción de enkráteia), la cual no comporta una noción de autosuficiencia individual sino que restringe la posibilidad de la autárkeia a la autosuficiencia de la pólis. The debates on Aristippus of Cyrene, whose happiness' conception puts pleasure in the center of the scene, questions the claims of those ethical nucleated under the epithet "eudemonists". Through the shift of happiness from the shrine of the goal, Aristippus reformulates the traditional ethical dimension: by the enkráteia's exercising -and far from falling into a subjective relativism- he tries to build an ethic based on an epistemological objectivity. We are going to demonstrate also that the self-sufficiency concept (autárkeia) -speaking in Aristotelian terms- of individual underlies the exercise of Cyrenaic enkráteia. It will face us inevitably to the Aristotelian concept of happiness (in close connection with the enkráteia's concept), which doesn't involve a notion of individual self-sufficiency, but rather it restricts the possibility of autárkeia to the pólis' self-sufficiency. (shrink)

Se trata de la reseña bibliográfica del libro de Emmanuel Biset et. al., Sujeto, una categoría en disputa.