The article explores the challenges of ensuring voluntary and informed consent which is obtained from potential research subjects in the north‐eastern part of Romania. This study is one of the first empirical papers of this nature in Romania. The study used a quantitative survey design using the adapted Quality of Informed Consent (QuIC) questionnaire. The target population consisted of 100 adult persons who voluntarily enrolled in clinical trials. The informed consent form must contain details regarding the potential risks and benefits, (...) the aim of the clinical trial, study design, confidentiality, insurance and contact details in case of additional questions. Our study confirmed that although all required information was included in the ICF, few clinical trial participants truly understood it. We also found that the most important predictive factor for a good subjective and objective understanding of the clinical trial was the level of education. Our study suggests that researchers should consider putting more effort in order to help clinical trials participants achieve a better understanding of the informed consent. In this way they will ensure that participants’ decision‐making is meaningful and that their interests are protected. (shrink)

How do we reevaluate the role of individuals whose contributions have not been erased—they are still visible—but whose labor has been demoted in the historical narrative because of their gender, class, or ethnicity? This brief essay is about more than simply bringing in overlooked actors; instead, it ponders why the act of mislabeling a person’s labor merits further deliberation. Mislabeled archival evidence, such as the erroneous description accompanying a photograph that this essay discusses, might uphold problematic assumptions in the history (...) of science about who can perform certain labors. Such mistakes, careless or otherwise, produce enduring historiographic harm because such errors make it harder to construct other versions of the past. (shrink)

Abstract:In this article, we present a pragmatic approach to neuroethics, referring back to John Dewey and his articulation of the “common good” and its discovery through systematic methods. Pragmatic neuroethics bridges philosophy and social sciences and, at a very basic level, considers that ethics is not dissociable from lived experiences and everyday moral choices. We reflect on the integration between empirical methods and normative questions, using as our platform recent bioethical and neuropsychological research into moral cognition, action, and experience. Finally, (...) we present the protocol of a study concerning teenagers’ morality in everyday life, discussing our epistemological choices as an example of a pragmatic approach in empirical ethics. We hope that this article conveys that even though the scope of neuroethics is broad, it is important not to move too far from the real life encounters that give rise to moral questions in the first place. (shrink)

Although a great deal has been written on Plato's ethics, his cosmology has not received so much attention in recent times and its importance for his ethical thought has remained underexplored. By offering accounts of Timaeus, Philebus, Politicus and Laws X, the book reveals a strongly symbiotic relation between the cosmic and human sphere. It is argued that in his late period Plato presents a picture of an organic universe, endowed with structure and intrinsic value, which both urges our respect (...) and calls for our responsible intervention. Humans are thus seen as citizens of a university that can provide a context for their flourishing even in the absence of good political institutions. The book sheds light on many intricate metaphysical issues in late Plato and brings out the close connections between his cosmology and the development of his ethics. (shrink)

El artículo propone poner a prueba la idea comúnmente admitida de que en la concepción aristotélica las emociones tienen una función o fin en el ámbito biológico. Me propongo probar que esta concepción sería más propia de otras posturas, como la tomista y la cartesiana, y especialmente de la darwiniana y neo-darwiniana. Tras presentar en la sección 2 el tipo de explicaciones teleológicas que Aristóteles admite y emplea en biología, analizo en la parte 3 la concepción de las emociones de (...) Descartes y en especial de Darwin y muestro que ellas se adaptan bien al modelo explicativo teleológico aristotélico. En la sección 4, ofrezco varios argumentos con apoyo en los textos biológicos de Aristóteles para mostrar que, en cambio, este tipo de explicaciones teleológicas de las emociones no aparecen con claridad en los escritos biológicos del estagirita, toda vez que lo que encontramos allí es, más bien, explicaciones fisiológico materialistas del carácter de los animales. Por último, sugiero una asimetría con el tratamiento de las emociones desde el punto de vista de la racionalidad práctica que desarrollaré en trabajos ulteriores. (shrink)

In this paper I re-examine the status of the mind-body relation in several of Plato’s late dialogues. A range of views has been attributed to Plato here. For example, it has been thought that Plato is a substance dualist, for whom the mind can exist independently of the body; or an attribute dualist, who has left behind the strong dualistic commitments of the Phaedo by allowing that the mind may be the subject of spatial movements. But even in cases where (...) a classification of Plato as a holder of a particular ontology of the mind has been left undefined, it has been a shared assumption that in the late dialogues the mind itself must be immaterial. I take issue with these various views and show that none of them is necessitated by the text. In the first place, I argue there is strong evidence against the view that Plato should, in his late period, be committed not only to substance dualism, but also to attribute dualism. Furthermore, it is possible that Plato may have allowed that the mind itself be a three-dimensional corporeal entity (in a way that sets up a precedent for later Stoic developments). But even if this is not the only possible reading of the text, it is shown how at any rate the mind must be seen in late Plato as the principle of organization of a body and ontologically inseparable from it. Despite prima facie affinities with Aristotle here, we shall see a Plato emerge for whom the mind (without exception) and the body cannot exist without one another – a thesis more radical than that of Aristotle’s. To bring out the provocative nature of this suggestion, I start, in section I, by laying out the state of the question and compare what I shall argue is the late Platonic view with standard interpretations of his previous work, stressing the historical force that I expect this thesis to have. Afterwards, in three respective sections, I proceed to pay heed to relevant passages in the Timaeus, Philebus and Laws in order to establish the main point of this paper. Finally, in section V, I consider the challenge apparently introduced against my thesis by Plato’s occasional talk of immortality and eschatology in those dialogues, and argue instead that many of those passages add further strength to the view defended in this essay. (shrink)

The papers included in this book explore various aspects of the relation between nature and practical normativity in Antiquity, from the Presocratic period to Neoplatonism. Leaving aside the question how much of contemporary naturalism is present in Ancient Philosophy, and whether that much is sufficient for finding traces of it in ancient naturalism, one may still ask the historical question of whether or not this is a feature that all ancient ethics share. To this effect, the following pages offer a (...) palette of readings that provide diverse analyses and diagnoses about the manner, the extent, and the success with which the appeal to nature can be identified as a strategy for founding practical normativity in Ancient Philosophy. (shrink)

The Covid 19 pandemic, is a period with a strong impact in all areas of the families, their social, economic, political and educational life. The rules and sanitary measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic, the educational policies, as well as the isolation, quarantine of some teachers, imposed the transition from classical education to online one. This transition, and also the need for digitalization, have led to major changes in teaching activity and implicitly have affected the well-being of teachers. (...) The present study investigates the psychological reactions of 73 teachers as well as the effectiveness of a psychological intervention applied to 15 teachers, who showed severe psychological reactions during the pandemic period. The motivation of the study derives from the need to offer quick methods and techniques for managing the emotional states they went through. The psychological intervention model presented in the article, aims to reduce the symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression that teachers experience during a pandemic situations, and also to help them apply psychological intervention techniques to regain their well-being). (shrink)

Worldwide interest in understanding art and creative practices as valid forms of knowledge production has led to the establishment of research-creation as an interdisciplinary academic field in the last twenty years in Canada as elsewhere. Its establishment relates to a growing interest in critical making and technological innovation and to the legacies of feminism(s) and its critique of the power dynamics of knowledge production within academia. This article outlines a series of interactive projects that bring visibility to Latin American women (...) in art, science and technology and speculates on the legacies of feminism(s) in the emergence of research-creation. The four projects discussed build on each other and explore re-mediation, re-activation and re-enactment as part of a collaborative feminist research-creation methodology. I theorize their potential to activate political memory by highlighting how these three approaches to creation share a preoccupation for revisiting the past through repetition, iteration and the facilitation of intergenerational encounters among humans, non-humans and across media and technologies. While discussing the feminist orientation of these approaches, I suggest a critique of dominant modes of knowledge production that have obscured the contributions of Latin American women and offer four research-creation interventions in the media arts archive. (shrink)

The present study examined early social game routines during natural face-to-face mother–infant interactions and their relationship with oxytocin. Forty-three mother–infant dyads were observed, when infants were 4 months old, during a procedure involving a baseline and a natural interaction, where mothers were instructed to interact with their infants as they would at home. During this procedure four saliva samples from mothers and infants were collected to determine levels of oxytocin at different time points. Social game routines and infant social engagement (...) (gaze, positive, and negative affect) were coded during the natural interaction. Social games were observed in 76.7% of the mother–infant dyads, and 46 different types of games were identified. Mothers initiated games to re-engage infants significantly more often than when infants were already engaged with them. During the games, infants showed more positive affect and less negative affect in comparison to the rest of the interaction. Finally, maternal increase in oxytocin from before to after the natural interaction was positively correlated with game rate and time spent in games, while infant increase in oxytocin from before to after the natural interaction was inversely related to game rate. These results indicate that social games are an inherent part of early mother–infant interactions, and their occurrence is associated with oxytocin of both infants and mothers. (shrink)

As is well known, Heinrich Scholz and his academic society maintained good scientific contacts with Polish logicians before, during, and after the Second World War. My interest here is to examine the details of their collaboration by presenting Scholz’s unpublished correspondence with Fr. Józef M. Bocheński. The following topics are discussed here: Polish logicians who survived the war and their current place of work; reorganization of the scholarly environment, didactic activities, duties, scholarly trips; current research topics, prospects for post-war publications, (...) and future publishing plans; information about Jan Łukasiewicz, Bolesław Sobociński, and Joachim Metallmann; personal matters. (shrink)

This article explores the ways in which Nietzsche’s conception of subjectivity, as rehearsed in The Birth of Tragedy, draws close to other modern models of split subjectivity as described by Hegel, Freud, or Althusser. Although the subjectivity depicted by Nietzsche is constituted in the tension between reaffirming and dissolving its boundaries, and this tension may seem to put the possibility of identity at risk, in effect individuation and dissolution function as symmetrical contraries. Rather than disrupting the boundaries of reason, the (...) Dionysian contributes to Apollonian equilibrium by temporarily destroying Apollonian rigidity, so that the polis can periodically overcome limitations, assimilate its others and gather new strength. Identity is thus seemingly reinforced through the controlled illusion of its shattering: it is protected from the irruption of real otherness. Unlike Nietzsche’s dialectical dramaturgy, Greek tragedy depicts an incipient rationality wounded by contradictions, institutionalizing conflict. Because of the ambiguity of the Greek tragic world, the fissures of its organizing powers and the ambivalent agency of tragic subjects, a parallel between Attic tragedy and modern subjectivity may illuminate the latter. (shrink)

Empirical research in bioethics has developed rapidly over the past decade, but has largely eschewed the use of technology-driven methodologies. We propose “design bioethics” as an area of conjoined theoretical and methodological innovation in the field, working across bioethics, health sciences and human-centred technological design. We demonstrate the potential of digital tools, particularly purpose-built digital games, to align with theoretical frameworks in bioethics for empirical research, integrating context, narrative and embodiment in moral decision-making. Purpose-built digital tools can engender situated engagement (...) with bioethical questions; can achieve such engagement at scale; and can access groups traditionally under-represented in bioethics research and theory. If developed and used with appropriate rigor, tools motivated by “design bioethics” could offer unique insights into new and familiar normative and empirical issues in the field. (shrink)

If the tragic interpretation of experience is still so current, despite its disastrous ethical consequences, it is because it shapes our subjectivity. Instead of contradicting the ideals of autonomy and freedom, a modern subjectivity based on self-victimization in effect enables them. By embracing subjection to an alienating other (the Law, Power) the autonomous subject protects its sameness from the disruption of real people. Seductions of Fate stages a dialogue between this tragic agent of political emancipation and the unconditional ethical demands (...) it seeks to evade. (shrink)

The Divine Names explores the different names and metaphoric expressions used in the Bible to refer to God. Dionysius the Areopagite is known as an exponent of positive theology, in the sense that he offers an argumentative and explicit account of the nature of God, relying on the Scripture as a source of knowledge and truth, in contrast to the declared inability of apophatic or negative theology to communicate any knowledge of the divine. Indeed, the Areopagite resorts to the study (...) of biblical terms and to the coinage of hapax, neologisms often derived of known terms with added privative prefixes, in order to refer in some way to the sacred. Our research aims at showing that, for Dionysius, the purpose of pursuing the knowledge of God is not only to grasp the order of the different spheres of existence—present across the Corpus Dionysiacum—but also to connect with Him in hénosis, a living experience of permanent tension towards the Supreme. By focusing in the study of the names of God through exegesis, this paper aims at clarifying eutony, a constant tension towards God, as the central theme of the Byzantine theologian’s thought. (shrink)

Existen en el campo de las ciencias sociales numerosas investigaciones que abordan la problemática de la praxis, sin embargo, menos común es encontrar estudios que vinculen esta categoría al estudio del movimiento obrero. A lo largo de estas notas se busca construir un marco de análisis desde el cua..

A obra de José Saramago tornou-se conhecida pela peculiaridade das narrativas queabordam temas significativos relacionados aos problemas dos homens com o seu tempo, comoo medo da morte, a história e o seu peso na memória da sociedade, os sentimentos mais diversose também os problemas que constituem a contemporaneidade. No ciclo de romances alegóricos,José Saramago escreve romances em que elabora uma crítica à sociedade voltada ao egoísmo,à solidão, ao consumismo desenfreado e às desigualdades. Todos os nomes, publicado em 1997,é um romance (...) que trata da ideia do nome, em uma alusão à linguagem e à identidade reveladaatravés do nome atribuído a cada indivíduo. A ideia do nome, e de tudo o que ele traz em si,está em Walter Benjamin em diversos textos, mas especificamente em Escritos sobre mito elinguagem. A partir das premissas benjaminianas e de textos críticos acerca da obra de JoséSaramago, este artigo apresenta uma leitura do romance Todos os nomes, estabelecendorelações entre a linguagem a e representação dos indivíduos que surgem a partir da constituiçãodo nome. (shrink)

L’évolution du processus de communication met en attention un concept qui permet une analyse plurivalente sur les espaces multiculturels – la culture communicationnelle. Ce concept rend possible le déchiffrage des relations entre ethos, logos et pathos, contient l’échange d’information obtenue par un message dans un contexte qui libère le processus communicationnel des barrières nationales. La culture communicationnelle est une résultante du processus de globalisation, entraînant les acteurs sociaux vers de nouvelles coordonnées axiologique par l’internationalisation des économies et des cultures. Au (...) neveu global, on observe l’apparition de nouveaux standards éthiques dont les actants de la communication ont besoin au moment du passage au-delà des espaces culturels nationaux. La communication joint d’un caractère bivalent étant un instrument d’émancipation de l’individu mais aussi le moyen de contrôle des autorités économiques et politiques par l’impôt de certains modelés de comportement et de certaines représentations sociales. (shrink)

Fortuna y Providencia son las fuerzas dinámicas para crear el cambio social. Estas fuerzas constituyen el leit motiv del quehacer humano, y una pretensión pedagógica de educar al hombre para alcanzar la felicidad.Fortune and Providence are the dynamic forces of social change. Those forces constitute humans chore leit motiv, and a pedagogical intention of educating the man, in order to attain happiness.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the role of some peculiar elements of Aristotle's dialectical development —namely, those emerging in the Sophistical Refutations (SE)— in the analysis and discussion of the Eleatic thesis in Physics I, 2-3. The paper adresses some of Aristotle's preliminary thoughts (Phys. I, 2) (which are read as methodological considerations), and some remarks against Melissus' argument (Phys. I, 3), in order to find connections between such claims and passages of SE, as well as the (...) Topics. -/- . (shrink)

How have contemporary media artworks been proposing hybrid experiences, discussing the ontological implications from the experimentation with emerging techniques that alter our way of being-in-the-world? These experiences dialectically articulate aesthetic relations between real and virtual, visible and invisible, human and technological. In this article, we develop a participant observation of two specific works: Generation 244 (2011), by Scott Draves, and Zee (2008), by Kurt Hentschläger. This observation establishes a dialogue with phenomenology as it considers experience and perception as needed prerequisites (...) for the analysis, as proposed by Merleau-Ponty. In this scenario, we have observed that a whole way of partitioning the sensible resets itself and points in the direction of a trans-immanence, generating an integrated knowledge that not only relies on reason, but in a collective wisdom where we can find, according to Didi-Huberman, a ‘light of survival’. (shrink)

Doing research in a globalized context – regardless of the discipline – requires language decisions at different stages of the research process. Many of these language decisions have ethical implications. Existing literature and ethical guidance tend to focus on ethical concerns that arise in communication with participants who use a language different from the main research language. As this article shows, language decisions with potential ethical implications can occur in many additional ways. Two questions guided this work: how do language (...) decisions and research ethics intersect at different stages of the research process, and what potential harm is related to language decisions and how can such concerns be mitigated? Relevant literature – combined with practical research experiences – show that language decisions can potentially result in harm at the conception stage of research projects, when working with participants, during data analysis, interpretation, and dissemination, as well as when managing a research project. Thus, the article highlights that the role of language-related ethical dilemmas is not only organizational (e.g., ensuring participants can understand what the research is about), but also social (e.g., developing trust and relationships in research teams) as well as ideological (e.g., awareness of power structures and diverse worldviews). In order to support researchers in globalized contexts, this article offers a reflective framework that complements regulatory guidance issued by ethical bodies and facilitates a deeper awareness of ethical implications related to language decisions in a multilingual world. (shrink)

This paper re-evaluates the role that Plato confers to pleasure in the "Philebus." According to leading interpretations, Plato there downplays the role of pleasure, or indeed rejects hedonism altogether. Thus, scholars such as D. Frede have taken the "mixed life" of pleasure and intelligence initially submitted in the "Philebus" to be conceded by Socrates only as a remedial good, second to a life of neutral condition, where one would experience no pleasure and pain. Even more strongly, scholars such as Irwin (...) have seen the "Philebus'" arguments against false pleasures as an actual attack on hedonism, showing -- in Irwin's words -- "why maximization of pleasure cannot be a reasonable policy for the best life." Against these claims, I argue that the mixed life of pleasure and intelligence is presented in the "Philebus" as a first best and not just as a second best for humans, and that, accordingly, Socrates proposes to incorporate -- rather than reject -- pleasure as one of the intrinsically desirable aspects of the happy life. Thus, I offer alternative readings of controversial passages that have given rise to the prevalent interpretation criticized here, and advance positive evidence that at least some pleasures are seen by Plato as inherently good. In addition, I demonstrate that Plato's arguments against false pleasures do not by themselves constitute an attack on hedonism. Rather, they can be seen as a strategy to show the hedonist that, in order to be a maximal, or even a consistent, hedonist, he should go for true, and not fake pleasures, if after all pleasure is the object of his pursuit. But, since this cannot be achieved without intelligence, then the mixed life of pleasure and intelligence is to be accepted even by hedonist themselves. (shrink)

Abordaremos la perspectiva de Rousseau sobre el teatro a partir del lugar que ocupa el gusto en la Carta a D’Alembert. El gusto en la Carta es un fenómeno social que expresa los valores y les moeurs que sustentan el orden social y político de una comunidad. Veremos que las limitaciones éticas del teatro no son atribuibles a la mimesis poética sino al dominio que ejerce sobre él el gusto social. En la Carta el teatro es a la vez un (...) género literario y un espectáculo singular. Veremos que, a través del término espectáculo, Rousseau distingue el género literario, de la institución que lo inscribe en el espacio social. El espectáculo parisino se transforma en un peligro para la república de Ginebra por la manera en que modifica los usos del tiempo, la distribución de los recursos de la comunidad, las prácticas de sociabilidad y finalmente el gusto general. (shrink)

If there is no theory of taste in Rousseau, the question of taste nevertheless is present throughout all his work. It appears at first as a criticism addressed to worldy society, and then gives way, in the writings of his maturity, to an analysis of the social conditions of general good taste. In spite of the classical terminology of its texts, they in fact develop a conception sui generis of taste. Rousseau does not refer to an order of perfection to (...) explain and base the good taste. Taste is, according to him, a collective phenomenon which manifests the state of social affections. The taste, as much the social and the individual, is called “good” when the judgment on what pleases or what displeases is not subject to opinion. Autonomy of taste and good taste are confounded, voluptuousness and relative equality are then the conditions. (shrink)

Depuis la publication des Dits et écrits, la place de la littérature dans l’oeuvre de Michel Foucault a une position bien assignée dans les recherches académiques, où l’on souligne surtout l’approche nietzschéenne de la lecture qu’a proposé le philosophe. Prenant appui sur des nouvelles publications et sur des manuscrits inédits, notre texte envisage ce thème sous un autre prisme, à partir du structuralisme de l’analyse littéraire et de l’enjeu philosophique de la revue Tel Quel dans son rapport avec le Nouveau (...) Roman. En repérant l’importance du concept de « distance » dans ses écrits sur la littérature, nous discuterons comment plusieurs des notions créées par Foucault se trouvent en dialogue avec cette constellation théorique plus large. Nous y établirons ainsi le rapport entre la structure et l’événement, la paire conceptuelle au centre des débats philosophiques des années 1960, qui nous guidera dans la compréhension des tensions et des adhésions de la méthodologie foucaldienne à l’égard de l’analyse structurale. A abordagem da « distância » nos escritos literários de Michel Foucault, ou como inscrever o acontecimento na estrutura Desde a publicação dos Ditos e Escritos, o lugar da literatura na obra de Michel Foucault possui uma posição bem definida nas pesquisas acadêmicas, nas quais se ressalta sobretudo a abordagem nietzscheana da leitura proposta pelo filósofo. Recorrendo a novas publicações e aos manuscritos inéditos do Fonds Foucault-BnF, este texto enfocará o tema da literatura sob um outro prisma, à partir do estruturalismo da análise literária e do contexto filosófico da revista Tel Quel em sua relação com o Nouveau Roman. Enfatizando a importância do conceito de “distância” em seus escritos sobre a literatura, discutir-se-á como várias das noções criadas por Foucault se encontram em diálogo com esta constelação teórica mais ampla. A relação entre a estrutura e o acontecimento, enquanto par conceitual que se encontrava no centro dos debates filosóficos nos anos 1960, nos guiará na compreensão das tensões e das adesões da metodologia foucaltiana no que tange à análise estrutural.Palavras-chave: Análise literária. Estruturalismo. Distância. Acontecimento. Tel Quel; BnF Inéditos. (shrink)

Throughout history, the world has been concerned with progress in different areas, and Medicine has not been the exception. Nevertheless, has this progress been positive in the sense of entailing benefits? The question emerges considering that through this progress, human beings have been able to modify natural processes. Considering this, the research question is: What is the role that medicine—a human and scientific discipline—must play, and which is the concept of what a human being must have in a world where (...) utilitarianism prevails over non-material benefits? Also, what are the implications of that role and concept on the decision-making about health, notions about humanity and, areas which require responsibility? The rise of artificial procedures which generate life, simultaneously defying time leads to the main objective of this paper: To present ideas on the current perception about the medical practice; in terms of responsibility about the human side of the patient, related to artificial practices. A second objective is to approach a social topic that motivates to reflect on new and recurring practices in the medical field. This topic will be studied from a hermeneutical perspective to establish relations and an interpretative approach between them, through Thiebaut’s work and Tría’s Philosophy of the Limit, considering the concept of human being and considering that there are limits which should be respected. Afterwards, the focus will be on the medical praxis and its sense of responsibility regarding human beings. (shrink)

Abstract:This essay reviews the 2013 Human Life International (HLI) propaganda video, Central America and Mexico: Fighting for Life, Faith, and Family, which, we argue, illustrates the well-orchestrated counteroffensive against reproductive and sexual rights movements occurring in the region. First we summarize the film's key themes, including the assertion that Catholicism is fundamental to Mexican and Central American identities and that the international “pro-abortion movement” is waging war against Catholics. Second, we note the development of a new strategic alliance between Catholics (...) and evangelicals that relies on lay religious activists working in the fields of medicine, bioethics, law, and government. Third, we show how the video appeals to HLI donors by asking them to support crisis pregnancy centres, homes for unwed mothers, adoption programs, and “natural” fertility assistance. We argue that the film conspicuously ignores the consequences of abortion bans already in place in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras, and does not consider that what it terms “international pressures” also includes treaty obligations with the United Nations and Organization of American States. This essay offers insights into the strategies used by opponents of reproductive and sexual rights movements in Mexico and Central America. (shrink)