Much has changed in maternal-fetal medicine since the early 2000s, when the previous ethical frameworks for fetal therapy trials were established. We applaud Hendriks and colleagues for taking on t...

In Anerkennung der für Gegenwartsgesellschaften konstitutiven Diversität ihrer Bevölkerungen diskutieren Bioethik und Medizin verstärkt die kulturelle Relativität ihrer eigenen Voraussetzungen, die Kulturspezifik „anderer“ Positionen und die Möglichkeiten kulturübergreifender Orientierungen. Dabei kommt häufig ein Kulturbegriff zum Einsatz, der aus der Perspektive der aktuellen Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie zu statisch, zu homogenisierend und zu sehr auf Differenz und Abgrenzung hin orientiert ist. Der Beitrag diskutiert zunächst Konzepte von Kultur, die solche Verkürzungen zu vermeiden suchen. Sie betonen hingegen Verflechtungszusammenhänge unter dem Vorzeichen intensivierter Globalisierung (...) und deuten Kultur aktiv und reflexiv, als Ressource menschlichen Tuns, und nicht deterministisch als Kausalfaktor. Anschließend wird der ethnographische Forschungsstand zu Patientenverfügungen in westlichen Gesundheitssystemen zusammengefasst. Zeitintensive, qualitative Forschung verdeutlicht die Gefahr einer Kulturalisierung sozialer Ungleichheiten, die spezifische Positionalität bioethischer Prämissen und die Vielfalt und Komplexität im Umgang mit Patientenverfügungen. Der Beitrag schließt mit Hinweisen darauf, wie Diversität in Entscheidungsprozessen am Ende des Lebens jenseits von Kultur analysiert werden kann. (shrink)

Consciousness has been widely regarded as the central arena for the mental solution of problems. A variant view locates the business end of problem solving elsewhere, with conscious intervention only for intermittent monitoring and goal-setting. In this scenario conscious awareness, with `intelligent' processes generally, is largely specialized to the construction and communication of appropriate after-the-event histories and explanations.The first part of the paper traces a long march undertaken by main-stream artificial intelligence basing itself on the first assumption. Disappointment with the (...) result has prompted interest in the second view, which forms the main topic of Part 2 , 1995, pp. 52-66). (shrink)

The definition of an expert system as a knowledge‐based source of advice and explanation pinpoints the critical problem which confronts the would‐be builders of such systems. How is the required body of knowledge to be elicited from its human possessors in a form sufficiently complete for effective organization in computer memory? This article reviews recent advances in the art of automated knowledge‐extraction from expert‐supplied example decisions. Computer induction, as the new approach is called, promises both important parallels to the human (...) capacity for concept formation and also commercial exploitability. (shrink)

Acting for the good of the patient is the most fundamental and universally acknowledged principle of medical ethics. However, given the complexity of modern medicine as well as the moral fragmentation of contemporary society, determining the good is far from simple. In his philosophy of medicine, Edmund Pellegrino develops a conception of the good that is derived from the internal morality of medicine via the physician-patient relationship. It is through this healing relationship that rights, duties, and privileges are defined for (...) both physicians and patients. Moreover, this relationship determines the characteristics or virtues that are necessary to engage in the medical telos. This paper addresses the role of the moral virtues in clinical medicine and the physician-patient relationship. First, it provides a brief background of the Aristotelian foundations of virtue-ethics. Second, it delves into Pellegrino’s philosophy of medicine understood as a practice oriented towards a teleological goal. Third, it relates the telos of medicine to the notion of the medical community as a fundamentally moral community. Finally, it concludes with a section that creates a dialogue between virtue ethics and principlism. (shrink)

Provability, Computability and Reflection.

Consciousness has been widely regarded as the central arena for the mental solution of problems. A variant view locates the business end of problem solving elsewhere, with conscious intervention only for intermittent monitoring and goal-setting. In this scenario conscious awareness, with `intelligent' processes generally, is largely specialized to the construction and communication of appropriate after-the-event histories and explanations.The first part of the paper traces a long march undertaken by main-stream artificial intelligence basing itself on the first assumption. Disappointment with the (...) result has prompted interest in the second view, which forms the main topic of Part 2, 1995, pp. 52-66). (shrink)

Using 20 video recordings of Emergency Room treatment and over 5 years of Emergency Room fieldwork data, this study elucidates how interactional processes serve as resources for generating a cultural script of death in Japan called ‘Mitori’. A sudden death at a hospital, in which a patient is removed from their social network, is often considered as the opposite of a ‘good home death’. This study shows how hospital deaths in Japan are strongly interrelated with family participation. After showing the (...) point where medical professionals decide to terminate resuscitation attempts, the analysis depicts interactional steps that shift the definition of environment from a place for treatment toward a place where ‘Mitori’ occurs; that is, a family encounter occurs with a dying patient. Conversation between a doctor and a family member consists of a step-by-step evidence- building story. The final section displays both conversational and physical resources used to establish ‘Mitori’. (shrink)

This paper's first part, reviewed attempts to model real-world problem solving as machine-executable logic. Part 2 considers an alternative model in which the solution of problems is primarily the work of visualization supported by automatized skills. Consciousness operates at the level of goal-setting and monitoring, and of the construction and communication of after-the-event commentaries, not as a problem solver. Engineering designs based on this model have proved convenient and effective. `Structured induction' is now routinely used to recover and articulate expertise (...) that in the human solver remains tacit. A seminal case of computer-mediated superarticulacy is described in which a human problem solver was enabled to transform an elaborate, but largely blind and unconscious, mental skill into a fully aware, communicable and machine-executable theory. (shrink)

This paper investigates the role of a pre-existing body-model that is an enabling constraint for the incorporation of objects into the body. This body-model is also a basis for the distinction between body extensions (e.g., in the case of tool-use) and incorporation (e.g., in the case of successful prosthesis use). It is argued that, in the case of incorporation, changes in the sense of body-ownership involve a reorganization of the body-model, whereas extension of the body with tools does not involve (...) changes in the sense of body-ownership. (shrink)

Background: Dignity is a multidimensional construct that includes perception, knowledge, and emotions related to competence or respect. Attitudes to aging are a comprehensive personal view of the experience of aging over the course of life, which can be influenced by various factors, such as the levels of health and self-sufficiency and social, psychological, or demographic factors. Aim: The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes to aging of home-dwelling and inpatient older adults, and whether dignity and other selected (...) factors belong among the predictors influencing attitudes to aging in these two different groups of older adults. Research design: Cross-sectional study using a set of questionnaires: Patient Dignity Inventory, Attitudes to Aging Questionnaire, and Barthel Index. Pearson and Spearman correlation analyses and multivariable linear regression were used for statistical processing. Participants and research context: 233 inpatients and 237 home-dwelling older adults participated in the research in two regions of the Czech Republic. Ethical considerations: Institutional Review Board approval was received from the authors’ university. Findings: The inpatients had more negative attitudes to aging (M = 74.9±10.9; P <0.0001). The predictors of their attitudes to aging were gender and dignity. Women ( β = −2.969, P = 0.045) and inpatients with poor dignity ratings ( β = −0.332, P <0.0001) had more negative attitudes to aging. The predictors for home-dwelling older adults were education, living arrangement, and dignity. More negative attitudes to aging were found in older adults with lower levels of education ( β = 2.716, P = 0.007) who lived alone ( β = 2.163, P = 0.046) and rated their dignity as low ( β = −0.325, P <0.0001). Discussion and Conclusions: The results of this study add to the understanding that a sense of dignity is an important predictor of attitudes to aging for both home-dwelling older adults and inpatients. (shrink)

This paper presents a way of classifying different forms of naturalness and unnaturalness. Three main forms of (un)naturalness are found as the following: history- based (un)naturalness, property-based (un)naturalness and relation-based (un)naturalness. Numerous subforms (and some subforms of the subforms) of each are presented. The subforms differ with respect to the entities that are found (un)natural, with respect to their all-inclusiveness, and whether (un)naturalness is seen as all-or-nothing affair, or a continuous gradient. This kind of conceptual analysis is needed, first, because (...) discussion concerning (un)naturalness is common in current bioethics and environmental ethics, and second, because the terms natural and unnatural are highly ambiguous. Thus, the lack of an exact definition of the type of (un)naturalness may lead into equivocation, other forms of bad argumentation, or at least vagueness. (shrink)

The European Commission has recently proposed the introduction of legally binding quotas for women on corporate boards of European companies. This proposal has put the spotlight on the question of whether increasing female representation on the board brings economic benefits to the firm. In order to shed light on the issue, this study investigates the direct and indirect effects of women on the board on firm value. We use a simultaneous equation model to estimate the effects of women on the (...) board on firm value, financial performance, and compliance with ethical and social principles adopted by the firm. We find no evidence that a higher female representation on the board directly affects firm’s value. However, we find indirect effects. Women on the board are positively related with financial performance (measured in terms of return on assets and return on sales) and with ethical and social compliance, which in turn are positively related with firm value. The findings in this study suggest that greater female representation on corporate boards of large European firms can increase firm value indirectly. Further, part of the indirect effect comes from stronger compliance with ethical principles, something that is not captured by accounting-based financial performance. (shrink)

In this paper, we discuss the following four alternative ways of understanding the outcomes of resurrection biology. Implications of each of the ways are discussed with respect to concepts of species and extinction. Replication: animals created by resurrection biology do not belong to the original species but are copies of it. The view is compatible with finality of extinction as well as with certain biological and ecological species concepts. Re-creation: animals created are members of the original species but, despite their (...) existence, the species remains extinct. The view is incompatible with all species concepts presented. Non-extinction: animals produced belong to the original species which actually never went extinct. The view may be consistent with phenetic and phylogenetic species concepts as well as with finality of extinction. According to literal resurrection, resurrection biology is successful in reversing extinction through the creation of new members of species that once went extinct. This view presupposes non-finality of extinction and it is compatible with phenetic species concepts. It is notable that no species or extinction concept is consistent with all possible views of resurrection biology nor is any view of resurrection biology consistent with all species or extinction concepts. Thus, one’s views regarding species and extinction determine which views one can adopt regarding resurrection biology and vice versa. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to explore the Irish dancing body by combining the growing social science interest in mobility with the established area of the body as a site of culture. On the basis of ethnographic observations and interviews about dance and culture in Ireland, I will discuss the Irish dancing body in relation to the construction of social memory, the embodiment of values linked to Irish national identity, mobility, dance competitions and global touring. First, I will detail (...) three distinct movement sequences from different dance forms in Ireland: competitive Irish dancing, dance theatre and Riverdance(the commercial Irish dance show). Second, I will look at how dance can be said to travel around Ireland, north and south, as well as back and forth to Ireland. The idea of the Irish dancing body offers an example of the unity of body and mind in dance, revealing also that abstract dance and movement communicate stories about their societies. In Irish dance, these stories feature displacement, longing and resistance, often steeped in the history. I conclude that this social memory connects a distinct Irish tradition with European modernity. (shrink)

Assisted migration is a controversial conservation measure that includes moving species threatened by climate change beyond their indigenous range. Sandler argues that assisted migration exhausts most of the value of the species moved and that assisted migration, thus, fails to be a workable conservation measure. We show how accepting the moral relevance of species’ indigenous range helps to reconcile Sandler's argument with earlier arguments about value loss in ecosystem restoration by Elliot and Katz. Contrary to Sandler, they do not favour (...) losing a biological unit to retaining it in a human-influenced form. Drawing on the distinction between property- and history-based understandings of naturalness, we further argue that the outcomes of assisted migration to the predicted range are more natural in the property-based sense of the term, and thus retain more value, than the outcomes of ‘‘assisted migration'’ elsewhere. (shrink)

The Covid-19 induced United Kingdom-wide lockdown in 2020 saw choirs face a unique situation of trying to continue without being able to meet in-person. Live networked simultaneous music-making for large groups of singers is not possible, so other “virtual choir” activities were explored. A cross sectional online survey of 3948 choir members and facilitators from across the United Kingdom was conducted, with qualitative analysis of open text questions, to investigate which virtual choir solutions have been employed, how choir members and (...) facilitators experience these in comparison to an “in-person” choir, and whether the limitations and opportunities of virtual choir solutions shed light on the value of the experience of group singing as a whole. Three virtual choir models were employed: Multi-track, whereby individuals record a solo which is mixed into a choral soundtrack; Live streamed, where individuals take part in sessions streamed live over social media; Live tele-conferencing, for spoken interaction and/or singing using tele-conferencing software. Six themes were identified in the open text responses: Participation Practicalities, encompassing reactions to logistics of virtual models; Choir Continuity, reflecting the responsibility felt to maintain choir activities somehow; Wellbeing, with lockdown highlighting to many the importance of in-person choirs to their sense of wellbeing; Social Aspects, reflecting a sense of community and social identity; Musical Elements, whereby the value of musical experience shifted with the virtual models; Co-creation through Singing, with an overwhelming sense of loss of the embodied experience of singing together in real-time, which is unattainable from existing virtual choir models. The experiences, activities and reflections of choir singers during lockdown present a unique perspective to understand what makes group singing a meaningful experience for many. Co-creation through Singing needs further investigation to understand the impact of its absence on virtual choirs being able re-create the benefits of in-person choirs. (shrink)

Using a comprehensive quotation from a book of Władysław Krajewski a characteristic of moderate scientism (to be called scientism below) is given. That is the stance I share with Krajewski. I complement the characteristic presenting scientism as an approved by me "naive trust in science". In the main part of the paper I discuss, however, the limitations imposed by contemporary science on the traditional epistemological optimism of scientism.

Uses of stored skill-models to accelerate simulator-based real-time training in a control skill are discussed. A real-time coach must deliver advice at three levels: (1) what to do next, (2) what to watch for, and (3) what went wrong. Human learning and machine learning results are presented using different screen representations of a pole-and-cart balancing task.

Decision-making capacity (DMC) is the gatekeeping element for a patient’s right to self-determination with regard to medical decisions. A DMC evaluation is not only conducted on descriptive grounds but is an inherently normative task including ethical reasoning. Therefore, it is dependent to a considerable extent on the values held by the clinicians involved in the DMC evaluation. Dealing with the question of how to reasonably support clinicians in arriving at a DMC judgment, a new tool is presented that fundamentally differs (...) from existing ones: the U-Doc. By putting greater emphasis on the judgmental process rather than on the measurement of mental abilities, the clinician as a decision-maker is brought into focus, rendering the tool more of an evaluation guide than a test instrument. In a qualitative study, the perceived benefits of and difficulties with the tool have been explored. The findings show on the one hand that the evaluation aid provides basic orientation, supports a holistic perspective on the patient, sensitizes for ethical considerations and personal biases, and helps to think through the decision, to argue, and to justify one’s judgment. On the other hand, the room for interpretation due to absent operationalisations, related ambiguities, and the confrontation with one’s own subjectivity may be experienced as unsettling. (shrink)

A masterful survey of the history of Marxist philosophy of science. Now with a new afterword. Skillfully deploying a large cast of characters, Sheehan retraces the development of Marxist philosophy of science through detailed and highly readable accounts of the debates that have characterized it. Approaching Marxism from the perspective of the philosophy of science, Sheehan shows how Marx's and Engel's ideas on the development and structure of natural science had a crucial impact on the work of early twentieth-century natural (...) philosophers, historians of science, and natural scientists. From the ideas of Marx and Engels, those of the Marxist theoreticians of the Second International to the debates within Russian Marxism up to World War II, Sheehan masterfully surveys the history of marxist philosophy of science, concluding with a close analysis of the development of the debate among non-Soviet Marxists, placing particular emphasis on the contributions of leading British Marxists in the 1930s. (shrink)

Servant leadership offers a compelling ideal of self-sacrificing individuals who put the needs of others before their own and cultivate a culture of growth in their organisations. Although the theory’s attempts to emphasise the moral, emotional and relational dimensions of leadership are laudable, it has primarily assumed a decontextualised view of leadership untouched by power. This article aims to problematise servant leadership by undertaking an intersectional analysis of an Asian cis-male heterosexual senior manager in Australia. Through in-depth interviews with the (...) manager and his staff, the article shows how his attempts to practice servant leadership were informed by intersecting power dynamics of race, gender, sexuality, age and class that subordinated him to white power. The findings demonstrate the ways servant leadership is necessarily embedded in wider power structures that shape who gets to be a “servant leader” and who remains merely a “servant”. (shrink)

This article explores anti-racist education in business schools amidst the backlash against critical race theory in an anti-Black world. I conduct an autoethnography of my experiences as a woman of colour and management educator who has attempted to bring critical discussions of race and racism into my classrooms. The article examines the barriers to anti-racist teaching in business schools and shows how they interweave individual/interpersonal, institutional, and ideological domains of power. Through my stories, I offer an account of the ways (...) anti-racist education may be limited when it relies on the efforts of individual academics and reveal the tolls that anti-racist education can take on the educator, especially when they are navigating wider systems that are hostile to racial justice. By interrogating the challenges of anti-racist education, I also reflect on the practices and conditions that make meaningful anti-racist education possible. (shrink)

Is food’s naturalness conceptually connected to its healthiness? Answering the question requires spelling out the following: (1) What is meant by the healthiness of food? (2) What different conceptual meanings the term natural has in the context of food? (3) Are some of those meanings connected to the healthiness of food? In this paper the healthiness of food is understood narrowly as food’s accordance with nutritional needs of its eater. The connection of healthiness to the following five food-related senses of (...) the term “natural’’ is analyzed: naturalness as nutritive suitability, naturalness as moderate need satisfaction, naturalness as lack of human influence, naturalness as authenticity, and naturalness as familiarity. It is concluded that some very common current uses of the term “natural,” such as naturalness as lack of human influence, are not conceptually connected to the healthiness of food. Nevertheless, the first two senses of naturalness are strongly conceptually connected to healthiness in the food context and the last one may be indirectly related to it. Thus, desire for natural food is not necessarily mistaken and misguided. (shrink)

Storchak, Ehlis, and Fallgatter provide an extensive literature review on electrophysiological measurements, which indicate that general predictive deficits in self‐monitoring are associated with various positive symptoms in patients with schizophrenia.

Individuals’ food choices are intimately connected to their self-images and world views. Some dietary choices adopted by consumers pose restrictions on their use of genetically modified food (GMF). It is quite generally agreed that some kind of labeling is necessary for respecting consumers’ autonomy of choice regarding GMF. In this paper, we ask whether the current practice of mandatory labeling of GMF products in the European Union is a sufficient administrative procedure for respecting consumers’ autonomy. Three issues concerning this question (...) are discussed. First, we argue that labeling needs to be accompanied by relevant and understandable information on genetic modification, genetically modified food, and the European practice of GMF labeling. Second, we claim that this type of informing makes it less likely that consumers start to avoid GMF products just because labels make them suspicious of the products. It is further noted that even though some consumers may react to labels this way, labels do not restrict their autonomy of choice. Third, a need for more precise labels indicating the source of the transferred gene is considered. It is found out that such labels are not morally necessary when also non-GMF products are available and no relevant differences (such as differences in price and healthiness) exist between them and GMF products. However, in some other cases more precise labels may be needed for respecting consumers’ autonomy of choice. (shrink)

Background: As frail older people might have difficulties in expressing themselves, their needs are often interpreted by others, for example, by significant others, whose information health care staff often have to rely on. This, in turn, can put health care staff in ethically difficult situations, where they have to choose between alternative courses of action. One aspect that might be especially difficult to express is that of existential loneliness. We have only sparse knowledge about whether, and in what way, the (...) views of frail older persons and their significant others concerning existential loneliness are in concordance. Objective: To contrast frail older (>75) persons’ experiences with their significant others’ perceptions of existential loneliness. Methods: A case study design was chosen for this study. Individual interviews with frail older persons (n = 15) and interviews with their significant others (n = 19), as well as field notes, served as a basis for the study. A thematic analysis was used to interpret data. Ethical considerations: This study was conducted in accordance with the principles of research ethics. Findings: The findings showed three themes: (1) Meaningless waiting in contrast to lack of activities, (2) Longing for a deeper connectedness in contrast to not participating in a social environment and (3) Restricted freedom in contrast to given up on life. Discussion: Knowledge about the tensions between older persons’ and their significant others’ views of existential loneliness could be of use as a basis for ethical reflections on the care of older people and in the encounter with their significant others. Conclusion: It is of importance that health care professionals listen to both the frail older person and their significant other(s) and be aware of whose voice that the care given is based on, in order to provide care that is beneficial and not to the detriment of the older person. (shrink)

Resumen La educación de las emociones ha sido promovida recientemente desde el giro afectivo en las ciencias sociales. Sin embargo, gran parte de los análisis educativos no tratan las emociones llamadas políticas o públicas, definidas por Martha Nussbaum como aquellas relacionadas con el Estado, sus instituciones y los conciudadanos. Este artículo presenta una guía para una educación ciudadana basada en emociones políticas, fundamentando que su educabilidad está habilitada por el desarrollo de la autorreflexión y que, a partir de ello, es (...) posible determinar categorías de emociones que favorecen la convivencia democrática, como son su adecuación, su direccionamiento y su apertura o clausura de las fronteras del yo. Esas categorías, inspiradas en los trabajos de Martha Nussbaum, Jon Elster y Adela Cortina, se ofrecen como guía metodológica para una educación ciudadana que procure el cultivo de la autorreflexión en relación con las emociones políticas. Dicha guía podría superar la actual dificultad tanto de enseñar como de evaluar la dimensión política de las emociones en la educación formal.The education of emotions has recently been promoted by the affective turn in the social sciences. However, most of these approaches to emotions fail to undertake a work in the field of emotions called political or public, as defined by Martha Nussbaum as the emotions that refer to the State, its institutions and the fellow citizens. This article seeks to present a guide for a citizen education based on political emotions, on the grounds that their educability is enabled by the development of self-conscious reflection and that it is therefore possible to determine categories of emotions that favor democratic coexistence, such as their adequacy, their direction and their opening or closing of the borders of the self. These categories, inspired by Martha Nussbaum’s, Jon Elster’s and Adela Cortina’s works, are offered as a methodological guide for a citizen education that seeks the cultivation of self-conscious reflection in relation to political emotions. This guide could overcome the current difficulty of both teaching and evaluating the political dimension of emotions in formal education. (shrink)

The article examines Patrick Modiano's much commented upon semi-autobiographical historiographic metafiction Dora Bruder [The Search Warrant] (1997) through the lens of two interconnected theoretical concepts: the "differend", coined by Jean-François Lyotard to designate a situation where a plaintiff is divested of linguistic and legal means to claim her damage, and the "material witness", as Susan Schuppli has dubbed an object capable of testifying to past violence. I argue that, in the face of the evidential deficit that proceeds from the destruction (...) of the Jewish diaspora of Paris during the Holocaust and from France's post-war memory politics in relation to the Occupation and Deportation, Modiano relies on the French capital's topography and architecture for information about Dora, her parents, and her community. Moreover, like Schuppli, he invests Parisian addresses with juridical significance so that they can become witnesses in the case he builds against wartime and post-war French authorities with a view to countering the differend to which Dora and her likes have been sentenced. (shrink)