Access to legal information is fundamental to access to justice. Yet accessibility refers not only to making legal documents available to the public, but also rendering legal information comprehensible to them. A vexing problem in bringing legal information to the public is how to turn formal legal documents such as legislation and judgments, which are often highly technical, to easily navigable and comprehensible knowledge to those without legal education. In this study, we formulate a three-step approach for bringing legal knowledge (...) to laypersons, tackling the issues of navigability and comprehensibility. First, we translate selected sections of the law into snippets (called CLIC-pages), each being a small piece of article that focuses on explaining certain technical legal concept in layperson’s terms. Second, we construct a _Legal Question Bank_, which is a collection of legal questions whose answers can be found in the CLIC-pages. Third, we design an interactive _CLIC Recommender_. Given a user’s verbal description of a legal situation that requires a legal solution, CRec interprets the user’s input and shortlists questions from the question bank that are most likely relevant to the given legal situation and recommends their corresponding CLIC pages where relevant legal knowledge can be found. In this paper we focus on the technical aspects of creating an LQB. We show how large-scale pre-trained language models, such as GPT-3, can be used to generate legal questions. We compare machine-generated questions against human-composed questions and find that MGQs are more scalable, cost-effective, and more diversified, while HCQs are more precise. We also show a prototype of CRec and illustrate through an example how our 3-step approach effectively brings relevant legal knowledge to the public. (shrink)

Background Protecting a person’s right to privacy and confidentiality is important in healthcare services. As future health professionals, nursing students should bear the same responsibility as qualified health professionals in protecting patient privacy. Objectives To investigate nursing students’ practices of patient privacy protection and to identify factors associated with their practices. Research design A cross-sectional study design was adopted. A two-part survey was used to collect two types of data on nursing students: (1) personal characteristics, including demographics, clinical experience and (...) use of information and communication technology and social media and (2) practice of patient privacy protection, collected using the Patient Privacy Scale. Participants and research context: A total of 319 nursing students aged 18 or above, studying pre-registration nursing programmes and who had attended at least one block of clinical placement, were recruited from a university in Hong Kong. Ethical considerations The study received ethical approval from the Survey and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The participants were informed of the study aim and written consent was obtained before completing the survey. Findings: The mean total score on the Patient Privacy Scale was 119.7 out of 135. Nursing students who were regular users of Instagram and those who had never taken photographs with patients and hence did not need to obtain patient consent were associated with better practices of patient privacy protection (higher total scores on the Patient Privacy Scale). Conclusions The findings improve our understanding of nursing students’ practice of patient privacy protection and the associated factors. This will inform the development and revision of current strategies to enhance nursing students’ practice of patient privacy protection, especially their use of social media. (shrink)

The purpose of this research is to find the correlation between job satisfaction and psychological well-being among employee. Job satisfaction is an outcome of employee’s feels and thoughts about appraisal of the job, which occur as a result of interaction with work environment, sort of job, and job performance. Psychological well-being is evaluation of a condition from individuals that have personal growth, self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, purpose in life and environmental mastery. Data was collected from 94 employee in (...) Jakarta. The result of data analysis shows that correlation between job satisfaction (M = 1,77, SD = 0,25) and psychological well-being (M = 3,75, SD = 0,05) is r (92) = 0,456, and p = 0,000 < 0,01. This result means, there is a positive correlation between job satisfaction and psychological well-being. In other words, for more employee feel satisfied about their job, for will be better their psychological well-being.  . (shrink)

Cultural competence, a clinical skill to recognise patients' cultural and religious beliefs, is an integral element in patient‐centred medical practice. In the area of death and dying, physicians' understanding of patients' and families' values is essential for the delivery of culturally appropriate care. Dementia is a neurodegenerative condition marked by the decline of cognitive functions. When the condition progresses and deteriorates, patients with advanced dementia often have eating and swallowing problems and are at high risk of developing malnutrition. Enteral tube (...) feeding is a conventional means of providing artificial nutrition and hydration to meet nutritional needs, but its benefits to the frail population are limitedly shown in the clinical evidence. Forgoing tube feeding is ethically challenging when patients are mentally incompetent and in the absence of an advance directive. Unlike some developed countries, like the United States of America, death and dying is a sensitive issue or even a taboo in some cultures in developing countries that forgoing enteral tube feeding is clinically and ethically challenging, such as China and Malaysia. This article in three parts 1) discusses the clinical and ethical issues related to forgoing tube feeding among patients with advanced dementia, 2) describes how Hong Kong Chinese, North American, and Malaysian Islamic cultures respond differently in the decision‐making patterns of forgoing tube feeding for patients with advanced dementia, and 3) reiterates the clinical implications of cultural competence in end‐of‐life care. (shrink)

Introduction: Probationers, offenders with less serious and non-violent offences, and under statutory supervision, have low levels of self-esteem and physical health, and high level of family conflict, and poorer quality of family relationships. This study examined the effectiveness of the existing probation service and the additional use of a positive family holistic health intervention to enhance physical, psychological, and family well-being in probationers and relationships with probation officers.Methods: Probationers under the care of the Hong Kong Social Welfare Department were randomized (...) into a care-as-usual control group, a brief intervention group receiving two 1-h individual sessions [of a brief theory-based positive family holistic health intervention integrating Zero-time Exercise and positive psychology themes of “Praise and Gratitude” in the existing probation service], or a combined intervention group receiving BI and a 1-day group activity with family members. The outcomes were physical activity, fitness performance, self-esteem, happiness, anxiety and depression symptoms, life satisfaction, quality of life, family communication and well-being, and relationships with probation officers. Self-administered questionnaires and simple fitness tests were used at baseline, 1-month and 3-month follow-up. Linear mixed model analysis was used to compare difference in the changes of outcome variables among groups, adjusted of sex, age, and baseline values. Focus group interviews were conducted. Thematic content analysis was used.Results: 318 probationers were randomized into CAU, BI, or CI group. CAU showed enhanced physical activity, fitness performance and psychological health, and family communication with small effect sizes. BI and CI showed further improved physical activity, family communication and family well-being. Additionally, CI reported greater improvements in the relationships with probation officers than CAU with a small effect size. CI also reported greater increases in physical activity and family communication than BI with small to moderate effect sizes. Qualitative feedbacks corroborated the quantitative findings.Conclusion: Our trial provided the first evidence of the effectiveness of probation service and the additional use of an innovative, relatively low-cost, theory-based brief positive family holistic health intervention. This intervention may offer a new model for enhancing probation service.Trial Registration: The research protocol was registered at the National Institutes of Health. (shrink)

Wealth inequality is a prevalent social issue. The present study focuses on acceptance of wealth inequality, and considers personal income, perceived upward mobility, and future time perspective as its antecedents, and collective action intention as its outcome. With reference to the social identity literature and socioemotional selectivity theory, we posit a conditional indirect effect of income on collective action intention through acceptance of wealth inequality: only when mobility and future time perspective are relatively high, higher income is associated with higher (...) acceptance of wealth inequality and in turn, lower collective action intention. Moderated mediation findings, based on territory–wide phone survey data from 866 Hong Kong adults, supported this prediction. This work indicates the relevance of an individual-level instrumental perspective to the understanding of acceptance of wealth inequality as well as collective action intention. (shrink)

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effectiveness of Digital Content Marketing on a Mixed Reality training platform environment with the consideration of online purchase intention through social media. E-commerce today encounters several common issues that cause customers to have reservations to purchase online. With the absence of physical contact points, customers often perceive more risks when making purchase decisions. Furthermore, online retailers often find it hard to engage customers and develop long-term relationships. In this research, a Structural (...) Equation Model is proposed to examine the efficacy of DCM from both immediate and long-term OPI. The results examine whether adopting DCM on an MR training platform environment through social media brings positive results in OPI. Empirical research was carried out through online questionnaires collected in 2021 and 2022. A total of 374 questionnaires were qualified for data analysis in this study, conducted with IBM SPSS and AMOS. The results imply that DCM is critical to stimulating both immediate and long-term OPI. The immediate OPI is positively affected by increasing perceived value through MR in DCM. Regarding the long-term OPI, increased customer engagement with DCM under MR environment can cultivate brand trust and significantly affect the long-term OPI. (shrink)

Background The use of lengthy, detailed, and complex informed consent forms is of paramount concern in biomedical research as it may not truly promote the rights and interests of research participants. The extent of information in ICFs has been the subject of debates for decades; however, no clear guidance is given. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the perspectives of research participants about the type and extent of information they need when they are invited to participate in (...) biomedical research. Methods This multi-center, cross-sectional, descriptive survey was conducted at 54 study sites in seven Asia-Pacific countries. A modified Likert-scale questionnaire was used to determine the importance of each element in the ICF among research participants of a biomedical study, with an anchored rating scale from 1 to 5. Results Of the 2484 questionnaires distributed, 2113 were returned. The majority of respondents considered most elements required in the ICF to be ‘moderately important’ to ‘very important’ for their decision making. Major foreseeable risk, direct benefit, and common adverse effects of the intervention were considered to be of most concerned elements in the ICF. Conclusions Research participants would like to be informed of the ICF elements required by ethical guidelines and regulations; however, the importance of each element varied, e.g., risk and benefit associated with research participants were considered to be more important than the general nature or technical details of research. Using a participant-oriented approach by providing more details of the participant-interested elements while avoiding unnecessarily lengthy details of other less important elements would enhance the quality of the ICF. (shrink)

The effectiveness of complaint handling and service recovery policies in customer retention has been the focus of both scholars and service organizations. In the past decade, Justice Theory has provided the basis of the dominant theoretical framework for complaint management and service recovery. However, it does not explicitly address unfair trade practices, which constitute an ethical issue. Favorable outcomes in complaint handling may not be able to restore the reputation of a company and the potential harm perceived by consumers. Using (...) face-to-face interviews, this study applies Fairness Theory to explore the psychological responses of consumers in the post-complaint phase, particularly in ethical judgment. The findings suggest that an unfavorable outcome in the post-complaint stage leads to counterfactual thinking by the consumer about the consumer's state of well-being. The complaint must be due to the discretionary actions of the service provider whose accountability is assessed. Those harmful actions are then judged against an ethical standard. Explanations can reduce blame, and their effectiveness is moderated by outcome favorability but not ethical judgment. Favorable outcome, captured by "Would Perception," has only limited influence on Perceived Potential Harm (PPH), which is an important determinant of ethical judgment. This study makes both theoretical and practical contributions. It is the first study to validate Fairness Theory empirically and apply it to complaint handling as a complement of Justice Theory in the information and communication technology (ICT) service context. The study indicates that customers may condemn a service provider because of PPH even though the outcome is favorable. Unfair trade practices are what make customers hate ICT service providers. (shrink)

This paper develops and tests a new conceptual model incorporating the indirect impact of two ethical ideologies (idealism and relativism) on Chinese consumers’ ethical judgments under four ethically problematic consumption situations (active benefit, passive benefit, deceptive practice, and no/indirect harm) through two cultural values (integration and moral discipline). Data from a large-scale online consumer survey in five major Chinese cities (_N_ = 1046) support most hypotheses. The findings are consistent with the postulated global impact of ethical ideology on forming an (...) individual’s beliefs and values and highlight the importance of a thorough understanding of the significant determinants of consumer ethics to promote ethically responsible consumption behaviors. This study also uses an emic approach to conceptualize and measure Chinese cultural values by using cultural constructs and measures that are designed explicitly in the Chinese context. (shrink)

This article introduces the LITMUS-MAIN and motivates the adaptation of this instrument into Chinese languages and language pairs involving a Chinese language, namely Cantonese, Mandarin, Kam, Urdu. We propose that these new adapted protocols not only contribute to the theoretical discussion on story grammar and widen the evidential base of MAIN to include more languages in studying bilinguals, they also offer new methods of assessing language development in young children that have the potential to tease apart the effects of language (...) impairment and bilingualism and improve the identification of Developmental Language Disorder. These new protocols are the first tools to be designed for the dual assessment of language skills in these particular languages, in particular narrative skills in bilingual children speaking these languages. By catering to under-researched languages and over-looked groups of bilingual children, these new tools could improve the clinical management for certain bilingual ethnic minority children such as Urdu-Cantonese and Kam-Mandarin bilinguals, as well as promote the study of these groups and their acquisition issues. Advances in understanding the theoretical and acquisition issues in childhood bilingualism can also be made possible using these new tools. (shrink)

The counseling process involves attention, emotional perception, cognitive appraisal, and decision-making. This study aimed to investigate cognitive appraisal and the associated emotional processes when reading short therapists' statements of motivational interviewing (MI). Thirty participants with work injuries were classified into the pre-contemplation (PC,n= 15) or readiness stage of the change group (RD,n= 15). The participants viewed MI congruent (MI-C), MI incongruent (MI-INC), or control phrases during which their electroencephalograms were captured. The results indicated significant Group × Condition effects in the (...) frontally oriented late positive complex (P600/LPC). The P600/LPC's amplitudes were more positive-going in the PC than in the RD group for the MI congruent statements. Within the PC group, the amplitudes of the N400 were significantly correlated (r= 0.607–0.649) with the participants' level of negative affect. Our findings suggest that the brief contents of MI statements alone can elicit late cognitive and emotional appraisal processes beyond semantic processing. (shrink)

Depression is a widespread concern in the United States. Neuromodulation treatments are becoming more common but there is emerging concern for racial disparities in neuromodulation treatment utilization. This study focuses on Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), a treatment for depression, and the structural and attitudinal barriers that racialized individuals face in accessing it. In January 2023 participants from the Twin Cities, Minnesota engaged in focus groups, coupled with an educational video intervention. Individuals self identified as non-white who had no previous TMS (...) exposure but had tried at least one treatment for their depression. Results revealed that the intervention did not notably change knowledge or stigma about TMS, but attitudes surrounding traveling for treatment changed. Notably, barriers like affordability, frequency of treatment, and lack of knowledge persist. Participants expressed a desire for more information, personal connection, and a tailored educational approach. The study suggests a need for multifaceted strategies to reduce disparities, focusing on education, community-based resources, and policy interventions. Immediate actions that can be taken include the creation of a TMS education program focused on patient engagement and awareness about TMS. (shrink)

The purpose of the article is to reveal philosophical ideas in the mythology and folklore of the indigenous peoples of North America. An important question: "Can we assume that the spiritual culture of the American Indians contained philosophical knowledge?" remains relevant today. For example, European philosophy is defined by appeals to philosophers of the past, their texts. The philosophical tradition is characterized by rational argumentation and formulation of philosophical questions that differ from the questions of ordinary language. However, the problem (...) lies in the term "philosophy", which belongs to the so-called "philosophical untranslatability" and has many definitions. The question of whether philosophy is exclusively a phenomenon of European culture is still controversial. In the article, the concept of philosophy is used in a broad sense, which allows the analysis of the intellectual heritage of the culture of the indigenous people of North America for philosophical ideas. Theoretical basis of the study consists of primary sources, which are limited due to the "documentary horizon". It contains myths about the Twins, ritual rhetoric, examples of dream interpretation practices and the practical wisdom of tribal chiefs. The Chronicle of "Vallamolum", or "the Red List", testifies to the special idea of the Indians about history and their own historicity. Analysis of cosmogonical and cosmological ideas reveals the special features of the anthropological ideas of the North American Indians. Combined with the philosophical ideas of the Puritan philosophy of the settlers of New England, this analysis allows us to explore in more detail the processes of acculturation. The study uses critical literature from scholars and leading researchers of the wisdom and philosophy of Native Americans, such as Michael Yellow Bird, J. Baird Callicott, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dennis H. McPherson, Lewis Henri Morgan, Thomas M. Norton-Smith, J. Douglas Rabb, Paul Radin, Jon Ewbank Manchip White. The views of early American philosophers: R. Williams, W. Penn, R. W. Emerson, on the problem of the relationship between the culture of settlers and the indigenous people of North America are noteworthy. Originality lies in the application of historical and philosophical methodology, identifying the features of philosophizing in the spiritual culture and worldview of the indigenous people of North America. Conclusions. In the conclusions, the obtained results complement the history of the origin and development of philosophical thought of the early American philosophy. (shrink)

Background eHealth was widely used during the COVID-19 pandemic. Much attention was given to the technical aspects of eHealth, such as infrastructure and cost, while the soft skill of compassion remained underexplored. The wide belief in compassionate care is more compatible with in-person interactions but difficult to deliver via e-platforms where personal and environmental clues were lacking urges studying this topic. Purpose to explore the experience of delivering compassionate care via an eHealth platform among healthcare professionals working to contain the (...) COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A qualitative study design with an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach was used. Twenty healthcare professionals (fifteen nurses and five physicians) who provided care using technology platforms, such as telephone hotlines, mobile apps, and social media, were interviewed individually. Ethical considerations Permission to conduct the study was obtained from the Institutional Review Board. Results Participants stated that “eHealth enabled compassionate care during the pandemic” by ensuring patient care availability and accessibility. They shared experiences of “communicating compassionate care via eHealth” with suggestions of addressing patients’ needs with empathy, adopting a structured protocol to guide eHealth communication, and using more advanced visual-media methods to promote human-to-human interaction. They recommended “setting realistic mutual expectations” considering the limitations of eHealth in handling complex health situations and staffing shortages. Participants considered “low eHealth literacy hinders compassion.” Additionally, they recommended the need for “institutional/system-level support to foster compassionate care.” Conclusion Participants recognized the importance of integrating compassion into eHealth services. Promotion of compassionate care requires standardization of eHealth services with institutional and system-level support. This also includes preparing adequate staffing who can communicate compassionate care via eHealth, set realistic expectation, and adjust communication to eHealth literacy level while meeting the needs of their patients. (shrink)

With the thesis that life is auto-affection, the French philosopher Michel Henry introduced a phenomenology of life. By disclosing the parallels between the Ming Neo-Confucian Liu Zongzhou's and Henry's philosophy, this article tries to develop a more radical understanding of the essential difference between Liu Zongzhou's and Wang Yangming's Confucianism. Moreover, it will show in what sense Liu Zongzhou's doctrine is a phenomenology of life. In contrast to Henry's founding of the phenomenology of life upon Christianity, Liu (...) Zongzhou's approach is nontheological. In recent years, Henry's theological phenomenology has been challenged. Particularly, Henry's Christian account for the possibility of selfhood is charged for lacking phenomenological evidence. It will show that such a difficulty might be overcome by Liu Zongzhou's thesis of the essential connection between pure feeling and the will. (shrink)

Le biographe tourne autour d'une realite a deux inconnues. Il y a l'homme et il y a l'image de l'homme dans l'homme. Je dois retrouver Auguste Comte tel qu'il s'est vu; il m'est interdit de renoncer a savoir s'il s'est vu tel qu'il fut. La vie de Comte romancee par Comte est un fragment de son histoire: c'est un fait que le biographe rencontre lorsqu'il regarde l'interieur de son personnage; mais il simplifierait trop sa tache s'il n'essayait point de saisir (...) d'autres faits, au dela de la vision qui les deforme. (shrink)

Nous présentons ici une introduction à la lecture des Deux sources de la morale et de la religion d'Henri Bergson, publié en 1932. Cet ouvrage est le moins fréquenté des livres de Bergson : on le ramène à quelques formules sur l'opposition du " clos " et de " l'ouvert ", et à un mysticisme un peu fumeux. Pourtant, Bergson a mis vingt-cinq ans à se documenter pour écrire ce livre qui constitue une synthèse philosophique des travaux de la sociologie, (...) de l'anthropologie et de la psychologie des religions de son temps. Surtout, on voit s'y articuler les trois dimensions qui travaillent toute la pensée métaphysique de Bergson : le vital, le mental et le social ; et on comprend mieux que l'affirmation du point de vue de la conscience individuelle ne nie en aucune façon son inscription dans la vie biologique et dans une société politique. L'existence de grands individus y est mise au service de l'action de toute l'humanité et de la vie elle-même. F. Keck propose une présentation générale de l'ouvrage à travers son contexte intellectuel et sa méthode dualiste. A. Bouaniche commente cinq textes extraits des Deux sources ou d'ouvrages qui l'éclairent. F. Worms présente une interprétation de ce livre à la lumière du rapport entre la vie et la morale chez Bergson et dans la philosophie contemporaine. (shrink)

Si la vie est une évolution, alors elle doit expliquer jusqu'à la connaissance, l'intelligence, la science et la technique de l'homme, l'homo faber ; si il y a en elle de la création, alors ce n'est pas un postulat extérieur, mais dans son histoire et dans notre vie même qu'on doit l'expérimenter. dans L'évolution créatrice, Bergson pousse ainsi la théorie de l'évolution et l'expérience de la " durée " jusqu'au bout, sans admettre ni une création transcendante ni une vie sans (...) émergence ou nouveauté. Les conséquences traversent toute la science, la théorie de la connaissance, et la philosophie, de 1907 à aujourd'hui. La première édition critique des œuvres de Bergson, dans laquelle s'inscrit le présent volume, répond à un double principe : offrir d'abord le texte intégral du livre tel que l'a publié Bergson, dans sa pagination de référence inchangée ; le compléter ensuite par un dossier comportant des notes historiques et philosophiques ainsi que les variantes éventuelles du texte, une table analytique de l'ouvrage, une série originale d'index, une anthologie des " lectures " majeures et une bibliographie commentée. (shrink)

It turns out that you can teach an old dog—even a “dead dog,” as Lessing would describe Spinoza—new tricks. In Spinoza and German Idealism, we learn not only how Spinoza influenced the German Idealists, but also how they transformed and gave new life to the key concepts of his system. In this collection of fourteen essays, we see how Kant, Schleiermacher, Herder, Goethe, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, and Trendelenburg understood (and misunderstood) Spinoza’s conception of God, intellectual intuition, human freedom, and the (...) relation between the infinite and the finite—to name but a few of the topics treated in these pages—and also how they defined their own philosophical projects in response to Spinoza on those points. .. (shrink)

Addressing the alleged "great secrets" contained in Scripture, Spinoza wrote in the Theological Political Treatise : "I have also read, and for that matter, known personally, certain Kabbalistic triflers. I've never been able to be sufficiently amazed by their madness". Were these words Spinoza's only reference to the Kabbalah, we would hardly have any reason to believe that his attitude toward the Kabbalistic literature was anything but dismissive. However, in a 1675 letter to Henry Oldenburg, Spinoza stressed that he (...) shared the view that "all things are in God" with certain ancient traditions of the Hebrews, "corrupted as they have been in many ways"... (shrink)

La plupart des définitions de la catéchèse concentrent l’essentiel sur la transmission d’un savoir et d’une expérience qui permettent à la personne de se construire une identité croyante au sein d’une communauté. Parallèlement, la réflexion catéchétique voit pourtant son questionnement s’élargir à d’autres dimensions jugées vitales : celle de l’ouverture, celle de la mission, celle de l’évangélisation, celle du dialogue. S’il y a bien des questions fondamentales aujourd’hui, ce sont celles qui examinent les liens entre une première annonce missionnaire et (...) une catéchèse d’initiation, entre la proposition de la foi et la rencontre tolérante avec les adeptes d’autres philosophies ou religions. L’article tente d’approfondir les enjeux et les conséquences pour la catéchèse contemporaine de ce double mandat, identitaire et dialogal. (shrink)

Henry Shue,Aude Bandini | : Au vu de l’indolence, voire de l’impavidité dont témoignent les approches qu’ont adoptées la plupart des pays du monde à l’égard du changement climatique, il semble n’y avoir guère d’urgence. La question est de savoir en quoi cela pose problème, si problème il y a. À cela, je réponds que tout, là-dedans, pose problème et, plus précisément, qu’on peut y voir autant une violation des droits fondamentaux que le signe qu’une occasion en or de (...) protéger ces droits a été ratée. Il est, au contraire, urgent d’agir sur deux fronts convergents. Tout d’abord, il faut faire baisser les émissions, nettement et résolument. La concentration de carbone dans l’atmosphère ne cessera pas de croître tant que l’on n’aura pas ramené les émissions à zéro. Ensuite, il faut que l’on développe des technologies utilisant des sources d’énergie alternatives aussi rapidement qu’il est humainement possible de le faire. Parvenue à ce point, l’humanité pourrait se sortir d’affaire, si du moins nous n’avons pas émis la billionième tonne d’ici là. | : The desultory, almost leisurely approach of most of the world’s national states to climate change rejects no detectable sense of urgency. My question is what, if anything, is wrong with this persistent lack of urgency. My answer is that everything is wrong with it and, in particular, that it constitutes a violation of basic rights as well as a failure to seize a golden opportunity to protect rights. Instead, action is urgent on two converging fronts. First, carbon emissions need to be cut back sharply and aggressively. The atmospheric concentration of carbon will not stop growing until emissions are zero. Second, alternative energy technologies need to be developed as quickly as humanly possible. At that point, humanity might be out of the woods, provided that we have meanwhile not emitted the trillionth metric ton. (shrink)

"With its signal distinction between 'intuition' and 'analysis' and its exploration of the different levels of Duration, _An Introduction to Metaphysics_ has had a significant impact on subsequent twentieth century thought. The arts, from post-impressionist painting to the stream of consciousness novel, and philosophies as diverse as pragmatism, process philosophy, and existentialism bear its imprint. Consigned for a while to the margins of philosophy, Bergson’s thought is making its way back to the mainstream. The reissue of this important work comes (...) at an opportune time, and will be welcomed by teachers and scholars alike." --Peter A. Y. Gunter, University of North Texas. (shrink)

Penser l'homme et la folie : dans ce recueil d'études où s'est condensée, au fil des dernières années, sa réflexion, Henri Maldiney se propose de penser ensemble l'énigme de l'humanité et l'énigme de la " catastrophe " qui survient à certains d'entre nous. Double décentrement de la pensée, qui la met à la fois hors de l'anthropologie, fût-elle philosophique, et de son envers dans les théories psycho-pathologiques. Double décentrement où s'éprouvent donc au mieux la tradition philosophique - et en particulier (...) celle qui est issue de Heidegger - et la tradition de la Daseinsanalyse et de la Schicksalsanalyse, telle qu'elle est représentée par Binswanger, Straus, Minkiwski, Von Weizsäcker et Szondi. Dans une démarche authentiquement phénoménologique, où il s'agit de retourner à la " chose même " de l'humain et de la folie, de penser en va-et-vient de l'énigme à penser à ce qui en a été dit, Henri Maldiney dégage, par sa conception toute nouvelle de la transpossibilité et de la transpassibilité, une " compréhension " globale du phénomène humain qui le rend moins intraitable que par le passé. Le " séisme " de la folie, montre-t-il, vient d'un énigmatique court-circuit de la transpossibilité et de la transpassibilité, qui est seul propre à les mettre véritablement en relief comme la dimension profonde et cachée de notre expérience : celle de l' "événement " ou de l'émergence du nouveau, de la surprise de l'inattendu. La transpassiblité est une " possibilité " qui nous excède, en ce qu'elle fonde toute possibilité pour nous d'exister, parce qu'elle est en deçà de tout projet, transpossiblité de l'accueil - et de l'accueil transpassible -, y compris de l'accueil par nous-mêmes, de nous-mêmes. " Le réel -répète Henri Maldiney comme un leitmotiv qui traverse tout l'ouvrage -, est toujours ce qu'on n'attendait pas". (shrink)

In Aristotle’s writings regarding the biology of embryology, especially in the Generation of Animals, he contends that the mother’s menstrual fluids provide the material for the generation of the offspring, and the father’s form determines its formation as a member of that species (e.g. human). The katamenia (menstrual fluids) of the mother are said to be potentially all the body parts of the offspring, though actually none of them. So, the fluids are potentially the offspring. But are they a first (...) potentiality or second potentiality (first actuality) of a human, in the terminology of De Anima II? In this paper I will argue that katamenia are a first potentiality of a human. My first argument is that katamenia do not have the potential for human activities such as thinking, but rather the potential of becoming something having the potential for those activities. I answer the objection that katamenia are not even a first potentiality, by appealing to an important text contending that for any x whose source of becoming is external, x is potentially y if nothing in x with respect to matter needs to be changed in order for an external principle to make x into y. Keywords: Aristotle, katamenia, potentiality, actuality, Generation of Animals. (shrink)

SummaryThis paper attempts to develop an interpretation of Kant's transcendental idealism which is based upon his critique of transcendental realism . It is argued that given Kant's transcendental distinction, all non‐ or pre‐critical philosophies, even Berkeleian phenomenalism are transcendentally realistic. This paradoxical result is used as the basis for an analysis of Kant's resolution of the mathematical antinomies, wherein this resolution is seen both as an “indirect proof” of transcendental idealism and as a refutation of transcendental realism. Finally, it is (...) claimed that Kant's idealism, at least insofar as it is established by means of a refutation of transcendental realism, is methodological rather than metaphysical, viz. it involves a claim about how the sensible world is to be considered in transcendental reflection, not a claim about the “real nature” of this world.RésuméCet article essaye de développer une interprétation de l'idéalisme transcendental de Kant, interprétation basée sur sa critique du réalisme transcendental . L'auteur montre que, si l'on accepte la distinction transcendentale de Kant, toutes les philosophies non critiques et précritiques sont transcendentalement réalistes, y compris le phénoménalisme de Berkeley. A partir de ce résultat paradoxal, il analyse la manière dont Kant résoud les antinomies mathématiques: cette résolution apparaît à la fois comme preuve indirecte de l'idéalisme transcendental et comme une réfutation du réalisme transcendental. L'auteur est finalement d'avis que l'idéalisme de Kant, du moins lorsqu'il est justifié par une réfutation du réalisme transcendental, est plus méthodologique que métaphysique, c'est‐à‐dire qu'il déclare comment le monde sensible doit être considéré dans la réflexion transcendentale et non quelle est la véritable nature de ce monde.ZusammenfassungEs wird versucht, eine Interpretation von Kants transzendentalem Idealismus zu entwickeln, die auf seiner Kritik am transzendentalen Realismus — verstanden als derjenige Standpunkt, der systematisch Erscheinung und Ding an sich verwechselt — beruht. Es wird argumentiert, dass — einmal Kants transzendentale Unterscheidung angenommen — aile früheren, vorkritischen Systeme der Philosophie einschliesslich Berkeleys Phänomenalismus transzendental realistisch sind. Dieses paradoxale Ergebnis wird als Basis für eine Analyse von Kants Auflösung der mathematischen Antinomien verwendet, wobei dièse Auflösung sowohl als ein indirekter Beweis für den transzendentalen Idealismus als auch als eine Widerlegung des transzendentalen Realismus gedeutet wird. Es wird schliesslich nahegelegt, dass Kants Idealismus, sofern wenigstens als er sich auf Widerlegung des transzendentalen Realismus abstützt, mehr ein rnethodologischer als ein metaphysischer Idealismus ist. Er statuiert eher über die Art, wie die Sinneswelt in einer transzendentalen Reflexion betrachtet werden soll, als über die Frage, wie die Welt wirklich beschaffen sei. (shrink)

In Aristotle’s writings regarding the biology of embryology, especially in the Generation of Animals, he contends that the mother’s menstrual fluids provide the material for the generation of the offspring, and the father’s form determines its formation as a member of that species (e.g. human). The katamenia (menstrual fluids) of the mother are said to be potentially all the body parts of the offspring, though actually none of them. So, the fluids are potentially the offspring. But are they a first (...) potentiality or second potentiality (first actuality) of a human, in the terminology of De Anima II? In this paper I will argue that katamenia are a first potentiality of a human. My first argument is that katamenia do not have the potential for human activities such as thinking, but rather the potential of becoming something having the potential for those activities. I answer the objection that katamenia are not even a first potentiality, by appealing to an important text contending that for any x whose source of becoming is external, x is potentially y if nothing in x with respect to matter needs to be changed in order for an external principle to make x into y. (shrink)

Le récit européen raconte l’histoire moderne à partir du « moment axial » de la Renaissance sur le modèle de l’expansion d’un foyer culturel essentiellement actif jusqu’à produire le monde comme totalité unifiée dont s’empareraient les modes capitalistes de production. Telle est l’histoire-monde que cet article propose d’interroger : une histoire vue à travers une lorgnette européocentriste armée de macro-concepts dont la validité paraît problématique sitôt qu’on tente de les définir indépendamment de la version de l’histoire qu’ils permettent précisément de (...) formuler. À travers ce récit s’opère la conquête des histoires humaines par l’histoire : l’Orient n’y est invité qu’à titre d’accessoire. Il y a dans le concept d’« histoire » non seulement la violence du discours qui nie, mais aussi un discours qui annule la réalité de cette violence, parce qu’il la rend impensable. Il s’agira, ici, de tenter de rompre avec l’asymétrie interprétative qui fonde ce grand récit univoque de l’Occident appelé « Histoire ». (shrink)

La désinstitutionalisation est devenue un thème central dans le domaine du handicap pour permettre aux personnes concernées un vie autonome et indépendante. La signification de la désinstitutionalisation ne peut être intelligible que si on analyse son terme opposé à savoir l’institution. Qu’est-ce qu’une institution par-delà la diversité de ses formes et de ses interprétations? Elle pose trois grands problèmes: l’institution est-elle réductrice des individus? Les individus s’y soumettent-ils complètement? Qu’est-ce qui peut la réguler? Considérer à cette hauteur toute institution apparaît (...) comme ambivalente, répressive mais pleine de ressources, consentie par ses usagers qui peuvent néanmoins la contester, reposant sur une fonction mais aussi un imaginaire. Cette analyse amène à concevoir la désinstitutionalisation comme une dynamique constante au sein même de l’institution, qui ne peut jamais se réduire à la notion d’établissement. Institution, dont ne peut se passer la société et qui assure les supports nécessaires pour réaliser cette autonomie et cette indépendance. Il s’agit d’un double processus. Cet environnement institutionnel fait partie des facteurs environnementaux qui déterminent la condition handicapée. Et toute institution est elle-même intégrée à un environnement institutionnel plus large. Il n’y a pas de fonctionnement en dehors d’un environnement institutionnel. Le problème est dès lors de s’assurer que cet environnement œuvre en faveur de la liberté des individus. (shrink)

Excerpt from Le Materialisme Actuel Cette pensee s'impose a nous que la France est peut-etre aujourd'hui le pays du monde ou la preoccupation de la vie spirituelle travaille le plus profondement les consciences. On est en quete et la recherche devient toujours plus inquiete, plus ardente des idees, des croyances qui per mettront a la personne humaine de deployer toutes les virtualites qu'elle Sent au dedans d'elle et que le materialisme, le mecanisme broyait._ On est en train de poser comme (...) un axiome evident ce qui etait, il y a quelques annees la suggestion presque risquee de l'esprit nouveau il faut avoir une ame. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. (shrink)

"Au fond des doctrines qui méconnaissent la nouveauté radicale de chaque moment de l'évolution il y a bien des malentendus, bien des erreurs. Mais il y a surtout l'idée que le possible est moins que le réel, et que, pour cette raison, la possibilité des choses précède leur existence. Elles seraient ainsi représentables par avance ; elles pourraient être pensées avant d'être réalisées. Mais c'est l'inverse qui est la vérité. Si nous laissons de côté les systèmes clos, soumis à des (...) lois purement mathématiques, isolables parce que la durée ne mord pas sur eux, si nous considérons l'ensemble de la réalité concrète ou tout simplement le monde de la vie, et à plus forte raison celui de la conscience, nous trouvons qu'il y a plus, et non pas moins, dans la possibilité de chacun des états successifs que dans leur réalité. Car le possible n'est que le réel avec, en plus, un acte de l'esprit qui en rejette l'image dans le passé une fois qu'il s'est produit. Mais c'est ce que nos habitudes intellectuelles nous empêchent d'apercevoir." Henri Bergson. (shrink)

Peut-on enseigner la vertu (Protagoras)? Ou bien son apprentissage n'est-il rien d'autre que l'écoute patiente du savoir scientifique et la soumission à la vérité qui s'y dévoile (Socrate)? L'efficacité scientifique a imposé la recherche critique de la vérité comme critère ultime en matière de formation, avec l'espoir d'une rencontre harmonieuse entre vérité, liberté individuelle et justice sociale. Mais la subtilité des problèmes d'éthique et de société que posent les sciences et les techniques sans donner les moyens de les résoudre fait (...) éclater l'idéal socratique. C'est la revanche de Protagoras et de l'opinion, du poétique et de la rhétorique.Prenant la mesure de ses propres limites, la raison scientifique s'identifie ne peut plus fonder à elle seule un système d'éducation. Associée à la critique philosophique, elle doit partager son pouvoir? sans pourtant s'y dissoudre? avec le pouvoir politique et celui des médias.La recherche de concepts opérationnels a fait considérer la totalité, la négation et le possible comme de faux concepts, malgré leur rôle déterminant dans le développement des individus. Retrouver le tout, le non, le peut-être, au-delà du dénombrable, de la soustraction et du potentiel qui les ont remplacés, implique une relation nouvelle à la vérité et à la croyance, une recherche pragmatique du souverain Bien. (shrink)

L'aître, nous dit le Littré, est, dans une église, "ce corps avancé qui précède le portail", ce vestibule par lequel il nous faut accéder afin d'entrer dans l'imposant édifice. Avant d'habiter la langue en laquelle nous pensons, nous faut-il en passer par ses aîtres, lesquels, s'ils ne sont eux-mêmes la demeure, nous y donnent accès. Une langue, en effet, ne se parle usuellement qu'en nous imposant son état construit, et le plus souvent, intentionnel. Or, tout l'enjeu de cet ouvrage, publié (...) pour la première fois en 1975, consiste à méditer, en deçà de la logique de la signification établie, son état pré-construit, son moment d'ouverture par lequel elle surgit à l'état naissant, forte de cette lucidité puissancielle qui la rend inventive et proprement pensante. En méditant le rapport du verbe et du temps, l'instance du parfait dans la langue philosophique grecque ou encore la puissance comme l'impuissance du logos dans l'ensemble de ses acceptions, les trois études qui composent cet ouvrage ont pour vocation de nous rendre attentifs à ce qui, nourrissant toute signification, n'en relève pas encore. (shrink)

Ce livre n'est pas un expose de la metaphysique cartesienne, mais s'attache a la pensee qui l'anime et qui cherche en elle son expression. Ce mot expression introduit un premier postulat: une philosophie n'a de sens que par reference a une certaine vision du monde dont precisement elle veut etre l'expression. A l'origine il y a un esprit qui regarde l'univers, l'homme, Dieu et qui s'etonne de les voir comme on ne les a encore jamais vus: c'est cette vision neuve (...) qu'il veut exprimer dans un texte qui est, a la fois, pensee coherente et parole communicable. Qui dit expression dit donc volonte de communication. La vision du monde - c'est le second postulat - n'est en aucune facon une sorte d'essence intemporelle et elle ne peut etre separee de son environnement historique. Ainsi tout texte a deux contextes: l'ensemble ordonne d'idees duquel il tient son sens et un certain dialogue qu'il doit rendre propice a la transmission de ce sens, les interlocuteurs n'appartenant pas tous au meme milieu culturel, comme on dit aujourd'hui. (shrink)

La seule œuvre majeure publiée par Spinoza de son vivant est le Traité théologico-politique. Il y a donc un intérêt tout spécial à étudier la correspondance du philosophe pour rechercher ce qui peut être dit de ce texte. On découvre ainsi successivement : la formulation de thèmes et d’enjeux autour desquels s’élabore le Traité; des informations historiques relatives à son contexte et à sa réception; enfin et surtout des réactions qui sont de trois types : apologétique, dialogal, interprétatif; c’est ce (...) dernier type de réaction, constitué à partir d’une lettre de Lambert Van Velthuysen, qui permet de donner l’accès le plus précis à la philosophie du traité en posant les principes de son interprétation. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage reprend dans une redaction nouvelle six articles anterieurs a 1962. On y trouve six etudes relativement independantes les unes des autres, mais mises bout a bout elles esquissent une histoire lacunaire de l'esprit de Pascal, et plus particulierement de son dessein apologetique. S'appuyant sur une erudition rigoureuse, ces six approches concretes rattachent les textes a leur support materiel et les situent dans leur contexte culturel, ce qui permet au lecteur de rencontrer un Pascal vivant au milieu des siens (...) et de son epoque. (shrink)

Ce qui fut la these dite secondaire dans le langage universitaire de l'epoque (1926), devient un livre primordial. Qui donc, lors de ses etudes malebranchistes ne l'a pas utilise, consulte, commente? C'etait une autre facon de philosopher: aborder un auteur par ses reflexions initiales. Une oeuvre s'expliquait autrement que par son systeme ; elle avait certes des structure, mais aussi une genese. Disons que toute grande oeuvre a une jeunesse, puisque c'est bien la ce dont il s'agit dans l'etude de (...) cette formation oratorienne. Le concept architectonique de rencontre est illustre par celle du Traite de l'homme de Descartes, relevant a Malebranche - alors que rien dans sa formation oratorienne ne l'y predisposait - qu'un accord est possible entre la spiritualite augustinienne et les principes cartesiens. Cette mise en accord caracterise les reflexions du jeune Malebranche sur les causes qui donnent occasion et conduisent directement a Dieu. Il importait donc pour lui de prendre sa place sans qu'elle lui soit assignee: d'ou les difficultes rencontrees entre les heritiers immediats de Descartes et les commentateurs de l'Augustinus. Mais, et ce fut le theme majeur de cette epoque, comment qualifier ces ecrits naissants, sinon de philosophie chretienne? Et si cette categorie historique est concevable, qu'y devient le rapport entre la raison et la foi? Comment la theologie peut-elle y inscrire sa place? Telle devenait la question principale. (shrink)

Résumé Le signe ne sait pas ce qu’est un poème et il empêche de penser le langage. Contre toutes les oppositions binaires (forme-contenu, son-sens, signifiant-signifié), il importe de ne plus opposer langage poétique et langage ordinaire, de quitter l’hégémonie du signe comme celle du sens pour s’attacher à l’affect, au rythme, organisateur du mouvement de la parole dans le discours. L’expérience de la traduction, comme celle de l’écriture poétique s’appuie sur ce levier qu’est le rythme et que la Bible impose (...) : le travail à faire consiste à y retrouver un rythme effacé par l’hellénisation et la christianisation. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Aesthetics As First EthicsLevinas and the Alterity of Literary DiscourseHenry McDonald (bio)1Notwithstanding the considerable amount of scholarly attention paid since the 1980s to Emmanuel Levinas’s ethical philosophy of “the other,” critics and theorists have generally approached the relation between ethics and aesthetics in his work warily. Although readings of poetry and fiction inspired by Levinas’s philosophy continue to grow at a rapid rate, arguments applying that philosophy to literary (...) and aesthetic theory have been few and tentatively advanced. Some critics have contended that Levinas was something of a Platonic moralist who “disparaged” and “denounced” art and literature as failing to conform to his idea of what was “ethical.”1 If there is a critical consensus on the issue, it would seem to be that Levinas believed that art and ethics are incompatible.2Based on the aesthetic writings that Levinas produced over a four-decade period, as well as on the role literature played in the genesis and development of his ethical philosophy, such assessments seem puzzling. A Lithuanian Jew who studied with Husserl and Heidegger in 1929–30, Levinas (1906–95) came to philosophy initially through literature, especially Russian literature and Shakespeare: “the whole of philosophy,” he said, “is only a meditation of Shakespeare.”3 In the first work of his philosophical maturity, Existence and Existents (1947), discussions of aesthetics and literature introduce and develop the notion of being as il y a (there is), an account which, in giving emphasis [End Page 15] to being’s “horror” (horreur), simultaneously critiques ontology and places ethics on a tragic basis.4 The il y a, along with its temporal counterpart, the entretemps (between times), introduced just one year later in “Reality and Its Shadow” (1948), are of particular importance to his writings on aesthetics, produced during a period from the 1940s through the 70s.5 The latter provide abundant evidence of the potential for ethical meaning, indeed transcendence, he attributed to the artwork, as in “The Poet’s Vision” (1956), in which he asserts: “Literature is the unique adventure of a transcendence beyond all the horizons of the world... the authenticity of art must herald an order of justice” [“The Poet’s Vision” 134, 137]. Although Levinas never completed anything approximating a “system of aesthetics,” it is nonetheless true that in pieces ranging from developed essays on literary theory and aesthetics to brief commentaries on dozens of literary figures and works, he gave substantive indications of the ways in which his radically nonconceptual, nonontological account of ethics might alter our understanding of the status of “the literary artwork.”Most crucial among those indications is the close connection he posited between the alterity, or otherness, of the artwork and its tragic nature, which he defined in terms of his antiontological accounts of “being” and especially “time” (entretemps, “between times”). As early as “Reality and Its Shadow,” Levinas proposed the thesis, extended in his later essays, that the alterity of art and literature was located not in any ontological or conceptual “beyond”—in a spiritual dimension “which sets itself up as knowledge of the absolute” [1]—but in the “interstices” of language [3], in the “between times” (entretemps) of its modes of temporality: which can be accessed only by way of “the tragic” in art. Time in Levinas’s aesthetics is signified diachronically, from within a region of diaspora. What Levinas terms “alterity,” or otherness, points not toward a privileged, interpersonal dimension freed from the problematics of modernity, but strives to expose the complicity between the West’s concept of rationality and its history of barbarism exemplified by the Holocaust, its history, as Levinas put it, of “National Socialism, Stalinism, the camps, the gas chambers, nuclear weapons, terrorism and unemployment.”6 Art and literature demonstrate a utopian, emancipatory potential in revealing the fissures and hidden pathways that run through the hegemonic structures and totalizing frameworks of modernity.A central aspect of such an aesthetics is its privileging of music and musicality, which Levinas shares with a more recent thinker and critic, Paul Gilroy.7 Like Gilroy, Levinas deploys “musicality,” which he characterizes as “writing in its significance without signifiers” [157] not just to “refute,” as Gilroy... (shrink)