This study aims to investigate the spillover impact of work-family/family–work conflict and stress on five major industrial sectors, during the first wave of Covid-19. The purpose of this cross-sectional study is twofold; firstly, to test a hypothesized model where work-family/family-work conflicts are related to stress and where stress could exert a mediating role in such relationships. Secondly, we seek to explore the presence of these conflicts and stress in each of the five major industrial sectors and evaluate if there are (...) significant differences between them, identifying the sociodemographic characteristics associated. Two questionnaires were applied to 748 employees from the selected industries. According to our results, stress predicts both types of conflict and also exerts a mediator role. It was primarily found that the five sectors are significantly different regarding the work-family/family-work conflicts and stress. Findings and implications are discussed. (shrink)

The European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) is a groundbreaking regulatory framework that integrates technical concepts and terminology from the rapidly evolving ecosystems of AI research and innovation into the legal domain. Precise definitions accessible to both AI experts and lawyers are crucial for the legislation to be effective. This paper provides an interdisciplinary analysis of the concepts of AI system, general purpose AI system, foundation model and generative AI across the different versions of the legal text (Commission proposal, (...) Parliament position and Council General Approach) before the final political agreement. The goal is to help bridge the understanding of these key terms between the technical and legal communities and contribute to a proper implementation of the AI Act. We provide an analysis of the concept of AI system considering its scientific foundation and the crucial role that it plays in the regulation, which requires a sound definition both from legal and technical standpoints. We connect the outcomes of this discussion with the analysis of the concept of general purpose AI system and its evolution during the negotiations. We also address the distinct conceptual meanings of AI system vs AI model and explore the technical nuances of the term foundation model. We conclude that rooting the definition of foundation model to its general purpose capabilities following standardised evaluation methodologies appears to be most appropriate approach. Lastly, we tackle the concept of generative AI, arguing that definitions of AI system that include “content” as one of the system’s outputs already captures it, and concluding that not all generative AI is based on foundation models. (shrink)

La cada vez mayor importancia que está adquiriendo el conocimiento en las sociedades contemporáneas hace necesario profundizar en el análisis de la relación existente entre ciencia e innovación. Este artículo la aborda considerando como ha evolucionado nuestra concepción sobre los procesos de producción de conocimiento y el proceso innovador. La revisión bibliográfica realizada muestra que la emergencia de nuevos enfoques en estos campos ha generado una visión sobre la relación ciencia-innovación bastante diferente a la que predominaba hace algunas décadas. De (...) esta forma, si bien por un lado se reconoce que el proceso innovador no depende exclusivamente del desarrollo de actividades científicas, por otro, se establece que el vínculo ciencia-innovación puede ser hoy mucho más estrecho, teniendo en cuenta que las actividades de investigación se desarrollan, cada vez más, en un contexto de aplicación. En el artículo se discute el alcance real de esta nueva visión y las implicaciones que tiene para el diseño de políticas públicas. (shrink)

En este artículo se analizan las características de la transferencia de conocimiento desde unas disciplinas concretas, las humanidades y ciencias humanas, hacia sus respectivos sectores de aplicación. En primer lugar, se pone en evidencia que la transferencia de conocimiento es un concepto complejo y en evolución. En segundo lugar, se caracteriza la transferencia de conocimiento en estas disciplinas; para ello, se analizan los factores que influyen en la transferencia sobre la base del modelo de Bozeman (2000) y de la información (...) obtenida a partir de entrevistas realizadas a responsables de grupos de investigación de este ámbito en el Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que las características de las diversas dimensiones del proceso de transferencia (agentes, contenidos, medios, destinatarios y entorno), las barreras y los mecanismos más adecuados para lograr una eficiente transferencia de conocimiento, son notablemente diferentes en las humanidades que las que se dan en las ciencias experimentales o las ingenierías. (shrink)

El concepto de sistema de innovación ha tenido un protagonismo creciente en el debate sobre los determinantes de la innovación y sus implicaciones en las políticas de innovación. El sistema de innovación identifica los agentes y sus interrelaciones en diferentes contextos: territorios, sectores o tecnologías y ha permitido un avance significativo en la comprensión de cómo funcionan los procesos innovadores. Sin embargo, frecuentemente el acotamiento puede no resultar el espacio en el que se desarrollan las relaciones más significativas para explicar (...) los procesos de innovación. En nuestra propuesta, el Sistema Distritual de Innovación, tratamos de integrar la perspectiva sistémica y de aprendizaje a través de las interacciones provenientes de los sistemas de innovación con el concepto de distrito industrial, concepto ya consolidado que, si bien no ha considerado la innovación como un elemento clave, sí propone una delimitación del ámbito relacional que consideramos apropiada para el estudio de la innovación. Esta propuesta conceptual sugiere una serie de conclusiones e implicaciones relevantes en este debate sobre los procesos de innovación. (shrink)

Parecería haber una oposición entre el amor a sí mismo, el amor a los demás y el amor a Dios. Por un lado, el amor sui deviene en un egoísmo individualista; por otro, se olvida de sí mismo para entregarse desinteresadamente a los otros. Sin embargo, un análisis profundo de estos distintos amores, como el que nos proponemos en este trabajo, siguiendo las huellas de santo Tomás, muestra su profunda armonía e integración.

The acquisition and evolution of speech production, discourse and communication can be negatively impacted by brain malformations. We describe, for the first time, a case of developmental dynamic dysphasia (DDD) in a right-handed adolescent boy (subject D) with cortical malformations involving language-eloquent regions (inferior frontal gyrus) in both the left and the right hemispheres. Language evaluation revealed a markedly reduced verbal output affecting phonemic and semantic fluency, phrase and sentence generation and verbal communication in everyday life. Auditory comprehension, repetition, naming, (...) reading and spelling were relatively preserved, but executive function was impaired. Multimodal neuroimaging showed a malformed cerebral cortex with atypical configuration and placement of white matter tracts bilaterally and abnormal callosal fibers. Dichotic listening showed right hemisphere dominance for language and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) additionally revealed dissociated hemispheric language representation with right frontal activation for phonology and bilateral dominance for semantic processing. Moreover, subject D also had congenital mirror movements (CMM), defined as involuntary movements of one side of the body that mirror intentional movements of the other side. Transcranial magnetic stimulation and fMRI during voluntary unimanual (left and right) hand movements showed bilateral motor cortex recruitment and tractography revealed a lack of decussation of bilateral corticospinal tracts. Genetic testing aimed to detect mutations that disrupt the development of commissural tracts correlating with CMM (e.g., Germline DCC mutations) was negative. Overall, our findings suggest that DDD in subject D resulted from the underdevelopment of the left inferior frontal gyrus with limited capacity for plastic reorganization by its homologous counterpart in the right hemisphere. Corpus callosum anomalies probably contributed to hinder interhemispheric connectivity necessary to compensate language and communication deficits after left frontal involvement. (shrink)

Fundamentación: el desarrollo de la cultura profesional docente colaborativo se sustenta en los postulados vigotskianos, donde se concibe al profesor como un sujeto comprometido con las demandas y exigencias de la sociedad. Objetivo: socializar las categorías de análisis que se deben tener en cuenta en un colectivo docente para el desarrollo de una cultura profesional colaborativa en el proceso de formación del profesional de la educación superior. Método: se realizó un estudio etnográfico en la Universidad José Martí Pérez, de Sancti (...) Spíritus, apoyada en la metodología cualitativa y un grupo de técnicas posibilitó la recogida de la información. Resultados: se obtuvieron las categorías de análisis que están estrechamente asociadas al deber ser de un docente universitario, portador de esta cultura. Conclusiones: a partir de la coincidencia de criterios sobre los aspectos teóricos y la reflexión colectiva emergieron elementos indispensables en un colectivo para lograr la cultura profesional docente colaborativa a la cual se aspira, elaborados al tener en cuenta su estructura de contenido y forma. Background: the development of collaborative professional teaching culture is based on Vigotskian statements, where the teacher is seen as an individual compromised with the demanding and needs of the society. Objective: Socialize the analytical categories that should be taken into consideration in a teaching staff for the development of collaborative professional teaching culture in the process formation of the professional of higher education. Method: an ethnographic study was carried out in the University José Marti Pérez, from Sancti Spiritus, based on a qualitative methodology and a group of techniques that make data collection possible. Results: The analytical categories obtained were closely linked to the requirements of a university teacher that has this culture. Conclusions: starting from common criteria about theoretical aspects and group reflection, vital elements emerged in the teaching staff to get the collaborative professional teaching culture that is needed, elaborated taking into account its structure of content and form. (shrink)

Se analiza la evolución del Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ), centro mixto del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas y de la Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, desde su creación en 1990 en el marco de una iniciativa de colaboración institucional y de investigadores. Se describen las fases del proceso, los elementos facilitadores y las dificultades encontradas, así como las características actuales del Instituto. La valoración de la iniciativa evidencia su éxito: se han superado con creces los resultados esperados por las instituciones (...) y el grupo de científicos involucrados. El ITQ es un centro de referencia internacional en su ámbito científico, tanto por la excelencia de sus resultados científicos y tecnológicos, como por la concepción de sus actividades en contexto de aplicación y el impacto de sus contribuciones en la práctica industrial. Como conclusión, se reflejan las lecciones aprendidas a lo largo del proceso de creación y desarrollo del Instituto. (shrink)

El reconocimiento de los agentes externos como una fuente importante de conocimiento para el desarrollo de los procesos de innovación ha hecho que las empresas tengan que hacer frente a una decisión importante: generar o adquirir externamente el conocimiento tecnológico que precisan. Debido a sus implicaciones, esta decisión se ha convertido en un tema de creciente interés entre los académicos y estudiosos de la innovación, propiciando el desarrollo de toda una literatura, teórica y empírica, sobre los factores y motivaciones que (...) inciden en la misma. En este artículo se presenta una revisión de esta literatura, a partir del análisis de tres estrategias de innovación (hacer, comprar y cooperar) y considerando las aportaciones derivadas de la teoría económica de los costes de transacción y de los enfoques basados en las capacidades de la empresa. (shrink)

The concept of vital force – the immanent energy that promotes the processes of life in the body and in nature – has proved a source of endless fascination and controversy. Indeed, the question of what vitalizes the body has haunted humanity since antiquity, and became even more pressing during the Scientific Revolution and beyond. Examining the complexities and theories about vital force in Spanish modernity, Nicolás Fernández-Medina's Life Embodied offers a novel and provocative assessment of the question of (...) bodily life in Spain. Starting with Juan de Cabriada's landmark Carta filosófica, médico-chymica of 1687 and ending with Ramón Gómez de la Serna's avant-gardism of the 1910s, Fernández-Medina incorporates discussions of anatomy, philosophy, science, critical theory, history of medicine, and literary studies to argue that concepts of vital force served as powerful vehicles to interrogate the possibilities and limits of corporeality. Paying close attention to how the body's capabilities were conceived and strategically woven into critiques of modernity, Fernández-Medina engages the work of Miguel Boix y Moliner, Martín Martínez, Diego de Torres Villarroel, Sebastián Guerrero Herreros, Ignacio María Ruiz de Luzuriaga, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, Pedro Mata y Fontanet, Ángela Grassi, Julián Sanz del Río, Miguel de Unamuno, and Pío Baroja, among others. Drawing on extensive research and analysis, Life Embodied breaks new ground as the first book to address the question of vital force in Spanish modernity. (shrink)

Luego de un rápido bosquejo de las etapas por las que ha pasado el pensamiento filosófico-cristiano en América Latina, el trabajo se concentra en la principales tendencias y autores en el período que va de la década del 40 del siglo XX hasta el momento que se publica el ensayo en 1998.

The problem of demarcating science from nonscience remains unsolved. This article executes an analytical process of elimination of different demarcation proposals put forward since the professionalization of the philosophy of science, explaining why each of those proposals is unsatisfactory or incomplete. Then, it elaborates on how to execute an alternative multicriterial scientific demarcation project put forward by Mahner. This project allows for the demarcation not only of science from non-science and from pseudoscience, but also of different types of sciences and (...) of scientific fields from each other. This article also offers arguments in favor of accepting two types of scientific demarcations, namely epistemic-warrant scientific demarcations and territorial scientific demarcations, and argues in favor of accepting a territorially broad scientific demarcation. (shrink)

In this paper, I propose an account of self-knowledge for desires. According to this account, we form beliefs about our own desires on the basis of our grounds for those desires. First, I distinguish several types of desires and their corresponding grounds. Next, I make the case that we usually believe that we have a certain desire on the basis of our grounds for it. Then, I argue that a belief formed thus is epistemically privileged. Finally, I compare this account (...) to two other similar accounts of self-knowledge. (shrink)

Recommender Systems (RecSys) have been around since the early days of the Internet, helping users navigate the vast ocean of information and the increasingly available options that have been available for us ever since. The range of tasks for which one could use a RecSys is expanding as the technical capabilities grow, with the disruption of Machine Learning representing a tipping point in this domain, as in many others. However, the increase of the technical capabilities of AI-powered RecSys did not (...) come with a thorough consideration of their ethical implications and, despite being a well-established technical domain, the potential impacts of RecSys on their users are still under-assessed. This paper aims at filling this gap in regards to one of the main impacts of RecSys: personal autonomy. We first describe how technology can affect human values and a suitable methodology to identify these effects and mitigate potential harms: Value Sensitive Design (VSD). We use VSD to carry out a conceptual investigation of personal autonomy in the context of a generic RecSys and draw on a nuanced account of procedural autonomy to focus on two components: competence and authenticity. We provide the results of our inquiry as a value hierarchy and apply it to the design of a speculative RecSys as an example. (shrink)

The article examines the process of niche standardization in medical research as an example of democratizing strategies implemented in industry-funded science. I argue that niche standardization can lead to undesirable epistemic and ethical consequences, if the various goals of research are not properly aligned. I examine two examples: the case of Sarafem, approved for the treatment of premenstrual dysphoric disorder in women, and the case of BiDil, approved for exclusive use in African Americans for the treatment of congestive heart failure. (...) I conclude by cautioning against the unqualified support of democratizing strategies in industry-funded research. (shrink)

Many philosophers hold that generics (i.e., unquantified generalizations) are pervasive in communication and that when they are about social groups, this may offend and polarize people because generics gloss over variations between individuals. Generics about social groups might be particularly common on Twitter (X). This remains unexplored, however. Using machine learning (ML) techniques, we therefore developed an automatic classifier for social generics, applied it to 1.1 million tweets about people, and analyzed the tweets. While it is often suggested that generics (...) are ubiquitous in everyday communication, we found that most tweets (78%) about people contained no generics. However, tweets with generics received more “likes” and retweets. Furthermore, while recent psychological research may lead to the prediction that tweets with generics about political groups are more common than tweets with generics about ethnic groups, we found the opposite. However, consistent with recent claims that political animosity is less constrained by social norms than animosity against gender and ethnic groups, negative tweets with generics about political groups were significantly more prevalent and retweeted than negative tweets about ethnic groups. Our study provides the first ML-based insights into the use and impact of social generics on Twitter. (shrink)

A widespread view in philosophy claims that inner speech is closely tied to human metacognitive capacities. This so-called format view of inner speech considers that talking to oneself allows humans to gain access to their own mental states by forming metarepresentation states through the rehearsal of inner utterances (section 2). The aim of this paper is to present two problems to this view (section 3) and offer an alternative view to the connection between inner speech and metacognition (section 4). According (...) to this alternative, inner speech (meta)cognitive functions derivate from the set of commitments we mobilize in our communicative exchanges. After presenting this commitment-based approach, I address two possible objections (section 5). (shrink)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) developments are proliferating at an astonishing rate. Unsurprisingly, the number of meaningful studies addressing the social impacts of AI applications in several fields has been remarkable. More recently, several contributions have started exploring the ecological impacts of AI. Machine learning systems do not have a neutral environmental cost, so it is important to unravel the ecological footprint of these techno-scientific developments. In this chapter, we discuss the sustainability of AI from environmental ethics approaches. We examine the moral (...) trade-offs that AI may cause in different moral dimensions and analyse prominent conflicts that may arise from human and more-than-human-centred concerns. (shrink)

The application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare and epidemiology undoubtedly has many benefits for the population. However, due to its environmental impact, the use of AI can produce social inequalities and long-term environmental damages that may not be thoroughly contemplated. In this paper, we propose to consider the impacts of AI applications in medical care from the One Health paradigm and long-term global health. From health and environmental justice, rather than settling for a short and fleeting green honeymoon between (...) health and sustainability caused by AI, it should aim for a lasting marriage. To this end, we conclude by proposing that, in the upcoming years, it could be valuable and necessary to promote more interconnected health, call for environmental cost transparency, and increase green responsibility. (shrink)

Provability logics are modal or polymodal systems designed for modeling the behavior of Gödel’s provability predicate and its natural extensions. If Λ is any ordinal, the Gödel-Löb calculus GLPΛ contains one modality [λ] for each λ < Λ, representing provability predicates of increasing strength. GLPω has no non-trivial Kripke frames, but it is sound and complete for its topological semantics, as was shown by Icard for the variable-free fragment and more recently by Beklemishev and Gabelaia for the full logic. In (...) this paper we generalize Beklemishev and Gabelaia’s result to GLPΛ for countable Λ. We also introduce provability ambiances, which are topological models where valuations of formulas are restricted. With this we show completeness of GLPΛ for the class of provability ambiances based on Icard polytopologies. (shrink)

Among the many applications of artificial intelligence (AI), virtual assistants are one of the tools most likely to grow in the future. The development of these systems may play an increasingly important role in many facets of our lives. Therefore, given their potential importance and present and future weight, it is worthwhile to analyze what kind of challenges they entail. In this chapter, we will provide an overview of the ethical aspects of artificial virtual assistants. First, we provide a conceptual (...) clarification of the term ‘virtual assistant’, including different types of interfaces and recommender systems. Second, we address three ethical issues related to the deployment of these systems: their effects on human agency and autonomy and the subsequent cognitive dependence they would generate; the human obsolescence that may cause a generalized extension of the dependence problem; and the invasions of privacy that virtual assistants may cause. Finally, we outline the debates about the use of virtual assistants to improve human moral decisions and some areas in which these systems can be applied. (shrink)

In this article, I present in a systematic way Aristotle’s understanding of movement (kinêsis) as efficient cause in the Generation of Animals. This aspect of movement is not disclosed in the approach to movement as an incomplete activity in contrast to energeia, which has been extensively discussed in the literature. I explain in which sense movement is the efficient cause of generation and how this movement is related to the other factors, in particular the source of movement, the seminal fluid, (...) pneuma, and the vital heat, as well as to the form and the soul. The role of movement as efficient cause of generation shows how, for Aristotle, form and soul are inseparable from matter and movement in nature. Explaining the role of movement as efficient cause of generation also helps to make sense of the multiplicity of factors involved in the efficient causality of generation. The key to articulating these factors with one another is the identity of form of the generative movement, which is specifically the same in the source, in the tools, and in the substance that is coming into being. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to present a challenge to the received view in folk psychology. According to this challenge, the semantic assumption behind the received view, which considers that propositional attitude ascriptions are descriptions of the internal causally efficacious states underlying behavior, cannot account for the main function of reasons in terms of mental states.

Animals as Legal Beings is a new and important monograph-length treatment on the inadequacies of both a property and a personhood approach to the legal status of nonhuman animals. In line with decades of literature arguing for the abolishment of the property status of animals, Professor Maneesha Deckha, Professor and Lansdowne Chair in Law at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, adds a novel twist: personhood, the typically preferred alternative to a property status for nonhuman animals, is not a (...) good option. Why? Deckha argues that personhood is too anthropocentric and too embedded in problematic Western liberal humanist traditions to work for nonhuman animals. Drawing on a truly impressive... (shrink)

This paper aims to propose a version of the description theory of reference –for short, descriptivism– on natural kind terms. This version is grounded on some proposals of descriptivists, such as Searle and Strawson, about proper names, which will be extended to natural kind terms. According to Searle and Strawson the reference of a proper name is determined by a sufficient number of the descriptions that speakers associate with the name, but among the sorts of descriptions admitted by these authors (...) are those in which the average speaker defers the reference of a term to other speakers. In this regard, descriptivism can accept Putnam’s thesis of the division of linguistic labour and claim that some of the descriptions associated by non-experts have the function of deferring the reference of natural kind terms to their reference in the use by experts. Thus, descriptivism can maintain that the reference of a natural kind term is determined by a sufficient number of the descriptions that experts concerning a natural kind associate with the term. I will argue that this version of descriptivism, which grants more weight to social links than to historical links, can explain better than Kripke’s theory the reference of the use of natural kind terms by the average speaker. (shrink)

In this essay we argue that the notion of machine necessarily includes its being designed for a purpose. Therefore, being a mechanical system is not enough for being a machine. Since the experimental scientific method excludes any consideration of finality on methodological grounds, it is then also insufficient to fully understand what machines are. Instead in order to understand a machine it is first required to understand its purpose, along with its structure, in clear parallel with Aristotle’s final and formal (...) causes. Obviously, purpose and structure are not machine components that can physically interact with other components; nonetheless they are essential to understanding their operation. This casts an interesting light on the relationship between mind and body: for just as an artifact’s finality and structure explain its operation, so also consciousness is the explanation—not the efficient cause—of specifically human behavior. What machines and human beings have in common is that, in order to understand them, it is necessary to appeal to the principle of finality. Yet while finality is given and extrinsic in the case of machines, we human beings are characterized by the ability to self-propose our own ends. Since the principle of finality is essential to understanding the production of machines, the traditional view in modern Western philosophy that finality lies beyond the scope of objective/scientific knowledge should be rectified to allow for a genuine science of the artificial. We think a correct understanding of final causality will overcome current resistance to this principle. (shrink)

La obra de Karl Marx ha sido objeto de examen en relación con su posible perspectiva ética. Los distintos académicos han divergido en gran manera en tal análisis, resultando que en unos supuestos se ha rechazado cualquier tipo de propósito normativo en Marx y en otros, en cambio, se ha destacado su fuerte compromiso moral. Para contrastar los resultados de unos y otros en sus investigaciones, el presente artículo ha hecho balance de los principales títulos, panfletos y volúmenes del pensador (...) alemán a lo largo de toda su trayectoria, concluyendo que no disponía de ningún tipo de teoría normativa en su obra, pero que no por ello ha de deducirse inmoralismo alguno en su escritura. Por el contrario, en ella residen una serie de elementos fundamentales para entender su visión de la Historia y de la actuación humana en su seno. (shrink)

The dichotomy between the qualitative and the quantitative has been a classic throughout the history of science. As will be seen, this dichotomy permeates all ontological levels of reality. In this work, phenomenological examples potentially related to semiosis are presented at the different levels established by Mario Bunge and Josep Ferrater Mora, contrasting the qualitative categorizations with the quantifiable physical reality. Likewise, the need to continue in the quantification of the biosemiotic and linguistic studies will be presented, while, in contrast, (...) the need to establish a qualitative framework in the little-addressed study of technosemiotics will be raised, of potential interest given the notable advances that are expected in communication systems for inert artifacts in the next years. In short, in the thesis defended here the qualitative precedes the quantitative in the defining path of science. (shrink)

Background Respect is essential to providing high quality healthcare, particularly for groups that are historically marginalized and stigmatized. While ethical principles taught to health professionals focus on patient autonomy as the object of respect for persons, limited studies explore patients’ views of respect. The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of a multiculturally diverse group of low-income women living with HIV (WLH) regarding their experience of respect from their medical physicians. Methods We analyzed 57 semi-structured interviews conducted (...) at HIV case management sites in South Florida as part of a larger qualitative study that explored practices facilitating retention and adherence in care. Women were eligible to participate if they identified as African American (n = 28), Hispanic/Latina (n = 22), or Haitian (n = 7). They were asked to describe instances when they were treated with respect by their medical physicians. Interviews were conducted by a fluent research interviewer in either English, Spanish, or Haitian Creole, depending on participant’s language preference. Transcripts were translated, back-translated and reviewed in entirety for any statements or comments about “respect.” After independent coding by 3 investigators, we used a consensual thematic analysis approach to determine themes. Results Results from this study grouped into two overarching classifications: respect manifested in physicians’ orientation towards the patient (i.e., interpersonal behaviors in interactions) and respect in medical professionalism (i.e., clinic procedures and practices). Four main themes emerged regarding respect in provider’s orientation towards the patient: being treated as a person, treated as an equal, treated without blame or prejudice, and treated with concern/emotional support. Two main themes emerged regarding respect as evidenced in medical professionalism: physician availability and considerations of privacy. Conclusions Findings suggest a more robust conception of what ‘respect for persons’ entails in medical ethics for a diverse group of low-income women living with HIV. Findings have implications for broadening areas of focus of future bioethics education, training, and research to include components of interpersonal relationship development, communication, and clinic procedures. We suggest these areas of training may increase respectful medical care experiences and potentially serve to influence persistent and known social and structural determinants of health through provider interactions and health care delivery. (shrink)

Is it possible to train empathy? We suggest a new way, based on insights from phenomenology.

Ethics normally proceeds by establishing some kind of ground from which norms can be derived for human action. However, no such terra firma is found in Jean-Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothingness, which instead lays down a sedimentary soil consisting of a blend of nothingness and contingency. This paper aims to show how Sartre is able to build an ethical theory from this seemingly groundless mixture, and it proceeds in three sections. Section one aims to disentangle the relation between the for-itself (...) (pour-soi) and the in-itself (en-soi) from antithetical characterizations by placing them in a state of supervenience. Section two works to explain how both the in-itself and the for-itself are not divided ontologically, but are both in the same ontological state, namely, contingency. And in section three, it is argued that Sartre’s ethics reveals that because human beings share the same thrownness with Others in a world, they have to take title for such a world. Within a Sartrean ethics of nothingness, one’s nothingness leads one to the shared nothingness of Others, of which one must take responsibility. (shrink)