Corporate accountability is central for dealing with environmental and health effects in complex supply chains. When companies hold their suppliers accountable to certain rules or standards, these become disseminated in the supply chain. This study analyses how voluntary restrictions of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in paper-based food packaging in Sweden are translated as they travel down the supply chain and their relationship to supplier practice. The multidisciplinary approach draws on both interviews with key actors and chemical analysis of PFAS (...) in food packaging. It shows how demands for accountability for chemicals are translated both horizontally in the industry and vertically in supply chains resulting in a set of interrelated voluntary standards and rules. The chemical analysis detected PFAS in almost half of the samples, but at levels indicating non-intentional use, thereby complying with the disseminated rules. The result shows that the standards largely institutionalize established practices in support of “laggards” rather than push the industry to more radical phase-out of PFAS. (shrink)

Troubled conscience may jeopardize the health of healthcare personnel and, hence, the quality of care provided. Learning more about how personnel deal with their troubled conscience therefore seems important. The aim of this study was to describe personnel’s experiences of how they deal with troubled conscience generated in their daily work in municipal care of older people. Interviews were conducted with 20 care providers and analysed with a thematic content analysis. The findings show that in order to deal with troubled (...) conscience, personnel dialogued with themselves and with others. They took measures in a direction they perceived to be correct, and they expressed a need for distancing and re-energizing. It is of importance to share situations that generate troubled conscience in order to find ways to deal with them. Reconsidering one’s ways of dealing with troubled conscience may give care providers an opportunity to reach consensus within themselves. (shrink)

Given the current concern in the Soviet Union and East Europe to emancipate public education from its Stalinist past, it is understandable that educators have called for the “humanizing” of education. Yet “humanization” is a none too clear idea and must be approached, I propose, through its opposite: dehumanization. Dehumanization, itself, can be understood as the denial of the dignity of the individual — a cardinal principle of the philosophies that comprise classical and contemporary liberal theory. This principle of the (...) dignity of the individual in turn implies duties for the liberal democratic state to treat all citizens (and for all citizens to treat each other) with equal respect as ends in themselves and equally as choosers of ends, as being, at least in principle, capable of choosing and acting on the ultimate ends in their own lives and as potential “sayers of great words and doers of great deeds” in the common public enterprise. Now in claiming that the principle of the dignity of the individual is central to an understanding of a just and humane society, we do not thereby commit ourselves to those doctrines long associated with liberalism, viz., ontological and moral individualism. The form of political, or united-reformed, liberalism argued for in this paper is clearly compatible with strong forms of community, even authoritarian types of community insofar as they do not transgress the principle of the dignity of the individual as regards informed choice. As decidedly non-perfectionist and agnostic about ultimate goods (tempered by the ban on all public forms of dehumanizing behavior and treatment), this form of political liberalism is neither individualistic nor communitarian, neither capitalist nor socialist (though the state is not indifferent to their fortunes). This rendering of the liberal democratic state sets the requirements for a deep and thorough political education that goes well beyond any familiar example today. In seeking to develop, to “humanize” individuals for a world of thought and action in the common public enterprise, political education — the premier form of education — in a liberal democratic state seeks to develop individuals who are theoretically informed and practically wise — thus the emphasis on the development of rationality in all of its forms. Moreover, despite the formal agnosticism of the state concerning ultimate human ends, a political education requires deep student exposure to and critical assessment of religion, possible ways of life, and those views of the human good that humans throughout history have found worthy of pursuit. And this even if it means that students will come to reject the principle of the dignity of the individual. (shrink)

Esse artigo, instigado sobretudo pelas interpretações de Merleau-Ponty sobre Sócrates e Montaigne e pelo artigo Biografia e autobiografia: tangências e secâncias de Antonio Valverde, discute a relação entre vida e obra, considerando duas perspectivas: a importância da obra para a permanência – memória – de uma existência individual; o alcance e a validade filosófica da estratégia metodológica de recorrer ao exame de biografias e autobiografias para interpretar uma determinada obra.

Given the current concern in the Soviet Union and East Europe to emancipate public education from its Stalinist past, it is understandable that educators have called for the “humanizing” of education. Yet “humanization” is a none too clear idea and must be approached, I propose, through its opposite: dehumanization. Dehumanization, itself, can be understood as the denial of the dignity of the individual — a cardinal principle of the philosophies that comprise classical and contemporary liberal theory. This principle of the (...) dignity of the individual in turn implies duties for the liberal democratic state to treat all citizens with equal respect as ends in themselves and equally as choosers of ends, as being, at least in principle, capable of choosing and acting on the ultimate ends in their own lives and as potential “sayers of great words and doers of great deeds” in the common public enterprise.Now in claiming that the principle of the dignity of the individual is central to an understanding of a just and humane society, we do not thereby commit ourselves to those doctrines long associated with liberalism, viz., ontological and moral individualism. The form of political, or united-reformed, liberalism argued for in this paper is clearly compatible with strong forms of community, even authoritarian types of community insofar as they do not transgress the principle of the dignity of the individual as regards informed choice. As decidedly non-perfectionist and agnostic about ultimate goods, this form of political liberalism is neither individualistic nor communitarian, neither capitalist nor socialist.This rendering of the liberal democratic state sets the requirements for a deep and thorough political education that goes well beyond any familiar example today. In seeking to develop, to “humanize” individuals for a world of thought and action in the common public enterprise, political education — the premier form of education — in a liberal democratic state seeks to develop individuals who are theoretically informed and practically wise — thus the emphasis on the development of rationality in all of its forms. Moreover, despite the formal agnosticism of the state concerning ultimate human ends, a political education requires deep student exposure to and critical assessment of religion, possible ways of life, and those views of the human good that humans throughout history have found worthy of pursuit. And this even if it means that students will come to reject the principle of the dignity of the individual. (shrink)

Amidst concerns about unethical practice in the business world, this book focuses on moral human agency in 'strategy as practice'.

Explains the nature of ethical and religious humanism, differentiates secular and religious humanism, and stresses the importance of preserving the freedom, dignity, and well being of all people.

O artigo discute a visão de Merleau-Ponty sobre a obra de Marx como um guia interpretativo da história, mesmo diante de eventos revolucionários controversos. Sua posição, caracterizada por uma "filosofia de ambiguidade", é examinada criticamente, especialmente em relação à sua análise da violência como um operador legítimo do processo revolucionário. Ao explorar a interseção entre filosofia, política e violência, Merleau-Ponty lança luz sobre as complexidades e desafios inerentes à tentativa de conciliar teoria e prática, idealismo e realidade mobilizando conceitos como (...) instituição e temporalidade para por evidência uma compreensão fenomenológica do mundo da política. (shrink)

Ao longo desse artigo pretende-se demonstrar de que maneira a questão da hospitalidade se apresenta nas obras políticas de Jean Jacques Rousseau e, principalmente, qual é sua relação com a linguagem. Para tanto, começa-se demonstrando como a linguagem é a essência da hospitalidade e como ela opera tanto como obstáculo ao acolhimento do outro e como obstáculo a possibilidade da hospitalidade; tanto como tentativa de aproximação e reconhecimento e, portanto, como possibilidade à hospitalidade. Dessa maneira, será apresentado também o pensamento (...) de Derrida como intérprete e crítico de Rousseau, principalmente quando este analisa como se deu a formação da linguagem, a consequente formação da sociedade civil e as saídas possibilitadas pelo Contrato Social para que um acolhimento – mesmo que condicional – fosse possível. Conclui-se então, que na visão rousseauniana, a hospitalidade está sempre entre a entre a lei e o sentimento, a fala e a justiça sendo, entretanto, impossível um retorno a uma origem mais pura. (shrink)

The reflections on the paint across the whole itinerary of the work of Merleau-Ponty and seem to indicate the reasons for the movement and the unity of his thought, especially when we seek to understand the scope of perception as a significant pre-reflective event. The experience of perception is radicalized on painting that express a "primordial level" - "leads to their last power is a delusion that same vision" - with all the characters that phenomenology sought to achieve in describing (...) the different forms of perceptive experience, is through the description of pre-reflective experience of the body itself or, finally, the conception of perceptual faith as a "donation in flesh." The painting holds the most genuine intention of a philosophy dedicated to the description of the pre-reflective, and asks the witness to be. The painter, as indicated by the analysis of Cezanne, the original remains in the soil, without the need for justification or foundation, free of the obligation to announce a thesis or a convention on the world, expressed the significance of the crudest sense: what makes the visible visible. (shrink)

Esse trabalho discute a noção de desejo a partir da obra de Merleau-Ponty. Sustenta a ideia de que para a fenomenologia merleau-pontyana o desejo remonta a três pontos fundamentais: a sua expressão inicial se dá na forma da intencionalidade operante, vivida na experiência do corpo próprio, como está descrita no prefácio da Fenomenologia da Percepção; o desejo, nesse caso, não pode ser compreendido como falta, ou carência de mundo, mas como transbordamento; finalmente, o desejo tem uma significação ontológica na medida (...) em que remonta à condição intramundana, intercorpórea. (shrink)

Nesse trabalho discuto duas perspectivas sobre política e engajamento. Para descrever a primeiraforma de engajamento, muito comum nas redes sociais, faço uso do termo heideggerianofalatório. Esse tipo de engajamento se caracteriza pela reprodução do mesmo e pela negação dadiferença. Já a segunda noção de engajamento, pensada a partir das obras de Sartre e Merleau-Ponty, em clara oposição ao falatório, remete a um exame de três características fundamentais doengajamento intelectual: práxis, compromisso, responsabilidade.

Esse trabalho discute a renovação e a centralidade do conceito de estrutura no projeto ontológico de Merleau-Ponty. Estabelece, primeiro, a ideia de que na obra de Merleau-Ponty não existe um sentido unívoco para a noção de estrutura, mas uma polissemia de usos e sentidos que acompanham o desenvolvimento do seu pensamento. Merleau-Ponty, sobretudo no momento da elaboração d’O visivel e o invisivel, não objetivava apenas se apropriar da noção de estrutura – gestalt – já em uso na psicologia, na linguística (...) e na etnologia, mas aprofundá-la na sua matriz filosófica, explorá-la como um novo regime de pensamento. Portanto, nossa hipótese de trabalho é que, em O visivel e o invisivel, a estrutura deixou de ser considerada apenas como a significação original da percepção e passou a ser pensada como condição do “ser-no-mundo”, um elemento essencial para uma nova noção de cogito – ser bruto –, sem os prejuízos da noção de cogito tácito que Merleau-Ponty reconheceu na Fenomenologia da percepção. (shrink)

Resumo: Pretende-se, com este artigo, analisar o conceito de história genética no pensamento do filósofo francês Gilbert Simondon. Para isso, faz-se necessário analisar a proposta de uma filosofia a qual pretende romper com as barreiras que separam técnica e cultura, a fim de, a partir daí, examinar o modo próprio de existência dos objetos técnicos. Nessa perspectiva, analisa-se a tecnicidade da técnica, utilizando-se do conceito de invenção, com vistas a formular uma história genética da técnica que recolhe, ao mesmo tempo, (...) elementos subjetivos e objetivos, segundo o método transdutivo. Um projeto que, ao final, se apresenta como "gestão de uma herança", segundo a expressão de Merleau-Ponty.: The aim of this article is to analyze the concept of genetic history in the thought of the French philosopher Gilbert Simondon. To do this it is necessary to consider a philosophy that intends to break the barriers that separate technology and culture, and from there proceeds to analyze the mode of existence of technical objects. From this perspective, the technicity of technology is analyzed, using the concept of invention in order to formulate a genetic history of technology that gathers both subjective and objective elements, according to the transductive method. A project that, in the end, is presented as "management of an inheritance", in the words of Merleau-Ponty. (shrink)

A experiência democrática moderna indica que o nosso sistema político mantém uma relação de sobredeterminação com a liberdade. Toda forma de sistema político determina o alcance e o sentido da nossa liberdade, ao mesmo tempo em que a experiência concreta de liberdade modifica o sistema político. Sustentamos neste trabalho que a liberdade individual elevada ao princípio máximo de realização existencial e à consagração ideal de vida política é, ao mesmo tempo, o registro jurídico-político de que realmente vivemos em uma democracia, (...) sem, contudo, deixar de se apresentar como força desestruturante do próprio regime democrático. (shrink)

resumo Este trabalho discute o alcance das considerações de Merleau-Ponty para a formulação de uma teoria do comportamento. Procuramos, antes de tudo, mostrar em que sentido Merleau- Ponty recusa as int e r p retações das escolas intelectualista e empirista sobre o comportamento. Depois, num segundo mo mento, tendo em vista os problemas decorrentes dessas teorias clássicas, apont a mos os funda me ntos para uma descrição feno menológica do comportamento: princ i p a l mente a partir da noção (...) de estrutura. Procura mo s, também, estabelecer a genealogia, os diferentes usos e sent ido do termo estrutura nas ciências humanas, sobretudo para a psicologiada Gestalt. Finalmente, discutimos o sentido da do por Merleau- Ponty ao termo estrutura e como essa noção tornou possível uma leitura fenomenológica do comportamento. palavras-chave Comportamento; Experiência primeira; Corpo; Psicologia da Gestalt; Estrutura; Merleau-Ponty. (shrink)

Philosophers and scientists have maintained that causation, correlation, and partial correlation are essentially related. These views give rise to various rules of causal inference. This essay considers the claims of several philosophers and social scientists for causal systems with dichotomous variables. In section 2 important commonalities and differences are explicated among four major conceptions of correlation. In section 3 it is argued that whether correlation can serve as a measure of A's causal influence on B depends upon the conception of (...) causation being used and upon certain background assumptions. In section 4 five major kinds of partial correlation are explicated, and some of the important relations are established among two conceptions of partial correlation, the conception of screening off, the conception of partitioning, and the measures of causal influence which have been suggested by advocates of path analysis or structural equation methods. In section 5 it is argued that whether any of these five conceptions of partial correlation can serve as a measure of causal influence depends upon the conception of causation being used and upon certain background assumptions.The important conclusion is that each of the approaches (considered here) to causal inference for causal systems with dichotomous variables stands in need of important qualifications and revisions if they are to be justified. (shrink)

The aim of this observational longitudinal cohort study was to describe relationships over time between degrees of stress of conscience, perceptions of conscience, burnout scores and assessments of person-centred climate and social support among healthcare personnel working in municipal care of older people. This study was performed among registered nurses and nurse assistants (n = 488). Data were collected on two occasions. Results show that perceiving one’s conscience as a burden, having feelings of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and noticing disturbing (...) conflicts between co-workers were positively associated with stress of conscience. No significant changes were observed during the year under study, but degrees of stress of conscience and burnout scores were higher than in previous studies, suggesting that downsizing and increased workloads can negatively affect healthcare personnel. Following and expressing one’s conscience in one’s work, and perceiving social support from superiors are of importance in buffering the effects of stress of conscience. (shrink)

Journal of Political Philosophy, Volume 30, Issue 2, Page 249-270, June 2022.

The Perceptions of Conscience Questionnaire (PCQ) and the Stress of Conscience Questionnaire (SCQ) have previously been developed and validated within the ‘Stress of Conscience Study’. The aim was to revalidate these two questionnaires, including two additional, theoretically and empirically significant items, on a sample of healthcare personnel working in direct contact with patients. The sample consisted of 503 healthcare personnel. To test variation and distribution among the answers, descriptive statistics, item analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to examine (...) the underlying factor structure of the questionnaires. Support for adding the new item to the PCQ was found. No support was found for adding the new item to the SCQ. Both questionnaires can be regarded as valid for Swedish settings but can be improved by rephrasing some of the PCQ items and by adding items about private life to the SCQ. (shrink)

Two kinds of causal inference rules which are widely used by social scientists are investigated. Two conceptions of causation also widely used are explicated — the INUS and probabilistic conceptions of causation. It is shown that the causal inference rules which link correlation, a kind of partial correlation, and a conception of causation areinvalid. It is concluded anew methodology is required for causal inference.

This monograph on the capability approach does two things. First, it provides an advanced introduction to the capability approach, as an account used in philosophy, as well as other disciplines. Second, it provides an account of the capability approach which is able to encompass all existing views and theories on the capability approach, including the writings on the capability approach by Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen.

Background: Conscience is an important concept in ethics, having various meanings in different cultures. Because a growing number of healthcare professionals are of immigrant background, particularly within the care of older people, demanding multiple ethical positions, it is important to explore the meaning of conscience among care providers within different cultural contexts. Research objective: The study aimed to illuminate the meaning of conscience by enrolled nurses with an Iranian background working in residential care for Persian-speaking people with dementia. Research design: (...) A phenomenological hermeneutical method guided the study. Participants and research context: A total of 10 enrolled nurses with Iranian background, aged 33–46 years, participated in the study. All worked full time in residential care settings for Persian-speaking people with dementia in a large city, in Sweden. Ethical considerations: The study was approved by the Regional Ethical Review Board for ethical vetting of research involving humans. Participants were given verbal and written study information and assured that their participation was voluntary and confidential. Findings: Three themes were constructed including perception of conscience, clear conscience grounded in relations and striving to keep a clear conscience. The conscience was perceived as an inner guide grounded in feelings, which is dynamic and subject to changes throughout life. Having a clear conscience meant being able to form a bond with others, to respect them and to get their confirmation that one does well. To have a clear conscience demanded listening to the voice of the conscience. The enrolled nurses strived to keep their conscience clear by being generous in helping others, accomplishing daily tasks well and behaving nicely in the hope of being treated the same way one day. Conclusion: Cultural frameworks and the context of practice needed to be considered in interpreting the meaning of conscience and clear conscience. (shrink)

In her paper entitled "Causal Laws and Effective Strategies" (1979), Cartwright sets out to establish the connection between laws of association and causal laws. In part Cartwright is trying to show the sense in which a cause increases the probability of its effect, and to explain what causal laws assert by giving an account of how causal laws are related to certain kinds of statistical laws. In section II we explicate the essential features of Cartwright's for- mulation and in section (...) III we argue that there are several reasons for believing that Cartwright's formulation is inadequate and must be rejected. Nonetheless, we believe Cartwright's formulation does contain two key insights into the nature of causation. In section IV we use these two insights to sketch out the key features of an alternative formulation that holds the certain laws of association are necessary conditions for causal laws. The alternative formu- lation, we believe, explains what it means to say a cause increases the probability of its effect. (shrink)

Background: The global COVID-19 pandemic has imposed challenges on healthcare systems and professionals worldwide and introduced a ´maelstrom´ of ethical dilemmas. How ethically demanding situations are handled affects employees’ moral stress and job satisfaction. Aim: Describe priority-setting dilemmas, moral distress and support experienced by nurses and physicians across medical specialties in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Western Norway. Research design: A cross-sectional hospital-based survey was conducted from 23 April to 11 May 2020. Ethical considerations: Ethical approval granted (...) by the Regional Research Ethics Committee in Western Norway (131421). Findings: Among the 1606 respondents, 67% had experienced priority-setting dilemmas the previous two weeks. Healthcare workers who were directly involved in COVID-19 care, were redeployed or worked in psychiatry/addiction medicine experienced it more often. Although 59% of the respondents had seen adverse consequences due to resource scarcity, severe consequences were rare. Moral distress levels were generally low (2.9 on a 0–10 scale), but higher in selected groups (redeployed, managers and working in psychiatry/addiction medicine). Backing from existing collegial and managerial structures and routines, such as discussions with colleagues and receiving updates and information from managers that listened and acted upon feedback, were found more helpful than external support mechanisms. Priority-setting guidelines were also helpful. Discussion: By including all medical specialties, nurses and physicians, and various institutions, the study provides information on how the COVID-19 mitigation also influenced those not directly involved in the COVID-19 treatment of patients. In the next stages of the pandemic response, support for healthcare professionals directly involved in outbreak-affected patients, those redeployed or those most impacted by mitigation strategies must be a priority. Conclusion: Empirical research of healthcare workers experiences under a pandemic are important to identify groups at risks and useful support mechanisms. (shrink)

During the past decades several philosophers of science and social scientists have been interested in the problems of causation. Recently attention has been given to probabilistic causation in dichotomous causal systems. The paper uses the basic features of probabilistic causation to argue that the causal modeling approaches developed by such researchers as Blalock and Duncan can provide, when an additional assumption is added, adequate qualitative measures of one variableś causal influence upon another. Finally, some of the difficulties and issues involved (...) in developing adequate quantitative measures are discussed, and it is concluded that the causal modeling measures cannot provide adequate quantitative measures. (shrink)

This paper offers a critique of Martha Nussbaum’s description of the capability approach, and offers an alternative. I will argue that Nussbaum’s characterization of the capability approach is flawed, in two ways. First, she unduly limits the capability to two strands of work, thereby ignoring important other capabilitarian scholarship. Second, she argues that there are five essential elements that all capability theories meet; yet upon closer analysis three of them are not really essential to the capability approach. I also offer (...) an alternative description of the capability approach, which is called the cartwheel view of the capability approach. This view is at the same time radically multidisciplinary yet also contains a foundationally robust core among its various usages, and is therefore much better able to make the case that the capability approach can be developed in a very wide range of more specific normative theories. Finally, the cartwheel view is used to argue against Nussbaum's claim that all capabilitarian political theory needs to be politically liberal. (shrink)

Two kinds of causal inference rules which are widely used by social scientists are investigated. Two conceptions of causation also widely used are explicated -- the INUS and probabilistic conceptions of causation. It is shown that the causal inference rules which link correlation, a kind of partial correlation, and a conception of causation are invalid. It is concluded a new methodology is required for causal inference.

Based on the categorical connection between the field and the state of exception, I propose to discuss on this article Giorgio Agamben’s conception of the state of exception in its paradoxical relationship with the law, a relationship which is proper to the paradoxical structure of sovereignty. The field is to the Italian thinker the experience which is able to clarify the paradoxical dimension of the state of exception because it expresses itself at the same time as inside and outside the (...) legal system. On the contemporary experience the state of exception is no longer characterized as an exceptional experience, but it has become the norm. Based on this, we want to present the dialog between Agamben and Carl Schmitt, in order to reflect on the condition of the state of exception to present itself as anomy, whilst continuing to establish with the law a necessary relationship, even in the form of suspension. (shrink)