Africa, before European colonization, knew no other form of legal system outside customary arrangements. Based on secondary sources and a primary survey conducted between 2009 and 2010 on the situation of women and land rights in anglophone Cameroon, this paper examines the grounds for discrimination in customary laws against women's rights to land in the context of legal pluralism, and discusses the implications of this custom of gender discrimination. In drawing from Cameroon as an exemplar, it concludes that the strong (...) influence and impact of customs on current land tenure systems have global implications on women's land rights, food security and sustainable development, and that gender equality in land matters can be possible only where the critical role of ethics is recognized in pursuit of the economic motive of land rights. (shrink)

In this article, we examine how the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child can be useful in pediatric bioethics. Adopted in 1989, the CRC reflects norms that have been deliberated upon for a long period of time and endorsed by most nations. The United States is now the only country that has not ratified the CRC.1 International human rights law shares many key moral concepts with clinical pediatric bioethics, and the CRC provides a considered language common to many (...) jurisdictions that can assist bioethicists in their daily practice and help health-care organizations in their policy development and international interactions. There may, however, be practical challenges with using the CRC in the practice of.. (shrink)

Music is a natural human expression present in all cultures, but the functions it serves are still debated. Previous research indicates that rhythm, an essential feature of music, can enhance coordination of movement and increase social bonding. However, the prolonged effects of rhythm have not yet been investigated. In this study, pairs of participants were exposed to one of three kinds of auditory stimuli (rhythmic, arrhythmic, or white‐noise) and subsequently engaged in five trials of a joint‐action task demanding interpersonal coordination. (...) We show that when compared with the other two stimuli, exposure to the rhythmic beat reduced the practice effect in task performance. Analysis of the behavioral data suggests that this reduction results from more temporally coupled motor movements over successive trials and that shared exposure to rhythm facilitates interpersonal motor coupling, which in this context serves to impede the attainment of necessary dynamic coordination. We propose that rhythm has the potential to enhance interpersonal motor coupling, which might serve as a mechanism behind its facilitation of positive social attitudes. (shrink)

To gain a deeper understanding of consumers' brain responses during a real-time in-store exploration could help retailers to get much closer to costumers' experience. To our knowledge, this is the first time the specific role of touch has been investigated by means of a neuroscientific approach during consumer in-store experience within the field of sensory marketing. This study explores the presence of distinct cortical brain oscillations in consumers' brain while navigating a store that provides a high level of sensory arousal (...) and being allowed or not to touch products. A 16-channel wireless electroencephalogram was applied to 23 healthy participants, with interest in cosmetics but naive about the store explored. Subjects were assigned to two experimental conditions based on the chance of touching or not touching the products. Cortical oscillations were explored by means of power spectral analysis of the following frequency bands: delta, theta, alpha, and beta. Results highlighted the presence of delta, theta, and beta bands within the frontal brain regions during both sensory conditions. The absence of touch was experienced as a lack of perception that needs cognitive control, as reflected by Delta and Theta band left activation, whereas a right increase of Beta band for touch condition was associated with sustained awareness on the sensory experience. Overall, EEG cortical oscillations' functional meaning could help highlight the neurophysiological implicit responses to tactile conditions and the importance of touch integration in consumers' experience. (shrink)

Developmental coordination disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder that significantly impairs a child’s ability to learn motor skills and to perform everyday activities. The cause of DCD is unknown; however, evidence suggests that children with DCD have altered brain structure and function. While the cerebellum has been hypothesised to be involved in developmental coordination disorder, no studies have specifically examined cerebellar structure in this population. The purpose of our study was to examine cerebellar differences in children with DCD compared to typically-developing (...) children. Using voxel-based morphometry, we assessed cerebellar morphology in children 8–12 years of age. Forty-six children were investigated using high resolution T1-weighted images, which were then processed using the spatially unbiased atlas template of the cerebellum and brainstem toolbox for a region of interest-based examination of the cerebellum. Results revealed that children with DCD had reduced grey matter volume in several regions, namely: the brainstem, right/left crus I, right crus II, left VI, right VIIb, and right VIIIa lobules. Further, Pearson correlations revealed significant positive associations between the total motor percentile score on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 and regions that had reduced grey matter volume in our cohort. These findings indicate that reductions in cerebellar grey matter volume are associated with poorer motor skills. Given the cerebellum’s involvement in internal models of movement, results of this study may help to explain why children with DCD struggle to learn motor skills. (shrink)

Nowadays it is well known among historians of science that Francis Bacon, one of the modern defender of the experimental method, owed much of his thoughts to the chemical or alchemical tradition (cf. e.g., Gregory 1938, West 1961, Linden 1974, and Rees 1977). In fact, alchemy, particularly in the Arabic tradition, was always based on laboratory investigations by carefully examining the results of controlled manipulation of materials.1 It is also well known that Francis Bacon’s appeal to the experimental method was (...) severe criticism of scholasticism in philosophy of nature and, in particular, of authority as the basis of knowledge.2 If we compare philosophy of nature in the early 17th century with phi-. (shrink)

In this paper, we outline the policy implications of mobile health research conducted at the international level. We describe the manner in which such research may have an international dimension and argue that it is not likely to be excluded from conventionally applicable international regulatory tools. We suggest that closer policy attention is needed for this rapidly proliferating approach to health research.

The present article is an elaborated and upgraded version of the Early Career Award talk that I delivered at the IAPR 2019 conference in Gdańsk, Poland. In line with the conference’s thematic focus on new trends and neglected themes in psychology of religion, I argue that psychology of religion should strive for firmer integration with evolutionary theory and its associated methodological toolkit. Employing evolutionary theory enables to systematize findings from individual psychological studies within a broader framework that could resolve lingering (...) empirical contradictions by providing an ultimate rationale for which results should be expected. The benefits of evolutionary analysis are illustrated through the study of collective rituals and, specifically, their purported function in stabilizing risky collective action. By comparing the socio-ecological pressures faced by chimpanzees, contemporary hunter-gatherers, and early Homo, I outline the selective pressures that may have led to the evolution of collective rituals in the hominin lineage, and, based on these selective pressures, I make predictions regarding the different functions and their underlying mechanisms that collective rituals should possess. While examining these functions, I echo the Early Career Award and focus mostly on my past work and the work of my collaborators, showing that collective rituals may stabilize risky collective action by increasing social bonding, affording to assort cooperative individuals, and providing a platform for reliable communication of commitment to group norms. The article closes with a discussion of the role that belief in superhuman agents plays in stabilizing and enhancing the effects of collective rituals on trust-based cooperation. (shrink)

Hannah Arendt's approach to politics focuses on action and conduct, rather than institutions, constitutions, and states. In light of Arendtian conceptions of politics, essays in this book challenge conventional IR theories. The contributions on agency explore concepts and categories of political action that enable individuals to act politically and to re-make the world in new, unpredictable ways. The contributions on structure explore how Arendt provides new critical purchase upon often reified structures and categories.

The article considers patterns of reactivity in organ systems mediated by the autonomic nervous system as they relate to central neural circuits activated by affectively arousing cues. The relationship of these data to the concept of discrete emotion and their relevance for the autonomic feedback hypothesis are discussed. Research both with animal and human participants is considered and implications drawn for new directions in emotion science. It is suggested that the proposed brain-based view has a greater potential for scientific advance (...) than the traditional model that emphasizes specific states of mind as mediators or reflectors of visceral action. (shrink)

We introduce a game for Gödel logic where the players’ interaction stepwise reduces claims about the relative order of truth degrees of complex formulas to atomic truth comparison claims. Using the concept of disjunctive game states this semantic game is lifted to a provability game, where winning strategies correspond to proofs in a sequents-of-relations calculus.

Von der Antike bis in die Gegenwart. Verständlich und anschaulich geschrieben, führt der Klassiker durch die wichtigsten Stationen des philosophischen Denkens. Die 4. Auflage wurde um die philosophischen Entwicklungen seit den 1990er Jahren ergänzt. Dazu gehören u. a. Analytische Philosophie, Ethik, Virtuelle Realität, Philosophie der Gefühle und Philosophie als Lebensform. Eine Besonderheit ist das umfangreiche Kapitel über die Philosophie des Ostens: Indien, China, Japan.

In Hybrid artwork, whereby the digital and the real are mixed, the artist/creator has to additionally manage interaction. Interaction is seen as an added dimension to narration: the art piece turns from being a means towards a narration (or an understanding) to a path towards an experience. It is argued that strong metaphysical concepts give place to new more fragmented ones. This nihilism and fragmentation can be seen as a cause of concern but also as an opportunity.

Tolson D and Schofield I. Nursing Inquiry 2012; 19: 63–70 Football reminiscence for men with dementia: lessons from a realistic evaluationA major challenge of studies of non pharmacological dementia interventions is the likely modest intervention effect size and difficulties collecting data from individuals with behavioural, psychological and communicative symptoms. The reported Realist Evaluation is built around sets of contextually comparable case studies of Football Focussed Reminiscence for men with dementia. The study aim was to evaluate benefits of football related reminiscence (...) for individuals and family carers. Four case studies were constructed; two community groups, one nursing home groups and individual sessions within their family home. Data was collected as field notes from non‐participation observation of reminiscence sessions, notes of conversations with people with dementia, audio recorded interviews with family members, facilitators and dementia link workers. The analysis was framed around identification and extraction of data pertaining to Context‐Mechanism‐Outcome configurations within each data set, and patterns and threads were compared across the cases. An important finding was that anticipation of pleasure in tandem with a sense of continuity appeared to be important mechanisms triggering optimal benefit. The paper explores design considerations, project delivery experiences and the contribution that innovative theory driven research adds to the study of complex interventions including those with behavioural and communicative symptoms of dementia. (shrink)

One of Han Fei’s most trenchant criticisms against the early Confucian political tradition is that, insofar as its decision-making process revolves around the ruler, rather than a codified set of laws, this process is the arbitrary rule of a single individual. Han Fei argues that there will be disastrous results due to ad hoc decision-making, relationship-based decision-making, and decision-making based on prior moral commitments. I lay out Han Fei’s arguments while demonstrating how Xunzi can successfully counter them. In doing so, (...) I argue that Xunzi lays out a political theory restricting the actions of the ruler through both the use of ritual and law, which allows him to develop a theory that legitimizes government while at the same time constraining itself. Xunzi’s political theory makes important strides in its attempt to recognize the importance of the ruler as a moral exemplar while also restricting his control in the political process. (shrink)

As given, the case presents at least two questions for the ethics consultant to explore: to what extent should Declan’s parent, Karesha, be involved in his health care decisions, and why is...

Jaswal & Akhtar provide several quotes ostensibly from people with autism but obtained via the discredited techniques of Facilitated Communication and the Rapid Prompting Method, and they do not acknowledge the use of these techniques. As a result, their argument is substantially less convincing than they assert, and the article lacks transparency.

Emerging forms of empowered participatory governance have generated considerable scholarly excitement, but critics continue to ask if such initiatives are “for real”: Are participatory governance processes sufficiently independent? Do citizen participants make good policy choices? An in-depth look at the case of the British Columbia Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform suggests that real citizen empowerment depends on both the institutional constraints of the participa-tory setting and how citizen interests and arguments for policy outcomes crystallize over the course of a participatory (...) process. (shrink)

This essay examines whether an invocation of an epistemological privilege on the part of supposed moral experts prevents potential students from being able to evaluate among potential candidates for the role of plausible moral teacher. Throughout, it works to demonstrate that it is possible for even the untutored student to distinguish between a fanatic and a moral expert. In particular, this essay focuses on the version of virtue ethics espoused by the early Chinese philosopher Xunzi. It argues that by reflecting (...) on the attributes of fanatics, as well as on Xunzi's ideas and arguments about students and teachers, it is possible to arrive at a general set of principles that provide beginners with the tools necessary to distinguish dangerous fanatics from plausible moral teachers, even given the fact that both claim for themselves an epistemological privilege. (shrink)

The ‘Responsibility Objection’ to Judith Thomson's famous argument for the permissibility of abortion challenges the relevance of her ‘Violinist Analogy’ to certain types of voluntary unwanted pregnancy, on the grounds that those pregnancies, even though they may be unwanted, are pregnancies for which the woman can be plausibly held responsible. This article considers the force of a number of recent objections to the Responsibility Objection, advanced by Harry Silverstein, David Boonin, and Jeff McMahan, and judges them to be unpersuasive. It (...) is concluded that, in the absence of further considerations, the Responsibility Objection carries force. (shrink)

Kliniske etikkomiteer har vært etablert i norske helseforetak siden 1996, først som et prøveprosjekt, senere som et permanent tiltak med et nasjonalt mandat. I forbindelse med det nasjonale etikkprosjektet «Samarbeid om etisk kompetanseheving» har det også i noen kommuner blitt etablert KEK. Senter for medisinsk etikk ved Universitetet i Oslo er tildelt ansvaret for oppfølging av KEK i helseforetakene og er i tillegg gitt et langsiktig ansvar for etikkarbeid og forskning i den kommunale helse- og omsorgstjenesten. Hensikten med denne studien (...) har vært å fremskaffe kunnskap om hvordan det står til med KEK som er etablert i kommunene. Hva jobber de med, hvilken betydning erfarer de at KEK har og hvilke ressurser har de? Studien har et kvalitativt design. Materialet er basert på telefonintervjuer med ledere for KEK og gjennomgang av komiteenes årsrapporter. Det er gjennomført en kvalitativ innholdsanalyse av datamaterialet. Komiteene arbeider både med enkeltsaker, saker av mer prinsipiell karakter og etikkskolering. Arbeidet vurderes som betydningsfullt og gjennomføres til tross for få ressurser og svak forankring. Kanskje vil en styrket forankring og ressurssituasjon og et nasjonalt mandat bidra positivt til komiteenes arbeid. Nøkkelord: Kliniske etikkomiteer, kommunal helse- og omsorgstjeneste, evaluering English Summary: Are clinical ethics committees in the municipal health and care services sustainable? Clinical ethics committees have been established in Norwegian hospital trusts since 1996, first as a pilot project, later on a permanent basis with a national mandate. As part of the national ethics project "Cooperation on ethical competence" some municipalities have also established a CEC. Centre for Medical Ethics at the University of Oslo is given the responsibility to support CECs in hospital trusts, and is also given a long-term responsibility for ethics support and research in municipal health care services. The purpose of this study was to obtain knowledge about the situation of CECs established in municipalities. What are they working on, what impact do they find that CEC has, and what resources do they have? The study has a qualitative design. The material is based on telephone interviews with CEC chairs, and reviews of the committees' annual reports. We have carried out a qualitative content analysis of the data. The committees work with individual cases, issues of a more principle character, and ethics training. The work is considered to be significant, and is carried out despite limited resources and weak anchoring. Perhaps a stronger anchoring, resource situation and a national mandate could strengthen the committees’ situation. Keywords: Clinical ethics committees, municipal health and care services, evaluation. (shrink)

According to Saul Smilansky's ‘Paradox of Beneficial Retirement’, many serving members of professions may have decisive integrity-based reasons for retiring immediately. The Paradox of Beneficial Retirement holds that a below-par performance in one's job does not require any outright incompetence, but may take a purely relational form, in which a good performance is not good enough if it would be improved upon by someone else who would be appointed instead. It is argued, in response, that jobs in the sectors Smilansky (...) mentions are not merely positions to optimize the goals of the profession, but are professional careers in which there is the possibility of security and personal fulfilment. The article also explores connections between Smilansky's argument and G. A. Cohen's anti-incentives argument against Rawls. It is suggested that both thinkers underappreciate the relationship between personal reasons and institutional reasons. (shrink)

Grady and colleagues (2008) have provided a major contribution to the field of bioethics, and their research should lend a significant hand to the oft-neglected ethics needs of professional nurses....

Although there has been a resurgence of interest in virtue ethics, there has been little work done on how this translates into the political sphere. This essay demonstrates that the Confucian thinker Xunzi offers a model of virtue politics that is both interesting in its own right and potentially useful for scholars attempting to develop virtue ethics into virtue politics more generally. I present Xunzi’s version of virtue politics and discuss challenges to this version of virtue politics that are raised (...) by the Legalist thinker H an Fei. I show that not only is Xunzi’s virtue politics capable of surviving the challenges raised by his contemporary, he offers an account that is in many ways both attractive and plausible, one that may usefully be brought into conversation with contemporary visions of virtue politics. (shrink)

La méthode adoptée dans le Vocabulaire européen des philosophies peut-elle être taxée de « relativiste » comme l’écrit Carlo Ginzburg, et plus précisément de mener au « relativisme sceptique »? L’on vise ici à répondre par la négative en montrant les proximités entre la démarche du VEP et certains travaux de l’auteur lui-même. Si le VEP n’est pas un dictionnaire d’« ethnophilologie », et se centre sur les traductions du vocabulaire philosophique, les enjeux politiques sont essentiels. Il s’agit, en prenant (...) de la distance par rapport à sa propre langue, de construire des comparables, en étant aussi bien contre l’universalisme abstrait que contre le culturalisme relativiste qui conduit à l’incommensurabilité. (shrink)

In this paper, I take a prominent and plausible conception of virtues from the Western tradition, apply it to some early Confucian texts, and see where it succeeds and fails. In this way, I hope to be able to show how this conception of virtues needs to be revised. The particular conception of virtues I am starting with is one of virtues as correctives that was made prominent by Philippa Foot in her paper “Virtues and Vices.” On Foot’s account, “the (...) virtues are corrective, each one standing at a point at which there is some temptation to be resisted or deficiency of motivation to be made good.” This conception captures certain aspects of the virtues. However, I demonstrate that virtues that are often thought of as correctives are not best characterized in this way, at least on the general understanding of correctives. I do this in two ways. First I show that being a corrective is only a contingent feature of these virtues. Second, I demonstrate that ‘self-love’, which carries many similarities to other so-called corrective virtues, is a plausible candidate for the status of virtue while not being a corrective, even in a contingent way. This claim about the plausibility of ‘self-love’ as a virtue is one that Foot explicitly denies. In addition, I show that there is another class of virtues that the idea of virtues as correctives completely misses. I will call this class of virtues ‘inclinational virtues.’ Finally, I explain why expecting the notion of a corrective to accommodate the idea of inclinational virtues is unwise. (shrink)