In 2012, the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter published a series of articles criticising Swedish national level gymnastics for being abusive. This text analyses the subsequent debate by identifying the discursive and rhetorical resources used by the involved parties. The analysis shows how the parties negotiate accountability, manage dilemmas of stake and what the possible social consequences of these are. Five narratives are singled out in the debate: the counter narrative, the victim narrative, the defence-speech narrative, the expert narrative and the (...) ‘not-us-narrative’. In these narratives, the involved parties used rhetorical resources to account for reality. Hence, the gymnastics community, the research community, individuals and journalists are all portrayed as actors co-producing a social problem. (shrink)

This paper serves two purposes: first, the proposition of an ethical fiduciary theory that substantiates the often-cited assertion that the patient–physician relationship is fiduciary in nature; and second, the application of this theory to the case of informed consent. Patients’ decision-making preferences vary significantly. While some seek fully autonomous decision-making, others prefer to delegate parts of their decision. Therefore, we propose an ethical fiduciary theory that allows physician and patient to jointly determine the physician’s role on a spectrum from fiduciary (...) as advisor to fiduciary as agent. Drawing on legal concepts of the fiduciary relationship and on phenomenological accounts of obligation by Lévinas and Løgstrup, our theory relies on the key attributes of trust, vulnerability and otherness. Finally, practical implications of this theory for the informed consent process are developed: we propose a preassessment of patients’ risk and value profiles as well as a restructuring of the oral consent interview and the written consent materials. (shrink)

Rather than simply outlining the classical and modern theories of learning, this widely adopted text brings the material to life through case studies that engage students in debates about what really happens in classrooms. Students are encouraged to test the strengths and weaknesses of each theory so that, ultimately, they will learn to formulate their own philosophies of teaching and learning. The new Fifth Edition of Perspectives on Learning features: A discussion of common sense and learning theories. A new chapter (...) on Transfer of Learning. Consideration of recent developments in brain science. A thoroughly updated list of Recommendations for Further Reading. Perspectives on Learning is one of the five books in the highly regarded Teachers College Press THINKING ABOUT EDUCATION SERIES, now in its Fifth Edition. All of the books in this series are designed to help pre- and in-service teachers bridge the gap between theory and practice. (shrink)

Logical anti‐exceptionalism is the view that logic is not special, it is continuous with science. This continuity is typically understood in terms of the use of the abductive method in logical theory choice, with logical knowledge resulting from our choice of the theory best accounting for the data. In this paper, we argue for two related claims: (i) that this understanding of the continuity between logic and science faces considerable challenges; and (ii) that such challenges may be avoided by elaborating (...) the continuity of logic with science in terms of the “logic‐as‐models” approach. More specifically, we defend that logical theories should be seen in the lights of the “models‐as‐epistemic‐tools” approach, an approach to the nature of models in empirical science more closely connected with current scientific practice. The result is a version of logical anti‐exceptionalism opening new perspectives for the philosophical understanding of logic. (shrink)

In this paper, we generalize the ordered-pair semantics advanced by Matthew Clemens for the Logic of Paradox to n-tuple semantics, for each fixed n. Moreover, we show that the resulting semantics can accommodate not only LP, but also classical logic as well as strong Kleene logic depending on the set of designated values that one chooses. Building on the technical observations, we offer intuitively plausible readings for the semantics, and we also discuss some weaknesses of the original intuitive reading advanced (...) by Clemens. (shrink)

It is a central tenet of (neo-)Aristotelian metaphysics that reality is structured by relations of existential priority or, conversely put, existential dependence: some entities depend for their existence on other entities that help to bring about their existence. After briefly looking at the origins of this idea in Aristotle’s Categories, the chapter examines some contemporary definitions of existential dependence. A notion of existential dependence defined in terms of metaphysical explanation is shown to fulfill numerous Aristotelian desiderata. It is discussed how (...) such explanations can be underwritten by conceptual connections and at the same time be a guide to the priority-structure of non-linguistic reality; finally, the chapter defends the proposed notion of existential dependence against objections from the recent literature. (shrink)

Nonreflexive quantum mechanics is a formulation of quantum theory based on a non- classical logic termed nonreflexive logic. In these logics, the standard notion of identity, as encapsulated in classical logic and set theories, does not hold in full. The basic aim of this kind of approach to quantum mechanics is to take seriously the claim made by some authors according to whom quantum particles are non-individuals in some sense, and also to take into account the fact that they may (...) be absolutely indistinguishable. The nonreflexive formulation of quantum theory assumes these features of the objects already at the level of the underlying logic, so that no use is required of symmetrization postulates or other mathematical devices that serve to pretend that the objects are indiscernible. Here, we present the ideas of the development of nonreflexive quantum mechanics and discuss some philosophical motivations and consequences of it. (shrink)

Logical abductivism features in the recent literature as a _new epistemology_ for logic, in connection with logical anti-exceptionalism. According to this account, (i) logical knowledge is obtained by the justified _choice_ of a logical theory using abduction, which (ii) _replaces_ problematic approaches in traditional logical epistemology. We argue that such claims are not properly warranted; they conflate justification and theory choice methods. Abduction requires that one starts with _justified data_, and justification, in such cases, needs to appeal to sources that (...) are not granted by abduction. In this sense, abduction cannot be all there is to the epistemology of logic. Some abductivists, we shall see, even appeal to methods of the traditional epistemology to obtain the data. Keeping justification and theory choice separated may contribute to avoid obscurities in discussion of the nature of data in logic and in understanding more clearly how to frame the anti-exceptional nature of logic. (shrink)

The purpose of this essay is to analyze and relate two proposals for illustration made by the European philosophy of the eighteenth century, their singularities and seeking more differences than their commonalities. Both of them were developed in countries with different cultural and political conjunctures and based on the peculiarities of their respective enlightenments. This is the Aufklärung of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), who became famous with the booklet Answer the question: what is "Enlightenment"?, written in 1784, and the Lumières embodied (...) by the speculator Denis Diderot (1713-1784) and mainly expressed in the entry "Philosopher" of the Encyclopedia of 1765. (shrink)

This paper completes a triad developed around the issue of scepticism in the enlightened thinking of Denis Diderot. The first one, entitled "The young Diderot and the scepticism of Thoughts ", was published in the journal Two Points , in its edition devoted to the subject of scepticism (cf. PIVA, 2007), and was limited to an analysis of the problem of attitude sceptical on Thoughts philosophical , in 1746. The second, "The clearing of Diderot with scepticism", published in the journal (...) Transformation (cf. PIVA, 2009), deals with two fundamental questions, this time on The tour of the sceptic or The boulevards , of 1747, latest book in that the scepticism is raised to prominence by encyclopedist, since two years later he finally surrenders to the atheistic materialism. They are: 1) the interpretation that develops Diderot's scepticism and 2) its position before him. In this paper we will examine the presence of scepticism in thought diderotiano of maturity, namely the period beginning in 1749 with the drafting of the Charter for the blind , considering how they and where it is addressed records in some of the most significant texts its philosophical maturity. (shrink)

Questions about when it is right for police forces to investigate alleged offences committed in the more or less distant past have become increasingly pressing. Recent widely publicized cases of child sexual abuse (CSA) and exploitation, sometimes involving high profile individuals, have illustrated the ethical, psychological, and forensic complexities of investigating non-recent child sexual abuse. Hannah Maslen and Colin Paine have developed the Oxford CSA Framework to assist police to weigh the various ethical considerations that militate for and against initiating (...) a CSA investigation. While such a tool is to be welcomed, and while there is much that is helpful in Maslen and Paine's approach, we suggest that the Oxford CSA framework could be strengthened. Our first suggestion is to abandon a proposed distinction between a set of considerations that is said to generate a “presumption” in favor of investigation and other considerations that may supplement or oppose this presumption. Our second suggestion is to review the weightings applied to the considerations within the model, which lack clear justification and create problematic effects. Finally, we suggest that referring the Oxford CSA Framework to a panel with lived and professional experience of CSA could serve important procedural justice goals and enhance the Framework's recommendations. (shrink)

In this moment of rising nationalism worldwide, governments, civil society groups, transnational companies, and web users all complain of increasing regional fragmentation online. While prior work in this area has primarily focused on issues of government censorship and regulatory compliance, we use an inductive and qualitative approach to examine targeted blocking by corporate entities of entire regions motivated by concerns about fraud, abuse, and theft. Through participant-observation at relevant events and intensive interviews with experts, we document the quest by professionals (...) tasked with preserving online security to use new machine-learning based techniques to develop a “fairer” system to determine patterns of “good” and “bad” usage. However, we argue that without understanding the systematic social and political conditions that produce differential behaviors online, these systems may continue to embed unequal treatments, and troublingly may further disguise such discrimination behind more complex and less transparent automated assessment. In order to support this claim, we analyze how current forms of regional blocking incentivize users in blocked regions to behave in ways that are commonly flagged as problematic by dominant security and identification systems. To realize truly global, non-Eurocentric cybersecurity techniques would mean incorporating the ecosystems of service utilization developed by marginalized users rather than reasserting norms of an imagined user that casts aberrations as suspect. (shrink)

Smart cities build on the idea of collecting data about the city in order for city administration to be operated more efficiently. Within a research project gathering an interdisciplinary team of researchers – engineers, designers, gender scholars and human geographers – we have been working together using participatory design approaches to explore how paying attention to the diversity of human needs may contribute to making urban spaces comfortable and safe for more people. The project team has deployed sensors collecting data (...) on air quality, sound and mobility in a smart city testbed in Norrköping, Sweden. While these sensors are meant to capture an accurate ‘map’ of the street and what is going on along it, our interdisciplinary conversations around the sensors have revealed the heterogeneity both of smart city planning and spatial formulations of the city. The discussions have given rise to questions regarding the work that goes into constructing the sensor box itself, as well as the work of deploying it, and how these influence the ‘map’ that the sensors produce. In this paper, we draw on Lefebvre to explore how the sensors themselves produce smart spaces. We analyze how the box depends on perceived space to function (e.g. requiring electricity), and simultaneously it produces conceptualizations of space that are influenced by the materiality of the box itself (e.g. sensors being affected by heat and noise). Further, we explore how the (in)visibility of sensor technology influences lived space. (shrink)

How can we rethink anthropology beyond itself? In this book, twenty-one artists, anthropologists, and curators grapple with how anthropology has been formulated, thought, and practised 'elsewhere' and 'otherwise'. They do so by unfolding ethnographic case studies from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland - and through conversations that expand these geographies and genealogies of contemporary exhibition making. This collection considers where and how anthropology is troubled, mobilised, and rendered meaningful. 'Across Anthropology' charts new ground by analysing the convergences (...) of museums, curatorial practice, and Europe's reckoning with its colonial legacies. Situated amid resurgent debates on nationalism and identity politics, this book addresses scholars and practitioners in fields spanning the arts, social sciences, humanities, and curatorial studies."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Debates on the moral status of human embryos have been highly and continuously controversial. For many, these controversies have turned into a fruitless scholastical endeavor. However, recent developments and insights in cellular biology have cast further doubt on one of the core points of dissent: the argument from potentiality. In this article we want to show in a nonscholastical way why this argument cannot possibly survive. Getting once more into the intricacies of status debates is a must in our eyes. (...) Not merely intellectual coherence but the standing and self-understanding of current stem cell research might profit from finally taking leave of the argument from potentiality. (shrink)

Según la noción clásica el derecho es el objeto de la justicia; también clásicamente se dice que el ius es lo justo, lo debido. Según esto, el ius naturale es lo justo que se funda en la naturaleza y es lo debido por naturaleza. Frente a estas nociones clásicas Thomas Hobbes define al ius naturale como la libertad que cada hombre tiene de usar su propio poder como quiera, para la conservación de su propia naturaleza, es decir, de su vida. (...) También podemos marcar la diferencia entre la concepción clásica de la ley natural como dictamen de la razón práctica que ordena al hombre hacia el fin inscripto en su naturaleza, permitiendo reconocer el bien y el mal afin de realizar el primero y evitar el último, de la noción moderna hobbesiana que concibe la lex naturalis como norma general que obliga a realizar lo que preserve mejor su vida u omitir lo que pueda destruirla o privarle de los medios de conservarla. El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar cómo y porqué se llega a estas diferencias tan marcadas. (shrink)

This book both consummates and demonstrates the basic thrust of Jonas's thought: the inseparability of ethics and metaphysics, the reality of values at the ...

Quasi-set theory Q is an alternative set-theory designed to deal mathematically with collections of indistinguishable objects. The intended interpretation for those objects is the indistinguishable particles of non-relativistic quantum mechanics, under one specific interpretation of that theory. The notion of cardinal of a collection in Q is treated by the concept of quasi-cardinal, which in the usual formulations of the theory is introduced as a primitive symbol, since the usual means of cardinal definition fail for collections of indistinguishable objects. In (...) a recent work, Domenech and Holik have proposed a definition of quasi-cardinality in Q. They claimed their definition of quasi-cardinal not only avoids the introduction of that notion as a primitive one, but also that it may be seen as a first step in the search for a version of Q that allows for a greater representative power. According to them, some physical systems can not be represented in the usual formulations of the theory, when the quasi-cardinal is considered as primitive. In this paper, we discuss their proposal and aims, and also, it is presented a modification from their definition we believe is simpler and more general. (shrink)

Background: With rapidly ageing population worldwide, loneliness among older adults is becoming a global issue. Older migrants are considered being a vulnerable population and ethical issues are often raised in care for elderly. A deeper sense of loneliness, existential loneliness is one aspect of loneliness also described as the ultimate loneliness. Making oneself understood or expressing emotions, have shown to be particularly challenging for older migrants which could lead to experience of existential loneliness. Ageing and being a migrant are potential (...) triggers for experiencing existential loneliness. There appears to be, however, little known about being a migrant experiencing existential loneliness in old age. Aim: This study explored older migrants’ experience of existential loneliness. Research design: Qualitative study. Participants and research context: Data were collected through interviews (n = 15) with older (>65) migrants’ in Swedish nursing homes or senior citizen centres. A thematic analysis was performed to analyse the data. Ethical considerations: The study was conducted in accordance with the principles of research ethics. Findings: The result was described in terms of three themes: (1) Choices made in life, (2) seeking reconciliation with life and (3) thoughts about death and dying in a foreign country. Discussion: Ethical reflection and knowledge about how older migrants’ life story can lead to experiencing existential loneliness, could be of use in care for older migrants’. Conclusion: This study indicates that the experience of existential loneliness derived from being a migrant is a long-term and significant process. Migration was a hope of creating a meaningful life, the experience of existential loneliness occurred as migrants sought reconciliation with life, reflected upon their past choices, and thought about death and dying in a foreign country. (shrink)

Discusses the ethical implications of modern technology and examines the responsibility of humanity for the fate of the world.

In Tractatus Logico‐Philosophicus (TLP), Wittgenstein gave ethics the same semantic status as logic. This paper first investigates this claim from the perspective of Wittgenstein’s lifelong semantic framework. This reveals that ethical sentences are meaningless expressions, which can only be used to ostensively point out conditions of meaningfulness. Secondly, the paper assesses the implications of this conclusion for understanding the seven cryptic remarks on value and ethics in TLP. Using the connection between will and value in TLP and will and sentence (...) interpretation in Philosophical Investigations, it is suggested that Wittgenstein held lifelong views on value and ethics. (shrink)

This symposium issue of the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics is devoted to the convening of the national public health law conference, Practical Approaches to Critical Challenges, on October 10-12, 2012, in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference was co-sponsored by the Network for Public Health Law and the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics with generous support provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, de Beaumont Foundation, California Endowment, and Healthcare Georgia Foundation.With the support of those organizations and the (...) dedicated efforts of the individuals mentioned below, the conference focused on building effective interactions between attorneys and public health practitioners in order to:•examine practical legal approaches to address priority public health issues;•learn about helpful public health law resources and evidence-based research;•discuss public health legal questions and answers; and•build partnerships to accomplish public health objectives and foster innovation. (shrink)