One of the near-to-invariant hallmarks of early apoptosis (programmed cell death) is mitochondrial membrane permeabilization (MMP). It appears that mitochondria fulfill a dual role during the apoptotic process. On the one hand, they integrate multiple different pro-apoptotic signal transducing cascades into a common pathway initiated by MMP. On the other hand, they coordinate the catabolic reactions accompanying late apoptosis by releasing soluble proteins that are normally sequestered within the intermembrane space. In a recent study,(1) Li et al. described a nuclear (...) transcription factor (Nur77/TR1/NGFI-B) that can translocate to mitochondrial membranes to induce MMP. Moreover, two groups(2,3) identified a novel intermembrane protein (Smac/DIABLO) that specifically neutralizes the inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) proteins, thereby facilitating the activation of caspases, a class of proteases activated during apoptosis. These findings refine our knowledge how MMP connects to the cellular suicide machinery. BioEssays 23:111–115, 2001. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (shrink)

Background We present and discuss the results of a Norwegian survey of medical doctors' views on potential ethical dilemmas in professional practice. Methods The study was conducted in 2015 as a postal questionnaire to a representative sample of 1612 doctors, among which 1261 responded. We provided a list of 41 potential ethical dilemmas and asked whether each was considered a dilemma, and whether the doctor would perform the task, if in a position to do so. Conceptually, dilemmas arise because of (...) tensions between two or more of four doctor roles: the patient’s advocate, a steward of societal interests, a member of a profession and a private individual. Results 27 of the potential dilemmas were considered dilemmas by at least 50% of the respondents. For more than half of the dilemmas, the anticipated course of action varied substantially within the professional group, with at least 20% choosing a different course than their colleagues, indicating low consensus in the profession. Conclusions Doctors experience a large range of ethical dilemmas, of which many have been given little attention by academic medical ethics. The less-discussed dilemmas are characterised by a low degree of consensus in the profession about how to handle them. There is a need for medical ethicists, medical education, postgraduate courses and clinical ethics support to address common dilemmas in clinical practice. Viewing dilemmas as role conflicts can be a fruitful approach to these discussions. (shrink)

Participation in healthcare decision-making is considered to be an important right of minors, and is highlighted in both international legislation and public policies. However, despite the legal recognition of children’s rights to participation, and also the benefits that children experience by their involvement, there is evidence that legislation is not always translated into healthcare practice. There are a number of factors that may impact on the ability of the child to be involved in decisions regarding their medical care. Some of (...) these factors relate to the child, including their capacity to be actively involved in these decisions. Others relate to the family situation, sociocultural context, or the underlying beliefs and practices of the healthcare provider involved. In spite of these challenges to including children in decisions regarding their clinical care, we argue that it is an important factor in their treatment. The extent to which children should participate in this process should be determined on a case-by-case basis, taking all of the potential barriers into account. (shrink)

Adolescence and young adulthood are peak periods for risky sexual behaviors and borderline personality disorder features. RSB is a major public health concern and adolescents with BPD may be particularly vulnerable to RSB, but this is understudied. The aim of this study was to identify distinct RSB profiles in youth and determine whether a specific profile was associated with BPD features. Participants were 220 adolescents and young adults recruited from the community. To identify groups of adolescents and young adults who (...) engage in similar RSB, a latent profile analysis was conducted on sexually active youth. Next ANOVA was used to identify how profiles differed in terms RSB dimensions and BPD features. We identified three distinct RSB profiles: a Low RSB profile that was manifested by the majority of youth; an Unprotected Sex in Relationships profile and; an Impulsive Sex Outside Relationships profile which was manifested by youth with significantly higher BPD features. The findings shed light on the difficulties youth with BPD manifest around integrating sexuality, intimacy, fidelity, and love. This contrasts with the majority of youth who are sexually active in the context of relationships and engage in little or no RSB. The findings have important clinical implications. Adolescent sexuality is frequently in the blind spot of clinicians. To address the elevated risk of RSB in adolescents with BPD, interventions are needed to help adolescents navigate this period and improve their understanding of the reasons for RSB while addressing difficulties in establishing sexual and attachment relationships. (shrink)

Late in 1990, the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at Illinois Institute of Technology (lIT) received a grant of more than $200,000 from the National Science Foundation to try a campus-wide approach to integrating professional ethics into its technical curriculum.! Enough has now been accomplished to draw some tentative conclusions. I am the grant's principal investigator. In this paper, I shall describe what we at lIT did, what we learned, and what others, especially philosophers, can learn (...) from us. We set out to develop an approach that others could profitably adopt. I believe that we succeeded. (shrink)

In this chapter, we will take a trip around several hot-spots where Bohmian mechanics and its capacity to describe the microscopic reality, even in the absence of measurements, can be harnessed as computational tools, in order to help in the prediction of phenomenologically accessible information (also useful for the followers of the Copenhagen theory). As a first example, we will see how a Stochastic Schrödinger Equation, when used to compute the reduced density matrix of a non-Markovian open quantum system, necessarily (...) seems to employ the Bohmian concept of a conditional wavefunction. We will see that by dressing these conditional wavefunctions with an interpretation, the Bohmian theory can prove to be a useful tool to build general quantum simulation frameworks, such as a high-frequency electron transport model. As a second example, we will explain how a Copenhagen “observable operator” can be related to numerical properties of the Bohmian trajectories, which within Bohmian mechanics, are well-defined even for an “unmeasured” system. Most importantly in practice, even if these numbers are given no ontological meaning, not only we will be able to simulate (thus, predict and talk about) them, but we will see that they can be operationally determined in a weak value experiment. Therefore, they will be practical numbers to characterize a quantum system irrespective of the followed quantum theory. (shrink)

We examined the relation between home literacy environment (HLE) and early literacy development in a sample of children learning four alphabetic orthographies varying in orthographic consistency (English, Dutch, German, and Greek). Seven hundred and fourteen children were followed from Grade 1 to Grade 2 and tested on emergent literacy skills (vocabulary, letter knowledge, and phonological awareness) at the beginning of Grade 1 and on word reading fluency and spelling at the end of Grade 1, the beginning of Grade 2, and (...) the end of Grade 2. Their parents responded to a questionnaire assessing HLE [parent teaching (PT), shared book reading (SBR), access to literacy resources (ALR)] at the beginning of Grade 1. Results showed first that PT was associated with letter knowledge or phonological awareness in Dutch and Greek, while ALR was associated with emergent literacy skills in all languages. SBR did not predict any cognitive or early literacy skills in any language. Second, PT and ALR had indirect effects on literacy outcomes via different emergent literacy skills in all languages. These findings suggest that not all HLE components are equally important for emergent literacy skills, reading fluency, and spelling. No specific trend in the role of orthographic consistency in the aforementioned relations emerged, which suggests that other factors may account for the observed differences across languages when children start receiving formal reading instruction in Grade 1. (shrink)

« Ce que j’appelle la “révolution de l’amour”, c’est-à-dire la naissance de la famille moderne, enracinée dans le passage du mariage arrangé au mariage choisi par et pour l’amour, a transformé nos vies. Elle apporte un nouveau principe de sens, qui requiert une nouvelle philosophie. Elle ne bouleverse pas seulement nos existences privées, mais tout notre rapport au collectif. C’est ce que j’appelle le “deuxième humanisme”». Le premier fut un humanisme de la Loi et de la raison. C’était celui des (...) Lumières et des droits de l’homme, des républicains français et de Kant. Le deuxième humanisme est un humanisme de la fraternité et de la sympathie. Ma conviction est qu’il est désormais la seule vision du monde portée par le souffle d’une utopie positive. Car l’idéal qu’elle vise à réaliser n’est plus celui des nationalismes ni de l’idée révolutionnaire. Il ne s’agit plus d’organiser de grands massacres au nom de principes mortifères qui se voulaient extérieurs et supérieurs à l’humanité, mais de préparer l’avenir de ceux que nous aimons le plus, c’est- à-dire des générations futures... » L. F. Luc Ferry s’entretient ici avec Claude Capelier, agrégé de philosophie et conseiller scientifique du Conseil d’analyse de la société. Luc Ferry est agrégé de philosophie, docteur d’État, agrégé de science politique. Il est philosophe. Ses livres sont traduits à l’étranger dans une trentaine de langues. Il a notamment publié chez Odile Jacob Vaincre les peurs et Qu’est-ce que l’Homme? (en collaboration avec Jean-Didier Vincent), qui ont été d’immenses succès. (shrink)

In 2015, the world's first self-defined feminist government was formed in Sweden with the explicit ambition of pursuing a feminist foreign policy. This essay seeks to unpack and highlight some of the substance and plausible future directions of a feminist foreign policy. The overarching ambition is three-fold: to probe the normative contents of feminist foreign policy in theory and in practice; to identify a number of potential challenges and ethical dilemmas that are detrimental to gender-sensitive global politics; and to advance (...) a research agenda that can deepen the normative and ethical notions of a feminist foreign policy. Sweden's feminist foreign policy is still in the making. Its conduct is mostly incremental and focused on international agenda setting and normative entrepreneurship, which is guided by an ethically informed framework of cosmopolitanism and human rights. Yet, this essay argues that this reorientation is distinct for two reasons: First, by adopting the “F-word” it elevates politics from a broadly consensual orientation of gender mainstreaming towards more controversial politics, which explicitly seeks to renegotiate and challenge power hierarchies and gendered institutions that hitherto defined global institutions and foreign and security policies. Second, it contains a normative reorientation of foreign policy, which is guided by an ethically informed framework based on broad cosmopolitan norms of global justice and peace. The article concludes by advancing a research agenda that draws upon feminist IR theory and enhances the ethical and transformative contents of the English School by making it more gender-sensitive and appropriate for the study of feminist foreign policy. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Latin Literature. A HistoryRichard F. ThomasGian Biagio Conte. Latin Literature. A History. Translated by Joseph B. Solodow. Revised by Don Fowler and Glenn W. Most. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994. xxxiii 1 827 pp. $65.00.The work under review is a translation of Gian Biagio Conte’s 1987 book Letteratura latina; Manuale storico dalle origini alla fine dell’ impero, a book whose title page acknowledged the (...) collaboration of Alessandro Barchiesi, Emanuele Narducci, Giovanni Polara, Giuliano Ranucci, and Gianpiero Rosati. In the translation these scholars have been moved into C.’s “Acknowledgements,” making room for the new group on the title page, as given above. Of these, Don Fowler provided a bibliography and “in a sense has helped to direct the whole editorial enterprise,” while Glenn Most (like Solodow, one of C.’s English translators), rewrote sections on reception. Elaine Fantham introduces the work with an encomiastic “blurb” and general appreciation of the scholarship of C. C.’s own preface adds to the “gang of five” original collaborators a new group of three (Mario Labate, Alessandro Schiesaro, Rolando Ferri) who “have freely given me the support of their attentive and considerate criticism.” One recent reviewer talks of “the thorough control of the material by the single mind of the original author” (Robert P. Sonkowsky, The Key Reporter 61.3 [1996] 13), as does another for whom “the book is the production of a single mind” (J. Griffin, “The Long Latin Line,” review in New York Review of Books [Oct. 6, 1994] 43); it therefore seems only right to register my dissent from such a judgment.Much in Latin studies right now seems to involve a pack mentality: teams toil away for their grex, writing encomiastic and disingenuously uncritical reviews, or footnotes acknowledging the help of other teammates, attending conferences, organizing group-solidifying essay collections, even new series and manifestoes promising a “New Latin”—a term that seems to have no particular theoretical or intellectual content, nor a purpose other than to appeal vaguely for some sort of postmodernist approval. Barbara F. McManus’ summary of a paper on the uses of e-mail for mobilizing interest groups, delivered at a conference on computers and the classics by the very editor of the book under review, Don Fowler (“The Scroll and the Screen: Computers and Classical Literary Criticism”), gives a clear account of procedure and techniques in use:Electronic communication allows small groups with strongly related interests to form, cohere, and influence the larger disciplinary community; because such groups start with fundamental agreement on intellectual frameworks and approaches, they can develop ideas rapidly and in depth.(2/8/97 )What happens when other, less organized and more individual, insights fail to coincide with the “fundamental agreement” of the “group,” and how, we might wonder, will such individualism hold up in the face of this mission to “influence the larger disciplinary community”? [End Page 471]Be all this as it may and whatever the realities of authorship, the achievement of Gian Biagio Conte’s volume is a signal one. Latin Literature is a work of considerable value, a work which I have already used with success in teaching the history of Latin literature. Whatever the state of its authorship, I would now move to a review of some of its merits, which are considerable, and in which C. himself is obviously a participant throughout. The book begins with the origins of Latin literature and extends to Bede and the national literatures that were to transmit Latin literature into the vernaculars, that would in turn connect the essential themes and fundamental concerns of classical Latin literature to the cognate and evolving experiences of later antiquity and the middle ages. The original authors worked to a formulaic scheme: generally “Life,” “Works,” some treatment of cultural/political/social context, “Literary Success” (for the Italian “Fortuna”—I would have preferred “Reception”), and bibliography. This latter, again by Fowler, is developed from the Italian version and is generally made more international, often with the result that it sits somewhat uneasily with the original articles, which are largely unchanged, and whose authors presumably made... (shrink)

The core argument of Haynes and Murris’ book is that traditional approaches of Philosophy for Children (P4C) ignore the potential of contemporary picturebooks f.

Teachers’ responses to bullying incidents are key in bullying intervention at school. Scholars have suggested that teacher responses can predict student cognitions that are associated with their bullying behaviors. However, little is known about whether and how teacher responses affect these cognitions. Therefore, the current study investigated the effects of four immediate teacher responses on four bullying-related student cognitions, using an experimental vignette design. Additionally, it was examined whether students’ own participant role behaviors in actual bullying moderated these effects. The (...) investigated teacher responses were non-response, comforting the victim, correcting the bully, and a combination of comforting the victim and correcting the bully. The investigated student cognitions were perceived teacher attitudes toward bullying, perceived teacher moral disengagement regarding bullying, student willingness to report bullying to the teacher and student expectations regarding bullying participant role behaviors in the classroom. Fourth-to-sixth grade students read a vignette describing a hypothetical teacher’s response to a same bullying incident, following random assignment to one of eight conditions. Afterward, students completed questionnaires about their social cognitions and manipulation checks. ANOVA demonstrated that students perceived stronger teacher anti-bullying attitudes and less teacher moral disengagement when the hypothetical teacher displayed an active response. These effects were even stronger when the teacher corrected the bully compared to when only the victim was comforted. Further, students were more willing to report bullying when the teacher corrected the bully than when the teacher only comforted the victim. Finally, students expected less pro-bullying behaviors, more defending and less victimization in the vignette’s classroom following active teacher response compared to non-response. The effects of teacher responses on student cognitions were not moderated by students’ own participant roles in bullying. Taken together, these findings emphasize the importance of active teacher responses to bullying, and especially, responses that clearly show that bullying is not tolerated. Teachers are encouraged to be aware that students can deduce beliefs from teacher responses which can, in turn, affect bullying processes in the classroom. (shrink)

As a matter of respect for the person, it is considered an ethical duty to offer to return research results to participants where appropriate. Nevertheless, the return of individual research results to participants raises many socio-ethical issues and greater challenges when the participant is a child. This discrepancy arises partly because the return of individual pediatric research results entails a tripartite relationship between researcher, child, and parent and is embroiled in numerous considerations.Extra caution is required in the pediatric research context (...) because children cannot generally decide whether they want to be informed of their own research results or whether the results should be disclosed to parents. Children have long been considered a special and vulnerable group, and their parents, as guardians, play a critical role in the consent process. However, with regards to the return of individual research results, this might pose a potential conflict of interest between the current or future desires of the child and those of the parents. (shrink)

*The views expressed in this commentary are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the American Medical Association.

The earliest extant mathematical books from China contain a lot of problems and data about grains. They also betray a close relationship with imperial bureaucracy in this respect. Indeed, these texts quote administrative regulations about grains. For instance, the Book on mathematical procedures 筭數書, found in a tomb sealed ca. 186 BCE, has a section in common with the “regulations on granaries” from the Qin statutes in eighteen domains, known thanks to slips excavated at Shuihudi. Mathematical writings also deal with (...) official vessels used to measure grains. They cast light on statements from, and practices evidenced by, official histories and administrative documents. This article addresses the following issues. Which information about the concrete management of grains can we derive from mathematical writings in relation to administrative documents? Which data can we find in these writings about continuities and changes in the management of grains in the time span between the Qin and Han dynasties? In particular, how can we account for the fact that in a later mathematical text, namely, The Nine Chapters, probably completed in the first century CE, there was a change in the form in which the data about grain equivalences were given, by comparison with the “regulations on granaries”? Finally, what do our conclusions imply with respect to the nature of the earliest extant mathematical writings. In this article, we gather the various types of statement that mathematical writings contain about grains and offer several elements of interpretation for the “regulations on granaries” and the related text in The Nine Chapters. From this perspective, we offer several hypotheses about the management of grain in the Qin and Han dynasties. (shrink)

Ethical considerations The study was conducted according to the principles of Declaration of Helsinki, and was approved by the Norwegian Social Science Data Services. Objective To describe patients’ experiences of staying in multiple- and single-bed rooms. Patients and methods This qualitative study employed a descriptive and exploratory approach, and systematic text condensation was used to analyze the material. Data were collected in a hospital trust in Norway. A total of 39 in-depth interviews were performed with patients discharged from the medical, (...) surgical, and maternity departments. Results Patients had ambiguous views on whether multiple-bed rooms or single-bed rooms were to be preferred. Main results include how patients cherished “the importance of others” but at the same time valued “the importance of privacy.” Being hospitalized in multiple-bed rooms was for many patients a very positive experience in terms of social interaction. Patients in single-bed rooms reported being more dependent on nurses to maintain social contact and obtain safety. Conclusion This research provides new knowledge on how the need for privacy can be in contradiction with the need for socializing with other patients. When hospitalized, the physical structure of a hospital impacts with whom patients interact and to what extent they depend on the nursing staff to have their social needs met. (shrink)

Background: Most older people wish to live in the familiar surroundings of their own home until they die. Knowledge concerning dignity and dignity loss of home-dwelling older women living with incurable cancer should be a foundation for quality of care within municipal healthcare services. The informal caregivers of these women can help increase the understanding of sources related to dignity and dignity loss Aim: The aim of this study was to explore informal caregivers’ perceptions of sources related to dignity and (...) dignity loss in end-of-life of older home-dwelling women with incurable cancer. Research design and method: The study was founded upon Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics. In-depth interviews with 13 informal caregivers were carried out, and four participant observations were performed during home meetings. Ethical consideration: The study was based on voluntary participation, informed consent, confidentiality and the opportunity to withdraw at any time. The Norwegian Social Science Data Services approved the study. Results: Three main sources important in preserving the older women’s dignity were identified: maintaining one’s self-concept, remaining hopeful and sustaining freedom of choice. We also identified three main sources that lead to dignity loss: Sensing loss of human value, experiencing absence of gentleness and feelings of being treated as an object. Discussion and final considerations: On the individual level, the opportunity to maintain one’s self-concept and control in life, preserved dignity, while feelings of existential loneliness led to dignity loss. On the relational level, being confirmed as worthy human beings promoted the women’s dignity, whereas dignity loss was related to uncaring behaviours from healthcare professionals. On the societal level, individual decisions concerning travel situations and the place to stay when nearing end-of-life were of crucial importance. Constituting these women’s living space, these perspectives should be emphasized in healthcare professionals’ educational training and in the municipal end-of-life care of these patients. (shrink)

Peut-on s'entendre en matière d'esthétique? Y a-t-il une objectivité possible des jugements dans ce domaine marginal de la philosophie? La question du sens commun dans la Critique de la faculté de juger, semble, aux dires de certains, mener directement à cette problématique contemporaine. Nous ne reprendrons pas ici les multiples articles et ouvrages sur le sensus communis parus dans la dernière décennie à la suite de l'impact conceptuel du thème de la rationalité communicationnelle. Notre intention est plutôt, au-delà de la (...) “dérive” du célèbre paragraphe 40 vers une idée plus actuelle de “consensus”, de repérer les tensions entre le versant transcendantal et le versant empirique du sens commun qui surgissent significativement à l'occasion de cette dérive. Avant d'aborder le sens esthétique défini dans la troisième Critique et de le confronter aux interprétations qui nous semblent plus déterminantes comme celles de L. Ferry de J.-F. Lyotard ou de J. Habermas nous voudrions d'abord examiner l'usage général de cette notion dans l'histoire de la philosophie précritique pour vérifier ensuite la spécificitÉ qu'elle acquiert chez Kant. (shrink)

While the realm of bioethics has traditionally focused on the rights of the individual and held autonomy as a defining principle, public health ethics has at its core a commitment to the promotion of the common good. While these two domains may at times conflict, concepts arising in one may also be informative for concepts arising in the other. One example of this is the concept of a “right not to know.” Recent debate suggests that just as there is a (...) “right to know” information about one's genetic status, there is a parallel “right not to know” when it comes to genetic information that if communicated, could be detrimental to an individual's social or psychological well-being. As new genetic technologies continue to change the nature of genetic testing and screening, it is crucial that normative frameworks to guide and assess genetic public health initiatives be developed. In this context, the question of whether a “right not to know” may also be said to exist for populations on a public health level merits attention. (shrink)

La Pythaïde est une théorie athénienne envoyée de façon irrégulière à Delphes pour honorer Apollon Pythien. On connaît surtout les quatre théories grandioses envoyées de 138/7 à 98/7, après une longue interruption. La Pythaïde est l’occasion pour les Athéniens de mettre en scène dans le sanctuaire de Delphes l’image qu’ils se font de leur cité, notamment par l’intermédiaire d’un nouvel assemblage de récits « mythiques » mêlant la légende apollinienne et les origines autochtones de la cité. Cette réactualisation de récits (...) traditionnels n’est pas un simple message politique, mais dit profondément l’univers religieux de la fête et de la cité à la basse époque hellénistique. En replaçant ces récits dans leur contexte de production et d’énonciation, on peut préciser la définition indigène de ce que appelons le mythe. Cette mise en situation des « mythes » de la Pythaïde montre que ce n’est pas leur nature qui les caractérise, mais bien leur fonction dans le cadre de la cérémonie.Apollo, Athens and Pythaïs. Pythaïs is an Athenian festival in honour of Apollo in Delphi. It is mostly known through the lists of about a thousand citizens who took part in the four ceremonies of the 2nd and the 1st century B.C., when the Athenians revived the tradition interrupted since the 4th century B.C. of sending a theoria. Pythaïs offers in the Pythian sanctuary a representation of the Athenian city, especially through a new composition of old “myths” dealing with Apollo and Athenian autochtony. These “myths” cannot be reduced to a political message, but also have a religious purpose. Studying the narrative context helps us to understand the ancient Greek definition of our so called “myth”. The example of Pythaïs shows that this definition depends much less on the nature of this type of narratives than on their function in the ceremony. (shrink)

Originally known for his groundbreaking work in literary studies, the Bulgarian-born French scholar Tzvetan Todorov (1939-2017) was one of the world's foremost cultural theorists. His interventions cover an astounding range of topics, from narratology to ethics, from painting to politics, and from the Enlightenment to current affairs. Written by an international team of experts, this volume - the first-ever comprehensive examination of Todorov as a cultural critic - discusses the crucial elements of his work as well as his place in (...) European thought. (shrink)

Lorsque le couple se sépare, les liens se distendent mais ne sont pas immédiatement rompus. En effet, la séparation effective se trouve retardée pour diverses raisons : d’abord parce que l’un des époux – voire les deux – peut ne pas vouloir, au regard de convictions personnelles, envisager de rompre le lien conjugal ; ensuite parce que les époux peuvent se trouver confrontés aux lenteurs d’une procédure de divorce ; enfin – et plus généralement – parce que la séparation passe (...) aussi par le retour à l’autonomie financière et patrimoniale, imposant à chacun de décider du partage des biens acquis pendant la vie commune. S’agissant des enfants communs, le législateur de 2002 a limité les effets de la rupture du couple parental en tenant l’enfant éloigné des conflits et des bouleversements engendrés par la désunion de ses parents, consacrant ainsi la notion de coparentalité, et ce dans l’intérêt des enfants. Au-delà, il s’agit également de garantir à l’enfant le maintien des liens qu’il a pu entretenir jusqu’à présent avec chaque composante de son entourage familial (frères et sœurs, grands-parents). (shrink)

This article discusses which barriers hamper access to, and participation in, cultural life for members of vulnerable groups, in particular persons belonging to old and new minorities and persons with disabilities in the context of digitization. It then examines what role public authorities can play in addressing and dismantling these barriers. The article adopts a bottom-up approach, in that it is based on a qualitative study, which gives voice to vulnerable groups. The qualitative research involved interviews with different organisations representing, (...) or working with, vulnerable groups in 12 European Union Member States (Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta and Spain). In that regard, the article approaches vulnerability from a distinct conceptual standpoint, identifying vulnerability as a condition caused by structural barriers. On the whole, the article shows that, while digitization of cultural content, goods and services, offers increased opportunities for culture to be democratised and for its consumption by wider and more varied audiences to be enhanced, it also engenders structural barriers and creates additional challenges. Furthermore, while digitisation has ensured more diverse representation in cultural content, vulnerable groups still face stereotypical and negative portrayals within mainstream cultural content. The thematic analysis of the qualitative interviews also captures different dimensions of access to digital cultural and supports the identification of effective policy measures to bridge the ‘digital divide’ and assist in the fulfilment of cultural rights of vulnerable groups. (shrink)

In Protagoras 351b3‑358d4, Socrates apparently admits the use of pleasure and pain as criteria for distinguishing between good and bad. Focusing on this passage, my paper outlines three problems, raising from : the contradiction between Socrates’ objection to pleasure in other platonic dialogues and his assent here to a hypothesis which identifies good with pleasure ; the petitio principii apparently involved in Socrates’ argument to support the thought that knowledge is more powerful than emotions ; the compatibility of his “ (...) hedonist ” hypothesis with his “intellectualist” thought. My paper undertakes to reconstruct Socrates’ argument, in order to answer problem. I contend that this argument makes the humans admit they are deprived of the knowledge both of good and evil and of pleasant and painful, a point sufficient to silence them when they speak of “knowledge being defeated by pleasure”. This contention helps answering problem, through a distinction between so‑called pleasures and real ones. My conclusion answers problem, by showing that, held together, both the “hedonist” hypothesis and the “intellectualist” thought lead to not take pleasure for granted, as required to secure a philosophical approach. (shrink)

Schon seit ihrer Gr ndung in den 1970er-Jahren ist die Reihe Germanistische Linguistik (RGL) exponiertes Forum des Faches, dessen Namen sie im Titel f hrt. Hinsichtlich der thematischen Breite (Sprachebenen, Variet ten, Kommunikationsformen, Epochen), der Forschungsperspektiven (Theorie und Empirie, Grundlagenforschung und Anwendung, Inter- und Transdisziplinarit t) und des methodologischen Spektrums ist die Reihe offen angelegt. Das Aufgreifen neuer Trends hat in ihr ebenso Platz wie das Fortf hren von Bew hrtem. Die Publikationsformen reichen von Monographien und Sammelb nden bis zu (...) W rterb chern. Wissenschaftlicher Beirat (ab November 2011): Prof. Dr. Karin Donhauser (Berlin) Prof. Dr. Stephan Elspa (Augsburg) Prof. Dr. Helmuth Feilke (Gie en) Prof. Dr. J rg Fleischer (Marburg) Prof. Dr. Stephan Habscheid (Siegen) Prof. Dr. R diger Harnisch (Passau). (shrink)

Brain-centered theories of consciousness seem to face insuperable difficulties. While some philosophers now doubt that the hard problem of consciousness will ever be solved, others call for radically new approaches to conscious experience. In this article I resurrect a largely forgotten approach to consciousness known as neorealism. According to neorealism, consciousness is merely a part, or cross-section, of the environment. Neorealism implies that all conscious experiences, veridical or otherwise, exist outside of the brain and are wholly independent of being perceived (...) or not; nonveridical perceptions of the environment over an arbitrarily short period of time are supposed to be objective constituents of the environment over a more extended time scale. I argue here that neorealism fares at least as well as brain-centered theories of consciousness on a number of fundamental issues. On one fundamental issue—the nature of the relation between veridical and nonveridical perceptions—neorealism outperforms its competitors. (shrink)

The discovery of the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid and the science of molecular biology have profoundly changed medicine’s diagnostic capability and promise to transform the therapeutic realm. When some genetic disorders are diagnosed, physicians can intervene for prevention or treatment. While the basic structure of DNA is the same for all human beings, no two individuals, other than identical twins, have the same DNA sequence. This discovery has had important repercussions in the criminal justice system, where DNA can serve (...) as an identification tool.At the crossroads of these different uses of DNA, there are great concerns about potential misuses of genetic information. Preventing disease, curing illness, and convicting criminals are all seen as worthwhile uses of the technology, but concerns of potential misuse in medicine or in the criminal justice system are not unfounded. A 1998 American Medical Association study showed that 68 percent of patients had fears that their genetic test results would be used against them by their employers or insurers. Others, pointing to racial profiling, have suggested that we may now face genetic profiling. (shrink)