Este artigo tem como objetivo expor e discutir as concepções de Gottlob Frege sobre os conceitos de “sentido” e “referência” e como, por meio destes, se deu a contribuição do filósofo ao que hoje chamamos filosofia da linguagem. Entretanto, vários estudiosos não consideram Frege um autêntico filósofo da linguagem, alguns de seus escritos representam, historicamente, enorme influência nesse ramo da filosofia contemporânea, pois tentam solucionar certos problemas da linguagem. Serão analisados principalmente o célebre artigo “Sobre Sentido e Referência” bem como (...) alguns de seus escritos que se ocupam, ainda que de modo secundário, sobre ambos os conceitos. (shrink)

Este trabajo investiga las interrelaciones entre la regulación y los as-pectos económicos y ambientales en una comunidad de agricultores familiares en la región conocida como Zona da Mata Mineira, en el estado brasileño de Minas Gerais. El estudio es producto de una acti-vidad de extensión realizada entre 2016 y 2018, y tuvo como objetivo asesorar a los pequeños productores en el proceso de adecuación legal de la producción. Durante este período se realizaron cerca de cinco reuniones entre investigadores y comuneros, (...) en las que se analizaron las dificultades encontradas por los pequeños productores en relación con el referido proceso. Las experiencias reportadas fueron confron-tadas con el régimen legal regulatorio para la actividad acuícola en Brasil, tomando como categorías de análisis los atributos de norma-tividad y facticidad del sistema legal. Se concluyó que la regulación ambiental en el área de la acuicultura en Brasil, diseñada para grandes productores, carga de manera desproporcionada a los pequeños pro-ductores, generando un desequilibrio económico injustificado. Como aporte a la teoría, se propone, en definitiva, la formulación de un con-cepto de regulación jurídica inclusiva, cuyos rasgos distintivos inclu-yen la participación social y la promoción de la alfabetización jurídica como derecho fundamental. (shrink)

La pandemia del SARS-CoV-2 ha creado un desafío sin precedentes para la educación. En 2020, como resultado de las medidas para reducir la propagación del SARS-CoV-2, muchas instituciones educativas pasaron del aprendizaje presencial al aprendizaje remoto. Sin embargo, este modelo educativo puede generar estrés y ansiedad adicionales a la ansiedad provocada por la pandemia. Los objetivos del presente estudio fueron: 1) comparar las perspectivas de estudiantes y docentes sobre el número de horas dedicadas a las clases, y 2) determinar las (...) principales dificultades que enfrentan docentes y estudiantes, respectivamente, al pasar al sistema de educación en línea. Para realizar esta investigación se realizó una encuesta online en países de habla hispana, utilizando una muestra de 1.048 participantes anónimos. A través de los datos recopilados. Se analizaron el uso de plataformas, los tipos de equipos, los niveles de angustia y las posibles razones de esta angustia. Esta pandemia es una de las amenazas de salud pública más importantes de la historia reciente y ha afectado nuestras vidas de manera significativa, siendo una de las más importantes la futura adaptación de escuelas, estudiantes y docentes a una nueva forma de aprender. (shrink)

El objetivo del presente trabajo es realizar una revisión bibliográfica sobre los aspectos teórico-metodológicos para la evaluación de la calidad de vida de los pacientes que han sido rehabilitados con prótesis dentales. En primer lugar, se muestra la definición de calidad de vida que ha sido asumida en el trabajo; se contextualiza lacomprensión de calidad de vida en pacientes rehabilitados con prótesis dentales en segundo lugar, posteriormente se presentan algunos de los instrumentos y escalas de medición que están siendo utilizados (...) en la evaluación de la calidad en los procesos de la rehabilitación de pacientes con prótesis dentales;por último, se analiza el indicador satisfacción de los pacientes. The aim of this paper is to carry out a bibliographic review about the theoretical -methodological aspects to be included when assessing the quality of life of patients rehabilitated with dental prosthesis. In the first place, the concept of quality life stated in this paper is given, then, the understanding of the quality of life of patients rehabilitated with dental prosthesis is contextualized and later some of the instruments and measure scales used to assess the quality in the process of rehabilitation of patients with dental prosthesis are shown, and finally the index of patients satisfaction is analysed. (shrink)

Resumen En el § 7 de la Crítica de la razón práctica Kant expone su primera definición de la ley moral universal. Ahí afirma que la conciencia de ella es un “Faktum de la razón”. La ambigüedad de esta expresión ha hecho que algunos autores argumenten que Kant no deduce la ley moral satisfactoriamente ni aclara cómo llegamos a ser conscientes de ella. Sin embargo estos críticos olvidan en sus análisis un aspecto relevante de la filosofía moral kantiana y que (...) es de gran relevancia en los estudios contemporáneos de la filosofía de la acción: el carácter autoconstitutivo del yo o del sujeto racional y su papel en la fundamentación de la moralidad. Sostengo que el Faktum de la razón debe entenderse fundamentalmente como un acto autoconstitutivo.In § 7 of the Critique of Practical Reason Kant presents his first definition of the universal law of morality - called the Categorical Imperative. In the same place, he affirms that being conscious of the law of morality is a Faktum of reason. The ambiguity of this statement has prompted some authors to argue that Kant does not deduce the moral law satisfactorily nor does he clarify how we become conscious of it. Nevertheless, they all forget in their analysis a relevant aspect of Kantian moral philosophy that turns out to be of great importance in contemporary studies of the philosophy of action - the self-constituting character of the rational subject and the role it plays within the foundation of morality. I claim that the Faktum of reason must be understood fundamentally as a self-constituting act. (shrink)

This work is descriptive observational, with transversal design, was to analyze the time of motor commitment in Physical Education classes in three subsystems of Venezuelan education. The analysis unit consisted of a discretionary sample of 6 Physical Education classes between initial education, basic education and secondary education, at the rate of 2 classes for each subsystem. The number of students participating was 192. For the observation and registration, was used, the temporal variables were recorded, and in the second instance, the (...) classes were recorded considering variables associated with: organization of groups, activities, disposition of materials, use and distribution of physical space. The results confirm the little use of the Physical Education class to favor the motor development; none of the observed classes managed to accumulate 50% of the time of motor commitment, thus confirming the trend of other investigations. (shrink)

Se analiza el concepto de actividad infinita del yo, desarrollado en la Grundlage der gesamten Wissenschaftslehre de 1794-1795. Se afirma la gran relevancia de este concepto para la reconstrucción de la teoría fichteana de la autoconciencia, al desvelar la estructura interna de la actividad del yo y su relación con conceptos como reflexión e impulso inicial (Anstoβ), lo que aporta elementos relevantes para la comprensión del sistema.

El presente estudio analiza la tipología y estructura de la Ayuda China a América Latina y el Caribe, considerando las características de este tipo de Cooperación Sur-Sur en el contexto de la política de ayuda y los objetivos estratégicos de China en esta región. Los resultados del estudio revelan los diferentes patrones en la estructura de la ayuda china a las subregiones de ALC. Estos patrones indican que los fondos más importantes se concentran en proyectos de desarrollo y comerciales en (...) América del Sur; que prevalecen las subvenciones en el caso del Caribe; y la ayuda de representación, que no necesita mayores recursos, está asociada a Centroamérica. Como afirma Wan, esto demuestra que la ayuda de China tiene un papel estratégico a nivel global. Palabras-clave: Cooperación Sur-Sur, Cooperación China, Ayuda Bilateral, América Latina. (shrink)

Previously, the author tried to show that some arguments in one of the two versions of Nicholas of Autrecourt’s Quaestio de intensione visionis are taken almost verbatim from the anonymous Tractatus de sex inconvenientibus. This paper concentrates on the arguments themselves in order to consider two main issues: the ‘translatability’ of limit decision problems, manifest in Autrecourt’s juxtaposition of questions de maximo et minimo, de primo et ultimo instanti, and the intension and remission of forms; the importance of Parisian discussions (...) of limit decision problems prior to the adoption of the new analytical languages developed at Oxford. Thus, the paper is divided in two sections, the first concerning some arguments of Autrecourt’s question, the second focusing on the link between one of Autrecourt’s arguments and the medieval tradition of commentaries on Aristotle’s De caelo, in which it is possible to find some antecedents of the analytical approach that later Parisian scholars would apply to these problems. (shrink)

Bajo el título "La época de lo social y otros escritos sobre Política y Seguridad Social", se recogen en este volumen doce importantes ensayos de Antonio Perpiñá, publicados entre los años 1946 y 1980, todos ellos a propósito del devenir histórico de la política social y la formación de las instituciones de derecho público que fueron asumiendo en el pasado siglo la doble función de previsión y protección social, desde el Instituto Nacional de Previsión (INP) de 1908 al desarrollo del (...) sistema estatal de la Seguridad Social tras la Ley de Bases de 1963. Precede a estos artículos un extenso estudio preliminar dedicado a la presentación biográfico-intelectual del autor y su papel en el proceso de institucionalización académica en España tanto de la Sociología como disciplina específica, como de la teoría de la Política y de la Seguridad Social, temas todos ellos a los que el autor madrileño dedicó numerosos e importantes estudios, muy celebrados además en su momento. Con esta edición se superan treinta años de olvido de quien cumplió un papel sin duda importante en el desarrollo de la sociología hecha en España durante el siglo XX, primer catedrático de Sociología General del Instituto Social León XIII (UPSA), por cuyas aulas pasaron buena parte de los máximos exponentes de la sociología científica de aquellos años y posteriores: Salustiano del Campo, José Castillo, J. Díez Nicolás, A. Ortí Benlloch, Jesús Mª Vázquez, F. Sánchez López, Carmelo Lisón, M. Martín Serrano, J. Jiménez Blanco, J. M. López Cepero, M. Lizcano, Carlos Ollero, J. J. Toharia, etc. Cierra el libro un elenco bibliográfico exhaustivo con el conjunto de su obra, también elaborado por el editor. Recopilación antológica de ensayos sobre teoría de la Política Social y de la Seguridad Social del iuspublicista y sociólogo español Antonio Perpiñá Rodríguez (1910-1984). Edición, Estudio Preliminar, Bibliografía y notas: Juan C. Valderrama. (shrink)

El propósito de este trabajo es poner de manifiesto en qué medida las nociones de amistad/enemistad, estructuradas en torno al problema del máximo grado de alteridad política, y por tanto, regresivamente, sobre la máxima concentración de identidad política, informan el texto crítico-dogmático principal de Carl Schmitt en cuanto a lo jurídico-público y, por tanto, político: a saber, su Verfassungslehre. Ello a fin no de pensar a Schmitt, sino de pensar con Schmitt en lo que a nosotros, hoy, (constitucionalmente) concierne.

Los estados eran tradicionalmente los encargados de responder del ámbito público y de promover los derechos humanos (Ruggie, 2013); los mercados atendían a la generación de valor económico; y el tercer sector se encargaba de la integración social. Sin embargo, hoy en día esto ha cambiado, ya no es equivalente la responsabilidad pública con la responsabilidad estatal. Aunque los estados siguen siendo los máximos responsables, no son los únicos agentes responsables de esa tarea. Ahora hablamos de una sociedad civil globalizada (...) (García-Marzá, 2013). No en vano, el subtítulo de este monográfico especial de Recerca es «El papel de la sociedad civil». (shrink)

In the Western philosophical tradition, thinkers linked to classical realism have resorted to two images to illustrate the realist conception: that of the object that scientists think exists “outside them” and that of the object that “does not depend on them” because they cannot modify or change it at will. Agazzi has exposed in his work why “inside”, “outside” and “Independence” do not seem to him to be schemes usefully applicable in the discussion of realism. This article presents a brief (...) synthesis of the intellectual career of the Italian philosopher and physicist Evandro Agazzi, explaining the influence of Gustavo Bontadini’s objectualism on his epistemological proposal; subsequently, it develops Agazzi’s response to the dispute between idealism and realism based on concepts such as resistance, referentiality, protocolarity and operationality. Finally, a conclussion is offered by way of closure. (shrink)

The present study analyses the typology and structure of Chinese Aid to Latin America and the Caribbean, considering the features of this kind of South-South Cooperation within the context of China’s aid policy and strategic aims in this region. The results of the study reveal the different patterns in the structure of Chinese aid to the LAC sub-regions. These patterns indicate that the most significant funds are focused on development and commercial projects in South America; that grants prevail in the (...) case of the Caribbean; and representational aid, which does not need major resources, is associated with Central America. As Wan states, this shows that China’s aid has a strategic role at a global level. (shrink)

The lack of public support for climate change policies and refusals to vaccinate children are just two alarming illustrations of the impacts of dissent about scientific claims. Dissent can lead to confusion, false beliefs, and widespread public doubt about highly justified scientific evidence. Even more dangerously, it has begun to corrode the very authority of scientific consensus and knowledge. Deployed aggressively and to political ends, some dissent can intimidate scientists, stymie research, and lead both the public and policymakers to oppose (...) important public policies firmly rooted in science. -/- To criticize dissent is, however, a fraught exercise. Skepticism and fearless debate are key to the scientific process, making it both vital and incredibly difficult to characterize and identify dissent that is problematic in its approach and consequences. Indeed, as de Melo-Martín and Intemann show, the criteria commonly proposed as means of identifying inappropriate dissent are flawed and the strategies generally recommended to tackle such dissent are not only ineffective but could even make the situation worse. -/- The Fight Against Doubt proposes that progress on this front can best be achieved by enhancing the trustworthiness of the scientific community and by being more realistic about the limits of science when it comes to policymaking. It shows that a richer understanding of the context in which science operates is needed to disarm problematic dissent and those who deploy it. This, the authors argue, is the best way forward, rather than diagnosing the many instances of wrong-headed dissent. (shrink)

Reprogenetic technologies, which combine the power of reproductive techniques with the tools of genetic science and technology, promise prospective parents a remarkable degree of control to pick and choose the likely characteristics of their offspring. Not only can they select embryos with or without particular genetically-related diseases and disabilities but also choose embryos with non-disease related traits such as sex. -/- Prominent authors such as Agar, Buchanan, DeGrazia, Green, Harris, Robertson, Savulescu, and Silver have flocked to the banner of reprogenetics. (...) For them, increased reproductive choice and reduced suffering through the elimination of genetic disease and disability are just the first step. They advocate use of these technologies to create beings who enjoy longer and healthier lives, possess greater intellectual capacities, and are capable of more refined emotional experiences. Indeed, Harris and Savulescu in particular take reprogenetic technologies to be so valuable to human beings that they have insisted that their use is not only morally permissible but morally required. -/- Rethinking Reprogenetics challenges this mainstream view with a contextualised, gender-attentive philosophical perspective. De Melo-Martín demonstrates that you do not have to be a Luddite, social conservative, or religious zealot to resist the siren song of reprogenetics. Pointing out the flawed nature of the arguments put forward by the technologies' proponents, Rethinking Reprogenetics reveals the problematic nature of the assumptions underpinning current evaluations of these technologies and offers a framework for a more critical and skeptical assessment. (shrink)

The argument from inductive risk has been embraced by many as a successful account of the role of values in science that challenges the value-free ideal. We argue that it is not obvious that the argument from inductive risk actually undermines the value-free ideal. This is because the inductive risk argument endorses an assumption held by proponents of the value-free ideal: that contextual values never play an appropriate role in determining evidence. We show that challenging the value-free ideal ultimately requires (...) rejecting this assumption. (shrink)

The use of genome embryo editing tools in reproduction is often touted as a way to ensure the birth of healthy and genetically related children. Many would agree that this is a worthy goal. The purpose of this paper is to argue that, if we are concerned with justice, accepting such goal as morally appropriate commits one to rejecting the development of embryo editing for reproductive purposes. This is so because safer and more effective means exist that can allow many (...) more prospective parents to achieve the same valued goal and that offer additional benefits. (shrink)

Philosophers of science, particularly those working on science and values, often talk about the need for science to be socially responsible. However, what this means is not clear. In this paper, we review the contributions of philosophers of science to the debate over socially responsible science and explore the dimensions that a fruitful account of socially responsible science should address. Our review shows that offering a comprehensive account is difficult. We contend that broad calls for socially responsible science that fail (...) to attend to relevant dimensions are not the solution, as they preclude meaningful changes to research institutions and practices. We conclude that narrower, more explicit accounts are more likely to lead to substantive transformation. (shrink)

The therapeutic misconception has been seen as presenting an ethical problem because failure to distinguish the aims of research participation from those receiving ordinary treatment may seriously undermine the informed consent of research subjects. Hence, most theoretical and empirical work on the problems of the therapeutic misconception has been directed to evaluate whether, and to what degree, this confusion invalidates the consent of subjects. We argue here that this focus on the understanding component of informed consent, while important, might be (...) too narrow to capture the ethical complexity of the therapeutic misconception. We show that concerns about misplaced trust and exploitation of such trust are also relevant, and ought to be taken into account, when considering why the therapeutic misconception matters ethically. (shrink)

Although science is our most reliable producer of knowledge, it can also be used to create ignorance, unjustified doubt, and misinformation. In doing so, agnotological practices result not only in epistemic harms but also in social ones. A way to prevent or minimise such harms is to impede these ignorance-producing practices. In this paper, I explore various challenges to such a proposal. I first argue that reliably identifying agnotological practices in a way that permits the prevention of relevant harms is (...) more difficult than it might appear. I focus on an identifying criterion that many find apt for the task: bad faith motives. I then consider an objection—that reliable criteria are unnecessary to successfully address the concerns raised by agnotological strategies—and I show that it fails. I conclude by exploring other ways of conceptualising the problems attributed to agnotological practices. In particular, I challenge the focus on misinformation as the main problem of concern. (shrink)

Recently, some have proposed moral bioenhancement as a solution to the serious moral evils that humans face. Seemingly disillusioned with traditional methods of moral education, proponents of bioenhancement believe that we should pursue and apply biotechnological means to morally enhance human beings. Such proposal has generated a lively debate about the permissibility of moral bioenhancement. We argue here that such debate is specious. The claim that moral bioenhancement is a solution - whether permissible or not - to the serious moral (...) problems that affect human beings is based on several problematic framing assumptions. We evaluate here three of such assumptions: the first rests on a contested understanding of morality, the second consist in a mistaken conception of human moral problems, and the third relates to problematic presuppositions grounding the interpretation of existent scientific evidence presented to defend moral bioenhancement. Once these framing assumptions are identified and critically evaluated, it becomes clear that the moral bioenhancement debate is misguided. (shrink)

A growing number of jurisdictions hold that gamete donors must be identifiable to the children born with their eggs or sperm, on grounds that being able to know about one's genetic origins is a fundamental moral right. But the argument for that belief has not yet been adequately made.

A new reprogenetic technology, mitochondrial replacement, is making its appearance and, unsurprisingly given its promise to wash off our earthly stains --or at least the scourges of sexual reproduction--, John Harris finds only reasons to celebrate this new scientific feat.1 In fact, he finds mitochondrial replacement techniques (MRTs) so “unreservedly welcome” that he believes those who reject them suffer from “a large degree of desperation and not a little callousness.”2 Believing myself to be neither desperate nor callous, but finding myself (...) also no closer at all – not even after reading his article—to following Harris in welcoming these technologies wholeheartedly, it seems appropriate to respond. (shrink)

Proponents of moral enhancement believe that we should pursue and apply biotechnological means to morally enhance human beings, as failing to do so is likely to lead to humanity's demise. Unsurprisingly, these proposals have generated a substantial amount of debate about the moral permissibility of using such interventions. Here I put aside concerns about the permissibility of moral enhancement and focus on the conceptual and evidentiary grounds for the moral enhancement project. I argue that such grounds are quite precarious.

Because of the important benefits that biomedical research offers to humans, some have argued that people have a general moral obligation to participate in research. Although the defense of such a putative moral duty has raised controversy, few scholars, on either side of the debate, have attended to the social context in which research takes place and where such an obligation will be discharged. By reflecting on the social context in which a presumed duty to participate in research will obtain, (...) this article shows that decontextualized discussions of this putative moral obligation are problematic. (shrink)

The disclosure policies of scientific journals now require that investigators provide information about financial interests relevant to their research. The main goals of these policies are to prevent bias from occurring, to help identify bias when it occurs, and to avoid the appearance of bias. We argue here that such policies do little to help achieve these goals, and we suggest more effective alternatives.

Many have argued that allowing and encouraging public avenues for dissent and critical evaluation of scientific research is a necessary condition for promoting the objectivity of scientific communities and advancing scientific knowledge . The history of science reveals many cases where an existing scientific consensus was later shown to be wrong . Dissent plays a crucial role in uncovering potential problems and limitations of consensus views. Thus, many have argued that scientific communities ought to increase opportunities for dissenting views to (...) be heard and taken seriously. Such opportunities are necessary for both limiting the influence .. (shrink)

Science is our most reliable producer of knowledge. Nonetheless, a significant amount of evidence shows that pluralities of members of publics question a variety of accepted scientific claims as well as policies and recommendation informed by the scientific evidence. Scientific misinformation is considered to play a central role in this state of affairs. In this paper, I challenge the emphasis on misinformation as a primary culprit on two grounds. First, the phenomenon of misinformation is far less clear than what much (...) discussion about the topic would lead one to believe. The evidence regarding the amount of misinformation that exits as well as its role in people’s harmful behaviors is at best conflicting and at worst completely useless. Second, the prominence given to misinformation and its harms on people’s behaviors disregards the role of values in policymaking and treats scientific information as if it were the only information necessary to make policy decisions. At a minimum, these problems call for caution regarding the emphasis on this phenomenon. After all, if the problem is incorrectly diagnosed, the solutions that are being offered to address the problem of misinformation are bound to at best inadequate and at worst dangerous. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to examine critically Julian Savulescu's claim that people should select, of the possible children they could have, the one who is expected to have the best life, or at least as good a life as the others, based on the relevant, available genetic information, including information about non‐disease genes. I argue here that in defending this moral obligation, Savulescu has neglected several important issues such as access to selection technologies, disproportionate burdens on women, (...) difficulties in determining what is best, problems with aggregate effects of individual choices, and questions about social justice. Taking these matters into account would call such a moral requirement into serious question. (shrink)

Hastings Center Report, Volume 52, Issue 5, Page 3-3, September–October 2022.

Recent advances in biotechnologies have led to speculations about enhancing human beings. Many of the moral arguments presented to defend human enhancement technologies have been limited to discussions of their risks and benefits. The author argues that in so far as ethical arguments focus primarily on risks and benefits of human enhancement technologies, these arguments will be insufficient to provide a robust defence of these technologies. This is so because the belief that an assessment of risks and benefits is a (...) sufficient ethical evaluation of these technologies incorrectly presupposes that risk assessments do not involve value judgements. Second, it presupposes a reductionist conception of ethics as merely a risk management instrument. Each of these assumptions separates ethical evaluation from discussion and appraisal of ends and means and thus leaves important—indeed, essential—ethical considerations out of view. Once these problematic assumptions are rejected, it becomes clear that an adequate defence of human enhancement technologies requires more than a simple balance of their risks and benefits. (shrink)

According to sparse modalism, the notion of essence can be analysed in terms of necessity and naturalness. In this paper, I develop and defend a version of sparse modalism that is equipped with a non-standard, relativized conception of naturalness. According to this conception, properties and relations can be natural to different degrees relative to different kinds of things, and relations can be natural to different degrees relative to different slots. I argue that this relativized version of sparse modalism can accommodate (...) various cases that the standard, non-relativized version can’t. The alternative version can accommodate cases where a relation is essential to a relatum but merely necessary to another, cases where a property is essential to an object but merely necessary to another, and cases where a less-than-perfectly natural property is essential to an object. (shrink)

Philosophers of science have come to accept that contextual values can play unavoidable and desirable roles in science. This has raised concerns about the need to distinguish legitimate and illegitimate value influences in scientific inquiry. I discuss here four such concerns: epistemic distortion, value imposition, undermining of public trust in science, and the use of objectionable values. I contend that preserving epistemic integrity and avoiding value imposition provide good reasons to attempt to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate influences of values (...) in science. However, the trust and the objectionable values concerns constitute no good reason for demarcation criteria. (shrink)

Several feminist philosophers of science have argued that social and political values are compatible with, and may even enhance, scientific objectivity. A variety of normative recommendations have emerged regarding how to identify, manage, and critically evaluate social values in science. In particular, several feminist theorists have argued that scientific communities ought to: 1) include researchers with diverse experiences, interests, and values, with equal opportunity and authority to scrutinize research; 2) investigate or "study up" scientific phenomena from the perspectives, interests, and (...) conditions of marginalized stakeholders potentially affected by the research; and 3) make gender, ethnicity, class, and geographical location "visible," or use them as categories of analysis when appropriate. Yet, more work is needed to determine what exactly these recommendations would require, and the benefits they would yield, in specific research contexts. Using the recent development of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, we examine how these three feminist recommendations would have applied. We argue that these principles would have yielded several epistemic and social benefits in the HPV case, as well as in biomedical research more generally. That is, biomedical research guided by these principles would not only be epistemically superior, but also more socially responsible. (shrink)

Although surprising to some proponents of sex selection for non-medical reasons (Dahl 2005), a considerable amount of critical debate has been raised by this practice (Blyth, Frith, and Crawshaw 2008; Dawson and Trounson 1996; Dickens 2002; Harris 2005; Heyd 2003; Holm 2004; Macklin 2010; Malpani 2002; McDougall 2005; Purdy 2007; Seavilleklein and Sherwin 2007; Steinbock 2002; Strange and Chadwick 2010; Wilkinson 2008). While abortion or infanticide has long been used as means of sex selection, a new technology—preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD)—has (...) become a highly efficient, and arguably less controversial, way of ensuring the birth of a child of a particular sex. PGD, used in combination with in vitro .. (shrink)

Varro's De lingua Latina is a treasure trove of information. Of the originally twenty-five books, six have come down to us more or less complete. Among these, Books 5–7 give us many hundreds of etymologies, and Books 8–10 discuss the question whether Latin morphology is regular or not. What Varro rarely comments on is sociolinguistic variation. The sociolinguistic comments in Varro's work can almost be counted on one hand. For instance, in 5.162 Varro remarks that cenaculum, from cena ‘dinner’, means (...) ‘attic’ in Roman Latin, but that the original meaning was, as one might expect, ‘dining-room’, a meaning preserved in the non-Roman dialects of Latium, Falerii and Corduba in Spain; the meaning also lives on in religious uses in Lanuvium. In 7.96, Varro tells us that some words are pronounced with -ae- by some, but with -ē- by others. We know that non-Roman varieties of Latin monophthongized -ae- earlier than the Roman dialect did. Varro mentions pairs like scaena / scēna ‘stage’, a loan from Greek σκηνή, which shows that -ae- is hypercorrect here. Interestingly, only in one such pair is the variant with -ē- ascribed to country people, in the name Maesius / Mēsius, and this is indeed the only pair where the diphthong -ae- is original rather than the result of hypercorrection. (shrink)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced recently that food products derived from some animal clones and their offspring are safe for human consumption. In response to criticism that it had failed to engage with ethical, social, and economic concerns raised by livestock cloning, the FDA argued that addressing normative issues prior to issuing a final ruling on animal cloning is not part of its mission. In this article, the authors reject the FDA's claim that its mission to protect (...) and advance public health can be accomplished without considering ethical issues or without making value judgments. The authors offer two arguments in support of their position. First, the agency's mission statement presupposes significant normative commitments and judgments. Second, the FDA's risk assessment of food products from cloned animals and their offspring is itself clearly shaped by a variety of normative commitments. (shrink)

It is argued here that bioethicists might inadvertently be promoting genetic determinism: the idea that genes alone determine human traits and behaviours. Discussions about genetic testing are used to exemplify how they might be doing so. Quite often bioethicists use clinical cases to support particular moral obligations or rights as if these cases were representative of the kind of information we can acquire about human diseases through genetic testing, when they are not. On other occasions, the clinical cases are presented (...) in simplistic ways that portray genetic testing as yielding information more accurate than it actually is. It is concluded that, because of the problematic implications that the ideology of genetic determinism might have for individuals’ wellbeing and for our public policies, bioethicists should be careful to present these issues in ways that do not promote questionable ideas about the causal role of genes in human diseases and behaviours. (shrink)

Despite increasing recognition of the ways in which ethical and social values play a role in science (Kitcher 2001; Longino 1990, 2002), scientists are often still reluctant to acknowledge or discuss ethical and social values at stake in their research. Even when research is closely connected to developing public policy, it is generally held that it should be empirical data, and not the values of scientists, that inform policy. According to this view, scientists need not, and should not, endorse non-epistemic (...) values related to their research, as doing so may bias their assessment of what the evidence is. As a result, debates over science-based policy tend to be construed solely as empirical discussions to be .. (shrink)

Discussions about whether new biomedical technologies threaten or violate human dignity are now common. Indeed, appeals to human dignity have played a central role in national and international debates about whether to allow particular kinds of biomedical investigations. The focus of this paper is on chimera research. I argue here that both those who claim that particular types of human-nonhuman chimera research threaten human dignity and those who argue that such threat does not exist fail to make their case. I (...) first introduce some of the arguments that have been offered supporting the claim that the creation of certain sorts of chimeras threatens or violates human dignity. I next present opponents' assessments of such arguments. Finally I critically analyze both the critics' and the supporters' claims about whether chimera research threatens human dignity. (shrink)

A significant amount of scientific evidence shows that childhood vaccination constitutes one of the most successful and cost-effective public health interventions of the last century. It has saved millions of lives. Nonetheless, many parents are reluctant or outright hostile to having their children vaccinated. Similarly, in spite of the fact that vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, are highly effective in protecting people against death and serious illness, about a third of adults in the United States are still (...) unvaccinated as of July 2022. What leads people to be skeptical of vaccines or to refuse them altogether?The dominant narrative answering this... (shrink)

It is argued here that bioethicists might inadvertently be promoting genetic determinism: the idea that genes alone determine human traits and behaviours. Discussions about genetic testing are used to exemplify how they might be doing so. Quite often bioethicists use clinical cases to support particular moral obligations or rights as if these cases were representative of the kind of information we can acquire about human diseases through genetic testing, when they are not. On other occasions, the clinical cases are presented (...) in simplistic ways that portray genetic testing as yielding information more accurate than it actually is. It is concluded that, because of the problematic implications that the ideology of genetic determinism might have for individuals’ wellbeing and for our public policies, bioethicists should be careful to present these issues in ways that do not promote questionable ideas about the causal role of genes in human diseases and behaviours. (shrink)