Biobanks are currently archiving human materials for medical research at a hitherto unprecedented rate. These valuable resources will be essential for developing ‘personalized’ medicines and for a better understanding of disease susceptibilities. However, for such scientific advances to benefit everyone, it is crucial that biobanks recruit donations from all sections of the community. Unfortunately, other initiatives, such as transplant programmes, have clearly demonstrated that ethnic minorities are under-represented. Here we suggest that this issue deserves serious consideration to avoid biobanks evolving (...) into ethnically biased archives which unwittingly promote race-specific research. Specifically, this necessitates research ethics committees engaging in a re-assessment of the relative merits of individual personal sovereignty and the common good. (shrink)

Emmanuel Kant s'est attaqué sinon à la métaphysique, du moins à sa méthode. Il lui reproche d'avoir l'ambition de parvenir à une connaissance scientifique de ce qui est en tant que tel et de dépasser ainsi les données de l'expérience sensible. La métaphysique classique de tradition aristotélicienne prétendait en effet parvenir à une véritable connaissance de Dieu, de la création, de l'âme, de la liberté.00Mais selon Kant, la métaphysique ne parvient en réalité qu'à des conclusions contradictoires qu'il nomme les ± (...) antinomies de la raison pure?. Les contradictions entre les divers métaphysiciens attestent cette impasse. Il ne reste donc plus à la raison qu'à se tourner vers elle-même et au mieux vers les conditions de la science des phénomènes et de la pratique. C'est en cela que réside le suicide de la raison théorique et métaphysique que met en lumière Michel Nodé-Langlois. L'idée d'une métaphysique comme connaissance et science est devenue, d'après Kant, impossible.00Pourtant, et c'est tout l'intérêt de ce livre, il est aisé de montrer que les contradictions exposées par Kant n'en sont pas. Elles reposent sur des interprétations erronées de la manière dont la métaphysique aborde les questions. S'il en est ainsi, les prétendues antinomies s'effondrent et la raison libérée du piège kantien peut reprendre le chemin de la spéculation théorique sur les grandes questions, avec l'espoir de les résoudre grâce à une connaissance véritable. (shrink)

«A genuine literary treatment of the soul» is what Eugenio Massa called the brief section of Egidio of Viterbo’s Sentences Commentary that he published in 1954. What Massa published is Egidio’s discussion of part of Peter Lombard’s third distinction in Book I, which bears the title «De imagine et similitudine Trinitatis in anima humana». The main topic at so early a place in the Sentences is not, strictly speaking, the human soul but the divine Trinity. The point of departure is (...) Lombard’s consideration of the soul as analogous to the Trinity; and behind that connection lies Augustine, who presented the soul as an image of the Trinity because he saw in the soul a unity and simplicity of substance but also Platonism’s tripartite divisions. These include, for example, the appetitive, emotional, and rational functions, from the Republic, and Augustine’s subdivision of the rational functions into memory, understanding, and will. This connection between Trinity and human soul, however, gave commentators excellent opportunities not only for theology, discourse about God, but also for psychology, the study of the soul. Descriptions of the human soul initially offered in the theological context became important in their own right. According to Massa, in light of the soul’s being created in God’s image, Egidio was able to make human dignity the major theme even at this early point in the commentary. (shrink)

Patient centred diagnosis is best practised through shared decision making; an iterative dialogue between doctor and patient, whichrespects a patient’s needs, values, preferences, and circumstances. -/- Shared decision making for diagnostic situations differs fundamentally from that for treatment decisions. This has important implications when considering its practical application. -/- The nature of dialogue should be tailored to the specific diagnostic decision; scenarios with higher stakes or uncertainty usually require more detailed conversations.