This is a brief study which emphasizes Jasper's relations with other philosophers, especially Kant. It approaches Jasper's own philosophy from a perilously theistic angle, seeing many parallels in Bradley and Whitehead. Jasper's continuity with, rather than his break from, the Western rationalist tradition in philosophy is abundantly documented.—E. S. C.

Background: Providing nursing care for patients with end-stage renal disease entails dealing with existential issues which may sometimes lead not only to ethical problems but also conflicts within the team. A previous study shows that physicians felt irresolute, torn and unconfirmed when ethical dilemmas arose. Research question: This study, conducted in the same dialysis care unit, aimed to illuminate registered nurses’ experiences of being in ethically difficult situations that give rise to a troubled conscience. Research design: This study has a (...) phenomenological hermeneutic approach. Participants: Narrative interviews were carried out with 10 registered nurses working in dialysis care. Ethical considerations: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine, Umeå University. Results: One theme, ‘Calling for a deliberative dialogue’, and six sub-themes emerged: ‘Dealing with patients’ ambiguity’, ‘Responding to patients’ reluctance’, ‘Acting against patients’ will’, ‘Acting against one’s moral convictions’, ‘Lacking involvement with patients and relatives’ and ‘Being trapped in feelings of guilt’. Discussion: In ethically difficult situations, the registered nurses tried, but failed, to open up a dialogue with the physicians about ethical concerns and their uncertainty. They felt alone, uncertain and sometimes had to act against their conscience. Conclusion: In ethical dilemmas, personal and professional integrity is at stake. Mistrusting their own moral integrity may turn professionals from moral actors into victims of circumstances. To counteract such a risk, professionals and patients need to continuously deliberate on their feelings, views and experiences, in an atmosphere of togetherness and trust. (shrink)

A richly perceptive and highly readable essay, which develops the thesis that the most successful approach to the history of art is the notion of a sequence of forms, beginning with a "prime work" and being extended through replications. This concise yet far-ranging book illustrates the effectiveness of the sequential form of analysis by its reference to a wide array of examples drawn mostly from the history of painting and architecture. Along the way, many insights are suggested concerning the nature (...) of history, time, change, and duration.--E. S. C. (shrink)

A somewhat hurried and one-sided account of ethical philosophy as practiced by Moore, Ross, Ewing, Ayer, Stevenson, Toulmin, Urmson, and Hare.--E. S. C.

A trenchantly-argued account of factors such as motives, desires, and volitions, as they enter into human action. Wittgensteinian in orientation and tone, the essay shows that such factors cannot be construed as private inner episodes or Humean causes, but only as logically connected with action in the interpersonal sphere. Thus the ordinary belief in free action which is also rational and moral is vindicated, though the question of precisely what kind of freedom is here involved is not explored.--E. S. C.

A readable attempt to reconcile methods, materials, and results in the arts and sciences. The author stresses similarities, but does not overlook crucial differences, in key notions such as patterns of discovery and methods of formulation.--E. S. C.

A clarification of ambiguities in the notion of free decision. Concentrating on ordinary English usage, Ofstad distinguishes six senses of free decision. One of these, freedom as power, is exhaustively treated. A skillful attempt is made to relate the analyses of free decision, which form the bulk of the book, to the concepts of duty, responsibility, and the author's own ethical position. One helpful appendix lists and indexes all propositions concerning freedom of decision as it is analysed throughout the book. (...) --E. S. C. (shrink)

An attempt to justify the view of God's love as ecstatic and metaphysically primary. There is great reliance on Aquinas and the Spanish philosophers Ortega y Gasset and Xavier Zubiri.--E. S. C.

In this brilliant and baffling essay, Merleau-Ponty reaps a harvest of insights upon the basis of his previous penetrating studies of perception and language. Again we find massively argued denials of neat Cartesian distinctions, such as those supposed to hold between space, depth and color. Inspired by the author's intimate acquaintance with the modern art movement, and quoting frequently from its masters, the essay gives back to painting its own voice and autonomy. Much like the body itself, painting is held (...) to be our most direct and revealing access to the lived world—that is, to Being itself.—E. S. C. (shrink)

This early study is a key work, along with several other preliminary essays, for understanding the genesis of Sartre's Being and Nothingness. Well translated and with an excellent introduction and notes, the book contains the critical thesis that former theories of the imagination confused perception with imagination, and that imagination was properly recognized first by Husserl and was subsequently further clarified by Sartre in his notion of the nihilating consciousness. --E. S. C.

Health equity is a global concern. Although health equity extends far beyond the equitable distribution of healthcare, equitable access to healthcare is essential to the achievement of health equity. In Canada, Indigenous Peoples experience inequities in health and healthcare access. Cultural safety and trauma‐ and violence‐informed care have been proposed as models of care to improve healthcare access, yet practitioners lack guidance on how to implement these models. In this paper, we build upon an existing framework of equity‐oriented care for (...) primary healthcare settings by proposing strategies to guide nurses in operationalizing cultural safety and trauma‐ and violence‐informed care into nursing practice at the individual level. This component is one strategy to redress inequitable access to care among Indigenous Peoples in Canada. We conceptualize barriers to accessing healthcare as intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural. We then define three domains for nursing action: practicing reflexivity, prioritizing relationships, and considering the context. We have applied this expanded framework within the context of Indigenous Peoples in Canada as a way of illustrating specific concepts and focusing our argument; however, this framework is relevant to other groups experiencing marginalizing conditions and inequitable access to healthcare, and thus is applicable to many areas of nursing practice. (shrink)

An overview of trends in present Continental philosophy and science. Husserl's writings are shown to prefigure the notion of a stratified structure as a model for scientific inquiry. Recent work in economics, sociology, and civil law is seen to presuppose something like Jasper's theory of the creative existential encounter. Heidegger's speculations on the nature of temporality and being-in-the-world are paralleled by several current versions of psychoanalysis. Though the influence of philosophy upon contemporary scientific movements is not claimed to be direct (...) in each instance, a convincing case is made out that those two fields are equally indicative of and contributive to a new humanistic Weltanschauung.--E. S. C. (shrink)

An adequate theory of rights ought to forbid the harming of animals to promote trivial interests of humans, as is often done in the animal-user industries. But what should the rights view say about situations in which harming some animals is necessary to prevent intolerable injustices to other animals? I develop an account of respectful treatment on which, under certain conditions, it’s justified to intentionally harm some individuals to prevent serious harm to others. This can be compatible with recognizing the (...) inherent value of the ones who are harmed. My theory has important implications for contemporary moral issues in nonhuman animal ethics, such as the development of cultured meat and animal research. (shrink)

In The Case for Animal Rights, Tom Regan argues that although all subjects-of-a-life have equal inherent value, there are often differences in the value of lives. According to Regan, lives that have the highest value are lives which have more possible sources of satisfaction. Regan claims that the highest source of satisfaction, which is available to only rational beings, is the satisfaction associated with thinking impartially about moral choices. Since rational beings can bring impartial reasons to bear on decision making, (...) Regan maintains that they have an additional possible source of satisfaction that nonrational beings do not have and, consequently, the lives of rational beings turn out to have greater value.. (shrink)

This is an exceptionally clear study of the time-theories of Bergson, St. Augustine, Heidegger, Buber, Schelling and Franz v. Baader, as well as an attempt to show the relationship between time, freedom and consciousness. Following Schelling and v. Baader, Kümmel views past, present and future as "powers" which only freeze into explicitly temporal dimensions upon reflection. Kümmel agrees with Heidegger that our attitude toward time is a revelation of our being-in-the-world, but he puts more emphasis on our relation to the (...) past than Heidegger ever did.—E. S. C. (shrink)

The second and concluding volume of Adler's monumental eight-year project on freedom offers a comprehensive cataloguing of the controversies which surround the five main types of freedom identified in the first volume. One conclusion of the present work is that philosophers too rarely join issue on the most crucial problems at stake in the continuing debate on freedom. Though the main purpose of elucidation is admirably achieved, the book sometimes suffers from an overly conscious structuring. The scope, detail, and cross-indexing (...) of this volume make it an invaluable reference book for any philosopher concerned with the discussion of freedom.--E. S. C. (shrink)

These brief selections could use explanatory footnotes for frequently obscure passages. --E. S. C.

More widespread farming of species not typically used as livestock may be part of a sustainable approach for promoting human health and economic prosperity in a world with an increasing population; a current example is peccary farming in the Neotropics. Others have argued that species that are local to a region and which are usually not farmed should be considered for use as livestock. They may have a more desirable nutrient profile than species that are presently used as livestock. It (...) may also reduce the pressure from hunting on other wild species, and cause less environmental damage than exotic species. We propose a sentiocentric utilitarian framework that could be used to decide whether species that are local, but generally not used as livestock, should be farmed. To illustrate the use of our decision-making framework, we employ two contrasting neotropical case studies: the Spotted Paca (Cuniculus paca) and the Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris). We argue that it may be acceptable to use non-sentient species that are typically not farmed as livestock. However, research should determine whether farming them offers human, environmental or sustainability benefits. In addition, we recommend that if invertebrate species are considered for farming, research should be conducted to determine the likelihood that they are sentient. Finally, given the ethical failings of current livestock farming practices, we argue that a high bar must be met if ‘new’ species that are sentient are to be farmed. (shrink)

The epistemological premises and scientific viability of Stoffregen & Bardy's ecological perspective are evaluated by analyzing the concept of direct perception of global invariants vis-à-vis (1) behavioral evidence that perception is based on the integration of modal sources of information and (2) neurophysiological aspects of the integration of sensory signals.

Background Residual dried blood spots (rDBS) from newborn screening programmes represent a valuable resource for medical research, from basic sciences, through clinical to public health. In Hong Kong, there is no legislation for biobanking. Parents’ view on the retention and use of residual newborn blood samples could be cultural-specific and is important to consider for biobanking of rDBS. Objective To study the views and concerns on long-term storage and secondary use of rDBS from newborn screening programmes among Hong Kong Chinese (...) parents. Methods A mixed-method approach was used to study the views and concerns on long-term storage and secondary use of rDBS from newborn screening programmes among Hong Kong Chinese parents of children 0–3 years or expecting parents through focus groups (8 groups; 33 participants) and a survey (n = 1012, 85% mothers) designed with insights obtained from the focus groups. We used framework analysis to summarise the themes as supportive factors, concerns and critical arguments for retention and secondary use of rDBS from focus group discussion. We used multiple logistic regression to assess factors associated with support for retention and secondary use of rDBS in the survey. Results Both in focus groups and survey, majority of parents were not aware of the potential secondary use of rDBS. Overall secondary use of rDBS in medical research was well accepted by a large proportion of Hong Kong parents, even if all potential future research could not be specified in a broad consent. However parents were concerned about potential risks of biobanking rDBS including leaking of data and mis-use of genetic information. Parents wanted to be asked for permission before rDBS are stored and mainly did not accept an “opt-out” approach. The survey showed that parents born in mainland China, compared to Hong Kong born parents, had lower awareness of newborn screening but higher support in biobanking rDBS. Higher education was associated with support in rDBS biobanking only among fathers. Conclusion Long-term storage and secondary use of rDBS from newborn screening for biomedical research and a broad consent for biobanking of rDBS are generally acceptable to Hong Kong parents given their autonomy is respected and their privacy is protected, highlighting the importance of an accountable governance and a transparent access policy for rDBS biobanks. (shrink)

This collection of papers exhibits the various directions in which the problem of conformity and deviation is being approached by social psychology. Of interest to philosophers is the evidence offered of the still unresolved conflict between behavioristic and Gestalt explanations of human behavior-a conflict analogous to the current philosophical struggle between linguistic analysis and metaphysics. --E. S. C.

An examination of Sartre's literary style through an analysis of events, things, thoughts, and persons as these are realized in the major novels and plays. Jameson shows that Sartre's literary activity is not a mere front for his philosophy but constitutes a serious effort at evolving techniques capable of rendering an aesthetic whole out of the elements of the radically dualistic Sartrian universe. Jameson's own style, unfortunately, is somewhat opaque. --E. S. C.

These commemorative papers on different aspects of Dewey's philosophy vary in quality. The essay by Paul Henle on "Dewey's Views on Truth and Verification" is excellent; and Gardner Murphy's reflections on Dewey's psychology are noteworthy. --E. S. C.

The philosophy of animal rights is often characterized as an exclusively justice oriented approach to animal liberation that is unconcerned with, and moreover suspicious of, moral emotions, like sympathy, empathy, and compassion. I argue that the philosophy of animal rights can, and should, acknowledge that compassion plays an integral role in animal liberation discourse and theory. Because compassion motivates moral actors to relieve the serious injustices that other animals face, or, at the very least, compassion moves actors not to participate (...) in or cause these injustices, the philosophy of animal rights can and should recognize both a duty to cultivate compassion and a duty to promote compassion. Contra to feminist critiques of Regan’s justice-approach to ethics, the philosophy of animal rights is not committed to eschewing the moral emotions. (shrink)

It’s certainly wrong for employers to accept applications from only white people. Universities that open admissions to only white people surely act wrongly. But do people who date, or consider dating, only white people do something wrong? Many people say that racialized attraction is just a matter of personal preference. Against this view, it will be argued that it often constitutes wrongful discrimination.