Most organized religions have indicated a level of support for organ donation including the diagnosis of death by the brain criterion. Organ donation is seen as a gift of love and fits within a communitarian ethos that most religions embrace. The acceptance of the determination of death by the brain criterion, where it has been explained, is reconciled with religious views of soul and body by using a notion of integration. Because the soul may be seen as that which integrates (...) the human body, in the absence of any other signs of human functioning, loss of integration is considered to be an indication that soul and body have separated. To some extent this view would seem to be informed by an Aristotelian notion of the soul, but it fits well enough with religious notions of the person continuing after death. There have been several developments internationally that indicate that the acceptance of so-called ‘brain death’ by organized religions has been challenged by new developments including the acceptance of a lesser standard than loss of all brain function and a rejection by the US President's Council on Bioethics of the notion of loss of integration as an explanation of death by the brain criterion. (shrink)

The practical problem of how to conduct oneself as a Christian and a Philosopher or Bioethicist in public debate an when asked to be engaged in government committees is difficult. One solution that has had some support has been to approach the issues on the grounds of our natural law tradition but understood anthropocentrically – the ultimate end is not communion with God by integral human development. This is often called New Natural Law (NNL). This separation of Philosophy and Theology (...) has had its critics and most notably the current Poe and his immediate predecessor. In their own writing addressed to people of goodwill, they took a different approach that was essentially Christocentric and involving s close partnership between Philosohy and Theology. In my own experience over thirty years of public involvement in Bioethics, I have discovered that the NNL approach has two overwhelming problems. What is offered to the secular dialogue, as an anthropocentric natural law, often sounds false to secular others because we propose something guided by our beliefs, but failing to acknowledge that contribution. However something that I have discovered latterly in that approach is in fact false by our own standards. By the strictures we impose on our contribution we in fact ignore the New Law instituted by Christ, the law of love. The New Natural Law (NNL) Project has proved to be a failure where it has been tried, and, I know realize, was doomed from the outset, because in being anthropocentric it was essentially lacking and the answers that it gave to problems were often unsatisfactory because lacking love and the particular demand of needing to be capable of being oriented towards God, the God of love. The NNL approach tended to produce a casuistry that was too liberal and too lacking in understanding of the essential role that affectivity plays in our lives, created as we are in the imago dei, in the image and likeness of the God of love. Such a morality demands much more than anthropocentricism can demand. In recognizing these difficulties I propose instead a more pragmatic approach that reflects a partnership between Philosophy and Theology as espoused by the Second Vatican Council, and by Pope’s Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II, and which engages the work of Alasdair MacIntyre and Servais Pinckaers. An approach that I have tried with some success in chairing government committees. (shrink)

En partant de l’observation de patients ayant subi une transplantation hépatique, nous constatons que la réhabilitation est souvent très laborieuse. Le malade se trouve transformé par l’intervention des autres sur lui-même. Pour se réapproprier ce corps, il est nécessaire de redonner un sens propre à ce qui s’est passé, loin des explications techniques qui ont permis aux soignants d’agir. Ces explications ne lui permettent pas de comprendre. La dialectique du comprendre et de l’expliquer est difficile à saisir pour le soignant (...) qui privilégie les explications, alors qu’à cette phase du soin elles sont étranges pour le malade. Pour comprendre il lui est plus simple de recréer sa propre tragédie, avec ses propres rôles, un début et une fin. Ses particularités, son ipséité réapparaissent et il peut dresser le bilan de ce qu’il a subi. Il s’agit de sa première action, un « agir narratif ». S’acceptant tel qu’il est devenu, il peut dès lors se considérer comme un nouvel individu, un être guéri non par décret médical, mais par sa propre action. Pour que ce récit soit accueilli, il est nécessaire que le soignant lui face hospitalité et acte de reconnaissance. C’est l’enjeu éthique de cette réflexion : le soignant qui permet, par l’écoute, une autre écriture. (shrink)

Through a reading of all the articles collected in the monographic section of «Scienza & Politica», this introduction shows how "cooperation" is a multifaceted concept, crisscrossed by contradictions and ambivalences. The author provides a brief historical and political analysis of the concept of cooperation, stressing its importance in contemporary debates and pointing out both the most productive and problematic aspects of the recent development of a political theory of cooperation.

The essay reconstructs the contradictory nature of the concept of cooperation, highlighting historically some of the antinomies that remain latent even in the modern usage of this concept. Through the analysis and comparison of the texts of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim and Alfred Marshall two problematic axes of the concept are particularly stressed: cooperation as an extension of the human potential in opposition to cooperation as objectification and exploitation; cooperation as social norm in opposition to the cooperation of (...) the cooperative movement. These antinomies are not exceeded in a harmonious and all-encompassing concept of cooperation, but instead are brought into play to return the complexity and the internal contradictions of a concept that runs through the sociological, economic and political contemporary debate. (shrink)

‘68 in Italy, compared to the same movement in other European countries, is characterized by its long duration and its particular intensity. It is in fact a movement that has produced powerful and lasting effects on the Italian society for at least a decade, as it is visible in its central presence in the historical memory of the country, still today. But the outbreak of ‘68, like the social and legislative achievements of the 70s, owe their conditions of possibility to (...) a break – a political break but above all a theoretical break – which occurred earlier, at the beginning of the 1960s. Going back to the genesis of the breakdown of the conservative imagery of the 1950s, while being an operation of intellectual history, can be useful to investigate how the “theoretical novelty” emerges, in this case through a break with its own tradition, albeit aiming to its reactivation. (shrink)

Erik Schokkaert's note presents a very good summary of the theory of macrojustice and a very good list of the directions of research it points to. This is quite fitting since a research programme defines a paradigm, and he sees this proposal as a paradigm shift. This is also very appropriate since his own qualifications are the best for advancing fast in these research topics. I have only a very small number of qualifications to add to his presentation, but I (...) prefer to begin with emphasizing the most important issues. Two aspects can be seen as the most important: the de facto axiomatic derivation of the solution ELIE and its application on the one hand, and the present state of scholarly studies of the optimum or just distribution of income on the other hand. Let us enter by the second door (as opposed to what is done in the book Macrojustice). This will lead us to conclude with a more synthetic and broader view of the basic logic of the paradigms of justice and of the surprising recent history of their interpretations. (shrink)

"Advances in Psychology Research" presents original research results on the leading edge of psychology.

This paper explores the determination of death as it pertains to ethical decisions about organ and tissue donation. The Church holds that death can be diagnosed on the basis of evidence showing the complete cessation of all brain function and the corresponding loss of integration of the body. On the basis of evidence presented by D. Alan Shewmon and others, influential secular bodies have rejected the integrationist view, arguing instead for a much more liberal view that a loss of spontaneous (...) breathing and loss of consciousness are sufficient for a diagnosis of death; that is, some brain function may continue after death. New laws and guidelines in various countries are based on this mode-of-being view. The author defends the Church’s integrationist view, arguing that loss of all brain function means loss of integration in the intercommunicative sense that pertains to the separation of the life principle, or soul, from the body in death. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 10.3 (Autumn 2010): 491–514. (shrink)

This full-color title is designed to be a classic reference for the millions of photographers going to digital, from enthusiasts shooting family events and vacations with their SLRs, to professionals creating journalistic prints and fine art. It?s the only book on the market with a focus on complete, end-to-end workflow from shoot to print. It?s tied to Adobe?s latest version of Photoshop, which boasts an installed base of 4 million! Serge Timacheff is a professional photographer living in Pacific Northwest. (...) He is the official photographer for the International Fencing Federation, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, and he photographs fencing at World Championships and the Summer Olympics. His 100-percent digital studio provides portraiture, event, commercial, and boudoir photography, and his fine art photographs appear in galleries and individual collections worldwide. David Karlins is a digital imaging expert, Web designer, teacher, consultant and author of numerous books and magazine articles. (shrink)

Reciprocity is the basis of social relations. It permits a peaceful and free society in which people and rights are respected. The essence of families and communities, it also enables the working of markets and organisations, while correcting their main failures. Reciprocity is also a basis of politics, and it justifies social policies. Although the importance of reciprocity has been widely recognised in other social sciences, it has, until recently, been somewhat ignored in economic analysis. Over the past three decades, (...) economic theorist and moral philosopher Serge-Christophe Kolm has been at the forefront of research into the economics of the deepest aspects of societies. In Reciprocity, he provides a unique in-depth analysis of the motives, conducts, and effects of reciprocal relationships. In doing this, he explains crucial functionings of society and its economy, and the ways in which they can be improved. This book should be read by economists, sociologists, philosophers, and anyone concerned with understanding the economy of social relationships and its far-reaching consequences. (shrink)

The review article reconstructs the reception of Gramsci's writings in Italy from the postwar-period to the present. Compared to the Italian debate that has given little attention to Gramsci's writings, except for in some periods such as the 1970s, Gramsci's fortune has continued to grow internationally. Recent Italian contributions, such as the book of Alberto Bugio, Grasmci storico, criticised in this review, remain indebted to an historicist approach that does not allow a use of Gramscian categories as an optic for (...) interpreting and enacting the transformation of the present. The analysis concentrates on concepts such as 'passive revolution', 'fascism', 'Taylorism' and 'bureaucracy'. (shrink)

While attention to research integrity has been growing over the past decades, the processes of signalling and denouncing cases of research misconduct remain largely unstudied. In this article, we develop a theoretically and empirically informed understanding of the causes and consequences of reporting research misconduct in terms of power relations. We study the reporting process based on a multinational survey at eight European universities. Using qualitative data that witnesses of research misconduct or of questionable research practices provided, we aim to (...) examine actors’ rationales for reporting and not reporting misconduct, how they report it and the perceived consequences of reporting. In particular we study how research seniority, the temporality of work appointments, and gender could impact the likelihood of cases being reported and of reporting leading to constructive organisational changes. Our findings suggest that these aspects of power relations play a role in the reporting of research misconduct. Our analysis contributes to a better understanding of research misconduct in an academic context. Specifically, we elucidate the processes that affect researchers’ ability and willingness to report research misconduct, and the likelihood of universities taking action. Based on our findings, we outline specific propositions that future research can test as well as provide recommendations for policy improvement. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Trinity by Thomas Joseph White, O.P.:A Model of Living ThomismSerge-Thomas Bonino O.P."The human being naturally seeks wisdom." From the very first line of the magisterial work we are dealing with, Fr. Thomas Joseph White's 2022 The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God, it is all about wisdom. Wisdom was already at the heart of a previous work by Fr. White devoted to the natural (...) theology of St. Thomas, his 2009 Wisdom in the Face of Modernity. Wisdom is more than the accumulation of information or the juxtaposition of knowledge. It is an eminent form of knowledge that, on the one hand, involves the person of the thinker in all its dimensions, intellectual, emotional, existential, and on the other, seeks to understand its object in the light of the most fundamental causes, which are simultaneously the most enlightening and explanatory principles because they are the most universal. The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God is undoubtedly a work of wisdom. Fr. White grasps the entire Christian mystery from its Trinitarian source, since, as we shall see, the entire Mystery (in the Pauline sense of the economy of salvation in Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the Father's benevolent purpose) is at the same time rooted in the eternal mystery of the triune God and makes it known to us as it unfolds its truth and saving power in time.But the sapiential nature of the object studied has some effect on the form of the work itself. Indeed, if Fr. White were not Rector Magnificent of the Angelicum, he would be a magnificent architect, because he possesses a sense of order to the highest degree and knows how to introduce unity in diversity. The presentation of The Trinity is perfectly structured, and therefore very [End Page 461] clear and didactic. Among many other factors that create its unity, I was especially interested in the highlighting of what the philosopher André de Muralt calls "structures of thought": similarities of proportionality between the ways in which authors from even very different theological epochs have treated a problem.1 I am thinking for instance of how Fr. White shows the strong structural similarities between contemporary Trinitarian theologies and the three types of medieval Trinitarian theology (the Franciscan, the Thomist, and the Nominalist). "My claim here is that the modern Trinitarian tradition tends to reproduce various elements of the medieval traditions, … albeit in creative and unexpected ways" (399). So it is a conceptually well-unified work, and where there is unity, there is being, goodness and beauty.The introduction, as I said, is placed under the sign of wisdom. Fr. White takes up there the neo-Scholastic theme of the "three wisdoms": philosophical wisdom, theological wisdom, and mystical wisdom.2 The book's perspective is explicitly that of theological wisdom, as a scientific form of the intelligence of faith, but (we shall return to this point in connection with the place given to philosophy) it puts into practice in an exemplary manner the collaboration, without confusion or separation, between the three wisdoms.3My purpose, of course, is not, nor can it be, to "summarize" the contents of a book of more than seven hundred pages, which manages to be both a comprehensive handbook for higher theological education and a true personal theological essay. I will therefore limit myself to highlighting three partial but significant aspects.(1) The first is the explicit and overt Thomistic character of the book (see 6–7). The Trinity is in fact a vibrant plea in favor of the relevance of the theology of St. Thomas, as indicated by the very last sentence:The Church today can and should still have recourse to the theology of Thomas Aquinas, and to the living Thomistic tradition, as a privileged means of interpreting and advancing her own understanding of the mystery of God.(690) [End Page 462]The Trinity is the demonstration in actu exercito of the truth of this concluding statement. I therefore propose to reflect, in the first part of my paper, on the nature of Fr. White's Thomism, which depends, as we... (shrink)

Alors que monte la prise de conscience du péril environnemental, les obstacles à une véritable mutation écologique des sociétés contemporaines restent massifs et les modèles alternatifs peinent à s'imposer. Les traditions intellectuelles de la gauche semblent souvent impuissantes à apporter des réponses. Pire, n'ont-elles pas contribué, par leur culte des "forces productives", à l'impasse actuelle? La généalogie intellectuelle proposée par Serge Audier revient sur des évidences trompeuses, notamment celle qui voudrait que les mouvements émancipateurs n'aient abordé que très tardivement (...) les enjeux écologiques. On redécouvre certes peu à peu des voix minoritaires qui, de Henry D. Thoreau à William Morris, avaient manifesté très tôt un souci inédit de la nature. Mais en les érigeant en héros solitaires, on contribue à occulter une nébuleuse beaucoup plus large et méconnue qui, entre socialisme et anarchisme, a esquissé les traits d'une "société écologique". L'objectif de ce livre est d'exhumer et de reconstituer une pensée sociale de la nature et de l'émancipation, construite aux marges du "grand récit" socialiste et républicain. De fait, cette tendance dissidente a été ignorée, marginalisée, voire combattue par les courants hégémoniques, qui ont souvent vu dans l'écologie un conservatisme traditionaliste ou un romantisme réactionnaire... Si les "ennemis" de la "société écologique" se trouvent bien entendu du côté des forces du capitalisme, il serait faux et dangereux d'oublier qu'ils font aussi partie de l'histoire même de la gauche et du socialisme dans ses orientations majoritaires, encore prégnantes."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Deux classiques de l’un des plus importants précurseurs de l’écologie politique au Québec réunis en seul volume! Dans L’écosophie ou la sagesse de la nature, Serge Mongeau nous invite, à partir de ses propres expériences, à une profonde réflexion sur une éthique écologique. Au lieu de voir la nature comme extérieure à nous, comme un réservoir de ressources, il faut l’envisager comme un processus de vie dans lequel nous avons un rôle à jouer. C’est donc un autre mode de (...) relation qu’il faut développer et ce sont les voies pour y arriver qu’explore ce texte dans lequel l’auteur préconise un respect sans idolâtrie de la nature et propose un certain nombre de balises pour que s’établisse une véritable symbiose entre la Terre vivante et les êtres humains. Dans La belle vie, Serge Mongeau s’interroge. Tous souhaitent faire « la belle vie », tous veulent être heureux, tous cherchent le bonheur. Mais... prend-on les bons moyens pour y arriver? Quel pourrait être notre rapport au plaisir et au désir, émancipé du besoin de possession? La société de consommation offre de multiples biens à acquérir, une foule de services et une grande variété de moyens d’évasion. Cependant, bien des gens découvrent aujourd’hui qu’on ne peut tout attendre de la consommation, que la voie de la simplicité volontaire leur ouvre des portes vers un plus grand épanouissement, mais aussi qu’il ne suffit pas de simplifier sa vie pour trouver le bonheur. C’est donc à une réflexion plus globale que l’auteur a voulu donner accès en écrivant ce texte d’une grande beauté. Serge Mongeau esquisse divers chemins pour trouver le bonheur : vivre le moment présent, aimer, prendre le temps de vivre, jouer, se rapprocher de la nature, donner un sens à sa vie, simplifier sa vie, cultiver sa vie intérieure et s’investir dans des actions significatives pour changer ce qui n’est plus acceptable. Quand je relis aujourd’hui La belle vie et L’écosophie ou la sagesse de la nature, je constate qu’ils demeurent d’une actualité étonnante. Il ne s’agit pas là d’un constat réjouissant ; nous écrivons, nous constatons, nous suggérons des voies d’action et, vingt ans plus tard, nous voyons que nous avons été si peu écoutés. Il faut donc relancer la réflexion. (shrink)

1Neurology Department and Cyclotron Research Center, University of Lie`ge, Sart Tilman B30, 4000 Liege, Belgium 2Neurorehabilitation Medicine, Hoˆpital Caremeau, CHU Nıˆmes, 30029 Nıˆmes Cedex, France 3Department of Speech Therapy, Hospital Pitie´ Salpe´trie`re, Paris and French Association Locked in Syndrome (ALIS), 225 Bd Jean-Jaures, MBE 182, 92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, France 4Neurosciences et Syste`mes Sensoriels Unite´ Mixte de Recherche 5020, Universite´ Claude Bernard Lyon 1 – CNRS, 69007 Lyon, France 5Intensive Care Medicine, Hoˆpital Erasme, Universite´ Libre de Bruxelles, Route de Lennik 808, 1070 (...) Brussels, Belgium 6Anesthesiology, Reanimation and Pain Clinic, CHU University Hospital, Sart Tilman B33, 4000 Liege, Belgium 7German Association Locked in Syndrome LIS e.V., Evangelischen Krankenhaus Ko¨ningin Elisabeth Herzberge gGmbh (Lehrkrankenhaus der Charite´), Haus 30, Herzbergstrasse 79, 10365 Berlin, Germany 8Intensive Care Medicine, Centre Hospitalier Re´gional de la Citadelle, Boulevard du 12e de Ligne 1, 4000 Liege, Belgium 9Biomedical PET Unit, Hoˆpital Erasme, Universite´ Libre de Bruxelles, Route de Lennik 808, 1070 Brussels, Belgium.. (shrink)

Veteran professional photographer Serge Timacheff walks you through the features of the Canon EOS DSLR camera; selecting, understanding, and using lenses and accessories; and caring for your equipment. You'll also get professional insight into protecting your gear and building your skill set. Once you understand how to build a photography system that meets your needs and discover which filters and accessories are best for you, you can begin to embrace all the Canon EOS camera system has to offer. Note: (...) CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file. (shrink)

Peer review of journal submissions has become one of the most important pillars of quality management in academic publishing. Because of growing concerns with the quality and effectiveness of the system, a host of enthusiastic innovators has proposed and experimented with new procedures and technologies. However, little is known about whether these innovations manage to convince other journal editors. This paper will address open questions regarding the implementation of new review procedures, the occurrence rate of various peer review procedures and (...) their distribution over scientific disciplines or academic publishers, as well as the motivations for editors or publishers to engage in novel review procedures. It shows that in spite of enthusiastic innovation, the adoption of new peer review procedures is in fact very slow, with the exception of text similarity scanners. For now, peer review innovations appear to be restricted to specific niches in academic publishing. Analysing these niches, the article concludes with a reflection on the circumstances in which innovations might be more widely implemented. (shrink)